by Donna Grant
Evie didn’t know how long she stayed like that until the evil laughter sounded as if it came from right beside her. She tried to open her eyes and break out of the spell, but there were hands grabbing her from behind and keeping her from moving.
Strands of long white hair suddenly wrapped around each wrist. Evie tried to scream. She even tried to call out for Malcolm, but it was like her body was no longer her own.
Her heart raced, her blood turned to ice. Panic set in until she remembered she was the one with magic. Evie gathered her magic close and waited.
She wanted to know who the woman was and why she kept showing up when Evie did this spell. Her eyes opened then. Evie had to stop herself from using her magic when she found white eyes staring at her.
“Who are you?”
The woman simply smiled, the action chilling Evie to her bones because of the malice and evil she glimpsed.
White hair curled around Evie’s throat and began to choke her. Evie let loose her magic into one powerful blast at the woman.
Immediately, the hair was gone. Evie fell to the side and coughed as she dragged in huge gulps of air. She looked to where the woman had been, but she was no longer there.
The eerie trepidation that settled around her like a warm coat hadn’t departed with the apparition, however. Whatever was going on with the spell, Evie had no plans of trying it again.
Twice was more than enough.
Evie climbed to her feet and went to get some water. She downed two full glasses before her heart ceased to race. Though her knees kept knocking together.
She looked at the clock to discover almost five hours had passed. Surely it had only been an hour at the most. But her watch, iPhone, and computer all read the same time.
There was no denying that the spell had taken her far longer than she had expected.
Evie realized belatedly that there hadn’t been a text from Brian after school finished for the day. With her laptop battery dead, she couldn’t work or watch a movie.
“Luckily Malcolm solved the issue of recharging for me,” she said as she dug out her power cord and plugged it into the generator.
She put on some shoes and walked into the hallway. “Show me the dungeon,” she told the stones.
It was no surprise when she found herself walking lower into the mountain. The air became cooler and staler the deeper she went. When she came to a door, she opened it and saw the compartments with walls of rock separating them. The front of each cell was also rock fashioned like iron bars.
“This is where Deirdre kept the Warriors?”
“This dungeon was for the Druidssssss.”
Evie shivered. Malcolm had said Deirdre killed Druids for their magic. Had Deirdre been so powerful that none could fight against her? It was another question she had for Malcolm.
She walked out of the dungeon and leaned her hand against the stones to find them wet. Water trickled down from the ceiling in a steady flow that looked as if it hadn’t stopped in hundreds of years.
Evie wiped her hand on her pants and took two steps when her mobile rang. She hurriedly dug it out of her sweatshirt pocket expecting to see a text from Brian.
Instead, it was from an unknown number. Evie read the message twice, thinking it was a practical joke. But as she read how her brother had been kidnapped, she knew it was no jest. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand when a second message popped up, this one a picture of Brian with his hands tied behind his back.
“Oh, God,” Evie murmured.
Her fingers shook as she tried to type. It took her four tries before she was able to ask what the kidnappers wanted.
“You know,” she read their response aloud.
The necklace. They wanted the necklace in exchange for Brian.
Her legs gave out as she crumpled to the ground. How had they found Brian? It was bad enough they had been after her. It had never entered her mind they would seek out her brother.
The first instinct was to rescue him. Then she held the pendant in her hand. The spell housed in the necklace was important and could be deadly to some. That much she knew from her grandmother.
Could Evie trade it so easily and be responsible for thousands of deaths? Could she live with that?
There was no way. Nor could she leave her brother in the hands of the kidnappers who showed they were willing to do whatever it took to get the necklace.
She dropped her head in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Whatever decision she made would have repercussions that rippled outward.
Evie tried to convince herself that the necklace could hold nothing but a simple spell that did no harm.
That was quickly shot out of the water as her conscience pointed out that no one would resort to kidnapping for a simple spell.
“Oh, God,” she said as she lifted her head. “Brian or the necklace. What do I do?”
She couldn’t let the kidnappers think she was going to leave her brother with them. With shaking fingers, she typed: “When and where?”
Evie tried to swallow around her tightening throat when the next text appeared telling her they’d be in touch.
“Malcolm!” she yelled. “Malcolm, I need you!”
She stood and raced through the mountain shouting his name until her throat was raw. Only then did she hear the stones screaming that Malcolm was gone.
Evie’s legs gave out as she collapsed in the corridor and let the tears fall.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
“I know you can no’ talk,” Jason said as he drove away from the school with Brian bound in the backseat of his Jaguar. He glanced in the rearview mirror to find Brian glaring at him. “But you can listen.”
It had taken very little magic to get the schoolmaster to turn Brian over to his care. The teenager, however, had been another matter.
Jason had wanted to knock him out, but the picture he sent Evangeline with Brian awake had been perfect. The only thing that would’ve made it better was if he had been there to see her reaction.
“I’ve no intention of harming you,” Jason continued. “That is, unless you give me a reason. I’m after your sister. Once I have her, I’ll let you go.”
