Page 7 of Desire of a Highlander

Elodie dutifully sat and listened as the meeting got underway. People discussed the council’s plan, people vented, people squabbled, and Elodie let it all wash over her, barely listening. She found herself staring out of the window. It was a bright, sunny day and from where she sat she could see the drooping branches of the willow tree in the center’s garden gently swaying in the breeze.

Ye are always fighting the good fight, Elodie MacNeil. Trouble is, have ye found yer true fight yet? The one that will lead ye to yer destiny and the person ye are meant to share it with?

What had Irene MacAskill meant by that? She was so lost in thought that it took a moment for Elodie to notice that the room had fallen silent. She dragged her attention back with an effort and realized everyone was looking at her.

She blinked. “Sorry. What?”

“We’re waiting for your vote,” Carla said. “If you’re in favor of protesting down at city hall tomorrow, raise your hand.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” Elodie dutifully raised her arm.

Carla did a quick count. “Right. Motion carried. We’ll meet at the city hall steps tomorrow at nine in the morning, sharp.”

As the meeting began to break up, Carla came over to Elodie. “Are you sure you’re all right? You seem a little...distracted. I did promise your mother I’d look out for you, remember?”

“I’m fine, honestly,” Elodie lied. “Just problems at work, you know how it is. Listen, why don’t you all head off? I’ll clear everything away and lock up. “

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. You get off home.”

To be honest, Elodie could do with some time to herself and she was grateful when everyone else filed out, leaving her alone in the hall. With a sigh, she began stacking chairs and depositing them in the corner. As she did so, she glanced out of the window again. Some of the branches of the willow tree had drooped so low that they touched the ground, forming a kind of living arch. And within that arch, Elodie spotted...something. She squinted, trying to figure out what she was looking at. The air beneath those branches was shimmering and moving like a mirage.

Elodie frowned. What on earth?

She walked out the back door and crossed the yard to where the enormous tree rose in one corner. She halted several paces away and peered at the space between the weeping branches. Sure enough, the air beneath seemed distorted, dancing and shimmering like the air above a bonfire. And in that shimmering Elodie saw images. They were too blurred to make out at first, but as she looked closer, she thought she could make out a wide, wild landscape of hills and sparkling lakes. The image shifted and she saw a dark room, like the inside of a warehouse. A forge burned in one corner and an anvil took up the space in the center. A man stood at that anvil, hammering at something, sparks flying in the gloom.

Then all of a sudden, the man turned and met Elodie’s gaze. A shock went through her so sharply that she gasped and the image disappeared.

She staggered back a pace. What the hell?

Elodie found herself stepping closer to the strange shimmering air beneath the arch. Have ye found yer true fight yet? The one that will lead ye to yer destiny and the person ye are meant to share it with?

She took another step. She was so close to the odd distortion that if she reached out a hand, she would be able to touch it. Something tingled along her skin, something like an electrical current that raised the tiny hairs along her arms and at the back of her neck. What was she doing? She felt like something was pulling her, drawing her closer to that shimmering distortion like iron filings to a magnet. She knew she should step back. But she didn’t.

Remember, choose wisely.

Elodie took a deep breath and stepped through.

She had no idea what she expected to happen. Nothing at all, most likely. But as she walked through the shimmering curtain, she felt a faint warmth brush against her skin, a sensation of falling for a second, and then she stumbled, throwing her arms out to stop herself falling flat on her face.

But her hands, expecting to grab the branches of the willow tree to keep her on her feet, met only air. She pinwheeled for a moment, then came down on her hands and knees in soft, damp mud. Something wet began pelting the back of her head and a wind sprang up out of nowhere, howling like a thing possessed.

Elodie shook her head to clear it, and then climbed to her feet, staggering a little as the wind slammed into her. Where had the wind suddenly come from?

She turned, intending to beat a hasty retreat back to the community center—but stopped dead. The yard was no longer behind her. Neither was the community center. Nor the buildings next door. In fact, there was nothing behind her except a long, lonely expanse of moorland stretching as far as the eye could see. Dark clouds hung heavy and ominous and the rain felt startlingly cold as it pattered against her skin.

Elodie stared wide-eyed, sure she must be hallucinating. Had she hit her head when she’d stumbled? Or had she fallen asleep and was dreaming? Yet this didn’t feel like a dream or a hallucination. The wind that whipped her hair out behind her and squeezed tears from the corners of her eyes felt all too real as it caressed her skin with icy fingers.

What the hell was going on? She blinked, shook her head, squeezed her eyes closed, and then opened them again. But she still found herself standing halfway up a hillside in the middle of nowhere, looking out over a windy, empty landscape. Above her rose a gnarly, wind-blasted tree with just a single branch sticking out the side of the trunk like a pointing arm. Other than that, there was nothing.

Her heart began to race. It was not possible to take three steps and end up somewhere else entirely. It just wasn’t. So what the hell had happened to her?

She sucked a deep breath through her nose, feeling panic beating at the edges of her thoughts.

Think, Ellie, she told herself. Think.

She rooted around in her pockets for her phone, only to remember she’d left it on the counter in the community center. Damn it!