Sneaks

by B Button

  Mac made some sort of growling sound in his throat.

  As the stupid horse trotted across the bridge, I searched for someone else I knew, someone who might remember me. Everyone looked at me with the same curious distaste I remembered from my previous trip. But no one looked familiar.

  “Mac, if you don’t get me off this horse and untie my hands right away, I am going to start screaming bloody-murder.”

  “Ye think that will do ye good?”

  “I couldn’t care less. You are being cruel and I am sick of it.”

  I could feel him sit up straighter. He didn’t say anything, but stopped the horse when we were over the bridge and swung himself off. With abrupt movements, he helped me down and untied my hands.

  “Now, come with me,” he said, his eyes slanted.

  I put my fingers around the pendant. I was sore and angry and I wanted to go home, but with the daylight I could see better how much he really did look like his father, and how he really didn't. It was like he was the improved version. I was curious enough to want to look at him longer.

  At the moment, there was nothing soft about his face, even his lips were straight and seemed cut from stone. His cheekbones would have been considered harsh on others, but on him they seemed to cut at just the right angle and just the right height. He had a bump on his nose that softened all the other sharpness. His eyes were such a color of blue that even though they should just look dark because the sun was behind him, they still shone both brightly and deeply. I didn’t remember his father’s eyes being so shocking.

  I looked up into those eyes as I pulled my fingers from the pendant and stretched and rubbed my wrists. I hadn’t been burned by the ropes, but it felt like I had.

  I’d stay a little longer.

  “If ye please,” he said, mockingly, after I didn’t make any movement forward.

  From across the courtyard and voice said, “Mac, who do ye have with ye?”

  Una walked so quickly toward us that the bread in her basket bounced and her legs practically cut through her skirt.

  She stopped in front of me and put the basket down. Except for a few gray hairs, she had not changed much.

  “No, it can’t be. It can’t be ye,” she said as she touched my face.

  “Hi, Una.”

  “I dinna understand. It’s been many years and ye still look like ye looked.” I thought she might be frightened, but she just seemed amazed, perhaps in shock slightly.

  “It’s a difficult story to explain – where I’ve been and why I don’t look older, but it is me.”

  “Ye are magic?” she whispered in my ear.

  “No, not really, but it might seem like it,” I whispered back in her ear.

  Una smiled, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She turned to Mac and put her hand on his arm.

  “Perhaps it is ye’re fate to save the boy.”

  “I didn’t …”

  “She didn’t save me from anything, Una. I found her.” Mac hadn’t been impressed with Una’s recognition. “And she canna be who ye think she is.”

  “Why?” Una asked.

  “She’s no angelic and sweet.”

  Una laughed. “Well, I’m not sure she ever was that, Mac. Ye’ve just heard the stories. Stories change over time. Some get better, some get worse. But this is the girl, my lad. This is the girl.”

  I wanted to hug Una and stick my tongue out at Mac. Instead, I just smiled.

  “It is good to see you,” I said to Una.

  “Aye.” She pulled me into a hug. She smelled of freshly baked bread and lavender. Until that moment I didn’t know that particular combination of scents would always remind me of her. But they would. “Now, come in and let us find the laird. He’ll be wantin’ to talk to ye.” Her eyes suddenly darkened and her body stiffened. “I suppose Ian and Corc will want to see ye, too.”

  “I’d love to see them,” I said. But her expression said they might not really want to see me. I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t know how I would explain myself, yet. I’d just have to figure it out.

  Una glanced at Mac. “Bring her in, lad.” She turned with the familiar pulsating energy. She took off toward the castle entrance. Mac didn’t say anything as he purposefully looked away from my eyes and swept his hand forward in an angry, but gentlemanly maneuver.

  I’d hoped for an apology but the gesture didn’t come close. Instead, those darned eyes of his blazed with his anger. I didn’t know him nearly well enough to point out that he didn’t have the right to look so mad. I wanted to say: maybe, shouldn’t you say you’re sorry? But I didn’t. Instead, I turned and followed Una into the castle. Mac followed me, but not closely.

