Annie And The Cowboy (Western Night Series 3) (48 page)

              “Yes. I will bring her back here, I will…” he searched his mind for something that he could say, anything that would make his father leave in a timely manner so he could catch up to his frantic sister. “I will tell her what needs to be done.”

              “Be swift,” his father replied, and Neil didn’t respond because he was already moving, already outside and searching for the flash of red hair that could only belong to his sister.

#

              He found her in the meadow where she usually spent time with Marnie , crying angry tears and trying to hide them as though she was ashamed. Neil sat down next to her and gave her a few moments to collect herself. He knew that his sister hated to be seen crying.

              “He let you come after me?” she asked. He nodded.

              “I told them I would talk sense into you.”

              She laughed bitterly. The meadow was particularly beautiful today, with a gentle spring breeze drifting through the endless purple heather. Neil could see why his sister loved to spend time here, and would bet anything that he had that she would miss this place as much as she would miss her friend.             

              “I’m going to figure out a way for you to come back,” he said suddenly. It had not been his intention to decide on this, but once he had said it he knew that it was true. He
would
find a way for her to come back, but how?

              She laughed again, and he knew it was to keep herself from crying. “The only way I could come back is if the feud was over,” she said. “If everyone knew.”

              “Telling people is a death sentence,” Neil said.

              “Not always,” she replied. “Sometimes it just means you get sent away.”

              Bridget rubbed at her raw eyes and looked up at her brother. They were close in age, he was only a year older than her, and yet he had always felt a great feeling of protectiveness for her. She had never really embraced her wolf side, not as though many people in the clan did, but her wolf seemed gentler than the others, he had never allowed her to go too far away from him during the time of the change. What would she do then, far away from him? Would she have anyone to keep her company during the full moon? The thought made him sad.

              “Will you tell Marnie ?” she asked. “She knows you.”

              Against his will, he made a face of distaste. Bridget swatted him on the shoulder playfully.

              “Don’t be cruel,” she said. “Marnie ’s wonderful, I bet you dislike her so much because you’re afraid of liking her too much.”

              Impossible, but Neil didn’t reply. Instead he looked out over the heather.

              “Fine,” he said after a minute or two of silence. “I’ll tell her.”

              “I would tell her myself but I don’t think there’s time.”

              “It’s better if you don’t, I think. Plus, I’ll have you back in no time.”

              Bridget didn’t seem convinced, but he stood and offered her his hand to help her up. She hesitated, knowing that if she stood she would have to go, would have to leave this place behind and perhaps never return, but off the look in her brother’s eyes she decided to retain some sort of hope, so she reached up and took his hand. He hoisted her to his feet and steadied her, walking with her back to the village; back to uncertainty.

Chapter 2

              One of Marnie ’sfavorite things to do with Bridget was just sit and watch the clouds go by. Sometimes Bridget would playfully attempt to make shapes out of the clouds as they passed, but Marnie  had no head for such things and would often simply lie to say that she saw them too. The cloud never looked like a rabbit, not really, but Bridget took such pleasure in the activity that Marnie  never liked to shoot her down.

              It was a perfect day to do that, so Marnie  lay down in the heather almost immediately after she arrived at the meadow, knowing that Bridget would be able to find her no matter what. The sun was high in the sky that day, but as Marnie  waited, she felt a strange feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach.

              Bridget was late.

              Bridget was never late.

              She stared at the fluffy clouds and puzzled out meanings in them, knowing she would never really see anything anyway, and was almost about to give up and go home when a shadow cast itself across her. It was too broad to belong to Bridget, and as she squinted up into the sunlight she was both disappointed and thrilled to see that the shadow belonged to Bridget’s brother, Neil.

              Marnie  remembered him from when he was younger, skinnier, but still retaining that broad look. He had grown into a strapping man, something she noticed but hated herself for noticing at the same time. Now he looked down at her with that same sort of smug disdain, and Bridget was nowhere in sight.

              “Staring at the sun, are we?” Neil asked with a grin.

              “What are you doing here?” she asked as she sat up, brushing her thick, dark hair out of her eyes. She watched as he tried to move to sit beside her, and then thought better of it. There was a look on his face that Marnie  couldn’t place, but it didn’t seem like a good look. Had she done something wrong? Was she going to be the first victim of a new round of Campbell aggression? She hoped not, but if she had to be she wished that it wouldn’t be at the hands of stupid, handsome Neil.

              “I came here to tell you something, it’s important,” he said. Marnie ’s stomach turned. He looked so gave, so upset himself, so she voiced one of her greatest fears.             

              “Is Bridget okay?” she asked. She didn’t hide the tremor in her voice, the sheer worry. Neil’s head tilted as he took notice of it, but said nothing. Instead he shook his head as though unsure of how to answer.

              “She is, she really is, but something happened.”

              It was worse than Marnie  had imagined. Had Bridget decided not to be her friend again? Had she gone back to embrace Campbell tradition? It couldn’t be. Bridget had always sworn that she was never going to end up like that, that she would like people based on their merits and not on their clan. There was no way that Bridget had suddenly decided to throw all of that away.

              “What? Don’t just stand there, you idiot, tell me!”

              Neil flinched and bit his tongue trying not to answer back. He had to know that Marnie  was upset.

