The wind blew harder as she made her way to the loch asfast as she could, the song coming along with her, more broken and sinister this time. Nora instinctually lifted her right hand into the air and pulled it back in one long sweeping motion. Abiding by her command, the wind turned direction, and the song faded off into the distance. As her memories returned, so did a deep-seated knowledge of magic, rekindling her understanding of how to wield its power.
She watched with dread as Alistair stepped farther out onto the ice. Fear gripped her, and all her lives came together as one. All the love and loss and pain channeled into one wave of energy. She looked up into the dusty night sky just as the clouds broke free, and the moon broke through, in an eclipse state.
“When icy whispers bid you near, a sacrifice, the path will clear. Beneath the gaze of stars untold, a choice to make, a tale unfolds,” she said aloud. “A sacrifice of self. It was the literal meaning, just like Colin had thought.”
In that moment, the last bit fell into place. She was the one. She had to be the sacrifice in order to end this and save Alistair.
Biting through the pain of her injured ankle, she ran as fast as she could through the thick snow. Instead of heading toward where Alistair stood on the loch, she veered toward the water’s edge closest to her and darted out onto the thin ice.
She made it halfway into the middle of the loch when she heard the first crack, loud and echoing off the edges of the mountains that surrounded her. She heard her name called on the wind and spun to see Alistair out on the loch to her right, his arms waving frantically above his head in a stopping motion. They were separated by the thin layer of ice where Lochland had been. She noticed that Lochland was now by his side as he turned back to the shoreline and raced around the edge of the loch to where she had gone.
She didn’t stop. Instead she walked closer to an open patch of water in the center. Another crack reverberated from the ice, and she felt it shift below her, like the ground had done up on the mountain when she had channeled her energy into it.
She smiled, knowing what she needed to do, and bent forward, placing both palms flat on the surface of the ice. She pulled from deep within herself, focusing all the energy she had once thought to be fear and anxiety. However, it had been her power all along—the magic of the Darrow women trying to break to the surface. She pulled it from her core and pushed it down through her hands out onto the frozen water. The ice below her hands lit with a blue glow as the thunderous crack rang out into the night air. In the blink of an eye, she was gone, consumed by the dark icy waters of the loch.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Eclipse
The last thing Nora heard was Alistair’s frantic call as her body broke through the ice, plunging into the frigid embrace of the loch. At first, the water’s touch felt like a thousand needles piercing her skin, but soon a fire-like warmth coursed through her veins. Despite the instinct to fight, the water held her in its grasp, refusing to release her to the surface. Just before disappearing into the murky depths, she looked at the eclipse, the absence of the moon’s soft glow providing a strange kind of comfort. With each passing moment, her mind drifted to the faces of those she had loved and lost, and finally to Alistair. Determined to break the curse that had shackled her and James’s souls to a constant loop of love and loss for centuries, she made a decision, and with one last breath, she welcomed the water into her lungs,knowing that her act of selflessness would bring an end to their eternal torment and set their souls free at last.
As she drew in the water, an icy fire seemed to consume her body, and the once faint blue glow surrounding her became all-encompassing. The energy she had stored within, since the intimate night with Alistair, broke free from her core, flooding every inch of her being until it could no longer be contained. The light erupted, illuminating the entire loch. In that radiant glow, she saw the lake creature from her dreams just a few feet away, a silent sentinel ready to guide her into the next realm. A sense of peace washed over her as the creature glided beneath her to cradle her body on its massive back and usher her into the tranquil abyss of the spirit world.
******
Alistair rushed toward the hole in the ice where Nora had fallen through. Dropping onto his stomach, he crawled to the opening, his heart pounding with fear.
“Nora! Nora!” he called out, extending his hand into the icy water in a desperate attempt to grasp her, only to be met with emptiness. After several futile tries, he quickly removed his jacket and boots, preparing to dive in and rescue her. As he leaned forward, ready to plunge into the frigid waters, he felt a pull at his back. Startled, he turned to see Lochland biting onto his sweater.
“Let go, boy!” Alistair yelled, attempting to shake the dog loose. Lochland clung to him with the strength of a much larger dog, resisting Alistair’s efforts to break free. Realizing time was running out, Alistair made a quick decision to jump into the water with the dog attached, hoping Lochland would let go once they submerged. Steeling himself for the freezing plunge, Alistair neared the hole when a woman’s voice stopped him in his tracks. He looked back to see the old woman from the hillside, standing only feet away.
“She is already gone. You must let her go,” she said as he turned back and faced the hole in the ice. As if her words were slowing his movements, Alistair paused to look down into the black hole in the ice. He knew the woman was right. She had been underwater for far longer than any human could withstand in temperatures like this. Tears filled his eyes, and Lochland let go of his sweater, dropping to the ice and sitting next to the old woman.
Alistair stood still as stone, his eyes fixated on the hole.
“Why? Why would she do this?” he asked, his voice cracking with sorrow. He knew she was prone to panic attacks, but he hadn’t thought she was suicidal.
“There is always a reason,” the old woman said as she stepped up next to him.
Just then a flash of something large swam just below the surface of the ice, and Alistair jumped back in fear. The woman, however, stepped forward and bent down. She began making circles in the water with the tip of her finger.
“Come forth, Bridanach,” she called into the water.
The ice began to crack, sending long fissures shooting out from the hole and toward the shoreline. Alistair stepped back again, moving away from the breaking ice. Great chunks began to lift up out of the water as the large head of a lake creature emerged. It rose up to the height of the old woman and hovered in the water face-to-face with her. She spoke to it in some kind of ancient language, and then the creature descended into the water only to resurface moments later with Nora’s body on its back. After gently gliding her over to the old woman on the ice, the creature descended back into the depths of the loch once again.
Nora’s lifeless body lay there blue with death at the feet of the old woman. Alistair, in shock at what he had just witnessed,stayed frozen in place for a long moment until finally dropping to his knees at Nora’s side. In a desperate attempt to save her, he began chest compressions, but as hard as he tried, her heart would not beat.
“No!” he cried out, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Why?” he asked.
“To save you and break the curse, she needed to die,” the old woman said solemnly.
Lochland came to his side and lay next to Nora’s lifeless body, whimpering.
“This makes no sense. Why would she have done something so rash? What if the curse was nothing more than a tall tale made up and passed down in her family?”
“Oh, but it wasn’t. You will see, my dear,” the old woman said, looking up toward the false moon. Alistair lifted Nora up and held her, his beating heart pressed against hers that lay still.
The silence that followed was deafening; the wind did not blow, nor did the thrushes sing their twilight ballads, as though they had all bowed their heads in silence for Nora’s sacrifice. Then, as if night had decided to switch to day, the moon began to break free of the eclipse’s darkness. The first moonbeams touched the mountain behind the house, cutting out the silhouettes of the trees and ridgeline, then made their way to the edge of the loch, illuminating the cottage and tiny cabins along the shore. Moonlight inched its way across the ice, closer and closer. As it washed over them, Alistair looked up at the old woman, who seemed much younger than before.
