Highland Shifter

by Catherine Bybee

  Helen would have bounded from the bed had Simon not been holding her. She only managed to untangle their limbs before a beautiful blonde woman dressed in an ornate rust colored gown ran toward the bed. “Simon.”

  Simon stood up, drawing Helen with him. “I take it you missed me.”

  Helen stepped away as the woman threw her arms around Simon. “You scared the crap out of me.”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t return, Mom?”

  More family filled the room, each of them glanced Helen’s way but swiftly returned their attention to Simon.

  Helen took a moment to soak in the massive amount of people. My God, he said his family was large, but this makes the Waltons look like ‘orphans’. The men were massive, all over six feet tall and thick as steel. The women might not be as large, but their presence wasn’t a timid shadow behind the men. And beautiful, they were all stunning in their own way. Even the children who sneaked around the adults were pretty.

  No wonder Simon was anxious to return. Who wouldn’t love the support of a family this large?

  “You must be Helen.” The oldest woman in the room acknowledged her first.

  “How do you know my name?”

  “Your pack…” The woman glanced at the woman who must be Lizzy.

  “Backpack,” Lizzy said.

  “Your backpack arrived without you.”

  “Oh.”

  “Helen,” Simon called from over several heads. He lifted a hand to her, on autopilot; she moved to his side and welcomed the comfort of his familiar presence. With a hand to the small of her back, Simon started the introductions. “As you may have guessed, this is my mother Elizabeth and my father Finlay.”

  Helen accepted a smile from Lizzy and Fin stepped forward and took her hand in his. He kissed the back of it and winked at her when her face flushed.

  “The Laird of this clan, Ian and his wife Lora. Grandparents of my heart.”

  “’Tis good to see you home, lad.” Ian didn’t bother kissing her hand, he pulled her into a hug that compressed all the air from her lungs. When he released her, he left his hands on her arms and squeezed. “Many thanks for bringing him home, lass. Our house is yours.”

  “Ah, thanks.”

  “Welcome,” Lora said.

  “Duncan and Tara, my aunt and uncle.”

  Duncan kissed her hand.

  “There isn’t a test on the names, feel free to ask,” Tara suggested.

  “I’ll have to do that.”

  “You might remember Todd, the missing cop?” Todd waved and skipped the hand kissing. His face was vaguely familiar. “And his wife Myra. Again, an aunt and an uncle.”

  Myra was very pregnant as she greeted Helen from across the room. Helen waved with a short “Hi.”

  “Amber.” Simon pointed out.

  Amber waved.

  “And Cian.” Cian was slightly larger than Simon, but the tight edge of his jaw had Helen swallowing hard.

  “Don’t forget us,” one of the children said.

  Small arms lifted to Simon. He quickly picked up the child and offered a tickle with a smile. “This is Aislin, Myra and Todd’s youngest child. Over there is her big brother Jake. Selma, Kyle, and Tavish are my sister and brothers.” Selma was a beautiful teenage girl and her brothers not far behind in age. “Briac, Fiona, and Ian belong to Duncan and Tara.”

  Tara spoke up again. “There really isn’t a test. In fact, kids?” The children turned to Tara. “Be sure and tell Miss Adams your name when you speak with her to help her remember.”

  A chorus of “Yes, Aunt Tara” and “Yes, Mom,” followed.

  “Please call me Helen.”

  “We have the easy part. ’Tis you who will stumble over names for weeks.” This came from one of the boys, his name already forgotten. “I’m Kyle,” he reminded her.

  “Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be staying here for weeks.”

  Kyle titled his head to the side and furrowed his brow. “Yes, you will.”

  The convicted tone of the child would have been comical if it wasn’t for the fact that all the people surrounding her had one skill or another. Telekinesis, premonitions, reading people’s minds…heck, Simon’s father could cause an earthquake and his grandfather could charge lightning from the sky. So to hear a ten-year-old tell her she wasn’t going anywhere made her squirm. Did he know something she didn’t?

