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“No.” Agnes grinned. “It’s not for the faint of heart, this Scottish legends stuff.”
No, it wasn’t at that. I still wasn’t sure where I landed with it all, but now, watching Sophie, a newcomer to our town, grapple with trying to understand the legends and her role in them, I realized two things.
The first? They were right. It was time for me to accept the truth of the Order of Caledonia and help protect our people, as well as the stone.
And the second?
I wanted Sophie to be the woman I sensed she could be.
Stay and fight, Sophie, I silently urged, not daring to look at her.
Stay and fight.
CHAPTERNINE
sophie
“Soooo, you’re saying there’s a magickal stone that knows the secrets of the universe that has given this Order of people magickal powers to protect it, and when all else fails, it unleashes hell through the form of mythological water horses that terrorize anyone who gets too close to the stone. Is that correct?” I asked, my eyebrows at my hairline.
“Aye, that’s the way of it,” Archie answered. If it had been anyone else, I might have made a joke, but there was something about the steadfastness of Archie’s nature that gave me pause.
“And, as next in line to this Order, I, too, will somehow gain magickal powers?” I continued, enunciating carefully as though I was speaking to someone who was still learning English.
“Yes, from what I can gather,” Agnes said, peering down at the protected documents through reading glasses she’d perched on the end of her nose. “It’s an unusual situation, as there’s more or less been at least a partial Order for years now. This is the first time that no current members of the Order have stepped into their position.”
“There’s more then.” Matthew steepled his fingers in front of his face, his gaze thoughtful. “So why Sophie? Why does she come first?”
“You believe this?” I turned to Matthew, my voice rising, not caring that I was being rude.
“Soph”—Matthew turned to me, an earnest look on his face—“at heart, I’m a student of nature. If I’ve learned anything in all my years of studying history, it is thatanythingis possible. Leaders make unexpected decisions. Brilliant minds discover new mathematics, artists create unimaginable works of staggering beauty, writers weave stories that stand the test of time. All with fewer tools than we have at our disposal now. I’ve learned that if the matter is important enough, whatever that may be, the solution finds a way. In this instance, I’d say that the Stone of Truth is pretty damn important. It’s found a way to protect itself and, while it may not make sense to us in the regular way of things, that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
“Let’s say this is true,” I said, leaning into a debate with Matthew. It was a comfort zone for me, bickering with him over various points on whatever we were currently reading, and the routine of it helped to soothe the tangle of nerves in my chest. “Say the rock is true, the Kelpies are true…how then, does one suddenly just have magick? I can unequivocally tell you that thus far in my life, I have shown no gift for magick. Nada. No matter how many times I twirled three times on my bed and wished for my parents to come home.” Oops, I thought, wincing as I revealed too much about my past for my comfort. Matthew, immediately understanding, jumped in.
“I think that’s what we’re here to learn about. The transfer of magick, I presume? It likely comes down to energy. Magick is a universal energy, therefore it can be passed to anyone else. Energy doesn’t just disappear.”
I blinked at Matthew, my head spinning, as I tried to push all the various parts of this story around in my head like a forklift stacking boxes in a warehouse. I needed to frame this in a way that would make sense to me or I’d never be able to move forward.
Magick is the great equalizer, Sophie. It isn’t reserved for the rich or the powerful. The most humble of beings can hold the mightiest of power in but a spoken word. Never underestimate its power.
Uncle Arthur’s words floated up from the recesses of my brain, and I leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest and closing my eyes as I thought about all the times that Arthur, even more so of recent, had wanted to talk about the myths and legends of Scotland. Particularly, magick. Lottie and I had thought it was his newest thing, as he had a habit of hyper fixating on one area of interest for six months to a year before abandoning it to the next hobby. I suppose, it was more than likely that Uncle Arthur had been undiagnosed for ADHD, but at this point, that made little difference. Arthur had been trying to tell me, in his own convoluted way, that magick existed.
“If…if I am to believe all of this…what happens next? And why me? Why did Arthur take on this castle instead of another member of this Order?”
“We don’t know where the others are. It took us ages to find Arthur.” Agnes and Hilda exchanged a look, and Lachlan stopped his pacing behind me.
“Youfound Arthur?” Lachlan’s voice held a note of danger that pricked the fine hairs at the back of my neck. Should I find this sexy?I really shouldn’t. I liked even-keeled men, not ones that ran to fits of intensity or grumpiness like Lachlan did. “You’re the reason the castle sold?”
“In fairness, I didn’t know he’d buy the castle. But we did need the help…” Hilda trailed off as Lachlan marched to the fireplace and gently deposited Sir Buster on his bed before turning and storming from the room. I noted that he had been gentle with the dog, and he hadn’t slammed the door on the way out of the library, so the man had some restraint it seemed.
“What’s his deal?” I asked, no longer caring about being polite. These people were asking me to accept magickal powers and fight water beasts, so I think we’d turned the corner on proper etiquette a while ago.
“His bark is worse than his bite,” Archie said, snipping a piece of wire with tiny scissors.
“His mother, like Lachlan, didn’t much believe in what she considered to be nonsense. A lovely woman, but fiercely pragmatic, she swam too close to the island one day. She’d never done so before, and perhaps curiosity finally got the best of her, but she drowned that day. The locals believe it to be the Kelpies. Lachlan will only accept that she drowned. Because of this, the entire discussion about the Order of Caledonia is an uphill battle with that one.”
“I saw him. This morning. He was standing on the wall when the…the shrieks…” I turned to Matthew and grabbed his arm. “Did you hear them as well? Early this morning?”
“No, I had my earplugs in.” Matthew’s forehead creased in confusion. “Was there screaming and you didn’t come wake me?”
