Silent Vows (18 page)

“Why don’t the Ancients take her out once and for all?”

“I don’t think they can.” Tara shifted in her chair. “I’ve never had a vision like Lora, but I do have a gut feeling this family will be her demise.”

Tara’s chin lifted when she talked.

“You banished her from here.”

“Yeah, but not for good. She could be anywhere still working on getting her old powers back.” Tara reached over and took her hand. “You have to be careful when you go home.”

A chill went up Lizzy’s arm. “Don’t worry about me. I always land on my feet. You know that.”

“It’s not where you’re landing that concerns me.

It’s where she landed that has me thinking.”

****

“I love you,” Tara cried with her final hug to Lizzy.

“Have a wonderful life, Tara. Not a day will go by that I don’t think of you.”

Simon handed Cian his Gameboy. “Here, I can 152

Silent Vows

get another one.”

Myra stood back and watched as Fin readied their belongings to leave. He dressed in clothes she and Lizzy had brought back with them, twenty-first century clothes that would allow Fin to fit in. The jeans reminded her of Todd. Would he be waiting in the woods for them? Would he be sorry she didn’t return? Her staying was for the best. If she went, she might never return to her family again. Either way the outcome would leave her empty.

Amber walked over, linked their fingers together. “All is going to be fine.”

Myra smiled at her sister. “I know.”

Amber gave her a knowing smile.

The four sisters held hands for a brief moment and chanted a rhyme. They asked the Ancients for the knowledge of the others’ safety.

With final goodbyes said, Myra stood back and watched them go.

When the stones hummed and lit the ring, the vortex swallowed the travelers whole. Myra couldn’t help but feel disappointed that the Ancients willed Lizzy and her son to return.

“I’m going to miss her,” Tara sobbed in Duncan’s arms.

“We all will,” Lora stated.

Myra caught Amber out of the corner of her eye and found her behavior odd. Amber picked up a cat at her feet, smiled and walked back to where the horses stood waiting to take the family back to the Keep.

153

Catherine Bybee

A constant pounding on Todd’s door woke him up. He jumped out of bed, pulled on his shorts and yelled at whomever it was to hold their damn horses.

The door hit the wall with a crash. All Todd saw before a fist connected with his jaw was the blurry face of a bearded man. The punch threw him back three feet, another punch hit his right eye and had him landing on the floor.

“Get up!” the man yelled in a Scottish accent.

Todd was on his feet in a split second with his hands in front of him, ready for the assault.

Liz rushed into the house at a full run. “What the hell are you doing?” Todd’s lip was split and bleeding, his eye already swelling. She placed herself between them and turned. “Stop it.”

“Get out of the way, lass. This doesn’t concern you.”

“The hell it doesn’t, Fin MacCoinnich. I brought you here, and I will not be a part of any fighting.”

“Then move aside.” Fin’s eyes never left Todd’s.

Todd looked at Myra’s brother, wanting nothing better than to give him a taste of his own blood. It’s a hell of a thing waking up with someone else’s fist in your mouth. He realized then that this was Fin’s twisted way of protecting his sister.

Todd wiped the blood with the back of his hand, looked at it then said, “Cheap shot, MacCoinnich.”

154

Silent Vows

Fin straightened his spine, lowered his hands slightly. “The next one will be even.”

“What is wrong with you?” Liz pushed Fin’s chest, which didn’t move even an inch. “You said you wanted to thank him, not beat him up.”

“I lied.”

Todd snickered. Like sister like brother. He lowered his fists as the tension passed.

“I’d like some coffee before we go another round.” Todd walked beyond the two of them and into his kitchen.

Todd splashed water on his face and winced at the sting behind Fin’s punch.

Now what?

He started a pot of coffee, went back into the laundry room, and tossed on a t-shirt and jeans. By the time he ran a comb through his hair, he was able to fill a half a cup of coffee before Lizzy’s heated words rose over the percolating pot.

“Why don’t you just take your damn stones and go?” Good idea, he thought.

“I’ll go when I’m ready, love, and not a moment before.”

