Page 72 of Rise of the Melody
When we got to the hospital minutes before visiting hours ended, a stricter nurse was on duty. She would only allow two of us to go back and told us to make it quick.
Ms. Barclay and I went while the others, including Mairi now, stayed in the waiting room. Part of me was expecting Aunt Lorna to be sitting up in bed when we walked in. It hurt my heart to see her still lying there looking so lifeless. We approached on either side, and Ms. Barclay took a moment to look her over, shaking her head in pity.
“Who got into your head, Lorna? Let’s have a look….” She leaned across the bed to take my aunt’s head into her small hands. I held back the urge to tell her to be careful, because obviously she would be. But my nerves were shot.
It was taking much longer than it had when she looked into Chrystamos’s mind. Mrs. Barclay’s eyes pinched closed and she looked like it was hurting her. I held my breath as I watched, each second making me feel weaker.
And then Ms. Barclay gasped, her hands flying away from Aunt Lorna. She pulled her arms into her chest and coughed hard, stepping away from the bed, blinking back a look of terror.
“Ms. Barclay! Are you okay? What is it?”
It took her a moment to calm enough to answer.
“I’ve never felt such dark magic. Old…ancient. It felt like decay in my throat.” She touched a hand to her neck and I tried not to recoil as I looked down at my sweet aunt.
“Who could it be?” My voice trembled. “Mayor MacCray?”
“Goodness, no. Much older. Older than me, even.”
Ms. Barclay and I locked eyes, both of us questioning silently. Who had covered her memories of that night? And why?
“Who on this island is that old?” I asked, but she only shook her head.
“There are only a handful of mystics alive who are old enough to leave that sort of signature, and none of them reside here. No.” She was quiet a moment before looking at me again, a fierceness in her eyes. “You must be careful, child. You can’t go digging around. That power? It can only be one of the Synod.”
The Synod. Those nameless, faceless druids and nix that ruled over mystics with iron fists. My stomach was in knots thinking about one of them hurting my aunt.
“Are they all in Scotland?” I asked.
She gave a small nod.
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked her. “Just let someone get away with this? Someone must have done something horrible that night, and my mom is the one being blamed for it.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I’ve always known there had to be something more to the disappearances. If someone from the Synod was on Wee Skye that night…it couldn’t have been for a good reason.”
I looked down at my cuff. It suddenly felt like a shackle. I’d never be able to protect myself if one of them came for me. I was alone. Aunt Lorna couldn’t protect me.
“I can take it off you,” Ms. Barclay offered.
I clenched my teeth against the urge to say yes. The mayor’s threats echoed in the back of my mind.
“He doesn’t trust me at all.” I didn’t need to clarify who ‘he’ was. “But the thing is, if he was there with my aunt, then he knows.”
“Unless his memories were blocked as well,” she pointed out.
I shook my head. “I’ve never seen him get the headaches like my aunt always did when she thought about it.”
Ms. Barclay was quiet in thought. “Perhaps because your aunt has always questioned it and dug a little deeper, while Bryant does not. Very dangerous territory.” Her eyes met mine. “Promise me you will not say or do anything foolish with this information. Speak of it to no one.”
“Okay…but are we going to just stay silent forever?”
She gave me a look of wisdom. “Not forever, though it may feel long to a young mystic. We must plan perfectly or we’ll both end up dead.”
I stared at Aunt Lorna. I wanted immediate justice. I wanted to take the next flight to Scotland and sing the truth out of every ancient there. And then I would send them face first into the nearest body of wa—Ms. Barclay’s chuckle snapped me out of my murderous thoughts, and I flushed. Gods, I truly had a weapon inside of me.
“I see it on your face,” she said.
“I won’t do anything,” I assured her.
