Aedan Calahan and the Silver Hand

Chapter 12

Night at the Keeper's Grotto, or perhaps all the Otherworld, was different. There was no such thing as true darkness here. Light was stitched into every aspect, whether it was the nocturnal birds with glowing foreheads, pools of water that reflected the sparkling stars in the night's sky, or, and mainly, the vivid brightness of the moon that always seemed to be full.

It was night now. Tryouts were long over. Aedan and Callum stood where they were told to, the temperature slowly dropping and their nerves quickly rising. Why were they so nervous? What was scary about getting your clothes fitted?

Five tall boys approached, their heavy feet scraping against the rocky, dusty terrain of the battlegrounds. Laguna was nowhere to be seen and for some reason that made Aedan uneasy. Conor was in front, and he was serious as a boy ever was.

He motioned them to get in tow, without a word.

"Shannon?" Aedan blurted in a whisper. Shannon went unseen behind the tall group of boys until now. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged casually, noticing that two of the boys had turned around to shoot Aedan disapproving glances for whispering so loudly. Aedan saw the moonlight reveal their mischievous countenances. When they turned back around, Shannon shook his head slowly and sadly. It was such a hopeless gesture. Aedan knew he was in trouble.

He followed anyway, never the coward. He kept his head high.

They were headed right for the Forever Hills. Aedan dropped back to whisper to Shannon.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Saving you," Shannon whispered through gritted teeth. That wasn't like him. "I hate sports."

Aedan's old thief instincts kicked in. He shuffled silently, as only a trained thief could, back to where he was. He waited until one of the boys turned around to check on him. It was the heavy-set one that was prematurely balding this time and he smiled jovially.

"What do you mean?" Aedan whispered, after dropping back.

"I mean," Shannon said, "I tried out for enchanting just to save you two." He scowled. "I knew there was no such thing as a campus tailor. Who in the bloody three realms would fall for that?" Then he aimed his scowl at Aedan.

Aedan blushed. "So, what's really happening?"

"Deuchainn."

Aedan thought he saw a slight rotation of a shoulder of Conor, so he silently scurried forward. He was right. In the next instant, Conor did a quick check. His face revealed nothing. Aedan nodded.

"What?" Aedan whispered.

"Deuchainn," Shannon explained. "They're testing you before they make the team. Apparently, all the older boys do it to the younger boys. It's tradition, dating back to early AD."

"What is aydee?" Aedan asked.

"A-D," Shannon managed to pronounce clearly, while whispering. "After Death." He paused when he saw Aedan's confused look. "Nevermind. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, okay?"

Aedan really didn't like the sound of "After Death." Not now, not here, anyway.

"Okay. So what's going to happen?"

Shannon's face drained to a whiter shade of pale. "I don't know," he answered gravely. "I don't know."

Aedan shuffled forward just in time for one of the boys to check up on him. Keeper Mydradellin's warning echoed in his head.