CHAPTER 9
I was not happy. I hadn’t seen Payton for several days, but my thoughts were constantly circling around him, like the seagulls we’d seen at the beach. That night had been incredible. Payton hadn’t tried anything, but I could tell he liked me from the way he’d looked at me. We talked for ages, and later, after it got dark, we lay next to each other on the blanket and looked up at the stars. Even when we were silent, we seemed to get along.
At one point in the middle of the night, I woke up to find Payton watching me. He smiled when he realized that I was watching him right back. Bravely, I had reached out for his hand. He stopped short, but after a second, he squeezed my hand, and held it the rest of the night.
And then, nothing.
To be fair, I had been the one to say I’d let him know when we could get together next. But deep down, I’d hoped he wouldn’t wait for me to call. It was impossible to concentrate on my report for school when I didn’t know how, when, or even if things would proceed with Payton. My head told my heart—unsuccessfully—to calm down and forget about the Scot. After all, I’d be returning to Milford in a few weeks and I’d never see him again.
I put down my pen and went to find to Alison. She was washing the dinner dishes.
“Hey, Alison. Do you think I could take the bus to Inverness tomorrow? I want to get a souvenir for my friend, Kim. And… I’m kind of embarrassed to say… but I’ve really been craving a Big Mac.”
Alison laughed. “And I thought you liked my cooking! Of course you can go to Inverness. If you want, I can drive you.”
That was exactly what I didn’t want.
“Nah, I can take the bus. You have enough to do as it is. But thanks for the offer.”
I sauntered back to my room and called Payton’s number. It rang and rang, but he didn’t answer, and I couldn’t help being upset.
I finished my paper, in a funk, and stared dolefully around my room. I switched the radio on and threw myself onto the bed. Maybe I should try again, I thought. But maybe he didn’t answer on purpose. Would he call me back? Did I even get the number right? I grabbed my phone and double-checked the number, and then felt even sadder than before.
The self-doubts kept rolling in: Maybe he didn’t have a good time with me. Maybe he’d expected more. No, he’d been the one holding back. Ryan would have tried all kinds of maneuvers with a cute girl alone at the beach. But Payton was different. Which was exactly why I had fallen for him.
I closed my eyes. Ronan Keating’s song “When You Say Nothing at All” was running through my head. The words described how I felt about Payton perfectly. Even when we didn’t talk, our hearts had a connection.
Yes, that was exactly it. It may sound completely crazy, but the first moment I saw him, my heart leapt in recognition. It knew he was something special. My heart understood everything. And when I had reached out for his hand in the middle of the night, I knew he needed me just as much as I needed him.
I jumped. My cell phone was ringing. I scrambled up and took a few deep breaths.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Sam. I saw that you called, and I called back as soon as I could. Unfortunately, there’s no reception in parts of the Highlands. What are you up to?”
I felt a huge relief. He didn’t have cell-phone coverage!
“Nothing special. I was just hanging out, listening to music, feeling kind of bored.”
The other end of the phone was quiet, and then Payton said in a serious voice, “I would like to ask you my second question now.”
“Which second question?”
“I answered all your questions, and you promised to give me three honest answers in return. Am I going to get my second answer now?”
“Of course. I had completely forgotten about that. What do you want to know?”
“You said you were bored. Is that the only reason you called me?”
He sounded serious; he didn’t seem to be playing with me. I thought about lying, but I had sworn to tell him the truth.
So softly that I almost hoped he wouldn’t hear, I mumbled, “No, that’s not the reason I called. The main thing is, I can’t get you out of my head.”
More silence. Then Payton’s tone of voice changed, and he sounded far more relaxed. “Fine. What do you want to do?”
I was stunned. I had just more or less confessed that I loved him, and his only reaction was “Fine”? You’d think he might have said something like “Yeah, I think about you a lot too,” or “I feel the same way.” Just about anything would have been more romantic than “Fine.”
