Ava Reid
1. Effy isn’t allowed to have the Literature major she wants because she is a woman, so she has decided on architecture. She is only six weeks into the program and feels behind. There is a competition the son of one of her favorite authors, Emrys Myrddin, is having for a student to design a new manor home, Hiraeth Manor, outside his home city, Saltney, Bay of Nine Bells. Effy decides she wants to put in an entry even though she doesn’t have much experience. She decides to go to the library to get some books on him, but they are already checked out by one of the literature majors named P. Héloury. Another one of the architecture students approaches her and tells her she is pretty. He asks if she wants to work on the proposal for the contest together. She tells him she already has an idea of what she wants to do, but suggests he help her in another area of their course. He writes his number on her hand. Effy walks home in the rain and her roommate, Rhia, comments on the ink running down her hand. When Effy complains about the architecture major, her roommate tells her to switch to music with her. Effy feels like that would be taking the easy way out. She goes to her room and pulls out one of the books the author wrote and thinks about the stories about fairies within. She doesn’t think any of the architecture students would take them into consideration with their designs. She ignores her sleeping pills and draws until dawn.
2. Some time later, Effy receives a letter that her design was chosen and will spend 6 weeks traveling to Saltney to finalize the blue prints with Ianto Myrddin, the author’s son. Rhai warns her that the bottom hundred will be much different than their current location. Effy goes to the library and finds it abandoned. She goes and finds an Atlas to look at the layout of the island. While she is on the floor looking at it, a boy comes in. He says there is enough space for them to share, but Effy is uncomfortable. She tries to put the book back where she found it, but the boy is in her way. She asks if he is a Literature student and he says he is. She asks if he knows many of the other students thinking he might know P. Héloury, but he says he doesn’t. She leaves it on the floor and takes off. She goes to her advisor’s office and tells him she has already talked to the dean about her project and she just needs her advisor, Master Corbenic’s signature. He gets snippy with her and blames her for word getting out that the had sex. She swears she didn’t tell anyone, but he doesn’t seem to believe her. He tells her the bottom hundred is usually a place girls try to run away from, not to. He says she is the type of girl that has to make things difficult for herself and she would have failed out of school if she wasn’t so pretty. She takes the signed paper and leaves. In the hall, she sees her name has been crossed off the class roster and replaced with “whore.” She tears it down.
3. Rhai goes with Effy to the translation. Effy takes the train to Saltney, but when she gets there, no one is there to pick her up. She calls the only number she has memorized and her mother scolds her for not thinking things through. Effy asks if her grandfather can pick her up, but her mother says she is not going to send him six hours away in the dark. She tells Effy she will have to take one of her pills and deal with the consequences of her own actions. Effy takes a pill that the doctor prescribed her for seeing things when she was 10. Thomas Wetherell arrives to pick her up and leads her to the car. The drive is not smooth up the cliffs and she keeps asking if things are normal. She sees things in the trees. He tells her it is deer that have evolved to deal with all the water in preparation for the next drowning. She is pretty sure the creatures are not deer, but not human either. They arrive at the small, cold cottage where Effy will be staying. He gives her a box of matches and says someone will be there to pick her up in the morning. She asks how far away the house is and he tells her it is about a ten minute walk depending on many factors. After he leaves, Effy considers going back to school and forgetting the whole thing. She decides she cannot do anything until morning and changes into her pajamas. She checks the door and sees it doesn’t lock, but is heavy and has iron on it. It reminds her of the fairy tales in the books. She takes one of her sleeping pills.
