the prophecy by purging the land of the poison that was Lorcan, saving not only Eden, but also Tír na nÓg…and earth.
She turned to Finn, who was looking at her with concern. “I need to go with you,” she said quietly but firmly.
“Cedar, I just finished listing all the reasons why that would be a bad idea.”
“Listen, you have no idea what you’re facing, right? There are a thousand things that could go wrong, and if you’re captured or killed, Eden is as good as dead. I can be Plan B.”
“What could you possibly do?”
She hesitated, and for the first time knew how Finn must have felt when he had hidden the truth from her to protect her. She took one of his hands in hers and said, “I have a plan, but I can’t tell you what it is, not yet. You’re going to have to trust me.”
He brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. His eyes, slightly wounded, were intent on hers. “I do trust you, and I love you. You don’t have to tell me your plan. But plan or no plan, this is too risky. Please, just stay here and wait for me to come back. If I’m not here by sunset, go through the sidh and see if Eden got back to Ériu alone.” He stood up and pulled her to her feet, then brought her in close against his chest.
“I spent years thinking I’d never see you again,” he said. “You don’t know how much it means to me to have you back. It’s as if I’ve been given back my life. I can’t risk losing you again.”
“This isn’t about us,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. “It’s about Eden. She needs me. I know I can save her.” Cedar felt moisture on her cheeks and wiped it away with the palm of her hand. “Please understand,” she pleaded. “I have to do this. I have to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”
“You could be killed,” he said, his voice trembling.
“I’m not as helpless as you think I am,” she said, trying to fill her voice with conviction. “I’ll be careful. I’ll stay out of the way, hidden, just close enough to help if I can. But I need to be there. We have the starstones. Find out where Eden is, and let me know. Maybe it will be easy, like you say. If nothing goes wrong, we won’t have anything to worry about. I’ll head straight for the white tree and meet you on the other side. But I’m not going to stay here, not without knowing whether you and Eden are alive or dead or being tortured somewhere. I’m going with you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Finn flew above her in his eagle form, occasionally swooping down to tell her to wait or hide or change course based on something he had seen from high above. Without the sun, it was difficult to gauge how long they had been in Tír na nÓg, but finally Cedar saw in the distance a grand building that had to be the Hall. It was like no place she had ever seen on earth. Its towering walls of pure white would have been blinding in the sun. The Hall’s many spires twisted and danced through the air above the walls, and many-colored banners hung limp from them. She tried to imagine what it would have looked like on a sunny day, or with a slight breeze to send the banners soaring into the air.
To the west of the Hall stretched a large lake, or what Cedar assumed had once been a lake. She could see water in the distance, but it had obviously been steadily receding, leaving a vast swath of dry, parched earth in its wake. Beyond this once-lake rose a gray mountain range. Cedar squinted at one of the mountains, which seemed oddly misshapen, as if a giant had ripped it in two. She wondered if they would encounter any giants in Tír na nÓg.
She continued through the brush, avoiding the dusty road that led to the Hall, until at last she followed Finn into a small copse of trees, where he resumed his normal form.
“You should be safe if you stay here,” he said. “There are guards at the front entrance, but other than that there is little activity in the outer grounds. This place used to be alive and filled with people, but now…” He gave Cedar a long,