If looks could kill, Brian’s dark gaze would have smote Jason on the spot.
“Anger is good, lad. It’s what got me through the darkest years of my life. And look at me now. No one would dare to tangle with me.”
Jason smiled as he thought back to what a wanker he’d been. He’d been afraid of his own shadow. Magic changed all of that. Magic and money. The family name helped as well.
Brian leaned forward. The seat belt Jason had spelled to keep him in place jerked Brian backward. The lad grunted as he fought against the restraints.
“I think I proved that no matter how you fight me, I’m going to win.” Jason drove around a bend in the road and continued on to Wallace Mansion. “You can stop worrying. I doona want to hurt your or your sister. She’s no’ responding to me as I wish her to, so I’ve taken you to hurry her along.”
Jason turned up the radio as Brian continued to strain and make the guttural sounds in the backseat. He didn’t care what the lad did. Evangeline would soon come to him.
And this time there wouldn’t be any Warriors from MacLeod Castle to come to her rescue.
* * *
Malcolm jerked to a halt. He was hours away from Cairn Toul, but there was no denying the spike of terror that viciously slammed into him from the Druid’s magic.
He turned to look at the way he’d come. There was no way he should have been able to feel the Druid’s magic from such a distance. It was too far. It’s why he’d run so fast. The farther away he was from her, the better off she’d be.
Yet he knew in his gut that it was the Druid he felt. Without another thought, Malcolm started back to Cairn Toul. He used the incredible speed of his god as he raced to her.
She could be hurt, or something in the mountain left by Deirdre could have harmed her. All Malcolm could thin
k about was everything that could have happened.
The worse his imaginings got, the faster he ran.
With every step he berated himself for leaving. All because he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her. And his damned emotions.
He hated them, hated how they ruled every second as long as he allowed them. Malcolm wasn’t used to the panic pumping through him. He didn’t like the apprehension that caused his chest to tighten every time he thought of the Druid hurt.
Daal bellowed inside him, urging him faster. Malcolm let his chest rumble with a growl. He didn’t need his god to tell him to hurry. He knew by the feel of the Druid’s magic that something had gone terribly wrong.
“Hold on, Druid,” he whispered as he leapt over a large boulder.
* * *
With Malcolm gone, Evie didn’t have anyone else she could turn to. That was when she thought about J. He’d been nice and supportive, as well as easy to talk with. There was a possibility he would know of a way to use magic to find her brother.
Still shaking, Evie picked herself up and stumbled her way back to her chamber. She wiped at her eyes to try and dry the tears. It wouldn’t be tears that got Brian back safely. It would be strength and magic.
Evie grabbed her laptop and quickly shot off an e-mail to J asking for his help. He responded within ten minutes talking about a set of standing stones that were kept in a secret spot near Ullapool and a spell she needed to recite that would increase her magic so she could fight the kidnappers.
“Increase my magic how?” she said aloud as she typed.
Five minutes ticked by with no answer. Each second was a knife plunged in her heart as she thought of Brian.
Finally, the e-mail popped up with a simple sentence: “You’ll need black magic to succeed.”
“Become a drough? He can’t be serious.”
But she knew he was. It was revenge she was seeking, retribution for hurting someone she loved. No matter how she looked at it, it would be black magic she called forth.
That kind of anger, that kind of resentment would bring nothing but disaster to her door. She would lose her soul.
Evie closed the laptop and jerked off her yoga pants and sweatshirt so she could put on the black corduroy skinnies, a cream sweater, and black boots before grabbing her coat and fedora hat to keep the rain out of her eyes.
She still didn’t know what she was going to do, but she knew she had to leave the mountain to do it.
“I’ll be back,” Evie promised the stones when they began to wail. “I need to somehow save my brother. When I do, I’ll return. I promise.”
She strode to the door through which she’d first come into the mountain. The great stone slab opened as she drew closer. Evie huddled in her jacket when a blast of cold air hit her. The rain had stopped for the moment, but judging by the thick, dark clouds above her, it would return.
Evie adjusted her hat so it fit more snugly, and then she started down the mountain. The stones led her through the safest—and quickest—path in the dark.
She kept her head down and walked as fast as she could, sending a prayer that Brian was safe and unharmed. Evie kept her mind focused on the decisions she had to make, because if she didn’t, she would fall apart.
Brian. He was family. Blood was thicker than any magic she possessed. Nothing should matter but getting him back.
The pendant heated against her skin, reminding her of its importance and how diligently her family had kept it hidden. Until her.
“I’m such a bloody idiot,” she mumbled.
All her troubles had begun the moment she’d put up her site.
* * *
Malcolm was so intent on reaching Cairn Toul Mountain that it took him a second to realize the Druid was no longer inside.
He let out a growl and punched one of the boulders in irritation. The anger that simmered just beneath his skin jerked him out of his haze so that he could get himself under control.
With his eyes closed, Malcolm concentrated on the Druid. He felt the brush of her magic to his left and found himself gazing toward Aviemore.
