Chapter 58.2

“What’s your home like?” Nick asked, his curiosity winning out.“Do you mean my actual home? Or the entire plane?”

Nick shrugged. “Both, I suppose.”

Tadhgán stood up tall for a moment, looking around before changing direction slightly. “The trees are much bigger, I’d say, though it can depend on where you’re traveling. I’ve yet to lose sight of the sky here, which is a tad unusual. It’s nowhere near this cold, and not this dry; I can practically feel my skin shriveling off my bones as we speak. It’s also strangely quiet here. Where are the buzzing insects? The singing birds? The elk chittering back and forth and the griffons clashing overhead?”

“Did you say griffons?” Nick asked incredulously.

“Aye. Are they not common in these parts? I guess that’s fair, I don’t see too many places they could perch…”

“They’re not uncommon; they’re nonexistent. Everyone you meet here would consider them a completely fictitious creature, the stuff of myths and legends.”

Tadhgán approached a large, fallen tree and cautiously climbed atop it before turning back to Nick, offering a hand. “Why would a creature of myth be fictitious? Are myths not stories meant to pass on knowledge to the next generation?”

Nick grabbed Tadhgán’s wrist and jumped onto the tree himself. In doing so, his right foot lost its grip and he very nearly fell off the tree. Thankfully, Tadhgán managed to catch him in time, grabbing Nick’s arm with one hand and his waist with the other. Once Nick found his footing again, he looked up at Tadhgán and smiled. “Thanks for that, I’m not used to hiking around in the winter like this. Anyways, around here, people consider myths to be tall tales, stories invented for the sake of telling a good story, and no other reason. Most people also think faeries aren’t real, as another example.”

With a slight shudder, Tadhgán released his grip on Nick’s waist. “Be glad you have the freedom to think the Fae are fictitious. If I never had to see a faerie again for the rest of my life, I could die a happy man.”

“Are they really that scary?”

“Scary? Nay, that’s not the right word. They’re beauteous, immaculate, beings of pure joy and wonder and chaos. You look at them and everything feels right, like you’ve just found your place in the world, and it blinds you to what they’re capable of. The Fae wield power that’s hard to understand, they feed and delight in things you and I would find trivial. Carnivorous trees with mouths the sizes of bears are scary, but faeries are something else entirely.”

As he spoke, Tadhgán’s eyes glazed over in memory, and Nick couldn’t help but shudder. “Let’s hope I never meet one, then.”

A tense silence fell between them, and when Tadhgán spoke again, he did so in hushed tones, as if scared someone were listening in. “I have a small wooden totem in my house that’s not mine. It doesn’t belong to anyone in my family, and I don’t remember when it appeared. It’s a carved figure of a griffon; made so carelessly it looks to be the work of a child. On the bottom, barely legible, is a simple message congratulating me on earning my name. That ceremony took place ages ago, and I distinctly remember each and every person I invited.”

“So, what, a faerie put it there as a prank?” Nick asked, chills running down his spine.

Tadhgán shook his head vehemently. “Impossible. A faerie wouldn’t dream of entering someone’s house without permission.”

“Then what is it?”

“Most likely it’s a gift from a friend. A treasured companion from my youth that I invited to the ceremony, who cared enough about me to carve me something by hand. Then, at some point, this friend met a faerie. Maybe they misspoke, maybe they made a deal, maybe they stepped on the wrong pebble and insulted the faerie’s honor, it’s impossible to say. Somehow, all memories of this person were wiped from existence; they have no name to mourn, no memories to treasure fondly. They might still exist, wandering the forest as a husk of who they used to be, or maybe their entire existence was undone. For all I know, I was madly in love with someone and had them stolen away, or maybe I lost a sibling. That’s the true fright of a faerie, Nicholas. That’s the kind of power they live with, and their own perceptions of reality are the only things that matter to them.”

“That’s… Tadhgán, I’m so sorry,” Nick muttered. He grabbed Tadhgán’s shoulder, drawing his attention, and looked deep into his eyes as they spoke. “To lose someone and not even have the memories of your time together, that’s awful.”

“I say a prayer to that totem every new moon,” Tadhgán whispered back. His voice carried a sincere vulnerability, and they met each other’s gaze without flinching. “Whoever that person was, they’ll never have a memorial in their name, or a tree planted in their honor. It’s the indifference that truly haunts me, Nicholas. The thought that this person deserves to be grieved, and I can’t even give them that.”

Nick couldn’t think of anything to say, and instead settled for sharing this moment of silence with Tadhgán. He saw such compassion in this person’s eyes, and despite having only known him for a short while, he felt a sense of companionship through his earnestness. He was unafraid to share his thoughts, his emotions, and Nick appreciated that.

“Anyways,” Tadhgán said, sniffing and rubbing his nose. “I should probably stay on task, right? I believe we’re trying to hunt down those pesky wolf friends of mine.”

After a quick survey, Tadhgán picked a direction and hopped off the fallen tree. Nick followed closely behind, and they only made it a few steps before the sounds of panicked running approached them from the left. Turning to look, Nick saw Amara closing fast, although Tessa was no longer riding her back, instead running a few steps behind her.

“Nick! Have you seen any of them? It’s the weirdest thing; I can barely smell them, and they blend in so well it’s practically impossible to keep my eyes on them.” After a quick pause, Amara realized Nick wasn’t alone. “Wait, who’s this?”

