Chapter 13

L ynx knocked on Iris's door and looked around at Viktor, who had randomly decided he wanted to play poker with them too, and Zofia, who was humming with excitement.

‘If this is some kind of set-up, I'll be really annoyed,' Lynx said, knowing full well it was.

‘Of course it's not,' said his grandmother. ‘I just thought it'd be nice to welcome them to the village.'

‘With poker?'

‘Why not. Ness said she loved poker.'

‘I just think you're barking up the wrong tree with me and Iris. I like her, but the more time I spend with her, I can't see a future there at all. I think we had that initial fizz of excitement when we met but that's well and truly fizzled out now.'

‘Now this is music to my ears,' Viktor said.

Zofia looked horrified. ‘Are you serious?'

Lynx shrugged. ‘She doesn't really do it for me. Also, I think she and Storm have become quite friendly after what happened today. I think they like each other. I'm happy for her, he seems like a good man.'

‘No, no, no, this won't work at all.'

‘No, it won't work,' Viktor said. ‘If she ends up with Storm, she'll still be here and so will that bloody fox.'

Lynx frowned in confusion.

‘It won't work because Storm is supposed to end up with Erin,' Zofia said.

‘Erin and Storm?' Lynx said in surprise. He hadn't seen that coming.

‘Forget I said that. You and Iris are fated to be together, the sooner you get on board with that idea, the better.'

‘You can't force them together if they don't like each other,' Viktor said.

‘Exactly,' Lynx said. ‘You've always said there's no spell or potion in the world that can make two people fall in love. I think you've made a mistake with this one. Maybe your skill is getting a bit rusty in your old age.'

‘I'll give you old,' Zofia snapped.

Just then the door opened to Ness. ‘Oh hello, thank you all for coming.'

‘Ness, we haven't properly met yet, I'm Lynx.'

‘Oh, nice to meet you. Iris has told me all about you.'

‘She has?' Zofia's eyes lit up.

‘Well yes, mostly how infuriating and annoying she finds you. But she said you were a nice enough man.' Ness gave his shoulder a consoling pat and Lynx had to suppress a bark of laughter. Iris has clearly been planting seeds of her own.

‘Well come in, come in,' she ushered them inside. ‘Oh hello, you must be Viktor.'

‘I am. And thank you for pronouncing my name correctly. Your pet fox couldn't seem to get it right but then I've always found foxes a little stupid.'

‘Viktor, don't be rude,' Zofia snapped. ‘It doesn't make a good impression.'

‘I am nearly two thousand years old, I stopped trying to impress people a long time ago. I know I am impressive, if people can't see that then they really are stupid.' Viktor stalked inside.

‘Sorry about him,' Zofia said as they followed him inside.

Iris was waiting inside with Morag, who scowled at Viktor as he glowered back at her. This was clearly going to be an entertaining night.

‘Hello Zofia, sorry about earlier,' Iris said.

‘Oh no, it was all good fun,' Zofia chuckled. ‘It's nice to properly meet you.'

‘And you.' Iris turned her attention to him. ‘Lynx,' she nodded, politely.

‘Iris.'

Out the corner of his eye he could see Zofia nearly blowing a gasket at their complete indifference.

‘Well, let's get down to business,' Ness said. ‘ Midsomer Murders is on at seven and I can't miss that. Five-card draw, I'll deal.'

‘Oh, I thought I would deal,' Zofia said, meaningfully, nervously holding the pack of cards. She definitely had a few tricks up her sleeve.

‘Why don't I deal,' Lynx said, swiping the deck of cards out of her hand. He knew Zofia was going to find a way to deal at some point in the night, but he just needed to touch the cards to place his anti-cheating spell on them first. Although he'd only tried it once so he wasn't entirely sure how effective it would be. Nevertheless, as he shuffled the deck, he placed his spell on the cards and hoped for the best.

‘Well, I think we can all take it in turns to deal,' Zofia said. ‘But by all means Lynx, you can deal to start with. The night is young.'

They all sat down at the table and Morag and Viktor jumped up onto opposite corners, glaring at each other.

Lynx dealt out five cards to everyone including himself.

Iris looked at her cards. ‘Oh, good hand, but I'll twist.'

Lynx smirked but hid it behind his hand of cards.

‘That's pontoon,' Zofia said.

