The Forgotten Ones

explain them now.”
    “Okay,” I said, “So, explain.”
    The woman started walking toward me, her strange diamond eyes holding me captive. “If I may?” It came out as a question, but she didn’t appear to actually be asking permission.
    “Of course,” Liam replied, closing his eyes.
    “Your people often use the expression, ‘Things aren’t always as they appear.’” She paused and I raised my eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. “Whether you believe it or not, your father is here to help your mother.”
    “Wait.” I held my hands up to interrupt. “Who are you?”
    She smirked and glanced back at Liam. “My name is Niamh. I am one of the Tuatha de Danaan.”
    “What?”
    “A Danaan—a descendent of the Goddess Danu. You might recognize the term ‘fairy’ or ‘the people under hill’?”
    “Fairy,” I repeated, the word sounding disjointed from my lips. “Are you a fairy too, Liam?” I choked out a laugh, looking between the two of them. They just stared back at me.
    Liam cleared his throat. “Ah, well. I haven’t always been...”
    “Listen, I don’t know what kind of joke this is, but my mother is ill. Just stay away from her.”
    I started to turn around, but Liam held out his hand to stop me.
    “Please,” he said. “Let me explain.”
    I threw my hands up in exasperation.
    “I was raised in County Monaghan, north of Dublin. I was born the son of a farmer”—he paused and looked me in the eye—“in 1862.”
    “This just keeps getting better,” I said. Why am I even listening to this?
    “My Da passed away when I was nineteen. I took on many of his responsibilities. After supper I would sneak off to a little clearing in the woods and just play my fiddle until my arms ached.”
    He stopped and watched for my reaction. I just tapped my foot. “One day as I played, a lovely woman appeared. She told me she had heard the music and wanted to see where it came from. Her name was Aoife, and she was the most glorious creature I had ever seen, with raven hair and eyes like sapphires. I was completely enraptured by her. And the longer I played for her, the more I wanted to make her mine.”
    Liam paused, his eyes far away, remembering.
    “I soon began to long for her day and night. On the days I couldn’t slip away, I ached for her—”
    “Explain how this has anything to do with my mother,” I said. He expected me to believe this?
    He ignored my question and continued. “I was becoming physically addicted to her. Aoife and her folk believe that humans are their playthings. They think nothing of capturing a human and filling them with longing, only to dump them back into this world. After their encounters with the Danaan, humans are nothing but empty husks.”
    Niamh cleared her throat and Liam paused.
    “Not all Danaan are so callous,” she said. “Aoife is my sister, but we don’t share the same beliefs. She has been defying our laws and customs for some time now.” She motioned for Liam to go on.
    “One day, I begged Aoife to come home with me. She took me to her home instead. By then, I was completely enthralled by Aoife. She was all I cared about. I forgot about my family—they were totally wiped from my mind. And as time went on, I began to come back to myself, my mind began to clear. Just by living in Tír na n’Óg, I was becoming immortal.”
    “Immortal?” I asked, laughing. “What? Like a vampire?”
    “We are as alive as you are, Allison. But unlike your kind, we don’t grow old,” Niamh said, her lips curving into a smirk.
    “So,” Liam went on. “I started to remember my life before entering their world. I longed to see my family. I didn’t realize that decades had passed here. It seemed such a short time in Tír na n’Óg, because nobody aged there, including me. Aoife would leave occasionally, with only her handmaiden Eithne to watch over me. The first time I asked if I might join Aoife in her travels was in 1979. She agreed to take me along to Dublin.
    “Several years later at the Music in the Street Festival at Trinity College, I met your mother.”
    I thought of the photos I had of Liam and my mother, smiling and happy. Those must have been at the music festival. If any of this were to be believed.
    “I couldn’t stop thinking about her and planning ways to see her again. I hid her from Aoife. It wasn’t easy, but I had fallen hopelessly in love with your mother. It was nothing like the obsession I’d felt for Aoife— that was