The Dark Divide Read online

  Dedication

  FOR SHARON AND THE GODSON

  Contents

  Cover

  Dedication

  Author’s Note

  Prologue

  The first thing the Faerie prince, Marcroy Tarth, did when…

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  ‘Onushirano shoguno namaewo mouse?’

  Chapter 2

  Marcroy looked through the shimmering opening of the rift and…

  Chapter 3

  The media circus that had taken up residence in the…

  Chapter 4

  Trása’s escape from the samurai compound had come at a…

  Chapter 5

  Riding around in the trunk of a car, even one…

  Chapter 6

  A couple of the samurai had loosed arrows at Trása…

  Chapter 7

  Brydie’s imprisonment in the amethyst jewel where she had been…

  Chapter 8

  Ren landed heavily against a tree, as if he’d been…

  Chapter 9

  It was raining again by the time Darragh and Sorcha…

  Chapter 10

  It turned out to be a long walk to Kazusa’s…

  Chapter 11

  It was dark before Patrick knocked on Jack’s back door.

  Chapter 12

  The reception Ren got from Kazusa’s brother was in stark…

  Chapter 13

  Pete Doherty hated family gatherings and he’d been dreading this…

  Chapter 14

  The following evening, after Ren spent an interesting — if…

  Chapter 15

  It took Trása two exhausting and worrying days, but finally…

  Chapter 16

  Inspector Duggan was a tough, all-business sort of woman. Until…

  Chapter 17

  It shouldn’t be so easy to take a life.

  Chapter 18

  Trása liked cats. She liked their independence. She liked their…

  Chapter 19

  Kiva Kavanaugh’s house was huge. It wasn’t as big as…

  Chapter 20

  For the second night in a row, Ren spent the…

  Chapter 21

  Brendá Duggan stared at the footage playing on the monitor…

  Chapter 22

  Darragh spent the night in his brother’s bed. With Kiva…

  Part Two

  Chapter 23

  ‘It is a necklace fit for a queen, Prionsa.’

  Chapter 24

  As she lay in wait for Warren to appear in…

  Chapter 25

  If it had been up to some of Pete’s older…

  Chapter 26

  Brydie spent much of the next few days in the…

  Chapter 27

  Cuan Mó, in every reality Trása had ever visited, was…

  Chapter 28

  ‘He’s killed Hayley Boyle and probably his brother and our…

  Chapter 29

  Sorcha took her time making her way back to Jack’s…

  Chapter 30

  Fortunately for Brydie, once Torcán had officially gifted his future…

  Chapter 31

  Having sworn to kill herself if Ren tried to leave…

  Chapter 32

  Namito had found, or been handed, another katana. He raised…

  Chapter 33

  Once it was clear they weren’t dealing with Chelan Aquarius…

  Chapter 34

  ‘Hate to be the bearer of bad news, mistress,’ Toyoda…

  Chapter 35

  The mystery of the relationship between Anwen and Queen Álmhath…

  Chapter 36

  ‘What do you think?’ Pete asked Annad Semaj when he…

  Chapter 37

  The massive wooden gates of the Ikushima compound opened slowly…

  Chapter 38

  Darragh was not entirely unfamiliar with the judicial system. His…

  Chapter 39

  Pete spent several days trying to track down his mother…

  Chapter 40

  The Empresses made no attempt to pretend they had arrived…

  Chapter 41

  ‘But they’re only little girls!’ Trása exclaimed as she morphed…

  Chapter 42

  Old age was a terrible thing. It was bad enough,…

  Chapter 43

  The investiture of a new Undivided was no small thing,…

  Chapter 44

  Without intending to, Trása had become queen of the Faerie.

  Chapter 45

  Anwen and Torcán were married in the sacred grove at…

  Chapter 46

  The ceremony to transfer the power to the Undivided took…

  Part Three

  Chapter 47

  Sorcha was dying. She knew it in her bones. Especially…

  Chapter 48

  Pete Doherty and his twin brother Logan had made a…

  Chapter 49

  Trása flew back to Shin Bungo in hawk form, and…

  Chapter 50

  It shouldn’t be so easy to take a life. The…

  Chapter 51

  All hell broke loose with Rónán’s collapse, a situation not…

  Chapter 52

  Ren opened his eyes, blinking in the bright, coloured light.

