He smiled at me, understanding lighting his golden eyes.

“Ah, she can’t see me. She doesn’t believe in magic.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief. What the heck did that mean?

“Uh, Abigail, did you fall or something? Hit your head maybe?” She looked at me more closely, looking for obvious signs of injury.

“Yes, I did fall, but no I didn’t hit my head, just my knee. Nevermind.” I looked at Wruin for an explanation. I could see him as plain as day in front of me, as solid as the walls around me. I could smell his delicious scent, even from five feet away. How could she not at least smell him?

Was he the one off his rocker? Obviously not, because Holly couldn’t see him. So the rocker-less one must be me. Was I cracking up? Was that it?

“She has lost her ability to believe in magic, Abigail. She can’t see me. Only you can.” His eyes were sad and he sat down on the window seat with a tired sigh. “Only those with magic still in their hearts can see those of the Tirfothwin.”

I let my eyes go wide and gave an imperceptible nod of my head. What did that mean, I hoped the move conveyed. I went along with my obvious hallucination, not sure what else to do in that moment. My house had been broken into, some weird sword left behind, and I’d been hallucinating the man of my dreams for a good while now. Yeah, let’s just play that out and see where it goes, I decided.

“Your mother didn’t tell you then? She knew all of the stories and she didn’t tell you any of them?” His sadness deepened and he sat back on the seat, settling in.

“Abigail, I’m going to go set that burglar alarm thing in the doorway, I saw the code on that note the agent left us. Then, I think we need to call the police. This is all just getting too weird. Freaks breaking in and not taking anything, but leaving swords stuck in the sofa. You’re talking to an invisible man. It just doesn’t make any sense...” Her voice trailed off as she walked away.

I waited until she was gone and sat down beside my new imaginary friend. Immediately, I felt pulled towards him, but held myself away. He’s imaginary!

“Have you heard of the Tuatha de Danan? The fairy folk? The old gods? Thor and Loki, Valhalla, Tir na Nog? Ragnorak? Any of that ring a bell?”

“You’re a fairy? Or Thor?” I wasn’t sure what he was telling me and I just couldn’t get my head around any of what he’d said. There was a lot of that disbelief stuff going around.

“Neither. I’m a dragon. A dragon shifter. The dragon shifter, in fact.” He paused, letting that sink in.

“Who are these Tuatha de Danan? Do they make yogurt?” I asked as I totally blanked that whole dragon thing. I wasn’t even going to touch that right now.

“They were the supernatural beings of all of the land to the west of Tirfothwin, until Tirfothwin finally submitted to the waves completely.”

“Huh?” I knew I looked totally lost now.

“This is going to take far longer to explain than we have. Take these.” He held out glowing hands and two pairs of boots, really kick ass, sweet boots of soft black leather. “There’s a pair for Holly. Put them on, and then we have to go. He’s near.”

I stared at the boots and at Wruin’s hands before taking the boots. Later, later I’d argue that none of this could be real, later I’d ask the stupid “how is this possible” questions that were only a waste of time. Badness was coming, and somehow I could sense it now too. Ugly, black, badness that filled me with dread.

I called out for Holly, as my hands began to shake. She came in, her face grim.

“This is some seriously freaky shit, Abigail. It’s gone completely dark outside and the wind is picking up. What the fuck is going on?”

“Can you see these?” I asked, holding up the boots in my hands, my left eyebrow high on my forehead. For a moment I thought I’d truly gone around the bend as she gaped at me incredulously.

“Those are gorgeous!” She said, taking the pair in my left hand. They were exactly the same as the other pair so I let her have them. “Where did you get these? More importantly, why am I lusting after boots in the middle of this total fuck-fest of a day?”

“No time for questions, just put them on.” Wruin had started to look a bit agitated as he stared at us, and I knew he sensed my father getting closer because I could too.

“Right, you know I’ll follow you to Hell and back, but at some point, you’re going to give me some answers, girl!” She kicked her trainers off and slid the boots on her feet while I did the same.

“Whoa! Who the fuck is he?” She screeched as she looked in Wruin’s direction.

