Hollow Earth (Hallowed Realms Book 2) Read online

  Teal eyes found mine. They grew wide as she froze in place.

  “Alana? Alana is the survivor?” she said, whipping around to Eivin.

  “Aye.”

  She approached me as though in shock. Her black scars against the left side of her face were as striking on her as ever.

  “Why did ya not say in your letter that it was Alana?” she asked Eivin while still looking at me as though she couldn’t believe it was true.

  “I didn’t trust the messengers with that sort of information. I didn’t want anythin’ traced back to a soul you were in charge of,” Eivin said, clearly annoyed at having been chastised by his cousin.

  “I can’t believe it’s you,” I said. A wide grin spread across my face as I pulled Taryn into an embrace.

  She stiffened in my arms as she had the first time I’d hugged her. After a moment, however, I felt her arms around mine.

  “I am so sorry this happened,” she whispered.

  “It doesn’t matter,” I assured her. “You’re here now. You can help me fix this.”

  Taryn released the hug and gave me a stern nod. She took off her cloak and set it on the chair. She had on a frilly pink gown that would have sold well in the shop but didn’t fit Taryn’s wild personality in the slightest. It was clear she hated the dress by how she was standing.

  Behind her, the man she came with stepped forward.

  “I can assure you, we will do what we can to see you safely home once we hear your tale.” The man extended his hand to mine.

  He lowered his hood then, and his beauty left me open-jawed. Since arriving in Netherworld, I had seen my fair share of warrior-like men dressed in battle leathers and bodybuilder physics, but not a single one of them held a candle to the man standing before me. His jawline was square and peppered with a day’s worth of stubble. Dark waves danced around his face, but it was his eyes…they were silver. I felt hypnotized by them. Like they had the ability to look into the very depths of my soul.

  “Alana, you can let go of his hand now,” Eivin whispered behind me.

  Embarrassed, blood rushed to my cheeks as I pulled my gloved hand out of his. My eyes darted to the safety of the ground, overcome with emotion.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve never met a royal before.”

  “Aed’s the least regal of the royals I’ve met.” Taryn snickered. “Aed, this is Alana Gallagher.”

  “Gallagher,” Aed said. “Isn’t it that human’s last name?”

  Taryn nodded, but her eyes darted down. “Alana is Devlin’s twin sister.”

  I gasped hearing that news.

  Taryn looked at me and then at Aed. “Can ya give us a moment?” Taryn asked the men.

  I could tell the prince didn’t want to leave, but he relented and motioned Eivin to the door.

  “We’ll be right outside,” Aed said.

  Once they had gone, Taryn began to pace the room as I had done moments before her arrival. I couldn’t focus on anything but one word. Devlin. That name. It meant something to me. In that one moment, all memories of my brother and my life in Moneyglass came flooding over me. Flashes of a million different moments overwhelmed my senses. The two of us as children sitting at a church in outfits we hated, tossing bricks at an abandoned house, diving off rocky cliffs into the cool waters below…and my cancer. My illness, the pain, the tears. His orange matte of curls lying crumpled in my lap. He was the memory I couldn’t let go of, and now it was back, like a tidal wave of emotion. I felt myself sinking to my knees as the tears sprang from my eyes.

  “Devlin,” I repeated. I didn’t have a chance to fall completely because Taryn’s strong arms were there suddenly, lifting me off my feet.

  “I remember him,” I cried. “I remember everything about him. Oh, my God, how could I have forgotten my twin brother?”

  My words must have been hard to understand through the sobs that tore through me. I had died. I remembered those final moments with such clarity it made my head feel like it was about to implode.

  “Okay, let’s just sit ya down,” I heard Taryn say.

  I felt her set me down on the bench in the shop meant for the ladies to use when trying on new shoes. I had never been permitted to sit on this bench as it was for buyers only.

  I shook my head vehemently. “Set me on the floor,” I croaked. “This seat is above my station.” I tried to move myself to the floor where I wanted to melt away into the loss of a brother I’d left behind when I died. I now understood why they made the memories fade when you crossed the veil. This knowledge of everyone I’d left behind…my brother, my parents, Seamus, my friends…it was all too much to take in. “Please…floor.” I panted. My mind was spinning too fast.

