Twelvetide: Twelve Nights of Highland Magic

by Dawn Marie Hamilton

  “I would if I could.” His body flickered and he disappeared.

  Ashley blinked away tears. With Cael gone, she didn’t want to stay in the maze. Besides, she’d been gone a long while, and sooner or later someone was bound to report her missing. The witch would want to return to the hotel and get all lovey-dovey with Uncle Mike. The longer Ashley stayed away, the more trouble she’d be in with her uncle. She hated when he made an angry face.

  But a ghost. She’d met a real honest to goodness ghost, and it wasn’t even Halloween. Wait till she told the girls at school. She bet none of them had ever seen a ghost.

  She walked around one corner, then another, and another, but she’d followed the boy too deep into the maze. How would she find the way out alone? With each turn, she ran into another wall of holly. With each turn, she got more tired. She slumped her shoulders. Unable to take another step, she dropped to her knees and cried herself to sleep.

  A familiar voice called to her. Uncle Mike. She opened her eyes. He knelt beside her. Other adults were there too. Belinda, and Aileen, the tour guide, and a security guard. Ashley lay at the base of the fountain, a fine dusting of snow covering her clothes. The maze was gone.

  “I can’t believe you ran away, you little brat,” the witch screeched.

  “There is no need for that, Belinda.” Uncle Mike picked up Ashley and held her with one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back, cradling her in strong arms.

  “I wanted to see the garden.” She held tight to the bear. She didn’t want to lose its suitcase with its precious cargo. “I met a ghost.”

  “You know you’re not supposed to make up stories, Ashley,” Uncle Mike scolded.

  “I did see a ghost.” He gave her those eyes that always made her feel guilty. “Well, I did.”

  “Where? There must be an intruder in the garden. We have no ghosts. The garden isn’t haunted.” The security guard swiveled his head from side to side. “When will visitors learn they can’t enter restricted areas?”

  Aileen placed a hand on his arm. “Dinnae get your panties in a bind. The man is obviously gone and the wee lass looks to be fine.” She picked up Ashley’s discarded coat from the ground. “Let’s take her to the house for a mug of hot cider. Shall we?”

  “What about the ghost?” Ashley persisted.

  “There is no such thing as ghosts,” three of the adults said at the same time. Aileen just shook her head.

  “He said his name was Caelan Innes. He lets me call him Cael.” He didn’t actually say Ashley could call him Cael, but he said his friends called him that and she was his friend.

  Aileen’s eyes rounded then she smiled—a secret kind of smile.

  Ashley frowned. Whatever. I met a ghost and he is my destiny.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  In-between

  Cael hadn’t kenned that the moment of death for a life cut short would begin a repetitive cycle of loneliness stuck within the in-between, only able to cross into the hidden garden maze when the veil thinned and ripped.

  A ghost. He’d become a wretched ghost.

  Since meeting the wee lass, he’d haunted the maze during each Yule hopeful Ashley would visit with her family to attend the festivities and he’d catch a glimpse of her as she grew to womanhood. He rubbed his empty chest over the spot where his heart would beat had he been alive. He’d kenned all along she wouldn’t come until the time was right. Still, he’d roamed the forsaken place year after year, ever yearning.

  He’d sensed during the waning autumn the time neared for her return. The veil thinned, though not fast enough to suit him. Over the years, he’d never once doubted her commitment to their promise. Movement on the other side of the misty, diaphanous fabric separating the earth from the realms of the supernatural made him jounce on his heels with excitement.

  There! Ashley stood beside the dolphin fountain—a newer addition to the ancient Druid garden. The maze wouldn’t appear until the solstice, but she had come as promised.

  Freezing rain fell, yet still she’d come. He hoped she didn’t catch a chill from the foul weather. In one hand she held a lantern to light the way. With the other, she lifted the hood of her coat and covered her hair, but not before he noted its luster. He wanted to run his fingers through the dark brown locks the color of the finest sable fur, imagining their softness. A flush reddened her cheeks and her firm lips curved in a pout. He wanted to kiss those lips and wrap his arms around her and feel her life-giving force.