‘Or blackjack,' Ness pointed out.

‘You do know how to play poker, don't you?' Zofia said.

‘Of course.' Iris studied her cards. ‘Are aces high or low?'

‘Both,' Zofia said.

‘Oh that's confusing.'

‘This is going to be a walk in the park,' Zofia muttered.

‘So I was just telling Zofia, you have a thing for Storm,' Lynx said to Iris.

She looked blankly at Lynx for a second before nodding. ‘Yes, big sexy man, what's there not to like.'

‘Surely you would prefer to be with someone you connect with on a much deeper level?' Zofia said.

‘I suppose,' Iris shrugged. ‘But I've not met anyone here that I have that with. I bet Storm could show me a good time.'

‘No,' Zofia snapped. ‘I mean. There's a lot more to a relationship than sex.'

‘But sex is always a good place to start,' Ness said.

Zofia looked at her in confusion, as did Lynx. He hadn't been expecting solidarity there.

‘I'll take another card,' Iris said, sliding one of hers along the table to Lynx. He dealt her another one.

‘I'll take one too,' Ness said.

‘I'll take another,' Iris said, which wasn't strictly allowed but Lynx did it anyway.

‘So to be clear, you two haven't had sex yet?' Viktor asked.

‘Oh no,' Iris shuddered with disgust.

Lynx pulled a face and shook his head. ‘Definitely not. She's not my type.'

‘Well, that is good news,' Viktor said.

Morag glowered at him, making throat-slitting gestures.

‘Aha, rummy!' Iris said, laying down her hand of cards to show everyone.

‘We're not playing rummy,' Zofia said, exasperated. But everyone looked down at Iris's cards to see she had a royal flush.

‘She can call it what she wants, that still trumps everyone else,' Morag said.

‘This is going to be a long night,' Zofia mumbled.

Iris was having trouble not laughing. Zofia was looking thoroughly dejected and Iris almost felt sorry for her. Almost. Lynx's grandmother had tried every trick in the book to try and get her and Lynx together. She'd started off telling Iris all Lynx's good points, how he travelled the world, how he gave a lot of money to charity, how he'd saved a baby rabbit and how he'd even donated his bone marrow to one of the witch kids in the village a few years before. All of this had undeniably made Iris fall for him even more but she had to look like she was completely bored by this information.

Zofia had then spent a good deal of time talking about fated love stories and how it was always perfect when two soul mates found each other and how theirs were always the happiest marriages because they were two halves of a whole reconnecting again. Iris had told her she didn't believe in any of that stuff and Lynx had agreed.

Throughout it all, Viktor was getting happier and happier and Morag, who they hadn't had time to tell what they were up to, was getting more and more confused and annoyed with Viktor. Iris had spent a long time trying to pretend she didn't understand the rules of poker but despite that Zofia had lost every single round.

Because of Iris's supposed lack of knowledge when it came to poker, and to speed things along a little, Zofia had soon decided they should play in teams. Of course, that meant that Iris was now paired up with Lynx, which they both had objected to. But now she was sitting very close to Lynx so they could look at the cards together and his citrusy spicy scent was wonderful and his hand had secretly been resting on the bare flesh of the inside of her knee for the last half hour, which was utterly delicious. So much so, she wanted the game to come to an end so she could finally spend some alone time with him.

‘This has been fun,' Iris said. ‘But I have some work I need to get done tonight ready for the big opening tomorrow, so I'm going to bow out now.'

‘Me too,' Lynx said, a bit too quickly. ‘I mean, I have things I need to do too.'

‘One more game,' Zofia said. ‘And why don't we make this interesting,' she added, right on cue. Iris had been waiting for her to reveal her hand.

‘I can't afford to play for real money,' Iris protested.

‘I wasn't talking about money.'

‘I'm not playing strip poker,' Lynx said.

‘No, whichever team loses has to pay a forfeit,' Zofia said.

‘What kind of forfeit?' Iris said.

‘Just whatever we come up with you have to do,' Zofia said.

‘I want to know the terms before we agree,' Iris said.

‘OK. If you two lose, you have to go out on a date tonight,' Zofia said.

‘I'm not agreeing to that,' Lynx said, folding his arms.

