“With or without you, Brielle wants control of that bridge,” Maggie stated.
“I understand that, but I can’t help but wonder if I didn’t put the thought in her head, would she have done this?”
“I don’t know the answer to that question, but I do know that she hates my Aunt Edna, because she refused to let Brielle cross the bridge many years ago, and it was probably just a matter of time before she would have figured out that the best way to hurt her was by hurting the MacKenzies, taking the bridge, or both,” Maggie offered.
“I’m afraid I didn’t really care what her motivation might be at the time. I just saw her as a way to do more damage to the MacKenzies and to get back at Edna.” He turned his gaze towards the fire, seeming embarrassed by his own callousness.
Maggie spent a few minutes explaining everything Brielle had done at Breaghacraig, how she had disguised herself as Maggie, tried to kill Angus and that she and Dylan had left Breaghacraig in an attempt to keep her from doing further damage there. Their hope was that she would want her talisman back so badly that she’d come to them. Richard sat silently, listening carefully to what she said and when she finished she could tell from his expression he was thinking seriously. His brow was wrinkled and he sat tapping his lips steadily with one finger.
“Do you think she’ll come here?” he asked.
“I believe she’s here already. I can feel her presence nearby. I don’t think it will be long now before she shows herself and then I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” Maggie shivered at the thought. She still hadn’t come to grips with the fact that she might have to kill Brielle to end the threat she posed.
For a few minutes, the crackling and popping of the fire was the only sound in the room. “I’d like to stay with you. I believe I can help, if you’ll allow it.” Richard finally said.
Dylan gave Maggie another gentle squeeze. “I’m all for it,” he said. “The more of us there are, the better our chances.”
“Alright,” Maggie said. “I’ll tell ye what I’ve told Dylan. ’Tis my fight. I must do this. I must be the one to defeat her. Ye can be there to support me, but please dinnae interfere.”
“Agreed,” Richard said, extending a hand to Maggie, who took it without hesitation. Dylan placed his hand on top of theirs to confirm their pact. “We should get some sleep. If you don’t mind, I’ll make my bed here by the fire.” Richard got up and grabbed a blanket from his saddlebags, placing it on the floor.
Dylan pulled Maggie up from her spot on the floor and they made their way across the small room to the bed. They climbed in fully dressed, Maggie curling up with her head on Dylan’s chest. Her mind returned to thoughts of the previous night spent in this same bed and despite the fact that she was happy to have Richard here with them, a little privacy would certainly have been nice. Dylan seemed to be reading her mind when he gently kissed the top of her head and wrapped her a little more tightly in his arms.
Chapter 18
The morning sun had begun its climb into the sky, but the usual sounds of the world awakening were missing. Maggie knew something was wrong immediately, when she awoke to total silence. Where were the birds, who were never deterred from their cheerful chirping each morning? There was no breeze rustling the leaves in the trees. Even the sound of the river was gone. It was as if the world stood still, watching and waiting. Maggie climbed from the bed, careful not to disturb Dylan, who slept soundly at her side. She crept past Richard, who was also still sleeping soundly on the floor. Opening the door, she stepped outside into a world that had morphed overnight in an otherworldly way. Everything around her appeared to have been frozen in place. Birds hung in the sky, paralyzed in midflight; Maggie’s horse, seeming for all the world as if she’d been enjoying a good buck, had stopped mid-motion, with her hind legs in the air. The other horses stood still as could be in the grassy field, heads down and motionless, as if they had been captured by an artist in the middle of grazing. The eerie silencewas abruptly broken by cackling laugher coming from one of the trees by the river’s edge. There, sitting amid the branches of a giant pine tree she spied Brielle, looking quite comfortable in her lofty perch.
“Good morn to ye, lassie,” Brielle greeted her brightly, with a sarcastic sneer curving her lips.
Maggie didn’t answer, her mind whirling with thoughts about what Brielle had planned and how best to approach the situation. She suffered a moment of sheer panic, but forced herself to take a deep breath and grounded herself.
“Would ye care to join me?” Brielle asked. Before Maggie could consider what Brielle was suggesting, she found herself being pulled up into the air, as if she was being hoisted on invisible strings, high above the cottage until she was at eye level with Brielle. “That’s better,” Brielle announced. She was surrounded by dozens of birds, and not one of them was moving a single feather or even blinking.
Breathe! Breathe!Maggie continued to fight against the panic, which threatened to overtake her. She had always been afraid of heights and usually avoided them at all costs, but now she found herself hovering, fifty feet in the air, and she was completely terrified.
“Are ye afraid of heights, Maggie? If ye are, I could always send ye back down to the ground.” Brielle laughed evilly and Maggie suddenly found herself freefalling towards the hard ground below. She squeezed her eyes shut in terror just as she was about to hit the ground, but instead, she was yanked back up to Brielle’s level again. “Wasn’t that fun? Would ye like to do it again?” Brielle tipped her head, waiting for an answer.
Maggie couldn’t speak. She was nauseous and shaking violently, from the rush of adrenaline coursing through her bloodstream.
“Cat got yer tongue? Answer me, Maggie! ’Tis no fun at all if ye dinnae plead with me to let ye go.”
Maggie did her best to relax. If she were going to succeed here, she needed a clear head. “I’ll nae plead with ye. Drop me if ye wish, but then yer little game of cat and mouse will be over.”
As Maggie watched Brielle contemplating her next move, she managed to calm herself enough to float gently back to earth and once her feet touched the ground, she made a run for the cottage. Bolts of lightning rained down on her from above, nearly striking her on more than one occasion. In a panic, she hit the ground and rolled behind a large boulder. Peeking over the top of the boulder, she could see Brielle had disappeared. She wasn’t sitting in the tree anymore. Where had she gone? Maggie searched the vicinity, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The spell had been broken and to her relief, the birds were chirping and the horses were moving again. Everything was back to normal, or so it seemed.
Dylan and Richard both appeared in the doorway, concerned expressions upon their faces.
Maggie ran over to them, her hands still shaking from the ordeal. “Are you okay, Maggie?” Dylan gripped her arms, searching her face for an answer. “I had a really bad dream. I was paralyzed, and it didn’t matter how much I tried, I couldn’t move a muscle. You were falling from a tree and I couldn’t do anything to save you.”
“I had exactly the same dream,” Richard said sharply, frowning heavily. “Perhaps it was not a dream at all.”
“Yer right. ’Twas nae a dream. Brielle was here, sitting up in that tree over there,” Maggie explained, pointing to the tall pine tree where Brielle had been perched. “Somehow, she was able to freeze time; everything was stopped in mid-motion, including the two of ye, I think. The only things that could move wereBrielle and me.” Maggie shook her head, still trying to come to terms with the events of the past few minutes.
“Where is she now?” Richard asked.
“I don’t know, but I would imagine she hasnae gone far.” Maggie shivered at the prospect. She’d been completely overwhelmed by Brielle’s first attack—how on earth would she be able to stop her?
Dylan held Maggie close, rubbing her back to soothe her. “We’ve got to find her, Maggie. She could’ve killed you.” His arms tightened around her protectively.