  Cael could do none of that. He made a fist then flexed the fingers. For all the saints, he was a ghost. An apparition without substance. Yet Durrell had assured him on Ashley’s earlier visit that the wee lass held within her heart his destiny.

  Her amber gaze darted from place to place in search of something. Likely the maze, which wouldn’t appear until the exact moment of the solstice.

  Too soon. She’d come too soon.

  Ashley turned toward the gate to leave and his chest tightened in panic.

  Please don’t go!

  She spun back as if she heard the words in his head. Kenned he stood there. Impossible. The veil hadn’t thinned enough. Not yet. He could do naught but watch in disappointment as she frowned, shook her head, and walked away.

  When the Druid woman appeared, the vise on his chest loosened. The light-bearer would guide Ashley to him. ’Twas their destiny.

  Another obstacle awaited them. Durrell, the gatekeeper, had also revealed the elders required Cael to make a sacrifice. Nae matter. He would do whatever they required.

  * * *

  “What do you seek?”

  The sensation of one’s heart plummeting to the bottom of one’s stomach caused Ashley to spin around, hand clutched over her chest. Psshh. She released a sharp breath. It was only the woman she’d met in the garden as a child. The one who’d looked like the tour guide, yet not. The one who claimed to be a light-bearer. The one who went by the name Aileen.

  Though it seemed foolish even to Ashley, she felt compelled to answer the woman’s question. “My destiny.”

  “Tall order. Do you ken where that may lead?”

  “If I knew, would I be standing here hours before the solstice, in the freezing rain, trying to find a ghost that may or may not exist?”

  Too antsy, Ashley hadn’t been able to wait until the morning solstice. Instead of walking to the manor house for dinner, she’d taken a lantern from the cottage and cut across the car park. With fumbling hands, she’d used the key Cael gave her years ago to gain entrance to the locked ancient garden. Not a key to his heart—a key to the garden. The gate had probably been thusly secured since she’d sneaked in as a child.

  Not moments after entering the garden, sleety rain began. Omen?

  “Probably not.” Aileen rubbed her chin. “Then again…” The woman frowned. “I’m afraid the veil is rather thick this year. So few believers.”

  “Believers? What do you mean?”

  “Those who embrace magic.”

  “What does magic have to do with Cael?”

  “Ah, so it’s Caelan you seek. He is braw, is he not?”

  Ashley had dreamed of Cael since the age of seven. First as a playmate, then as a co-conspirator, and more recently as a lover. If memory—and dreams—served, he was hot, sexy, and to live for. Long blond hair framed emerald eyes, gorgeous hair tumbled over broad shoulders. Tall. At least, he’d towered over the child she’d been. He stood tall in her fantasies. Her nipples hardened in response to the recollection of the last steamy dream featuring Cael as hero.

  “You must believe in magic, in all its forms, to save Caelan from an undeserved fate within the in-between.”

  She snapped attention back to Aileen. “Tell me what I must do.”

  “Do you believe? Truly believe?”

  “In magic? I think I do.”

  “Your heart, your soul, your mind must be dedicated. Especially your heart.”

  She’d lost her heart to Cael a long time ago. She’d do whatev
er it took to find him and learn what he meant when he claimed to be her destiny. She prayed he spoke the truth.

  “There will be dangers.” Aileen’s earnest features put a knot in Ashley’s already churning stomach.

  Ashley nodded. “I must find Cael. I promised.”

  “Ach, well, then collect nine leaves from the holly tree.” She pointed to a berry-laden tree at the garden’s edge. “Prick your finger on one of the leaves, leaving behind a droplet of blood. Wrap the leaves in linen and add a teardrop. Tie the cloth with nine knots and tie the ends together in a lover’s knot. Place the packet beneath your pillow tonight and your dreams will come true within this ancient garden at the hour of the solstice.”

  Before Ashley had a chance to ask a question, the woman slipped away as silently as she’d arrived. Ashley worried her bottom lip. What Aileen described seemed an odd bit of witches’ hocus pocus. But if one believed in ghosts…

  Ashley jogged to the tree and tore off nine leaves. The small spines along the leaves’ edges pricked flesh, making her fingers sting. She stashed the collection in a coat pocket and rubbed her hands on her jeans.