‘It's just dinner, a picnic, maybe on the village green or in the woods. We'll provide all the food and drink so you don't have to lift a finger. If at the end of the night you decide you don't want anything more to do with each other then I promise to leave you both alone from now on.'

‘Now that's the kind of arrangement I could get on board with,' Lynx said. ‘No more interfering, no comments, no stalking us.'

Zofia nodded. ‘I promise.'

‘OK, I'll agree to that. But what are you going to do if you lose?' Lynx said. ‘I know, you'll both walk through the village, stark naked.'

‘Fine by me,' Ness said, who was more than used to getting her kit off.

Zofia cleared her throat. ‘OK. If that's what you want.'

Ness dealt the cards and Lynx and Iris studied their hand. It was a full house, which was a good hand, probably capable of winning, although there were a few other hands that would rank better.

‘Place your bets,' Ness said.

Lynx and Zofia both tossed their chips into the middle, Lynx throwing a big handful to intimidate his grandmother, or at least make her sweat.

‘Any replacements?' Ness asked.

They both shook their heads and Zofia and Ness didn't replace any of their cards either.

‘Any further bets?'

Iris looked at Lynx and fractionally shook her head.

‘We fold,' Lynx said, throwing his cards face down onto the table.

‘We won?' Zofia said in surprise. ‘We won?'

‘You won,' Iris said.

Zofia stood up to do a little victory dance and then clicked her fingers. A large picnic basket appeared in her hand and she offered it out to Iris.

‘Wow, so you didn't plan this at all then?' Lynx said, sarcastically.

‘You agreed to the terms,' Zofia said.

‘Fine, we'll go out on a date, but no one said anything about enjoying it.'

‘No, but you could at least try to be nice,' Zofia said.

‘Come on, let's get it over with,' Iris said, taking the basket.

Lynx let out a huff of annoyance and stood up. He took the basket from her, opened the door and ushered her out.

They walked across the road in silence just in case Zofia was watching and quickly went inside Lynx's house.

Immediately he took her in his arms. ‘Well, that was a fun night.'

Iris laughed. ‘I loved seeing Zofia getting more and more desperate. Although I was sorely tempted to try and win that round, just to see her really getting her comeuppance.'

‘Me too. We've probably thrown her off the scent for a day or two but her all-seeing ability will catch up with us soon.'

‘Well, let's make the most of it and go on our date.' She let go of him and bent to pick up the picnic basket.

‘No leave that, I can call that to us once we're there.' Lynx went over to the key stones and picked up a medium-sized one. ‘OK, this part won't be fun. But the travelling only lasts for a few seconds and the after-effects wear off after a minute. It's going to feel like you're on the worst rollercoaster in the world, but it'll be worth it to go back to Scotland.'

Iris nodded, taking the stone.

‘Nowhere near your house, remember.'

‘I promise. There aren't even any houses or roads near where we are going, we'll be quite safe.'

‘OK,' he wrapped his arms tight around her. ‘All you have to do is feel the energy in the stone, picture that place in your mind, see it, smell it, feel it, as many details as you can, and then connect your magic to the stone's energy and we'll be there. Whatever you do, don't let go of the stone.'

She nodded, closed her eyes and wrapped her free hand tightly in Lynx's shirt, picturing her favourite spot in the world. The image of it came easily and then she felt a sucking sensation as if she was being ripped from Lynx's lounge with the force of a hurricane. He held her tighter as they tumbled through the fabric of space, twisting, turning, spinning so fast and so hard, and then suddenly they were spat out the other end, stumbling a bit as they landed.

Iris opened one eye to see the beach and the loch and quickly closed it again as her head was spinning.

‘That was horrible.' She clung to Lynx.

‘I know, sorry,' he muttered, taking the stone from her and holding her close.

‘I think I'm going to pass out.'

He scooped her up in his arms and sat down with her in his lap. ‘It's OK, just take some deep breaths, it will pass in a second.'

Her fingers were still wrapped tightly in his shirt and she found some comfort in that, as if he was anchoring her in one place. She took some deep breaths and, after a few moments, the dizziness started to fade. She opened one eye and then the other to see Lynx was looking at her with concern.

‘Are you OK?' he stroked her face softly.

She smiled. ‘I am now.'