  “I will not put you on the floor like garbage. And this blasted bench is no better than any other,” she said. “You’ll stay put or have me to deal with,” Taryn said.

  Seeing I had no choice in the matter, I let myself slump into the chair. To go from having no recollection of your past to having it hit you all at once was going to take more than a wee lie down.

  Taryn knelt beside me and took my hand. Her eyes were wide with concern.

  “Alana, I need ya to listen to me very carefully. How long have ya been having memories of your life on Earth?”

  “What?” I looked at her and her face showed serious concern. “Um. Now. Just now. I mean, I had bits and pieces. Shadows really of memory. Nothing I could make any sense out of. When you said Devlin’s name, just now…the memories of when I was alive…they all came back.” My hands were shaking.

  “This canna be good,” Taryn said. Her hands were on her hips as her eyes peered off into the distance as though trying to figure out a great puzzle.

  “What isn’t good? That my ship was attacked? That I now remember my own death, or that my body is disappearing?” I wept.

  Taryn stopped walking.

  “Did ya say that you’re disappearing?”

  The way she said it made me believe she had heard of this before.

  I nodded and took off my gloves to show her my pinky.

  Taryn rushed forward and took my hand in hers. Her fingers traced against the faded portion of my finger.

  “Can ya feel this?” she asked as she touched the faded tip.

  “Aye. I can feel it fine and it holds the shape when I wear the glove, but why can I see through it?”

  Taryn sat on her knees for a moment before she answered.

  “As banshees, we’re taught from a young age how important it is for us to make sure our souls arrive at their final destination. It was drilled into our training to make sure we were the ones to hand deliver them to the Transition Centre. We were told if we ever lost a soul, we’d be banished to Hollow Earth. Being a banshee, as much as I hated it, was a sacred duty. One we weren’t allowed to take advantage of.

  “For the first several years as a banshee, I was so scared of messing up that I took it one step further and even made sure to watch their boat leave the docks.” She looked up at me. “I still do, from time to time. I did with your ferry.”

  “What happens if a soul doesn’t make it to their destination?” I knew I was asking a question she didn’t want to answer.

  Taryn swallowed. “I don’t have any proof, you see. It’s just stories the girls whisper about. Rumours and hearsay. The sorts of things conspiracy theories are made of…”

  “What have you heard?” I asked, unsure by her tone if I wanted the answer.

  “Don’t take this as law. It’s likely something they made up to keep banshees in line in all honesty, but the story is, if a soul doesn’t reach their destination in a certain time, they begin to vanish. They simply cease to be.”

  My lips parted to speak, but I found I had no words.

  “In all my years as a banshee, I’ve never seen anyone vanish, Alana. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s a fear tactic put in our bellies so we wouldn’t be neglectin’ our duties.” Taryn walked over to the window and looked outside, a troubled look on her face.
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  “How do we stop it?” I asked. My question seemed to bring her back to the present.

  “I dunna know for certain. One thing I do know is that we’ll be needin’ to get ya back to the Isle of Glass before you’ve gone and disappeared completely.”

  I couldn’t agree with that statement more.

  “Right. How do we do that?”

  Taryn made a face. “Let me think on it for a wee bit. It will take some plannin’ if we are to sneak you out from under the royals’ noses.” She glanced outside where the men were waiting. “For now, don’t mention this to Aed. Not even about Devlin. The less he knows right now, the better. Trust me. As it is, he’s not gonna like whatever plan I come up with.”

  I put my gloves back on while she went over to let them back in.

  “Follow my lead,” Taryn whispered, as she opened the door.

  “Everything all right?” the prince asked Taryn as soon as he came inside, but his gaze was on me.

  “Aye. It will be. She’s exhausted.”

  Aed looked at us.

  My lips pressed together, and my eyes looked at the floor so I wouldn’t confess she wasn’t telling the exact truth.

