He bit back a smile. “That’d be a nice thought.”
“We have no reason to believe it’s not true. If we’re here, the others may be here, too.”
He shook his head. “If that was true, I’d no be ‘ere.”
She put her head down. “I know. I wouldn’t be Urlu, either.”
“Are ye sure ye’re Urlu?” he asked. “Maybe the witch made a mistake, or maybe it ainly happened back there and no ‘ere. Maybe none o’ it means a thing o’er here.”
“That’s impossible and you know it. If that was true, you wouldn’t be able to see anything. Anyway, I am Urlu. I know it.”
“Try,” he told her.
“Try what?”
“Try tae shift. Change intae a dragon.” He chuckled. “Go on. Let’s see ye.”
She stared at him wide-eyed. Then she cracked a grin and buried her face in his chest. “No.”
He laughed loud and long. “Ye’re a coward underneath it all, an’t ye?”
“Maybe.” She jumped out of bed. “One thing I do know, though. I’m going out there to see if the others are back, and if you want to come with me, you’re not coming in any kilt. Come on. Get up. I’ve got some pants you can wear.”
He folded one elbow behind his head. “I’ll no wear any pants—or whate’er ye call ’em. I’ll wear me kilt ’til I die, and the rest o’ yer people can sit on it.”
She laughed while she got dressed. “Okay. You can stay here. It won’t take me long to run around the block.”
“Block?”
She waved her hand. “Just around the corner to Carmen’s house. If she’s not there, she’s not back. I don’t have to check all of them. If even one of them isn’t back, then the curse isn’t broken.”
He jumped out of bed. “I’m comin’ wi’ ye.”
“Not in a kilt, sonny,” she replied.
He didn’t say anything. He belted his kilt around his waist and pulled his shirt over his head.
Hazel propped her hand on her hip. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m puttin’ me clothes on. Is that awright wi’ ye, or do ye want me tae walk down the street wi’ ye stark naked?”
Hazel blushed and turned away. “No way, Mister. No freakin’ way.”
He buckled his sporran into place. “On ye go, lass. Ye go aboot yer business, and I’ll go aboot mine. I’ll walk three paces behind ye so ye can pretend ye dinnae ken me.”
That got her. She turned away without answering. She walked out of the house, and she didn’t try to stop him walking out behind her. She didn’t even make him walk three paces behind her. He knew she wouldn’t. All he had to do was stand up to her, and she would back down.
She walked back to the house she told him belonged to Carmen. She tapped on the door, and when no one answered, she peeked through the windows. “She’s not here. She isn’t back.”
“How can ye tell?” he asked. “Perhaps she’s out.”
Hazel shook her head. She pointed to a round disk of bright flecked glass embedded in the wall next to the door. “Do you see this light? It’s on a motion sensor. It always turned on, day or night, whenever anybody came near this door. It didn’t turn on today. That means the power is shut off. She’s not here. Even if she just got back at the same time we showed up yesterday, she wouldn’t go out without getting the power turned on. That’s not Carmen’s way. She always took care of her own business. She’s not back. I’m certain of that.”
He frowned. “I dinnae understand a word ye just said, but if ye’re certain, I’ll go alaing wi’ it. Where do ye wish tae go now? I suppose ye wish tae travel tae Scotland tae find the real Stone o’ Scone.”
“Actually,” she replied, “I was thinking I’d go downtown and visit a friend of mine. He owns a crystal shop. I used to spend a lot of time there talking to him about stuff. If I wanted to send us back to Urlu, I would need another set of Tarot cards to cast the spell.”
“Ye dinnae need any cards nor naught else,” he told her. “Ye can just use yer power. Dinnae tell me ye cinnae do it. I’ve seen ye wi’ me own eyes.”
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t mind talking to him, just the same. He knows a lot. I could probably get some decent information out of him about our situation.”
“Is he Faery?” Fergus asked.
Hazel spun around. “What?”
“Is he Faery? If he knows ought about magic and whate’er else tae gi’e ye decent information, as ye call it, I’ll stake me kilt he’s Faery like we are.”
