Tipsy Moon - стр. 9

I went to the middle of the room and stood in the circle of lights. At least a little further away from this creepy altar.

Bridie was standing by the door with a camera pointed at me. O'Connell was still standing quietly by the wall, but his face seemed very tense. Or maybe I just didn't see him well in the semi-darkness.

The lights around me began to blink chaotically one by one.

"Clearly from the radio", – I said, putting on my headphones and closing my eyes.

I didn't immediately understand what had happened… A female voice was loudly shouting a lot of words in my ears. My head started to hurt. Little by little, I concentrated and began shouting out words that I could clearly hear.

"World!.. Dead!… The call again!.. Gates!.. Blood!.."

After the last word my shoulder suddenly began to hurt unbearably. Maybe I should have treated it with antiseptic right away after all? Who knows what kind of infection this raven carries… It eats mice…

Sweat appeared on my forehead. It was getting harder to breathe.

And suddenly I clearly heard a whole phrase and, of course, immediately shouted it out to record everything on camera.

"Blood of descendants, hear my call! Open wide the gates of the world of the living to the restless soul!"

My head began to spin, and I fell to my knees, supporting myself with my hands. I couldn’t open my eyes; my eyelids were terribly heavy. I felt blood flowing from my shoulder down my arm, making its way to the floor.

"It's hot… I can't breathe… Help…", – I wanted to say, but my mouth would not obey me. I continued to shout the same words, repeating them after the woman in my ears. After the third time, the woman said the last phrase.

"So be it!" – I repeated after her before losing consciousness.

Ireland, October 31, 1524

The moonlight was getting brighter.

"There's not much time left", – I said out loud to myself, already starting to get nervous. – "Where is that banshee?!"

I looked up.

"Finn! Look up there. Is she anywhere nearby?" – I shouted into the darkness and immediately heard the sound of spreading wings. My black raven didn't need much persuasion to help me. Love you, buddy!

The seconds dragged on like hours. I began to nervously tap my foot. "Calm down, Eithne. You still have time…" – I said out loud to myself.

The next second, Finn landed on my shoulder, flapped his wings and cawed twice. Aha… So, no one nearby.

"Okay, my friend. Let's go without her".

Taking one last scanning glance into the pub, I closed the door and hung a sign on it that said: "The Tipsy Moon" pub is celebrating Samhain tonight! A free mug of ale to the first guest!"