“Be careful about waiting for someday, lass.Afore ye know it, all the somedays of yer life will be gone.”
Slowly pushing himself up to the edge of the bed, Mr. MacCallen pulled another book out of the drawer.“This one shows the mighty ships that once rode upon the waves.”He seemed to be sizing her up, watching her closely from beneath his snowy white brows. His eyes narrowed into calculating slits.
She stifled the urge to toss the book aside and run. What was wrong with her? He was a harmless old man. She opened the newest book he offered and studied its pages. “These look like the pirate ships that are always in the movies.I wonder what it would be like to sail on one of them?Do you think you could spend your life on a ship that size?”She perched on the edge of the chair and turned the book toward him so he could see the pages.
“Aye, lass, ye could spend a lifetime on the open waves if ye had a ship such as that one.”He stretched and slowly turned the page, then tapped the next photo with a shaking finger. “This here’s where the captain’s quarters would be.See what a fine balcony was built so he would always have a view of the horizon?”
Harley leaned over the book. As she studied the picture, she almost swore she could hear the gulls crying out across the salty breeze.She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, imagining the wind’s kiss against her face, the sun warming her skin, and the waves splashing against the ship’s creaking hull.
“Ye must go to the sea, lass. I can tell by the look on yer face that ye are one of us.”
Harley opened her eyes and grinned, determined to humor the man even though she found something about him quite unsettling.“One of us, Mr. MacCallen?”
He didn’t take her question well. Just frowned and shook his head as he sagged back onto the bed. “Never mind, lass. Ignore the rumblings of a tired old man.”
Immediately sorry she had squelched his enthusiasm; Harley gently closed the book and studied his weary face. Maybe if he talked more about the sea, he would perk up again. “Did youspend yer life on the sea?” she asked him. “Tell me about yourself, Mr. MacCallen.Tell me about before you came to Pleasant Oaks.”
“Some other time, lass. Leave me be now. I am tired.” He turned his back to her and covered his eyes with his arm as he curled over onto his side.
Harley drew the light blanket up over his shoulders and tucked it around him.There was more to Mr. MacCallen than met the eye.It was almost palpable, as though some sort of energy pulsated out from him.He was an enigma sent for her to solve.
“That’s fine, Mr. MacCallen. Have yourself a nice nap.Later this afternoon, I’ll pop back in. We’ll get you out of that bed and wander around the place a bit.It’s not good for you to hole up in this room all the time.”
MacCallen ignored her. He remained silent with his arm over his eyes.She could tell by the rise and fall of his chest that he’d heard her and wasn’t asleep.She’d worked in the senior facility long enough to recognize she was politely being dismissed.
She glanced back at him one last time before closing the door. With a determined nod, she concluded that Mr. MacCallen would be her greatest challenge yet.
CHAPTER 5
As soon as he heard the door click shut, MacCallen eased over and peered out from under his arm to make sure he was alone. With the vigor and agility of a much younger man, he sat up and shoved his pillow behind his back while reaching into his shirt pocket. After one more cautious glance at the door, he opened his fist, smiling as he gently caressed the glowing stone in the center of the ancient locket covered in runes and the elaborate knotwork of old.
“Finally. I have found her,” he whispered to the precious thing. He carefully pried it open and blew across the interior, which glowed like a silvery puddle of mercury. “She is the one. Did ye see how she took to the books we chose?”
The locket came to life, warming and emitting a softly pulsing light that grew stronger by the moment. A voice as soothing as a gentle summer breeze and musical as a trickling stream rose from the swirling surface of the locket’s interior. “Aye, she loves the sea even though she has never touched the waves. I saw the longing in her golden eyes. Is she the one whose loneliness we heard?”
“The only way for us to know for certain is for me to spend timewith her. And to do that, I will have to leave this room and be among the others.” MacCallen glanced out the window.
Harley wheeled one of the residents out into the yard, laughing and chatting as she tended to the aging mortal in the wheelchair.
He shook his head and blew out a heavy breath. She had to be the one. Not only did she love the sea, but she possessed more compassion than most mortals he had come across over the centuries. “I will have to go out there. Act like one of them.”
The locket fretted at this news, its soft light changing from a silvery blue to a troubled red. “Ye must be careful. Ye know I canna hold this glamour long.”
“Aye, but with my help ye can. Trust my powers to strengthen ye in this struggle. If I am but among them for a short while, we should be all right.” MacCallen nodded his certainty about the matter as he made himself more comfortable among the pillows.
“Goddess Clíodhna will help us too. She has promised us as much.” The aura surrounding the ornate locket shifted back to a peaceful, pale blue.
MacCallen shook his head at the locket. “She will demand a tall price from ye—a boon ye will regret. Never has the sea goddess helped anyone willingly unless there be something in it for her. Ye must choose yer words carefully, lest ye regret the pact ye make.”
“We understand each other, she and I,” the voice said. “Dinna worry about what is being done.” The light from the locket flickered, as though growing weaker. “I must go. Make haste, for we have little time. He will soon be home.”
Closing the rich, golden halves of the precious piece of jewelry until they clicked in place, MacCallen wound the heavy linked chain around the locket and tucked it back inside his pocket. He slid out of bed and moved to the chair beside the window to watch Harley and plan his next moves carefully. He had been charged with a duty where there was much at stake, but there was also a great deal to win if he managed everything to his liking. Failure was something he never did, and he was not about start now.
MacCallen slumped lowerin his chair, hoping the old women sitting nearby would offer up some information he could use. It had been his experience that no matter the century, elderly matrons were at their happiest when sharing their opinions of how others should live their lives. He pretended to nap to keep them from curbing their words because of his presence.
“That man was an idiot,” the one known as Mrs. Neeley said. “A complete, two-timing fool. Who in their right mind would toss aside a woman like our Harley?” She shook an arthritic finger at her friends while peering around the common room as if planning an escape from the retirement home.
MacCallen did his best not to smile and kept his eyes opened to the narrowest slits to watch them but still appear asleep.
