Emma took the dagger and felt the world shift. She could almost hear the gate opening. She suppressed the urge to throw her arms around the man standing in front of her.
“I wouldloveto,” she managed. “I mean, Nathaniel would love to, I’m sure. I’ll get it to him right away.”
Mr. Campbell beamed at her. He picked up his satchel, then looked at her. “I’ve been doing some research on blacksmithing.”
“Have you?” she asked, wondering if it would be rude to just shove him off her porch.
“Guild secrets and all,” he said. “I read the other day that there was a particular guild here in the Highlands, smiths of course, who were mightily fierce at protecting their own.”
“Sounds plausible,” she said, trying not to hop up and down in her frustration.
“Passwords and all,” he continued. “Funny thing, that, isn’t it? Today we have them for our mobiles and back then, they had them for their business.Siubhailwas a word I stumbled upon. Meanstraveler. Interesting that, aye?”
“Very,” she said. “And thank you.”
“Godspeed, lass,” Mr. Campbell said, smiled again, then turned and walked away.
Emma didn’t wait for him to even leave the front of her house. She went inside, shut the door, and changed into her preferred outfit for ghosting. She shoved Nathaniel’s dagger down the back of her belt, then looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She took a deep breath, took her hair in her hand, and cut it off up to her chin. If nothing else, she would look like a boy. A bit of dirt smudged on her cheeks and she would be set.
She grabbed her go bag, locked up, and hid her key. She would have run right off her porch, but she found that her way was blocked by one Patrick MacLeod. She pulled the dagger from the back of her belt.
“I have the key,” she said succinctly—then it occurred to her what had happened. “You called Mr. Campbell.”
“Actually, I didn’t,” Patrick said slowly. He looked at the dagger in her hand, then met her eyes. “If he came on his own, it begs the question why, doesn’t it?”
“I’ll let you know when I find out.”
He nodded, then tilted his head toward the forest. “I’ll walk with you to the trees.”
She had to admit she was happy for his company, as strange as that sounded. They didn’t speak, but there was nothing left to say. They had talked about all the contingencies they could think of already. She had a backstory ready if she were found by Fergussons and she had a password to give to the MacLeods...
She slowed, then stopped. She considered, then looked at Patrick, then thought a bit more.
Funny things, those passwords.
“Emma?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. Just thinking too much, but I’m done. Can’t afford it now.”
“Sometimes that is best,” Patrick agreed.
She stopped at the gate as confidently as if she could see it, which she wasn’t entirely sure she couldn’t. She made sure her small bag was strapped securely to her back, looked at Patrick, then attempted a smile.
“See you on the other side.”
“Back on this side, preferably,” he said dryly, “but aye. Good hunting.”
She drew Nathaniel’s dagger, took a deep breath, then leaned over and shoved it into the ground.
And the world felt as if it had cracked in two.
She crossed through the gate before she could make a different choice, looked over her shoulder to see Patrick very briefly before both he and Nathaniel’s steel disappeared. That was something, she supposed.
She stuck to the trees, keeping to as much shadow as she could manage. By the time she’d hid to avoid what looked like a scouting party going toward the MacLeod keep, checked her mind to make sure she hadn’t lost it, and paused to catch her breath and calm her nerves, it was twilight and she was closer to the Fergusson keep than she’d ever wanted to be. She ran bodily into someone before she saw him, which she knew should have alarmed her. She was fully prepared to find it was Gerald MacLeod come to kill her, only to find it was Mr. Campbell.
Only about thirty years younger.
Her Gaelic was awful, she was the first to admit that. She wasn’t sure telling him she loved him was going to fly, so she trotted out the second thing that came to mind.
