Twice Upon a Soul

by Deborah R Stigall

  Emerging from the steamy bathroom refreshed and ready for breakfast, Taylor stuffed the key to her room in her purse and headed down the hallway to Mattie’s room. Lightly tapping on the door, Taylor was greeted with a bubbly, “It’s open!” from somewhere within the bowels of the cozy little room.

  Pushing the door open, Taylor snorted as she echoed, “It’s open? Mattie, you should keep the door locked!”

  Mattie appeared in the bathroom doorway, smiling around the toothbrush protruding from her mouth. “The spiwis wath oer me,” she mumbled incoherently, her eyes sparkling with vitality.

  “What?” Taylor asked, hands on her hips as she eyed her friend with confusion.

  Removing the toothbrush and rinsing her mouth of the paste, “I said…the spirits watch over me,” Mattie repeated, smiling as she wiped her mouth with the towel.

  Shaking her head in disbelief, Taylor ruefully decided to change the subject. There was no use in wasting her breath when it came to arguing sensible behaviors with Mattie. After all, hadn’t Mattie’s parents been bemoaning that very fact to Taylor for years? “Are you about ready to get some breakfast?” Taylor asked, her growling stomach punctuating her words.

  “Yes! I’m absolutely starved!” Mattie replied, slipping a floor length dress over her head. Donning a necklace of crystals and stones, Mattie turned from the mirror. “Let’s go get Drake and find something wonderfully Scottish to eat!”

  Retrieving Drake from his room, the three rode the elevator downstairs, heading for the lobby to once again check the weather. Much to their pleasure, the drizzle seemed to be lessening, a few pale patches of blue struggling to peep through the gray.

  “Maybe after breakfast the weather will permit us to go exploring,” Mattie observed to her friends as she casually steered them toward the small café housed on the first floor of the hotel.

  “I noticed the library over by the bus station,” Taylor noted as they seated themselves near a rain-spattered window. “I wonder if they have any archives that might give us some more information?”

  “Perhaps,” Drake observed, smiling up at the approaching waitress expectantly. They each placed an order for hot tea and scones. Mattie even deciding to try a traditional bowl of parritch.

  Biting into her steaming scone, Taylor glanced out the window at the shops lining the street. If not for the strange sense of urgency she felt pulling at her soul, she’d love to explore the town of Inverness and the surrounding area. The castles, Loch Ness…she silently wished there were more time to explore the museums and art center, as well. But for some reason…she felt they mustn’t tarry. There was no time to be wasted in their journey to Callanish.

  Finishing their breakfast, they donned their raincoats and umbrellas, heading up the street to the Inverness Public Library. Entering the library and shaking free of their wet weather gear, Drake inhaled with satisfaction. The smell of old books and manuscripts were the sweetest perfume he’d ever known, pure tonic for the soul. Making their way to the main desk, Taylor experienced something of a start to learn that the current archivist was Alistair Macleod...perhaps a descendent of Quinlan’s? Since Mr. Macleod was currently away from the library, they meandered slowly up and down the aisles, searching for information to help them in their quest.

  Coming across a huge map of the western isles of Scotland, Taylor felt a faint fluttering within her chest as she flipped the pages to the inset marked, “Callanish”. Colored photographs of the small peaceful village surrounded the map of the town situated close to Loch Roag. At the sight of the peat covered ground and the flat treeless landscape, Taylor could almost smell the damp earth…feel the spongy marshland beneath her feet.

  Turning a few more pages, her hand froze in mid-air as her eyes fell upon the picture of a stone circle. It was a photograph of the same stone sentries…the one that had haunted her in her dreams! She hadn’t realized it before but this stone circle; these foreboding stones of her dream were also the same ones she had researched over the Internet. The paragraph beneath the photograph confirmed it, these were the ring of megaliths known as Callanish II or locally as Cnoc Ceann a’Gharaidh. But there was something different about this particular picture. It was the position of the sun. Directly in line with the center stone, a ray of sunlight seemed to be piercing across the top of the megalith shining down into the center of the ruined cairn below.