  Chapter 53

  Darragh woke to find himself covered in electrodes with tubes…

  Chapter 54

  It took several blows with a short police battering ram…

  Chapter 55

  ‘My real name is Ingrid,’ Wakiko told Ren and Trása,…

  Chapter 56

  Logan was standing in the rain outside Jack O’Righin’s house,…

  Chapter 57

  The gimmick of pretending the Empresses knew her real name…

  Chapter 58

  ‘I’m sorry, but Ms Doherty will be in meetings all…

  Chapter 59

  Chishihero waited alone at the stone circle for the rift…

  Chapter 60

  Even though he knew he wasn’t really going to kill…

  Chapter 61

  Trása waited until she could no longer hear the horses…

  Chapter 62

  By Danu, the djinni was right. The Undivided are still…

  Epilogue

  The World of The Faerie And The Undivided:

  About the Author

  Books by Jennifer Fallon

  Copyright

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  There are some real places in this story (obviously), including the Castle Golf Club in Dublin. While I’m sure they’ll forgive me for carving up their fairways with an imaginary car chase, the stone circle hidden in the rough on the ninth hole does not exist (that I know of), nor does St Christopher’s Visual Rehabilitation Centre, something you might have figured out if you realised why I called it St Christopher’s.

  If my Gaelic is correct, then it is thanks to the awesome talents and advice of the lovely Josephine Walsh. If it’s wrong, it’s my fault. Thanks also to Gillian Pollack for her advice regarding Druids, bards and ancient Celtic locations, as well as to Lyn Tranter, Mark Timmony, Sharyn Lilley and my daughter TJ, for their incisive advice and proofreading.

  As for the Druids and the Tuatha Dé Danann, I don’t doubt for a moment there are many readers out there who are preparing to email me as we speak, telling me how wrong I got them. Please don’t. This is a story of alternate realities and, more importantly, a story about how things are distorted over time. Of course, things have changed over the past 2000 years. Even in a reality where the people cling desperately to the status quo, the very act of clinging will force changes on them they could not anticipate.

  If, however, you actually know a ge
nuine member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, by all means drop me a line. I’d truly love to meet them.

  Jennifer Fallon

  Oxford, New Zealand 2010

  PROLOGUE

  The first thing the Faerie prince, Marcroy Tarth, did when Hayley Boyle arrived in his magical kingdom of Tír Na nÓg was to take her clothes away and burn them, replacing them with a gossamer-thin shift that offered only minimal protection for her dignity and absolutely none from the elements. It was something to do with her clothes being tainted by technology, Marcroy said, although she wasn’t really listening to the explanation.

  Hayley was too enchanted by Tír Na nÓg to notice much of anything. She was still trying to get her head around the events of the past few hours. Was it only hours?

  This morning she had woken up in St Christopher’s Visual Rehabilitation Centre in Dublin, facing another day of ‘life lessons’. Another day of learning to cope with her blindness. Another day of dealing with the aftermath of being hit by a car outside Kiva Kavanaugh’s house in the chaos caused by a frenzied paparazzi pack. Another day of wondering if Ren was dead or alive.

  Another day of being reminded that, until that moment, she had been a perfectly ordinary seventeen-year-old girl whose best friend just happened to be the son of a movie star. And now she was here. In another reality. With the Faerie.

  And she could see.

  Although she still wasn’t sure if Ren was dead or alive.

  I might go mad if I think about this too much.

  Her skin had tingled as she and Marcroy passed through the magical veil that separated the Faerie kingdom from the realm of man. Although it was still night out in the real world, it was only twilight in the Faerie kingdom. Magic glimmered from every surface. Even the insects seemed benign and drunk on the magical nectar they consumed. The forest pulsed with life, as if every plant were a sentient being, but even they paled in comparison to the majestic trees where the Daoine sídhe made their homes. Hayley gasped with awe when they reached the centre of Tír Na nÓg. She stared at one wonder only to discover another so marvellous she was almost unable to comprehend their existence — let alone their size and magnificence.