She leaned up and kissed him and that feeling for him erupted in her as soon as their lips met. The taste of him was glorious and she moaned softly as she felt his tongue touch her lips. He stroked his hand up her back, touching the bare skin above her dress. She realised her fingers were still wrapped tight in his shirt, so she released them, sliding her hand inside to feel the warmth and smoothness of his chest. He let out a groan and moved his mouth to her throat, kissing across her hammering pulse.

‘I've been wanting to do this all night,' Iris said, as his mouth moved lower. ‘And instead, I had to pretend I didn't even like you.'

‘Me too. All I kept thinking about was our date when I could be alone with you and kiss you.'

She kissed him again and he moved his hand to the back of her neck. It was so utterly wonderful, she had never been kissed like this before, with so much adoration and need. She knew she was falling for this man.

Lynx pulled back slightly and gave her a sweet brief kiss on the lips. ‘We need to stop before I break my no-sex rule.'

She laughed and he leaned back and looked around. She looked around too, trying to see it from his eyes. The white sandy beach they were sitting on was small and enclosed either side by high hills. The loch was surrounded by purply hills undulating along the whole length of it, the water glittering with a pink hue as the sun started its slow descent in the sky above them. There was not a single house or building in sight, although there were plenty further up the loch, but right here it was secluded, private.

‘This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been,' Lynx said.

She looked at him. ‘Really? I've always thought so myself but you've travelled the world.'

‘This is raw and rugged, I love it.'

She stood up and took his hand. He got up too and they walked to the shoreline. ‘Down there to the far right, is Inveraray Castle, which is a gorgeous old castle. We can't see it from here, but I'll take you there one day. Over here to the far left is Tarbert on the opposite side of the water and that's where the loch goes out to the sea, in the Firth of Clyde. And up there, in the hills in front of us, behind that big lump of trees, is my home.' Iris saw him frown. ‘Don't worry, it's about a twenty-minute walk through the woods and over the hills down to the loch from my house, and then probably a half-hour swim to get to our side. I used to make that journey several times a week to get to here and it's quite the trek. Christopher wouldn't even set foot in the woods for fear of ruining his shoes, and he never wanted to go swimming here or anywhere outdoors, so we're quite safe.'

‘Why did you come here, specifically? I mean, it's beautiful but I imagine there are many beautiful places around here you could swim.'

‘It's so secluded here, no houses or roads on this part of the loch so I can swim naked without fear of being seen. But it's probably the wildlife that's the biggest draw. I often see otters on the rocks over here and seals that seem to spend all their time sleeping on the shores; for some reason they all prefer this side. The loch is a lot deeper this side than the other so we'll often get dolphins and sometimes whales as they come in from the sea.'

‘You get whales here?' Lynx asked.

‘Yes, not often but we get a sighting at least a handful of times in the summer. There are whale and dolphin cruises that go round the loch and out in the sea just round the corner from here and they seem to see them all the time in the warmer months. Orcas occasionally too, though I've never seen one. I've only seen a minke twice, though that was impressive enough. One had a baby with it so that was pretty cool. And I never tire of seeing the dolphins and they're here all the time.'

‘It sounds incredible. What a brilliant place to grow up.'

‘In terms of wildlife and beauty, yes. This was my playground, I'd spend hours out here exploring the hills, forests and lochs, watching the deer, the red squirrels, the sea life and just enjoying all this peace and quiet. But growing up half-kelpie, half-witch, surrounded by mundanes that know you're different even if they don't know why, led to a lonely existence. I was either out here alone or tucked up in my favourite armchair in my beloved farmhouse reading a book alone. I'm envious of what you had growing up: that safety, that community. I wish I had that.'

‘You have it now.'

She smiled. ‘I know.'

‘And regardless of what happens between me and you, there will always be a home for you in Midnight.'

‘Thank you. Knowing that I can come back here any time I want in the blink of an eye helps making that decision a little bit easier. Even if the journey is awful.'

‘You can use the key stones whenever you want, as long as you don't go back to the farmhouse alone. We can go together in a few months once all of this has blown over.'

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him. ‘You'll love it, it's so rustic and cute, and such a warm, happy home. It has great views of the hills and the loch. It'll make the perfect summer house for us. One day, if things work out between us, that is. Although we may need a nursery at some point too. Or am I jumping too far ahead? This is only our first date and I'm already talking about decorating the nursery.'

