Immortal of My Dreams

by Alexis McNeil

  We drove in silence while my mind analyzed the events of the evening. After finding no rational explanation, I gave up and listened to the voice in my head insisting I believe him. “Did you get the dagger?” I asked quietly.

  He reached down by the side of his seat and laid a small wrapped bundle in my lap. I slid the old, worn, linen cloth off and gazed at a dagger identical to the others, except the serpent’s eyes glowed amethysts. I re-wrapped the dagger handing the bundle back over to Cameron.

  “So…the legend of the Immortals is real,” I said softly. “You’re not a distant relative to the man in the painting, are you? You are the man in the painting. Cameron Lachlan Murray.” I kept my eyes on the dark empty highway ahead of us waiting for Cameron to explain.

  Cameron glanced out the corner of his eyes at me. “Yes, I began my life in 1108 along with twelve other immortal men.”

  “The belt really works? You’re going to travel through time?”

  “I don’t belong here, Jillian. I have to go back. My soul mate is waiting for me.” After driving for what seemed like forever, we pulled into my gram’s driveway. Cameron turned off the engine and shifted in his seat to look at me. He slowly held out his empty hand. “I believe we had a deal, Jillian. I need your dagger.”

  “You’re leaving tonight?”

  “In a few days.”

  I glanced down at the ruby eyed dagger in my hands. “Can I keep the dagger until you’re ready to leave, please? I-I promise I’ll let you have it Cameron, it’s just….”

  Cameron let out a sigh. “As long as I have your word. Promise me you’ll be waiting in three days at the break of dawn. I’ll come and get the dagger then.”

  “I promise, thank you.”

  He nodded toward my gram’s house. “Go on, get some sleep. I’ll see you in three days, don’t forget.”

  “I won’t, night,” I said opening the car door.

  “Jilly,” Cameron said halting me, “one last thing, what color is the stone eyes of the dagger you have?”

  “They’re rubies, why?” I asked confused.

  “Nothing, it’s just interesting that’s all.” He smiled as I softly clicked the car door shut. I reached the front door and heard him drive away, leaving me standing in the quiet darkness, making the unforgettable night seem like it had never happened.

  * * * * *

  The next day I called Mr. Dunn, so I could pay the back taxes off. After dropping the money off at his office and signing papers, it dawned on me; I now owned my grandparent’s house and everything in it. My stomach growled as I left the solicitor’s office, so I walked across the street to a small café.

  I chose a round table out on the patio next to a small fountain with a copper Scotsman statue wearing a kilt with water trickling out of a bucket he held. The sun shone brightly with a cool breeze letting everyone know winter was not far off. Suddenly, my No Doubt, “Walking into Spider Webs” ring-tone began to play. Shit, it was Cassie. I completely forgot to call her. I picked up my cell phone. “Cassie, I’msosorryIforgottocallyouwhenIarrived,don’tbemad!”

  “Don’t ever scare me like that again, Jillian!” Cassie scolded. “Anyway, I take it you’re all right?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Definitely? Your ‘definitelys’ are not reassuring. What’s wrong?”

  I let out a sigh. “Cass, I signed the papers turning over my grandparent’s house to me today.”

  “Why do you sound so sad? God, if I was gifted a house in Scotland, I’d be ecstatic.”

  “Even if the person who gave it to is dead?”

  Silence. “Okay, so you have a point, sorry Jilly.”

  I let out another deep sigh. “It’s what my grandparents wanted.”

  “Hey,” Cassie said in a more up-beat tone, ”what are you going to do with the house? When are you going to move in?”

  “I can’t move here. That’s crazy!”

  “Jilly, tell me exactly what you have waiting back here in New York for you. And don’t include me who’d fly half way around the world to visit you numerous times throughout the year!”

  “My job—“

  “I can place a few calls to some friends who just happen to have a magazine out of Inverness. You could do the same thing just as well, if not better in Scotland. You might even meet relatives you didn’t even know you had!”

  “Um…”

  “So, you already met relatives.”

