Then she jumped off the jetty, dragging a startled Rose with her. Rose had time for a single yelp before she plunged into dark, bitterly cold water—
—and came up coughing and gasping.
Lir still had hold of her hand, and Rose clasped it tightly as though it were the only thing stopping her from drowning.
“You… you… could have warned me!” she gasped, thrashing around with her free hand.
Lir bobbed a few inches away. She seemed amused. “Did I not warn ye to hold yer breath?”
Rose scowled and flicked wet hair out of her eyes, looking around. As she did so, she realized things had changed. There was no sign of her house, the jetty, or the jogging path that led around the lake. Instead, she could see sand dunes rising beyond a rocky shore and could hear the hiss of waves lapping against it. The water tasted salty.
The sea. This was the sea, and that shore was… what? Barra? Had she really traveled so far in the blink of an eye?
Lir released Rose’s hand and began swimming away from her. She moved with the grace of a dolphin, leaving Rose to flounder and flap behind her, doing her best to follow.
A wave of relief went through her when she felt the bottom under her feet and was able to clamber out onto the shingle beach that bracketed the shoreline. She collapsed in a heap, staring up at the cloudy sky and listening to the rapid thump of her heart.
What am I doing?she thought.I’m Rose, the sensible MacFinnan, remember? This is the sort of crazy thing Elise would do.
She struggled into a sitting position and found Lir standing just in front of her, hands clasped demurely at her navel. “Welcome to the Kingdom of the Isles, Rose MacFinnan,” she said formally. “Or more accurately, the island of Barra.”
Lir held out a hand, which Rose took, allowing Lir to pull her up. She got her first decent look at her surroundings. Beyond the dunes, the ground rose steeply into a series of hills, on the tallest of which sat a large complex of stone buildings with towers and crenelated walls. Pennants flew from the top of the towers, and a large gate tower guarded the entrance.
Rose stared at it. Wait. Was that acastle?
Then her eyes were drawn to something else. A village hugged theknees of the hill on which the castle sat, flowing down in tiered rows, with a zigzag path weaving its way through. But it wasn’t a normal village with shops and cars and roads, oh no. This looked like something straight out of a painting. The buildings were constructed of timber, with thatched roofs and wicker fencing around cottage gardens. Rose made out gaggles of geese and chickens meandering between the buildings and even a couple of pigs wallowing by the side of the path.
There wasn’t a car, nor a café, nor a tarmacked road in sight.
A horrible suspicion began to form at the back of her mind. She whirled on the goddess. “Lir, where have you brought me?”
“Barra, as I said.”
“Really? Then why does everything look so strange? This place looks nothing like any Scottish settlement I’ve ever heard of.”
Lir shrugged. “That’s because ye are out of yer time. This is the year 1493.”
Rose goggled. She felt her jaw drop. She must have heard wrong. Lir hadn’t just said it was 1493. Had she?
“You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I dinna joke, Rose MacFinnan.”
Rose turned in a slow circle. Out on the sea she spotted a fishing boat but it wasn’t a metal-hulled one with a motor, but carved from wood with a basic sail and two paddles. To the west she saw a line of people working in a field. There was no sign of machinery, just wooden hoes that they were using to clear the ground.
No, she thought.This cannot be happening.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, suddenly dizzy. “I did not agree to this! I agreed to travel to Barra, not travel through time!”
The goddess cocked her head, seeming puzzled by Rose’s outburst. “Does it matter? These people need yer help. What difference does the time period make?”
Rose stared at her incredulously. “Are you serious? It makes everydifference! How the hell do you expect me to survive in 1493? I would never have agreed to come if I’d known this was what you meant!”
“Would ye not?” Lir replied, narrowing those strange silver eyes at her. “Are the people of this time not worthy of yer aid?”
Rose felt a flicker of anger. “You’re trying to trap me with words and I won’t have it.” She lifted her hand and pointed a finger at the goddess. “You brought me here under false pretenses. Take me home. Now.”
Lir said nothing and it was difficult to gauge emotions on that silver-eyed face. But for a moment, Rose thought she saw regret, sadness, and something else flicker across her smooth features. Fear?
