Page 12 of Treachery in the Highlands
I want to ask her more about that, but I don't get the chance.
"All right, Joey Finnegan," Rachel says, her accent wrapping around my name like a lover's caress, "care to tell me what brought ye to our humble castle in the first place?"
I hesitate, weighing my options.How much should I reveal?This girl---this woman---seems genuine, but I've learned the hard way not to trust the way things appear to be.Damiano Zanetti had seemed like a nice, fatherly guy.I learned too late he was a godfather, the kind who sinks his claws into you and never lets go.
While Rachel keeps doing whatever the fuck she's doing, I might as well try to get a little information out of her."You've got a bed and chairs and other furniture, so this must be your private hideout."
"Aye, 'tis my wee sanctuary," Rachel says, slipping in behind me and securing the door."We can speak freely here."
"Do you drug all the guys you find in the moat and hide them in your secret room?"
"Ahmno drugging you.But why aren't ye more afeard of what's happened to ye?"
I shrug one shoulder."After all the shit I've been through, starting from the time I was a boy, I guess time travel doesn't seem so scary---or so bad."
Especially with a woman like Rachel tending to me.
"What travails have beset ye, Joey?If ye dinnae mind me asking."
"That's okay."I scratch that back of my neck, thinking back on my not-so-excellent adventures."I ran away from my old life and flew to Scotland, hoping to escape from some evil bastards.But one of them caught up to me.In this castle, actually.The modern version of it, anyway."
"How intriguing.What happened next?"
Rachel is a very strange girl, and she might slightly insane.But I kinda like that about her.
"Well, I was standing in front of a glass case that held a medieval sword that was labeled as 'The sword of Ciaran mac in tSagairt.'That means Kieran Aulay MacTaggart.Hey, that's your last name too---MacTaggart."
Her eyes go wide.She doesn't blink, but her lips fall open.
"What's wrong, Rachel?"
She flaps her head several times."That sword belongs to my father.Ye must have seen a similar sword in your time."
"Huh."That's all I can manage to say.Was I destined to find that sword?Nah, I don't believe in fate.Says the guy who traveled through time.
Rachel clears her throat and goes back to work.
I spin around, taking in the cluttered shelves lining the walls.Jars of mysterious substances, bundles of dried plants, and what look suspiciously like animal bones are crammed into every available space.A worn wooden table dominates the center of the room, its surface covered in open books and scattered parchments.
"Look, I appreciate the hospitality and all, but what the hell is going on?"I demand as my New York instincts kick in."One minute I'm running from the mob, the next I'm in some medieval cosplay nightmare."
Rachel's blue eyes sparkle with amusement."Ye think this a game, do ye?I assure ye, Joey Finnegan, 'tis all too real.I'm only an apprentice, trying to muddle through.I cannae deny that you are the most fascinating specimen I've ever encountered."
Now I'm a specimen.That's just perfect.
Rachel goes back to her work, mixing up who knows what.Probably something designed to turn me into her sex slave.Not that I'd mind being at her mercy.But I forget about that as the smell of her potion intensifies, a mix of earth and spice that makes my head swim.
Damn, she's hot.Or maybe her witch's brew is getting to me.
She eyes me sideways, her lips curling in the slightest smile."Tell me, Joey, how do you think you came to be in the past?Magic must have brought you here, but the how and why are unknown to me."
I swallow hard, weighing my options.This girl seems genuine, but I've been burned before.Still, if I'm really stuck in the past, I need allies.So, I give her a sanitized version of the truth.
"I was...in some trouble back home.Unsavory people were after me, and I needed to lay low for a while.Scotland seemed as good a place as any to disappear."I push a hand through my hair, which is still slightly damp from my unexpected swim."I found the castle by accident.Couldn't believe how many tourists were there checking out the artifacts."
Rachel raises an eyebrow, her hands never pausing in their work."Dangerous people, I take it?"
"Bingo."I realize she might not understand that word, so I explain."That means yes."
