Chapter 17
Evelyn followed at a dead sprint, getting scratched by low hanging branches and stumbling on roots, afraid of taking a header into a hole, but more terrified of losing them in the dark. Her sleeve snagged on a branch, whipping her back and making her lose valuable ground. When she got herself unstuck, she was disoriented and turned around and for a breathless second, couldn’t hear Lachlan ahead of her anymore.
Behind her, or maybe it was to her left, she heard the angry rumble of the people who were after them, and all around her were ominous shapes. She didn’t dare call out and took a few steps, straining her ears for a sign of which way to go. A big hand locked around her wrist and jerked her forward.
“Hurry,” Lachlan said, voice harsh and low.
They ran on, the others gaining on them, until Lachlan stopped, breathing heavily. She ran into him and staggered back a few steps to see they were in a tiny clearing. The fact that she could see at all from the moon shining down on them through the break in the trees was enough to fill her with renewed hope for their situation, until Lachlan put Piper down. Why were they stopping, when the mob was so close on their heels?
He patted Piper’s cheeks and shook her until she opened her eyes.
“Lachlan?” she asked, her voice still weak, but she sounded more coherent than when they were in the cell.
Evelyn knelt beside them, prickling with fear. “We have to keep going,” she said.
“Evie, are you here too?” Piper turned her head toward Evelyn.
Evelyn laughed, so happy she was awake, and leaned over so Piper could see her. “I’m here too.”
Piper struggled to sit up, retching from the effort. “Is this real?” she asked.
Lachlan helped her sit upright, guiding her toward Evelyn. He took Evelyn’s chin and made her look at him. In the dark moonlight, his face was stark, resolved. Her stomach sank.
“Ye have to continue on with her,” he said. She shook her head, absolutely unwilling and unable to go on without him. “Ye must,” he said. She could hear the warrior hardness in his voice. He no longer had the luxury of being chivalrous and wasn’t going to treat her like she was some soft woman. She was a soldier under his command now. She had a job to do. “I shall divert that lot from your path, and meet up with ye as soon as I may.”
“Lachlan, let’s just stay together,” she pleaded.
Piper weakly held onto his jacket as if she understood he was about to leave them.
“They’re too close, and they know our direction. Wake her as much as ye can. We shall leave the moment I get back to ye.” He untangled Piper’s hold and kissed her hand, then leaned over and kissed her mouth, whispering something to her that Evelyn couldn’t hear. He stood up abruptly and yanked her up with him, pointing into the distance. “That way is the river. Dinna stop until ye reach it, then go north. I shall find ye when I stop them.”
“Okay,” she said, too stunned and scared to argue.
He gripped her shoulders and leaned over to peer into her eyes, perhaps trying to infuse her with some courage, then took off toward the sound of their pursuers.
She tried to remember quotes on bravery while she dragged Piper to standing. It was a good thing she was of such birdlike proportions. Evelyn supposed if she had to, she could probably carry her for at least a short distance.
“Come, on,” she said. “Let’s move it.”
She got under her arm and helped her take a few steps, half dragging her, half flopping her forward like a rag doll. The bracing night air and getting her to use her legs seemed to revive her enough to realize where she was, who she was with, and who had just left. Even in her weak, drugged state, she worked up enough resistance to make Evelyn stop. Evelyn heard shouts and clanging behind them and wanted to scream.
“Damn it, Piper, we have to go fast, not stop.”
Piper rubbed her eyes. With her dirty, tear streaked face, she looked about twelve years old. She looked up at the trees and swayed on her feet. “This is real?” she asked in a small, cracked voice.
Evelyn shook her, filled with exasperation and heartbreak at her condition. “Yes, but we have to go. We really have to go.”
Piper made a quavery, hopeful sound. “Lachlan’s here? He’s alive?”
Evelyn nodded, but didn’t think Piper could see it in the dark. “He is, he’s going to meet up with us at the river. But we have to get to the river, okay?” Piper started to go down again, and Evelyn grabbed her elbow.
After a moment of tearful laughter and labored breathing, Piper straightened and started to walk, shakily, but on her own. Something had strengthened her resolve and Evelyn wasn’t going to question it as long as they were moving in the right direction. Soon, they were jogging, with Piper only pausing occasionally to cough or clutch her head, and after an eternity of terror filled tripping and scrambling through the underbrush, Evelyn could hear the rush of the river.
