Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 327(@300wpm)
“Do you live here?” Amal asks Jameson.
He smiles to her. “I live here when Master Robertson is here. I am at his disposal.”
I snort at that and exchange a glance with my brother. I’m sure Sev’s noted that it’s not a Councilor of the Tribunal who has summoned us, but a Master Robertson.
I’ve never been to Scotland. I’m not sure if Sev has. Our family was associated with the branch of The Society in New York. I’ve never heard the term Master used as a rank so I’m curious.
The landing is smooth and two Land Rovers are waiting to take us to the castle. No Rolls Royce’s here. The ground is too rough for that.
The plane touches down and the doors are opened. As I rise to my feet, I see the men standing beside the matte black vehicles, all with windows tinted black. Several soldiers exit first, followed by Jameson. I remain close to Amal as she descends, Sev after me.
The wind is immediate and wild. Gulls wheel overhead, the roar of the sea smashing itself against the island endless. Rain is a drizzle but a glance at the clouds tells me it’s about to get worse. Amal and I climb into one SUV and Severin rides with Jameson in the other. As we begin our procession, that drizzle turns to slashing rain the sound unutterably loud.
Amal presses close to me. I glance at her, wrap an arm around her.
“It’s going to be all right.”
“There’s no way off the island, Jet. We can’t leave until they let us.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s a wrist slap they’re planning for the watch turning up like it did,” I say, but I’m not sure at all.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused.”
I squeeze her close. “You came with that trouble. I’ll take it. I’d choose it again in a heartbeat. Choose you again.”
Her eyes search mine and she smiles a weak smile.
Keeping her pressed to my side, I watch our route. Although the island appeared small from above, there’s an intricate infrastructure of roads and we drive toward the castle which stands at the island’s highest point.
Scattered across the land are the cottages. They’re connected by both roads and footpaths cutting through jagged rock and heather fields. The stone used for the walls is natural to the island and even though none would be considered big, I see how luxuriously built each is with rustic exteriors hiding the opulence within each making the most of the wild landscape. Smoke rises out of many of the chimneys telling me most are occupied.
The weather changes by the minute as the driver navigates the winding road up to the castle. About a mile from the building there are no more cottages, only rough land. From here, connected to the main castle by a narrow road is a grim, circular structure built of a stone so dark that if you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t see it. A twelve-foot-high wall topped with sharp iron spikes surrounds it. A cloud seems to hang over top of it darker than the others, no breaks to let in even a little bit of sunshine there.
I know what it is. I’m sure Sev does too. Most of the Tribunal buildings of The Society are circular with a few exceptions. It is the courthouse of this branch of IVI. And beneath it would be the cells carved into the rock of the island.
Not much makes my blood run cold in this world. Not after the things I’ve endured. Things I’ve seen and done. But this? This black hole of a building? It has me hugging Amal a little closer as even she who doesn’t know its significance shudders.
24
AMAL
“What is that?” I ask, feeling a darkness I can’t explain as we pass a strange, circular building while our Range Rover climbs higher and higher toward the castle.
“Nothing,” Jet says, his voice darker than usual as he drags his gaze from it to the road ahead. From the way he says it, from his visceral reaction to it, I know it’s something. Something bad.
When he pulls me tighter to himself, I don’t resist. My sense of dread is growing by the second. I look ahead and when we turn the next corner, I gasp.
There, just ahead of us, lies the castle I’d glimpsed from the plane. And while from the air it was something to see, now, from this vantage point, it’s hard to describe. Hair-raising. Breathtaking. Forbidding. All at once.
This is no fairytale castle of delicate towers set symmetrically to please the eye. There are no pretty, colorful plants to decorate any of the windows. Instead, those windows are dark eyes of leaded glass, the only warmth the glow of the lights burning inside because even on the brightest summer day I doubt light penetrates those ancient stone walls or the thick, leaded glass. As our Range Rover slows upon its approach, the sky overhead turns pitch black, the storm we’ve had a mere taste of now unleashing in full punishing glory.