“I know. I need to find the book you were reading to me. You know, the one about the keys.”
“It’s in my room. I’ve been keeping an eye on it. It keeps changing.”
“Changing?” Daisy asked, dashing through to Tabby’s bedroom, calling back over her shoulder. “What do you mean changing?”
Tabby appeared in the doorway behind her as she picked the book up. “I was rereading it after you went and I swear parts of the book were different to the first time.”
“What?”
“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. What do you need it for anyway?”
Daisy flipped through the pages, scanning her way quickly until she reached the section she needed. “There,” she said, pointing. “Right there. I knew it. Tabby, I love you, you’re amazing.” She dropped the book, already pulling the silver key out.
“Wait,” Tabby said. “What’s all this about? What did you need the book for?”
“I promise, if this works out, I’ll come back and tell you everything but for now I’ve got to go.”
“Anything I can do?”
“Pray I’m not too late.” She slid the key into the front door and turned it. “Bye, Tabby. See you soon, I hope.”
Then she was pulling the door open and stepping out into the kitchen of MacGregor Castle. She looked behind her. Tabby had gone. All that was there was a cupboard filled with tankards. The cook was staring at her like she’d appeared from nowhere. Which she had.
“Hi,” Daisy said, stopping dead as she saw what the cook was doing. All of a sudden it all made sense. She took a step forward, pretending not to have seen what the cook was doing. Noises reached her from outside. Shouting, lots of shouting. Was she too late?
She crossed to the hearth and examined the floor closely.
“What are you doing?” the cook said as she kneeled down, taking the poker from the hearth and wedging it under the corner of a loose flagstone. “You cannae do that. My fire will go out. The soup will spoil.”
Daisy ignored her, continuing to lever up the stone. It took all of her strength pushing down on the poker for it to slide up. She only caught a glimpse before the cook grabbed her but it was enough for her to know the book had been right.
It was a shame for the metal detectorists in the future. When her housemate had told her about the treasure being found in the 1980s, she’d slotted it somewhere in her memory, never expecting the information to be useful.
What else was it the book had said? That Jock had stolen the money and ruined the clan. “Not anymore,” she said out loud, shoving the cook backward. “Stay away from me.”
“You are a witch,” the cook said. “Get out of my kitchen.”
“With pleasure,” Daisy replied, heading for the door in the far corner, leaving the cook cursing loudly behind her.
Passing through a short corridor, she found the door at the end locked. “You’ve nowhere to go,” the cook said, brandishing the poker Daisy had left under the flagstone. “If you think you’re telling anyone what you saw, you’ve another thing coming.”
Daisy rattled the door again as the cook swung the poker through the air. The shouts outside were much louder, joined by the crashes of swords. What was going on out there?
An idea occurred to her as the cook drew nearer, the poker ready to bring down on her head. When the cook raised it for a final time, Daisy reached into her pocket and brought out the silver key, praying it would work.
It did.
She slid the key home into the lock and turned it, pulling the door open to reveal chaos in the courtyard. She barely had chance to see a thing before the laird of the MacGregors was falling back onto her, swords whipping through the air above them both.
She glanced behind her, the cook was gone like a scalded cat. The men with swords were moving to kill Jock.
“Wait!” she cried, stepping over the laird, guessing what must have happened. The king had clearly found out the treasure was gone. “I know where the money has been hidden.”
The king shoved his way past his men. “You picked a fine time to come forward, lass. Know that if you are lying, your head will join that of your laird’s on a spike outside my favorite castle.” He said the words calmly but there was no doubt he meant what he said.
“I’m telling the truth,” Daisy replied, trying her best to hide her fear. “Come with me. It’s this way.”
Once inside she wasn’t surprised to see the cook looking as innocent as possible. She was surprised to see the flagstone back in place, a heavy cauldron on top of it, the one the cook had been stirring when she’d first arrived.