“If he’s Faery, then maybe he knows a way to get back there without using the spell,” she remarked. “Those friends of yours seemed to think they could travel anywhere in Faery by going through a mound or some other entrance.”
“That’s right,” Fergus told her. “This friend o’ yers probably knows where we can find the nearest one.”
“All right. Let’s go.” Hazel set off down the street.
She walked for over an hour. Now that Fergus had a chance to look around this curious city, he started to understand it better. His vision showed him so many layers of meaning buried beneath its soulless exterior. This world claimed to know nothing about Faery or any other magical dimension. Underneath the surface, a black undercurrent of power and mystery haunted the place.
All along that walk, he saw Faeries, brownies, imps, shifters of every species, and supernatural creatures haunting the streets at every corner. They lurked in alleys. They conversed in building entrances. They even drove those wheeled carriages.
They conducted their magical business right here, in plain view of all the humans around them going about their own business. The humans made no remark about these strange beings in their midst. They either didn’t notice or they didn’t care to notice.
Fergus saw it all, but Hazel didn’t see. She saw only the flat surface in front of her. She bought the shallow veneer of this world. She never cracked through to the hidden world underneath. Maybe she never would. Vision was his power. She had her own magical abilities that didn’t include sight.
She stopped on a street corner. “This is it.”
Fergus glanced at the store front across the street. “He is Faery.”
“How can you tell?” she asked.
“I can see him from ’ere through the windae,” he told her. “Ye gang in there and talk tae him. See what he has tae say.”
“You’re coming with me, aren’t you?” she asked. “Don’t you want to talk to him, too? Don’t you want to find out what he knows?”
“Ye can do that,” he replied. “Ye dinnae need me tae do it fer ye or tae hold yer hand.”
“I’m not suggesting that.” She threw up her hands. “Oh, what’s the use? I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“Then ye better get alaing.”
He waited, but she didn’t go. She looked up and down the street. She looked all around. She did everything but cross the street.
“What’re ye waitin’ fer, lass? Ye wanted tae go talk tae this mon. Get alaing wi’ ye.”
Chapter 14
Hazel looked across the street at the shop she knew so well. Her friend Angelo stood behind the counter beyond the window. He didn’t look any more Faery to her than anybody else walking around on the street. Then again, Alasdair Sinclair, Faing Douglas, Athol Menzies, and James Stewart didn’t look Faery to her, either. Neither did Fergus, come to think of it.
She cast one last glance at Fergus, but he wasn’t looking at her. He stared across the street, but not at the shop. An intense scowl on his face darkened his face looking at something else. Hazel never saw that ferocious, murderous expression on his face before.
He knew something, but he wouldn’t tell her. He wanted to get rid of her. Why? The thought startled her after their wild night last night. She walked away in a fluster. Why would he push her away at a time like this?
She paused at the shop door to look back, but he still wasn’t looking at her. She checked in the direction he was looking. She didn’t see
anything but a crumpled-up bag lady sitting against the wall. Her chin rested on her chest. Her eyes squinched shut, and her toothless mouth chewed against her jaws in her sleep.
Hazel pushed the door open and glanced around the shop. The door bells tinkled when she shut the door. Trays of crystals, stands of different scented incense, and carved metal statues of dragons and witches occupied every surface around her. Lilting music drifted from the speakers in the corner.
How ridiculous all those trinkets appeared to her now. These beautiful, mysterious images couldn’t come close to depicting real dragons and witches. Hazel could attest to that. This world would never understand what they were really like.
Angelo raised his head from his computer screen behind the cash register. “Well, hello. Long time no see. Where have you been hiding?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Hazel stopped. She scrutinized the man she thought she knew. “Do you….do you know anything about Faery mounds, Angelo?”
“Faery mounds? Sure, I know about ’em. What do you want to know? So that’s your new interest? It’s a fascinating subject when you think about it.”
Hazel blushed. She investigated so many esoteric subjects in her life, he thought nothing of her switching to a new interest. “Yeah. It’s a fascinating subject. Do you think there’s any truth to the belief that the Faeries live under the mounds and come up to the surface for moonlight parties and stuff like that?”
