"It’s just a door," Rose replied. "There’s nothing behind it."
"Then you won’t mind opening it, will you?"
"Why should I?"
"Because if you don’t, this knife flies straight into your Highlander’s chest." He held the blade out in front of him. "Make your mind up quickly. I grow tired of this game."
Rose held her hands out. "All right. I’ll do it." She crossed to the door and gripped the handle. "It won’t open. What now?"
He reached into the top drawer of the chest, bringing out a handful of hairpins. "I can’t get it unlocked. I bet you can."
Rose took the hairpins, kneeling down in front of the door and inserting the first one. She added a second and began to rattle the lock, unsure what would happen if she managed to get the thing open. She glanced around her.
The barefoot man was staring at Lennox, knife still in his hand. She heard a click and then the door swung open. On the other side a figure stepped through.
Rose looked shocked. "Mom?"
The woman who’d stepped through was holding something in her hand. "Take this," she said, pressing it into Rose’s palm. "And hurry."
The barefoot man marched across the room, murder flashing across his eyes. "Give me the key, Rose."
Lennox ran forward, tripping the barefoot man. He fell forward, stumbling through the doorway. As he fell through, he began to scream. Long shadows began to move across the walls, crawling over each other, shifting shapes that looked much like people, arms extending and retracting as they coalesced toward the ceiling.
They fell like spiders upon the barefoot man, catching onto him and disappearing into his skin. He tried to cry out again but in the time it took him to open his mouth, more darkness was crawling down his throat. Shadows continued to crawl over him. "It wasn’t supposed to end this way," he said, his voice fading.
"She rewrote the ending," Anthea replied, pulling the door shut. "Lock it, Rose, quickly."
Rose turned the key in the lock. At once the door crumbled to dust in front of them all, as if it had never been there.
"You did it!" Anthea said, throwing her arms around Rose. "I can’t believe you did it!"
"What did I do?" Rose replied, looking bewildered. "Did I do it?"
"You saved the Highlands. I knew you would! My daughter!"
Rose looked up at the woman smiling down at her. "Mom? Is it really you?"
There was a rumble under their feet. A jagged crack ran up the wall of the room. Dust began to fall.
"We need to get out of here," Lennox said, wincing as he turned to the door.
Rose got an arm under him, guiding him quickly down the steps of the tower, Anthea close behind.
They made it just in time. As they stepped out into the open, the tower collapsed into a pile of rubble.
"We’re safe," Anthea said. "At last."
"What happened to you?" Rose asked as they began to walk from the clearing. "Where have you been all this time?"
"I found a silver key in the house," Anthea replied. "I had to try it. But when I did he was waiting for me. I knew who he was at once and I shut the door again but it was too late. I was trapped between the times, stuck in the darkness of the void. The next thing I knew there was a man beside me, said his name was Oswin. He told me many things in the dark, explained all about the barefoot man. He helped me separate truth from fiction. He taught me how to be patient. Said I would be rescued. I just had to be ready."
"Ready for what?"
"He said that when the door opened I would not have much time. I had to get the key to you before he laid his hands on it."
"Wow." She lapsed into silence, taking a look at Lennox who was still wincing with pain. "Are you all right?"
"I’ll live. Can I ask you a question?"
