“And who is this Mr.Jack Ass?”Mairwen asked as she ground the gears, popped the clutch, then flinched as the truck lurched into motion.
“The man who dared to dump our Jessa,” Emily told her while leaning forward to stress the statement with an indignant look.“Can you believe that?”
Mairwen clucked like an old hen.“I canna believe it.That man must be the greatest sort of fool.”
“He’s the greatest sort of something,” Jessa said, struggling to take the high road and not blame everything that had gone wrong in the relationship on Jeremy.“But he’s gone now, and I’m better off without him.”
“That’s the spirit, lass.”
“And besides, we’ve got a month to find Mr.MacSexy.”Emily caught hold of the door handle as they bounced through a pothole.“Or at least a reasonable facsimile.”
With her eyes on the road, Mairwen bared her teeth as she ground the gears to climb the hill.Muttering more mysterious words, she looked ready to strangle the truck if it didn’t cooperate.As the incline leveled out, she relaxed and returned to her usual state of serenity.“Ye know the legend says the waters are nay just for healing.”
Jessa sensed where this was going.“You think they might help me find Mr.MacSexy?”
Mairwen’s smile brightened even more.“I’ve no doubt about it, lass.No doubt at all.”
* * *
“Oh,my goodness, you’ve made me feel boneless.”Jessa exhaled, perfectly content to melt into the massage table.Her face rested in the padded hole, and her arms dangled off its sides.Eyes closed, she struggled to stay awake, which was odd, since she’d never been one to sleep on her stomach.“Mairwen, you are magical.”
“I’m glad I’ve done ye some good, lass.”Mairwen rubbed warmed oil onto Jessa’s back and shoulders, down her arms, and on each of her fingers.
Jessa breathed in its scent and relaxed even more.It smelled of roses, with a soft note of lily of the valley and maybe even some sweet basil.“I hope Emily is enjoying her session as much as I’m enjoying mine.”
“I’m sure she is.Ishbel is as talented as I.”
Jessa had thought their massages would be in the same room, but in a way, maybe this was better.When she and Emily were together, they rarely stopped talking.With them separated, odds were better that they would soak in the benefits of the massage without distracting one another.
“Now then,” Mairwen said, the gentle lilt in her voice almost as hypnotic and calming as the room softly lit by nothing but candles.“Behind the screen where ye left yer clothes, I’ve placed a linen shift and a pair of slippers.Put those things on, and then I’ll take ye to the springs.Just ring the bell whenever ye’re ready, and I’ll return to show ye the way, aye?”
“Aye,” Jessa mumbled through her drowsiness before realizing Mairwen had already left the room.She slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position and gathered the thick white towel around her, not really in a hurry to dispel the delicious laziness of being so relaxed.Letting her feet swing as she sat on the table, she idly studied the rough texture of the dark gray walls that looked like actual stone.She hopped down, went to the nearest one, and touched it.It was cool to the point of almost feeling damp and hard as granite.Maybe the room was a small chamber off the main cave that Mairwen had said was the origin point for one of the larger healing springs.
She padded barefoot across layers of worn tapestries tossed across the floor in such a haphazard way that it seemed like an intentional decorating choice.The rich patches of burgundies, blues, and golds matched Mairwen’s shawl and skirt, which reminded her of a fortuneteller’s costume she’d once seen at the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.
Behind the tall privacy screen of yellowed parchment framed with unpainted wood was a white, floor-length dress that would make a comfortable, old-fashioned nightgown.It was as soft as her favorite cotton shirts that had been washed so many times they were almost see-through.Plain with long, loose sleeves, it tied at the front of the gathered yoke neckline.Very much aware of her pantiless state, she debated slipping them on, then decided against it.If she went into the spring wearing her undies, they’d be soaking wet for the ride home.Besides, theshift, as Mairwen had called it, almost brushed the tops of her feet.It wasn’t like she wasn’t well covered.She returned her panties to the pile of her neatly folded clothes and eyed her phone, tempted to check it.