4. In the morning, Effy is woken up by water dripping onto her face. She is soaked. The door opens and a boy says he is there to take her to the house. She tells him to get out so she can get dressed. When they start walking, she forgets her sketchbook and pen and has to go back for them. She asks his name and he tells her it is Preston. She realizes he is P. Héloury and says he is the one that checked out all the books. She is disgusted that he is there to write Myrddin’s story to make a name for himself. He points out the author has been dead six months and his story is fair game. He has been sent by the dean to collect artifacts for their library. As Effy looks out over the sea, the ground below her starts to crumble and Preston pulls her back before she falls. They get to the house where they are greeted by the author’s son, Ianto. He offers them breakfast and coffee and asks Preston to help him give Effy a tour of the house. Effy is surprised at the corroding state of the house and Ianto says while his father had a great knack for story telling, he wasn’t much for upkeep. He says it is difficult to keep anything in those parts and he doesn’t know if it will even be worth it with the second drowning coming. Preston is reluctant to show her the study because it is where he has been sleeping. Ianto shows her the basement that has been flooded. He hasn’t been able to find anyone to drain it despite many of his father’s works being down there. When Ianto suggests they eat, Effy excuses herself to get some air. She realizes they requested a student because no seasoned architect would take on a job on a soggy foundation that will crumble into the sea sooner than later.
5. Determined she can’t stay there any longer, Effy leaves her things and starts heading to Saltney to catch a train home. Preston comes along on his car on the way and tells her to get in because it isn’t safe for her to walk into town. She wants to refuse him, but it starts to rain harder. She tells him she doesn’t like that he is going to use Myrddin for his thesis. He tells her his widow is the one that invited him and he intends to find out the truth. He asks why she is going into town and she lies saying she needs to call her mother. He says he sometimes works at the pub. He drops her off at the phone booth. Effy calls her mom and says she is coming home. Her mom tells her she can’t come home and she needs to go back to school. Effy says she will and hangs up. She can’t stand the thought of going back to where she is whispered about in the halls. She starts walking down to the pub. A shepherd stops her on the way and gives her a handful of pebbles. He says she will be able to see the the Fairy King’s true form. She takes the pebbles and puts them into her pocket. She goes into the pub and goes riders a gin and tonic because it was what her mother drank. She looks around and sees Preston at a booth. She sits across from him and he closes the book he was reading. She is surprised he has any interest in Myrddin because he was raised in Argant. He reminds her his mother is Llyrian and told him the stories when he was growing up. He asks if she is done with her drink and she says he is. He says he will take her back to the house. He can’t sit there and have her stare at him while he is trying to work, so he might as well get back to the house too. They get to the car and she asks him for one of his cigarettes. He lights it for her and hands it to her. It calms her down and she tries not to cough as they ride back.
6. The next day, Effy goes to the house to start discussing her design ideas with Ianto. She starts listing a few ideas off and tells him her idea would demolish the current house and build from scratch further from the cliff. He takes her to the room across from the study and shows her the view of the cliff and the sea. He tells her the last drowning came slowly. Most people didn’t realize it was actually going to be an issue until the water was at their door. Myrddin built the house on the cliff so his wife and son would learn to fear the water. Southerners learn to swim before they walk and children play games of how long they can hold their breath. He says he cannot move the house and she understands. She goes across the hall to the study and starts looking over Preston’s papers. She sees his thesis is title “The Execution of Myrddin.” He finds her looking at his papers and begs her to let him explain. He tells her there are a lot of inconsistencies in Myrddin’s works and there are theories that he was only said to have written all of the things he did to give the Southerners hopes of rising up like he did. He argues about Myrddin’s negative connotation of the sea when his father was a He points out in one letter Myrddin is spelled in the northern way with a “th.” Preston can tell she wants to be a literature student and she admits she applied and was denied. He asks her to help him write the paper and he will include her name on it. He thinks it might give her an opportunity to get into the Literature program. They swear on the Llyrian patron saint of truth, Una, to help each other. Effy goes to sleep that night in the cottage thinking about how Preston had written her name repeatedly in the margins of his papers.
7. The next morning, Effy goes to talk to Preston again. He elaborates on why he thinks Myrddin might have been a fake. He has been comparing letters to the written works and finds the vocabulary doesn’t match. He says they need to know more about the house and it would be helpful if they had the blueprints. Effy says she should be able to get them because it wouldn’t be it if the ordinary for an architect to ask for them. She goes to talk to Ianto and he invites her to the pub. She goes and he orders her scotch and then steak and kindness pie without asking what she wanted. They start talking and she asks for the blue prints to the house. He pulls out the paper, but when she reaches for it, he grabs her hand hard enough to hurt her. He tells her they need to leave. She shoves the paper into her purse and he doesn’t look at her the entire way back. During their talk about the Fairy King, Effy starts to freak out and ends up jumping out of the car on the way back to the house.