  “She could do with a good night’s rest or two and a full belly,” Taryn said.

  The news of my hardship seemed to trouble Aed.

  “Indeed. I suppose you think it best that she return to the manor house with us then?” He looked at Taryn. Their expressions conveyed a shorthand that could only be perfected with two people who had spent a great deal of time together. That made me irrationally jealous for some reason.

  Taryn smirked. “Well, you know as well as I do that we can’t leave Alana here. Better to keep a close eye on her, don’t ya think? If your da ever found out about this mess with her boat, who do ya think he’d take it out on? You couldn’t let that happen to poor Alana, could you?” She blinked up at him several times, her smirk growing wider. She seemed to know how to manipulate him to her will.

  “There is the small matter of a ball happening at the manor house, Taryn. I can’t bring a random girl from the town into the exclusive affair. That would raise suspicions more than leaving her here where no one knows about her.”

  “She’ll blend right in at the ball.” Taryn scanned the store and stopped in front of a gown. “Slip her into this and she becomes another socialite.”

  “Taryn…” he said, though I could tell he was considering it.

  “She’s my soul, Aed. I have to do right by her. I have to get her back on a boat. The only way to do that is to take her with us when we leave tomorrow.”

  Aed seemed to ignore Taryn’s point as he brushed past her to touch the gown Ms. Mirabelle had placed the final touches on. It was a gorgeous bridal gown she’d made for Lady Betha. Betha wasn’t yet engaged, but her mother was convinced once Prince Aed saw her at the ball in that dress, he’d fall head over heels. Judging by the look in his eyes, they weren’t far off the mark when it came to his tastes.

  I had looked at that dress with longing ever since the day I stitched the pattern together. The intricate bronze floral embroidery along the skirt and bodice was a level of skill I would never hope to accomplish. I had seen Betha in it during fittings. It was the sort of dress that made even a homely girl look appealing. I understood at that moment, why the gowns held such value. They were beauty incarnate, and in a world like this, beauty was more valuable than gold.

  “She would look quite fetching in this,” he said to Taryn before his eyes flicked to me. A blush sprang to my cheeks.

  “It’s kind of you to extend the invitation, but I couldn’t possibly. My place is here, not with royalty. Besides, that gown has already been sold. It’s a bridal gown, you see. It’s not a dress made for a commoner.”

  Aed continued to run his thumb along the bodice of the gown, right where Betha’s cleavage would be. My eyes found him and for a moment they felt locked in place.

  “I don’t think you would look common in this,” he said.

  “Maybe not,” I replied, willing my cheeks not to turn red, “but I could never afford it.” I broke eye contact and looked at my feet once again.

  The prince reached into his pocket and produced a small pouch and placed it inside my hand. “I’m sure your employer will accept a payment from her prince.”

  I gasped at the weight of the bag. She would, indeed, be comforted by that much coin.

  “Taryn is right. You’ll be safer under our watchful eye,” Aed said. “Now, get Lady Alana packed up while Eivin and I talk about the disturbances along the Wall.”

  Taryn’s eyebrows shot up. “Lady Alana, is it?”

  “I can’t go with you, Taryn. You have to get me out of this. I wouldn’t know how to behave at a ball,” I whispered.

  She looked at the gown a moment before she ripped it off the dress form it was on and threw it over her shoulder. Apparently, we were doing this whether I liked it or not. The idea of wearing Betha’s gown did excite me. As did leaving this shop. I’d wanted her help. I suppose I needed to take it. However, it was offered. Still, there was something that nagged at me.

  “Taryn, if you don’t mind my asking...” I glanced over my shoulder at where Aed and Eivin were hunched over, talking in whispers. “What’s wrong with the prince? Is he horrible? Does he have a wandering eye? Does he smell?”

  Taryn laughed. “Wrong?”

  “Eivin tells me you aren’t happy with the match. If that’s true, there must be some personality trait about him that you hate.” I glanced back at Aed again. He caught me looking. I bit my lip and focused on Taryn. “From where I stand, I can’t find any visible flaws.”

