Prologue
Again, I sense her. The young woman who haunts me. I feel her beckoning as I stand at the forge, hammer in hand. Like a faraway whisper. A pull I cannot resist.
Promising myself just one moment, just one last glimpse, I let my gaze stray to the flames. My vision blurs, the world falls away, and my soul exhales in quiet relief.
There she is.
Perhaps these are waking dreams, my mind roving the edges of madness, but I don’t care.
I’ve never met her, yet she is somehow mine. As familiar as a remembered dream of comfort and home. It’s not because she’s beautiful, though she is that. Her proud shoulders and the long strength of her body belie a face that steals my breath with its loveliness.
Still, there’s something more. Something deeper. A kinship beyond blood or clan. Like firelight in the dark, she calls to me. As though I know her. As though she’s my missing piece.
“Callum!”
A shout of my name yanks me back to reality.
Best not to forget. I am no one. Nothing. Wanted by none. Deserving of naught so grand as dreams such as these.
The mirage dissolves, as fleeting as embers winking into night.
Chapter
One
My bag hits the floor with a hollow smack that ricochets off the dank stone walls of the inn. “Gone? What do you mean, gone?”
Where on earth is my mother?
The young receptionist doesn’t look up. She just nods at the bill, filing her nails with a bored shrug. “We take cash or card, miss.”
My mother ditched me. I don’t know why I’m surprised. It’s kind of her thing. Edinburgh was just her latest disappearing act, and here I am, searching for her all over again. Only this time, I’m in a foreign country.
“We’ll go to Scotland,” she told me out of the blue. “Tour that school you like.” We saved up for months, or at leastIdid. Heaven forbid Janet work a day in her life. But still, this was supposed to beourtrip together. Our firstanythingtogether. A mother-daughter bonding moment. Just a quick jaunt during midterm break, a long weekend in late October.
I should be home by now, studying for exams. Instead, I’m chasing afterher.
My eyes blur, anger threatening to slide into the familiar dejection that defined my childhood.I pinch the bridge of my nose, hard. I will not cry in front of this stranger. Instead, I focus on the peeling sign over her head like I might be quizzed on it. THE MERRY WIDOW INN, ESTABLISHED 1605. Which, judging by the state of this place, is probably the last time anyone dusted.
Why did my mother comehere? She hasn’t been back to Scotland since before I was born. She refuses to talk about it.
Isthiswhere she’s from?
Not that I’ve had a chance to ask. Our first morning together, she went to the bathroom and never came back. I’d have called her cell phone, if she had one. She claims she doesn’t believe in them, which is like not believing in the wheel, but whatever.
That was two days ago. I’ve been searching for her ever since…until this place called. “Janet Campbell is racking up a bill she can’t pay.” Four hours, one train, and two buses later, here I am. In the wilds of Scotland.
I missed my college tour, of course.
Just the thought of it makes my head ache. What else did I miss? Was I supposed to have an interview?
I didn’t even get to see the campus. The physics department at the University of Edinburgh is world famous. It’s my dream to transfer there. But instead of exploring the school, I spent two days scouring every pub while staving off panic attacks. More than ever, I need to get away from my mother. Study abroad. Worry about nothing and nobody but myself for once.
But first, I have to find her.
I glance at the invoice. Nausea rolls through me. “Um, okay. This is…okay.” I chew my thumbnail, trying to figure out what to do. “But you said you know where Janet is?Janet Campbell.” I say her name extra slowly, like the problem here is my accent and not basic human decency. “My name’s Rose. You called me? You said she was here.”
The receptionist finally looks up. Expression flat. Unimpressed. “She’s nae here. Not anymore. Just the bill.” She slides the paper forward, tapping the total with a bright red nail. “Cash or card.”