  A chill whispered over her shoulder blades and she swept a searching gaze over the ancient garden. Everything appeared normal, yet something felt different. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Perhaps she sensed the dawning of the solstice.

  Ashley rushed through the gate eager to have something to do to bring her closer to her goal. She halted on the other side. What if someone noted the unlocked gate? They might try to secure it in some other fashion, making it difficult for her to reenter. She slid the key Cael had given her into the slot and twisted.

  She tried the gate. The grille didn’t budge. She patted the cold steel. I’ll be back.

  Hurrying across the car park, she hit the path to the cottage at a fast clip. At the cottage, Ashley dug through her luggage for a linen hankie. A gift from her parents from before they died. She always carried the small embroidered cloth for luck.

  With what she attempted, she could use good fortune.

  Her hands trembled as she unfolded the linen and smoothed the ecru fabric over the table top. The leaves went in the center of the cloth. With a sterile needle from the first aid kit she kept in her suitcase, she pricked the tip of a finger and let a droplet of blood drip onto a shiny green leaf. She swallowed uneasily. How to get a tear?

  She stepped outside and into the wind. Blinking rapidly, she produced tears. With a swipe of a pinkie under an eye, she returned to the task at hand and wiped the moisture from the finger onto a second leaf. It would have to suffice as a teardrop.

  The fabric being small, the tying of knots became cumbersome and tedious. With patience, she managed and finished with a lovers’ knot. A glance at the clock made her pulse jump. Where had the time gone? Less than three hours remained until the solstice.

  She placed the sachet under a down pillow on the bed and laid on top of the coverlet, doubting she’d sleep. Hugging the stuffed bear, thoughts of Cael and their potential destinies played over and over in her mind.

  Ashley woke with a jerk. She must have dozed off. What time was it?

  The lamp on the dresser remained lit. Oh, shit! She only had ten minutes to get to the garden and meet her destiny.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Ashley raced across the car park. The flame in the lantern flickered, its beam of light dancing crazily over the snow-covered, icy gravel. Slipping, she teetered, but regained balance. Hurry. She hadn’t come this far only to be too late. She slid to a stop at the gate and fumbled with the key. Dammit, her hands shook. Hurry. Hurry. She inserted the key and twisted. Crap. It didn’t fit quite right. With firm jiggling, she forced the key into position. The locking mechanism finally clicked. With a relieved sigh, she pushed the grille open and stepped within the ancient garden.

  The maze wasn’t there. Was she too early or too late?

  Precipitation no longer fell and the storm clouds slid away on a south-easterly wind. A bright half-moon cast silvery illumination over the landscape, diminishing the need for the lantern. She strolled toward the dolphin fountain. A dazzling light flashed in the sky, blinding her for a moment. When Ashley’s vision cleared, everything had changed.

  The garden was as she remembered.

  Bright sunbeams shimmered down from a cloudless cerulean sky. A warm breeze carried the mingled scents of roses and honeysuckle. Ashley parked the lantern on the edge of the fountain and dropped her wool coat to the ground as she had as a child. Pulse racing, she walk-ran over the stepping stone path to the holly maze.

  With the key clutched in a firm grip, she hesitated at the entrance, swallowed hard, and entered the winding twists and turns. On her last visit, she’d had the blond-headed boy to follow through the maze. Where was he now? Would Cael be at the oak tree, if and when she found it?

  Close your eyes and trust in your heart.

  “Who said that?” The androgynous voice sounded corporeal, but no one was there. Was it a ghostly voice? Was Cael haunting the maze, trying to spook her with a disguised voice?

  Why would he do that? He’d made her promise to return to him.

  Believe in the magic and find your heart’s desire.

  Ashley shivered, spooked by the voice in her head. Get a grip, Ashley. You’ve been waiting to return to the garden for what felt like a lifetime. She inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes. Ignoring mounting anxiety, she groped with her hands like a child playing blind man’s bluff, and walked straight into a prickly holly hedge.

