by Leela Ash
“No,” Rebecca shook her head. “I’m used to it, I guess.”
She shrugged and then turned away from Zoe as she unlocked the door and heaved it slowly open. The icy air that sprang from the doorway hit Zoe in an instant and she shivered. The air was clear and crisp and it rolled out of the opening and into the room around them. Rebecca shone the light into the closet and there, in front of them, disappearing into the ground and darkness, was a big, stone staircase.
“Wow,” Zoe whispered as she stepped forward and followed the torchlight down into the ground.
“I know,” Rebecca smiled. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Very cool,” Zoe nodded.
“Well, you’re about to see why it gives me the creeps.” Rebecca made the first move and stepped down onto the staircase. “Come on.”
As they girls made their way down into the cold, damp secret rooms beneath the library, Zoe felt a wave of panic wash over her. She had always been claustrophobic, but this was taking it to a whole other level! She gripped the walls as she took each step further into the darkness below and bits of stone crumbled away in her hands.
“Be careful,” Rebecca whispered. “This place is falling apart, it’s so ancient.”
Zoe swallowed hard and tried to keep her mind focused on getting to the bottom of the staircase. She followed the light from Rebecca’s flashlight and took baby steps to ensure she didn’t stumble or fall. When Rebecca reached the last step, she helped Zoe down too and then shone the light out behind them into the vast room that had opened up before them.
“Oh my God,” Zoe gasped. “I can’t believe this, it’s insane.”
Rebecca smiled and followed Zoe’s gaze… The earth seemed to have opened up and exposed a secret structure of rooms and tunnels. The gold leaf from the main hall ran along the walls there, too, and each corner was filled with ancient sculptures and pieces of artwork.
“What is this place?” she asked as she turned to Rebecca. “Surely this can’t all be property of the city?” She was skeptical because most of it looked far too old to have been part of the library’s inventory.
“Now that I don’t know,” Rebecca said. “Rule number one, don’t ask questions… All I know is it’s in our care and we have to make sure none of it goes missing.”
She shone the flashlight light around and went off looking for something. Zoe watched her from the other side of the room and tried to make sense of everything that was around her. It was so dark and cold and everything down there looked like buried treasure. The archives were magical and so secretive Zoe felt like she had been let in on something very special.
“Okay,” Rebecca said as she came back with another flashlight. “This is for you.” She passed it to Zoe and turned it on.
Zoe was still in awe, she couldn’t stop looking around at where she was. It was like she had stepped into another world.
“Okay,” Rebecca smiled. “Knock yourself out, I’m going to head back upstairs to the closet and get the list, okay?”
“Okay,” Zoe answered, but she was barely listening. She was aware of Rebecca’s footsteps getting quieter, and she realized she was alone when she heard them above her in the janitor’s room. She shone the flashlight around her and moved into one of the corners. There was so much to see, she almost didn’t know where to begin. But it was a shock to her when she felt pulled into a certain direction as if a force from another world had reached into her mind and led her there. She followed it and settled on what could have easily just been another section of wall, but she could see that there was something different… It looked like some kind of small door…
She stood and looked at the outline of the door. It seemed to have a light shining behind it, and she turned to see if she could call to Rebecca to ask her what it was.
“Rebecca?” she said into the darkness, but she could still hear her upstairs. Zoe was too far underground for the sound to travel.
She turned back and looked at the small doorway again. It was so strange that it should be there, so hidden and enclosed, and also she was sure it hadn’t been there when she and Rebecca had first stepped into the archives.
She bit her bottom lip and tried to pull herself away.
“Don’t open it,” she said aloud to herself as she found her hand reaching out with curiosity. “Anything could be in there.”
But even as she said the words, she knew exactly what she was going to do… She bent slightly and wrapped her fingers around the tiny doorknob and pulled it open with every bit of strength she had…
Light exploded from the small doorway and seemed to wrap itself around her. She was caught by it and swallowed whole in an instant.
The force hit her out of nowhere. She was being pulled and dragged in a thousand different directions, and the light was so bright she couldn’t open her eyes. The cold engulfed her—her teeth chattered and her fingers felt frozen in position. She had no idea where she was being taken. All she knew was that she was traveling faster than she ever thought possible. The force kept her arms pinned to her chest and the sensation of time whipping past her ears made her so dizzy and confused that she quickly became unconscious.
The light was gone.
Everything was dark.
She was alone.
5.
She shivered and rolled onto her side. The bright light was long gone, but the cold and feeling that she was somewhere she shouldn’t be was still coursing through her. She curled into a ball, afraid to open her eyes… Where was Rebecca? And most importantly, where was she? Was she still in the archives? The sensation of open air around her suggested that she most certainly wasn’t. But she didn’t understand… What had happened when she opened that door?
A bird squawked overhead and she jumped with fright. She was outside. She hadn’t wanted to admit the possibility before, but the bird had just confirmed it.