“No.There is nothing there that can’t wait, and I don’t want to ruin this gorgeous feeling of peacefulness.”She shook a finger at the powered-down device as if putting it in its place.She hadn’t felt this worry-free in a very long while.
The shoes Mairwen had left for her made her frown.She picked them up and examined them closely.They seemed to be real leather.Simple brown slip-ons with no heel, but soft as velvet, and even had a leatherysmell.She didn’t like wearing leather, but didn’t want to wear her street shoes anywhere near the spring.They might have picked up some contaminants or something in their travels, and their dyes could pollute the area.She eyed the slippers again, running her thumb along what appeared to be their hand stitching.“I guess it won’t hurt to wear these for a little while.”
She slipped them on, determined to stop overthinking every little thing.The perfect fit of the shoes was surprising.She wiggled her toes and walked around the room, delighted with their comfort.It was a shame they were leather, or she might ask Mairwen if they were for sale.
A delicate silver bell inscribed with a phrase so worn it wasn’t legible hung from a braided dark blue ribbon beside the door.As soon as she rang it, the entire room lurched with a deep, rumbling groan, knocking her off balance.She bounced against the wall, tumbled backward, then rolled to all fours, and tried to scramble back to the door.The harder she tried to claw her way to it, the more the floor tilted to a steeper incline, making her slide farther away.
“Mairwen!Help!”Was this a freaking earthquake?In Scotland?And here she was, trapped in a cave.Panic rising, she grabbed at the rugs that seemed to be caught in place and tried to drag herself up to the doorway, using them like ropes.“What the hell?”Hanging onto the worn tapestries, dangling with no foothold since the floor was nearly vertical by now, she looked from side to side.Disbelief shot a sudden rush of terror roaring through her ears, and her heart hammered so hard she struggled to breathe.
Nothing else in the room had toppled over, slid out of place, or collapsed.Nothing had moved but her and the floor.The entire room was intact, just merely tipped on its side.
Every tall pillar candle of the purest white still burned brightly on the tables and shelves, lending their golden glow to the now sideways room.The massage table and privacy screen remained in place, as if the floor hadn’t suddenly become a wall.Mairwen’s countertop was picture perfect with its colorful bottles, bowls of smooth black stones, and small towels rolled into neat bundles and stacked in a fluffy white pile.
“What hallucinogenics were in that massage oil?”Clinging to the rug, her only lifeline, she jerked at the sound of her voice echoing through the chamber as if it were a bottomless pit.“Mairwen!”she screamed, drawing it out until her throat felt raw.Hands cramping, she tried to drag herself higher and failed.She couldn’t hold on like this much longer.Upper body strength was not one of her superpowers.In fact, she’d failed the rope climb in that despised phys-ed class she’d taken as an elective.
This had to be a nightmare.She’d gone to sleep during the massage and wandered into a bad dream.“Wake up, wake up, wake up,” she muttered while bouncing her forehead against her throbbing forearms.“All you have to do is wake up, and everything will be okay.”
She struggled to wrap her legs around her rope of rugs, swinging from side to side in her battle to hang on, but the long nightgown tangled around her and thwarted her efforts.“Maybe if I fall, I’ll wake up,” she said aloud.The disturbing echo of her voice was better than the suffocating silence and the creaking of the carpeting that would surely rip away at any moment.If talking out loud got her through this, then so be it.
The painful cramping of her fingers and hands traveled up into her arms.“All you have to do is let go.”Ain’t no way, she silently argued.Apparently, her logical side would speak aloud, and her belligerent self would only use thought to communicate.“I have lost my ever-loving mind.Let go and fall, so you’ll wake up!”But she couldn’t.She had always been afraid of heights, and even though the room had seemed nice and cozy when it was right side up, from this angle, it felt as if she was teetering off the side of a skyscraper.
