The Curse: Touch of Eternity (The Curse series) (28 page)

The next day started with a big surprise. It was still dark, but the little village was already bustling. There had been another new arrival, and it turned out to be Blair. When he had finally convinced the villagers that he was Payton’s brother, he was led to Douglas’s hut.

“Blair? What are you doing here?” Payton asked when his brother appeared in the doorway.

He made introductions, and all three of them sat down for a quick breakfast. Payton hadn’t forgotten his promise to meet Uisgeliath at dawn.

Blair reported that he’d been sent by Sean, and he handed over the letter Sean had given him.

With each line Payton read, his face turned paler until he set the page down on the table and banged his fist.

Curious, Blair picked up the letter and skimmed over the few lines. “What is this? Why would Cathal do this? He gave us his word!”

“Sean is going to try to stop him,” Payton said. “He writes that he is going to follow Cathal and his crew to the United States. But he doubts that he will be able to prevent what they have planned.”

“Yes, I can read, too. But why didn’t Cathal wait for your return, as he promised?”

“Because he isn’t the one who makes the decisions, it’s Nathaira. I’m sorry, Blair, but it’s true. And she wanted Sam to die right from the start!”

Blair stood and laid his hand on his brother’s shoulder. They both knew that whatever Nathaira wanted, she got.

“Then we mustn’t lose any more time. We will look for your answers and then get in touch with Sean. In the meantime, we have to trust that he’ll find a way to keep your Sam safe. Come on!”

They said a hasty thank-you to Douglas and rushed to Uisgeliath’s hut. She had obviously been expecting both of them, as there were already three steaming mugs of mulled wine on an old oak table. She gestured to the brothers to sit down.

“Last night I questioned my ghosts, and they agreed to accompany you to see Beathas,” she told them. “She is the village’s eldest. Nobody knows how old she really is. She has just always been here.” She took a sip of wine. “You must know by now that our people have many secrets. We have often been hunted, caught, or threatened. That is why our ancestors found it necessary to create a secret place for our history to be safely kept. Beathas is the warden.”

She drained her cup and motioned for the brothers to do the same.

“We should get on our way immediately.”

Uisgeliath wrapped a woolen cloak around her shoulders and led them out of the village. She walked silently in front of them, moving so smoothly she almost seemed to float over the rocky ground. Looking neither left nor right, she seemed to find her way easily. When they reached the coast at the north of the island, Uisgeliath ordered them into a small rowboat. It rocked and lurched and almost sank completely under the weight of the three of them.

Although Uisgeliath seemed so delicate and small, she insisted on rowing. With powerful strokes, she navigated the boat into the current a short way from the coast. Then she pulled in the oars and let the current take over for several minutes.

As if pulled by an invisible hand, the boat steered directly toward a dark spot on the rocky coast. They could see a split in the rocks, a crack that looked narrow from outside but that widened inside to a large and very dark cave, and Uisgeliath took up rowing again. They could hear only the swishing of the water and the echo of the oars dipping, dripping, and dipping again.

Uisgeliath lit a lantern. The light reflected eerily from the damp walls of the cave, creating dancing shadows on the rocks. Again and again, the cave branched out, until it became an underground labyrinth. Payton hoped the white-haired woman knew the depths of the island well. He was close to losing his own sense of direction entirely.

Neither Payton nor Blair had any idea how long they had been traveling through the dark passages, but when the water became shallower and ended in an oval basin, they got out of the boat. They no longer needed the lantern, as a bright light shone before them. They stepped across sparkling turquoise stones into a large templelike dome. Separated rays of sunshine reached the ground through tiny holes in the ceiling.

Uisgeliath stopped.

“Here we are. I will wait at the boat. Beathas is expecting you.”

And, as if on cue, an ancient lady came toward them. Beathas’s skin was white as paper, almost translucent. But
despite her obviously advanced age, she was standing upright and looking them up and down with bright, alert eyes.

“
Latha math
,” she said politely. “Good day. I have been expecting you. Please follow me.”

Beathas went ahead of them. They crossed through the large room and ducked down through a low archway. A library was certainly not something Payton had expected to find in a sea cave, yet there it was. Illuminated by rows of neatly placed candles were countless rows of books and bound papers. A large table, with chairs around it, filled the center of the room. A book was open on the table.

She invited them to sit down and pushed the book to Payton.

“Here is everything that is left of Vanora. It isn’t much, but I think you will find what you are looking for here. I wish you the best of luck.”

Payton started to ask the old woman a question, but she shook her head before he could utter another word.

“I can’t help you. You must find out the truth yourself.”

Then she disappeared through the arched door. The two brothers looked at each other for a moment.

Payton didn’t want to waste any time. He bent over the book with focus, trying to make out the old words. The first pages appeared to be Vanora’s family tree. Then there was something written by her father recounting the day that his daughter was taken from the island together with the other seven girls. He only glanced at this entry. That wasn’t what he needed.

“Somewhere in these papers, there has to be something about the curse,” Payton murmured.

Their courage faded with every page until they came to a collection of old letters, all signed by Vanora. The first letters described her arrival at the castle of her kidnapper and of his hope that she would use her powers as a weapon against his neighbors. She wrote that she certainly did not intend to do as he wished, and she swore she’d never show him how powerful she really was.

In the next letters, she seemed discouraged. She had suffered terrible punishment for claiming to have no powers. And she had heard of a plan to lock her in a tower until she did what the chieftain wanted her to do. Then there were no letters for a very long time. Payton guessed that she didn’t have the chance to write when she was imprisoned in the tower.

