by Kate Keir
Finlay walked me to the sixth door along the landing, stopping outside. “This is going to be your room. We’ll be staying at the castle permanently now that you know who you are.”
“I’m not going to be going to work or college much anymore, am I?” My eyes met his as I spoke, asking him to tell me the truth.
“Not right now. You’ve got tons to learn, and it’ll take time and dedication. Your path in life doesn’t really need college qualifications, Flor.”
I nodded, feeling the first real pang of loss for my “normal” life. It was a little sad and more than a little scary.
Reaching out, Finlay gently touched his fingers to my cheek. “Hey, I’m here, right next to you, Flor. You’re not going to do this alone. I’m gonna be with you every step of the way, okay?”
“Always?” I smiled. If we ever fell out, or if I was feeling down and Finlay was cheering me up, I would ask him, always?
His response would never fail to be the same.
“And forever.” He smiled back, before he headed along the hall to his own bedroom.
I gasped as I pushed open the door. The space inside was everything you would pretty much expect from a room in a castle. It was epic. But I was so tired—emotionally and physically—that after a quick glance at my surroundings, I fell into bed and slept almost right away.
Chapter Four
The next morning, a knock sounded at my door just as I was pulling on my trusty tan boots.
I had found a wardrobe filled with clothes in my size, and after I had showered, I chose a pair of skinny blue jeans and a cream T-shirt to wear. I guessed it would be fine, as it was likely the clothes were supposed to be for me anyway. Pen had been expecting me after all.
I ran to the door, naturally expecting Finlay to be on the other side. Instead, my eyes met the wolfish amber orbs that belonged to Lyall, and my hello stuttered at the back of my throat. This guy turned me into a serious nerd.
“I thought you might like someone to walk you down to breakfast, Flora Bast.” His smile was like sunshine on a baby bunny rabbit, aka adorable.
“You know you can just call me Flora, right?” The formality in his use of my full name didn’t fit with the look of flirtation in his eyes.
“Then, shall we go to breakfast, Flora?” He offered me his arm as he spoke.
“Why not?” I linked my arm with his, and we started toward the stairs.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve met anyone called Lyall before. Does your name have a meaning? Like Artair’s?” We reached the bottom of the stairs and walked toward the noise of dishes and cutlery.
“It does. It means wolf.”
Before I could respond, Finlay materialised next to me and gently but firmly extricated my arm from Lyall’s, wrapping it within his own instead.
“Cheers, Lyall. I can take it from here.” Finlay winked at my dark-haired ex-escort as he steered me into the breakfast room.
I raised my eyebrows at my best friend as we took our seats at a table large enough to comfortably seat myself and all of the Dion. Pen, Mara, and Artair were already eating. Lyall sat at the same time as we did, not looking remotely ruffled by Finlay’s intervention.
Freya was obvious, only by her absence. Pen must have noticed me looking for her and raised her voice over the clatter of plates and the chatter. “Freya was up and out early today, Flora. She had souls to escort to the Endwood.”
“Does she go there by herself?” I was curious; if Freya went to the Endwood, then wouldn’t Sluag kill her and create more Draugur?
“It’s an age-old agreement between us and Sluag. He wants his rogue souls delivered, and we want them out of the Everwood, so Freya—or whoever is her current incarnation—will never be harmed when he or she is within the Endwood.”
“That makes sense.” I didn’t envy Freya having to go there alone, though.
“I asked her to take most of the rogue souls at first light today, so you can explore the Everwood with Finlay. It wouldn’t do to have you overwhelmed by them on your first visit.” Pen finished speaking and sipped her tea.
“Talking of which.” Finlay stood up and grabbed a slice of toast. “We should really get going, Flor.”
“There are still some impure souls in the Everwood, Finlay.” Pen’s voice had a warning tone to it. “Flora needs to encounter both soul types to learn. But be careful. Take good care of our new Soul Keeper.”