  Simon must have sensed her unease. He moved closer and placed a hand on her waist again. “Helen and I have some unfinished business to take care of at her home.”

  That caught the attention of the adults. The children appeared unaffected.

  “What kind of business?” Fin, earthquake man, and Simon’s step dad said. The names might not be too difficult to remember if Helen could match them with their Druid power.

  Simon glanced at the kids and raised his brow.

  Lizzy stepped forward. “My guess is we have a lot to discuss. Let’s get Helen dressed, and we’ll continue this over dinner.”

  Dressed? Helen glanced down at her jeans and t-shirt then at all the women in the room. Lord, when was the last time she even wore a dress?

  “How did you manage to travel, Simon? None of the stones were missing.”

  “Helen’s necklace.”

  Simon glanced down at Helen’s neck, and his smile slid from his face.

  “What?”

  “Don’t panic.”

  Oh, God, nothing good ever came from those words. “What?”

  “What necklace, Uncle Simon?”

  Helen lowered her eyes to her chest.

  It was gone. Her necklace, her ticket home, was gone.

  * * * *

  All the color in Helen’s face washed away in the space of one breath. She pushed passed him and jumped back onto his bed, tearing the coverings away in an attempt to find her time-traveling necklace.

  “It’s got to be here.”

  Lizzy narrowed her gaze.

  “She has a necklace that opens the portal of time,” Simon explained. “It’s how we got here.”

  “It’s not here,” Helen cried franticly.

  Simon reached over and placed a hand on Helen’s shoulder. “’Tis okay, lass, we’ll find it.”

  Tara motioned the kids out of the room.

  “How am I going to get home?”

  “We have other stones to move you.”

  “You do? Oh, yeah…you do.” Helen nodded now, her eyes still wide with uncertainty. The fact that Helen allowed his arm to stay around her waist as he helped her off the bed and onto her feet was a testament to how unbalanced she felt.

  “What does it look like?” Lizzy walked around the bed and looked at the floor.

  “The pendant is made of a plain rock, the chain and setting has Celtic knots wound together.”

  Amber, who had moved around the bed with his Mom, stopped Liz from kneeling to search for the missing necklace.

  “Was the stone this big?” Amber raised her hand and circled her forefinger with her thumb.

  “Aye,” Simon told her.

  “The necklace isn’t lost, it doesn’t exist yet.”

  “Excuse me?” Helen asked.

  “After Simon went to your time, five of the sacred stones multiplied leaving large and small stones beside them. I’ve only recently started creating pieces of jewelry to disguise them. ’Tis safe to conclude from your return that after the smaller stones have been generated both cannot be present in the same time. Hence, your necklace simply vanished once you returned.”

  “But I came and went before and nothing happened.”

  “The small stones weren’t born yet,” Lizzy said. “When Fin and I returned with one stone from the future many years ago, that stone disappeared.”

  Helen shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

  “Not to worry, lass,” Ian said. “All you need do is assist Amber in creating the necklace, and you’ll be able to return home with as much ease as you’ve traveled here today.”

 
; “But we need to get back right away, don’t we?” Helen glanced up at Simon.

  “We’ve all the time in the world. When we return we’ll do so within minutes of our leaving. We are talking time travel, love. As long as we don’t try to return to a time when we are already there, everything will work out.”

  Helen barked a tiny laugh. “I wouldn’t want to disappear while staring at myself from across the room.”

  “Exactly. Now why don’t you go with my mother and the others, and I’ll meet you back downstairs when you’re ready.”

  Simon could see a slight hesitation before Helen nodded and allowed herself to be led from the room.

  “’Tis good you’re home,” Fin said again.

  “’Tis good to be home.”

  “Change, son, and we’ll see you downstairs.”

  Simon glanced at the blue jeans fitting snuggly against his skin before nodding.

  * * * *

  Every inch of Helen’s skin buzzed. Amber escorted her to her room where she proceeded to remove a couple of gowns for Helen’s inspection. “You and I look to be similar in size,” Amber said, holding up yards of material in the shape of a dress.

