Chapter 3

T he fuel light on the dashboard flashed in Anna's eyeline, despite her best efforts to ignore it. Damnation.

She'd hired a car at Aberdeen station and set out to find Lily's new home with all the excitement and enthusiasm of beginning a grand new adventure. She'd not stopped to get fuel. Or supplies. Or even a drink. She'd been sure she'd reach her friend's house long before she needed to.

Now, that decision was turning out to be yet another of her blunders. Just like the fact she'd not even bothered to go home and pack before she'd set out and therefore had only the clothes she was wearing. Just like the fact that she'd forgotten her phone charger and now her phone was precariously low on battery. Just like the fact she'd not even brought a map and was reliant on the sat nav that seemed determined to lead her into the middle of nowhere.

Aargh! Why could nothing ever be simple?

The road she was following was little more than a rough track through wild country. She'd not seen another car or building for miles. This couldn't be right. Lily wouldn't live all the way out here, would she? Her friend had always been about apartment living, cafes on every corner, and shopping centers within walking distance.

No. The sat nav had definitely gone wrong somewhere. She bit her lip, glancing at the fuel light again. The gauge on the dashboard said the tank was just about empty. Perhaps she ought to turn around and head back the way she came. At least she knew there was civilization in that direction. But just as she was about to slow the car and look for a turning space, she spotted a house in the distance. It looked to be an old farmhouse and it was perched at the base of a hill.

Ha! Perhaps the people who lived there would have a phone charger. Or, if she was very lucky, they might have some fuel they'd give her. At the very least, she could ask for directions.

She drove up to the farmhouse, brought the car to a standstill, and applied the brake. She got out of the car and turned in a slow circle, looking around. The farmhouse stood alone, its roof half-collapsed and its windows boarded up. Beyond the ramshackle building, a field of wild grass rippled in the wind, a sea of green under the darkening sky. The silence was broken only by the cawing of crows sitting on the remains of the crumbling chimney and watching with beady, intelligent eyes.

Anna felt a chill run through her, despite her thick coat. She didn't think she'd get a phone charger here. This place looked like it hadn't been lived in for years.

She crossed her arms, chewing her lip. This was just getting annoying. She'd traveled for hours to get here and she'd ended up in the middle of nowhere. What she wouldn't give for a gin and tonic right now !

She'd passed a very cozy-looking hotel several miles back—one that had a bar. If she couldn't find Lily's place today, she would check in there for the night, spend the evening propping up the bar, then resume her journey tomorrow. The stay would max out her credit card, but what the hell. She didn't have much left to lose.

She approached the tumbledown farmhouse, stepping carefully over the cracked paving stones and weeds.

"Hello?" she shouted. "Anyone here?"

She felt faintly ridiculous. Of course there was nobody here. Who would live in a ruin like this? She set her hand to the wooden door and pushed. It swung open with a creak, revealing a shadowy interior within.

"Hello?"

No answer.

Anna ducked under the lintel. Inside, dust particles floated lazily in slanted beams of sunlight that cut through the boarded windows, painting ghostly stripes on the wooden floor. The air was stale with a faint scent of years of abandonment and cobwebs fluttered in corners, their residents long gone.

Anna looked around warily. All around her lay remnants of what this place had once been—a broken chair, a rusty fireplace, a wooden staircase that looked as though it might disintegrate at the merest touch.

Deliciously spooky, she thought to herself, and a bit sad too. Whatever history this place had was lost and forgotten now, swallowed by time and replaced by decay.

"Bloody hell," she muttered to herself, batting away a large web that hung down from one of the exposed beams. " I know there are such things as a ‘fixer-upper', but this is ridiculous."

"Greetings, dear."

Anna squealed and spun to see a woman standing in the doorway behind her, her figure silhouetted by the dimming light outside. The woman was tiny, her slate gray hair worn in a tight bun and her face a map of wrinkles.

"Didnae mean to scare ye, dearie," she said with a wide smile, her voice soft yet vibrant, with an accent that suggested she came from the Highlands.

"You...you didn't," Anna said, clutching her chest to calm her racing heart. "Oh all right, you did. Scared the living bejeebies out of me, actually. I didn't expect to find anyone here."

"Oh?" the woman asked. "Then why were ye shouting, ‘hello?' if ye didnae expect anyone to answer?"

Anna paused. That was a good question. "I...erm...well...I..."

The woman chuckled. "Dinna fash, my dearie. I should introduce myself. Name's Irene. Irene MacAskill."

"Irene?" Anna repeated. "I'm Anna." She looked around at the ruined farmhouse with its peeling walls and sagging roof. "You...you don't live here, do you?"

Irene laughed, a bright sound full of youthful joy. "Oh dear me, no! I might look a bit rough around the edges but this might be a bit too rustic, even for me! My old bones like a bit of comfort these days."

