After a few moments, he returned to Kian who was rubbing the back of his head but otherwise looked just fine. “Who was that fellow?” Aaron asked, glimpsing back the way he had come.“I don’t know,” Kian admitted. “But I’ve never encountered someone so strong.”“Or so fast.”“You don’t think he could be a… Dark One?” Kian asked, finally moving his hand off the back of his head.“No, I don’t think so,” Aaron said quickly, though he wasn’t sure. If Ward really was a Dark One, wouldn’t he have destroyed them? Why would he offer an explanation for the English’s reaction to the Dark Ones? No, he didn’t seem to be evil—just leery of trusting anyone. And definitely not human, though what he might be, Aaron had no idea.“Come on,” Kian insisted, tugging on Aaron’s sleeve. “Let’s go visit our paren

Neither of them made mention to their wives what had happened, though they didn’t discuss keeping it a secret. It just didn’t seem like the sort of thing one mentioned to a person who was not there; no one was likely to believe them anyway.The next morning, Aaron met Kian outside near the road. They decided they must return to the tavern to try and find Ward. Without a word to their wives of where they were going, they set out, certain that Ward would have some answers, though the longer time went by, the more Aaron began to doubt anything about the experience was real.As they walked along, Kian voiced the same thoughts. “That did really happen to us, didn’t it?”“I think so,” Aaron shrugged. “I mean, it couldn’t be a dream or else one of us wouldn’t remember, right?”“Right,” Kian agreed, though his voice wavered. “I do hope those girls made it home safely. I would hate

Killarney, Ireland, 1847The pain shooting through Aaron’s body was agonizing. Though it tended to radiate through his limbs most of the time, there were moments when his stomach muscles contracted so tightly, he thought he might pass out from the pain. Likewise, he’d had a throbbing headache for the last several weeks, and each time he moved he felt like his cranium might split in half.The Transformation process had begun nearly three months ago, and though it had started off with just the uncomfortable shooting pains in his limbs and soreness in his muscles, with each passing day it grew more unbearable to the point that he wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it.Despite the anguish, he had work to do, and so he pushed through the pain each day from sunup to sundown, getting us much work done on the farm as he could, though he knew he would’ve managed so much more if he’d only been pain free.Kian was also i

However, as the days passed, he began to realize something wasn’t quite right with Aislyn either. At first, he had thought it was just the pregnancy. She was becoming more and more lethargic. Her skin was even more pale than usual, and her eyes had dark rings beneath them. He insisted she spend her days in bed, even though she argued, saying she was fine and had much to do around the house. He won out, however, and she continued to rest. Even with more sleep, she didn’t improve, and when she broke into a fever, Aaron panicked. He checked her entire body for any signs of infection. She insisted she was fine—that she had not interacted with any of the Dark Ones. She would recover fully with more rest.Aaron ran into town to find a midwife. By the time he returned, Aislyn was hardly even lucid. The woman checked her over and assured him that if she drank an herbal remedy, she would be fine in a day or two. She believed it was only the pregnancy wearing her down

Killarney, Ireland, 1847The herbal remedy only lasted for so long, and before too many days, Aislyn was clearly ill again. This time, she was hardly conscious by the time the midwife got there, and though she checked her over thoroughly, she could not tell what was the matter. Without a diagnosis, she was unwilling or unable to make a recommendation and left, telling Aaron she was sorry, but his wife would likely die within a day or two.This answer was not acceptable to him, and though he had to travel far to find a third midwife, he was able to do so. Leaving Aislyn alone was not ideal, but he was fearful to ask a family member to sit with her because he did not know if the illness was contagious. He’d called upon Kian to see if he might come over and sit with her while he traveled to town, despite the fact that he had yet to come by and assure Aaron he was not angry about the situation with Shannon, but Kian was nowhere to be found. Ultimately, Aaron