Usedto it? The man was a ghost. Or… or a hallucination. Or—blast, I didn’t know what he was, but “used to it” was the furthest thing from my mind.
I swallowed, trying to rein in the shock, but failing spectacularly. “How are you doing this? Appearing like this?” I managed to say, though my voice had taken on a rather embarrassing note of hysteria. “It’s—it’s not possible.”
Ewan raised an eyebrow, as ifIwere the one making things difficult. “Aye, I’m here, am I no’?”
“Yes, butwhy?” My pulse was going again—this time, I swear, it was trying to escape. “You just… show up whenever you please, with no warning, no—”
He cut me off with a wave of his hand, dismissing me like I was some fretting child. “Ach, steady yersel, will ye? Yer heart’s about to beat its way out o’ yer coat.”
I blinked.Steady myself?My nerves were shot to pieces. Calm? I hadn’t known calm since he’d first appeared out of thin air, and now I was meant to just…acceptthis?
My eyes landed back on the brooch, which glinted on the rug between us. “It’s that, isn’t it?” I asked, motioning toward the cursed thing, my mind racing. “That’s what’s causing this—this madness.”
That was it. All I had to do was get rid of it! I lunged for it before Ewan could respond and flung it out of the open window. I heard it make a ‘clink’ on the iron railing outside as it fell.
Ewan glanced down at his hand, and devil take me if he was not rolling the thing about between his fingers.How?I had just flung it…
“This wee thing?” He squinted at it and held it up to the light. “Aye, could be. Bonny Prince Charlie.” He toasted the air, then put his bottle to his lips as if paying tribute to another ghost. Oh, bollocks, I don’t know. Perhaps he was.
“How?” I demanded.
Ewan shrugged. “Ye nicked yer finger on it, did ye no?”
I stared at him, completely baffled. “What does that have to do with anything?”
He swirled the liquid in his bottle, looking thoroughly bored. “Blood magic, lad. Och, it’s always the blood wi’ these things.”
My mind was reeling. “Blood? What on earth are you talking about? Blood magic? What are you, some—some fairy tale?”
He took another swig, his eyes narrowing at me like I’d just insulted his entire clan. “Fairytale?” he said, his voice dripping with savagery. “Ye think I’m some daft fairytale? Lad, what’s in yer Sassenach books isnae worth the paper it’s scribbled on! Ye nicked yer finger, let a wee drap o' blood, an' here I am—same as it's been fer centuries. Maybe ye ought tae crack open a proper book now an' again.”
I blinked at him, my brain firing off half-formed thoughts at lightning speed. This couldnotbe real. There had to be some explanation. Ghosts don’t just show up because of a drop of blood! For heaven’s sake, if they did, I should have been haunted by an entire battalion of them when I cut my head open climbing rocks as a boy.
“And what, exactly, am I supposed to do about it?” I asked, my voice shaking. “How do I—how do I get rid of you?”
He gave me a slow, deliberate grin that made me want to tear out my hair. “Why’d ye want tae get rid o’ me? Aye, I’m only just gettin’ started tae enjoy mesel’, so I am.”
“Enjoy yourself?” My hands were shaking now, and I had half a mind to throttle him—if only I were certain he wasn’t going to vanish the moment I tried. “You’ve been dead for mercy knows how long, and now you’re here,hauntingme, and you’re telling me that you’reenjoying yourself?”
“Ye’ve got it,” he said, raising the bottle in a mock toast. “Ach, ye can stop yer bawlin’, lad. I’m here, an’ I’m no’ budgin’.”
I blinked again, my mind racing back to the brooch. “The brooch,” I muttered, pacing the floor. “It has to be the brooch. If I… if I get rid of it…”
Ewan chuckled, an infuriating sound that grated on every last one of my nerves. “Aye, good luck wi’ that. It’s no’ that simple, ye know.”
“What do you mean, ‘not that simple’?” I stopped pacing, my pulse galloping as I contemplated impending disaster. “What is simple aboutanyof this? Give me that thing!”
Ewan shrugged and opened his palm. I wasn’t taking any chances this time. Into the fire grate it went, into the very hottest part of the flames. With any luck, that bright silver would send up a scorching smoke within seconds that…
“I’ve telt ye, ye cannae be rid o’ it ‘causeIcannae be rid o’it.” Ewan held out his hand, still brandishing that blasted brooch.
That was when my knees buckled. My head was swimming, and I wanted to be sick all over the carpet. But by some small miracle, I found my voice. Or at least a raspy whisper. “Howare you doing that?”
“It’s blood magic, ye daftie. Ye think ye can chuck that brooch out a window an’ be rid o’ me? Aye, I wish. Then maybe I’d get mesel’ a proper Highlander instead o’…” He gave me a once-over, curling his lip.“Ye.”
I stared at him, my mouth opening and closing, utterly speechless. This couldn’t be happening. This was some nightmare—yes, that was it. Any moment now, I’d wake up and laugh about it all.
“I’m losing my mind,” I muttered, pressing my fingers to my temples.
