This was never supposed to happen,she thought yet again.
She pulled away slowly, confused and heart-sick. “No…forgive me…I…I thought I was stranded here forever. I thought I’d lost you. Lost my whole life back home. Everything. I was so scared.”
He searched her face for long seconds before pulling her close and nestling her head under his chin. “Oh Ness, I’m sorry too. I wasn’t thinking about everythingyoumust have gone through.”
“I tried so hard to get home,” she told him. “I tried sohardto get back to you.” Except that she hadn’t been able to, and so she had given her body to another man. And if she was being honest, her heart as well. To the man who was standing right…she looked up, but Bridei wasn’t there anymore. A quick glance around proved that he was only a short distance away, and Domech was with him now, holding his arm. Maybe talking him out of murder. She shuddered, knowing she would want the same, if the situation was reversed.
Suddenly, she remembered, and she had to know. “Gram?”
She could see the answer in his eyes before he said a word, and her heart shattered. “I’m sorry Nessa, she’s gone.”
She couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Gram was gone. She would really never see her again. Suddenly her world shrunk down to the tiny pinpoint of light that had been her life with the one person that had loved her unconditionally since the moment she was born. She felt alone, floundering, desperate. Some part of her knew it was just grief, and that it would pass in time, but in that moment it felt like a weight heavier than she could bear. She wanted to run…just run. She looked up at Nate with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Nate.”
“I know. I know baby. Let me take you home.”
“You know how?” Some strange mix of hope and dread filled her chest.Home. Wasn’t that where she needed to be? She would need to make the funeral arrangements…
He nodded, taking her chin in his hand and lifting her gaze. “Aye, of course I do. I made sure of it before I came here. No sense in both of us being stuck here in this godforsaken place, right?”
Godforsaken? No. Beautiful and brutal and life-affirming…but nothome. Gram washome. And she had let her die alone.
She looked around again, but this time Bridei was gone. Had he given her up so easily? Without even a fight? Had she been so wrong about his feelings for her? Bridei was gone, and Nathan was here with his arms around her. Warm. Familiar.Gram…
She was shaking. “Aye. Aye, take me home.”
“Of course.” He hugged her tightly for a moment. “Where’s Angus?”
“He’s gone. He…he died.”
“What?” Nathan’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “But how could…”
Nessa pulled at his arm urgently. “Nate, we have to leave before they come after us.”
No one stopped them as they hurried toward the well. At the bottom of the steps, Nathan opened his bag and took out Angus’s little machine. The thought of Uncle Angus made Nessa want to cry even harder than she already was, but she sniffled and made an effort to focus her bleary eyes.
“See this crystal? There’s a bunch of magnets inside. Apparently it somehow disrupts the earth’s magnetic field and something else that I didn’t understand a word of, and it’s aligned to cross the boundary between our time and this one, where they are folded close together. Clough Hill and the well in Burghead, apparently. It makes a kind of door. I never would have believed it until I saw it for myself. Amazing.”
Fresh tears sprang into her eyes, and Nate gathered her into his arms. “There, there. I’m here now. I have no idea how, but I’m here. I’m going to take you home and we’ll get married and have a family and live happily ever after, and none of this will ever touch us again. I promise you.”
He gathered her in his arms, and stepped into the water. Then they were falling…
Domechhad a tight grip on his arm, as he talked Bridei down from the immediate and brutal violence he was determined to commit.Wait, he had said. Give her space. Let her talk to the man and explain the situation. Surely then he would go back where he came from, and all would be just as it should be. He could barely see Domech through the haze of red that covered his vision, let alone hear his words, but he had waited. He had given her a moment alone to tell Nathan goodbye, and he had thought he was being extremely generous, considering. He had been certain that she would do just that: explain that she was happy here with him, and tell the man goodbye. He could not have imagined things happening any other way.
But now Bridei watched in stunned disbelief as Nessa and Nathan disappeared down the steps to the well. With his heart in his throat, he ran after her, finally reaching the well and taking the steps two at a time to emerge…in an empty chamber. He jumped into the water, submerging himself, frantically searching every corner. But it was no use…she was gone, and whatever door she had gone through was now closed. A crushing wave of disbelief washed over him, and he knew what it must be like to have a still-beating heart ripped from one’s chest.
Eventually he heaved himself up into the damp stones, shock making his whole body numb.She’s gone. She left me. A slow, sinking despair was stealing his breath, and at the same time, he was battling a rage that threatened to consume him. He wanted to scream, or kill, or…or just cease to exist all together. Never had he felt pain like this. It was cutting him to pieces. It took some time before he finally gathered the will to climb back up into the daylight.
Domech fell into step beside him as he stalked across the yard. “Bridei? What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
“She’s gone.”
“Nessa? Gone where?”
“With him. Gone.”
“But I thought you two were…” He stopped talking when Bridei stopped short and gave him a look that spelled death should he choose to keep talking.
But Domech didn’t heed the warning, only waiting until Bridei began walking again. “But she could be coming back, right? Did she actually tell you goodbye?”