Piper fell to her hands and knees at the water’s edge, plunging her face into the icy current. She eagerly drank handful after handful of water before crawling away and collapsing. Evelyn’s dry throat longed for her to do the same, but she feared getting some sort of parasite. Even in her own time she wouldn’t want to drink from the river. She decided to hold out a bit longer, and hope Lachlan returned quickly. Or just returned.
She sat down next to Piper and took her hand, still worried about her labored breathing. “How do you feel?” she asked.
“I think I caught a cold,” Piper said. She sat up, looking awake at last. “I don’t know, but I think they put something in my food or water. I still feel kind of muzzy.”
“Bastards,” Evelyn muttered, then scooted closer to Piper. She shivered to think that the next day she was going to be put on trial, then possibly, most likely if the mystery man was to be believed, drowned. “We need to keep moving. Lachlan wants us to go north now that we’re at the river.”
Piper put her face in her hands, then looked up at her, absolute joy shining from her smile, even in the dim moonlight. “Where is he?”
“Fighting bad guys.” Evelyn stood and pulled Piper to her feet, giving her a second to find her balance. She looked down river, then up, feeling completely unfit to be in charge at the moment. “I hope you know which way north is,” she said finally.
Piper pointed up river, already dragging herself in that direction. Evelyn stayed in step with her in case she tottered over, but the cold water and exercise seemed to perk her up, at least physically. After a few hundred yards, she started worrying aloud about Lachlan, finally ending up chastising her for leaving Magnus and risking her life.
“I already got plenty of that from Sam,” Evelyn said tiredly, looking behind her every few steps and straining to hear any noise. The forest was eerily silent save the sound of the river.
She had no idea how many people were chasing them, how many people Lachlan was capable of fighting, especially with his latest knife wound. The last thing she wanted to think about kept creeping around the edges of her mind, and it was getting harder to shove it back.
What if Lachlan never caught up with them? How long would they wait for him before returning on their own? Piper would rather die than leave him, but Evelyn knew she’d feel obligated to get her back to Sam and the baby.
After an hour of walking they had to stop. Piper was spent, all her adrenaline used up, and Evelyn was worn down with fear. They huddled against a fallen log and waited.
“This can’t be happening,” Evelyn said out loud to keep herself company after Piper fell into a fidgety sleep. Lachlan couldn’t have made it back against all reports of his death, only to be killed now.
Piper stirred. “What?” she asked.
“Nothing, go back to sleep if you can. We’re going to have to act fast when Lachlan finds us.”
She rested her head against the rough bark of the log and closed her eyes, but as soon as she did, the quiet forest came to life, and she heard every scuttle, whoosh and far off screech. She heard every sound except the one she wanted to hear. Booted footsteps tramping through the undergrowth.
She must have dozed off, because it was close to daybreak when she opened her eyes. Piper was gone and for a second she thought her heart actually stopped. She clutched at her neck, trying to feel a pulse there, wondering if anyone ever actually died of fright, and if so, how long it took for their body to fall over.
She stood up and saw Piper at the edge of the riverbank scrubbing at her arms with the frigid water. The greenish predawn light made her look like an otherworldly creature, a fairy or a leprechaun, busily going about her morning ablutions in the river, as if it were completely normal. She briefly wondered if Piper might be part of the ancient folk, if the magic came from another place altogether.
Stop being an idiot, she told herself.
“That room they had me in was disgusting,” Piper said, when she returned to their post at the log. “It’s cleaner out here in the woods.” She tried drying her arms and face with the shawl she had with her, then frowned at it. She frowned at Evelyn next. “It’s been hours.”
Evelyn nodded. “He’ll find us more easily now that it’s getting light.”
Piper nodded, oddly resigned. “I feel pretty confident I can send you back on your own,” she said.
“You better not try it,” Evelyn said, standing up and moving away from her. “I won’t ever forgive you if you do.”
“Will you relax? I can’t do it by twitching my nose.” She patted the ground next to her. “I’m just saying if it comes to that.”
