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“I do ken him. Now,” added Fia.
“So, is she buried or still lying there for the ravens to peck out her eyes?” asked Willow.
Morag sobbed bitterly when she heard this. Fia pulled her sister to her in a protective hug.
“Willow, ye are so insensitive sometimes,” snapped Fia.
“Well, what’s the answer?” asked Willow.
“I dinna ken.”
“What do you mean?” Maira picked up her sword and started polishing it.
“I didna want to stay there because I wasna sure if I was safe, so I left.”
“You should never have gone there in the first place,” scolded Willow.
“I had to do it.” Fia shook her head. “I wanted to find out if Imanie was all right and I also went back to find this.” She reached into her pocket for her bracelet but once again, found it missing. She frantically checked her other pocket, but her hand came up empty. “My bracelet! I must have dropped it again when I ran from the garden when the Highlander closed his eyes.”
“Fia, what is the matter with you lately?” asked Maira. “You are the one who never misses anything. How can you have lost a bracelet twice now and not even realize you dropped it?”
“I dinna ken,” said Fia, feeling so rattled every time she heard about the Highland clan. And now, after meeting Alastair and being alone with him in the cottage, she felt confused. Seeing his bare chest put ideas in her head and she couldn’t get him off of her mind.
“We should tell Lord Beaufort,” suggested Willow. “It is the right thing to do.”
“Nay!” Fia released her sister and put her hands on her hips. “No one will mention a word of this to anyone. Alastair is hidin’ in the secret garden and is wounded. We will tell no one. Do ye all understand?”
“Fia, have you lost your mind?” Maira raised her sword in the air and waved it around. “He is the enemy, or did you forget that?”
“I dinna believe he is like the rest of his clan,” said Fia. “After all, he saved my life three years ago. He didna hurt me today either.”
“What do ye plan on doin’ about it?” asked Morag.
“There is nothing we can do,” said Willow. “Lord Beaufort will be scouring the woods now looking for the dead. He might even find the secret garden.”
“Nay. I canna let him find the garden or Alastair.” Fia paced the room.
“You can’t stop him,” said Maira. “Face it, Fia, our days of sneaking off and meeting Imanie in the secret garden are over. Now that she is dead, there is nothing there for us anymore.”
“I guess no’,” said Fia, fingering the heart brooch, wondering how to be strong in this situation. “But we have to make sure Imanie’s body is buried. We at least owe her that for all she’s done for us. I willna let her rot in the sun and be eaten by the animals of the forest.”
“How are ye goin’ to find out if she is buried or no’ if ye are no’ goin’ to tell Lord Beaufort?” asked Morag.
“There’s only one way to ken.”
“Fia, I hope you are not thinking of doing anything foolish.” Maira slid her sword into her scabbard.
“Foolish, nay. Brave, yes.” Fia held her hand over the heart brooch. “Ye are all members of the Followers of the Secret Heart. I am ashamed ye are goin’ to just turn yer heads and look the other way when Imanie needs us now more than ever. We have to do this for her, no matter how frightenin’ it may seem.”
The girls were silent, all holding their hands atop their heart brooches as well.
“What should we do?” asked Willow.
“There is only one thing we can do, but we are goin’ to have to work together to do it without bein’ caught.” Fia walked over to look out the window, devising her plan.
“Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say,” whined Willow.
“We have to go back to the secret garden to make sure Imanie has been buried, and to pay our last respects,” Fia told them. “Now, are ye all in or am I goin’ to do this by myself? And please remember that there is nothin’ ye can do or say to stop me.”