8. When Effy finally gets back to the house, W asks her what she is doing there. She is a pretty girl that could get any professor to give her passing grades. She doesn’t know how to respond and goes to see Preston. On her way, she notices the portrait of the Fairy King is blurry and never seems to appear fully during the day. When she enters the room, Preston is alarmed at her dirty, bloody state, but she ignores it and tells him she got the blue prints. He insists on cleaning up her bloody knees while they talk. Afterwards, they look at the blueprints together. Preston admits he doesn’t know how to read them. Effy looks them over and finds the basement isn’t included in them. She says that is very unusual because it is not something you just add on last minute. She wonders if the house was built over the basement. She asks about the widow, but Preston says she never leaves her room. Preston says Ianto will go to church the next morning an they will be able to search his room for the hour he will be gone. Effy finds it odd that Ianto only seems to leave the house for an hour at a time. She remembers his hurry to get back to the house from the pub. They decide to meet back there at dawn and start to go their separate ways. She pauses to thank him. She starts down the hall, but out of the corner of her eye, she sees a silver figure go through a door. She thinks it must be a ghost. She runs out of the house afraid of whatever killed the woman.
9. The next morning on her way to the house, Effy thinks she sees something dead in the yard. She thinks she is seeing things and takes two pills. She meets Preston and when Ianto leaves, they go to his room to search. Effy ends up finding a secret room behind a bookcase and inside is a dusty box. Preston tries to stop her from opening it at first because Ianto may notice. She points out it is covered in dust and he may not even know it’s there. She opens it and finds nude pictures of a young woman. There is also a journal that Preston takes. When they hear the door open, they rush to put things back in place and get out. They are in the study when Ianto—rifle in hand—opens the door. He asks what they are doing together. He has his rifle with him and even though it is at his side, it is pointed at Preston. Preston says he is interested in the different types of architecture between their countries. Effy tells him they go to the same college and even know some of the same people. Ianto tells them he will not out up with anyone betraying their family. He tells them they have talked enough. She works on her sketches. When she goes to Ianto’s room to show them to him, she hears him talking to someone. He said he had to bring “her” back. Effy leaves instead.
10. Effy and Preston decide they can’t be seen together by Ianto anymore, so they meeting under the cover of night. They talk about ghosts, but Preston believes they are part of the human brain’s way of coping with something. Preston attempted to write to another author, Balckmar, who had a relationship with Myrddin, but after reading the letter, Blackmar sent it back to him. Effy reads the letter and can see why. It is very bland. She writes her own letter and signs her full name wanting to sound more grown up. When they receive the reply, he welcomes them to come talk to him. Preston sees her full name is Euphemia, a feminine version of a patron saint. He asks if she is a changeling child. She tells him her story as if it happened to someone else. Her mother had an affair with an older man and became pregnant. Her parents were not happy. When Effy was born, she was a difficult child. Her mother took her out to the woods in the middle of winter and left her there thinking some childless woman would take her. Instead the Fairy King came and was reaching out for her. She reached back for him and he held her hand. That is when Effy’s mom came back for her. The Fairy king kept her ring finger so she couldn’t marry anyone else. Preston suggests her finger fell off due to frostbite. She is upset that he doesn’t believe him because no one ever has. She takes a candle back to the cottage and says “I was a girl when he came for me, beautiful and treacherous, and I was a crown of pale gold in his black hair.” When she see the Fairy King on the edge of the woods, she is terrified and stumbles her way back into the cottage. She knows it is not just in her mind and he is real. Not even her sleeping pills can keep him out of her dreams now.