Todd wiped his hand across his mouth and moved back toward the room.

“Well you had just better get good and ready, because you’re not staying with me! And after this, I don’t think Todd’s going to want your company.”

“She has a point,” Todd said when he sauntered into the room.

Fin stood, only to be pulled back down by Liz.

“Knock it off.”

“We’re not done,” he spat out.

“We are for now. What did you plan on doing?

Drag me back to the sixteenth century to make an honest woman of Myra?”

Fin glared at him. “The thought did cross my 155

Catherine Bybee

mind.”

“Is that what Myra told you to do?”

“Nay, Myra only weeps day in and day out. She would never demand the hand of the man who ruined her.”

That stung. He lowered his stance. “What your sister and I shared was mutual, MacCoinnich, she knew what she was doing.”

“That is where you are wrong. She was too innocent to be sent here alone. Now she will spend her life paying for it. Unless she is forced to this time to pay for her mistake.”

Shouldn’t they have thought of that before sending Myra? “Didn’t your precious Ancients tell your family to send her here?”

“Aye. To keep her from Grainna.”

Todd sat his cup on the table and looked Fin straight in the eye. “Then it would be best you keep her away, because Grainna is back.”

****

He wanted desperately to tell his best friend Tanner all about his trip. Of course, he couldn’t do that, or he might end up in some type of crazy house with a bunch of weirdoes.

Instead, he told him he went to Scotland and stayed in a sixteenth century castle, leaving out the part about it being
in
the sixteenth century.

Ohhh, and the part about starting a fire without a match ate at him, too. Again, the thought of some padded cell came to mind, and Simon kept his secrets to himself.

Mr. Price went on and on about the importance of Algebra and the need to study in order to get a good grade on the upcoming test. Simon rolled his eyes before shutting them.

He fingered the blade Cian had given to him, hidden in his jacket. That too could land him in some 156

Silent Vows

type of cell for bringing it to school. He touched it instead of showing it and tried to listen to his boring teacher.

His mind opened when he started to relax, and all at once, he heard the thoughts of his teacher.

Damn kids aren’t listening to a thing. They’re still on
vacation. I might as well be talking to the moon.

Simon sat up and shook his head. As soon as the thoughts went in, they left. All he heard was the singsong voice of Price talking about solving for X.

Cian told him to expect a few surprises now that he was open to them. He didn’t say they would come so soon.

The bus let him off a block from his apartment.

He pulled out his key knowing his mom wasn’t going to be home for another hour. Only this year, she started leaving him home for that hour without a babysitter. Every time he let himself into their place, he felt a little more grown-up.

He put the key in the lock and turned the handle. To his surprise it didn’t click, indicating the door wasn’t locked.
Maybe Mom left Fin here.

“Mom, Fin, I’m home.” He dumped his backpack on the couch.

A noise from his mom’s room had him heading in that direction. He peeked around the corner calling for her even louder.

The room was in shambles, blankets torn from the bed, the mattress tossed off to the side. Every drawer lay opened and tossed to the floor. His mom’s clothes were thrown everywhere.

The hair on the back of his neck started to crawl, and for the first time since he was five, he thought of the bogyman.

His breath came in gasps as he slowly stepped back and out of the room. Once clear of the door, he pivoted and ran straight into the chest of a man he didn’t know.

157

Catherine Bybee

A hand stopped him from screaming out. “Now, Simon, we wouldn’t want that.”

Simon froze in place, eyes wide with panic. The last thing he remembered before darkness engulfed him was the stranger holding one of the sacred stones and bringing it down on his head.

****

“Yeah.” Todd answered Liz’s question. “Creepy.”

“How so?”

“It’s hard to describe. She looked through you, at the inside.” Todd remembered his coughing fit and shook off a wave of cold that threatened to settle in like a bad winter storm.

“What else happened?” Fin watched when Todd’s face came up.

“Nothing. I choked on something and had to leave.”

“Choked? What were you eating?” Liz asked.

“I wasn’t eating anything. I just started coughing. Couldn’t catch my breath.”

