Chapter Two #2
Rose stared at the silver-eyed woman. “I beg your pardon? Did you just say you’re a goddess?”
Was she a little unhinged? A goddess? Seriously?
The woman cocked her head and regarded Rose with those disconcerting silver eyes. “Do ye have a problem with yer hearing? Aye, I am the goddess Lir, and as I said, I need yer help.”
She had a strange, lilting accent. Scottish?
And those eyes… They were like pools of quicksilver, and they seemed to see right into Rose’s soul.
She swallowed. She had the strangest feeling that the woman wasn’t unhinged at all.
She had the strangest feeling that those eyes weren’t some fancy contact lenses made for show.
She got the feeling that this was real.
She had always known about the other world, of course. Her mother and grandmother had taught her all about gods and spirits and the creatures that walked the world beyond the knowledge of humanity, but she’d never actually met one before.
And now here she was talking to a goddess.
“There’s nothing wrong with my hearing,” she replied. “I… um… I’m just a little… surprised.”
Lir studied her. “Ye are Rose MacFinnan, are ye not? A MacFinnan spellweaver?”
“Yes, but—”
“Good,” Lir said, cutting her off and rising gracefully. “Then ye are the one I need. Come. We must be going. Time is short.”
“Going? What do you mean? Going where?”
“To Barra, of course. In the Isles of Scotland. There is somebody there who needs yer help. In fact, many people. Help that only a MacFinnan spellweaver can give.” Those silver eyes intensified as Lir stared at her. “And not just any MacFinnan spellweaver. But ye, Rose MacFinnan.”
Rose held up her hands and backed away a step. “Hang on. Barra? Scotland? I can’t just up and go to Scotland! I’ve got responsibilities here! You’ll have to find somebody else.”
“There is nobody else. Ye are needed, Rose MacFinnan, needed in a way ye never have been needed before. The question is: Will ye answer that call as yer ancestors before ye have always done?”
Rose opened her mouth and closed it again. Was it really just moments ago she’d been looking at holidays on the internet? How had everything turned so surreal in such a short space of time? She heard Elise’s voice in her head.
You can’t keep putting everyone before yourself, Rose.
But someone needed her. She couldn’t ignore that. She’d never been able to. She’d been given her powers for a reason, and that reason was helping others.
Really? A traitorous little voice spoke in the back of her head. To the point where you sacrifice everything? Even your marriage?
She squashed the voice. She would not go there. She opened her mouth, fulling intending to say, Sorry, I can’t. I’m going to Italy.
But what actually came out of her mouth was, “Of course I’ll come to Barra. Although I’ll need to book an air ticket.”
What? Why had she said that? Elise would be furious! But how was she supposed to stand aside when a goddess had come asking for her help?
I’ll just do this one task, she told herself. Then I’ll take a break. I’ll go to Italy. I will.
A smile curled Lir’s mouth. “I knew I had chosen right in ye, Rose MacFinnan. Yer name will be whispered through the ages.”
“Right. Whatever. I’d better go pack and book my air ticket.”
Lir caught her arm. The woman’s fingers were as cold as ice. “There is no need for that. I will take us to Barra.”
Rose blinked. “Um. You will?”
Lir’s smile widened. “I am a goddess. Follow me.”
She strode off along the jetty, her feet leaving wet prints on the wooden boards, halting at the end where it jutted out over the water. She glanced over her shoulder. “Well? Are ye coming?”
Rose licked her lips, glanced back at her little house, then at Lir. Oh, heck, she thought. What have I just agreed to?
She moved along the jetty until she stood next to the goddess. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
Lir laughed softly. “Dinna worry. It will be over in a heartbeat. Take my hand.”
Rose did so, wincing at the cold smoothness of Lir’s skin.
“Ye may wish to hold yer breath,” the goddess instructed.
Then she jumped off the jetty, dragging a startled Rose with her. Rose had time for a single yelp before she plunged into dark, bitterly cold water—
—and came up coughing and gasping.
Lir still had hold of her hand, and Rose clasped it tightly as though it were the only thing stopping her from drowning.
“You… you… could have warned me!” she gasped, thrashing around with her free hand.
Lir bobbed a few inches away. She seemed amused. “Did I not warn ye to hold yer breath?”
Rose scowled and flicked wet hair out of her eyes, looking around.
As she did so, she realized things had changed.
There was no sign of her house, the jetty, or the jogging path that led around the lake.
Instead, she could see sand dunes rising beyond a rocky shore and could hear the hiss of waves lapping against it. The water tasted salty.
The sea. This was the sea, and that shore was… what? Barra? Had she really traveled so far in the blink of an eye?
Lir released Rose’s hand and began swimming away from her. She moved with the grace of a dolphin, leaving Rose to flounder and flap behind her, doing her best to follow.
