Rundimahair: A new hero for a new adventure by Larry Forkner (summer books .TXT) 📗

and see how close she was, but heeded the quiet voice and kept his head down. He was so still he could barely feel himself breathe. Then he saw her high-heeled shoes come into view, where he was staring at the floor.

She was only five feet away. Now she was three feet away. The urgent desire to make a run for it was nearly overwhelming. Sean swallowed hard and prepared to turn and sprint for the front door.

Just as he was ready to turn and run, a loud thud came from the front door. Immediately he felt Grainne turn her attention to the front door. He let his breath out in a slow, deliberate sigh.

“It’s about time,” Grainne said cheerfully, as she hurried past him and toward the front door.

“Hey, it’s not easy to find chilled, Russian caviar on short notice,” a young, female voice said.

“I knew you’d do it, Linda—you always do,” Grainne said.

“It’s true. I am the greatest assistant of all time!” the new arrival said, giggling.

Sean used the distraction to move away from the path they would walk to return to the conference room. As he slowly stepped sideways, he glanced up at the two women. The young woman that Grainne had called Linda was at least four inches shorter than Grainne and very slender. They were busy going through the packages that Linda had brought with her.

“How did you get all this up those stairs?” Grainne asked.

“With my usual creativity and style,” Linda said, smiling.

Grainne chuckled and said, “You are a stylish woman for sure. Now use your leadership skills to get a couple of them to help you get this set up for lunch.”

“Not to worry, Grainne,” Linda said. “I’ll grab Jeremy and Sylvia to help me. We’ll have this set up in fifteen minutes.”

While the two women headed back to the conference room door, Sean used the distraction to rush back to the front entry door. He turned and glanced back just as he was about to run through the open door. His heart lurched in his chest when he saw Grainne staring directly at him with a knowing smile on her face. He could almost feel a loose connection being established between them, which was the last thing he wanted. Sean rushed through the doors and didn’t stop running until he was down the stairs and across the massive lawn.

Chapter Eleven

Do not resent growing old.

Many are denied the privilege.

~ Old Irish Saying ~

The oddly fascinating and terrifying vision hastened Sean’s desire to return to Rundimahair. He now felt safer there than anywhere else. This was all still so new to him. At times it seemed like an unreal nightmare, but when he was with Ashling and her family and friends, it felt like a delightful dream come true.

After all that had taken place since his first encounter with Rundimahair, Sean understood the experiences weren’t his imagination. Too much had transpired in the past month for him to doubt it. As bizarre as it might seem, this was becoming his new reality.

He’d continued making new arrangements, with his office assistant, Jennie, to be out of the office for an extended period. With that understanding and the different realities of time in Rundimahair, Sean was free to try to comprehend where he truly belonged and seek what Ashling called his true destiny.

He was packed and ready to leave early the next morning. Sean had loaded his SUV with everything he might need for the foreseeable future. He wanted to be on the road early and arrive in Rundimahair before lunchtime. The thought of having lunch with Ashling brought a surprising shiver of pleasant anticipation. He knew that his affection for her was growing stronger, but he was still surprised to realize just how much he missed her.

In the early morning hours, Sean opened his eyes and was immediately alert and fully awake. He lay completely still and listened intently, but he only heard the deep silence of a home closed down for the night.

What had brought him out of a deep sleep? He could hear the quiet movement of heated air through the furnace duct vents. Other than that, the house seemed completely still. Perhaps it was the after-effects of another bizarre dream. Sean shrugged that notion off. He usually recalled at least part of dreams like the one he’d had the previous night.

He couldn’t really explain the feeling he was experiencing now, but he could sense that something was wrong. Something was definitely off. Sean thought back to the battle he and Ashling experienced in the hotel room on the Oregon coast. Just before it began, he’d had a similar feeling nagging at his subconscious mind.

Without really understanding why, he rolled out of bed, wearing nothing but a pair of exercise shorts, and rushed to the other end of his spacious master bedroom. Mere moments later, two massive, freakish creatures crashed through his bedroom roof and landed on the bed he’d been lying in moments earlier. Along with them came a large section of the roof rafters and ceiling. Without knowing how he understood, he was certain that these were two of the creatures locked in the basement of Grainne’s castle. Somehow, she’d managed to find him.

Before Sean could react, two smaller, cat-like animals dropped through the hole in his roof. Before they hit the bed, they seemed to disappear. He studied the darkness carefully, but without success. Whatever they were, there was no trace of them now.

He quickly shifted his attention to the huge and grotesque beasts struggling to get free of the roof debris and his broken bed. While they had a basic humanoid shape, their faces resembled disfigured gorillas. As they struggled to their feet, he could see they were barefoot, wearing only very large, bulky sweatshirts and sweatpants. In the moonlight shining through the large new hole in his roof, they appeared to be overly hairy. Their ruddy complexions were pale green and covered with oozing