“According to this latest dream?” MacDuff’s tone was faintly quizzical. “I know I’ve encouraged you to think that Cira led us here. Hell, I’ve used those dreams of yours to get my own way and keep you searching. That’s why I’d like to believe you. But we’re too close, Jane. In this instance, I prefer to base my faith on my lights rather than on Cira’s hound.”
“Marcus’s dog,” Jane said, correcting him. “And you’ve tried half a dozen different light systems to break through that mist over these last years. None of them has worked. And this might be just another one.”
“And it might not.”
“MacDuff, you know how Jane fights believing in anything that’s connected with Cira,” Eve said. “You tried to persuade her for years before you got her to come on your treasure hunt.” She took a step forward. “Cira may have been a guiding force in Jane’s life, but Jane’s a realist. Since the night she had that first dream when she was a teenager, she questioned everything. She didn’t want any explanations that weren’t based on pure fact.” She met his eyes. “But she didn’t question this dream. She had enough faith to get me to call Joe and ask him to bring our friend Margaret Douglas and her dog, Juno. They’re here now.” She smiled and gestured to Margaret. “You’ve always liked experiments, MacDuff. Let’s see what happens.”
MacDuff was frowning and didn’t answer. Eve had been very persuasive, but no one was more stubborn than MacDuff when he got his mind set on something. Jane had been afraid that stubbornness would set in when she had talked to him yesterday. She could see that he had invested so much time and effort in the idea of making those blasted light systems work that he was reluctant to give them up.
Okay, she’d have to find a way that he wouldn’t have to do that.
“Look, you said that light system was ready to test out. Let’s still do it. If it works, you can forget all about anything but your space-age technology.” She made a face. “And I’ll have to go down on my knees to beg Margaret for forgiveness for dragging her here.”
He raised a brow. “And so you should. But I perceive an if somewhere in that entirely reasonable suggestion.”
“We might as well take Margaret and her dog, Juno, with us when you’re testing, and see if an alternate solution might work if the tech world fails us again.”
MacDuff chuckled. “Like turning loose a dog that has no knowledge of the Highlands or the north bank? And certainly should have no homing instinct that would be triggered to take her to Marcus’s cave?”
She met his eyes. “Yes.”
“It’s the stuff of madness, Jane.”
“Perhaps. But then why do I feel it’s the right way to go?”
He didn’t speak for a moment, and she thought she’d lost him.
Then a reckless smile lit his face. “How can I resist? It’s too mad a challenge not to accept it. After all, I am a Highlander. Let’s get going, Jane.”
She blinked. “Now? In the middle of the night?”
He glanced at Margaret. “Unless this lass hasn’t the stamina to go for a trek through the mist. Why not?”
Jane was sure she could think of a dozen practical reasons. But she’d been the one to make the offer, and if it had aroused that innate streak of recklessness in MacDuff, she’d be foolish to make excuses that might cause him to have second thoughts.
She turned to Margaret. “What do you say? Are you too tired?”
Margaret smiled. “Tired? It’s why I came. It’s a great adventure.” She met MacDuff’s eyes. “Of course, the laird may need his rest. He’s not as young as Juno and I are.”
“Ouch.” MacDuff turned on his heel. “I’ll go dress, wake Jock, and meet you here in fifteen minutes.” He disappeared into his tent.
Jane turned back to Margaret. “You’re sure? It can wait, Margaret.”
“But you don’t want to wait.” Her gaze went to MacDuff’s tent. “And neither does he. I think the wait has gone on too long.” She smiled. “Go finish getting dressed, Jane. Or we’ll be leaving without you.” She turned to Eve and Joe. “Are you coming along? Or are you going to keep the home fires burning?”
Joe and Eve exchanged a long look and then Joe said, “We’ll stay here. Cara, Lisa, and my son have to be protected, and I’d prefer to do that than to go off on a Cira treasure hunt.” His arm tightened around Eve. “Eve and I have always been aware Cira’s been Jane’s special beacon.” His gaze shifted to Jane. “Go and find her. You know we’ll take care of everything here.”
She gave him a quick hug. “Thanks, Joe.”
She flew up the hill toward her tent.
But she stopped when she was only halfway there.
Lisa.
She stared at Lisa’s tent, which was just a short distance from her own. It was a wonder that Lisa hadn’t awakened when Jane had. But then, Jane had been on the alert for an arrival.
Should she wake Lisa now and let her go with them? She knew there was no question Lisa would come. The mist had fascinated her since she’d arrived here.
“Decisions?” Eve was coming up the hill toward her. “Lisa? You’re hesitating. That usually means it’s no clear choice.”
“She’d want to go.”
“And?”
“Are you just letting me talk this out?”
“Of course.” Eve smiled. “Then I can’t be blamed for steering you in the wrong direction.”
“I’d never blame you.”
“And?” she repeated.
“It might be a rough night and hard on her.”
“True.”
“But she’d still stay with us and never let us know. I’d have to watch her.”
Eve was silent.
Jane met her eyes. “I don’t want to have to concentrate on anything but what I have to do tonight.”
“Cira?”
“Cira.” She smiled. “So I think I’ll let her make the decision. I’ll go to my tent and finish dressing and then go down to the campfire. If Lisa hears me and comes out and asks what’s happening, then I’ll tell her.”
“Fate?”
“Yes and the fact that I told Lisa earlier that I wouldn’t let her interfere with what I knew had to be done where Cira was concerned.” She turned back and started climbing the hill. “But I could use a little help with explanations if I end up leaving her behind.…”
*
“This is completely weird,” Margaret said as she walked beside Jane through the mist. “These flashlight beams hardly do any good at all. I can barely see MacDuff and Jock up ahead.”
“Then you can see the problem. We haven’t even reached the curve of the north bank. Once we pass that pile of boulders, the mist thickens and becomes almost impenetrable to light.”
“Why?”
“Who knows? The phenomenon has been studied by several universities, including Oxford, and there are theories but no answers. MacDuff wouldn’t let them tear apart his lands to try to find them.” She shrugged. “And maybe they wouldn’t have found the answers anyway.” She gazed at Margaret. “I know it’s eerie. Does it make you nervous?”
“No, I grew up in the woods, remember? I like it.” She glanced at Juno, who was trotting a few feet away. “So does Juno. She seems … comfortable.”
“And what does that mean?”
Margaret chuckled. “Just what I said. Juno and I are friends and I’m not going to intrude on her. I’ve told her what you want from her. I’ve also told her that if she can’t give it, I’ll understand.”
“That’s all I can ask.” Jane looked at the shimmer of white that was Juno in the fog. “You know, when I first met you and that vet you worked for on Summer Island told me that you could communicate with animals, I thought she was crazy. Well, that is, I would have if she hadn’t been so professional about it.”
“Put a professional mask on anything and it seems to conceal any bullshit?” Margaret chuckled. “Admit it: You believed it because you wanted to believe I could diagnose what was wrong with your dog, Toby, when no one else could. You wanted to believe it so that I could find a way to save your dog’s life.”
“And you did. Toby lived.” And Jane was still passionately grateful to her. Toby was now in a special program on Summer Island that increased the longevity and strength of dogs, and the last time Jane had visited he was wonderfully well and happy. “And here I am asking you for another favor, and telling you that I need you.”