Page 4 of Highlander Unraveled
“I’ll help ye again, lass.” Mrs. Lamb backed out of the room, and once she’d closed the door, I set the cup down on the dresser, my heart pounding.
I couldn’t wait for her to return. I had to leave. My limbs buzzed, my heart raced and my mind was a jumble of panic.
I yanked at the lock on the window, praying that it would unhinge. God, why wouldn’t it budge?
When was the last time someone had opened it?
I tugged and tugged and tugged.
Finally it wrenched free with a loud, metal on metal grating sound. I flung the window open; not daring to look behind me, afraid that Steven was going to come through the door at any moment, jerking me back into his life.
How could this have happened? The question repeated in my mind over and over like a bad song I couldn’t flush out.
Why did Fate decide I could no longer be with Logan?
What had I done?
I stuck my leg out of the window, the water on the outside of the windowsill making me slip slightly. I was weak. Limbs shaking. Fingers trembling.
But I wasn’t going to let a thing like body weakness get in the way of escaping. Figuring out how to get back to Logan gave me some strength.
The last time I’d gone to him had been during a storm, and I’d climbed the hill toward his castle. When lightning struck, I’d been transported. But I knew from Moira and Shona’s story, they’d both traveled back in time from their house in Edinburgh. It didn’t seem to matter where you were, as long as the circumstances were right and Fate decided it was time.
All I had to do was get to Edinburgh. To…what street did they live on? I couldn’t remember the name of it, but I knew where they kept a spare key. And I knew that everyone knew them. Someone could point me in the right direction.
I glanced toward the ground, ten feet from where I was and nothing to shimmy down on. This wasn’t going to feel good.
I could break a leg, twist an ankle.
But it would be worth it. I’d crawl all the way to Edinburgh if I had to, just to get away from Steven.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. The air was wet, and I could smell Loch Ness not far in the distance. Twisting so that I faced the inside of the tiny room, I had one leg hanging free and the other hooked over the ledge.
Somehow, I managed to tug the other leg out, hanging on for dear life with quivering arms. I lowered myself, clutching to the windowsill with fingers that were slowly slipping. Face to face with white clapboard, mold growing along its edges. Only about a five foot drop now. Not too far.
One. Two. Three.
I closed my eyes. Braced myself. And let go.
My toes hit quickly, a painful jarring up my legs.
I ignored the fact that I was dressed in the clothes of the sixteenth century and barefoot.
“Mrs. Gordon…” I whirled to see Mrs. Lamb poking her head out of the back door. “Here. Take it, please.”
She held out a beige, leather pocketbook. Without thinking, I grabbed the purse and gave Mrs. Lamb a tight hug.
“Go,” she urged.
I heard a commotion, something slamming above, fanning down from the opened window I’d jumped out.
“Go, now!” Mrs. Lamb pushed me and I ran through her yard, tripping on an uprooted tree root, catching myself at the last second.
“Emma!” Steven’s bellow cut through the air, louder than a canon. “Get back here, you bitch!”
But I didn’t stop running. Didn’t turn around to look at him. Didn’t want to see the angry, twisting snarl on his face. Afraid that if I did, I’d trip and fall and he’d catch up to me.
I shoved open the gate at the back of Mrs. Lamb’s yard, rushing through several yards before making it to a street. I ran all the way down the road, around the corner, my feet slapping painfully against the sidewalk, bits of acorn and other debris digging into the soles of my feet.
