The Forgotten Ones

wound.”
    “Follow me. Eithne is upstairs.” Diarmuid led Niall up the stairs in a flash.
    Bláithín turned and put her hand up. “We should wait here. I’m sure the queen will be here soon.”
    “You are quite right,” called a lilting voice from the hallway under the staircase.
    The skin tightened around Aodhan’s eyes, and I looked over Bláithín’s shoulder, freezing at what I saw.
    The woman from my dream.
    The memory was nothing compared to reality. Dressed in a white gown embroidered with delicate green vines along the trim and waist, the queen of Tír na n’Óg was radiant. Her blonde hair was luminescent. Her skin milky white and flawless. But the most captivating thing about her was her eyes. The light made rainbows along their surfaces, like an opal.
    As she came closer I started to raise my hand to touch her face, just barely stopping myself when I realized what I was doing.
    “Welcome, Allison.” Saoirse’s smile drew me toward her like a flower drawn to the sun.
    I couldn’t speak.
    After a moment of being trapped in her stare, Saoirse looked over my shoulder.
    “It’s been a while, Aodhan.”
    “Yes, my lady,” Aodhan said.
    Saoirse focused her smile back on me then, causing warmth and joy to radiate through my veins again.
    “You’re here to see Niamh?” she asked slowly, each syllable gliding from her lips.
    After a beat, Aodhan spoke, the tension thick in his voice. “We realize Niamh already came to seek your counsel in finding Allison’s mother, but Liam has been injured and needs care.”
    “Yes, Niamh has explained the situation to me,” Saoirse replied, tilting her head slightly to one side. “Aoife has caused many problems.”
    I blinked at Saoirse, who smiled demurely back at me.
    “Why don’t we continue our talk in comfort?” Saoirse asked, walking out of the entryway without waiting for a response, her flowing gown and bell sleeves trailing behind her.
    She led us into a gathering room with high ceilings, and like Niamh’s house, the palace was framed by thick roots from a tree above the hill. Blue fabric was draped along the walls, and although there were no windows, tiny spheres of light were suspended to illuminate intricately embroidered flowers and trees. The effect was like a summer day, even though we were deep in the hillside.
    Saoirse folded herself onto one of the plush divans, gesturing for us to each do the same. She met my gaze and smiled, and I was lost in the strange beauty of her eyes once again.
    “Tell me about your dreams, Allison.”
    I licked my lips, trying to remember what dreams I was supposed to recall. “Well, sometimes I dream of things that might have happened in the past. But some of my dreams are of things that haven’t happened, at least not yet.”
    Saoirse nodded, her sweet expression not changing. “You have the blood of my people. It isn’t potent, but you are gifted with the Sight.”
    “I dreamed that my friend Ethan,” I started to say, but the sound of footsteps and low laughter stopped me.
    Two figures entered the room. Niamh froze in the entryway, her eyes wide. My breath was stolen by the laughing figure behind her.
    My mother.

    My mother was laughing . But when she stopped, her sparkling green eyes followed Niamh’s gaze to where we sat. The moment our eyes met, time froze, and everything else fell away. This woman was—and yet was not—my mother.
    “In Tír na n’Óg your mother is as she should be,” Saoirse murmured.
    I stood and walked to my mother, even though my whole body felt numb and tingly. She drew her lips in, just like she did when she was playing the violin. She really was my mother.
    “Allison,” she whispered as tears pooled in her eyes.
    I felt my own tears welling as dozens of emotions buzzed around in my heart. Love, relief, awe.
    Her arms came around me and I hugged her back, my own arms shaking. “I never thought…” She sniffled and laughed into my hair. “I never thought this could happen.”
    “I don’t understand,” I said, pulling back to look at Niamh.
    Her eyes flicked between mine and Aodhan’s. He sat completely still, staring straight ahead. The only thing that showed he wasn’t a statue was the trembling muscle in his jaw.
    “I promised your father that your mother would be safe,” Niamh said. “But Breanh can read minds, like me. If I had told either of you that I was taking Elizabeth here, Breanh could have read it in your thoughts. He would have come