“There ye are!” she said. “I’ve been waiting so long I thought ye would never get here!”
Abi blinked. “I’m sorry?”
The woman flapped her hand. “Nay matter. Ye are here now, and that’s the important thing.” Without waiting to be invited, she walked around the car, pulled open the door, and settled herself into the passenger seat.
“Now, let’s get a look at ye,” she said, turning to look at Abi. She cocked her head. “Aye. Ye’ll do just fine. I can see a strength in ye, Abigail Fenton, and ye are going to need all that in the days ahead.”
Abi stared at her, nonplussed. Was this woman in the habit of climbing into the cars of total strangers? Then she realized what the woman had just said.
“How do you know my name?”
“It’s on yer name badge, my dear.”
Abi glanced down and realized she’d forgotten to remove her hotel ID badge. She grinned sheepishly. “Oh. Yeah. Right. Okay, well I’m happy to give you a lift. Where are you headed?”
“Oh, here and there,” the woman said airily. She fixed Abi with a stare. Her eyes, Abi noticed, were so dark they seemed to be all pupil with no iris around them at all. Despite her age and small stature, the woman had an unsettling presence and a stare as stern as any school teacher Abi had ever encountered. She suddenly held out her hand. “I’m Irene MacAskill. It is a pleasure to meet ye, my dear.”
Abi reached out and shook her hand. Her skin was warm and as dry as old leaves. “I’m Abi. But of course, you already knew that.”
Irene smiled. “Oh aye, my dear. I did. I have, after all, been waiting for ye for quite some time.”
There it was again, that statement that made no sense. A strange unease fluttered in Abi’s belly. Why was she saying such odd things? And why would a little old lady be out here all alone in the middle of nowhere?
Abi forced a smile. “Well, let’s get going, shall we?”
She pressed the accelerator and they moved off, the empty landscape passing by on either side. Irene said not a word, but her presence seemed to fill the car like a thundercloud. Abi cast around for something to say.
“Are you heading to Tarness?” she asked at last. “That’s where I’m going. I’m here on holiday.”
“Aye, my dear,” Irene replied. “That will do for starters. But we both know ye aren’t really here on holiday.”
Abi looked at her sharply. “What do you mean by that?”
“I think ye know what I mean. Ye are here because this is where ye are meant to be. This is where the pull of yer life has brought ye. Fate offers us choices, my dear, and ye are about to be given one. The question is, what will ye choose to do? Take a risk and have a chance at finding that which ye most desire? Or will ye stay on the path ye are walking?”
The back of Abi’s neck prickled. How did this woman know what was Abi’s deepest desire? She’d only just met her! Wasn’t it just her luck to pick up a crazy hitchhiker?
“Um. Right. Sure. Whatever you say,” Abi said, desperately scanning the landscape for a cottage or a car or something else that might indicate a safe place to pull over and get rid of her disconcerting passenger. “Although I have to warn you, I’m quite happy with the path I’ve chosen, thank you very much.”
Liar,a voice whispered in the back of her head. She ignored it. Shewashappy. She was doing what she wanted to do and she wasn’t about to let some peculiar old woman make her think otherwise.
Abi kept her gaze fixed on the road, but from the corner of her eye she could see Irene MacAskill watching her. She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable under that stare.
Irene was clearly a slightly deranged old dear that had gone out wandering. Maybe she should call social services or something. Maybe there were people out looking for her.
“Are you from Tarness?” she asked, trying to make conversation.
“Aye, my dear. And from everywhere else besides. I am the Highlands and the Highlands are me.”
“So you travel around a lot?”
The old woman gave a soft laugh. “More than ye could possibly imagine. That, my dear, is my fate. But we aren’t here to talk about me. We are here to talk about ye.” She reached out and grabbed Abi’s wrist. At the contact, something like electricity shot all the way up Abi’s arm. It was so sudden and so unexpected that her arm jerked and the car swerved over to the other side of the road.
Abi yelped, slammed on the brakes, and brought the car skidding to a standstill. “Are you mad?” she yelled at Irene. “Why did you do that? You could have caused an accident!”
If Irene was perturbed by Abi’s outburst, she didn’t show it. She watched her steadily with her deep, dark gaze, a look of intense scrutiny on her wrinkled face.
“Ye are in no danger,” Irene said. “Ye have a greater destiny than to perish in a car crash on a lonely road. Nay, my dear, a far greater destiny. One that will unite the Highlands, bring peace where there is strife, and guide ye to finding that which ye really seek. If, when yer choice comes, ye have the courage to take it.”
