“Nope,” Jenna said, shaking her head. “Not even close.”
The goddess smiled. “Jenna MacFinnan, ye have conquered ancient magic, adapted to a time not yer own, and overcome the followers of a Norse god. Are ye telling me ye are frightened of yer own aunts?”
“Too right,” Jenna replied. “You haven’t met them. Give me a Norse god any day of the week.”
Lir laughed lightly, a sound like rain falling on the ocean. “I dinna think ye will find it as terrifying as ye imagine.”
“Ye are sure this will work?” Arran asked, stepping up to the edge of the pool. “And we can return any time we want?”
“A bargain is a bargain,” Lir replied. “And by saving Skye ye have paid the price a hundred times over. Aye, the portal is yers. Ye can come and go as ye please.”
Arran blew out a breath and looked at Jenna. He took her hand. “Yer aunts might be angry to start with, love, but they’ll calm down. And ye want them at the wedding dinna ye?”
Jenna nodded. She and Arran were getting married in two weeks and she didn’t justwanther aunts at the wedding. Sheneededthem there. She couldn’t do it without them.
She squeezed Arran’s hands. “I’m ready.”
Together they jumped into the pool, leaving the goddess staring after them.
They emerged, coughing and spluttering in the lake behind Jenna’s house. A flock of startled ducks went scattering as they broke the surface and a fisherman sitting on a platform stared in surprise, his sandwich dropping from his fingers, forgotten.
Jenna waved at him. “Hi. Nothing like a bit of wild swimming, eh?”
She and Arran paddled to the shore where he helped her out. Everything looked exactly the same as when she’d left it: the lake, the woods, the path. But smaller somehow, as if she’d grown.
“The twenty-first century,” Arran breathed, gazing around. “I never expected to come here once, let alone twice. My people would never believe this.”
“Well, if I’m still breathing later, I’ll give you a tour of the best bits.” She tapped her lip with a finger. “Let’s see. The best things aboutthis time. Hmm. Oh! I know! Hot running water. Pizza. Chocolate. And doughnuts! How could I have forgotten doughnuts?”
Arran laughed. “Lass, I think ye may be drooling. I look forward to trying these delicacies.”
With a grin, Jenna took Arran’s hand and together they took the path that led around the lake—but in the opposite direction to where her house lay. They would go there later so Jenna could pack some things, but right now it wasn’t their destination.
Their destination was, in fact, a little white-washed cottage that stood on stilts out over the water on the northern shore of the lake. Jenna’s stomach clenched and her heart did a little flip when she saw it. She clutched Arran’s hand tighter.
Three steps led up to the veranda. Jenna halted in front of those steps and stared at the closed door.
“The door willnae open itself, lass,” Arran said. “No matter how long ye stare at it.”
Taking a deep breath, she strode up the steps and knocked, Arran by her side. She heard footsteps approaching on the other side and the door opened to reveal Aunt Rose standing there, wiping her hands on a tea towel.
“Aunt Rose, before you say anything,” Jenna blurted the second the door opened. “I know I shouldn’t have left without telling you first and I shouldn’t have been gone so long without getting in touch, but can explain everything if you’ll just listen—”
“Jenna!” Rose said brightly. “So you changed your mind about making chutney, eh? But why did you knock? Why not just use your key?”
“Eh?” Jenna stared in confusion. She’d expected Aunt Rose to be furious with her. She’d been gone for months, after all. Just disappeared without so much as a goodbye. What was going on? Was this the calm before the storm?
Aunt Elise appeared behind Rose, eating an apple. “Jenna!” shecried around a mouthful. “Come to save me from the boredom after all! Or maybe you’ve changed your mind about that hex?” Coming to the door, her eyes alighted on Arran and her eyebrows rose. “Who’s your friend?”
“I… um… this is Arran,” Jenna stammered.
Aunt Elise looked Arran up and down, an approving expression flitting across her face. “Hi, Arran. I’m Elise. Jenna’s younger, cooler aunt.”
“Delighted to meet ye both,” Arran rumbled in his Scots burr. “Jenna has told me much about ye.”
“She has?” Elise asked, her eyes fixing on Jenna. “Well she hasn’t told us anything about you. A mistake she’s going to rectify right now over coffee and cake. Come on in then!”
She and Rose went inside, leaving the door open. Jenna didn’t follow. What was going on? What were they up to?