  “Relative,” I said slowly. “He’s a very distant relation.”

  “See, you have to stay now.”

  “He’s leaving town for good in two days.”

  “Where’s he going? Is it to another city close by?”

  “It will feel like a whole other world away.” If that wasn’t the truth I didn’t know what was. “Listen, Cassie I’ll try to remember and call you in a couple days. My gram’s prayer service is tonight.”

  “Understood. Hey Jilly, the only advice I can give you is do whatever will make you happy, truly happy. I love you. Remember, I’ll help you move to Scotland, you won’t have to ask twice. Bye.” Be truly happy. I remember my mom saying the same thing.

  My mom and I were at an art viewing in New York City, my third trip to the city with my mom. One of her newest paintings was being unveiled. Champagne flowed around the room in the hands of men in tuxedos and women in designer gowns. I stood next to my mom in a long black dress, with my hair twisted in a bun. I studied my mom. She resembled a princess from a fairytale, so beautiful with her dark brown hair in long waves falling down her back. Her emerald silk gown flowed loosely to the floor.

  “I want to write for a magazine mom,” I blurted out. She did a double take over at me.

  “That’s wonderful, you’re very talented. I think you’ll be great at writing. I know a couple of great colleges in Scotland—“

  “Mom, I want to go here in New York City.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess that would work. I’ll have art shows here throughout the year and you can come visit your gram and me in Scotland on the holidays and summers.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  My mom turned to me and put her hands on my shoulders. “Why would I be mad? You’re turning eighteen in a few months. It’s what kids do. They go to college. Your gram’s house will feel a little emptier with just me, her and Gerdie, but…I just want you to be truly happy. I know your dad would want the same thing too.” We hugged tightly. She pulled away and gestured with her champagne glass across the room. “Oh, let’s go see, they’re getting ready to unveil my piece.”

  * * * * *

  I stood next to Gerdie by the doorway into the small funeral home. My gram’s small group of friends and neighbors walked in conveying a word of kindness and proceeded to the room where my gram’s ashes were displayed in a simple gold urn. Gerdie had made all the arrangements, and it couldn’t have been closer to what I thought my gram would have wanted. Gerdie had asked the day I arrived if I wanted to see my gram’s body one last time before they cremated her, but I didn’t think I wanted that memory.

  My gram’s urn rested on top of a table covered with a white lace runner and purple Hydrangeas, Sedum, and Heather. I distanced myself from everyone. I didn’t want their sympathy. It would only make me hurt that much more. The priest walked in and said a small prayer. He talked cheerfully about my gram and the wonderful lady she had been.

  Gerdie let out a wail and attempted to stifle her cries behind a kerchief. Mourners sniffed and cried, but I stood staring at the urn, numb. The eulogy ended and everyone followed us back to my gram’s house. Gerdie had made meat pies, cookies, and fruit trays for the wake. More rounds of sympathy were given through the evening until the last person left.

  “Why dinna ye go up ta bed lass,” Gerdie said as I began picking up dishes. “It has been a long day for ye. I’ll clean up.” I thought about insisting I help, but truthfully I wanted to be alone. Lying in bed, I tossed and turned for an hour before the hallway creaked with each step Gerdie mad
e down the hall to her room and retired for the night. Pulling back the covers, I got out of bed and made my way downstairs and straight outside into the cool night air over to my gram’s small garden. I sat on the bench like I did so many times before with my gram and mom.

  I remember finding my mom out here one night, five years after my dad and grandda died. I was home for summer vacation. I walked out into the moist summer night as the light gray sky glowed brilliantly. My mother sat on the wooden bench in her white nightgown with her shoulders shaking. She sobbed into her hands. Silently, I sat down next to her and pulled her into my arms.

  “I miss your dad so much,” she cried. “I thought it would get easier with each day, but it gets harder.” My mom gazed up at me with tears spilling down her cheeks. “My heart’s broken, Jilly.”