  Intoxicated by the magical forest air, Hayley followed Marcroy all the way up the exquisitely curved stairs in wide-eyed wonder. The sídhe had coaxed the sacred trees into growing the stairs, Marcroy explained. The sacred trees of Tír Na nÓg were full of hollowed-out caves and broad boughs wide enough to act as platforms. His voice was hypnotic and seductive. It felt like warm liquid chocolate, if it were possible for a voice to manifest such a tactile effect. She was enchanted — with Marcroy, with Tír Na nÓg and the beautiful people who lived here. Their strange cat-slit eyes stared curiously at Hayley as she climbed ever upward behind Marcroy, no doubt wondering about this human interloper.

  When they realised she was Marcroy’s invited guest, the Faerie bowed and smiled and sometimes sang a small refrain in a musical language Hayley couldn’t understand. Although she was unfamiliar with the melodies, the songs were so harmonious it was like listening to a treasured music box that constantly refreshed its repertoire, each song trying to outdo the last in purity and joy.

  Marcroy led Hayley by the hand, high into the branches to meet his sister, an ethereal creature of exquisite beauty who seemed puzzled by her visitor. Elimyer had long, white-blonde hair, eyes that seemed carved from emeralds, and pronounced points on her ears. She was naked and flawless, as she emerged from the dark entrance of her quarters in the sacred tree and embraced Hayley like a long-lost child, which Hayley found rather disconcerting.

  She stepped back to examine Hayley at arm’s length after Marcroy had introduced them. ‘Aren’t you a sweet little thing? You remind me of my daughter.’

  ‘You have a daughter?’ Hayley asked, a little surprised. Elimyer looked barely old enough to have a boyfriend, let alone a child anywhere near Hayley’s age. She kept her eyes firmly fixed on the Faerie girl’s face, uncomfortable with the casual nudity of Elimyer and her kind. At least Marcroy was dressed.

  She wasn’t sure what she would do if he decided to go native.

  The leanan sídhe reached forward to gently lift a lock of her dark hair and sniff it. ‘You are like her in many ways. But you smell different.’

  ‘Um … I suppose,’ Hayley asked, glancing at Marcroy. She wasn’t sure about the hair sniffing, but for all she knew, this was how the Faerie greeted one another. ‘What’s your daughter’s name?’

  ‘Her name is Trása,’ Elimyer said, stroking Hayley’s head with a vague smile. ‘You have such pretty hair. So dark and glossy.’

  ‘Trása?’ Hayley asked, an edge to her voice she couldn’t hide. She snatched the lock of hair from Elimyer’s hand. ‘That blonde cow Ren was hanging out with the day of my accident?’

  The one who likes to chat up other people’s boyfriends, she added silently.

  Not that Ren Kavanaugh actually was her boyfriend. Her plans for that eventuality had been cruelly shattered by recent events. First, she was hit by Murray Symes’s car, which put her in a coma and blinded her. Second, she was sent to live in that damned rehabilitation facility to learn how to deal with her ‘disability’. And then to top it all off, Ren had whisked her away to this magical alternate reality with the cops hot on their tail just so she could witness the horrific, but effective, removal of the bullet from Marcroy Tarth’s chest, which still made her stomach churn when she thought about it.

  Now Ren is missing, my sight has been magically restored and I’m a guest of a real live Faerie prince in a magical kingdom that in my reality only exists in, well … faerie tales. Hayley felt as if she’d been living doggy years, lately. It didn’t seem possible all that could have happened to one person in only a few weeks.

  Elimyer smiled at her. ‘Who is Ren, dear?’

  ‘She means Rónán,’ Marcroy explained, smiling at her. ‘Hayley is from the realm where Rónán of the Undivided has been hiding all this time.’

  ‘All this time? It seems like just yesterday you brought us the news that the Undivided were divided, brother.’ She let out a vague little sigh. ‘I really should go beyond the veil more often. It’s so easy to lose track of what’s happening.’