I stood up to follow Finlay and said goodbye to the others at the table, smiling at Lyall’s cheeky wink when Finlay’s back was turned.
We walked through the castle’s cavernous entrance-hall, stepping out though the front gate and into the July sunshine—contrary to popular belief, it does actually get quite warm in Scotland in summertime.
“Finlay, how come no one can see the castle like this, except us? And how come we can’t see anyone else here?” It was the height of tourist season. Even at this early hour, the castle should be full of visitors, yet we were entirely alone as we made our way through the decoratively landscaped gardens surrounding the beautifully restored building.
“I’m not entirely sure. But basically, we kind of exist on a different plane here. It’s exactly the same place but almost as though we’re here at a different time to them.”
“All this time I worked here and I had no idea.” I breathed in wonder as I looked around me.
My musings were suddenly broken by an indignant prrrrp sound as a tabby fur ball started to wind frantically around my legs.
“Achilles.” I picked my cat up and snuggled my face into his fur, surprised when he permitted the intense PDA and actually tried to burrow deeper into my shoulder.
Finlay came over and scratched behind Achilles ear, causing the cat to tip his head so far upside down in pleasure that he toppled out of my arms and landed on four paws in front of me. Finlay and I laughed as two much smaller kitties raced up to check that Achilles was okay.
“The ginger one is Phobos, and the black one is Deimos.”
“They’re so cute.” I gave Deimos a quick scratch on his head before following Finlay into an open area of grass that was surrounded by hundreds of flowering plants.
Finlay stood facing me in the middle of the grass. He looked a lot more relaxed than I felt. His feet were shoulder-width apart, and his hands hung loose by his sides. Again, I was struck by how I had never noticed how gorgeous my best friend was before. As I walked toward him, he shot me a guileless smile and I couldn’t help but return it with one of my own.
“Is this place like a gateway to the Everwood, or something?” I asked as I reached him and stood facing him, mirroring his easy stance.
“Nope. You can reach the Everwood anytime you like, outside Castle Dion. It’s a natural thing for you to do, so it won’t take you long to get the hang of it. I just thought it would help you to try for the first time in a nice place that was away from the others, so you didn’t feel self-conscious.”
“What if I feel self-conscious in front of you?” I said it only half-jokingly.
“That’s never gonna happen. Now, you need to focus, Flor.”
He became serious so suddenly, it made me forget my nerves completely. Drawing my eyebrows tightly together, I concentrated on his instructions.
“Close your eyes, Flor. This isn’t something you will do normally, but in the interests of concentration, let’s go with it.”
I closed them and started to take long, slow breaths as though I was aiming for meditation.
“Good. Now this will be the hard part. I need you to think of the Everwood.”
“But…I’ve never been there,” I protested.
“Don’t talk. Think, Flor!”
I had no idea what I was supposed to think about, so behind my closed eyes, I started to picture what I thought the Everwood would look like. Obviously, it was a wood; there were thousands, maybe millions of trees. Each tree was covered in thousands, maybe millions of tiny blue flowers.
I seemed to be imagining a
wood at dawn, because the trees were all dappled with the golden light of sunrise, and a morning dew lay like crystals over the grassy carpet on the ground, while a light mist filtered through the trees and grass at ankle-level. It was the most serene place I had ever experienced in my life.
“Open your eyes, Flora.”
I jumped and my eyes snapped open. I had completely forgotten Finlay and everything around me. All I had known was the wood.
When my eyes refocused on what surrounded me, I held my breath in awe. I was standing in the wood from my mind. Everything was exactly the same, down to the last detail. Even the mist teasing around my boots.
A moment of panic gripped me as I wondered where Finlay was and if I was here alone. What if I came to the Endwood by mistake? But relief was quick when I felt him wrap his hand around mine and squeeze it reassuringly.
“I didn’t expect you to manage it quite that quickly, Flor. I’m impressed.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said softly.
