“Why did they go right?” Donal asked Siobhan. “We’re going right, aren’t we?”

  “I don’t know,” Siobhan said. “Our currach is still leading to the left.”

  “Siobhan, we’ve got some of those things after us now,” Brendan said, pointing right.

  The tendrils and fins of four merrows cut a path through the water towards them, thirty yards off the starboard side and closing.

  “Ciara, you’re awfully quiet back there,” Siobhan said. “What’s happening?”

  The sorceress turned to face the crew. “That dragon gave up,” she said.

  Siobhan spun toward her. “‘Gave up?’”

  “It did,” Ciara said with a shrug. “Turned around and swam away.”

  “Did it occur to you to tell us?”

  “Of course it did,” Ciara said. “But you were busy watching those sea people.”

  “She can’t be serious,” Donal muttered to Brigid.

  “She isn’t,” Brigid said. “That’s the problem.”

  “When did this happen?” Siobhan asked, leaning in Ciara’s direction.

  “Five minutes ago. Maybe four. Not long, really.”

  Brendan raised a hand, his eyes fixed on the right. “Siobhan—”

  “Dammit, woman!” Siobhan said. “Catch yourself on and help us.”

  “Siobhan?” Brendan asked. “Is the plan to serve these things tae before we fight?”

  “Sorry?” Siobhan asked.

  She followed Brendan’s finger toward the merrows five yards away. They coiled their bodies to prepare for their leaps out of the water. Both Donal and Brigid held their spears at the ready, their legs crouched for balance.

  “Fine,” Ciara said. “Doingaib?.”

  A purple barrier formed on the right side of their boat as the merrows left the water. All four creatures struck it headfirst and fell back into the sea, sliding behind the advancing currach.

  “Now, then,” Ciara said to Brendan. “Lightning. Don’t catch the boat with it.”

  The pair pushed their hands forward and called for lightning. The merrows bodies writhed in the ocean until they floated motionless.

  “Are they dead?” Donal asked.

  “Does it matter?” Ciara asked. “Either way, they’re not our problem anymore.”

  Siobhan straightened a finger and jabbed it at Ciara. “When we get to where we’re going,” she said through clenched teeth, “we’re going to have words.”

  Ciara grinned. “Won’t that be fun?” She winked at Siobhan but her face immediately darkened once Siobhan had turned away. She dropped into her seat and glowered at the sea behind them.

  “What now?” Donal asked.

  “The boat’s heading towards the island ahead of us,” Siobhan said. “I really think that’s Hy-Brasil.”

  “What about Finn and Maeve?”

  “I don’t have an answer, Donal,” she said. “We never changed course. Maeve knows where we’re going, and she knows how to get the boat to take them here.”

  “But they could be in trouble!”

  “We’re in trouble!” Brigid said. “More giants!”

  Two giant women breached the surface of the water immediately in their path.

  “Ah here, this can’t be an accident,” Siobhan said.

  “I was thinking the same as you,” Brigid said.

  Siobhan placed her hands on the bow and ordered the boat to a stop.

  “Why did you stop?” Ciara asked. “What can’t be an accident?”

  “Had you been paying attention, Ciara,” Brendan said, “you’d know they’ve besieged us at every major turn.”

  The crew stared at the giants, less than a quarter of a mile away from their boat, waiting for them to make a move. The women stood in place, trading occasional nervous glances with each other.

  “They’re not moving,” Brigid said.

  “They are not,” Siobhan said. “They can’t risk getting outmaneuvered by us.”

  “The other giants had a go at us,” Donal said.

  “That was at the beginning.” Brigid said. “There were merrows and an olliphéist to handle us if we made it past the big guys.”

  “So these are the last guards?” Ciara asked. “To keep us from Hy-Brasil?”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Maybe,” Siobhan said. “Maybe the Fomori have a few more wrinkles in store for us on that island. But I’m almost certain that’s Hy-Brasil.”

  “But where did Maeve and Finn go?” Donal asked.

  Siobhan placed her hands on Donal’s shoulders. “You understand your brother means as much to me as he does to you, right?” she asked. “We have to get ourselves to safety before we can suss out how to do the same for your brother and Maeve. And the rest of ‘em. That means we have to get to that island.”

  An idea sparked in Donal’s head. “This thing can put us anywhere we want on that island. Am I understanding that properly?”

  Siobhan wrinkled her nose as she mulled over his words. She smiled and waved a finger at him once she understood his meaning. “Fair play, lad,” she said. “Listen up, everyone. We’re going to need a hard turn at a high rate of speed. Then we’ll need some cover. Donal and Brigid on oars, Ciara and I will help. Brendan, you’re in charge of cover.

  “I can’t stress this enough,” she said. “Hold on tight.”

  She placed her hands near the bow. “Straight ahead. Very, very fast.”

  The currach jumped ahead and sped toward the giants.

  “You weren’t exaggerating about the turn or the speed,” Brendan said, dipping further into the currach.

  “Steady,” Siobhan said, her eyes fixed on the faces looming over them.

  “Steady…”

  “OARS! Hard to starboard!”

  What’s wrong with saying, ‘hard right?’ Donal thought as he dug the oar into the water. Siobhan yelled to Ciara as the currach’s stern swung to the left.

  “Ciara, thunder!”

  “Toran nert,” the women yelled in unison.

  A thunderous wave burst from their hands. It stopped the boat’s spin, halted their momentum, and knocked the giantess on the right backwards into the water.

  Siobhan hurdled the first two seats and collapsed near the front. “Let’s hope I’m right,” she said, resting her hands on the boat. “Take us to an entrance on the other side of Hy-Brasil. Fast.”

  The currach sped ahead in its new direction.

  “We need that cover, Brendan,” Ciara said.

