“Yes, but they said that was because this was a heritage site…”
Rebecca raised her eyebrows again.
“It’s because you might see things the rest of the world doesn’t know about.”
Zoe sat back in her chair and cradled her cup of coffee in her hands. She couldn’t tell if Rebecca was messing with her or whether she was being deadly serious. In any event, she couldn’t wait to get down to the archives and see what they were all about.
“So when are we going down?” she asked, pretending not to be too interested.
“After lunch,” Rebecca opened one of the desk draws and pulled out two packets of chips. “Not exactly a five-course meal, but it should hit the spot,” she shrugged.
Zoe wasn’t even hungry, but she accepted them with a smile.
The next hour seemed to drag painfully along as her mind raced with what she might see down in the archives. It was the sort of thing she had seen in movies or read about in books, but when she had applied for and taken the job, it had never even crossed her mind that there may be secret rooms or even secrets of history hidden within the library walls.
Rebecca didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but it was exciting Zoe beyond belief. She thought back to her interview and of how Mrs. West had handed her the secrecy form. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time, maybe because she was used to dealing with confidential information at the law firm, but now it was taking on a whole other meaning.
“Right then,” Rebecca closed her laptop and got to her feet. “Should we head down there and get it over with?”
Zoe was on her feet before Rebecca had even finished her sentence.
“Yes,” she said. “Show me the way.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes and began her walk down the long center section of the main hall towards the back.
At the end of the hall, there was a set of doors and when Rebecca opened them they led out into a long hallway. It was colder out there and the lights were dim. Zoe immediately felt herself shiver and pulled the scarf tighter around her neck.
“It’s right down at this end.” Rebecca looked at her over her shoulder and walked down into the darkness. The further they went, the more the light seemed to disappear, and it looked like this part of the library was largely neglected.
“No one comes down here,” Rebecca said. “It’s just a place for the janitor to dump all of the broken chairs.”
Zoe looked around the hallway and realized in the darkened corners were crumpled and broken bits of wood. It was a mess—a dusty, forgotten mess, and Zoe felt sad that parts of such a beautiful building were being left to rot.
Rebecca stopped at a door at the end of the hall.
“Here we are,” she said as she turned and looked back at Zoe. “Are you ready?”
Zoe nodded and held her breath. Rebecca smiled and pushed the door. It creaked open…
4.
Rebecca stepped forward first, entering the dark room and groping around on the wall for a light switch. Z0e hung back with bated breath. She didn’t know what to expect and her skin was tingling all over.
When Rebecca found the light and turned it on with a flick, the room was illuminated with a harsh fluorescent glow. It looked like any old room, one that was neglected and filled with junk, but there was nothing remotely exciting or special about it. Zoe’s heart sank. It looked just like any old crumby janitor’s room, full of mops, buckets and forgotten furniture.
“Is this it?” she asked with a scowl.
Rebecca burst out laughing and shook her head.
“Of course not,” she laughed as she slapped Zoe playfully on the arm. “Do you really think anything of value would be kept in this crappy room!?”
Zoe felt heat creep over her cheeks.
“Here, come on,” Rebecca said as she grabbed her lightly by the arm and pulled her to the back of the room.
What looked like a closet door, partially hidden by a stack of dusty chairs, was the entrance to the archives. Rebecca pulled the chairs away, and they screeched along the floor. Zoe covered her ears and winced. When Rebecca stood back and pulled a flashlight out of her back pocket, she flipped on the light and reached into her other pocket and pulled out a key.
“Barely anyone even knows that this doorway exists,” she said. “It’s a good thing, of course. Stops us having to worry about thieves.”
“Doesn’t that feel like a lot of responsibility?” Zoe asked. “I mean, having a key to it?”
“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 held 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.
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