“Almost there,” Colm said. “Be ready.”
Right before we were close enough to jump, I heard Colm say, “Trust your eyes, lassie.”
I wanted to ask for more detail, but the boat was already skimming alongside the rocks, a foot between us and the island.
“Go!” Colm shouted.
I leapt off, landing with a slight skid on the wet stone.
Lachlan followed, and we hurried onto solid ground. When I turned back, Colm was already moving quickly for deeper water.
“He really doesn’t like it here,” I said.
Lachlan turned toward the quiet, barren island. “I don’t blame him.”
“Really?” It felt a bit strange to me, but also somehow comforting.
“Don’t you feel it? This place doesn’t want visitors.”
“I can feel the protection charm. It’ll keep us from transporting off, just like Colm said. But I don’t feel much more.”
He gave me a considering look.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I don’t know. Let’s go.”
He turned and began to climb the small, gradually sloping hill above us. I followed, keeping my eyes peeled for the sight of St. Mary’s.
“There’s not much on this island.” As far as I could see, there were two sections of stone ruins, each on a hill about a mile from the other. Some smaller, roofed buildings sat near the shore on the left side of the island.
“Which one is the church?” Lachlan asked.
I studied them, then settled on the simpler, rectangular ruin and pointed to it. “I bet it’s that one.”
He nodded and set off. We cut across the boggy ground as the sun sneaked behind the clouds. I stayed alert to the presence of others but felt no one.
When we reached the church, I entered through the open doorway. Whatever wooden door had once been there was long gone. Same for the floors, pew, and roof. It was just a shell now, and had been for hundreds of years.
The strangest sense of kinship washed over me. “I’ve never been here before, but it all feels so…familiar.”
Lachlan turned to me, brow furrowed. “Really?”
I nodded. “It’s the strangest feeling.”
“The seer said that this mystery was tied up in your past.”
“And you think this place is part of that?”
He shrugged, turning to inspect the back wall of the church. “Probably.”
“I don’t know much about my past. Just my mother. My father is a blank. Same for Mum’s extended family.” It had never bothered me much before now, but suddenly, it was like a hole in my heart. This lack of knowing could be problematic.
Lachlan looked my way again, his lips parting to say something, but instead, his gaze went to the door behind me.
“I don’t suppose you’re here to pay your respects,” a crotchety old voice said.
I wheeled around and spotted a stooped old man with brilliant red hair that couldn’t possibly be natural. Not given the lines on his face, at least. Like the bartender, he had a magical signature that I couldn’t place.
“No,” I said quietly. “We’re seeking information about the Moon Stone that was found here.”
“Stolen.”
“Stolen?”
“Aye, stolen.” He pounded his cane on the ground. “Do you think it just jumped out of its holy resting place and into the greedy hands of the Englishmen who took it?”
“No, I suppose you have a point,” I said. “If it makes you feel better, it’s been stolen from those same greedy Englishmen.”
A smile creased his face. “Indeed it does.”
“Can you tell us about it?”
“Who’s asking?” He inspected us, his gaze flashing suspiciously.
“Lachlan, Alpha of the Guild City Pack.”
The old man grunted and turned his gaze to me.
“Eve. Just Eve.”
“Not just Eve.” His gaze swept me up and down.
“Do you know me?”
“Know of you.”
Excitement thrummed in my chest. “What do you know? Tell me, please.”
“Come.” He turned and left the church, and I hurried to catch up, with Lachlan on my heels. “We’ll go to my house,” the old man said, moving swiftly across the boggy ground, as nimble and agile as I was. Despite his age and the cane, he was far sprier than he should be.
Something was off about him. Off about this whole place, in fact. I hadn’t felt it when Lachlan first mentioned it—I’d been too enraptured with the familiarity of it. But beneath that, there was a threat here. Something happening.
We reached a slate-roofed cottage a moment later. The chimney billowed smoke, but the interior was relatively fresh smelling, with a vase of purple heather decorating the small wooden table near the kitchen.
“Sit.” He gestured to the table, where a kettle and tea mugs were set out at three spaces.
“Were you expecting us?” I asked. This man clearly lived alone, but he’d set the table for three.
“Aye, saw the boat coming. Knew it was time.”
“Time? For us to visit? How could you possibly know that?”
He shrugged. “Fate turns, as it does.”
All right, that was cryptic. But enough to make it clear that he might have some kind of seer’s gift.
I sat at the table as he poured the tea, and Lachlan joined us.
“So.” He leaned forward. “You’re here about the Moon Stone that was stolen from this place.”
I nodded, guilt suddenly streaking through me. I cared about the Moon Stone for my own purposes, but it clearly was a sacred artifact here. If we recovered it, it really shouldn’t go back to that stuffy museum.
“If you help us, I’ll do what I can to return the Moon Stone,” I said. I felt Lachlan’s surprised gaze on me, but I couldn’t help the words that escaped my lips.
“Will you, now?” the man said.
“It seems obvious that it should come back to the people who rightly own it,” I replied.
“Ah, now there is the tricky bit.” His eyes glittered as he raised a gnarled hand to emphasize his point. “That stone isn’t technically ours, either. It’s the last artifact from a wolf pack that’s now long gone.”
“A wolf pack?” My heartbeat raced. “It’s not your pack?”
He scoffed, sounding almost disgusted. “I am no wolf. I’m Finfolk, another type of shifter, hated by humans. Hidden here, by our design.”
I wanted to ask him what Finfolk were, but suspicion flashed through me, directing me toward a more important question. “Hidden here, on an island that once belonged to a wolf clan that is now gone?”
“Now don’t go thinking that.” Annoyance cracked in his voice. “We didn’t replace them. Didn’t drive them off or nothing. Came here hundreds of years after they were gone, we did. Knew of them from their castle—a strange place, if you ask me.”
“The ruins that we saw from the church?” I asked, thinking of the other hill with the pile of broken stones.
“Aye. Carved things into the walls, they did.”
“And buried the Moon Stone there?” Lachlan asked.
“Indeed.”