LOCH MORAR, SCOTLAND
The Past - Greystone Castle
With a jolt, Paige sat up and looked around the room, wondering why she had woken up. It was much darker than when she had fallen asleep. But she felt, rather than saw, that something was just not right.
“Gavin?” She gave his body a slight nudge, something she had done a million times since she was in the past the first time.
It was a knee-jerk reaction, out of habit, but he was unresponsive.
Laying her hand on his chest, she checked to make sure he was still breathing, but she didn’t feel his heartbeat.
“Ohmigod!” She placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him, but she couldn’t see his face, it was too dark.
A clattering sound startled Paige from her momentary freak out. “Who’s there?” she yelled out into the darkness.
There was no response.
Struggling, she tried to get out from under the furs. “I have a gun!” she lied and then grimaced. If there was an assailant in the room, would they even know what a gun was?
“Gavin,” she repeated, backing out of the bed. Her foot hit something unusually cold and sharp. Immediately, she jerked her foot back onto the bed and screamed.
The dog started barking crazily and she could hear him tearing up the stairs.
“Elvis,” she yelled, happy to have him come to her rescue.
His barking abruptly stopped with a yelp and then she heard nothing.
Fear shot through her, freezing her in place as she listened intently for the dog. “Oh, no! Elvis?” she whispered, afraid to speak any louder.
Paige climbed from the bed. Something landed on the floor with a soft thud and she nearly jumped right back into the bed but then stopped herself, because that would not save her or Gavin.
It wasn’t like when she was younger, and in her own mind, reasoned, being on the bed and under the covers stopped imaginary monsters from getting her. Paige now knew, very real monsters existed and they wouldn’t care if she was in her mentally purported safety zone.
Moving around the edge of the bed, I made my way to the fireplace. Although the fire had long gone out, there were still few red coals guiding the way. Reaching down, she picked up one of the sticks that she had brought up earlier.
“Show yourself, you fiend,” she yelled like a crazed person, brandishing the stick in the air.
The wind and dead air were only her response.
“Dang it!”
Paige knew she had two choices. She could either go and see what happened to the dog or shut and bolt the door, so she could check on Gavin. She loved that dog but her love for Gavin took precedence.
Swinging the stick back and forth in front of her body, she made her way across the room to the door. The end of the stick whacked against the edge of the door and reverberated down my arm.
Paige quickly slammed the door shut and brought the bolt home.
Once safely ensconced in the room, she ran back across the room to the bed, where Gavin was. Fumbling, she grabbed up the candle and matches that she kept on the bedside table.
Striking the match, she lowered the candle to the flame and held aloft so she could inspect Gavin.
He was breathing.
“Thank God.” Feeling a surge of relief, she set the candle on the bedside table and hugged him tightly. He still felt chilled but at least she could feel his heart beating and hear his breathing.
Paige held onto him for a few more minutes and then finally sat back and looked at him again. “Please wake up.”
There was no response.
Letting out a heavy sigh, she stood back up, went to add more wood to the fire, and prodded it back to life with one of the sticks.
Once the fire was going well enough to give off some more light, she walked around the room to see what she heard before.
When she got to the side of the bed, her stomach pitched at what she saw on the floor.
It was the dagger, the one she had put away so carefully earlier, was lying there, right next to the bed.
In shock, she couldn’t even get her feet to move.
Her heart thumped so loudly in her chest she thought it would break out and run away which was something she wanted to do as well—but she had no place to run to. Besides, even if she did have a place to run to, she would like to think that she wouldn’t run because she couldn’t leave Gavin.
Now she knew someone was in the room And She also knew that someone was trying to get Gavin’s creepy dagger…but that did little to enlighten her, who it was or why they wanted it. And more importantly, why the hell it was so close to the bed.
Of course, on some level, she knew that answer, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to believe it.
So instead, she lifted the dagger, carried it across the room, and hid it behind a lose stone in the wall that she discovered one day while she was cleaning.
After the stone was securely in place, she looked over at the door. Part of her wanted to go out and make sure Elvis was all right, but the sane part of her mind disagreed with that notion entirely. It was too dark. Even with the candle there would be no way for her to see if someone was waiting outside the door. So, instead of going out in the dark to investigate, Paige paced the floor, all the while hoping that Elvis would be okay until the morning.