He cupped her face and kissed her. ‘I can't wait to see it. And decorate the nursery if and when the time comes.'

‘You're really not freaked out by this?'

‘No, I'm not. Shall we go and see what's in the picnic basket?'

They turned away from the shore and Lynx clicked his fingers to bring the picnic basket to him. He placed it down and opened it up.

On top was a blanket which he spread out on the beach and they sat down on it. Inside the basket Iris could see quiche, cheeses, crackers, cold meats, strawberries, grapes and even some sparkling elderflower and a carton of orange juice.

‘Wow, your nan thought of everything.'

‘I'm surprised there's no champagne. Not that I drink that much but champagne is much more her style than sparkling elderflower.'

‘Ah, I don't drink a lot either so the elderflower and orange juice is probably Ness's input.'

‘Was she on our side tonight?' Lynx took out two plates and started unloading all the food onto the blanket.

‘Yes, we had a big heart-to-heart before you guys came. It turns out we've both been keeping a lot from each other. We agreed to be more truthful with each other from now on, including not going behind my back with Zofia's shenanigans.' Iris popped a grape in her mouth as she thought about whether to tell Lynx about what her nan had told her, but they needed the full picture when opening the locket. ‘Last night when I told her that the locket was glued shut, she said she needed what was inside the locket, which made me worry when you told me what Ashley said. I talked to her about the locket and how Ashley thinks there's something bad in there. It turns out she's been storing her memories in there – her wedding day, when her daughter was born – because she keeps forgetting the important stuff. She puts each memory inside a tiny crystal and attaches them to the inside of the locket.'

‘I'm sorry she's going through that, that has to be hard for her.'

‘Yes, it has to be awful. I think she's embarrassed about it too, so don't talk to her about it. I'm only telling you because you need to know what we're dealing with before we open the locket. I'll tell Ashley too, just in case that's what she's sensing. Maybe she's not expecting something magical and she can feel there's magic inside.'

‘I hope that's all it is.'

‘Me too.'

Lynx was lying on his side chatting to Iris, the sun just disappearing behind the hills, when suddenly she sat up in alarm and pointed to the loch.

‘Look!'

He sat up and saw a huge greyish brown shape gliding along the surface of the loch. That thing had to be easily seven or eight metres long. His first thought was that maybe the Loch Ness monster was real and had perhaps moved lochs until he saw the huge dorsal fin sticking out of the water.

‘Is that a whale?'

‘It's a shark,' Iris squealed in delight.

To his shock, she stood up, kicked off her shoes and pulled off her dress so she was only in her underwear and started running towards the water.

‘Iris, what the hell! Are you going swimming with a shark?'

‘It's a basking shark, they're completely harmless. Do you have goggles and a snorkel back at your house?'

‘Yes but…'

‘Get them, trust me.' She ran into the water.

He swore under his breath, clicked his fingers for his snorkel gear, yanked off his t-shirt and jeans and ran into the water after her, pulling on the goggles.

He watched her dive gracefully into the cold water and then she disappeared under the surface and didn't come back up. He quickly followed and saw the basking shark slowly swimming up the loch with its mouth wide open. It was quite possibly the most incredible thing he'd ever seen in his life. This massive, gentle giant of the deep. It was as big as a single-decker bus.

Lynx surfaced briefly to get some air and then dived back down again, joining Iris. She was staying a respectful four or five metres back from the beast, but the shark had seen them and was slowly heading in their direction. As it reached them, it closed its mouth just briefly before gently nudging its nose into Iris. She let out a squeal of pure joy as she stroked the top of its nose and Lynx wondered if the shark could sense she was a kelpie. It slid past Iris and gave Lynx a gentle nudge too, like a dog greeting its owner. Lynx tentatively stroked its nose, feeling the coarse roughness of its skin, before the shark moved on, reopening its mouth and gliding off up the loch.

Lynx moved back to the surface and Iris did too, laughing with delight at what she'd seen.

‘That was magnificent,' Lynx said, trying to catch his breath.

‘What a privilege,' Iris said. ‘I've never seen one before, aren't they so beautiful? And he was so gentle.'

‘Did he know you were a kelpie?'

‘I think so. The animals know we're not mundanes, they can feel it.'

