Chapter Two
Magda saw the car drive up and ran outside. She was by the side of the car by the time Malcolm got out. She gave him a bear hug like it had been years instead of days since she had seen him. He hugged her back with a laugh.
“Ma, it has been less than a week since I saw you, and you act like I haven’t been home in years.” His mother released him with a smile. “I will always be glad to see you. You will always be my wee bairn, even if you tower over me. You should be used to it by now,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.
Carrie had gotten out of the car to watch the banter between the two. Carrie remembered meeting Magda at the wedding, but things were so hectic she hadn’t had a chance to talk to her.
Magda noticed Carrie watching them with a smile on her face. “Och, where are my manners!” Magda walked over to Carrie and gave her a hug. “Welcome to our home, Carrie. I’m so glad Malcolm invited you to stay with us. Come, let me show you to your room while Malcolm gets your luggage.” She threw Malcolm a look that told him he should take his time as she put her arm around Carrie’s waist, slowly walking into the house and asking her questions about her family in America.
Malcolm shook his head. His mother had a knack of making someone feel at home while she interrogated them in such a way; they had no idea what she was doing.
Carrie looked around. Magda’s home was a quaint cottage set in a grove of trees. The first room was the living room. A fireplace sat in the middle of a wall, and there was a couch against the wall that faced the fireplace with a coffee table in front of it. On the opposite walls were recliners with tables and lamps beside each of them. The lamps gave off a warm glow, giving it a comfortable, cozy feeling.
Carrie could smell something wonderful coming from the kitchen, but Magda took her down a short hall into a beautiful. The walls were peach, and there was a queen-sized bed in the middle with a gorgeous handmade quilt. To the side of the bed was an end table and lamp with a clock resting on it. The curtains were also peach, covering a huge bay window. Carrie gasped at the view.
She saw a huge lawn with blue flowers planted in the outline of a beautiful blue dragon. “This room is beautiful, and so is the view. I love dragons.”
Magda gave her a huge smile. “I’m glad you like it.”
Malcolm came in with Carrie’s luggage.
Magda started to usher Malcolm out of the room as she looked back at Carrie and said, “You get some rest. Supper will be done in about an hour, so you have some time. Afterward, Malcolm can show you the rest of the house and the grounds.”
Before Carrie could say anything, Magda had shut the door firmly behind her. Carrie shrugged and decided to give the bed a try. She wasn’t tired, but she could lay there and think about all the things she had seen while she had been in Scotland and try to figure out what it was that Malcolm wasn’t telling her. She knew he was keeping some kind of secret, but she didn’t know what. She hoped he would trust her soon. She had told him her deepest secret and hoped he would do the same.
Magda and Malcolm sat at the kitchen table, Magda could tell from the concerned look on Malcolm’s face that something was bothering him. “Okay, lad, what’s bothering you so much that your face looks like you had something sour to eat?”
Malcolm started. How does she always know? “Ma, do you remember the stories you and Da always told me about the Chosen Ones? How some humans had gifts given to them to help dragon shifters?”
Magda leaned back in her chair. This wasn’t something she had expected. “I do. I remember how your Da and I would tell you tales of the Chosen Ones that were passed down from our parents. Why do you ask?”
“I think Carrie might be one,” Malcolm said. “She told me when she was a wee lass she knew things were going to happen. She had a feeling her grandmother was going to get shot when she went hunting. She said it was just something she felt. Later that day, her grandmother was shot by a stray bullet. It traumatized Carrie and her mother. I guess her mother was afraid of Carrie’s ability so never mentioned it. The poor lass thinks she is some kind of freak and that just uttering the words made the accident happen. I have never seen someone as grief stricken as she was while she told me her story. She said since she has met Aldain and me, she has a feeling there is more to us than meets the eye, and she has been dreaming of dragons. When I held her in my arms, it felt to me and my dragon like this is where she belongs. We both hated letting her go. I feel like she is connected to us.”
Magda was shocked. To her knowledge, there hadn’t been a Chosen One in hundreds of years. She sat for a minute, deep in thought. “Well, let’s keep a close eye on her while she’s here. If she’s truly a Chosen One, we’ll know soon enough because dragons act as catalysts for their powers. They get stronger and are enhanced. Let’s see what happens. If she truly is a Chosen One, we will have to take her to the Cailleach.”
Malcolm shuddered at the mention of the old witch. The difference between a Cailleach and a Chosen One was you went to the Cailleach to ask a question. If she could, she would give you an answer. Cailleaches kept to themselves. You went to them; they didn’t come to you. He would never forget the one time he had seen her. She had long, gray hair, and her eyes were white. She looked blind, but she could see better than a hawk.
When he was a wee lad, there was a gathering of the clan; a sickness was killing the clan females at an alarming rate. None of the herbs or medicines they used were working, so the clan leader at the time, Aldain’s father, Ian, and a few other clan members went to meet with the Cailleach. Malcolm asked if he could go because he was curious to see what she looked like. He had never seen her but had heard stories. Reluctantly, his father told him he could come.
The sight of the Cailleach scared Malcolm so badly that his first instinct was to run. He knew if he did, however, his father would be ashamed of him for acting like a coward, so he just stood there. His body shook the entire time, but he held his ground. The Cailleach told them their women were being poisoned by someone within the clan, someone who had joined them and was accepted as a member but blamed them for the death of his mate.
There was only one new male member of the clan. When Ian called a meeting of the entire clan and shared this information with the clan members, Timothy Marston quickly got up and tried to shift into his dragon to get away. The other dragon shifters were too quick for him and grabbed him before he managed to shift.
A rogue shifter from Aldain’s clan had killed Timothy’s mate. That rogue was killed by Ian himself, but the death of Timothy’s mate had driven him crazy. When they caught, him he snarled, “This entire clan needs to die. I want to see every one of you dead. As dead as my sweet Laura.”
Everyone could see that Timothy was crazy with grief and felt sorrow for him, but the attempt on the lives of the entire clan, the killing of innocent people, was unforgivable. Ian had no other choice but to sentence him to death. Ian would have preferred banishment, but Timothy would only come back and try again or lie in wait and pick them off one by one. Sadly, this was one dragon shifter that could not be saved. Malcolm never knew how Timothy met his death. It wasn’t discussed or mentioned again.
That was the only clan meeting ever called with the Cailleach. He had nightmares for weeks after the meeting.
Magda gave him a curious glance but didn’t ask any questions. She knew the nightmares he had of her when he was little, and the less said the better.