He burst out laughing. “Well, you know, people say all kinds of things. People say there’s a Faery mound right over there at Finlay Park. You know the big hill behind the Rose Garden? People say that’s a Faery mound.”
She opened her mouth to ask him…what? She couldn’t exactly come right out and ask if he ever saw Faeries dancing in the moonlight. Fergus believed Angelo was Faery. Maybe he was out there dancing by moonlight and drinking the wine, too. She couldn’t ask him that. She just couldn’t bring herself to form the words to address those questions to any American. The two things just didn’t match up in her picture of the world.
Just then, the door bells clanged against each other. She and Angelo both glanced toward the door. Angelo froze when Fergus walked in. Any normal American would have displayed some surprise at seeing some kilted Highlander walk into their shop, but not Angelo.
He never gave Fergus’s clothes a second glance. His eyes drilled into Fergus’s face. The two men locked eyes while Fergus strode up to the register. Fergus nodded. “Aye, mon?”
Angelo cleared his throat. “Well, this is a surprise. What can I do for you? I was just telling Hazel about a Fairy mound around the corner from here. Is that what you’re looking for?”
“Aye. Ha’e ye been down there yerself?”
“Sure. It’s one of the best. Everybody uses it.”
Hazel stared at the two men talking like they’d known each other all their lives. Angelo’s demeanor changed completely. He no longer played the subject off as some alternative oddity. This was all real. He’d been there himself.
“Do ye ken ought aboot the Stone o’ Destiny?” Fergus asked. “It’as ta’en from Scone Abbey by a curse. Perhaps ye heard o’ that, too.”
Angelo’s eyes shifted to Hazel. “Yeah, I heard about it, but I don’t know where the Stone is. There is someone in this town who would know, but I can’t tell you where to find her. She’s one of us, you know, but she’s a little out there. She always has been. She goes her own way, but she’s nice enough. She’ll help you if you approach her in the right way. It’s just gonna take some searching to find her. She’s never where you think she is. Her name’s Razine. You might ask around some of the Police stations. They all know her.”
“Police stations!” Hazel interrupted. “Maybe Carmen knows her.”
“We cinnae ask Carmen naught,” Fergus told her. “Ne’er ye mind. I ken the woman ye speak on, and I ken where to find her.”
“You do?” Hazel asked.
Fergus stuck his hand out to Angelo. “Me thanks fer yer help. Perhaps I’ll see ye o’er there some time.”
“I hope so. Best of luck. Let me know if you need any more help.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Hazel exclaimed. “What about…?”
Fergus turned away. “Come alaing, lassie.”
He walked out of the shop and left Hazel staring back and forth between him and Angelo. She raced after Fergus. He didn’t stop to look both ways to cross the street but barged straight out into traffic. He showed no sign of recognizing the blaring horns and screeching wheels. He strode straight ahead to the same spot on the opposite sidewalk.
Hazel ran to his side. “What’s going on? What do you know about this Razine? You never told me anything about that.”
He turned around to face the shop again. He fixed his smoldering eyes on the same point he stared at before. Hazel still didn’t see anything.
She touched his arm. “Fergus? Tell me what’s going on.”
He jerked his head across the street. “Do ye see that woman, lassie?”
“What? What woman?”
“Her.” He pointed with his chin at the homeless woman.
“That’s just an old bag lady. What about her?”
“She kens.”
“What? She knows what?”
“She kens aboot the Stone.”
Hazel checked the bag lady again. How could a broken-down derelict wreck of a human being like that be the source they were looking for? “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“How do you know? Is that the Razine Angelo mentioned?”
“It’s her. I ken it.”
Hazel blinked at the bag lady. She sure didn’t look like anyone who knew about the Stone of Scone—or anything else, for that matter. “Well, if she’s right there, we better go talk to her and see what she knows. Come on. Let’s go.”
“I cinnae talk tae her,” he replied. “Ye’ll ha’e tae do it yerself.”