  I stayed out on the bench for most of the night with my mom in my arms. I wanted to tell her it would be all right, but I never experienced the type of love she had had with my dad. They were soul mates, made for each other and I didn’t think it would ever be “right” for my mom again.

  A small squirrel darted across the stone path in front of me. A deep sigh escaped me while I wiped one tear away from my cheek, then another, and then there were too many to keep away. I drew my knees up resting my head on them and sobbed until early morning.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Jillian, lass? Jilly, wake up,” I heard Gerdie say.

  I opened one puffy eye and rolled over to find Gerdie in her nightgown, standing over me in my bedroom. “What’s wrong?” I croaked.

  “Mr. Lachlan is here ta see ye. I told him ye were sleeping, but the stubborn mon insisted he speak with ye now.”

  Oh God! I forgot today was the day he’d come for the dagger. “It’s okay, Gerdie, go back to bed. I’ll go talk to him.”

  Before going downstairs, I wrapped my flannel bathrobe around me and quickly brushed my teeth. I found Cameron waiting for me in the foyer studying a painting. He wore a thick gray, wool sweater and worn jeans. He spun on his heel when I reached the bottom step and took two strides toward me. He pulled me tightly to his warm chest. “Jillian, I’m so sorry,” he whispered into my hair. “I just heard about the funeral. I had no idea your grandma passed away.” I nodded swallowing the lump in my throat. He paused a moment when I pulled away and quietly said, “I’m sorry I have to ask this Jilly, but I need the dagger. I’m ready to leave.”

  I nodded knowing I had no other choice but to handover the precious dagger. “I have to go up stairs and get it. Cameron, do you think…maybe we could go have breakfast together? You know a last meal of sorts? I kind of…think of you as my family now.”

  “Breakfast would be nice. I’ll wait down here. Take all the time you need.”

  I took a fast shower, threw on jeans, a cream cable knit sweater, and my hiking boots. I dried my hair, grabbed the dagger, and my purse, and headed back downstairs to have my last meal with Cameron and the dagger I couldn’t imagine parting with.

  Breakfast ended up being Cameron running into a little coffee shop outside of Tain, which just opened up for the day. He walked out with four blackberry muffins and two orange juices. The car door clicked shut. “There’s a hiking trail up ahead that winds through Morangie Forest. We could walk and talk while we eat….”

  “I’d like that,” I said quietly. We drove to the trail head and parked. Cameron got out and opened the trunk, pulling a huge duffle bag out. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask about the duffel bag he hefted onto his back, but I didn’t think I really wanted to know. I’d just enjoy this small amount of time I had left with him.

  We walked and ate on the foggy trail and were soon surrounded by woods, brambles, and thistles thick enough to hide us from any civilization. The sun began to peek through the trees in pinks and oranges chasing off the damp, cold morning air.

  “Cameron, why don’t you use your real last name…Murray?” I asked stepping over a rotted log.

  “I didn’t want to take a chance of someone realizing who I really was. Believe it or not, but there are people who believe in the Immortals, I don’t want anyone to know who or what I am.”

  “Why’d you comment on the painting then?”

  “It holds fond memories. Back in the fifteenth century in my keep, it hangs above the fireplace in my fiancée’s room.”

  “How’d you come to be a Murray if the Guardians created you?”

  He glanced over at me as he pushed aside a leafless branch. “My mother was newly married to the Murray chieftain back in 1108. She found out after a year with my ‘father’, she was barren. The Guardians approached her and offered riches and a chance to become fertile, the only catch being that the Guardians would create a babe—me—in her womb. My parents agreed and in nine months she birthed a healthy immortal baby boy—me again,” he said smiling. “So in a way, I was born into the Murray Clan. My father made me the Clan Chieftain when he lay on his death bed.”

  “You had siblings right, since the Murray line continued?”

  “Yes, true to the Guardians’ word, my mother became fertile and had nine more children. Three died as infants and the rest died in their thirties or forties. Most left behind heirs creating the Murray line as it is today. My father made me the Chieftain, because he knew I’d never die. I also have relatives through my father’s brother.”