  “Dénai dall tu,” Brendan said, pushing his hands upward.

  The giantess’ eyes flashed with green light. She staggered forward, arms outstretched, and stumbled onto her knees. She covered her eyes with the palms of her hands and bellowed toward the sky.

  “Donal and Brigid, keep your eyes on that island,” Siobhan said after a heavy sigh. “Ciara, be a dear and tell us the second you see either of those wee wans come after us. Don’t be shy about it.”

  “Anything for you, boss,” Ciara said in a tone with as much venom in it as there was sugar.

  The boat turned left as it cleared the far side of the island. Brendan lifted his arms in celebration, a move that nearly knocked him out of the fast-moving craft. “You were right!” he said. “We’re here.”

  Siobhan shook her head. “Maybe. I’d hold off celebrating anything until it’s clear that we’re not merely passing ‘round it.” She looked back at Brendan as he regained his balance and curled one side of her mouth. “And I’d hold off until the currach has stopped, as well.”

  The crew waited several minutes for their currach to make the turn that confirmed they had reached Hy-Brasil. Nothing moved on the shore. The only adversary facing Donal at the moment was Shadow, lurking in the back of his mind, periodically reminding of how much time had passed since Finn and Maeve disappeared.

  “Look,” Siobhan said. “That part of the island retreats to the left.”

  Indeed, the shore ended a few hundred yards ahead, and a distant line of tree-covered hills appeared through the mist. Small grey rocks ringed this side of the island. Sage-colored grass ran uphill into the darker shrubs that covered the hills closest to shore. As the boat neared, Donal could see the farther, higher hills covered with pine trees and a type of tree he’d never seen before. The trunks were light, similar to the birch, and its bright-green leaves were long and broad. Several of his comrades exhaled in relief when the currach’s bow turned from the sea toward the land.

  “Dya’see anything waiting for us onshore?” Siobhan asked.

  “Naw,” Donal said. “Brigid?”

  “All’s quiet.”

  “Grand,” Siobhan said. “Let’s do this here, then?”

  “Do what?” Donal asked.

  “Brendan, you’re a diviner, correct?”

  Brendan nodded.

  “Don’t you have magic that can communicate with people?” Siobhan asked.

  “It… doesn’t work like that,” he said, making an effort to sound respectful. “Not for me. Normally, I need special places like stone circles or thin spots in the veil to do that.”

  “What can you do?” Siobhan asked.

  “I can sense them, and their general location relative to mine. Sometimes I can even sense their countenance, given the right circumstances and materials.”

  “What would you need in order to do that for Finn right now?”

  “I’d need you and Donal to close your eyes.”

  “Sorry?” Siobhan asked.

  “Close your eyes,” Brendan said. “Go on.” He waited until Siobhan and Donal complied. “No peeking. Now, think of Finn. A powerful memory.”

  Donal mind struggled to lock in on a single memory. “Does it matter what kind?”

  “It does not,” Brendan said.

  Donal flashed back to a point before his illness. A warm summer day when his parents paused their fieldwork to play with Finn and Donal in Ballyness Bay. Donal had lost track of the shore and the water was now at eye level. He flailed in the water and called for his family, only to receive a mouthful of seawater instead. A pair of arms wrapped around Donal’s stomach and lifted his head out of the water.

  ‘I’ve got you,’ Finn said. ‘You’re safe, lad.”

  I’ve got a better memory for you, Shadow said from the back of his mind. How about the time his boat ran off while it was under attack and you didn’t follow him?

  Donal, overwhelmed by waves of fear, guilt and anger, responded aloud. “Don’t you dare—ow!” He rubbed a spot on his scalp where several of his hairs once grew. He opened his eyes to see Siobhan rubbing her head in a similar manner.

  “Sorry, lad,” Brendan said. “It’s part of the ritual.” He twisted his head and knitted his brow. “How did you know to warn me?”

  Donal’s cheeks burned, and he averted his eyes. “Oh, I guess I was just a little jammy.”

  He glanced at Siobhan. She nodded softly and rested her hand on his shoulder.

  “Well, now it’s my bit,” Brendan said. With a lock of Siobhan’s hair in his right hand and a lock of Donal’s in his left, he circled the hands and closed his eyes. “Aimsi? an duine caillte Finn.”

  A grey light shone behind his eyelids. He turned to face the left side of the boat. He nodded and smiled but never opened his eyes. “Yes, he’s that way. I can’t get a good sense of how he’s feeling, though. I think he’s—”

  His eyelids split open fast enough for the crew to see the grey light fade from his eyes. His hands broke their circle and reached in Finn’s direction.

  “—gone. I don’t feel him anymore.”

  Donal’s chest and stomach swapped places. He slumped into a seat.

  Siobhan spun Brendan around by the shoulders until he faced her. “What the hell do you mean by ‘gone,’ O’Cahan? You just said you felt him and that he was 'that way.' So let’s go that way and get you closer so you can feel him.”

  Brendan still wore a distracted expression. “It won’t matter,” he said. “He’s not there.”

  Siobhan seemed to note his expression and shook him. “Dya’mean by that?” she said. “Did you just feel him die?”

  Donal retched. Brigid spun him to keep the vomit out of the boat and rubbed his back.

  “Brother, wake up,” Brigid said. “They need answers.”

  Brendan snorted and shook his head. His voice was less breathy, his words more lucid.

  “I don’t think he’s dead,” Brendan said. “He went from ‘here’ to ‘gone’ in a heartbeat. I’ve never sensed someone die before, but I know it takes more than one heartbeat for a healthy young lad like Finn to die. It’s almost as if he disappeared.”

  Siobhan sat down. Her eyes flitted in every direction. “Disappeared? But how?”

  Ciara groaned. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked. “They must have found another portal.”