She ended the call, standing for a moment looking out at the village in the distance. Life was so simple when she was there. Boyfriend, job, life. Now what had happened to her? Nancy Drew in the Highlands with a mystery to solve. Maybe the agent had been right, maybe this place wasn’t for her.
The fact that it might be haunted didn’t bother her. The fact that she might have met a ghost didn’t bother her either. What bothered her was the not knowing if he’d been telling the truth.
For a ghost he seemed very real after all. When she’d prodded his chest, she wasn’t just surprised by how real he felt but how solid his muscles were. He was definitely strong enough to sweep her into his arms and go full Mills and Boon. Not that she cared of course. Not at all.
She fanned her face, glad of the breeze as she suddenly felt far too hot. Descending the stairs, she returned to the dungeon. The flashlight was still there, the light dying as she stepped inside. “Well done,” she said out loud. “Forgot to charge it, forgot to turn it off. Top work, Natalie.”
She reached for it as it failed completely. In the darkness, she tripped over something on the floor and then lost her balance. She had a horrible feeling she was about to land on one of the skeletons.
She managed to miss them both. Instead, she slammed her head into the base of the wall, the darkness of the cell nothing compared to the darkness of unconsciousness that swallowed her up a second later. She didn’t even manage to say, “Ow.”
She came to eventually, not sure where she was. For a moment all she could think was about how much her head hurt. She sat up, rubbing it. It felt sticky. Had she cut herself? Then she remembered.
She was in the dungeon. Was that banging sound in her head? Nope, someone was shouting. She couldn’t make it out yet. She was too dazed. She got to her feet slowly, groping her way along the wall toward the door.
“I’m here,” she said. “In here.” It was closed. Worse than that, it was locked. How had that happened? “Wallace,” she shouted. “You better let me out.”
There was no answer. She was alone in the pitch black with only two skeletons for company.
“Let me out,” she shouted as someone thumped on the door from the other side. “Who’s there?”
“Miss MacCallister, it’s the police. Can you hear us? Can you open the door?”
“It’s locked.”
“We know. We’ve been trying to get in for hours. Do you have a key?”
Of course, the key. She rolled her eyes as she realized she hadn’t even thought of that. Rummaging in her pockets, she found it, sighing with relief as she realized her troubles were almost over.
Or so she thought.
She felt for the keyhole, sliding the key home a second later. “Don’t worry,” the voice on the otherside of the door called to her. “We’ll soon have you-”
She turned the key and pulled the door open. There was no one on the other side. The hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. The air felt electric. Something had happened but she had no idea what. “Hello,” she called out, knowing with absolute certainty that she would get no answer. She stepped through, glancing up the steps. “Mr. Police Officer?”
Nothing.
Turning she looked into the cell once again. All she could see was darkness but something was moving in there. She scrambled for her cellphone, pulling it out and switching on the flashlight. She almost dropped it when she saw what was laid there in the cell.
One of the skeletons had gone. In its place was a figure dressed in rags, limbs bound in chains. He was definitely dead, face down on the ground.
She walked in slowly, using the cellphone as a shield to protect her. Kneeling beside him, she touched a finger to his neck. No pulse. Then all of a sudden, there was.
The body shifted. He sat up.
She dropped the phone in shock. The light wentout. She picked it back up. The screen wasn’t just cracked. It was dead. “Fantastic,” she said out loud, pressing buttons to no avail.
“Who’s there?” the figure beside her said in a voice she recognized. “Is that you, Natalie?”
“Wallace?” she replied, hardly able to believe it. This had to be a dream. She was still unconscious. Either that or concussion was taking her on one heck of a ride. “It can’t be.”
“It worked.” He sounded shocked. “It actually worked. I told you it would.”
“You’re not telling me I’ve gone back in time to the Middle Ages?”
“Aye, lass. You’re here, in my cell.” He rattled his chains, muttering to himself as he did so. “Yet I am still bound. I should have known he would cheat me.”
“What are you talking about.”