  “Why can’t I just wear this? It isn’t like you guys don’t know where I come from.”

  “Our family understands, but the others have no idea.”

  “The others?”

  “The servants, my father’s men.”

  So far, Helen had only seen the multitude of MacCoinnichs. The thought of employees running around this ancient stone Keep hadn’t occurred to her. “I didn’t think of that.”

  “’Tis very important to keep where and when you’re from away from the others. We don’t call attention upon ourselves as Druids. Perhaps Simon has already told you, but in these times to be called out as a witch would mean death.”

  Helen swallowed. “I don’t shoot fire from my hands like Simon. I shouldn’t have any problems.”

  Amber placed a dark umber gown on her bed and returned the other to a trunk. “I’ll teach you.”

  “Teach me what?” Helen sat and toed off her shoes.

  “To shoot fire from your hands.”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve gone my whole life without that talent, no need to start it now.”

  “You make it sound as if you’re old.”

  Helen felt old. Like she’d lived a hundred years in her small handful. All the family members who surrounded Simon on their arrival made her remember all the years she’d gone without. Still went without. Mrs. Dawson was the closest to family she had and she was thousands of miles and hundreds of years away.

  Amber placed a hand on her arm and flinched. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not offended.”

  “For your loss. I’ve always had my family and can’t imagine what it must have been like to have grown up alone. It must have been difficult.”

  Helen opened her mouth to question how Amber knew so much, and then remembered Simon telling her about Amber’s empathic gift. “Life isn’t fair. In fact, it sucks most of the time.” Wanting to change the subject, Helen tugged her t-shirt from her shoulders. “So how do I get into this thing?”

  Twenty minutes later, Amber escorted her down a dark hall and to a set of massive stairs. MacCoinnich Keep was huge. Stone walls reached high overhead. Wall sconces with candles burned as they walked down the stairs. Everywhere Helen looked was another impressive antique. Though it wasn’t antique at present. She fingered a tapestry hanging on the wall for warmth. “The latest in modern medieval,” she whispered.

  “My mother’s actually.”

  Helen stopped and pulled away to take in the needle and thread art. “Your mother made this…by hand?”

  “We don’t have machines, nor electricity to run them.”

  “That’s amazing. The hours she must have put into it.”

  “Years. Nearly a decade, actually.”

  “Wow.” And it was wow. Who did this kind of thing?

  “There you two are.” Simon walked into the room and paused.

  As his gaze travel down Helen’s frame, hers did the same to his. He’d transformed into a Scottish Highlander with a long kilt. The shirt he wore tapered at his waist, his broad shoulders emphasized by the clothing on his back. He was even more gorgeous in a kilt.

  The way his heated gaze raked over her body in the dress Amber provided gave Helen’s heart a little kick.

  Helen sucked in her lower lip and returned her eyes to his. He wore a tiny smile and mischief danced behind it.

  “Amazing,” he whispered as he reached her side and placed her hand in the crook of his arm. Electricity zinged from the contact. He offered the other to Amber and walked them both into what Helen thought was a dining room.

  She had little time to consider the man who traveled back and forth in time with her as Simon’s extended family surrounded them both.

  “Sit over here,” Tara, or maybe it was Myra, who spoke. Placing the names with faces would take some time she figured.

  Thankfully, Simon sat beside her and addressed everyone around them by name. All the children sat at the far end of the table and waited patiently for the meal to begin.

  Ian, the Laird of the MacCoinnich clan started the small feast once the servants filled the room.

  Helen sat in awe of the amount of people streaming from a kitchen. Some eyed her with curiosity, but none said anything directly. Perhaps they were used to strangers ‘popping up’ out of nowhere and kept their thoughts to themselves.

  “’Tis good to see ye home, Lord Simon.” One of the servants braved.

  “’Tis good to be home, Maggie,” he said with a wink.

  Once the servants left the room, Lora said, “I’ve had a room prepared for you adjacent from Amber’s.”