“It won’t.” Evelyn sat back down, leaning against the log.
Piper gave her a maddeningly calm smile and they stared at the river through the trees. Evelyn was itching to know what had happened and couldn’t believe Piper hadn’t already told her everything, or at least got started on the story.
She sighed. “What in the hell? You were only gone a few days. How did you get set up for witchcraft?”
Piper stayed suspiciously quiet, and Evelyn reached over and poked her. Finally she put her head on her knees. “I’m possessed by a witch,” she said.
“And how did they find out about that?” When faced with another long silence, she asked, “Did something happen? Did Daria have an outburst?”
Piper snickered and looked askance at her. “I told Rose. And then they found some stuff I brought.”
Evelyn sat up. “What stuff?”
Piper’s pale face suffused with color. “A plastic lighter was the thing that mostly riled them up.”
“So you told Rose you’re possessed, and brought a plastic lighter to 1793. Good lord. You deserve to be drowned.”
Piper smiled sadly and stared at the river, refusing to speak about anything else that happened. Evelyn left her alone, thinking she was upset about the realization that her grandmother wasn’t what she expected or hoped. She heard a rustling deeper in the woods and stood up.
“About damn time,” she said, her voice shrinking to a shocked squeak at the sight of Lachlan.
He looked past her to Piper sitting in her dejected position against the log, his lip quirking up in a half smile before dropping forward, flat on his face in the underbrush.
They both scrambled to him, struggling to turn him over. They managed to get him on his side to see his face was a mass of bruises, his jacket gone, waistcoat torn and spattered with blood.
“How much of this is his?” Piper asked frantically, tearing open his shirt.
“At least some of it,” Evelyn said, pointing out his stab wound from the night before.
It was still slowly oozing blood. Another cut ran across his chest as if someone had slashed at him. His knuckles were raw, which gave Evelyn a small bit of satisfaction, hoping he’d managed to make some other’s faces look at least as bad as his. Piper checked for a pulse and leaned over his face, calling his name and kissing him. Evelyn worked her way down his body, looking for more damage, to find half an arrow sticking out of his calf. Well, crap. She pointed it out to Piper, who got an enraged look on her face.
“What in the hell is wrong with these people?” she demanded, gently prodding the part that stuck out of his leg. “We can’t mess with that, it’ll have to wait.” She looked around and settled her gaze on Evelyn. Something in her face made her heart sink, but her next words at least, were encouraging. “I’ve got to get him back.”
Music to her ears. “Yes, Piper, let’s get back.” She rested on her heels, waiting for instructions.
Piper barely gave her a look, all her attention riveted on Lachlan’s face. She winced and slapped him across the cheek. “I’m afraid it won’t work if he’s unconscious,” she explained, getting ready to slap him again. “Lachlan, please wake up, baby. I have to get you guys home.”
His eyes fluttered open and he turned to her voice. “Piper, my love.” Piper laughed and kissed him. “I didna kill anyone,” he told her, making her laugh some more.
“He’s been awfully concerned about that,” Evelyn said, thinking they might be home by now if he’d been more thorough with the guard who’d stabbed him.
“Well, he knows I don’t like it,” she said, running her hands down his face. “Now get over here and hold onto him so I can get you back.”
Piper’s odd phrasing had pinged in her mind a few minutes earlier, but she’d been too distracted by Lachlan’s state to really notice it. But the second time, there was no mistaking Piper’s intent. She stayed firmly where she was, taking her hand off Lachlan’s calf in case Piper tried anything. To be safe, she scooted further away from him.
“Why did you say it like that? We’re all going back.”
Piper closed her eyes and blew out a breath. “You were joking earlier, Evie,” she said, a tear dropping to the leaves by her feet. “But you were right. I do deserve to be drowned. It’s the only way to get rid of Daria once and for all.”
Lachlan made a weak sound of dissent and grabbed her arm. “No, love, never say such a thing.” He forced himself to sitting and Evelyn saw a fresh gush of blood flow from his side.
She and Piper pushed him back and pressed what was left of his waistcoat against it. His eyes rolled back in his head, his lips pale. He didn’t have much time.
