“Thank you,” I said softly. “You might have just saved my life.” He gave me a lazy salute back, before settling down onto his previous spot on the ground. I smiled gratefully at him again, and then headed back to the stones.

When I got back to the edge of the cairn, I began feeling around with my fingers to see if I could find the rune. Many of the stones were covered in a soft moss, and the shrouded darkness at the back of the passageway made it difficult to really see anything. I felt me way along each stone, fingertips brushing against the surfaces, trying to feel for anything that might suggest a marking. Tracing round the edges, and feeling nothing, I could my frustration rising yet again. I took a deep breath. I HAD to get a grip of myself. I took a step back and inadvertently knocked over yet another flickering tea candle. Bending down to pick it back up, something caught the edge of my eye. I knelt down and reached over, carefully brushing the edges of the dark green moss aside. There was a rune after all!

I closed my eyes and touched it gently with the tip of my index finger, hoping I’d be able to recognise it so I could have some clue about where the portal would lead. Having advance knowledge would be helpful. It was one of the more obscure ones, however, and my weak knowledge of Otherworld languages wasn’t enough to help me translate it. I supposed it didn’t matter. Dawn was approaching and if I didn’t try something soon, then it wouldn’t be long before the long arm of the law – magical or otherwise – caught up with me. I took a deep breath and pressed the palms of both my hands against the cool rock and whispered, “Oscail.”

For a horrifying moment, nothing seemed to happen. Dread filled me; all this risk-taking: running around the freezing Scottish countryside, getting Julia and Johannes into trouble, all of it, had been pointless. A silent wail built up inside my chest. Maybe it was too late, the moment of the Winter Solstice was too far past, or the power of the portal was just too diminished. I sank down, defeated, my fingers falling away from the stones, and then, without warning, the air around me started to crackle and shimmer. The pit of my stomach was hit with a familiar wave of nausea and I was falling, falling through the ground.

Chapter Fourteen

I had absolutely no way of knowing what to expect when I emerged on the other side of the portal. As I’d previously experienced when I’d entered Iabartu’s demesne, the journey made me ill and, despite my best intentions of trying to be prepared to meet any nasties headlong when I arrived, I instead was on my hands and knees puking up bile. It reminded me of how long it had been since I’d eaten a decent meal.

Once I’d finished eking out the last of the contents of my stomach, I staggered up and looked around, ready to pull out the few weapons I had if I needed to. But there wasn’t much to see. The air was considerably warmer than it had been at the Clava Cairns, but the buzz of voices and the crackle from the fires had disappeared. The whole place was eerily silent. I tried to peer into the dark gloom, but could see little. Fortunately there seemed to be no signs of life, which meant that I was probably safe for the time being. I looked behind to check out the gateway from where I’d arrived and realised that there was just a vast empty space of darkness. Errr….what I clearly hadn’t considered was an escape route. I might be safe from the police and the spells of the mages here, but I hadn’t considered what on earth I was going to do to get myself back to my own plane so I could start sorting things out. That had been stupid. I had no idea where I was, no idea how to leave and no idea about how to sort out all the messes that I’d created.

I took a few steps forward and felt a wave of dizziness overcome me. The night’s proclivities were starting to catch up with me. Stumbling forward in the darkness, I reached out and felt a stone wall ahead of me, not unlike the edges of the cairns that I’d just left behind. I sank against the wall and rested my head against it, briefly closing my eyes. I’d just rest for a few moments, I decided, and then I’d find somewhere safe to settle down for a few hours and catch up on some sleep before I worked out what to do next. Before I knew it, however, I was fast asleep.

I dreamt I was in a great hall, not unlike the vestibule back at the keep in Cornwall. Julia and John were both there, staring at me with unhappiness in their eyes.

“You’ve messed everything up, Mack.”

I stared at them both mutely.

“You could have lived out your days in peace and quiet in Inverness, but instead you got that little old lady into trouble. You involved the mages and you destroyed her shop, and now you’re on the run.”

“What are you going to do?” Tom’s face swam before my eyes. He was bouncing a ball of green flame from one hand to the other, then he threw it over my shoulder. I turned round to follow it and saw Trekkie, who was now sporting a pair of Vulcan type ears and carrying Mrs Alcoon in a fireman’s lift over his shoulder. I tried to step forward, to get her away from him, but my path was blocked by Maggie.

