The Pact

Today was truly an interesting day, Aedan told Tido and Princess Leia as he walked into the little two-bedroom they shared. Of course, they both just looked at him, wagging their little tails and expecting their treats. Aedan Bledsoe had just returned from his Aunt’s attorney where he’d received notification of his inheritance from his Great-Grandfather. He’d only met the man a few months earlier when she explained that he’d mysteriously arrived from Ireland to put his affairs in order. 102 years old and at death’s door, the man demanded he be seen, although he’d not had contact with the US side of the family for over 60 years. In all his 23 years, no one had ever mentioned that the family had ties to Ireland. Aedan’s mother and father had died tragically in a strange accident when Aedan was only 3 years old and was never told of his grandparents by his Aunt, let alone a living great-grandfather!

When his Aunt and he were summoned by the elder O’Broin two months ago, Aedan didn’t know what to expect. His Aunt just kept saying “Do not accept anything from this man! He’s only here to take you from me!” Aedan had felt this was unfounded as he knew he’d not be going anywhere without his Auntie Ciara. “What do you mean Auntie? I’d never leave you! You’re the only one who raised me from a baby!”

Walking into the huge penthouse hotel suite, Aedan almost fainted. Two floors with crystal and brass everywhere, and a huge staircase going up the inside of a large glass window looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. There were several people talking a strange language near the center of the room, and a very pale, wrinkled older man yelling at them in the same language. His Aunt had stayed in the main lobby of the penthouse stating that “I don’t want to see him! He’s only here for you!”. Upon noticing Aedan, the elder O’Broin stopped talking and looked straight at him. The man, sitting in a wheelchair with oxygen tubes, said in a gravelly voice…Boy? Come here! Aedan approached the elderly man with hesitation, not knowing what was expected of him. “You’ll do nicely,” the man marveled. Aedan almost ran from the room, as the look the man gave him when he said this was like someone walking over his grave! When Aedan came closer, his great-grandfather stood up from the chair he’d been hunkered over in and grabbed Aedan by the hand. Aedan felt a sharp pain in his arm and was astounded to see a little trickle of blood dripping from his hand. Jumping back, he let out a little yelp and looked at the man with horror. The man was holding out his left hand where there was a ring that had a little pin point on its underside. O’Broin apologized and asked one of the men in the room to get his great-grandson a band aid.

After apologizing profusely and acting as if he’d die right there in the room, the elderly man called for Aedan’s Aunt. He handed her a little black leather-bound notebook. She said “I won’t do this, Tenamont! He yelled at her in that language Aedan had heard them talking in upon entering this place and she acquiesced.

Now, two months later, his great-grandfather was dead and he’d inherited many interesting things. Including a house in a little town called Ballyshannon, Ireland. Auntie Ciara had been recluse and unapproachable since the meeting with his great-grandfather. Getting ready for what was to be an interesting trip was exciting, but it also held a little trepidation for Aedan, as he’d never been out of Atlantic City, New Jersey, let alone over the Ocean!

"I've never been here before, yet I feel I've never left" thought Aedan as he rounded the last bend of the road to the old house. 16 hours of flight time and two holdovers later, he was finally seeing the old estate for the first time. His grandfather's will stated that this place had been in the family for over ten generations. A little time-worn leather-bound black notebook, keys to the black Mercedes he was driving now, $20,000 cash and the deed to this old house were everything left to him by the man he'd only known for a few months. As he pulled to the back of the house, he heard what must have been hundreds of small birds chirping as if singing "welcome home".

Aedan felt that walking across the old yard to the back door was like taking a walk through time. He knew that he'd never been here before, yet also felt that he'd walked these cobblestones a thousand times. The sounds of the wake hitting the shore from the front of the house brought so many thoughts to mind that he didn't notice at first, the little boy running past him from the house. Turning to see where the boy was going...he saw no other person with him.