“Why?” she asked.
“She attacked me. If I go near her, she’ll attack again.”
“What?” Hazel whipped around to stare at him. “When did she attack you?”
“When I went out tae walk. She walked right up tae me and attacked me. She’ll no talk tae me, but she’ll talk tae ye. She’ll tell ye what ye wish tae ken. I’ll come wi’ ye and use me sight tae help ye, but I cinnae talk tae her. Ye mun’ do it yerself. I’m sorry tae say it, but it’s the way it is.”
A thousand questions assaulted Hazel from all directions, but she couldn’t ask them now. “Okay. I’ll do it. How should I get the information out of her without her attacking me, too?”
“Ye mun’ use yer power. Ye mun’ dominate her wi’ yer power the same way ye done before.”
Hazel couldn’t look at him anymore. She fixed her gaze on the bag lady. Now that he told her what to do, she realized she really could do it. Whatever that woman was, Hazel had to find out what she knew and how she came to be sitting against a wall in the plain old US of A.
Some mystical force pulled her across the street. She didn’t hear cars whizzing past or people shouting at her to watch out. She walked up to the bag lady. Fergus appeared at her side, but he said nothing. This whole situation rested on Hazel’s head alone.
The bag lady wheezed in her sleep. She would probably sit there for days. Her clothes reeked of stale booze, urine, and decay. Her matted hair caked in greasy clumps, and scales of skin flecked her scalp where Hazel looked down on her.
“What should I say to her?” she asked Fergus. “Maybe she doesn’t remember anything about it.”
At the sound of her voice, the woman humphed once in her sleep. She hauled her head back, and one eye squinted open to peer up at the pair. Her chewing toothless mouth worked a little faster, and her eyebrows twitched alive. Inch by inch, she elevated off the sidewalk to stand in front of Hazel.
Hazel couldn’t tear her eyes away from this demonic vision. The woman’s eyes smoked with hatred. She peeled her lips apart to show long
curved razor fangs. She kept rising off the ground to grow taller and taller. Was this the thing that attacked Fergus?
Fergus hissed in Hazel’s ear. “Now, lass. Use yer power. Do it now!”
Hazel had no idea what to do. What could she do against something like that? Pure evil blasted in her face from the hideous creature. She couldn’t think to react. She put out her hand to touch the woman’s shoulder.
The instant she made that point of contact, the woman shrank under her touch. She returned to her normal size, and her face started to change. Her hair hung down around her face, and the wrinkles smoothed around her eyes and mouth. Her clothes changed from rotten old rags to a plain brown dress with black laces crisscrossing up the tight front bodice. Hazel stared at a beautiful young woman not much older than herself
The woman opened her mouth, but no sound came out. In front of Hazel’s eyes, the woman sank through the asphalt sidewalk and disappeared from sight.
“Ye’ve done it, lass,” Fergus breathed.
“What did I do?” Hazel asked.
“Ye broke the spell. She’s free now. She’s gang back tae her home and her family.”
“What do you mean?” Hazel looked up at him. He still stared at the empty space where the woman used to be.
“She was sent ’ere tae guard the Stone. That’s why she attacked me, tae stop me findin’ it.”
“Who sent her here?” She passed her hand in front of his face, but he didn’t blink. “What do you see, Fergus?”
“I can see e’erythin’ now,” he replied. “The spell blocked me sight afore, but I can see all now. The Loch Nagar witch sent her ’ere tae stop us.”
“That woman must have been here a long time,” Hazel argued. “She couldn’t have just come here to fall apart like that.”
“She’s been here all her life. That’s what drove her crazy.”
Hazel shook her head. She was dealing with time travel here. The Loch Nagar witch could have sent her guardian anywhere in time. Hazel had to keep reminding herself of that. “So the Stone’s at Loch Nagar? That explains why she said it was safe. She must be hiding it from us. She wants to keep it safe, and she thinks we’ll lose it for real.”
Destiny Stone (Phoenix Throne Book 3): A Scottish Highlander Time Travel Romance Page 10
