Speechless, Lizzy sat.
“My mother has visions, visions the Ancients use to communicate with our family. Shortly after Duncan and Tara married, her vision warned us about my safety.”
“So your family sent you here, away from the danger.” Lizzy’s words were more a statement than a question.
“Aye.” Myra swallowed hard. “I believe Grainna managed to escape back to my time and is there now searching for a virgin.”
“And since Tara is married, she no longer fits the bill.”
“Fits the bill?”
“Sorry, I mean Grainna can’t break her curse by killing Tara.”
“Exactly. My family sent me because—“
“You’re still a Druid virgin,” Lizzy finished for her. She stood and started to pace.
“Aye.”
“This is really hard to swallow. I mean believe,”
she said after catching Myra’s eye.
“I understand your hesitation, but I swear all I say is the truth. Tara’s letter should offer some measure of proof.”
“So, what is it you want from me?”
Myra cast her eyes to her hands resting in her lap. “I need shelter while I’m here. I welcomed Todd’s generosity, but feel as if I’m overstaying my welcome.”
Lizzy swept a trembling hand over her face. “I have a son to consider.”
“Simon. Tara told me of him.”
“Then she must have explained my need to keep him safe.”
Myra stood and stepped closer, grasping Lizzy’s hand. “Please don’t worry yourself. I’ve delivered a wagon-load of information for you to absorb. Think of what I’ve told you, what I’ve said. Todd will not leave me on the street.”
“Okay. Damn this is crazy. You believe I’m a Druid? As well as Simon and Tara?”
“I know you are.”
“I can’t move objects with my mind.”
“All our gifts are unique, different to each of us.
Surely, you must have noticed some extra sense. A calmness or knowing something without being told?”
“Not me. Simon maybe,” Lizzy’s voice trailed off in thought.
“Tell me.”
She sat back down and stared in the distance.
“Simon said from the beginning that Tara was alive.
When Cassy realized Tara wasn’t coming home, Simon stared us both in the eye and said, ‘A visitor would come and tell us where she is.’ Holy shit, that’s you.”
“I look forward to meeting your son.”
“Yeah, well, not today.” Lizzy stood, dusted her hands on her pants, and took in a deep breath before pushing it out. “I need to think about all of this.”
“I understand.” The sting of rejection held tight in Myra’s chest. She shouldn’t have expected Lizzy to run to her with open arms.
Accessory after the fact. At the very least, that was what he was if Tara McAllister was a kidnap victim. Even if she wasn’t, he was keeping vital information from his superiors on an open missing person’s case. He didn’t even want to think of the candlesticks, which were at this very moment undergoing an appraisal. They may well be stolen, and then what would happen to his career?
How had Myra come into the country? She had no passport, no identification. Her name didn’t come up on any database in the States or Scotland.
He added harboring an illegal alien to his list of crimes.
With his head in his hands, Todd closed his blurry eyes.
The sound of a video hitting his desk brought his attention to his partner. “What’s this?”
“This.” Jake added five more to the pile. “Is our evening’s entertainment. The executives from Magicland sent them over. They’re surveillance tapes of the night and morning our Jane Doe washed up on Atlantis Island.” Jake laughed at his own joke.
“Why so many of them?”
“They show the entire day before she showed up.
Their security couldn’t find her on any of the tapes, except right before she was found.”
“So, they want us to see if we can spot her?”
“And anyone she might have come in with. Very few people go to Magicland by themselves.”
“Why are they pursuing this? She isn’t trying to sue them.”
“A lawsuit is always possible. Nobody wants to miss anything in case Jane Doe comes back to haunt them.”
With his finger on the fast forward button, Todd and Jake watched the first two tapes, both pointed toward the island from different angles. Once the sun went down, it was increasingly difficult to see who left the island. They stopped allowing people on the island at dusk, and neither Todd nor Jake saw even a glimpse of Myra.
Chapter Seven
Later that night, from the window in Todd’s living room, Myra enjoyed the twinkling lights people hung on their houses to celebrate Christmas.
The effect was magical, and something she’d never forget.
The lights of Todd’s car shined through the window when he turned into the drive. She stood there in the dark, waiting.
She heard him come in, and knew he hovered watching her.
“Why are you standing in the dark?”
She almost flicked her wrist to light a fire in his hearth, but stopped. Probably not the best way to show him about my abilities. Not the right time.
“The lights outside are so beautiful. It seemed a shame to dilute them.”
He came to her, cautious. “Would you like to see the rest of the lights? There are more up the street.”
“I would enjoy that.”
He helped her into one of his coats and locked the door behind them.
The night was brisk, but not bone chilling. Such a contrast from her home at this time of year.
The lights sparkled from almost every home, filling her with joy, making her forget her problems.
It was Christmas time. The first she would spend away from her family, and she hoped it would be the last. “Why don’t you put up lights?”
“Christmas isn’t my time of year.”
“How is that possible? Isn’t Christmas for everyone? Even in this day?”
Todd sent her a puzzled look. “Not everyone has the same feeling about this time of year.”
“But it is a time for hope, love.”
Todd gazed at the waving Santa sitting in front of a pile of cotton designed to look like snow. “My Dad...” He sighed. “My Dad was killed in the line of duty three days before Christmas. I was seventeen at the time. Shortly after, my Mom got sick. I didn’t know a broken heart could kill, but she was gone within three months of his funeral.”