  The inside of the castle had changed more than the outside. Actually, the inside was more worn than I would have thought Una would have allowed. Older was expected, but faded like it was, was a surprise. The whitewash that covered the walls showed splotches of the stone of the structure. Stale air mixed with herbs that wafted from the back kitchen. There were two large dogs snoring in front of the hearth of the unlit fireplace and I could smell them, too. The fireplace soot was thicker and blacker than I thought possible, even with the passing of sixteen years.

  “We’ll go directly to him,” Una said from the top of the stairs. She sat the basket on a table and waited with her hands clasped together. I hurried up the stairs and Mac continued to follow behind, still silent except for his heavy footfalls.

  “This way.” Una turned down the hall.

  The same portraits and tapestries were on the walls, though they were covered in dust. I wanted to stop and ask Una what was going on, but beyond the fact that the question would in itself insult her housekeeping skills, I didn’t think I had the right to judge.

  Una must have sensed my curiosity because she turned.

  “Ye ken, much has happened since ye were here last,” she said.

  “I’m sure.”

  “I’ve just returned to the castle myself.”

  “Where have you been?” I asked.

  “I was living with my brother and his wife in the country.”

  “For how long?”

  “Since soon after ye disappeared.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “”Tis a long, long story, lass. There’s much work to do. We’ll talk about it later.”

  I stopped and thought about my desire to see these people again. Was I being selfish? Was my appearance, disappearance and reappearance too much to handle? I hoped not.

  “Lass?” Mac said to prod me forward.

  I looked at Una’s questioning face and then back at Mac’s suspicious one.

  “Lass?” Mac said again.

  “Hm? Oh, of course.” I started moving my feet again.

  “Here we are.” Una hesitated outside the door. Something shadowy moved over her face. I suspected that there had been pain in her life over her last sixteen years, and that it was Brian Duncan who caused that pain. She was trying to get past it, but she wasn’t there yet. “Mac, ye take the girl to yer father. Go in by yerself first, let him know that she’s here. He’ll not believe it right away. Allow him that.” Una flashed a stiff smile to me before she turned and went back to her bread delivery.

  Mac didn’t look at me before going into his father’s room to announce my arrival.

  I reached for the pendant and fingered the globe. I had done this millions of time over the last year, and I knew exactly where my touch landed: right on Scotland, the Scotland of old, before the Season of Quakes, the Scotland that I was currently visiting. I huffed an ironic laugh.

  The temptation to pull the chain was there but it wasn’t strong. I’d see how it went with Brian Duncan. I could almost hear my mom tell me to stay, just a little longer.

  The door opened quietly and Mac came back out into the hallway.

  "Ye may go in now,” he said, his eyes still looking everywhere but at me.

  “Thank you,” I said, but it was to his back as he turned and hurried away.
<
br />   I took a deep breath and opened the door.

  The room was as I remembered – large – so large I felt exposed and unprotected. The bed was unmade and messy; three chairs were in front of the fireplace and surrounding another pair of muddy boots. The air was far too stale and smelled far too much of unwashed man. I tried not to wrinkle my nose. The entire space held a sense of ‘rode hard and put away wet’ about it. Including the laird.

  As he made his way to one of the chairs around the table, I realized that Brian Duncan was a mess. His long hair was unbraided and fell in nests over his shoulders when he sat down. He now had a face full of beard that was a shade lighter than his black hair, and his normally well-pressed kilt wasn’t so well-pressed anymore.

  His eyes were slits of mistrust, but I had no idea what his mouth was doing because of all the facial hair.

  “Laird,” I said. I didn’t want do the curtsy-thing Una had tried to teach me, but I was surprisingly tempted.

  “Lass, I dinna seem to understand much anymore. But this is one of the things I canna not only understand, but I canna accept. Who are ye?” His voice held none of the intimidation I expected. Instead, he sounded defeated. I wanted to shake him and tell him to get a grip on whatever it was that had made him so down.

