“What is an airplane?”
“Oh gracious, let’s not even get into that today. That can be a whole new fascination for you to experience tomorrow. It’s too late tonight, I think.”
“Aye fine, though I doona understand. The witch knew we were coming for she left the things we would need. Why dinna she just have us arrive where she intends to meet us? If they are capable of bending time, surely they can do such a thing.”
“Yes, well, you would think, wouldn’t you? If I’ve learned one thing about witches—this one in particular—it’s that they like to make things as complicated as possible. I have no idea why she didn’t do just that. Rest assured, I’ll be discussing a great many things with her when we finally get to New York.”
“What about the car, Jane?” Adwen spoke at my side, his thumb resuming its delicious trail down the side of my leg. From the way we sat, Cooper and Orick couldn’t see it, and I could tell he delighted in silently torturing me. “I willna be leaving until we’ve seen it back to the lassies we took it from.”
“Damnit.” I’d forgotten all about the car. “Look, I know it was wrong of us to take it, and we will get it back to them eventually, but we won’t possibly have time to do it before we leave for New York. Cagair Castle isn’t anywhere near Edinburgh, and our flight leaves before noon. We will all only be getting a nap for our night’s sleep as it is.”
“No, Jane.” Adwen remained firm in his resolve. “We will take the car back tonight if we must.”
I shook my head, standing in frustration. “Then how will we get back here? Morna’s keys are here, but neither one of you can drive. Sorry, but it’s not happening.”
Adwen stood, grabbed Morna’s keys from the table and made his way to the door. “Aye, ’tis. I watched ye drive the whole way here. I can learn if ye show me.”
We all stood and followed Adwen to the front door. As he flung it open, we looked out into the empty driveway.
The car we borrowed was gone.
CHAPTER 31
Until I was twelve, there were two people who did much more of my raising than my parents ever did. The first was Cooper’s grandfather, Bebop. The second was Beatrice, the stern but remarkably patient nanny who’d spent more time with me and my sisters than she had with her own children. I never really liked her but, as I worked to ready Cooper, Adwen, and Orick for the drive to the airport the following morning, my sympathy for her grew. She’d had one hell of a hard job.
“Ye mean we are to wear these, Jane? They look far too tight. I doona think I can manage it. ’Tis no room for what hangs between my legs.”
Cooper snickered while I watched Adwen and Orick regard the outfits skeptically. They looked as if I’d just told them to squeeze into a pair of biker shorts and a tube top and parade around in public.
“It’s just a pair of jeans, a sweater, and some boots. Neither you nor Orick will be damaged by donning them, I promise. You can’t go to the airport in what you’re wearing now. I’m going to go take a shower. Cooper will help you guys get ready—help you with the sink and everything.”
“What is a shower, Jane?”
Orick’s head twisted to the side as he asked the question, and I flashed back to a theatrical version of Frankenstein I’d seen in New York once. It was a little bit what I felt like—seeing both men so out of their element, so na?ve and unfamiliar with everything around them—I was Dr. Frankenstein, and they were the creatures I had to introduce the world to. God willing, this adventure would turn out better than that.
“A shower is something I don’t have the patience to show you guys this morning. You’ll both love it so much, I won’t be able to get you out of it, and we’re in a hurry. I’ll show you in New York. It’ll give you something to look forward to.”
I moved toward the doorway but was stopped by Adwen as he stepped over to block it.
“And what will ye be wearing, lass? Has the witch left ye a dreadful garment as well?”
“Oh, you’ll see. I’ll be wearing something far more comfortable. The witch left me a little piece of heaven.”
*
The shower felt even better than brushing my teeth, and it took Cooper knocking on the door of the bathroom to get me to reluctantly turn off the water.
“Aunt Jane, you said we need to leave by seven, right? Well, that’s only in an hour so you better hurry.”
“Okay, thank you, Cooper.”