“What made you leave?” he asked.
The Druid wasn’t that far ahead of him. He started running again, leaping down the mountain and rushing through the forest. Malcolm didn’t slow until he caught sight of her brown plaid coat as she walked in the woods just a few feet from the road.
Her strides were long and quick. She was in a hurry, but why? She’d told him she feared for her life, which was why she was in the mountain.
He had to know what drew her out. Malcolm decided to follow her. If she got into trouble, he’d be there to help. There was much about the Druid he didn’t know, and maybe it was time he found out.
It was the feelings she stirred that made him forget he should be fielding her for answers. Instead, his desire had grown while he told her stories of Deirdre and the Warriors.
Shite, but he even told her how he’d become a Warrior.
By the time they reached Aviemore, Malcolm was in a fine temper. He was furious at himself for letting the Druid’s beauty, appeal, and vulnerability get to him like a lad with his first crush.
It was pitiful and irresponsible, disgraceful and embarrassing.
He was glad he hadn’t made the call to Phelan regarding the Druid yet. Malcolm could well imagine the questions Phelan would have that he couldn’t answer.
Malcolm wanted to think the Druid was innocent. Her sweet magic said as much. But she was drawn to an evil place. There was no good that could come from her being in Cairn Toul.
He hid behind a car as the Druid walked to the bus station and sank onto a bench. Indecision warred plainly upon her face, which was pale and strained. After a half hour she rose and purchased a ticket. Malcolm’s enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the destination—Inverness.
Just what had the Druid coming out of hiding?
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Evie counted out the money and paid for the ticket. Her stomach rumbled with hunger, but she ignored it. Food would have to wait. Her mind was too full of sorting through the consequences of choosing to save her brother, handing over the necklace, becoming drough, or doing nothing.
She tucked her ticket into her purse and looked at her phone again. Adrenaline pumped like ice through her veins and her heart hammered so hard it was beating against her chest. All because she had yet to hear when the exchange was supposed to take place.
Evie resumed her seat on the bench and shivered. Her clothes were soaked through, but she barely paid any notice. Her world was falling apart, and she was facing it all alone.
There was no one to talk over her options with, no one who might give her an idea of what she should do. Brian expected her to come for him. Every fiber of her being told her she should.
The burden of a family’s vow, however, weighed heavily upon her shoulders. It pushed her down, submerged her in promises given and assurances guaranteed.
The necklace was dangerous, a potential source of magic that could hurt many. Which is why the pendant had been changed and hundreds of spells put on it so others couldn’t find it.
And she had handed it to them on a silver platter.
If that wasn’t enough to agonize over, she had the option of becoming a drough. She would lose her soul, but she would have black magic to kill those who threatened Brian as well as protecting the pendant.
Thirty minutes later when she got on the bus she was no closer to making any kind of decision.
Evie settled in her seat and recalled from a recent movie that she should ask for proof of life. With shaky fingers she typed in a quick text stating she wanted proof Brian was alive.
Once more minutes went by with no response. She rested her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. Brian was supposed to have been safe at the school. Who had gotten in and kidnapped him?
She rubbed her eyes and dug in her purse for a mint she’d picked up from a restaurant a month or so back. She
bit into the chocolate and mint hoping it would silence her grumbling stomach for a little while.
The question of how Brian had been taken from the school prompted her to call. They seemed surprised to hear from her since apparently she had authorized Brian to leave with his uncle.
Evie ended the call and held back a scream of frustration. She didn’t want to do this alone. She wasn’t prepared to go up against whoever this was. And she suspected she knew exactly who it was—another Druid.
She’d never been so scared. To make matters worse, she had pulled Brian into her nightmare because she was too damn curious—a fault her father had often said would get her into trouble.
If Brian died because of her recklessness, she would never forgive herself. Evie wiped at a tear that escaped and wished for the hundredth time that Malcolm were with her. He’d know what to do.
By the time the train arrived in Inverness, she had a full-on stress headache that was making the base of her neck feel as if a jackhammer was pounding. She looked left then right as she stepped off the train and proceeded down the walkway.
She was steps away from the door when someone bumped into her shoulder, sending her spinning around. Evie was instantly on guard. Without her even realizing it, she called forth her magic, prepared to use it.
“Pardon me,” a teenage girl said as she rushed to the train.
Evie squeezed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. She had to calm down or there was no telling who she might hurt.
Her mobile chimed, announcing she had a new text. She let out a relieved breath when she saw a video was attached to the blank text.
As soon as she pressed play and watched her brother look into the phone and give a nod of his head, the tears started all over again. She wished his hands weren’t tied behind his back so he might be able to tell her who it was that kidnapped him.
She wiped at her eyes and sniffed as she sat on the bench beneath the streetlamp and darkening sky and waited for the bus to Ullapool. Instead of thinking about what she was going to find at the secret standing stones, she watched the video again.
After a quarter of an hour, she discovered she’d missed the bus by watching the video of Brian for the tenth time and would have to either wait or walk.