  Lightly running her fingers along the beam of light, Taylor felt as though she had just been jolted by a zap of electricity. Her body tingling from head to toe, she could feel the tiny hairs on the back of her neck slowly standing on end. This was how to reach Quinlan. She was sure of it...the pathway to the other side. A cold sense of dread settled deep within her bones as her hands began to tremble. To reach Quinlan, she would have to somehow enter the cairn when the beam of sunlight was shining upon it.

  The memory of her dream on the plane, the sense of falling into the darkness, caused her heart to pound as a delicate sheen of perspiration glistened across her pale forehead. “I must be crazy,” she thought silently to herself, her fluttering heartbeat making her lightheaded. Dropping to a nearby chair, she supported her head in one hand, as she continued staring at the revealing photograph out of the corner of her eye.

  Through half-closed eyes as she attempted to compose herself, Taylor finished reading the paragraph beneath the photo. “The lighting of the cairn only occurs once a year upon the feast of Samhain.” Pausing at this revelation, she frowned as she thought to herself, “The feast of Samhain?” Where had she heard that before? Looking up at the sound of footsteps, Taylor smiled in relief at the sight of Mattie approaching the table.

  “What did you find?” Mattie whispered as she slid into a chair beside Taylor. She’d noticed Taylor’s sudden paling across the room and her weakened drop into the chair.

  “Look,” Taylor instructed, turning the book for Mattie to see. Tapping the page with her finger, she held her breath as she waited for Mattie’s reaction.

  Mattie examined the photo in question, arching one brow as she tapped the last paragraph with her finger. “It only shines on the cairn on Halloween?” she asked, her voice carrying across the room. “Sorry,” she quickly hissed to the disgruntled stares and shushes in her direction. Turning back to Taylor she repeated in a whisper, “The cairn is only lit by sunlight on Halloween?”

  “It says the feast of Samhain,” Taylor replied, uneasily. “Is that the same thing as Halloween?”

  “Samhain is….I guess you could say…the original title for Halloween.” Mattie nodded knowingly as she returned the book to Taylor. “That means it’s only two weeks before this lighting phenomenon occurs.” Frowning as she continued turning the pages, she glanced up at Taylor. “What’s significant about this particular set of stones anyway…can you remember anything?”

  Taylor nervously chewed on her lower lip as she ran her finger along the edge of the table. “The significance is,” she slowly began, her voice cracking with emotion. “Is the cairn is my gateway to finding Quinlan…I have to pass through it while the ray of light is upon it.”

  Pulling the book back in front of her, Mattie flipped back the pages to the photo of the rocky cairn. Bringing her nose close to the page, she examined it with a frown. “There’s no doorway. What do you mean you’ll have to pass through it?” she asked, glancing up into Taylor’s frightened eyes.

  “I don’t know how it works,” Taylor whispered, swallowing hard as the nausea began rising once again. “I just know that somehow…I can enter it…and that’s where I have to go.” Lamely trying to explain her insight to herself as well as to Mattie. Taylor raised a trembling hand to her head and closed her eyes.

  “I think we’d better get you back to your room,” Mattie observed with a look of concern. “You look like you’re about to lose your scones right here in the middle of the library.”

  “That might not be such a bad idea,” Taylor nodded, rising shakily from her chair. Heading for the exit, she shrugged
herself back into her raincoat, turning to pat Mattie’s shoulder. “You stay with Drake…you two enjoy the town while I go lie down and try to sort through this mess.”

  “Are you positive?” Mattie asked quietly, shooting a frowning glare in the direction of the disapproving librarian. Mattie would never desert Taylor when she needed her but she had the uncanny feeling that Taylor needed to be alone.

  “I’m sure,” Taylor responded positively. “Tomorrow we leave for Stornoway and I want to be up to traveling by then.” With that said, Taylor left the library, slowly heading back to her room. Tossing her dampened raincoat in the corner, she kicked off her shoes and curled into a fetal position on the bed, staring dismally out of the window at the renewed rain pelting down the glass. It seemed like the more she discovered of what lie ahead; the more physically shaken she became. Closing her eyes against the nausea within, Taylor mentally counted the days left to Halloween…knowing that once those days were gone, her life would never be the same.

