Cooper shook his head. He knew grown-ups sometimes lied to him to protect him, but he didn’t like it. “That’s not true, Bebop. I’ve known you my whole life, and I know that you’re worried. Now, what’s it about?”
Cooper knew the moment Bebop would tell him, because his grandfather reached up to mess with his hair, chuckling slightly as he always did when Cooper surprised him.
“I’ll tell you, if I’d been as smart as you are when I was a child, I would have gotten in so much less trouble.” Bebop paused. “Or maybe more, hard to tell really. Would you believe me if I told you that you’re right when you say I’m worried, but what worries me the most is I don’t know why? Just a feeling…like something’s coming that I’m powerless to stop. Do you understand that?”
It was like Bebop took the words right out of his head. Cooper nodded and leaned into him. “I do understand. Do you want to know why?”
Bebop reached his arm around him to hug him tight. “Why?”
“Because I feel the same way, Bebop, and I don’t know why.”
*
Brendon Falls
As promised, there was no cabin, castle, or riverboat when I opened my eyes. Instead, I stood perilously close to the edge of the cliff, my feet standing on a small foot-worn trail that seemingly led behind the waterfall. I couldn’t see how anybody could make it behind the powerful rush of water without being swept into the water below.
“It’s beautiful.”
His hands slid from my eyes as he moved them down my arms and gathered them around me, pulling me close. “Aye, and so is what lies behind it.”
“Behind it?” Even if he and I could manage to follow the trail behind the falls, it would have been impossible for Tinley or anyone else to carry supplies and whatever else they’d left us along that path.
“Aye.” He crouched his head down next to mine while I looked nervously at the narrow, rocky trail.
“Well, you go right ahead, mister, because I’m not doing it.”
“Do heights frighten ye, Grace?”
“I would be an utter fool if that drop didn’t frighten me. Only an idiot would try to walk behind that rushing water.” I leaned into him so that he would take a step back. The view was beautiful, but I found myself ready to step away from the ledge.
“Aye, ye are verra right, lass. I wouldna allow ye to get inside the cave by way of the trail even if ye wished it. Do ye no remember when ye fell in me bedchamber at the inn? If ye canna walk across a room without meeting the floor, I doona wish to see ye try to manage that.”
I stepped back, pushing us both farther from the ledge. “I remember it very well, but I didn’t just fall. I was startled by the sight of you standing there naked.”
“Mmmm…”
It was a contented noise, as if the memory brought him great joy. I was sure it did. It was the first day any real flirtation had begun between us. “So, there’s a cave behind it, huh? And just how do we get back there?”
He stepped away and took my hand, winking back at me over his shoulder. “This way.”
We walked up a rocky staircase that I’d not noticed earlier. At the top, the steps turned downward, leading underneath the river feeding the waterfall. I found the engineering of it amazing, albeit utterly baffling. Without the use of modern tools, it seemed impossible that such a place could exist. “Who did this? It’s truly astonishing.”
He paused a few steps in front of me, answering over his shoulder. “No one knows. No many know of its existence now. ’Tis truly a place of magic.”
I didn’t doubt it. As we stepped into the cave itself, I couldn’t come up with any other explanation for the dwelling other than the use of magic from another like Morna. “Men didn’t create this.”
It wasn’t a question, and he understood my meaning. “I doona think so, either. ’Twas a question I meant to ask Morna. If she knew of the witch who created this place.”
“Perhaps it was Morna.” I moved about the room entirely awestruck by its beauty. The magic in the room was tangible.
Candles flickered from every corner of the stone room, highlighting the surprisingly large, round feather bed that sat against the back wall. It was draped in thick coverings, and looking at the warm, lush bed made me realize that I wasn’t cold. That in and of itself was enough to convince me of the magic that lingered in the room.
“This is…Eoghanan, I hardly know what to say.”
He smiled, leaning a hand against the wall opposite me. “Touch the stones, Grace. ’Tis the only way we could stay so close to the spray and remain warm.”
They were warm, almost hot to the touch, and I closed my eyes at the pleasant sensation. “Oh, that’s wonderful. I was just wondering at it actually. I wondered how it was that I wasn’t freezing in here, so close to the spray of the water.”
A warm breath traveled down my neck, and I opened my eyes to find Eoghanan standing over me, his deep green eyes staring into mine. “Are you hungry, lass?”
My stomach seemed to growl on cue, and I laughed into his neck. “Very.”
Chapter 41