Emily's House: Book 1 of the Akasha Chronicles

Chapter 46: Piecing it Together in Dublin

Chapter 46: Piecing it Together in Dublin

As Liam drifted to sleep on the small bed, he hoped that he'd wake from his nap to find myself back in the States, the whole thing just a crazy nightmare. Instead, he woke to find Fanny flopped on her stomach on the other bed, maps spread out in front of her. It looked to Liam like she was trying to look busy rather than actually doing anything.

On the other hand, Jake was the picture of concentration, intently reading a webpage on his laptop. His hair was more tousled than usual, his eyes rimmed in red and bloodshot from hours of looking at a computer screen.

Liam stretched his arms above his head and breathed deeply. He wasn't in a dream after all. His daughter's life depended on his belief in their outrageous story.

"Jake, you found anything interesting?" he asked.

It took Jake a minute to register a voice from the outside world. He slowly turned and ran his hands through his shock of now jet-black hair, pausing as if to collect himself.

"Well, I don't know if I'm getting anywhere with this, but I have an idea. It's a bit off the wall."

"Off the wall? More off the wall than our best friend disappearing into another dimension?" asked Fanny.

"Okay, well maybe not that off the wall. Okay, check it. Dughall's supposed to want to get to the Netherworld, right?"

"Yeah, that's what Hindergog said."

"Sure but what's he after? I mean, why does he want to go there?"

"That's the mystery, isn't it nub?"

"Don't be short with him Fanny."

"Yeah, work with me on this. What I'm saying is we have to know what this guy is after. What does he think he can find in the Netherworld?"

"I don't know. Hindergog didn't say anything about what the psychopath wanted."

"But the story he told had clues."

"What kind of clues? What do you think he's after, Jake?" Liam asked.

"Well he was power hungry, that much we know. And he clearly didn't care who got hurt in his quest for power, so we know he's dangerous."

"Yeah, but Jake, we don't know what's in the Netherworld really. We may have to wait for Emily to come back to answer that," Fanny said.

"That's what I was thinking too, but then I started to think about what Dughall might think he'll find there. You know it doesn't matter what he'll actually find there, only what he thinks he'll find."

"Okay, that's riveting, but we don't know that either."

"I think we do have some clues about that. Dughall heard the story of the well from that guy that he killed – what was his name?"

"Cormac," offered Fanny.

"Yeah, Cormac. Anyway, according to Hindergog, Cormac told Dughall all about the Sacred Well and the portal and the torc. And then there was the pixie ... "

"Macha?"

"Yeah, Macha. Sounds like she knew a lot. She probably told him things too. He probably knew a lot about the Netherworld, or at least what people thought was on the other side of that Well."

"That's some good deduction, but I'm not following what you think that tells us about why Dughall wants to enter the portal," Liam said.

"Yeah, or how you think he's going to do it. He doesn't have the torc you know. Hey, you know, come to think of it, if he doesn't have the torc, he can't get through the portal, so what are we worrying about?"