Arcane Rising: The Darkland Druids - Book One, R Nicole [suggested reading TXT] 📗

“You still want to believe that after what you just witnessed?” Rory looked a little frustrated, but there was a lot of that going around.

“You did that, not me.”

“So you believe me?” He didn’t look convinced.

“This isn’t happening to me,” I muttered to myself. “This isn’t real.”

Rory laid his hand on my shoulder. “There’s more to this reality than anyone will ever realise. There are nightmares that don’t bear mentioning, but there are also things that are made from beautiful magic. The human world is just a thin layer on the surface of so much more.”

Calmness spread through me like a wave of warmth from the sun on a bright, spring day. For a moment, I almost believed him. What if there was more? What if this was what my dad was hiding from me? If that was true, then there must’ve been something dangerous enough for him to take me all the way to Australia.

I shook my head and knocked Rory’s hand away. “I can’t. This stuff… It’s children’s stories, not real life.”

No doubt there were people out there who wished they could escape their lives into something otherworldly, but I wasn’t one of them. I believed in science and rational thinking. I believed in evidence.

“Ach, and she thinks I’m the one who’s doolally,” Rory muttered.

“What did you just say about me?” I demanded, but he didn’t reply.

He stood in front of me and held open his hand. For a moment I was confused, then shock began to set in as a blue shimmering light sparked in the centre of his hand…and began to grow.

Lines sprouted, forming corners and angles, growing and becoming more complex as they folded back on themselves. Along the thread, the colour merged from blue to purple to green and beyond.

It was a shimmering geometric, holographic cube.

“It’s the beginning of a prism,” Rory explained. “Weave one of these and you can manifest just about anything.”

“And you’re saying I can do this?”

He nodded, completely serious. “Care to tell me your name now, lass?”

“Elspeth,” I whispered, staring at the shimmering shape in his palm. “My name is Elspeth.”

“There aren’t many of us in this world, but those who are… Well, we know them all, Elspeth. But you?” He studied my features and shook his head. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” I whispered as he closed his hand, cutting off the light.

“Who are your parents? What did they do?”

“My father was an environmental scientist.”

“Was?” He tilted his head to the side. “Did he die in a car accident? They usually do in these stories.”

“He died a hero,” I snarled. “Don’t you go saying things like to that. You didn’t know him.”

He held up his hands and took a step back. “All right, all right. I never said the man wasn’t good. Dare I ask about your mother?”

“I don’t know who she was. Dad never spoke about her.”

He was silent for a moment as the group of people wandered past, leaving us alone in the alcove once more.

“Well, one thing’s clear,” he murmured. “If you’re determined to walk around Edinburgh, you need to learn how to hide yourself.”

“Hide myself?” I echoed.

“That’s how they found you last night. If I wasn’t there…” He shook his head.

The man with the pointed teeth? I screwed my face up, confused. Who were ‘they’ exactly?

“Will you come with me?” Rory took my hand and caught my gaze. “Please?”

I hesitated, conflicted between what I’d seen since arriving in Scotland and what I knew reality ought to be.

Still, this could be my chance to find out the truth about who I was and where I’d come from, but at what cost? I wasn’t special. I didn’t have any magical powers or mysterious connection with nature. I was just a plain woman with no family.

I pulled my hand away.

How could I go with him? He could be luring me into a trap or worse. Maybe I was being conned and was about to fall headfirst into a human trafficking ring.

Rory had shown me a few tricks, but it wasn’t enough to convince me that magic was real. Those people could have been actors and that light in his hand could have been a projection or hologram of some sort. He’d already tried to snatch me once.

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

“Elspeth,” he urged, “you must come with me. It’s not safe.”

“This is just… It’s not enough.” I stepped around him and he didn’t try to stop me. I walked away, emerging out of the alcove into a changed world.

While I was talking to Rory, the hill had fallen silent. Rain began to fall, driving away the last of the tourists and I was alone at what felt like the top of the world—or the end of it.

What do I do now? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue my search, let alone stay in Scotland. Maybe I should go get my things and get on the next train to London. It was easy enough to change my plans. Everything was booked, just the dates needed to be rearranged.

“Elspeth!” Owen’s voice rang out across the forecourt and I turned to find him jogging towards me. “I’m glad you’re still here,” he said, stopping in front of me. “Turned out that call was a false alarm.”

I stared at him, remembering what Rory had said. Why are you hanging around that guy? Can’t you see what he is? I blinked as droplets of misty water settled on my eyelashes.

Something didn’t feel right. Suddenly, I was aware that my fingers ached and I closed my hands into tight fists.

Owen’s brow creased and he stepped closer. “Elspeth? What’s wrong?”

“I-I don’t feel so good,” I muttered, looking for a bench. I needed to sit before I fainted.

He reached for me. “Here, let me help you.”

The moment he touched my skin, the world splintered and a burst of colour shot through my vision. I gasped and recoiled when I saw the creature looking down at me.

It