"Oh. Right. So what are you doing here?"

"I might ask ye the same question," replied Irene. "What brings ye to this old ruin? "

"I was looking for my friend, Lily."

"Aye, well, we all need our friends when we've had a bad day, dinna we?"

How did Irene know she'd had a bad day? Was she really that obvious? She had often been told she wore her emotions plastered over her face, but still...

"But I wonder," Irene continued, stepping forward. "Is it just yer friend ye are looking for? Or is there something else as well? Something ye've been looking for yer whole life but never known how to find?"

"Er...nope, definitely just looking for my friend," Anna replied, taking a step back.

Who was this old woman? Where had she come from? And why did she make Anna feel so uncomfortable, like she was suddenly sharing the room with a thundercloud?

"I don't suppose you have a phone charger do you?" Anna asked. "No, I suppose not. Do you live nearby? I could give you a lift if you like? My car's just outside. It'll be getting dark soon and you really don't want to be wandering around out here then."

Irene gazed up at her, dark eyes twinkling. They were so deep they looked like pools of spilled ink. "That's mighty kind of ye, my dear," she said, clasping her hands together. "But I'll be just fine. As will ye, just as soon as ye find what ye are looking for."

"Yes, my friend Lily."

"That isnae what I meant. Ye are looking for something else entirely, Anna Webster, and until ye find it, yer restless heart will never be at peace. "

How did Irene know who she was? She'd given her first name but not her last. What was going on here? She suddenly felt uneasy. There was something about Irene MacAskill...something she couldn't quite put her finger on. "Who are you?" she asked, taking another step back.

"Who I am isnae what's important. It's what I've come to show ye that matters."

"And what is that?"

"Ah, now we are getting somewhere," Irene replied. "The balance is out of kilter because ye are not where and when ye are supposed to be, Anna Webster. But now ye have a chance to change that. Ye have a chance to take a new path, if ye have the courage."

"Okaaay. Well, it's been nice meeting you," Anna said, backing towards the door. Seriously? She had come all the way out here and run into the local crackpot? Just her luck. "But I really have to be going. There's a bottle of gin with my name on it back at the hotel. Goodbye."

She turned, heading to the door, but Irene was suddenly in front of her, raising an arm and effectively blocking her path.

"Ye should look behind ye," the old woman said, her voice gentle but firm.

Turning, Anna saw the back door of the cottage. It hung open, forming an arch, and beneath that arch she could see...something.

Not the countryside she'd expected but a strange shimmering haze, as though the arch beneath the lintel was filled with a cascading waterfall .

What the—? Intrigued and a little baffled, Anna took a step closer.

As she squinted into the haze, she realized there were shapes moving inside it—not just shadows, but tangible forms visible through the warm distortion. She saw a high castle with many turrets, a group of people dancing and laughing on the grass outside, and then a man walking towards her, his hand outstretched. He wore a hood and she couldn't see his face, but the sight of him sent such a shock of recognition and longing through her that she gasped.

"What is this?" she cried, whirling on Irene. "What is going on?"

"That is up to ye," Irene replied softly. She clasped her hands and watched Anna patiently, her dark eyes suddenly seeming full of an ages-old wisdom. "I can only offer choices, my dear. Ye can step through the arch and walk the path that awaits ye on the other side or ye can turn around and keep on the path ye are on. Yer choice, my dear. But know this. If ye choose to step through the arch, if ye choose to take this road, it will be hard. Harder than anything ye've faced. Ye will question everything ye think ye know about yerself. But if ye have the courage to answer those questions, it might just lead ye to what ye've been searching for all along."

Anna wanted to scoff at Irene's words. What a load of nonsense! Total rubbish! Who would believe such tripe? Irene was clearly some old loon who liked to scare tourists. Well it wasn't going to work on her, thank you very much!

And yet, rather than laughter, what she felt was a rumbling kind of disquiet, as though she was suddenly standing on the edge of a cliff and couldn't see what lay beyond. But she could feel it. The longing had not evaporated and she felt a strange urge to do what the old woman said, to step through that arch and be damned with the consequences.

She stared at the doorway again. Beneath the arch the air still swirled like heat-haze. The images had become distant though, as though they were receding, and the ache in Anna's heart suddenly intensified.

No! she wanted to shout. Don't go!

She took a few steps. She was now mere feet from the arch, close enough to reach out and touch the shimmering haze if she wished. She found she was barely breathing as she inched closer, her heart beating wildly.

Anna looked over her shoulder at Irene. The old woman gazed back, saying nothing, only waiting.

What are you doing? Anna thought. This is stupid! You're listening to some loony old woman!

But what she saw in Irene's face wasn't the look of a madwoman or a charlatan trying to trick an unsuspecting victim. This was something else. Something ageless. Something real.

Anna turned back to face the arch, reached out her hand, and stepped through.