She moved one of her hands and reached out to touch the ground around her. It was mossy, soft, and definitely not the stone floor of the archive under the library. She exhaled and gathered up the courage to open her eyes. And when she did, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
She was in the middle of an open valley, in front of the most incredible loch. The water lapped up at the pebbled shoreline about five hundred feet ahead of her, and birds of prey swooped above her, diving down onto the ground to pick out mice and vole.
“Where the hell am I?” she said aloud as she looked around.
The valley was deep, and she appeared to be right at the center of it. The loch was still and gray, and as she gathered her thoughts, a wind started to pick up around her.
The door had transported her somewhere. She was no longer in Boston, and she was pretty sure she wasn’t even in the United States… She seemed to be somewhere else entirely.
Thunder rolled out above her and the sky darkened. She could see a trail of rain coming in from over the loch, and she was about to get to her feet and run for cover in the woods behind her when she heard the snapping of twigs and heavy breathing. She stopped still and didn’t dare move. The footsteps got closer and the breathing got heavier.
“What you doing, lassie?” a voice boomed at her. She jumped to her feet, terrified and confused at the strange and very broad accent.
“Who are you?” she yelped as she tried to pull her scarf tightly around her chest.
The man who had approached her was tall, muscular and had a shock of red hair. He was handsome in ways Zoe didn’t even know existed.
“Och,” the man laughed as he shook his head. “Have ye lost your mind?”
Zoe felt the tears welling up behind her eyes. The man looked like a barbarian… He was wearing armor and had dirt-stained knees. There was a wildness about him that Zoe found intimidating and it was with a strike of pure fear that she realized he held in his hand a large, thick, silver sword.
His eyes were an intense brown, and they seemed to be piercing her with each step he took.
“Please,” she h
eld up her hands. “Don’t come any closer!”
A grin curled across his lips and Zoe kept showing him her palms, hoping he would leave her be.
“Where am I?” she pleaded. “I…I was in the library, and then I found a door… And I woke up here. Something’s happened… Something very strange has happened!”
The man stopped and cocked his head to one side. He was looking at her with both curiosity and amusement, but Zoe couldn’t tell if that was going to lead to violence. He seemed so unpredictable.
“Please,” she sobbed. “I don’t know where I am…”
She fell to her knees in tears, and the man rushed to her side.
“Shhh,” he soothed. “Don’t cry, I’m sorry I laughed.”
Zoe looked up at him and was glad to see that any doubts she may have had about him seemed to vanish in that instant. Suddenly he didn’t seem so untamed anymore, his face had opened into a genuine smile and his touch was gentle as he patted her arm.
“I can see you’re upset, lassie,” he said. “I don’t know what has happened to you, and I am sorry… It’s just, well, everyone in Argyle knows who I am…” he trailed off and looked out across the water.
“Argyle?” Zoe asked, completely confused.
“Aye, lass.” He got to his feet and offered her his hand. “Welcome to Loch Awe, the home of Clan Campbell.”
She took his hand and got to her feet. He looked out across the water and Zoe realized that not only was she not in the United States anymore, she wasn’t even in her own time.
“What year is this?” she asked with trepidation.
He turned to look at her and smiled. “Why, it’s the year of 1529,” he said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
Zoe felt the ground fall away beneath her and her head began to spin.
The next thing she knew, a heaviness weighed her down into an all-consuming blackness.
6.
Her head was spinning, and she could hear the voices of men as she began to wake. She was inside and somewhere warm. She could hear the comforting sound of a fire crackling, and she was covered in soft, heavy animal skins.
“What is she wearing?” a voice she didn’t recognize asked.
“I don’t know.” It sounded like the man who had found her by the loch. “But she was speaking of strange things, things I have never heard before.”
“Is she a witch?” the first voice said.
“Och, don’t be ridiculous.”
“She could be, Colin,” the first voice said seriously. “She doesn’t look normal to me.”
“She’s different,” Colin said. “And I like that.”
Zoe pulled the animal skins tightly around her before daring to open her eyes. The men were both leaning over her, staring at her intently.
“She’s awake,” the one she didn’t recognize said.
“Lassie,” her friend from the loch spoke. “Lassie, are you alright?”
She rubbed her head. It was pounding and the pain was shooting through her.
“Yes,” she said groggily. “What happened?”
“You lost your mind and fell,” he said with a smile.
“Colin?” she asked, after hearing their conversation.
“Aye,” the man who had found her at the lake said. “I am Colin Campbell of Clan Campbell, head of the family here at Loch Awe.”
He smiled proudly, as did the man at his side who must have been a relation. They were so similar in appearance.
“It’s an honor,” she said, quickly wising up.
She was going to have to play along. She had read enough history books to know being accused of witchcraft in a place or time like this was not the sort of thing she should be encouraging. She had read all about how poor, misunderstood women had been either burned at the stake or dumped into rivers to see if they would float, and the last thing she needed after the day she had had was being hurled into the loch and left for dead.
“Are you hurt?” Colin sat down by her side and took hold of her hand. He had such a tenderness about him that contradicted the look of him. His hair and his tall, muscular frame would suggest he was a brute, but his manner was kind and caring.