  ~*~

  Finally able to swing her feet off the bed without the threat of having to run to the bathroom and kneel on the cold tile floor, Taylor slipped her shoes back on and opened the window in her tiny room. The drizzling rain had finally stopped, the sun breaking through the clouds just in time to create a beautiful sunset. Glancing to the street below, Taylor wondered where Mattie and Drake ended up once they had tired of the library.

  Feeling considerably better, Taylor made up her mind to strike out alone, sliding a note of where she was going beneath Mattie’s door. She emerged from the hotel, inhaling the fresh crisp air, eyeing her surroundings with interest. Since it was past closing time for most of the shops, Taylor opted to walk up the street, heading for the riverbank in the direction of the Caledonian Canal. The stone buildings along the street were beautiful, warm cozy lights glowing in the windows as evening drew near. The sight of the suspension bridges over the River Ness was inviting but since it was growing darker, Taylor decided to remain on this side of the river, finding a comfortable seat on a bench overlooking the canal.

  The air was growing quite cool as the sun settled beyond the horizon, the last glowing rays flickering on the rippling water below. Drawing her jacket closer about her, Taylor enviously eyed a young couple walking arm in arm…their fondness for one another making them oblivious to the cold.

  A small shiver of recognition ran down her spine as the faint wailing notes of bagpipes reached her over the wind. The mournful song made all the more emotional by the heart-wrenching cry of the pipes. “They’re quite lovely…are they no’,” whispered a deep familiar voice at her side. Turning slowly lest her movement should make him dissipate into the evening mist, Taylor nodded slightly at the dim form of Quinlan Macleod sitting beside her on the bench.

  “They’re beautiful…but they sound so sad,” Taylor whispered, lifting her hand to smooth away an escaped lock of hair blowing across her face.

  “Aye,” Quinlan agreed with a smile, tilting his head as he studied her face. “They’re no’ so sad as they are full of feeling…they cry ta’yer very soul.”

  Staring out over the river as the sun finally sank from view, Taylor hugged her arms tightly about her. “I’m afraid…I’m afraid to go any further. This is all just…too…I just can’t explain it. I don’t understand how any of this can be real.”

  Edging closer to her, Quinlan seemed to shimmer in the fading light of the sun. His form not quite solid, Taylor could nearly make out the shape of the trees directly behind his body. “Ye must not give up now…Taylor. Ye’ve almost completed the journey.” He stared at her, his eyes desperate, his voice gently pleading.

  “But what happens at the end of the journey? What happens when I’ve crossed through the cairn?” Turning to stare bleakly into Quinlan’s troubled eyes, Taylor threw her hands up in dismay. “Am I supposed to rescue you from dragons or something…magically whisk you back to my world?” Pulling her jacket tightly around her, Taylor shivered uncontrollably on the bench.

  Eyes saddened and weary, Quinlan reached out to brush the errant strand of hair once more away from Taylor’s face. “I canna say what will happen…all I can tell ye is how I wait for ye to come ta’ me…as I’ve waited for hundreds of years.” Glancing across the river at the rising moon, Quinlan quickly turned, abruptly gathering Taylor to his chest. Burying his face into her hair, he drew a ragged breath.

  “My time is gone…I must leave ye once more,” he hoarsely whispered against her throat. Then just as quickly as he had appeared at her side, Taylor was once again sitting alone on the bench overlooking the river.

  Still able to feel the ethereal touch of his arms around her body, Taylor looked up at the moon in wonder. He had touched her. He’d actually been able to achieve physical contact with her this time. What had made this evening different? Was it the fact that she was so close to the actual place where the Laird had originally disappeared? Or was it the time of year, or the phase of the moon that had enabled him to hold her in his arms? Staring down into the dark waters of the canal, Taylor hugged her body tightly, still tingling with the urgency of his touch. “Or am I going completely mad…hallucinating about some sort of ghost?”