A wave of relief went through her when she felt the bottom under her feet and was able to clamber out onto the shingle beach that bracketed the shoreline. She collapsed in a heap, staring up at the cloudy sky and listening to the rapid thump of her heart.
What am I doing? she thought. I’m Rose, the sensible MacFinnan, remember? This is the sort of crazy thing Elise would do.
She struggled into a sitting position and found Lir standing just in front of her, hands clasped demurely at her navel. “Welcome to the Kingdom of the Isles, Rose MacFinnan,” she said formally. “Or more accurately, the island of Barra.”
Lir held out a hand, which Rose took, allowing Lir to pull her up.
She got her first decent look at her surroundings.
Beyond the dunes, the ground rose steeply into a series of hills, on the tallest of which sat a large complex of stone buildings with towers and crenelated walls.
Pennants flew from the top of the towers, and a large gate tower guarded the entrance.
Rose stared at it. Wait. Was that a castle?
Then her eyes were drawn to something else.
A village hugged the knees of the hill on which the castle sat, flowing down in tiered rows, with a zigzag path weaving its way through.
But it wasn’t a normal village with shops and cars and roads, oh no.
This looked like something straight out of a painting.
The buildings were constructed of timber, with thatched roofs and wicker fencing around cottage gardens.
Rose made out gaggles of geese and chickens meandering between the buildings and even a couple of pigs wallowing by the side of the path.
There wasn’t a car, nor a café, nor a tarmacked road in sight.
A horrible suspicion began to form at the back of her mind. She whirled on the goddess. “Lir, where have you brought me?”
“Barra, as I said.”
“Really? Then why does everything look so strange? This place looks nothing like any Scottish settlement I’ve ever heard of.”
Lir shrugged. “That’s because ye are out of yer time. This is the year 1493.”
Rose goggled. She felt her jaw drop. She must have heard wrong. Lir hadn’t just said it was 1493. Had she?
“You’re joking, right? Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I dinna joke, Rose MacFinnan.”
Rose turned in a slow circle. Out on the sea she spotted a fishing boat but it wasn’t a metal-hulled one with a motor, but carved from wood with a basic sail and two paddles.
To the west she saw a line of people working in a field.
There was no sign of machinery, just wooden hoes that they were using to clear the ground.
No, she thought. This cannot be happening.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, suddenly dizzy. “I did not agree to this! I agreed to travel to Barra, not travel through time!”
The goddess cocked her head, seeming puzzled by Rose’s outburst. “Does it matter? These people need yer help. What difference does the time period make?”
Rose stared at her incredulously. “Are you serious? It makes every difference! How the hell do you expect me to survive in 1493? I would never have agreed to come if I’d known this was what you meant!”
“Would ye not?” Lir replied, narrowing those strange silver eyes at her. “Are the people of this time not worthy of yer aid?”
Rose felt a flicker of anger. “You’re trying to trap me with words and I won’t have it.” She lifted her hand and pointed a finger at the goddess. “You brought me here under false pretenses. Take me home. Now.”
Lir said nothing and it was difficult to gauge emotions on that silver-eyed face. But for a moment, Rose thought she saw regret, sadness, and something else flicker across her smooth features. Fear?
“If ye wish it, I will take ye back,” the goddess said softly.
“But ye are needed here, Rose MacFinnan. Sorely needed. I wouldnae have come to ye otherwise. We can never know where our destiny will take us and perhaps this is where yer destiny lies. Perhaps it is here that ye will find what ye are truly looking for. Have ye considered that? But if ye choose it, I will take ye home and ye will continue yer life as if ye had never met me. Is that what ye wish?”
Was it? Did she want to go back to her life? Back to her divorce and her empty house and her holiday for one?
No, she realized suddenly. It wasn’t.
Perhaps it is here that ye will find what ye are truly looking for.
What was she looking for? She had no idea. All she knew was that TV dinners, making winter cough syrups, and coming home to an empty house was not it.
And just like that, her decision was made.
“No,” she breathed. “That isn’t what I wish. I’ll stay. I’ll do what I can to help these people.”
Lir’s eyes lit up and she took Rose’s hands in both of hers. “Then ye have my thanks, Rose MacFinnan. He willnae accept my help. Perhaps he will accept yers.”
Then she released her hands and walked back towards the sea.
“What do you mean?” Rose called after her. “Who might accept my help?”
Lir didn’t answer. She climbed up onto a long a spur of rock that stuck out into the sea and carried on walking. Waves crashed against the sides of the rock, sending spray across its surface.
“Wait!” Rose cried. “You haven’t told me what I’m here to do!”
She hurried after the goddess, reached out a hand to grab Lir’s shoulder, but suddenly caught her foot on a loose rock. Her ankle twisted and she went staggering sideways.
She had time for one terrified scream before she hit the water and went under.