Faelorehn - Book One of the Otherworld Trilogy

Chapters 10-12

Another matter that seemed to disturb you was the fact that I did indeed return you to your residence after you became unconscious after the whole incident.  Please believe me when I say that nothing ungentlemanly occurred; I merely wished to see you safe at home, and though you may not believe it, Fergus is a rather clever hound and he did lead the way.  On the matter of knowing your name, I must postpone that information until we meet again.  I realize this is all shocking to you, but if you try to contact the police, they will not find me.  I would not blame you if you did, but you must trust me on this matter.

I will not approach you or seek you out.  I shall simply wait until you are ready to learn more.  When you are prepared to meet with me again, leave me a note in the hollow knothole of the oak tree along the swamp trail, the tree that is closest to your home. In the mean time, should you find your curiosity unquenchable, I suggest you learn as much about the ancient Celts as you can.

Most sincerely,

Cade MacRoich

I finished the letter and dropped it into my lap, and after a moment I picked it up and read it again.  Who wrote letters like that anymore?  The language was so, antiquated.  When I gave it some thought, it dawned upon me that when he had spoken to me in the swamp, he hadn’t sounded like he was from this decade, or even this century.  It was extremely odd, but then again, I attracted odd the way flowers attract bees.

I glanced up at the blank screen of what used to be my dad’s old work computer.  So much for forgetting about all that had happened in the past few weeks.  I didn’t know how long I stared, numb and scared, at that old monitor but at some point in time, three things clicked in my head.

First, whether all this was a hallucination or not, it was happening and I had to address it.  No more pushing it aside and hoping it would go away.

Secondly, I had another option.  My whole life my only choices with regards to my issues had been therapy and medication.  Cade offered a third possibility; that all this was real and that he could explain it all to me.  Unlikely and crazy as it seemed, I shouldn’t shun it simply because modern society would label me mentally unstable.  News flash: I was halfway there already.

And last but not least, I was curious.  There, I admitted it.  I was one hundred percent, flat out fascinated with what Cade MacRoich had presented to me.  Of course, I was terrified as well, but I had always been the type to tackle a good mystery and I was never satisfied with a cover-up story if I felt all the clues hadn’t added up.

So, taking a deep breath, I pulled out my binder, flipped to a blank sheet of paper and jotted down the words faelah and ancient Celts.  I was curious, yes, but I was going to go about this the right way.  Before meeting with Cade again, I was going to do my research; see how much I could find out on my own.  Perhaps I would learn he was the crazy one after all.

* * *

I couldn’t find much time to research, what with midterms coming up before the winter break, but I did manage to get in a few internet searches and was rather satisfied with the results.

First I searched for the term faelah, and of course, nothing came up.  I wasn’t surprised.  I had never heard the word before in my life.  Next, I searched for information on the ancient Celts.  This proved to be much more promising when a hefty list of websites popped up on the screen.  I clicked on one that looked legitimate and was immediately faced with a page full of knot work designs and more lists.

I skimmed the introduction and read the overview.  It told me that the Celts were a group of ancient people who inhabited the British Isles and some parts of mainland Europe.  They were a tribal people and practiced a pagan religion.  Okay, I knew that much from Robyn already.  Weird how one of my friends was into this stuff and now I had some guy suggesting I research it.  Just a coincidence, I told myself.