  Taylor stared dumbfounded out into the darkness, still too surprised to move. Shaking her head in amazement, she finally rose, making her way back towards a pub she’d noticed on her way down to the riverbank. She needed to be among people…real flesh and blood people…enough of this supernatural stuff. This quest for a man from centuries past had her teetering on the brink of insanity.

  Walking into the brightly lit pub, Taylor chose a small table in the corner of the room. Her back to the wall, Taylor wrapped both hands around the mug of ale the waitress set before her. Sipping at the bitter liquid sparkling in her glass, Taylor stared off into space as she muddled through all the thoughts and shattered memories floating through her mind.

  The eerie Laird hadn’t been able to tell her what would happen when she finally found him. He’d only repeated how long he’d been waiting for her…and that she mustn’t give up now. What was going to happen if she found him? Was she going to drag this centuries old Scotsman back to her home in Louisville, Kentucky? Was she going to try to rebuild a relationship from wisps of memories, expecting them to live out the remainder of their lives happily ever after?

  Running her fingers through her wind swept hair, another thought occurred to Taylor. What about all of those stories she’d heard as a child about demons and evil spirits? What if Quinlan MacDara MacLeod were really some evil entity trying to trick her into loosing him upon the world? Taylor snorted at this idea, staring down into her mug. Not only was she on the verge of going insane, but she was adding a nice bit of paranoia to top it off.

  “Mind if I join you?” A familiar voice suddenly sounded at her side.

  Eyes widening as she looked up from her beer, Taylor’s mouth dropped open in amazement as she looked into the sparkling gray eyes of Chandler.

  “What on earth are you doing here?” she asked as soon as she found her tongue.

  Pulling up a chair beside her, Chandler set his own mug of ale on the table beside Taylor’s. Smiling as he looked down into his glass, he sheepishly traced through the circles of water on the table as he searched for the right words.

  “I’ve been checking on you through Mrs. Ames and Mattie,” he started, glancing up at Taylor’s still shocked face before he continued. “No…I’m not stalking you…I’m just worried about you, Taylor,” he finished lamely.

  “Worried enough that you’d follow me all the way to Inverness?” Taylor repeated incredulously. “What about your job…the house. Who’s taking care of your…stuff?” she finished awkwardly.

  “I’ve been due some vacation time for quite awhile,” Chandler replied with a slight smile as he shrugged his shoulders. “As for the house, it’s been standing there for at least fifty years…a few more weeks isn’t going to matter one way or another.” Chandler squirmed uncomfortably in
his seat as an unwelcome thought occurred to him. His eyes dropping back to stare into his glass, he shook his head with a heavy sigh. “You don’t want me here…do you?”

  Taylor’s heart wrenched in her chest as she glanced at the gentle man sitting at her side. If she could just love him enough to settle down and forget all her wild ideas of passion and romance...life would be so much simpler right now. But as fond as she was of good-hearted Chandler, the fire she felt she needed just wasn’t there. Reaching over to pat his arm, she replied with an understanding smile. “I’m very happy to see you, Chandler…it’s just that you took me by surprise.”

  Exhaling in relief, Chandler returned her smile. Hesitantly, he covered her hand with his own as he looked down into her eyes. “I’m not here to pressure you in any way…mind you. I just thought I’d hang around for a few weeks in case you needed my help.”

  Wrinkling her forehead with amazement, Taylor took another deep draught of the ale. “Do you have any idea what I’m doing here…or did Mattie not fill you in on that part?”

  Tossing both hands up in front of him, Chandler shrugged his shoulders as he shook his head. “She tried to explain most of it…but I’m afraid I’m having a bit of a problem believing in this ghost of yours.”

  “Yeah…well, me too,” mumbled Taylor into her ale, motioning the barkeep to send over another.

  “So, I understand it’s off to Stornoway tomorrow. Is that right?” Chandler asked, eyeing Taylor’s second mug of ale with a disapproving glance. “You know this dark ale is a lot stronger then the beer back home. You might want to go a little easy there.”