Page 82 of Treachery in the Highlands
"Dinnae think so."
"You don't think so?That's awfully vague, Rach."
"It's our best chance," I say firmly."Come, we need to move before someone else walks in."
As we slip out of the long gallery, the modern trappings of Dùndubhan feel surreal.Electric lights hum overhead, replacing the flickering torches I'm accustomed to.The stone floors are now covered with plush carpets that muffle our footsteps.
"This way," I whisper, tugging Joey's sleeve.Mydà-shealladhwill guide me through the familiar-yet-strange corridors and out of the castle."We need to find a secluded place where I might cast the spell that will tell us where to go next."
Chapter Thirty-One
Joey
"I know exactly where we should go," I tell Rachel."Let's return to the place where I got sucked into a tornado and then tossed into the moat.You saved me then.The moat is where our origin story begins, and it would be fitting for the next chapter to start there too."
"But the moat does not exist in this time period."
"The location where it used to be is still there, though.The gates no longer exist, but the area where the moat was filled is right outside the castle walls."
She grasps my hand."Aye, that's true.Let's walk to the spot where the moat would have been and see what happens."
As we make our way across the courtyard and through the gateway that has no gates anymore, I can't help but notice how different everything looks in this time.Where imposing gates once stood, and a drawbridge used to access a murky moat, all that's left now is open land with scattered wildflowers dancing in the Highland breeze and a modern gravel driveway.The castle behind us seems smaller somehow, less formidable than the fortress I'd tumbled into when I first arrived in the seventeenth century.
Rachel threads fingers with mine, her touch a welcome warmth compared to the cool Scottish air.Her golden-brown hair catches the late afternoon sunlight, and for a moment, I'm distracted by how it frames her face.
She nudges my shoulder."Joey, are ye even listening to me?"
"Sorry.It's just...weird being here but nothere, you know?"
"Aye, time has a way of playing tricks on the mind."Rachel releases a wistful sigh, observing the landscape with almost reverent curiosity."For me, this is all new history.But for you, it's where your adventure began."
We stop at roughly the spot where I'd once splashed down and nearly drowned.Now it's just a gentle depression on the earth, dotted with heather and wild grasses.The sun casts long shadows across the ground, painting everything in amber and gold.
"Do ye feel anything?"Rachel asks, her voice dropping to a whisper."Tingling, mayhap?"
I close my eyes, trying to sense anything that might indicate the presence of magic."Nothing yet.Maybe we need to---"
A powerful wind erupts around us, making it hard to speak.The wind seems unusually warm for the Highlands.Rachel's clutches my hand as the air shimmers, distorting the landscape around us like heat waves rising from summer pavement.
"Joey!"Rachel shouts over the sudden howl of wind."I feel the magic stirring!"
The ground beneath our feet trembles, and I swear I can hear water---the phantom splash of a moat that hasn't existed for centuries.My skin prickles with goosebumps despite the unnatural warmth swirling around us.The sensation is familiar, reminiscent of that first disorienting plunge through time.
"Is this supposed to happen?"I yell, but my voice sounds distant even to my own ears.
Rachel flaps her head, clearly confused.
Without warning, my vision goes black, and I can't hear any of the normal sounds of nature.Not birds.Not even the distant chatter of tourists.What the hell?I reach for Rachel's hand but feel only a cold stillness.I start to shiver, but it isn't entirely from the freaky emptiness.Being alone, it evokes memories of my childhood, of the foster moms who only wanted me for the money the state would provide.
No, no, I won't go back there.I'm not the boy anymore.
Then I hear Rachel's voice, faint but unmistakable, calling my name through the darkness."Joey!Joey, hold fast!"
And the fear vanishes.Because of her.Rachel is my anchor.
The world snaps back into focus with dizzying speed.I need a minute to reorient myself.We're still in the twenty-first century.An airliner soaring high above us proves that.
"Hot damn," I blurt out, grinning at Rachel."We did it.Or rather, magics did somethingtous."