  Was that an inconvenience? Was she putting someone out? “Thank you.”

  “There are many empty rooms,” Simon told her. “Once the children started coming, expansion on the Keep became necessary.”

  “Filled with love and laughter, right children?” Lora asked.

  “Aye, Nana.”

  Helen helped pass trays loaded with cooked meats, bread, and vegetables around the table.

  “Do you have family, lass?” The question came from Ian.

  “No, not really.” She moved along a tray of beef after taking a small sliver for herself.

  “No family?” one of the kids asked.

  “I’m an orphan.” The words were spoken on autopilot, but the entire family paused. “It’s okay. I’ve been that way my whole life. No big deal.”

  “I’m sorry,” Fin, earthquake man said.

  “Don’t be. I’m used to it.

  “No sisters, brothers?”

  Helen shook her head.

  “Who raised you?”

  The food started to flow around the table again, but ears were intent on her answers. “Foster parents…life. I have Mrs. Dawson,” she said defensively. Helen wasn’t completely alone.

  “Mrs. Dawson is like us,” Simon said, as if the words meant she were part of a cult or religion. “She has a large, private estate where we will return.”

  Ian scanned behind Simon. When the room was void of anyone but family, he said, “Tell us what happened.”

  Helen nibbled on her meal as Simon explained what transpired since he’d left.

  As his story unfolded, and the watchful eyes of his family sat in acceptance of every strange happening, Helen was reminded of how alone she’d been all her life. What would it have been like to have a family who accepted your word as gospel simply because they believed in you? All her life, she had to prove herself to anyone and everyone who crossed her path. With the MacCoinnichs, life didn’t roll that way.

  As the adults spoke, the children attended to each other, the oldest helping the youngest with an occasional direction from an adult. Laird Ian listened, as did most of the men without so much as a creased brow or exclamation.

  The women watched her.

&nbs
p; The crazy thing was, when a servant stepped into the room the MacCoinnich’s skipped into casual conversation. “How is the meal? How high can Ian lift his sword?” The answers were given, and then as soon as they were alone, the chat shifted to the subject of Helen and Simon’s travel in time. The well practiced art of deception. Funny, Helen always thought deceit had a nasty connotation to the meaning. This family didn’t seem to have any bad vibes to speak of.

  Yet, the entire meal was surreal.

  Simon relayed the past few days, and Helen only offered answers to the questions he couldn’t answer.

  Myra, who looked an awful lot like Amber, helped the children from the table and resumed what Helen thought were bedtime rituals. The adults moved to the massive hall and gathered around the hearth.

  “What do you plan now?”

  “We need to go back and determine what Philip was searching for.”

  “He could be a petty thief,” Todd said. “Though, I doubt it.”

  “I doubt it, too. He left with nothing and acted like a man with a secret.”

  “Could he be Druid?” Amber asked.

  “I didn’t get close enough to tell.”

  Helen shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t know anything about Druids until last week.”

  Lizzy laughed. “A few of us know the feeling. Crazy, isn’t it?”

  “Nuts.”

  “You’ll get used to it.”

  “If he is Druid, there is no telling what he’s capable of.”

  Helen glanced at Lora. “What do you mean?”

  “Not all of us use our gifts for good.” For the first time that night, Cian spoke. During the entire meal, he’d only listened, his eyes occasionally drifting toward her. Because he chose that moment to speak, and because of the words he used, a cold dart of uncertainty traveled over her body.

  “What do you mean? You think he might want to hurt me?”

  “Mayhap.”

  Simon swung his head toward Cian, he eyes narrowed. “We shouldn’t speculate.”

  “No, you need to investigate,” Todd said.

  “Exactly. This is why we need to return. We’d like to go back with reinforcements.”

  Simon watched the head of the house and waited for Ian to nod.

  “Amber can help determine Philip’s intentions.”

  Ian’s jaw tightened. But before he could say a thing, Simon added. “And Cian and I can escort Amber and Helen.”