              “It’s our parents. They found out about your friendship, and they also found out that you know… erm…” Neil tripped over the words, so accustomed to not speaking them in front of anyone outside of the clan.

              “I know about the curse. How it’s real,” Marnie  finished for him, impatience dripping in her voice. He nodded, looking queasy at the notion that she knew.
Too bad
, Marnie  thought.
That gift is probably wasted on you.

              “Yes. So they sent her away. To my mother’s family. She’s banished there until further notice, I expect.”

              “What!?”Marnie  didn’t believe it. He had to have been taking the piss out of her because there was no possible conceivable way that this had been what was happening. Neil didn’t seem to be the type to use his sister to hurt anyone, but then again like her family always told her...you couldn’t trust a Campbell.

              “I don’t like it either, you know!” Neil cried. “Bridget was my best friend too, and now she’s gone because she decided to be friends with the likes of a
Mackenzie
.”

              Rage swarmed in Marnie ’s gut, but she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from spitting cruel words at him. He was obviously also distraught at what had happened, and a feeling of strange tenderness rushed unbidden to Marnie ’s heart as she looked at his pain. They were two people missing the same person, probably for the same reasons, so she had better be kind.

              “What can we do?” she asked. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and gave a little laugh.

              “You?Probably nothing. Like Bridget told me when she left, the only way we could do it is by ending the feud.”

              End the feud? That’s it? Of
course
that was it! Hope flooded the chambers of Marnie ’s heart as she jumped to her feet and began pacing through the heather. Neil watched her as though she had just gone mad, but it didn’t matter.

              “That’s all? End the feud? Of course…” she mumbled to herself. “Seems almost too easy.”

              “Yes,” Neil said with a roll of his eyes. “It’s way too easy to just end centuries of hatred between the Campbells and the Mackenzies, why don’t we just throw a wonderful party and invite everyone and then we’ll realize that we’re not so different after all?”

              “We are different,” Marnie  said as though she were getting at something. “Your people can turn into wolves.”

              “Hey!” he gave a quick look around the meadow just in case any travelers were passing by. “You can
not
just blurt that out, do you understand?”

              “Oh yes,” Marnie  replied sarcastically. “I apologize for saying that in front of
all of these people
.”

              As she gestured around to indicate that the meadow was empty, and Neil didn’t know whether he wanted to shake her or simply hold her to see if her pale skin was as soft as it looked. He quickly shoved the thought away.

              “Either way,” he said. “What can we do, break the curse?”

              “Yes,” Marnie  replied with a serious look on her face. “We break the curse.”

              “Excuse me?”

              Marnie  once again began to pace around the meadow, trampling heather in her wake.

              “We break the curse! If the curse is broken, the Campbells would have no reason to dislike the Mackenzies, wouldn’t they? And for the most part the Mackenzies don’t remember exactly why the Campbells hate us so much, so we simply hate you back because you hate us.”

              “That seems needlessly complicated.”

              “So is cursing an entire clan for generations for what seems to be no reason.”

              Neil ran his hand through his strawberry colored curls. Marnie had always liked them, and until this very moment she thought it was because they reminded her of Bridget. That wasn’t true, for Bridget’s hair was a bright, vibrant red and Neil’s hair had a touch of gold in it. It suited him well, Marnie thought.

              But she needed to focus on the task at hand.

              “There’s a witch that lives in a cave somewhere to the north,” she said thoughtfully. “I bet she would know.”

              “You know about where a witch lives?” Neil asked incredulously. “No wonder the Mackenzies are all a little odd.”

              “Says the man who can turn into a wolf.”

              Neil could detect a hint of envy in her voice, but decided against pursuing that line of fascinating questioning for another time. Part of him, of course, did not want to break the curse. He
loved
being a wolf, but then he remembered the terrifying look on his father’s face at the notion that others might find it out, and the heartbreak that came upon members of his family when they realized that their beloved children were about to turn sixteen, or Bridget’s fear of the pain. He knew it wasn’t just about him, and for peace between the clans he would be willing to give up his wolf.

              He turned to Marnie.

              “Fine, meet me here tomorrow at dawn. We’ll fix this once and for all.”

              Marnie grinned back at him, the excitement of adventure sparking in her eyes.

              “You bet we will.”

Chapter 3

              It was easier than Marnie thought to escape from under the eyes of her parents, but then again that was mostly because her parents had no idea about her friendship with Bridget, so why would they notice her sneaking off yet again? It was times like these that she was pleased about her out-and-about lifestyle...maybe she
wouldn’t
ever have to get married. Wouldn’t that be a relief to never have to change?

              Dawn was a beautiful time in the highlands, with spills of golden light coming from over the hills. She loved it at this time; she only wished that she could love the company.

              Neil wasn’t terrible, the sheer fact that he had warned Marnie about Bridget being sent away had raised her opinion of him substantially. There was just something about him that curled her toes, almost infuriated her in a way that she couldn’t explain and did not feel about anyone else. Who was he? Why was he? She didn’t understand why he was like a splinter in her finger, small and piercing and driving her mad.

              To distract herself from her own distraction, she decided to ask him questions about his curse, and was pleasantly surprised to see that he had no trouble answering her. Bridget had always been too nervous to say much.