She dabbed at one of her fingers that was still bleeding. She’d had to prick them with the tip of her athame to spread drops of blood around the perimeter of the pond. That had been the worst requirement of the spell, but a blood ritual was strong and well worth it to keep Caelan here.
Sam’s ears perked, and he stood at full attention, his tiny body as proud and stiff as though he were a Doberman.
“I hear them,” she whispered to her faithful watchman, smoothing down his hackles as she crouched beside him. “Don’t worry. Soon, everything will be okay.”
Maizy came bounding out from between the ancient, gnarled oaks that bordered the path. She barked once, as though announcing Emrys and Caelan.
“There’s my girl!” Rachel rubbed the exuberant dog’s velvety ears, laughing as Maizy took turns between licking her hands and excitedly nudging Sam with her enormous square head. The yellow lab was always very careful to hurt no one’s feelings or leave anyone out of her greetings.
“What is this?” Emry’s gruff tone caused the hairs on the back of Rachel’s neck to stand on end with an almost burning tingle.
She slowly rose from her kneeling position by the dogs, hid her hands behind her back like a guilty child, and tried in vain to calm her nervousness with deep breathing. A glance at the moon and a scan of her directional position according to the stars and the keystone of the pond told her she needed to move. With a forced smile locked on the men, she meandered to the northern edge of the clearing toward the largest stone outcropping.
“Emrys. Caelan. This is where Granny and I used to have the most wonderful midnight summer picnics when I was a little girl. Isn’t it beautiful?” Their wary expressions made her heart pound faster. They weren’t buying off on her stroll down memory lane.
Moonlight flooded the still water of the pond, setting it afire with pure white light. Even though the powerful moon wasn’t waxed to complete fullness, it shone bright enough that the flames of her ritual candles paled in comparison. Energy crackled in the air, making everyone’s movements create the slightest hint of neon blue lightning. It was as though the forest held its breath in anticipation of what was about to happen. The flints of time were prepared to strike and spark into a raging inferno.
“Dinna play with me, lass,” Emrys barked, then stamped his staff on the ground.
As soon as the old druid’s ancient rod hit the energy-charged ground sprinkled with Rachel’s blood, a rumbling came from deep within the earth. The wind picked up, swirling through the surrounding trees.
Caelan’s eyes flared wide, and he grabbed hold of Emry’s arm as the ground trembled hard enough to vibrate pebbles into motion. “Shield your temper, old man, lest ye kill us all!”
Hair whipping around her with the fiercer blowing of the wind, Rachel gave Emrys a curt nod. “You’re on my land now. Not only my land, but the land of my ancestors—protected by my blood. My proof glows in the moonlight.”
She stretched out her hand and waved it in a sweeping arc around the pond and the clearing. Everywhere a drop of her blood had fallen to the ground glowed with a blinding, silvery light. Caelan, Emrys, both the dogs, and she stood inside the gleaming circle of blood.
The old druid shook his head, his knuckles whitening with his tighter grip on his staff. He caught hold of Caelan and leaned against him for support against the increasing tempest.
“Ye should have trusted me enough to ask me, lass,” he told her, “or at least channeled your grandmother and asked her. This will not work, and now ye may have killed yourself.”
Caelan grabbed Emrys and shook him, shouting above the howling wind. “What are ye saying? What has she done?”
“She’s cast a spell to keep us here. Used a blood ritual. Is that not right, lass?” Emrys pulled himself away from Caelan and fought to move closer to where she stood at the stone mound with the dogs.
Warily watching the druid make his way toward her, Rachel fought to remain standing as the glowing circle of her blood spun faster around them.
“Is that true?” Caelan moved to her side, shielding her as much as possible from the flying debris caught up in the wind.
“Yes, it’s true!” she shouted, her composure snapping. She’d had enough of the subterfuge and effort to save them from themselves. “I am tired of allowing everything else to control my life. That’s the way it’s always been. I’ve finally found someone I love, and I will be damned if I let you be torn away and sent back to a disease-ridden, war-mongering past where you’re going to suffer and die, and my sons will suffer and die. If I keep everyone here, I can protect all of you. I can save you from needless torment!”
She screamed at the top of her lungs to be heard above the wailing wind. Her silvery circle of blood had reached a dizzying speed around them, and losing her equilibrium was making it difficult to stand.
“What ye dinna understand,” Emrys shouted, “is that ye’ve opened the portal rather than closed it. Ye’ve also angered the Fates because, in this prophecy, ye passed back through time at Samhain. This is not Samhain, and ye do not wish to pass through the portal at all. Do ye ken my meaning?”
“I will not die, and you know it, old man,” she yelled back at him. Tears burned her cheeks in a steady stream at the failure at which he hinted. She could not be going back in time. That would not happen. The old druid couldn’t possibly be right. Thespell said it would seal the portal, not open it. Granny’s book was never wrong. Rachel dropped to the ground and covered her face with her hands.
“Is she right? What is she saying?” Caelan grabbed Emrys and shook him again as the old man stared off into space.
“She is right,” Emrys shouted. “She carries the life forces of three innocents inside her. The Goddess Brid would never allow the bairns to be punished for the actions of the mother.”
All hope was gone, Rachel admitted to herself. She had failed. She didn’t even bother lifting her head as she spoke. “My punishment is banishment to an uncivilized time where I will be forced to watch every person I love, suffer and die from things I could have saved them from if only I could have kept them here.” No sooner had the words left her than the howling winds ceased and the silvery border of blood disappeared.
“It is done,” Emrys whispered.
Gone were the tree frogs merrily chirruping around the pond in Kentucky. Gone were the crickets’ songs and the distant hum of boats as the tourists enjoyed the warm moonlit night on Kentucky Lake. The only sound was the nearby gurgling of a burn as it splashed over the rocks. The sky was a velvety darkness, unmarred by security lights or lights from homes. The only illumination was the moon, and the stars spattered above them. The air still had a bit of a bite to it, and the ground was damp and chilly. Summer nights were often quite cool in Scotland.
“Only a bit farther,lass. Can ye make it or shall I carry ye?” Caelan cast a worried look at Rachel’s downcast face, wishing she would say something. Talk about what happened. The onlytime she had spoken since they passed through the portal was when either he or Emrys asked her a direct question. Other than that, she stared at the ground and plodded along.