  Hayley thought calling Ren’s life in her realm ‘hiding’ a little odd, given Ren was barely three when her father, Patrick Boyle, had found him in that lake on the movie set where he was working as a stuntman; the same set where Kiva Kavanaugh got her big break, and, as it turned out, her adopted son. Hayley didn’t think Ren had been hiding in her reality. Ren — or rather Rónán, as they insisted on calling him here — must have crossed a dimensional rift from this realm to splash down in the lake. There was a good chance someone had hidden him, rather than Ren hiding himself.

  She didn’t want to question Marcroy too closely, though. In the last few hours, Hayley had gone from trying to face her blindness and despair to standing here, in another reality, cured, swapping pleasantries with a naked Faerie. She stifled the urge to giggle. I must have tripped over and banged my head again, she decided. I’m back in the coma. I bet the brain damage I got when the car hit me is worse than they thought, and I’ve had a relapse.

  It must be. This is fairyland and I’m talking to fairies. This can’t be real.

  But it was real. Hayley knew it instinctively, even if she couldn’t explain exactly why she was so sure it wasn’t the result of some exotic fever dream brought on by a head injury and opiate painkillers.

  Even more intriguing, this strange turn her life had taken had little to do with her. It was all about Ren and his mysterious origins.

  How had Ren taken it when he discovered this world that was his true home? she wondered, wishing he were here now. Hoping that wherever he was, he was safe. She wasn’t too sure about that. There had been bullets flying about when he pushed her through the rift.

  When he was missing for all those weeks, had he been here? In Tír Na nÓg? Had he been as enchanted with the place as she was? How
had he coped when he woke up here in this strange world full of impossible beauty and unbelievable creatures?

  Marcroy had explained much to Hayley on her journey here, but she still found it hard to grasp.

  Had Ren been so fortunate with the explanation he’d been given? Or did he just know this place and all the magic that came with it, because of who he was?

  Hayley desperately wished Ren were here now. Marcroy was prettier than any creature had a right to be, but he wasn’t Ren, and she could do with something familiar. Trouble was, Hayley had no idea where Ren was. Marcroy said the rift had closed before he came through. Was he back home, trying to explain her disappearance? Had the cops arrested him? Was his mother’s stiff-backed lawyer, Eunice Ravenel, trying to get Ren released on bail as Hayley stood here grappling with having crossed into a world where Ren was a prince and not simply a troubled teen with self-harm issues?

  ‘I have business with Jamaspa on behalf of the queen, Ellie,’ Marcroy informed his sister, placing his hands on Hayley’s shoulders from behind, his breath tickling her ear and sending shivers down her spine. His touch was electric. ‘So Hayley will be staying with you for a time.’

  Elimyer’s eyes lit up. She seemed unduly pleased by the prospect of a houseguest. ‘That’s wonderful! Do you paint, dear? Draw? Write poetry? Play an instrument, perhaps?’

  Hayley shook her head. ‘Not really.’

  ‘Pity,’ Elimyer sighed. She turned to Marcroy, filled with disappointment. ‘You didn’t bring her here for me to inspire her, then?’

  ‘No,’ Marcroy said. ‘She is a guest, Elimyer. Not your lunch. Be nice to her.’

  ‘A guest like Sorcha?’ she asked, with a raised brow and a slight edge to her voice. Hayley got the feeling there was something important being said here — something she should probably know about. She was too enchanted by her surroundings, and far too polite, to question either Marcroy or his sister about it.

  Marcroy glanced at Hayley for a moment and then shook her head. ‘No. Not like Sorcha, Ellie. This one is my friend, not my lover.’

  ‘Then she’ll be here a little longer than Sorcha, I suppose?’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Marcroy said with a shrug. ‘We’ll see.’

  Elimyer took Hayley by the hand, smiling. ‘You’ll be wanting something to eat, I’m guessing,’ she said, drawing her away from Marcroy. ‘Trása eats all the time when she’s here. Something about being half-human. Are you half-human, dear?’