Page 93 of Wild Scottish Rose

The sound of clapping startled me.

Thank God I wasn’t still holding my glass of whisky, or it would be shattered on the ground. My mouth dropped open as the gnome walked around the side of the patio, clapping his hands.

“Well done, sir. It’s about bloody time.”

“What the fu?—”

“Fern. What thefernis what we say here.” The gnome scowled at me, crossing his arms over his leather biker vest, his kilt shifting in the wind. Eugene skidded around the corner of the cottage, tumbling into the gnome, and he sighed, helping to right the hedgie.

“Are you real? Is this really happening?” I asked. Eugene danced over to me and put his little paws on my foot, and I pulled him onto my lap. He felt real.

“Aye, lad, it’s all real. Just needed you to open your eyes. Like you just did with your mum. Well done.” The gnome clapped again. “Sounds like she had it coming to her.”

“You heard that?”

“Aye, lad. She’s a difficult one, isn’t she?”

“The worst,” I said faintly, my heart pounding in my chest. “Gnorman, right?”

“That’s right.” Gnorman beamed at me. “You’re catching on now, lad.”

“It’s been you all along. Shona didn’t buy twenty gnome statues and put them all over the yard, did she? It’s just been you. Alive. Being here. A real gnome. Wandering the garden of his own accord.” Reaching down, I picked up my whisky and downed it in one gulp.And now, I’mtalking to a gnome. You’ve lost it, Williams.“What the hell is going on in this town?”

“Och, you’d know the answer to that if you stopped trying to put us in your movies and you started talking to the wee lass, wouldn’t you?”

“Thisisabout the movie, isn’t it?” I hung my head, absentmindedly scratching Eugene’s belly.

“I mean,Iwouldn’t mind being in a movie.” Gnorman flexed his arms, admiring his muscles. “I’m practically a star as it is. But not everyone is as open as I am. Magick isn’t for everyone, Owen.”

“Magick,” I said, faintly. “That’s what Shona is, isn’t she? She’s not real.”

“Och, lad, listen to yourself. Of course, she’s real. She’s just a wee garden witch. Cut the lass a break, would you? She only just discovered her power a few weeks ago. She’s figuring it out.”

“A garden witch.” That explained the instant hedge she’d grown on the island. “And you’re her gnome?”

“I like to think it’s the other way around. She’s my witch.”

“And you’re all out here living your magickal lives while the Kelpies wreak havoc on Loren Brae. Got it.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “How come Shona just found out about her powers? Wouldn’t that be something she learned at an early age?”

“They manifest when they’re needed. She’s needed now. All of them are being called.”

“All of whom?”

“The members of the Order. They’re needed to banish the Kelpies.”

Banish Kelpies…right.Members of the Order.

Wait…what had Sophie said from the boat?

“As first Knight of the Order of Caledonia, I command you to stand down!”And when she said that, they had. The Kelpies had stood down. But Shona needs to fight them? But?—

“She has to fight the Kelpies again?” At that, trepidation filled me. I was mad at Shona, but I still loved her.

“Why do you care?” Gnorman raised an eyebrow at me.

“Come on, G. Help me out.”

“She might, we don’t know yet. She’s still coming into her own, figuring out her power. Can you blame her for not immediately sharing it with the stranger renting her cottage?”

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