“This is Tadhgán, he fell through with the third wolf. Tadhgán, this is Amara, who I told you about earlier.”

“Ah! The demon!” Tadhgán said excitedly. “Pleasure to meet you, and to see you again, fair Tessa. Our little friends are likely going to be on the hunt for some kind of shelter, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up looking for a cave, or maybe some place with an outcropping. It does look like all the activity has them spooked, though; they’re not moving as a pack yet. There’s actually one right over there, hoping we haven’t seen it yet.” Tadhgán pointed off into the distance, presumably at one of the wolves, but Nick couldn’t see anything.

Thankfully, the hint proved more helpful for Amara, who gestured for Tessa to hop on her back again. Once they were ready, she flexed her wings and used them to propel herself into a sprint. After the first few steps, Nick finally saw the wolf in question; the movement seemed to spook it, and it immediately started running again.

Now alone once more, Tadhgán continued tracking the wolves as they moved through the forest preserve, and Nick did his best to prepare Tadhgán for everything he might encounter here on Earth. As nervous as he was that Tadhgán might let something slip, his nerves lessened the more they talked. Their guest seemed quite smart, and if nothing else, he understood the importance of keeping magic under wraps.

As time passed, the wolves continued fleeing deeper into the preserve. The gentle slope of the land, coupled with Nick’s previous knowledge about this place, told him they were approaching the lower areas of the park. This hardly seemed to surprise Tadhgán; as he’d mentioned earlier, the wolves were likely on the hunt for shelter, and he seemed to think it made sense to travel towards lower areas in search of caves, fallen trees, or something of the sort. After nearly half an hour of walking, Tadhgán held up a hand to silently ask for Nick to pause, which he did immediately.

Glancing at Tadhgán, Nick tried to silently ask what he’d found. While he didn’t get a verbal response, his confusion eventually faded when he saw Tadhgán’s shoulders slouch. Nick followed his gaze, then saw a small deer standing off to their side.

It stared at them, completely unmoving, and Tadhgán quickly gestured for Nick to crouch down. Nick did so without hesitation, though Tadhgán took a single step closer before he fell to his knees. Miraculously, after another tense few moments of silent judgment, the deer nervously stepped towards Tadhgán. When nothing happened, it took another step, then a third, and a minute later, it had reached them.

Tadhgán reached out, a massive smile on his face, and the deer pushed its forehead into his palm. “Hi there, lovely. What’s your name?”

The deer said nothing. Somehow, this surprised Nick.

“You’re awfully far from family, aren’t you?” Tadhgán whispered. As he slowly scratched behind the deer’s ears, he subtly looked at Nick and gestured him closer with his eyes. Doing his best to stay quiet and move predictably, Nick continued to mirror Tadhgán’s movements.

“I’m Tadhgán, and this is my good friend Nicholas. Can he say hello as well? He’d love to meet you.”

Another quick glance between them, and Nick swallowed nervously. He opened his hand and extended it with his palm up, almost in disbelief at what was happening. The next creature he locked eyes with wasn’t Tadhgán, but the deer. They studied each other for a moment, then the deer stepped closer and repeated its earlier action, pressing its head into Nick’s hand.

Its fur was thin and quite cold. Nick gently scratched just under its ear, but it soon shifted its head until Nick was petting underneath its chin. Nick couldn’t help but smile, grinning from ear to ear at this strange event, and he looked up at Tadhgán in disbelief.

“See? We’re all friends here,” Tadhgán said, stepping closer to Nick and the deer. “I don’t think you should stick around for long, however. There’s a pack of wolves roaming the forest, and I’d hate for them to find you.” Tadhgán turned slightly, pointing in the direction he and Nick had initially approached from. “If you head that way, you should be able to avoid them.”

A second later, the deer pulled its head away from Nick. It looked at Tadhgán, then without warning, dug its hooves into the ground and ran off.

Tadhgán rubbed his hands together as he chuckled. “You seem quite taken with her, Nicholas.”

“I’ve just never been that close to a deer before. It was incredible, I don’t know how you did that!” Nick said.

“Ah, it’s nothing,” Tadhgán said. “I’ve just got a way with animals. She was strangely quiet, but I’m glad she understood me. Anyways, we should probably get back to the tracking, yeah?”

And with that, the two men returned to their primary task. It wasn’t long before they found themselves approaching one of Nick’s favorite features of the Demali Forest Preserve—a small canyon with a tiny river on its floor. Steep, rocky walls jutted out from the ground on either side, and as they started weaving through the canyon, Nick heard voices coming from above them.

“—there’s no way it jumped, right?”

“I’m pretty sure it did, Vee. Here, grab my hand, I’ll get us to the ground.”

“No phasing this time!”

“Aww, c’mon, it’s not that weird.”

“It is too! I’ve never done it before, and I swear I felt the wolf’s fur sliding over my bones. What if a strand of hair got stuck inside me?”

“That’s not how it works! Well, probably. It’s not like I’ve run extensive tests about it.”

“You’re not making me feel any better, Chloé!”

The sounds of their conversation floated closer as Nick looked up. Vee slowly floated into view; her hand extended over her head as she tightly gripped Chloé’s wrist. As they landed, Vee pulled a lock of fur off her jacket and shuddered, tossing it aside before turning her attention to Nick and Tadhgán.