“Don’t you dare touch her!” she hissed at me. “You are evil, you’re a daemon! Stay away!”

Maggie made the sign of the evil eye with her hands and I felt struck with a bolt of pain, making me stagger backwards and into something solid. Steel arms circled round me and I couldn’t move. Warm breath caressed against my ear.

“You’re human. Do you know what we do to humans, kitten?”

I struggled to get away, but I couldn’t move. Anton came up and jabbed me in the chest, laughing.

“You’re going to pay now, you ape.”

I lashed out with my foot, trying to kick him, but Trekkie pointed at me and a bolt of blue light hit my leg, transforming it into a dead weight. He cackled in laughter. Corrigan’s arms tightened round me until I was gasping for air. He was squeezing tighter and tighter, all the while whispering into my ear about the punishment he was going to wreak on everyone I’d ever come into contact with. I couldn’t breathe and little lights started to dance in front of my eyes. I tried to scream for help, but nothing came out of my mouth and I was feeling fainter and fainter. Something grabbed hold of my arm and started to shake it. It was the cat that I’d tripped over in the street. Its teeth had latched onto my flesh and were burrowing their way through. Blood starting to seep through my skin, making the cat’s fur catch alight, but it kept on shaking and shaking and….

I woke up. A figure wearing a brimmed hat was standing over me, clutching my arm and shaking me awake. Solus.

“How…? What…?” I stuttered, wrenching my arm away from him.

“How did I find you?” he inquired, moving his face close to mine. “What do I want? Why that’s easy, spitfire. I am Fae. Did you really think that I wouldn’t be able to follow you here? And as for what I want, well I think you know the answer to that.” His teeth gleamed in the darkness. “You owe me an answer.”

I pushed myself up to my feet and folded my arms. “Solus, I promised you, didn’t I? You’ll get your answers. Just right now help me out a bit. Where exactly am I?”

He took off his hat with one swift smooth movement and flicked his blond hair to the side, snorting. “That one’s easy, my little chinchilla.”

“Chinchilla? Fuck off, Fae.”

“Actually, I think it fits rather well.” He reached out and tried to chuck me under the chin but I dodged away and glared at him.

Solus laughed. “Chinchilla are quiet, shy and highly strung creatures. Attributes that seem to fit you particularly well.”

“Fuck you.” I kicked out at him but this time it was his turn to dodge.

“Then tell me what you’re doing here, Mackenzie.” He drawled out my name with emphasis.

“What do you mean? I’m making sure the mages don’t catch me so I’ve got time to sort out what I can do to save Mrs Alcoon and sort out this fucking mess.”

“No,” Solus said softly. “You’re hiding. You’re scared. You’ve decided that instead of standing up for yourself and sorting this out, you’re going to run away and hide.”

Anger flooded through me. “I’m being sensible! Letting the ministry get hold of me, or the police for that matter, would not help anyone. This was the only solution.”

“Bullshit. Instead of fighting, you’re hiding. You could have taken those mages on. Do you know that the Pack, the whole Pack, not just your little friends in Cornwall, are spinning tales of you as some kind of superhero? A shifter who despite being a mere werehamster will fight tooth and nail to save the meek.” He straightened out the lapels of his shirt. “There are rumours that you left the Pack and turned rogue in order to patrol the cities at night, hunting down unwary Otherworld monsters; tracking down members of Iabartu’s family to wreak your vengeance upon them. You’ve become the Batman of the were world. They say that even the Lord Alpha is afraid of you.”

I was momentarily taken aback.

“That’s right,” he continued. “Surprising, isn’t it? Because instead of being some dark avenger keeping the Pack safe in their beds at night, you’re cowering in some long forgotten dark plane, too scared to face the music.”

Flames curled at my toes and fingertips.

“Ooooh, does the truth hurt?” Solus taunted.

I shot a punch out, aiming for his solar plexus. I missed.

“You can’t even land a hit on one little fairy, can you?”

I growled at him and tried again. I missed, again. “I’ve hit you before, Solus.”

He blew air out of his lips dismissively. “You got lucky. How lucky are going to get now by hiding away from all your problems?”

I side-stepped round him and feinted left, before swinging round a kick and catching him satisfyingly on the back of his leg. “Hah! Got you!” I spat.

Solus folded his arms. “But I’m not trying to get you. It would be a different story if I was. Then you’d be running away, trying to find the nearest hole to crawl into, afraid that I might hurt you…”