“You will naturally feel an affinity for the place, Flor, because of what you are. But you’re right, it is beautiful.”
I started to walk, weaving my way through the trees. The golden light of the sun bathed my face, but I was surprised to notice I didn’t feel any warmth from it. If I had to describe the temperature here, I would say it was perfect. It was neither hot nor cold and there wasn’t even a slight breeze. I sensed this never changed.
“Is it always day-break here?” I turned back toward Finlay who was following after me at a small distance.
“Yeah. The sun is always rising for the souls who stay here. It’s a new dawn for them…a new beginning.”
“Does that mean it’s always sunset in the Endwood?” I shivered as I asked my question.
“No. In the Endwood, it’s eternal night.”
“Wow, is everything in this world a cliché?” I laughed. “Although it makes sense, I guess.” I started through the trees again. “Where are the souls?”
Finlay followed after me once more. “I suspect they’ve already sensed you, and I reckon they’ll be here any minute.”
As if on cue, a tiny yellow light, not unlike a firefly started to dance through the trees toward us. I watched it draw closer, mesmerised. It was probably about the size of a small chicken’s egg.
As I stared, fascinated, I noticed more and more lights begin to appear, distant at first but gradually dancing closer and closer to where we stood.
The lights were all different colours. I could see yellow and green, blue, pink and orange lights. Some moved so fast I thought they would collide with the trees or even each other. Others moved more slowly, as though they were planning their path with care.
The light I first noticed was now just a few inches from my face. As I stared into the ethereal orb, I noticed it wasn’t just yellow. It had a strong yellow hue, but running through the centre were myriad colours firing back and forth like electricity in the centre of the ball.
Then, without warning, I could hear it. Not with my ears, because there was no sound in the Everwood, except for the sounds made by Finlay and me. But I could hear it inside of me; I could feel the vibrations of this soul’s very existence thrumming against every fibre of my own being. I could understand it when it asked me if it was going to stay in the Everwood, and I knew how to respond to it, sending my reply back in the exact same way it had asked its question of me. Yes, yes you will stay and be reborn, pure one.
The soul zipped off through the woods with such speed I was worried it would crash, but it didn’t, and I could feel its sheer euphoric joy as it celebrated my answer.
“It seems you’re a natural, Flor. Although I wouldn’t have expected anything else.” Finlay stood in a strangely empty patch of air. There were no souls around him; they were all around me instead.
I was just about to make a comment about how I was infinitely more popular than him when I felt as though my own soul had been torn from my body and set on fire. It wasn’t a physical pain, but I would have welcomed physical agony over what I felt in that moment, and it rendered me speechless, knocking me backward with such force I hit the ground with a thud.
There was another ball of light before my eyes, but this one was so different to the little yellow orb I couldn’t even begin to think of them in the same way. This light was a dark red colour, and the electricity inside it bolted frantically back and forth as though it were a tiny storm inside a snow-globe.
The vibrations it sent through me made me want to be sick. It was trying to dominate me and force me to bend to its will. I knew this because there was no way in hell I was letting that little ball of evil intent stay here in the Everwood. It knew I was going to banish it, and it was so angry it wanted to kill me.
Just when I thought I would die if I had to put up with it for a minute longer, I heard a sound like tearing cloth and I found myself lying on my back in the square of grass in the grounds of Castle Dion.
“Flor, are you okay? I’m so sorry.” Finlay landed on his knees next to me, gripping my cheeks with his palms and staring at me worriedly.
“What was that?” I asked weakly.
“I can’t be sure because I don’t have your gift. But I think it was the soul of a serial killer. Flor, that was not what I wanted for your first experience of the Everwood. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m going back to kick its ass right the way to the Endwood.” I started to push myself up on my elbows, but a rush of nausea caused me, instead, to roll on to my side and heave up everything I had eaten for breakfast on the grass.
“Yeah, I’m thinking your gonna need a little rest before we attempt stage two, Flor.”