  “Ouch!” She popped her eyes open and stuck a stinging finger into her mouth.

  Damn. This wasn’t working and time was wasting away. She didn’t know how long she’d have with Cael before the magic expired. She shoved the key into a jeans pocket and took the first right. Hung a left. Another left. Turned right and hit a dead end. Grrr!

  “Cael, where are you?” she shouted.

  No response. With fisted hands, she retraced her steps then went right again. Left. Left. Left. Ending at a T-juncture. Ashley jammed her hands in her pants pockets and blew out a puff of air. Should she go right or left?

  “Please, Cael, help me find you.”

  Close your eyes. Believe in the magic.

  That strange voice again. She swallowed uneasily, wary of such potent magic. Well, she’d just need to get over her apprehensions if she wanted to find Cael. And she did want to find him.

  Okay. She closed her eyes, waiting, listening to silence.

  Hmmmm. A faint humming. Should she? Slowly. One step at a time. Twisting and turning. She followed the hum through the maze. Astonishingly, she managed not to walk into the shrubbery walls. After taking a countless number of turns, the droning sound rose in pitch no longer mellifluous. She popped her eyes wide. The irritating noise instantly died.

  In the center of the square clearing, the large oak tree stood proud as she remembered.

  Her heart plummeted. He wasn’t there. Cael wasn’t there. Her shoulders drooped. Moisture pricked the back of her eyes.

  Cael stepped from behind the tree, sporting a sexy grin. Damn, the man, the real man, was hotter than her dreams.

  Ashley’s insides turned to mush. She ran toward him and stopped just short.

  “You came. I hoped. Prayed.” Cael reached forward to clasp both of Ashley’s hands, forgetting he had no substance and slipped through. He felt something. A tingling, but not the smooth sensation of skin stroking skin he so desired.

  Her eyes widened. “Your hands went right through mine.”

  “I am sorry. I did not mean to frighten you.”

  “You didn’t. It’s just…I thought.” She frowned. “Well, I don’t know what I thought. You’re still a ghost. I had hoped, perhaps, you might be more real now. More solid. You claimed to be my destiny.”

  “I am.”

  “I don’t see how.” A carved stone bench appeared at the base of the oak tree. Ashley gave a yelp and jumped back; fingers fluttered n
ear her throat. “Did you do that?”

  “Nae. I dinnae have the ability to wield magic.” He scraped a hand over his head, frustrated with the awkwardness between them. “The garden is enchanted. You ken?”

  “Well, yeah, I’ve witnessed the maze appear out of thin air.” She tossed her head, dark brown hair flowing over a slender shoulder.

  He lifted a hand to touch the lustrous tresses. Remembering he wouldn’t be able to feel their fine texture, he pulled back. “Perhaps you would like to sit with me?”

  She dropped to the bench, and he joined her. Though their thighs appeared to touch, he felt no mass against him. How could they possibly have a shared destiny?

  He sensed her nervousness. What should he say to put her at ease? “I feared you would not come,” he blurted.

  She smiled and the sun shined upon him. “We pinky swore.”

  “Aye, that we did.”

  “So now that I’m here…”

  “Aye?”

  “Explain how you are my destiny.”

  He hesitated a moment too long, and she sighed heavily.

  “Listen. I came because I promised. I came because you claimed to be my destiny. Actually, I came because…I want to be with you.” She twisted her body to face him and attempted to touch his cheek. Failing, she frowned and folded her hands in her lap. “To be honest, I don’t understand how we could ever be together. Am I missing something?”

  “I have nae explanation.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Durrell, the Druid gatekeeper, told me our destinies are entwined, but nae more.”

  “Wait a minute. The caretaker at the manor house is named Durrell. Perhaps he’s playing a cruel joke on both of us.”

  “I dinnae think so. He came to me when you were a wee bairn. Did Aileen not explain more to you?”

  “Aileen? You know of her?”

  “I have watched you and her from the other side of the veil. She is a Druid light-bearer—your guide.”

  “She hasn’t told me anything about you, except…” Ashley blushed. “Never mind about that. I want to know more about this destiny thing.”