“You can see him now?” I said dumbly.

“Is he the hottie?” She whispered to me as she took in the man that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

“Yeah.” I said lamely, my nerves starting to scream at me to run, danger Miss Abigail, danger!

“Wow. Where’d he come from?” She started to move towards him, but he moved first, headed to the front door.

“Later ladies. It’s time to go.” Wruin handed the sword to me and I looked at him blankly.

“What do I do with it?” Another stupid question but really, I didn’t have one of those handy sword holding thingies on my back, did I?

“We’ll need it later. Here, put it in this.” And just like that, he magicked up a handy sword holding thingy.

Later, Abigail, later, I thought as I put the holder on too and stood up. I felt a bit awkward with the weight on my back, but it would work.

Shod in our, apparently, magical boots, we left the house and walked out into a storm that had blown up out of nowhere. The wind whipped my hair out of the tie that kept it knotted on top of my head and I struggled to move my hand enough to push it out of my eyes.

“Wruin, where are we going?” I wondered if the wind was so powerful it had blown my voice away, but he eventually answered me.

“Back to the cave. We have to leave.” He headed for the water of the cove, but I balked.

“Look, we can swim, but why would we want to go into a flooded cave? You told me earlier the time was coming in.”

“Abigail…,” frustration made him say my name harshly but he stopped. “I know this is all very strange for you, but right now, you have to trust me. That’s what your mother told you, right? Come to me? Let me do my job, please.”

He reached for my face in the darkness and I melted against him, my body instantly responded to him. That’s when I realized why he was so familiar. Why it felt so right to be with him.

“You’ve been in my dreams…” I began, but Holly interrupted.

“Uh, if you two are going to make out, I’m going back in the house. No offence, but I don’t like being rained on.” Holly’s voice intruded and we broke apart.

Wolves began to howl in the distance and Wruin went still. “He’s here. We have to go, now!”

Wruin grabbed both of our hands and we ran for the water. I could hear the snarls of wolves behind us, and Holly screamed as one nipped at her heels, but Wruin ran back and kicked it, before we all started running once more.

We made it to the cove and I balked. Water now covered the entrance to the cave I’d gone into earlier. Water that crashed and roiled against the shoreline. How were we supposed to swim into that?

Wruin took my face in his hands, his eyes darted between me and the wolves that were now only feet away.

“Alright, the boots will keep you safe. Notice that your feet are dry, despite the rain? When we go into the water, they will form a bubble around you, though you won’t see it, and you’ll be able to move just fine. You’ll be fine, just swim as normal, and breath. You won’t have to hold your breath.”

I wasn’t sure about that, but from the moment I’d met him, I’d basically thrown logic and sense out of the window. Why start asking questions now?

Wruin dove into the water, and though it rushed around him, he was able to tread water as if he was only in a calm pond. I took a deep breath and with a literal leap of faith I followed him in. The sword thumped against my back as I landed in the water, but it didn’t drag me down as I’d feared it might.

Immediately, the wind stopped tearing at my hair and the rain stopped hitting me. Though I was in the water, and had to kick me feet to stay above it, I couldn’t feel the water as a wet liquid. Okay, I thought, this just gets weirder.

“It’s alright, Holly, come in the water. I swear. Hurry! They’re here!” One of the wolves howled as it came near to my best friend, and I saw her resolve harden just before she jumped in after me.

“Take the leg of my pants, Abigail. Holly, grab Abigail’s. I’ll lead the way.” Wruin didn’t waste any more time on words but dove under, kicking his right leg back so that I could catch his pants. I did the same for Holly and that’s when things became even more surreal.

Wruin surged deep into the water and found the entrance to the cave. A soft blue light surrounded us, and I saw the walls of the cave as we coursed through tunnels much further than I thought they’d go. Wruin swam like a snake, sinuously, slithering through the water as if it was air, and I could only gape as we swam deeper into the caves.

Holly’s grip loosened as we neared a place where it looked as if the tunnel finally came to an end. When her grip disappeared completely I yanked on Wruin’s leg and screamed at him to stop. He looked back at me and his eyes went wide.