Chapter Five
It took around five minutes before Finlay would let me even try to sit up again and another fifteen before he proclaimed me recovered enough to stand. It was obvious he was blaming himself for what had just happened, which I thought was crazy since there wasn’t very much he could have done about the rogue soul.
Strangely, I didn’t feel afraid. Which I thought I probably should under the circumstances. I’d all but forgotten the way the little red light had made me feel, and I wanted to go back to the Everwood, I wanted to be there again in that sun-glazed haven.
“Finlay, stop clucking. I’m okay.” I placed my hands against his chest and gently pushed against him to stop him from trying to hold me up. “I’m not going to fall over again. I swear.”
He stepped back and made a show of scrutinising me up and down. “Hmm, I think you’re all right, but that’s probably enough time away from the mortal world for now.”
I started to protest, but he cut me off. “Flor, it’s your first day. Your whole world fell apart and was rebuilt in a completely different way yesterday. Add to that you’ve just met your first serial killer in soul form. I’d say you’re due a break.”
“Okay, okay, Dad. So, what does everyone do for fun here in this magical castle?” I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at my friend.
Finlay ignored the dad insult, admirably, and instead of retaliating he started to walk down the slope of the gardens toward the shore, where the land met the water.
“We do what most people do on a hot day. We go for a swim,” he threw back over his shoulder.
Looking up at the sky, I blinked at the brightness of the hot afternoon sun. It didn’t escape my notice that we had been in the Everwood for a lot more time than I had thought, and the heat of the day had ramped up as the sun rose higher.
“Swimming?” I broke into a jog to catch up with Finlay’s disappearing figure.
When I caught up with Finlay at the waterside, I saw we weren’t the only ones here. Mara and Freya were sitting at the side of the loch, surrounded by picnic food and bottles of juice.
Artair and Lyall were both in the water.
“You coming in, Flor?” Finlay pulled his T-shirt over his head and started wading into the water, still wearing his cargo pants.
I glanced toward the girls. “Er
r, I don’t have any swim-wear with me, so I think I’ll sit with the girls.” I wasn’t thrilled at the thought of spending time in close conversation with Freya, but I did like the idea of getting to know Mara a little better.
“Suit yourself.” Finlay shrugged and dived into the water, swimming out to join the other two guys. My eyes briefly met Lyall’s, but not wanting to look as though I was ogling his bare chest, I turned away quickly and headed toward where Mara and Freya sat.
“Hi, Flora.” Mara beamed at me and patted the blanket next her. “Sit with us. I want us to get to know everything about each other.”
I lowered myself down next to Mara, tucking my legs underneath me comfortably. Freya clearly wasn’t going to say anything to me, so I levelled my gaze at her and said, “Hi, Freya.”
“Hi, Flora.” It surprised me that I got any response at all from Freya, but the tone of her voice was so similar to mine I knew she was mocking me. Sighing, I turned toward Mara and returned her warm smile.
Mara poured me a cup of orange juice and handed it to me. “So, how has your first twenty-four hours at Castle Dion been, Flora? Did you manage to make it to the Everwood today?”
“I did. I met a pure soul, which was completely amazing, but then I met a rogue one too, which was pretty awful. Finlay thinks it might have been a serial killer’s soul. He wouldn’t let me go back after that. He’s become so protective since he brought me here.” I looked out over the loch until I picked out Finlay’s pale hair bobbing in the blue-green water.
“You know, that’s not strictly true.” Mara grinned. “Finlay has been insanely overprotective of you since he found out he was one of your Dion when he was nine years old. It’s a natural way for us to feel toward you, Flora. We are pre-programmed to want to keep you safe, more than anything in this world. Finlay takes it to a whole new level with you, though.”
“We’re best friends.” I followed Finlay with my eyes as he climbed out of the water and up a tree branch, before launching himself back into the water, splashing Lyall in the face as he landed. “I feel protective over him too. We’ve been friends longer than I can remember and he’s never let me down.”