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“Aye, the best.”
“I give up,” Paige sighed, setting the candle aside to grab her sleeping bag and flashlight. “I don’t understand, and I’m too tired to play word games. You can explain later.” She got up and rolled her bag out over the same spot the camper had lain. What would it hurt to pretend whoever stayed here, was Austin? Maybe it would help her get some actual sleep tonight. Last night was a complete bust. She’d been so aware of Taran’s every breath, she’d barely slept at all.
Kneeling on her bag, she smoothed out the edges, intending to spread out as much as possible, despite her mummy bag. That should do it, she thought, lying down to make sure nothing bunched or poked beneath her. But something did. Reaching beneath the edge of the bag, she pulled out a small chunk of granite. It had been worked somehow, leaving a fat end for grasping and a finer, pointed end for some other purpose she couldn’t imagine. Something the camper left behind, perhaps. Tossing it aside, she tried the bag again and found it perfect. After supper, she’d crawl inside and sleep like a baby. No wind. No noise. No Highlander a whisper away.
With her flashlight in hand, she rolled onto her side, facing the wall. Yes, this would work. She’d be free to…
The flashlight beam swept past something on the wall, about shoulder height. Raising onto an elbow, she pointed the light at the spot and leaned closer. And closer still.
She couldn’t tear her eyes from the marks crudely scratched into the stone wall.
Her breath left her chest in one huge heaving motion. But she couldn’t seem to draw any back in. “Tar… Tar-an,” she barely managed.
Halting, painful gasps clogged her throat as a crushing weight tightened her chest. The flashlight beam quivered over the awful image but still, she couldn’t look away. She shivered, knowing she’d just held the tool that made those awful marks.
It couldn’t be real.Hallucination –her shocked brain tried to tell her. Something conjured from this black hell-cave.
“Paige,” Taran cried, instantly beside her. He pulled her to him, desperately scanning her face. “What’s wrong? Why are you—”
“I… I ca… I can’t breathe,” she panted, grasping at him.
“What happened?” Shifting her to his lap, he gently rocked her as her lungs finally filled and she sobbed uncontrollably into his chest.
“Are ye hurt, love?” His voice was urgent, panicked. “Tell me what happened.”
He sounded so desperate, but she couldn’t get past the suffocating pain inside her to form the words.
Pushing her away from him, he tried to examine her. “Paige, are ye in pain?” he demanded. “Did something bite ye? Cut ye? Did ye see somethin’ that upset ye? Was it the dirk?” he asked, incredulously.
Still clinging to him, she shook her head and managed to raise her hand to point at the cave wall. “Th…there.”
Easing her off his lap, he pried her clutched fingers from his tartan. “ ’Twill be okay,” he muttered as he pulled away, but she knew better. Nothing would ever be okay, again.
Hugging her arms to her waist, she watched Taran scoop up her flashlight and scan the wall where she’d pointed. Even through her hitched breaths, she heard his sharp inhale.
No trick of the light, then, she shuddered. No hallucination. Nothing but cold, raw reality. Just as she’d done, he leaned in to study the letters that had been laboriously scratched into the hard surface.
A &PF.
But this time, theAstood apart, clearly and deeply circled. And over the remaining&PF, a big boldXnearly wiped them out. The task must have taken long determined hours in such hard stone. A clear confirmation that Austin had cut her from his life. There would be noforeverfor them.
Why?She mashed her lips into a tight line to keep the painful wail from bursting from her lungs.
Suddenly, she was on her feet, striding to the center of the cave for her backpack, to gather loose items and jam them back inside.
“What are ye doin’?” Taran asked, rushing to her. He tried to put an arm around her, but she shook him off. Keeping her eyes averted from the wall, she went back to snatch her sleeping bag, wad it haphazardly and cram it atop her pack.
“Paige!” Taran shook her shoulders and tried to get her to look at him. “What are ye doin’?”he demanded.
“Leaving,” she ground out. “I’m not going to spend another minute in this evil place.” It had to be evil, she groused, yanking on a strap that wouldn’t close over her burgeoning bag.Scotland’s enchantment, her weary backside!If there was any magic here, it was as black as this pit. “Stay, if you want, but I’m leaving.”
“Slow down, Paige. If ye want tae leave, fine. But where ye go, I go.” Taran scrambled to get his scattered gear stowed inside his pack.
She already had hers on. She flicked on her flashlight to leave. He could catch up if he wanted.
“Wait!” he growled, snuffing out the candle and shouldering his backpack as she turned to leave.
Wait? She’d waited her entire life for someone else. She was finished with that. If there was aforeverleft in her vocabulary, it was that she was through waiting—forever!