‘Yeah, I thought that too. I could feel this peace from him, he knew we weren't going to hurt him. That was the most amazing experience of my life,' Lynx said, shaking his head.

‘Did you see all the fish too? There must be loads of plankton in the water to attract the shark, and the sprats also feed off the plankton. The mackerel, the bigger silver fish, they go after the sprats and they in turn will bring in the dolphins. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few of them tonight.'

Lynx thought they were unlikely to see much more now. The last slivers of sunlight had just disappeared behind the hills, leaving behind a deep rosy twilight which would probably last another half hour, maximum, before the darkness of the night rolled in. The hills were already silhouetted against the dusky sky, the moon was out and stars were starting to appear above them.

But it seemed they wouldn't have to wait any longer as, hot on the shark's tail, clearly chasing after all the fish, was a massive pod of dolphins.

‘Look!' Lynx said, pointing at them as they jumped through the water.

‘Oh wow. There's so many of them,' Iris said. ‘Do you surf?'

‘Yes but—'

Iris suddenly formed a surfboard out of ice and climbed on, gesturing frantically for him to get up too. He quickly hauled himself up behind her.

‘Hold on tight,' Iris said and he wrapped his arms around her waist, still confused how they were going to propel themselves forward when there were no waves to move them. But he should have known magic would be involved. She stretched out her hand in front of them and propelled the board through the water alongside the dolphins. The creatures were completely unfazed by the magical see-through board that was suddenly racing up the loch beside them, in fact, they moved closer, jumping either side of the board. Some of them started getting really excited and jumping clean out of the water by their side. It was utterly exhilarating. Iris let a whoop of excitement, holding both hands in the air.

Suddenly one of the dolphins leapt out of the water and flipped the surfboard to the side, causing both Iris and Lynx to go tumbling into the water.

They surfaced, coughing, spluttering and laughing as the dolphins disappeared up the loch.

‘Are you OK?' Lynx asked, although it was quite clear she was. She was practically glowing with happiness, her smile so huge, her eyes sparkling, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

‘Best first date ever.'

‘Well, I'm not sure I can take any credit for that.'

She leaned forward and kissed him and he forgot any more protests, forgot how brilliant the last ten minutes had been because being with her was the most magnificent thing in the world.

Lynx was lying on the beach, staring up at the stars, as Iris cuddled into his chest. It was a beautiful night, with millions of stars peppering the inky sky and the moon covering the loch with a silvery blanket. There were bats fluttering through the cloudless sky, flying low over the water and then off up over the hills. It was so peaceful and quiet, though the warmth of the day had well and truly gone by now and he could feel Iris's skin was cool to the touch. They would have to go home soon, but he was so blissfully happy right now.

Lynx cleared his throat. ‘Iris, since we've met, you've turned my life upside down in the best possible way. I never realised I could feel this happy. I know this is only our first date but I'm excited about our future. I know it's all come as a shock to you and your whole life has changed over the last few days, leaving your home, coming to Midnight, seeing your future. But if you stay, I promise you we will find a way to keep Scotland in your life. I know it's important to you and I can see why, but we can come up here every weekend if you want. And there's no pressure, I'm happy for you to take as much time as you need to decide whether you want a future with me. And if you decide you don't want that, that's OK too, but you have to know, I'm falling in love with you.'

There was silence from Iris and he cursed that he was probably moving too fast for her. He lifted his head to look at her and realised she was fast asleep. He smiled; it was probably just as well.

He shook her gently awake and she stirred. ‘Oh sorry,' she mumbled.

‘Don't apologise. Shall we go back to Midnight?'

She nodded.

He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the key stone. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and she held onto him as he thought of his bed back home. A second later, they were ripped from the beauty of the beach and tumbling through space, flipping upside down, twisting, turning. He felt Iris's arms tighten around him and then they landed hard on his bed.

‘Urgh, I feel sick,' Iris muttered, clinging to him.

‘I know, sorry.'

‘Are we home?'

He smiled at that, although he knew she probably didn't mean it in the way he wanted her to. ‘Yeah, we are.'

He took a few deep breaths, trying to clear his head. Then he clicked his fingers to call the picnic basket, the blanket and their shoes to them. He put them down by the side of the bed, pulled the duvet over the two of them and she snuggled back into his arms again as they both drifted off to sleep.