Aedan Calahan and the Silver Hand

Chapter 9

"Hey, my name's Eimear Driscoll, nice to meet you."

"Hey," Aedan said with a chunk of pork butt in his mouth, "nice to meet you. Aedan Calahan."

"Holly Reid."

Eimear's eyes lit up. "Daughter of Andrew Reid?"

"Only when he wants to claim me."

"Nice to meet you, Holly." Aedan had the feeling they just bonded in a matter of seconds, the only way girls know how to do.

Eimear resembled Poet Kevya. She was an Indian girl with hollow eye sockets and jet-black hair, with the main differences being Eimear had significantly thicker eyebrows and yellow-tinted green eyes that were better fit for a cat. Aedan avoided making eye contact with her, by digging into his plate of food.

Eimear ate only vegetables, while Holly slowly picked at everything. When the dessert, a slice of black pie that Aedan didn't recognize, magically appeared in front of their faces, she finally had an appetite.

Aedan took a bite of the mysterious black pie. Tasted like sour fruit, cherries and bitter chocolate.

"What caste do you guys think you'll be?" Eimer asked.

"I don't want to think about it," Holly said honestly. "Whatever happens, happens. You?"

"My mom's Yew and my dad's Willow. My dad likes his job a lot more, so I'm learning towards Willow."

Eimear looked expectantly at Aedan, who shrugged. He didn't want to admit his ignorance, but he didn't want to lie. He had a new life now, a fresh start. He was determined to make this work. "I don't know. I'm from a Duine family. Today's my first day here in the Otherworld." He helped himself to another slice. "Holly said she thinks I'll be Ash. So maybe that."

Aedan expected Eimear to frown or show some sign of disapproval at his family upbringing. Instead, he received something far worse. A barrage of questions.

"Really? Where are you from? You don't really have an Irish accent, why is that?" She held her breath. "Are you from America?"

Aedan didn't know which question to answer first or at all, so he simply explained, "I'm from Dublin. My mom says I don't have an Irish accent because my dad was English."

"What's it like?" Eimear asked. "The Surfaceworld I mean. What do you do for fun without Druidry?"

"For fun? Um." What did I do for fun? Aedan thought. He never had time for fun, as he was too busy surviving. "I used to climb buildings and jump rooftops. And, uh, yeah. Sometimes I would go on a sailboat." That last part wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth.

"Wow," Eimear marveled.

Aedan went to bury himself back in his food, thinking that Eimear might be a bit too strange for his liking, when he saw Callum Clark. He was head and shoulders taller than everyone else, except for the far older kids, so he was hard to miss. That, and he was brooding like an old fisherman whose line broke. He had an air about him, like there was a black cloud always hovering above him. Surprisingly, he was not alone.

An exceptionally tall girl sat beside him. Her head was taller than any other at the table, beside Callum's. She was facing Callum and might have been chatting to him; it was hard to tell because Callum seemed seriously enthralled in his food. Her cheekbones were high as cliffs, leading to red, plump lips. Her skin was light-brown and smooth. Aedan had an inexplicable, uneasy feeling about her.

"What are you staring at?" Eimear asked Aedan.

"I think Savannah Bethros," Holly added teasingly.