  “It really is me, laird. Kally Bright.” I walked to him and hugged his shoulders. This was something that was not done, I knew that. But I didn’t care that he didn’t hug back. He didn’t push me away, but instead let me pull away and sit in a chair facing him.

  “How, Kally Bright, is it that ye come to me, looking not much different than ye did sixteen years ago. Are ye real?”

  “Yes, I’m real. But I’m not sure I can explain where I’ve been. I wish I could, but it probably wouldn’t make sense to you – it doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Ye were a mystery then and ye are still on. Are ye magic?”

  “No, laird, but I don’t expect you to believe me. Like I said, I don’t know how to explain all that has happened.”

  “Kally, where do ye come from? I need to ken the answer.”

  “Far away.”

  “That’s not an answer I can accept.”

  I sighed. “I wish I could explain it better, but I can’t, not right now. Trust me, though, I’m not here to do harm to anyone. Can you trust me for the time being?”

  The laird rubbed at his furry chin. “Weel, there’s already a problem with that, lass.”

  “What?”

  “Fer one, ye have already done plenty of harm. And two, I am the laird. Ye are supposed to tell me what I want to ken. “

  “I did harm?” I asked. I thought I had been given the title of legend, not that I’d hurt anyone.

  “Aye, lass.”

  “Laird, you have to believe me, I never meant to do harm to anyone. I would never have done that on purpose. I apologize and hope that I can be forgiven. As for you being the laird – well, we’ll just have to find a way to get past that.”

  He stared at me a moment, his eyes dark and unhappy. And then he smiled. I think. His angry eyes crinkled slightly and then went back to serious before I could join any joviality.

  “So,” I continued, “how did I do harm?”

  He sighed heavily. “I thought,” he hesitated. “I thought the same someone who took Mac hurt ye too, and then the wolves carried ye away.”

  “I believe that’s partially true. Well, I wasn’t hurt but I was sent away against my will.” That wasn’t the complete truth. I was trying to escape that night, but still. “Anyway, I can’t tell you exactly what happened. There were no wolves involved, though. Did you figure out who’d taken Mac?”

  “No, but not for lack of trying. I …”

  “What?”

  “At one time or another, I blamed each and every person.”

  “Oh, laird, I’m so sorry. Is that why Una was away for so long?” This was awful.

  Brian Duncan suddenly sat up straighter in his chair. Something changed about the way he held his shoulders. “Mistress Kally, it is I who should apologize. I reacted badly when ye left. I am attempting to mend the damage, but that was not yer fault. I believe ye didna intend to do the harm, lass. I shouldna sounded as though I was blaming ye.” He looked down at his clasped hands. “Ye are here now. Are ye going to stay? ”

  “I. Uh.”

  “Ye will not be forced to stay. Ye dinna have to fix clocks if ye dinna want to, but will be a guest in my home, on my land. I believe I mistreated ye the last time ye were here by not allowing ye to leave. I’ll not do that again. I believe that was maybe the first and worst mistake I made. I’m happy to have the chance to put things right with ye.”

  Again, I wanted to shake him. I remembered his deep sadness over the death of his wife when I was last here – my disappearance only added to his superstitious beliefs. I felt awful.

  “Laird, you weren’t terribly unkind to me. I’m sorry I left without saying good-bye last time – again, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.” I cleared my throat. “May I stay until tomorrow? I would love to say hello to Corc and Ian, too.”

  “Aye, it would be our pleasure to have ye stay as long as ye like. We’ll all have dinner this night and ye can make yer greetings then.”

  “Thank you, that would be wonderful.”

  “Lass, I have to tell ye that we wilna search for ye again if ye disappear.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to.”

  “Good, I’ll tell Una to prepare a feast.”

  “I’ll do it. Let me go find her. Maybe I can help her with things. If there are any clocks that need fixed, I brought my tools.”

  The laird looked at that clock on the ledge behind him. I’d noticed that it was still working.

