“I will not risk Emma to the likes of Arach.” Torin lowered his arms to his sides, resting his hands atop the sword at his side and the dagger at his waist. “Ye know as well as I do that thebeast always tortures before he kills. Emma is too inexperienced to stand against such a demon.”
“Then ye had best prepare her and show her the Ways quickly,” the wind replied. “For ye’ve no choice but to face the monster with Emma at your side. If either of ye make the mistake of facing Arach alone, then both of ye will be destroyed.”
“I will ne’er forgive ye for the misery ye have brought to me and my kind, old woman. When this is done, when Emma and I purge Arach from this world, I will come for ye next.”
A humorless laugh rode the chilling breeze whistling through the stones. “I look forward to that day, my fine chieftain. I grow weary with this existence and am ready to be put to rest.”
Chapter
Forty-One
“Which flight did you settle on? The late one arriving at Heathrow or the early one into Glasgow? We’ve got a lousy connection and I didn’t hear what you said.” Emma adjusted the speakers on her laptop. The internet call connection wavered in and out, interrupting Laynie’s voice with static. The image on the screen flicked with gray-white specks. She could barely see the outline of Laynie’s face.
“I said don’t worry about it. I’ve made arrangements to fly all the way into Lewis.”
Anticipation shivered through Emma. She missed her baby sister so much. “That’s fantastic. I can’t wait until you get here. Be sure to pack plenty of sweaters. The winter wind here cuts through you like a knife.”
The screen grayed out with static fuzz. The connection finally failed. Her cell phone vibrated, hopped across the counter, then burst into the irritating song Laynie had downloaded into it before Emma had left. Emma grinned as she hit the talk button.Laynie would never sign off without having the last word. “Hello, Laynie.”
“Okay. What was the comment about the wind?” Laynie’s voice buzzed in her ear, the noise of a boisterous crowd, clinking glasses and loud music echoed in the background.
“Where are you? I thought you were at home. Did you take your laptop to a bar? Just because you’re over twenty-one doesn’t mean you have to go crazy when I’m not there to watch over you.” Emma tightened her grip on the phone, irritated protectiveness sparked through every big sister sensor.
A heavy sigh rattled in her ear. She could just see Laynie rolling her eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes at me, Laynie,” she goaded in her bossiest voice.
That brought a giggled response. “I love you, sis, and I’ll be there in two weeks. Now stop being such a worrywart. You’re going to have to accept the fact that I’m grown. Your job is over.”
“I love you too, Laynie. Travel safe.” Emma swallowed hard against the knot of emotions closing off her throat as she clicked off the phone. Staring at the gadget in her hand, she wondered if she’d ever be able to do what Laynie said.
She had always watched out for Laynie—even before their parents died. She still remembered the day she had first set eyes on the yowling, pink bundle Mother had settled onto her lap. As soon as she’d wrapped her spindly arms around the red-faced baby, the caterwauling had stopped. Trusting blue eyes gazed up into hers. It didn’t matter that Laynie shared her parent’s bloodline and Emma didn’t. She and Laynie had bonded from the start.
Emma closed her eyes against the memory, against the renewed stinging of tears. She couldn’t stomach her newly discovered destiny of either watching Laynie grow old and die or losing her little sister forever when she traveled to another reality.
Torin’s words echoed in her mind. He had promised never to leave her alone. Her heart swelled and unshed tears ached in her throat. Could she really trust him? Everyone else she had ever loved always left her, whether by choice or by chance. If she took that step and opened to Torin, could she handle it if he disappeared too?
She closed the laptop and rubbed the warm surface of the machine as though wishing a genie out of a magic lamp. That’s what she needed. A magic genie. Emma snorted out a bitter laugh. In essence, wasn’t a genie what Torin was? And what about her own magic?
She stared at her fingertips. Magic. How could this strange power really be possible? The memory of the spirit walk among the stars pushed all other thoughts from her mind. And what about the day she had fended off the glob of flying sheep pellets? She rubbed her fingertips together, startled when an eerie tingle rippled through both hands. Slowly turning while still rubbing the tips of her fingers against her thumbs, she spied the over-flowing basket of peat bricks squatting beside the hearth.I wonder…She narrowed her eyes and focused on the uppermost chunk of peat balanced on the top of the pile, then stretched her right hand out toward the peat and tensed with concentration. Nothing.
She stared at the end of her outstretched hand pointed at the hearth. Why didn’t her so-called magic work whenever she pulled the trigger? Maybe she wasn’t focused enough or maybe…could it be...she focused too hard? Isn’t that what Mother had always said?Clear your mind, Em, and believe in yourself. If you do that, you’ll never fail at whatever you’re trying to do. The key is to believe.Her mother’s long ago mantra echoed from long buried memories, triggering a shiver across her flesh. Had Mother known about the magic and just never said anything about it? How much had her parents found out about herheritage when they had brought her home from the adoption center?
Emma cleared her mind with a slow, deep breath, closed her eyes and stretched out her hand again. She could do this. The energy was there. The intensity of this strange blessing tingled through her and pulsed into an increasing sting the longer she held her breath. She opened her eyes and focused every powerful feeling she’d ever had on the innocent brick of peat.
The basket of black bricks exploded into a choking cloud of debris. Miniscule chunks of turf whizzed past Emma’s head and bounced against the wall. As the smoke cleared, Emma tucked her hands deep into the pockets of her jeans and stared at the scorch marks on the stones of the hearth where the basket once sat.
Holy shit.So that’s what magic felt like.
Chapter
Forty-Two
“The arm is fractured in two spots. See the obvious clean break through the radius near the joint?” Emma ran the tip of her ink pen along the white line shining through the shadowed outline of the bone. “And then the hairline fracture here. Just a bit lower in the ulna.” Emma tapped along a fainter line on the gray X-ray film snapped to the glowing front of the viewing box.
“I’ve told her a thousand times to stay off that rotted out dock. I’m just thankful she didna drown.” The worried mother paced in circles around the exam table where her gum-popping daughter sat thumping her heels against the sheet metal wall of the table’s pedestal.
“Ma! We were playin’ pirates. I couldna let the boys think I was a fraidy cat. I’m the leader. The leader has to be brave or else ye have to walk the plank.” The eleven-year old cradled her injured arm against her chest along with a packet of blue ice wrapped in a towel.
“Dr. Maxwell, there’s a man here to see ye.” Moira stuck her head inside the door, rolling her eyes as she spoke.