Piper took Evelyn’s hand and placed it on his shoulder, then started to chant the words of the spell. Evelyn tore her hand away and scurried backwards, putting several yards of forest between herself and Lachlan.
“You can send him back, but if you’re staying, I’m staying.”
“Evie …” Piper pointed to Lachlan. “Please. He’s going to need your help. You’ll need to call Dr. Stone.” Evelyn shrugged belligerently and Piper gave her a look she believed was supposed to scare her. Still, she stayed where she was, knowing Piper wouldn’t risk doing the spell wrong. “You have to let me finish this. Save Lachlan, then go home and be happy with Sam and Magnus.”
That hit below the belt. Their names tore into her and she felt a physical yearning to hold her baby. She saw Lachlan’s shallow, labored breathing, and knew he needed help. “And what?” she asked, digging her fingers into the dirt to keep from crying. “Remember you fondly? Sorry, but no.”
She’d known Piper since they were twelve years old. She wouldn’t have the life she had if it weren’t for her best friend, wouldn’t have gone to any of the places they’d gone together, wouldn’t have taken a single chance. She would have sat alone in her room reading books and never known a single real adventure. She wouldn’t have Sam or Magnus, the lights of her life, if she hadn’t come running to Scotland for Piper.
She shook her head and repeated it. “No.”
Piper stood up and paced away, pointing back at Lachlan. “He’s dying,” she said angrily.
“Well, we have a spot for him when we all get back,” Evelyn said cruelly, her chest constricting painfully. Piper whirled on her, eyes blazing, hair practically standing on end. Evelyn smirked and looked away, hating herself.
Piper stalked forward, closing the distance between them. So much anger radiated off her, Evelyn prepared herself for a punch in the face, but something changed and instead Piper dropped to her knees in front of her and took her hands. If Evelyn’s heart hadn’t already been in pieces, the look on Piper’s face shattered what was left of it.
“I can’t go back,” she said. “I’m dangerous. I will be dangerous if she gets stronger.”
“That isn’t true,” Evelyn said, twisting her hands away and shaking Piper by the shoulders.
Piper let herself be shaken, but the endless sorrow on her face remained, her decision to stay clearly unchanged. “She’s evil, and I have her powers now. There are things I know I can do. Terrible things. I don’t want her to turn me into something like her. I’d rather be dead than be like her.”
“You could never be like her.”
Piper’s chin dropped to her chest. “You don’t know how badly I wanted to hit you a second ago. Just make you do what I wanted.”
Evelyn let her go and looked at Lachlan, then out at the river. “But you didn’t. It’s our choices … you know what, I’m not going to quote Harry Potter because it would be wasted on you. But you’re better than Daria. And stronger. She can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. She couldn’t keep you from coming back here, though God forbid I should say this, she was right about that. She couldn’t keep you from succeeding at the other spell.”
“But, the fires,” Piper said. “I couldn’t control those.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Oh, you mean the fire you set in the fireplace? And the one you lit under the teakettle? Ooh, you changed the temperature in the sitting room, and boiled water for tea. How monstrous.”
Piper shook her head, still refusing to believe. “You don’t know everything she did. To Rose and me—”
Evelyn interrupted her. “Who cares about Rose? Look,” she pointed at Lachlan. “Daria didn’t get Lachlan. He found his way back to you. I’m sorry for Rose, but you shouldn’t suffer for her bad decisions.”
“She’s my family.” Her voice could barely be heard it was so small and lost.
“No, she isn’t, Piper. She isn’t your family and that was her choice. Me and Lachlan, we’re your family. And we sure as hell don’t want you to drown in the river.”
Piper looked at her, eyes shining, looking as if she didn’t dare to hope. “Aren’t you scared of what I’ll become? What if she takes over?”
Evelyn leaned over and squeezed her shoulders, trying to make her see the obvious. The thing everyone knew about Piper. Except Piper.
“You can’t ever be completely taken over because you’re too full of good. You’re the best person I know. All your sweetness probably absorbed her evil. She’s going to give up and move on or flame out, whatever spirits do. Maybe you’ll even help her find peace.”
Piper choked back a sob. “I wish that was true. I wish I didn’t have to fight her anymore.”
“It is true,” Evelyn assured her. “You don’t need to fight her because you’ve already won.”