“Thank you—Shona.” Lyla did her best to suppress another shiver. The woman’s pale blue eyes were as sou-grabbing as Mairwen’s. Forcing herself to get a grip and stop being ridiculous, Lyla turned to include Mairwen in the praise of the welcoming ambiance of the room only to discover she had gone. “Wow, I didn’t realize she’d left.”
Shona gently took her by the arm and led her to the portion of the room partitioned off by the parchment screen. “Master Mairwen had another client scheduled. She has graced me with the honor of helping ye find the path ye need.”
MasterMairwen? What an unusual way to address the lady in charge. Lyla couldn’t remember Keeva ever calling Mairwen that. Maybe it was just a spa thing. “Mairwen said you’re a master of tranquility?”
“Aye, that is my specialty.” Shona nodded at the fluffy white robe hanging from a hook beside a bench made of thick wooden slats. A stack of folded, plump white towels also waited on the bench. “I think we shall start with a deep tissue massage, and then a good long soak in the healing springs. If that sounds acceptable to ye, there is yer robe and slippers. Come out to the table once ye are ready.”
She turned and walked away without another word, leaving Lyla to stand there behind the privacy of the screen, wondering how the massage therapist would react if a deep tissue massage and soak in the healing springswasn’tacceptable.
“Well, it’s not like I have anything else to do.” Lyla cringed at the snarkiness of her dismal mood. She needed to work on her frame of mind. A firm believer in attracting whatever you put out, the current darkness of her thoughts would surely plunge this day into disaster. Determined to do better, she seated herself on the bench, untied her boots, and shed them, thankful that she’d worn a decent pair of socks that didn’t have any raggedy holes or thinning. Her feet were invariably always cold, so she kept them on but removed everything else and donned the cozy, soft robe.
Shona waited beside the padded table, rubbing her hands together. The oils she warmed between them made her long, slender fingers gleam with the warm, golden glow of the candles. “Simply loosen yer robe, then place yerself on the table. Face down, if ye please. Then I’ll cover ye with the additional draping and help ye slip the garment down off yer shoulders. Yer privacy and comfort is of the utmost importance.”
“Thank you.” It had been a long time since Lyla had enjoyed a massage. She tried to remember exactly when, then realized it had been well before her surgery. “This will be the first massage I’ve had in years.”
Shona held up the draping and waited for her to get situated on the table. “Ye are well ready for a bit of relaxing, then. Shall we get started?”
Lyla tucked her face into the pillowy hole in the table, closed her eyes, and released a deep sigh. “I’m ready whenever you are.” She breathed in the calming scents filling the air and tried to quiet the constant stream ofchatterin her head. All the worries. All the wonderings. All the bothersome what-ifs about what might or might not happen. It was time to take back control, get her head together, and adjust to the uncomfortable new normal her life had become. The money Derrick had stolen was gone for good. Worrying wouldn’t bring it back. She was still okay financially and needed to be thankful for that. Her voice was gone forever. More tears and cursing the universe wouldn’t return the talent she’d often taken for granted. She still had the ability to coax music out of any musical instrument she picked up. Not everyone could do that—well, at least not as quickly as she’d always managed it.
Breathing easier as Shona worked on her poor, knotted muscles, Lyla smiled to herself. The abrasive, annoying Jana was gone for good. That was a definite plus. And Shona was one of those massage therapists who remained silent—a big plus on that too. Silence was sometimes a therapy in and of itself. That revelation made her smile even more. Silence was usually her enemy. It allowed her thoughts to spiral into an even darker than usual abyss. But not today. Today, she would take control and force that deranged worry rat that always raced on the hamster wheel in her mind to give it a rest.
“Relax now. As long as ye like,” Shona said in a soft, soothing voice that could probably sing the most effective lullaby in existence. “Whenever ye are ready for yer soak in the warm springs, pass through the door beside the privacy screen. Ye will be the only one in that particular pool. Again, stay as long as ye like, ye ken?”
“Thank you,” Lyla said, struggling to find the energy to speak. Shona’s masterful massage had sent her into a floaty, boneless state of oblivion. “You are definitely a tranquility master.”
“Godspeed to ye, child. May ye not only find what ye seek but recognize it when ye find it.”
What an odd thing to say. Lyla pulled in another deep breath, then released it. Maybe she would just take a little nap. Shona had told her to stay, however long she wanted. But as was always the case, as soon as she decided to take a nap, that stupid, deranged rat got back on the hamster wheel and started her thoughts spinning. She should’ve just gone to sleep and not thought about it.
“And here I’d hoped you’d settled down for a while,” she told her mind as she pushed up from the table, shrugged back into the robe, and hopped down while tightening the cloth belt around her waist. Oh well, at least she felt refreshed and better able to battle it. Maybe a nice soak in the warm springs would help her regain even morecalm.