“Grainna.” Fin crossed to the mantel, lifted the sword. “It was she who caught your breath, just like she did to Duncan’s and Tara’s before they sent her back.”

“Why would she bother with me?” Todd didn’t like how Fin tested the weight of the sword or how he looked at him while he held it.

“She probably read you and knows you took away her chance of breaking her curse with Myra.”

“If that’s true, than why not just let me choke to death?”

“Because that’s not how she operates. She likes to play with her prey, and make them suffer at her hand. Her specialty is killing lovers in front of each other.”

“Sick.” Liz turned pale. “With Myra gone she has no use for Todd and nothing to gain by his 158

Silent Vows

death, right?”

“Since he is not a Druid, she can gain nothing from him, but she can from you.” Fin put the weapon back where he found it.

“I’m no virgin, Finlay.”

“But you are Druid, and she has found some strength and powers in shedding Druid blood.” Fin’s eyes grew distant before shaking his head and continuing. “She would like nothing better than to take your life or that of any one of us.”

Todd noticed Liz shiver.

“I’ve got to get home. Simon should be...” She looked up, and her face lost all color. “Simon!”

Panicked, Liz jumped to her feet and ran for the door.

Fin and Todd followed. “Wait.”

“Oh, God. I’ve got to get home. Simon is there all alone.”

Todd watched as Fin stepped between her and the car. “Wait. We don’t know if he is in danger.”

“Call him.” Todd suggested.

Liz took a deep breath. “Yeah, good idea.” She started back to the house to make the call.

Todd took the opportunity to talk to Fin alone.

“Someone was watching us, Myra and I, before she left. We thought it was best she stay here to keep Liz and Simon away from any danger.”

“Do you think it was Grainna?”

“No. Whoever it was, was much younger, able to leap a fence, and run like hell.”

“Then one of her men. Chances are he knew about Liz and Simon.”

Todd and Fin exchanged looks. “I’ll get my gun.”

Todd dashed inside, grabbed his nine-millimeter and his back-up Glock with extra clips. He saw Liz run back outside. On impulse, he pulled his sword off the mantel.

“We’ll take my car,” he yelled when he opened 159

Catherine Bybee

the door. Liz jumped in the back seat and Todd tossed Fin his blade. “I’d probably just hurt myself with it anyway.”

The white-knuckle drive to Liz’s apartment was silent. Todd took little notice of traffic laws even without a siren and lights.

Liz jolted out of the car the second it was in park.

“Liz, stop,” Todd yelled. “Stay behind us.”

They approached the door with caution. Todd’s heartbeat did a rapid tattoo when he noticed the door was slightly open.
This doesn’t look good.
It felt even worse. He motioned for Fin to stay low, and Liz to stay out.

Todd put his fingers in the air and counted down from three. He hit the door hard, crashing it behind him in his wake. Quickly, Todd swiveled in a circle and kept behind the couch for safety.

Fin rushed in behind him, ready for battle with his own weapon.

The search of the small apartment was quick.

It was also empty.

Liz ran to Simon’s backpack, clutching it to her chest, her eyes wide with panic.

Fin caught Todd’s eyes and stared at the floor.

There, almost directly under his feet, was what appeared to be blood drying on the carpet.

Carefully, Todd sat next to Liz and tossed one of the pillows over the spot to keep it from her sight.

“Where is he? Where is my son?” Tears welled behind her eyes as she rocked back and forth. “What has she done to him?”

Todd pulled in his years of police work and tried to give her hope. “She needs something from him, or she wouldn’t have taken him.”

Liz looked at Fin for answers. “Will she hurt him?” They all knew the answer to that, and Fin’s expression only confirmed it. “Oh, God!”

160

Silent Vows

“Look for a note.” Todd stood and started searching the room.

With something to do, they all started searching. Fin noticed the stones were missing.

When he told the others, Liz asked, “Can she control them?”

“I do not know. They call to a higher power, and she may find them useless.”

Fin needed to work on his game face, Todd thought. He lied almost as poorly as Myra.

“They could be anywhere. Any time.” Liz ran her shaky fingers through her hair. “Oh, God.”