When she next wrote, she had given birth—to a daughter, the letter said—but the father had taken the baby for himself and chased Vanora away. She hated the father. Not only had he stolen her child, but he had forced himself on her. In the end, she had found shelter in a neighboring land and still hoped to see her daughter someday. With that, the last letter ended.

Payton’s desperation rose.

“There are only a handful of papers left, and we haven’t found out anything!”

Still, they carefully unfolded another piece of paper. And it was exactly what they had been looking for.

Vanora had written down one of her visions. She had seen the day of her death. To avenge a terrible injustice, she would pronounce a curse upon her enemies. But then she herself would die at the hand of her own daughter. The curse would last for many years, even centuries, until the
injustice was made up for by a selfless sacrifice of love. And her daughter would be the one to lift the curse.

Payton banged his fist on the table.

“Damn! What does this all mean? This can’t be right.”

Blair nodded. “Yes, you are right. The witch was wrong! She cursed us, and it lasted as long as she predicted, but her daughter didn’t have anything to do with it.”

Payton stared at the rows of candles, deep in thought. “It might be useful to know who her daughter was,” he mused.

“It wouldn’t matter. She’s long dead by now and will hardly be able to help us.”

“But if Vanora was right, then her daughter should still be alive, shouldn’t she?”

“Payton, face the truth. She was wrong. We both know who killed Vanora. It was Nathaira, not Vanora’s long-lost daughter.”

“I know. But I just can’t believe all of this was for nothing!”

“I know how difficult it is for you. Nevertheless, we should try to reach Sean. Then we’ll decide how to proceed.”

Payton dug his face in his hands. He couldn’t just swallow his disappointment and move on. He knew there had to be a logical explanation. He wished she had written down who the child’s father was, or even which clan had kept her prisoner for so many years.

The letters had made it clear that she’d found shelter with the Camerons. And she had mentioned finding refuge with one of the neighboring clans. That meant that she had fled from either the McLeans, the McInrees, the Stuarts, or the McDonalds. The only place he could rule out for certain was his own home, if only for the reason that they didn’t
have a tower. And his father had been a peaceful man, who would never have done such terrible things.

He supposed he would have to talk to Cathal again, to see if he had any ideas. After all, the Stuarts’ castle did have a tower dungeon. And they had always had bad relationships with their neighbors. Still, it seemed unlikely, Payton thought. He would have heard something if Cathal’s family had ever caught a Fair Witch.

That left the McInrees and the McDonalds. Maybe Sean would be able to help. At the time of the curse, his brother had an eye on almost all the girls in the land. A witch’s daughter would surely have caught his attention.

Feeling more confused than ever, Payton stood up. The brothers took their leave from Beathas. As they turned to go, the Wise Woman reached for Payton’s hand and whispered, “When you understand the truth, darkness will devour you—but you will be happy.”

The old woman’s strange words fluttered around in Payton’s thoughts on the boat ride back, but he didn’t have much time left for thinking. The brothers had hardly regained solid ground when Blair ran off and found a young fisherman to take them back to the mainland. Then after a disconcerting phone call with Sean, they were on their way to Delaware.

Delaware

J
ust like the Stuarts who had arrived the day before, Sean had to find out Samantha’s address before he could make his way there. No sooner had he arrived than he witnessed Cathal and Alasdair kidnapping a young woman who was a complete stranger to him. He had no idea what they could want from her. Totally confused, he followed them to a motel at the outskirts of the town, where he parked directly next to the van.

He was steaming mad as he stepped up to the three of them, just as they were dragging the girl out of the van.

“What is going on here? Are you crazy?”

They were not at all happy to see him.

Nathaira was particularly unhappy. “Are you spying on us? What in the world?”

She swore loudly at Sean and went for his neck, but Cathal’s thundering voice stopped them in their tracks.

“Quiet! We can discuss everything inside. We need to get the girl off the street before somebody sees us!” He pushed Ashley roughly, and she stumbled forward.

They led her up the metal staircase on the outside of the motel that accessed the rooms on the fourth floor. Ashley had stopped struggling and looked utterly terrified. They
shoved her onto a bed and tied her to a bedpost. Her eyes were wide-open with fear and she was quite pale.

Sean felt the urge to wrap the girl in his arms and comfort her. He also wanted to attack the others, to make them pay for deceiving him and the rest of the clan. But he did neither, knowing that wouldn’t be a smart approach. Instead, he demanded answers. “You need to tell me right now what you are doing!”

Cathal, who desperately wanted to avoid a nasty fight, positioned himself between his nagging sister and the unwelcome new arrival. “Steady now. Everyone sit down. First of all, why are you here?”

Sean knew he needed to keep a clear head to represent Payton properly. So, he did as he was told and sat down. Alasdair and Nathaira reluctantly took a seat, too.

“Payton sent me to keep an eye on Samantha,” Sean lied. “He wants to stop her from doing anything stupid, or doing us any harm without meaning to.”

Cathal seemed to buy that answer, but Nathaira looked skeptical.

“But now, you have some explaining to do,” Sean said. “Have you become criminals who kidnap little girls?”

“Rubbish! We have to find out why the curse is changing, so we need Samantha,” Alasdair explained.

“Have you actually taken a close look at the girl? That isn’t Samantha,” Sean said.

“We know that, you idiot,” Nathaira said. “But she is related to Samantha and therefore is also one of the Camerons.”

Sean turned his attention to the beautiful prisoner. “Is that true? Who are you?”

“I… I… Please… let me go, please… I don’t know why I’m here!” Ashley cried.

Nathaira’s anger boiled over. She slapped Ashley, who was now sobbing, in the face and yelled, “Answer his question or things will only get worse!”