11. Effy finds Ianto on the cliffs and tells him she needs to go to the library in another town. When she tells him Preston has agreed to drive her, his eyes cloud over for a few seconds at a time. When he sees them off, he looks envious of their leaving. They start driving and discussing Myrddin’s work. Eventually, she starts asking about his personal life. When they arrive, Blackmar welcomes them. He offers them brandy (usually a meal is offered first) and allows them to start asking questions. They start off by asking when he met Myrddin. When he reveals that Myrddin was hired by his family as a clerk, it seems to fit with their theory that Blackmar was the actual author of Myrddin’s stories. When they start asking about his first publications, he says someone from the publishing house will be there the next day and they will have to ask him. They think he seems cagey and hiding something. He excuses himself saying he goes to bed early as he is an old man. They are shown to their rooms, but Preston ends up in Effy’s room so they can talk. They agree that they don’t think Blackmar was being completely honest. When Effy looks for her pills, she realizes she forgot them. She asks Preston to stay with her and he does. She asks him to talk so she can fall asleep. She asks if he has a girlfriend and he says he doesn’t. He says as an Argant, he has to work harder to prove he belongs at the college. He says a few things to her in the language and tells her what they mean. He falls asleep and she takes off his glasses for him. When she wakes up in the morning, Preston is sitting at the desk working already. Effy feels like they are in their own little, quiet world.
12. Effy searches her room for any secret passages that might lead her to some sort of evidence for their thesis. She ends up finding letters under the bed. They are between Myrddin and Blackmar’s daughter. They had an affair. The daughter saying she would love him to ruination makes Effy uneasy. It isn’t enough for them to write an entire thesis on, but they decide they will have to go back to Saltney to get the pictures that prove the affair. They go to the dinning room and find food put out. They start eating it when Blackmar comes in and tells them to stop because it is for the party that night. He tells them they must stay for it, but Effy points out he didn’t tell them about it and they didn’t bring clothes for a party. He tells Effy to wear one of his daughter’s dresses and that Preston can borrow one of his suits. When the party starts, Effy feel uncomfortable because she and Preston are by far the only young people there. When Blackmar introduces them to the editor, Marlowe, he has already been drinking and calls Effy a tart before inviting them to ask their questions. They ask, but he gives vague answers or says he doesn’t know. He tells Effy he will give her everything if she dances with him. Preston takes her hand and takes her to dance to get away from him. They dance for one song before deciding it is time for them to leave. They get in the car and Preston starts driving them away.
13. On the way back, Effy is upset. Preston says it is difficult to meet your heroes. He tries to comfort her. He tells her how his father, the rural Argantian, was a good man, but a bit reckless. He got into a car accident and was never the same after. It was years later when Preston found him dead. His head and spine had fluid building up and no one knew. They make it back to Hiraeth before midnight and he drops her off at the cottage before heading back to the main house. In the morning at breakfast, Ianto says there is a storm coming. He wants the blue prints done before hand and the two students want to be out of there before it comes as well. Effy promises to have the blue prints done in two days. Ianto asks to speak to her alone and Preston leaves the room. He makes a comment about there only being two types of women and he thinks she is a temptress. She leaves him to go up to the study where she finds Preston has already gone to Ianto’s room and retrieved the photos. Effy decides they need to get into the basement. Preston thinks it is a bad idea and admits he is afraid to go down there. Effy says she will do it. He tells her to stop being reckless. She tries to explain she is only trying to survive. She gets on top of him, but he says he can’t have sex with her because he knows what the professor did to her and he doesn’t want to add to her nightmares. He explains that he has wanted her for a long time but doesn’t want to hurt her. They lay together on the chaise for a while.
14. Effy goes outside to get the key away from Ianto. Whetherell warns her to get out before the storm comes as he is doing himself. While Ianto is working in the rain, Effy takes his coat to him and is able to take the key from him. She goes inside and shows Preston. She unlocks the door and goes down into the water-filled basement. She finds a box at the bottom and drags it back up. She barely makes it back out of the water with it and Preston helps her drag it out. It says “Angharad” (one of Myrddin’s books) on it. They take it back to the cottage and Preston makes Effy change into dry clothes and get under her covers. She asks him to stay and he does. They start making out and he promises he doesn’t want to use her. He wants to take care of her even after they get back to school. They have sex.