Shedding her socks and placing them with the rest of her clothes behind the partition, she pulled on the amazingly well-fitting slippers of suede. It was as if they had been made just for her. Once through the door, the subtle scent of rotten eggs made her wrinkle her nose but didn’t worry her. Geothermal springs often smelled like sulfur. In fact, that was often proof of their therapeutic benefits. Not all hot springs gave off that aroma, but some did. It surprised her that Seven Cairns had a geothermal spring because of Scotland’s stable geology and lackof any remotely recent volcanic activity. As she let her robe drop, removed her slippers, and slid into the comfortably warm, albeit slightly smelly water, it surprised her that the place wasn’t crawling with tourists eager to enjoy this rarity.
“More for me,” she said with a happy sigh, reclining into the ledge built in the surrounding rock. It created a perfect cradle. She had expected the pool to be inside another section of cave, but it turned out to actually be at the mouth of an overhang that opened out into a dense pine forest. A thick layer of pine needles carpeted the ground, and the only thing breaking the dense green of the trees were the silvery gray trunks, standing at attention like watchful sentries. It was impossible to see the sky through the canopy of gently shifting branches. Several large pillar candles tucked among the rocks softly lit the peaceful grotto. Lyla released another satisfied sigh. “I could stay here forever.”
Thunder rumbled in the distance as if to say,You are not welcome here forever.
“I’m sheltered here,” she told it, feeling courageously defiant, “and I’m already wet. Do your worst. I’ll stay as long as I like.”
The sky responded with a louder growl, seemingly angered by her attitude.
The wind picked up, whipping the pines’ heavy branches from side to side, shaking pinecones free, and tossing them to the ground.
Lyla ignored it. The weather had flipped like this when she’d visited Edinburgh. It was just part of Scotland’s personality. If they stopped doing everything whenever it rained here, they’d never get anything done. A deafening crash of thunder made her jump. “Wow. I felt that one in the rocks.” She eyed the overhang, slightly concerned as dust and larger bits of shale rained down from the rock ceiling sheltering the pool. “Maybe I need to head out after all.”
Scrambling out of the water, she hastily dried off, threw on the robe, and shoved her feet into the slippers. “I’m sure Shona will give me a rain check. Literally.” She hurried to the door, tried to pull it open, then stumbled back a few steps when the latch came off in her hand. “Well, that’s not good.” She stared at it, then stared at the door, which remained stubbornly sealed. “Come on. Work with me here.” She tried to reattach the latch, but without the proper tools, that was impossible. Larger pieces of debris fell all around. Some even pelted her shoulders. “Time to head for the trees.”
Rain blowing, limbs whipping her as she ran in among the trees, a ground-shaking crash made her look back. The large stone ledge sheltering the pool had collapsed, destroying the grotto, sealing the pool, and completely covering the door. She shuddered; the intensity of the near miss knocked the air from her lungs. Dropping to her knees, she hugged herself and rocked back and forth.
“This is definitely not good,” she repeated, her teeth chattering. Thatnear misshad been entirely too close for comfort. She lifted an arm and tried to shield her eyes to discover which way to go to get around this part of the mountain and back to the civilization side. There had to be a path or something around here. Blinded by the wind and rain, she huddled at the base of the largest tree she’d come across so far and prayed lightning wouldn’t strike it. It wasn’t the best place to take shelter, but for the moment, it was all she had.
After what felt like forever, the storm eased up enough that she felt safe to try to find her way back to the front of the spa. Clutching the front of her robe closer about her neck, she forced herself to her feet and squinted upward, trying to see the sky and get her bearings. She was no survivalist, but if she could see where the sun was, at least that would give her some sense of direction. Of course, she still wouldn’t know whichdirection to go, but any knowledge had to be better than nothing. With the levelness of the ground, she couldn’t even tell which direction might bedownthe mountain or hillside. She distinctly remembered Mairwen driving that rickety old truck uphill to get to the spa. Therefore,downhillwould eventually take her to the village. She hoped. That seemed logical enough. “Anything that makes sense is a good thing,” she said, speaking aloud. Even though she sounded even croakier than usual, it made her feel better to hear her own voice, as if it proved to her rising hysteria that she was still alive.
Then something roared.
“What the hell was that?” She froze and looked all around. Whatever that was sounded like it belonged in a dinosaur movie. She took off running, not caring that she had no idea whether or not she was going in the right direction. All she knew for certain was that it wasawayfrom whatever had made that chilling sound.
As she dashed around the trees, she kept glancing back, terrified that the unhappy beast was closing in on her. The throaty, guttural roar cut loose again, vibrating up through the soles of her slippers and shaking its way into her bones. “I hated those dinosaur movies, and now I’m in one. What the crap do they have living on this mountain? Some kind of Highland Tyrannosaurus?”