  She seemed to consider my answer. “Aed is a handsome man. I won’t deny that. And does have a reputation with the ladies, but as far as I can tell, he’s grown past that.”

  “Eivin said this Grand Tour was for show, but that it was you he was set on marrying. It’s just…you don’t seem to want to marry him. Is that a wrong assumption?”

  She smiled at me and tugged me farther into the shop, hunting for shoes for me. “Aed is a solid man. His heart is in the right place. With his people. I’m not so sure where my own heart is.”

  “Ah,” I said, knowing that look all too well. There was someone else she was pining for. “So, you’ll marry a man you don’t love?”

  She smiled but then became sober. “Aed and I have an arrangement. I marry him to tick his family off and be a wife he won’t be bored by, and in return, my family isn’t sent over the Wall.”

  “It sounds as though he’s forcing your hand a bit. I mean, who wouldn’t opt to save their family?”

  Taryn frowned. “He isn’t forcin’ me so much as that he’s tryin’ to help me out of a rough spot. My head was on the choppin’ block for something stupid I did. Aed did the honorable thing and announced me as his future bride not because he loved me, but to save me. As his betrothed the king couldn’t kill me.” Taryn tugged at the necklace around her neck and began to play with it. “Aed knows I dunna love him, but we get on fine enough. In time, we might learn to care for each other…once I get out of my own way,” she said.

  “Who is he?” I asked.

  She glared at me, clearly annoyed at herself for letting that vulnerability show. “Doesn’t matter,” Taryn said, letting the necklace go. “It’s complicated, so there’s no sense wasting my thoughts on him.” She walked over to the gown. “Best get your things now.”

  I nodded and stood up, feeling less light-headed than I had a moment ago, but then I had a thought.

  “Taryn…how do you know my brother? Is he…”

  I watched her body language. Her back was to me, but her shoulders tensed. Both she and Aed knew his name. That could only mean one thing.

  “Dead?” Taryn finished for me.

  “Aye.” My voice was barely above a whisper as I waited for her answer.

  Taryn looked over at Aed, who was chatting with Eivin.

  “Not here. Let’s get out of earshot.
Where are the rest of your belongings?”

  “In the back. I have a pallet. Here, let me show you.” I walked on shaky feet to the back of the store where my humble belongings were. I had only two dresses, one for work and one for going to the market. The latter was a nicer dress, as Ms. Mirabelle said I was representing her work when I was seen in public. She made me a respectable gown. Beyond that, I had the tattered remains of the green gown I had been dressed in during the shipwreck, and a simple pair of earrings. I looked down at the floor. Everything I owned could be carried. How different my life had become these last few months from the life I used to have.

  “Please, Taryn. Tell me what happened to my brother.”

  Taryn let out a breath. “Nothing happened. Your brother is alive and well.”

  “Well, then how do the two of you know him?” I knew I didn’t understand much about banshees and reapers, but I knew well enough that they didn’t communicate with the humans.

  “I told ya…it’s complicated.” Her eyes refused to meet mine. She was holding in a huge secret.

  “Oh!” I gasped, the pieces clicking into place. “Devlin is the guy you’re sweet on? My brother?” Despite myself, I squealed with delight. “Oh, Taryn, you couldn’t have picked a better man. My brother is a daft hothead at times, but his heart is as big as the sun!”

  “Keep yer voice down, woman,” Taryn hissed. “Aed is not happy about the idea of my mind being elsewhere, especially given that Devlin’s a human! I’m a banshee. So it canna happen.”

  “Why not? Devlin is wonderful!”

  Taryn glared at me to keep my voice down.

  “Humans and banshees can’t see each other, remember?”

  I nodded, remembering the conversation we’d had about that when I died. How I had wanted to say goodbye to Devlin, but she told me he wouldn’t be able to see me.

  “Wait…have you been admiring my brother from afar or something?” It made my heart ache. She was suffering from an unrequited love.

  “No, it’s not like that. I think he fancies me well enough, too.” Taryn touched her lips as though remembering a stolen kiss.