15. Effy wakes up to the sound of a bell and realizes the storm is upon them. Preston suggests they leave, but Effy reminds him all of the papers they need are still in the house. They rush there and up the stairs. Effy is surprised to see the portrait of the Fairy King has fallen and the frame broken. Preston pulls her along to the study. Ianto is there waiting for them. He has his rifle and has gone through all of the papers. He tells them he received a call from Blackmar about two students that came around asking prying questions about Angharad. Ianto knew it must be them. It wasn’t difficult for him to call up to the school to get more information about the students that were living in his house. He allowed them in because they were fatherless children, which is the sacrifice the house needs to stay standing. He drags them downstairs and shackles weights around Preston and throws him in the basement so he will drown as the water rises and restore the house. He tells Effy he chose her because no one would miss her. She holds up the stones to her eye and sees he is the Fairy King. He says she was given to him as a child and cannot be taken back. She promises to go with him if he lets Preston go, but he points out she is not in a position to make bargains. She asks if he wants her on her knees and he is pleased by the idea. She kneels on the debris, but takes the mirror by her feet and turns it towards him. He turns to ash and drifts away on the wind. She uses the stones to make sure he is really gone before she gets up.
16. The house is still sinking and she goes to save Preston. He has been trying to get the chains out of the water, but hasn’t been able to. Effy rushes into the water to help him, but even together they cannot lift them. The widow that Effy saw earlier comes and helps them lift the chains out of the water. They have to get out of the house quickly and retreat to the cottage. There, they learn that the ghost is Blackmar’s daughter, Angharad. She had an affair with Myrddin and eventually married him. She would write the poetry and he would tell her what was good. She started writing her book as a romance and wanted to preserve the way she felt when she wrote it, but it quickly became more than that. She didn’t realized he was the vessel of the Fairy King until it was too late. She wrote the books to warn others away from him. When she realized what was going on, she wrote the book about how to kill the King with the mirror. She wrote the book and the royalties were considered her dowery. She did everything she could to keep the Fairy King trapped there. She thought she was free of him when her husband died, but The Fairy King then moved to Ianto. He tried to fight him, but he could not last long. She couldn’t bring herself to use the mirror on her son. She brought Preston there to try to get rid of the Fairy King. She had Effy stay in the cottage to keep her safe. Preston apologizes that they have lost the papers and journals that would prove she was the original author. Angharad produces the key from a chain around her neck and unlocks the box.
17. Effy is anxious to have the paper completed. She was worried about Angharad and how people will come along to ask her questions. Angharad tells her she will deal with them because she doesn’t have anything to hide. Effy pulls out her copy of the book and has the true author sign it for her. When they get back to the college, the meet with the Literature instructor as well as the Dean Fogg. He tells them that without others being able to read the letters, their paper doesn’t have any merit. They realized this already and plan to make what they have available to others. Dean Fogg then suggests they take Effy’s name off the paper because no woman has been a part of the literature program in the college’s history. Preston refuses and says he’d rather take the story to a tabloid paper to have printed. Effy makes her own requirement that the advisor that molested her be fired. The dean tries to avoid this, but Effy refuses to give them even a glance at the paper until it is done. Preston backs her up. The dean is persuaded. The literature professor says he is looking forward to having her in his classes. That night, Effy’s roommate throws her a welcome home party. They drink and dance and have fun. The next morning, Effy and Preston get coffee and look out over the cliffs to Argant. Effy doesn’t tell Preston that she went to see the museum where Myrddin’s body is preserved and on display. She wonders what will happen to the exhibit when their paper is published. Preston tells her when he woke up in the study some nights, he would hear bells. He asks if she ever heard them as well.
PRESTON BONUS CHAPTER
A week after Preston arrives at Hiraeth, he begins to hear the bells; never at night, only at dawn. He admits that hearing them at all should be an impossibility. Preston recalls an old tale his father told him as a child about a once great city (Ker-ls) that sunk beneath the waves. This myth says that one day, the city would rise again and whoever was the first to hear the bells and see its spire would be its King. Preston comes to the conclusion that the bells under the water are ringing just for him.