He narrowed his eyes. “That’s it. That’s what I’ve been missing! We’ve been assuming that Irene MacAskill brought ye here. But ye said that Rodric MacKay was the one who snatched Rory and ye traveled through time when ye followed him. So what if it wasnae Irene who opened the portal at all? What if it was Rodric MacKay?”
“I...um...I don’t know,” Maddy replied. “How could he do that?”
“I dinna know. Only the Fae have that power—” His head came up suddenly, eyes going wide. He turned, head swiveling, and his hand went to the hilt of the sword strapped at his waist. “We have to get out of here. Now.”
The urgency in his voice sent a jolt of unease through Maddy. She squeezed Rory tight against her. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“That’s why this portal doesnae work for ye. Because it isnaeyerportal. It’s his. I’m not sure if arches always bring people out in the same place but if they do, that means this is where Rodric MacKay exited yer time. That means he knows where it is. That means if it is isnae being watched already, it soon will be. Hurry. We have to go.”
Maddy’s blood went cold. She hurried back through the stream to where the bank became shallower and lifted Rory up to Deryn. Frantically, she grabbed hold of the branches and roots that stuck out of the bank and scrabbled up, getting covered in leaves and mud in the process.
Once at the top, she looked around, dreading the sight of more MacKay guardsmen closing in on them—or worse, Rodric himself. But the landscape remained empty although clouds had covered the sun and there was a bite to the wind. She was soaked up to her knees so she stamped her feet to try to get some warmth back into them.
“Here, lass,” Deryn said, unpinning his cloak and handing it to her. “Wrap this tight around yerself. It looks like it’s gonna turn stormy again.”
“What about you?” Without the cloak he had only his thin linen shirt and plaid. It left his lower arms and calves bare.
He shrugged. “I’m a Highlander. I’m used to it. Come on. If fate is smiling on us, we’ll get out of here unseen.”
He hoisted Rory onto his back and they set off, Maddy stumbling along at his side, trying to process everything she’d learned.
Rodrichad opened the portal? He had that kind of power? The thought left her reeling.
They took a different route back to Deryn’s farm. Dropping down off the high ridges, he led them through a peat bog full of stinking pools, tussocky grass and biting flies. It was not a pleasant trek and they were all soon sweaty, bitten and muddy, but Maddy issued not one word of complaint. If it meant keeping Rory safe from his father, she would walk through Hell itself.
Finally, they reached the valley where Deryn’s farm lay hidden and Maddy doubted she’d ever been so pleased to see a place in her life.
Home, the thought fluttered unbidden into her mind.We’re home.
They staggered into the living room of Deryn’s little cottage and Maddy sank gratefully into one of the chairs by the fire. Deryn took Rory straight into the bedroom and laid him on the bed where he fell asleep in seconds. After the ordeal of today, she couldn’t blame him.
What a day. What an exhausting, terror-filled day. And it was all her fault! If Deryn hadn’t followed, she’d be in Rodric’s clutches right now. She ached all over, her lungs burned, and her feet were still half-frozen from their dunking in the stream.
You’re a bloody idiot, you know that?she said to herself.Why do you never think things through?
“Here, lass.” Deryn was holding out a large cloth like a towel. “Dry yerself off.”
She took it with a nod of thanks and began toweling herself down, wiping the mud from her hair and clothes and then kicking off her shoes and wrapping the towel around her bare feet to warm them a bit.
Deryn lowered himself into the other chair which creaked as it took his weight. He let out a long sigh and then leaned his head back, staring into the fire. He had a far-away look on his face, as though his thoughts were elsewhere. He looked as tired as she felt.
“So, Fae are real?” Maddy said at last.
Deryn nodded. “They are. Do ye not have knowledge of them in yer time?”
“We do. Sort of. But only as folk-tales and children’s stories. Nobody believes in them anymore.”
Deryn’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “They dinna? Then how do ye keep the Balance?”
“The what?”
“The Balance. The equilibrium of the world. How do ye ensure things dinna get out of kilter?”
“I’m not sure we do. We have a lot of amazing things in the twenty-first century but we have a lot of mess too. I’m not sure we have this Balance anymore. And yes, there is a lot that is out of kilter.”
Deryn thought about this. “Then perhaps that is why Rodric MacKay is so interested in yer time. Especially if he’s one of the Disinherited. If the Seelie are weak and the Balance upset in the twenty-first century, the Unseelie may be able to gain the dominion they so desire.”
Maddy blinked. She hadn’t understood most of that. “You’re going to have to explain that.”
