Page 12 of Only a Breath Away

He said, “It’s me and Em and Beaty, with all the kids.”

I said, “Damn. Here we go again.”

On our walk down the old stretch of road that led from the field to the lake house, he explained, “We got to Stirling, and some weird shit went down, first there was this fucking… I don’t know how to explain it, like a ghost, we could hear it and—”

“Zach, was Magnus there? Where’s Katie?—”

“Nah man, no Magnus, just this apparition. Then James and Quentin were scouting and Katie was snatched by this big dude and carried away—”

My eyes went wide. “Oh my god, the kids saw it? Are they freaking out?”

“Totally freaking out.ThenJames and Quentin got into a shootout with the guys. I don’t know what happened because I was in the woods, but it sounded like guns, modern guns. A couple minutes later, Quentin ran into the woods, yelling, ‘They got James, too! I’m going to stay and figure out what’s going on!’ He ran on by. Em and I jumped here with Beaty and the kids. This is the spot for meeting up, so yeah, that happened.” He opened the door and let us into Katie’s grandparents’ cabin.

I had been here, years ago, invited by Katie to come for the summer. Every day she and I had played for hours on the dock, jumping into the water, canoeing.

The kids were all on the couch looking dismayed, so I sat in the middle of them. “Man, I missed all of you so much, Aunt Hayley’s been in a hospital for wayward, problematic humans, but now I’m all better.” I hugged them to me. “I amnotgoing to do that again, I am someone you can count on. And, hate to say it, but this is our life, am I right? We have big scary things, plus adventures. I’m so sorry that the big scary thing is so darn scary. But I know one thing, and that is that your mom and dad are coming back.”

Archie put his head back on the couch, the expression on his face looking very much like his father. “How do you know, Aunt Hayley?”

Fraoch said, “I ken because I met ye, when ye were about twenty-two, and ye had known yer father and mother yer whole life. Ye canna argue with it, tis yer fate, it canna change.”

Archie narrowed his eyes. “Is that true, Uncle Fraoch?”

Fraoch shrugged. “Tis, and I’m willin’ tae stake m’reputation on it as the smartest person in the room.”

Zach said, “Hey!”

Fraoch didn’t look over at Zach as he stage-whispered to the kids, “Chef Zach will argue that he is smarter, but daena listen tae him. He canna feed himself without a grocery store.”

Zach laughed. “For that, no dinner.”

“Och, please, I take it back, Chef Zach, I hae been living in the woods, eating in a cafeteria once a day. Ye canna keep food from me, tis nae fair. Also, I was just sayin’ it so Archie would ken I was in earnest, ye are definitely smarter, ye ken how tae cook lasagna.”

Zach said, “And don’t you forget it.”

I asked, “How long will we be here, do you think? As long as we're stuck we ought to make the best of it. I remember that Katie's grandparents had canoes. We ought to pull them out. We can have fun paddling until they get back. Magnus just has to rescue Katie and James and find Quentin and yeah,again, we just need Magnus to figure it out.”

I followed Zach into the kitchen and he opened the fridge to get a snack for Fraoch and me. He said, “Hayley, there was this apparition — it was so real. Weallsaw it, or didn’t see it. There was a horse sniffing around us. A ghost dog was barking.”

I said, “I have no idea, Zach, but in all this time we haven’t had ghosts, it’s not… it just doesn’t make sense. We can’t get bogged down, we just need Magnus to figure this out.”

CHAPTER 16 - KAITLYN

Day was fading and I was freaking out, plus I was very bored. Also hungry.

I lay on the bed, tossing and turning for lack of anything else to do.

A filthy brute of a man entered, and dropped a wooden plate onto the table with a bit of porridge on it, and a hunk of hard bread. Beside it he slammed down a mug with a bit of ale. I was impossibly thirsty and the dry food wasn’t making it any better.

The only thing that kept me from panicking was knowing Magnus was out there, somewhere.

And Quentin knew where we were.

Those two things would mean escape, definitely, probably.

But Magnus was supposed to be here. It was as if I were in the right place at the wrong time. We had set the right numbers into the vessel, I was sure of it, but I ended up in a place that wasn’t therightplace.

Or Magnus was gone.

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