“No,” she said meekly. “I don’t think so…”
“This is my brother, Douglas Campbell,” he said.
Douglas nodded his head but seemed to look skeptically at her, as if she had committed a terrible crime.
“Brother,” Colin said. “Please leave us.”
Douglas shot a look of panic at his brother and laughed in disbelief.
“Do you honestly think that’s wise?” he said with a condescending tone.
“Are you questioning my judgment?” Colin asked angrily and his brother immediately backed down. He turned and made for the large wooden door, heaved it open, and disappeared into the hallway.
“He is…testing at times,” Colin said with a sigh. “Now,” he got to his feet and went towards the fire. “You must change. Your clothes are sodden from the moss, and you’ll become quite ill if you don’t get warm.”
He leaned over a chair by the fire and picked up a long brown smock dress. It was the most hideous thing Zoe had ever seen, but she knew she must stay loyal to the only person around her who seemed to be on her side.
“Thank you,” she said graciously before she peeled back the animal skins and got to her feet.
Colin watched her as she crossed the room by the firelight. His breath seemed to catch as he saw her fully again. His eyes traveled from her ankles, up to her chest, and then to her eyes. Zoe smiled shyly and took the dress from him. There was a tension between them that made her long for the soft, loving touch she knew he possessed.
“I will leave you,” he whispered. “Please, rest well, eat what you can, and I will be back to see you within the hour.” He turned on his heel and made for the door. “I have appointed guards,” he said with a smile. “You will be safe here.”
Zoe smiled as she watched him leave. As he strode through the door, the top of his head seemed to skim the beams, he was so tall. She had no idea what was going to happen to her, or even if what she was experiencing was real… But because of Colin, she had the feeling she was going to enjoy every second.
7.
Zoe climbed into a soft chair by the fire and warmed her toes. Her whole body felt exhausted, but she knew there was no way she would be able to sleep. The more time she had to think, the more everything was beginning to make sense. When she had opened the door back in the archive, she had been sucked into a vortex and traveled through time… Maybe this was one of the reasons she had to sign a secrecy act when taking her job there. Had this sort of thing happened before? Was she just the latest in a line of employees to experience something so crazy and mind-blowing?
She shook her head. Surely not.
If Rebecca had known anything of this, she wouldn’t have left Zoe alone to discover it herself. She hadn’t known her long, but Zoe was confident that Rebecca would have warned her. She reached up and rubbed her head where the pain had been pounding through her since the moment she opened that door and had been pulled into this alternate reality.
She got to her feet and crossed the room to the far wall. There was a small section of stone missing, resembling a window, and she balanced up on her tip-toes to see what was outside.
Even though it was dark, she could make out the glistening water of the loch that was all around them. She was up very high in a stone castle, and the woodland around it was lush and stunning. The moonlight shone down around her and she smiled. Loch Awe certainly lived up to its name.
There was a knock at the door behind her and she turned around.
“Yes?” she called.
The door opened slowly and Colin stood there in the dark hallway, smiling at her from across the room. Zoe’s heart skipped a beat as their eyes locked in on one another’s.
“Are you well?” he asked.
“Please, come in,” Zoe smiled.
Colin bo
wed into the room and closed the door behind him. Zoe caught a brief glimpse of the guards who were flanking the doorway and could see that they were in full armor with weapons.
“Why do I need the guards?” she asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
Colin looked down at the floor and sighed. He had leaned against the mantle and the light from the flames were casting beautiful patterns on his skin.
“Douglas,” he said with resentment. “He is not to be trusted.”
“In what way?” Zoe felt herself tense.
“He thinks you are a sorceress, a witch… Sent here to bring down Clan Campbell,” Colin half laughed. “I know he’s wrong, I know what I saw when I found you today. It was pure innocence and helplessness.”
Zoe nodded. “I can assure you, I’m no witch.”
“I fear he may come down here and take you to trial,” Colin said. “I have told him to leave you be, that he doesn’t have the final say in this castle, but it would not be the first time he has gone against me.”
“So I’m not safe here?” she asked.
Colin looked up at her but didn’t answer. Zoe swallowed down the fear and wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold.
“I won’t let him hurt you,” he said. “Which seems so strange to me, seeing as I don’t even know your name.”
Zoe looked up at him and smiled. “My name is Zoe.”
Colin’s eyes seemed to light up the instant he heard it. “I’ve never heard such a beautiful name,” he smiled. “And it suits you perfectly… A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”
Zoe felt herself blushing. “Thank you.”
It was such a strange set of events, but she found herself feeling exactly the same way… She had only known Colin for a few hours, but it was as if they had some underlying connection, like something was pulling them closer together and joining their souls. Every time she looked at him, her heart seemed to melt a little more. Ross hadn’t even entered her head since she had woken by the loch, and it wasn’t just because she was experiencing something bizarre. It was because of Colin. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man, and so much more. He was different and so unbelievable sexy, she could feel the tingle of desire burning through her.
