CHAPTER 9
The screech of the wiper blades broke through the silence in the car. Payton and Sean stared into the night through the
fogged-up windshield. Their soaking-wet clothes clung to their bodies and left wet patches on the car seats. The rain
was relentless. Hours ago the clouds had opened the floodgates and transformed the small cemetery into a muddy boneyard.
Once the brothers had noticed Samantha’s disappearance, they immediately started looking for her, combing every square
inch of the place but to no avail. She had disappeared into the fog like a ghost, leaving no trace. They didn’t give
up, even in the heavy rain. When night fell, they finally admitted that their search had been unsuccessful. Still, they
couldn’t bring themselves to return to the castle—they wanted to be here in case Sam reappeared.
With every passing hour, Payton grew more desperate. What if she was dead? Neither of them wanted to voice that thought.
Was it even possible that Sam had found the portal of time and had traveled somewhere into the past? It seemed much more
likely that the druid’s magic spell had killed her, and that neither Payton nor Sean would ever see her again.
“What are we going to do now?” Sean finally spoke.
Payton’s expressionless face was his reply.
Sean wasn’t surprised that Payton would once again blame himself for everything. Payton was obviously cursing himself
for not having protected Sam. His younger brother had not uttered a single word since noticing her disappearance. But
Sean also discerned that Payton had given his all and could take no more. Nathaira’s curse was stronger than Sean had
thought.
When Payton showed no reaction even as his cell phone vibrated with an incoming call, Sean grabbed it and answered.
“Hello?”
“Yes, this is Payton McLean,” he lied, and listened to the caller.
“Uh-huh…yes, I see. That is impossible. I’m afraid I’m no longer in the States.…I understand. Thank you for
calling. Yes, I hope you’re wrong about that. Thank you.”
Feeling utterly defeated, Sean hung up and stared at the rain running down the windshield.
“Who was that?”
Sean was glad they were side-by-side in the car. He didn’t think he could give his brother the bad news while looking
him in the eyes.
“That was Dr. Lippert from the hospital in Milford, Delaware.”
“So? What did he want?”
Sean fidgeted in his seat.
“He wanted to examine you. Double-check some numbers. Said there was something wrong with your blood work.”
“Pog mo thon! I’m not going anywhere. Plus, nobody needs to tell me there’s something wrong with me. I know that
already!”
Sean finally turned to his brother, and when their eyes met he couldn’t keep the truth from him any longer.
“He gives you a month. At most.”
Payton blinked. Then he nodded and opened the driver’s door. Before Sean could say anything, Payton had exited the car.
Sean knew immediately where Payton would want to spend the next few weeks. Sean also knew he wouldn’t be able to stop
Payton from spending his final days in the presence of his beloved Sam.
Sean flinched when the phone rang again. He was relieved to hear Blair’s voice on the other end.
“It’s a good thing you called. I’m afraid we need you here. Payton is in really bad shape. I just talked with the
doctor, and he confirmed our worst fears. It seems Payton is suffering from a mystery illness that nobody’s ever seen
before.”
“A Dhia, thois cpbhair! I can’t believe it! I’ll be glad to be with you again. How is Payton taking it?” the eldest
brother asked anxiously.
“He seems to have accepted his fate, but something else is killing him right now,” Sean explained.
“What could be worse than that?”
Sean took a deep breath. He couldn’t tell Blair over the phone what had happened to Sam. Sam’s fate was hard enough to
accept even if you had experienced it firsthand. So he tried to be vague.
“I’ll tell you when you get here. When are you coming?”
“The sentencing hearing was yesterday. Neither Cathal nor Alasdair has to go to prison for kidnapping Ashley. But they
’ve been sentenced to leaving the country right away. That’s why I’m calling. We’ll be on the plane in an hour. I’m
taking Cathal to Galthair, and then I’ll come meet you as quickly as I can.”
“I don’t understand how you can stick with him,” Sean replied, stunned. “He’s the reason that Nathaira murdered our
brother!”
“Cathal has been my good friend since we were little. He has not gotten over his own sister being a cold-blooded
killer. And I have forgiven Nathaira with all of my heart. After everything she told us at the motel, it’s a miracle
she managed to hide her hatred and insanity for so long. At the mercy of a stepmother as a child, only to find out that
her real mother was a witch. As for her father…a brutal tyrant.” Blair paused for a moment. “It hasn’t always been
easy for us, Sean, but I would not want to trade places with her. She’s a victim, too.”
Sean snorted with contempt.
“Bah! Even if there was a grain of truth to any of this, I’d advise you not to talk to Payton this way. Maybe she was
a victim, maybe she wasn’t—but the fact is that her hatred is killing him slowly and in the most painful way.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. Sean knew that Blair was stuck in an emotional quandary. He had always
adored Nathaira.
“She made us all suffer. The fact that she blamed Cathal for everything, that she did it all for him, is too much for
him. Of course he wanted to lead the clan. After all, he was the firstborn and destined to do it. But he would never
have approved for one of us to die just so he could be clan chief,” Blair said quietly.
Sean shook his head at Blair’s ignorance, but he didn’t feel like engaging in a long, complicated discussion right
now.
“Listen, I have to get to the gate. I know where you are. I’ll join you as quickly as I can. In the meantime, please
look after our little brother, aye?”
“Sure.”
Sean hung up the phone and stared at the display for a long time.
Soon Blair, Cathal, and Alasdair would be back in Scotland. But none of them would really be going home. Because
everything had changed. They had changed.