I tried not to sound hurt. “Whatever. I’m up for anything. We don’t have to meet if you don’t want to.”
I decided that was the last time I’d give him a call. Until what he said next, that is.
“Well, of course, I want to see you,” he said. “I just don’t have time today. And tomorrow during the day I have to meet my brother. There seem to be some problems at home. I will have time tomorrow evening, though.”
“In the evening… OK.” I was glad to hear that he wanted to meet up with me, but disappointed that my McDonald’s ruse might go to waste. “So what do you want to do?”
“Surely you’re not planning to leave Scotland without having been to a pub? How about this—I’ll pick you up at the bus stop around eight.”
A pub wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. I didn’t know what Alison would think about that either. But I told myself it would work out somehow.
“OK. See you tomorrow,” I said.
“Yes, see you tomorrow, mo luaidh.”
Mo luaidh? What did that mean? Payton had said it so tenderly before we hung up. Good thing I was going to Inverness. I wanted to buy a Gaelic dictionary as soon as possible.
That made me think of my grandma’s pendant, and I reached up to my neck. After the night on the beach, my skin had showed clear red marks where the pendant had been. I didn’t think it was an allergy because the burning sensation didn’t last. It was odd, though; it always came on at the most inconvenient of times. Like every time the thought of Payton crossed my mind, or when I tried to get close to him. I still wore the necklace every day. The burning feeling wasn’t as bad as it had been at the beginning—or maybe I’d gotten used to it.
I took it off and cradled it in my hands. Then I picked up the souvenir version, the one I’d bought at the tourist trap. I still couldn’t figure out why a pendant with a Scottish clan’s coat of arms was in Grandma’s attic. And a very old one, at that. An old pendant with strange features, like, oh, burning me at its whim. Maybe I could find out something about it in Inverness.
Ugh, enough thinking for today, I said to myself. I put the antique and the souvenir on my desk and thought about calling Kim. The five-hour time difference made it so tricky to call; I was always either interrupting Kim’s dinner or having to stay up really late. Instead, I threw myself in front of the TV and surfed around until I found a rerun of Mr. Bean.
An hour later, I turned the TV off, put my pajamas on, and slipped under the covers. I fell asleep almost immediately.
I was scared. “You must face your destiny! You cannot run away!” The old woman’s words echoed endlessly in my head.
“What destiny?” I wanted to ask, but the old lady had disappeared.
Sharp gravel was digging into my skin. I was kneeling on the ground and didn’t have the energy to rise. The wind was pulling at me, as if wanting me to move on. But where to? In desperation, I buried my head in my hands and hoped for help.
Then something gently brushed my head. The old woman was standing directly in front of me.
“Who are you?”
I hadn’t asked the question out loud, but I could read the answer in her thoughts: “Vanora.”
“Vanora? But what do you want from me? What’s going on? I’m scared!”
Her hand was resting on my head, as if she were blessing me. And just as before, she answered silently: “‘Face your destiny. Remember those you are a descendant of. Fear not. The pendant will protect you.”
She put the pendant around my neck. It looked new and shiny. The metal was warm, and I immediately felt safe.
The wind died down, and the dark clouds disappeared. And like the clouds, Vanora vanished. Only her voice was still echoing in my head.
The last thing she said was, “Beware of the fall.”
With a start, I sat straight up in bed, feeling terribly afraid. My heart was racing and a layer of sweat covered my skin. I switched on the lamp next to my bed. Seeing the cozy room in the light, peaceful and tidy as usual, helped to push the nightmare to the back of my thoughts.
That stupid pendant was even haunting me in my dreams. I looked for it on the desk, but it wasn’t there; it was around my neck. That was impossible! I was certain I’d taken it off. Then I took a closer look and saw that the pendant had changed. It was no longer old and tarnished. It was shining like new—and the engraved writing was clearly legible. I was starting to freak out when a quiet whisper made its way to my ear. The words sounded strange, but I could understand everything:
“Face your destiny. Fear not.”