  “If technically you’re still the Chieftain, then why aren’t you known to our clan?”

  “After a rather gruesome battle with the Mackenzie Clan back in the late fifteen hundreds, I decided to lay low and make people believe I died in the battle. My soul mate was long gone. She died before we had the chance to marry, or for me to turn mortal. I knew I’d travel back in time and see her again. I just needed to find the belt and daggers. Being Chieftain, I wouldn’t have been able to travel the world looking for what I needed. It gets harder and harder to find the pieces with more people living in the world today and having them pass through countless hands only to have the priceless pieces stuffed away in an attic,” he said in a lightly scolding tone.

  “Aren’t you afraid you’ll change history?” I asked pushing a small birch tree branch out of my way.

  “I know what I can change, and what I shouldn’t mess with.” Cameron stopped in a small clearing and set his duffel bag onto the ground. He unzipped the bag and took out the large golden belt. He hooked the perfectly fitted belt around his waist, closing the great big emerald clasp with a click.

  All the daggers hung in place except for the one I held onto. He closed the duffel bag and strapped it back on his shoulders. Cameron turned around and walked over, stopping in front of me. “Jilly, I have to go. I wish you could come with me, but—“

  I put my hands up in front of me. “I know, I know, it’s okay. You need to go and be with your soul mate.” I reached behind me and pulled out the dagger I had tucked in the back of my jeans. Tracing my finger over its ruby eyes and down the deadly blade, I handed it over to Cameron. “Take care. I’ll always remember you,” I said quietly, not knowing if I directed the comment to the dagger, Cameron, or both.

  Cameron tipped my chin up with his fingers and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. “You’re strong and brave, Jilly. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’m glad to see one of my future descendants has a backbone,” he said grinning. I made a tight smile as he stepped back. He pointed to a cluster of three pine trees, about twenty feet away. “Go back under the cover of trees over there. I don’t know what this will be like.” I reluctantly walked over and leaned up against one of the trunks and waited.

  He gazed over at me one last time, then down at his hand in which the dagger lie. The dagger slowly disappeared behind his back as he joined it with the others on the belt. “Goodbye Jillian, thanks for every—“ Abruptly, his words were cut-off as leaves and dirt from the ground blew up into the air in a whirlwind surrounding him.

  The wind grew faster and thicker, picking up more speed and more debris from the f
orest floor. I could still make out the shape of Cameron and the glowing emerald clasp as a bright, white ball of light appeared at Cameron’s head, enveloping him, slowly making him disappear. I ran my hand through my hair and licked my dry parched lips as my heart raced. I couldn’t do this! I couldn’t stay here with the memories of the happy life I used to have. Cameron had said he wished I could go with him, why couldn’t I!

  Without a second thought, I ran and leapt toward Cameron’s ankles and feet, the only part of his body left visible. I landed on my stomach with a hard thud at Cameron’s leather hiking boots. Wrapping my hands around one of his ankles, I held on for dear life. The next thing I knew, I floated into nothingness. A white foggy quietness surrounded me, while my limbs felt detached, gravitating everywhere, yet nowhere. A loud sonic boom pierced the air. Suddenly, I landed on solid ground and drifted into blackness.

  * * * * *

  I came to with an immense migraine. My head wanted to burst open and release the thousands of little pins poking my brain every which way. Rubbing my palms over my eyes, I tried to block out the painfully bright sunlight shining through the trees. I hunched over on the damp leaf covered forest floor for a few minutes, hoping the tremendous pain in my head would go away. I lie back down on the hard earth and fell back asleep.

  * * * * *

  I reawakened and rubbed my eyes. Squinting, I peered up at the sky only to discover from the sun’s position that dusk would soon arrive. I must have slept most of the day. I slowly sat up and massaged my temples as I turned around and took a good look at my surroundings.

  I didn’t tag along with Cameron back through time. The woods appeared exactly the same as the woods Cameron and I said goodbye in. I stood up brushing the dirt and leaves off of my clothes. I let out a defeated sigh.