  “I dinna ken, but I’ll ask. This one is fine. I think about ye every time I look at it.”

  Time pieces, clocks, the movement of time, the telling of time – finally all leading to traveling through time; these things brought people together in many ways. Mr. Bellini’s clock gave him his family. The other clocks I fixed seemed to have the same effect. Fixing clocks was my passion. I was glad it brought good memories, but sad when the memories weren’t so good.

  “I’m glad it is working,” I said.

  “Off with ye then.” His words were dismissive but his tone held a slight improvement up from suicidal.

  I hurried out of the room.

  I’d had it all planned. I was going to visit my friends, see how it went, maybe stay awhile, try to visit the Castle Lennox and go home. I hadn’t known that so much time would pass, I hadn’t known . . . so many things. I felt stupid. I had a sense of needing to fix things, more than just clocks. Was whatever harm I’d caused fixable? I didn’t know. A part of me wanted to break the chain before I had the chance to make things worse, but something stronger told me to stay.

  I wanted to see Ian. He’d be much older, but I still needed to see him. I’d never felt the way he’d made me feel. Over the last year, I’d thought about those feelings and wondered what they were. I’d come to the conclusion that I hadn’t fallen in love with him, but I loved him nonetheless. He’d stepped into my heart in a way that boys weren’t encouraged to do in my time. The connection we’d had was forbidden in my time. I’d heard that some married couples found that connection, but it was rare.

  My mom told me that what she thought I had with Ian was simple; a friendship. And she told me that true friends were hard to find. She also told me that if I ever fell in love (which she hoped never happened unless it was with the man I chose to marry), I wouldn’t wonder about feelings. I’d know.

  Una was in the kitchen.

  “Lass, I’ve set a table up for ye.” She pointed to the table next to a table next to the same window I’d worked under before. “Ye’ll be fixing clocks?”

  “Maybe,” I said, “but the laird wanted me to tell you there will be a big feast tonight.”

  “I ken that much without him telling me, but thank ye.”

  “What can I d
o to help?”

  “Nothing. I have many people coming to help.” She waved away my offer. “It is a strike of fortune, I believe, lass,” she said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Ye coming back only a day after I did.”

  “Una, I’m sorry you went away.”

  Una rubbed under her nose. “Och, I got to spend my brother’s last years with him. It was fine, but I’m glad we are both back. It is a twist of fate that we're together again, but I dinna ken why. I'm hoping good fortune is ahead.”

  “Me too.”

  “Lass, I dinna ken exactly what the laird told ye, but it wasna just ye going away that set him off in a strange mind. His wife died and then his bairn was kidnapped and then ye, who brought so much light back to the castle, disappeared. When more than a fair share of bad things happen together, weel, it can make a man think he’s lived too fully. Guilt can ruin so much good. It wasna ye, it wasna.”

  She knew the words I needed to hear.

  “Thank you, Una.”

  “Och, ‘tis not a thing. I’ve put some clothes in yer old room. Do ye remember where it is?”

  “Yes.”

  “Go then. Clean yerself up and put on some proper clothing.”

  My room was a welcome sight. There was different bedding on the still thick feather mattress, and a new dress that still wouldn’t fit me correctly had been placed over the back of the chair, but for the most part, it looked the same, and better than the rest of what I’d seen of the castle.

  Using the small basin that Una had filled with water and the wash cloth, I cleaned up and then got dressed in a green dress that was predictably far too short and slightly tight in my shoulders.

  In keeping with tradition, I kept my sneakers on and, with butterflies crashing around in my stomach, made my way back to the dining hall.

  Who would I see? Ian? Corc? The laird? Mac? All of them. I couldn’t remember ever being so nervous.

  At the moment no one was at the large table in the dining hall. There was a lemony scent throughout; the trail of Una’s work. Even sixteen years older, she seemed tireless.

  There was a clamor of noise from the front of the castle. It sounded as if someone was putting down heavy objects and extending friendly but courteous greetings.