Page 54 of Highland Getaway
He takes another step forward and everyone screams again. There’s just time for me to notice Daniel Foster making a bolt for it around the back of the hotel, then Ian reaches us, holding out the ‘gun’ so we can see that it is, indeed, just a piece of carved wood.
‘Inherited this from my granda, so I did,’ he tells us. ‘I carry it everywhere, on account of my dodgy knee. Got kicked by a horse when I was a young lad. It—’
‘Aye, aye, enough about your medical issues, Young Ian,’ says Izzie, gliding towards us like an apparition, her craggy face contorted into a fierce scowl. ‘Oh, hiya, Rosie,’ she says, smiling as she catches sight of me. ‘We were hoping we’d see you here.’
‘What’s going on?’
There’s a crunch of gravel underfoot as Dante appears, accompanied by Daniel Foster, whose face is pale with fear, and Hunter, who looks totally at ease, as if facing down angry mobs is all in a day’s work for him. My stomach does a silly little flip-flop of pleasure at the sight of him.
‘Well?’
The three men join us by the hot tub, Dante looking furious, and Hunter as impassive as always. At first I think he hasn’t noticed me, so I sit up a little straighter, and am rewarded with a wide smile, and .?.?. did he justwinkat me?
And what does it say about me that my entire body is now tingling with excitement, even though it’s right in the middle of .?.?. whatever this situation is.
‘It’s an angry mob,’ supplies Zara, helpfully. ‘They haven’t said why they’re here yet, though.’
‘Aye,’ says Izzie, flicking her cape back to make it swirl around her body again. ‘Aye, that’s right. We’re an angry mob. We’re here to see the Laird.’
‘We did call ahead,’ puts in a very tall, extremely muscular young man, who has tattoos on every visible piece of skin. ‘But there was no answer, so we thought we’d just chance it.’
‘Look, they’ve brought backup,’ whispers Millie, who appears to have regained her composure. ‘They’re really serious about this, aren’t they?’
‘Backup? Naw, that’s just my wee brother, Callum,’ says Ian, overhearing her. ‘He’s no’ really bothered about any of this; he just wanted to see the influencer lot, and see if he can get any tips from them.’
‘I’ve got 1.4 million followers on TikTok,’ says Callum shyly. ‘I started off doing stuff about tattoos, but now I mostly just lip sync to Gracie Abrams songs. Well, that and the odd dance routine, but we all do that, don’t we? D’ye want to see one?’
‘No,’ says everyone simultaneously.
‘Ooh, yes, please,’ says Millie, one beat behind the rest of us. ‘Well, maybe later, then,’ she adds, sensing that this possibly isn’t the time.
‘I wassaying,’ hisses Izzie, glaring at Callum, ‘that we’re here to see the Laird. We want to speak to him about why the castle has stopped ordering goods from the village now that it’s turned into a fancy hotel. We used to do a decent trade with this place – we all did – and we want to know what’s changed. Other than the obvious.’
‘The obvious?’ Hunter frowns. At the sound of his voice, Stevie appears from the back of the group of villagers and comes padding softly towards his master.
‘Aye. The bastard new laird,’ says Izzie. ‘The nephew, or great-nephew, or .?.?.’ She trails off, her eyes wide with horror.
‘Or bawbag,’ says Ian, looking around to see what’s upset her. ‘That’s the word you’re looking for, Izzie, isn’t it? It’s bawbag.’
Izzie isn’t listening, though.
‘A Black Shuck,’ she shrieks, pointing at Stevie. ‘A Black Shuck! Beware the Black Shuck!’
‘He’s a Belgian shepherd,’ says Hunter with dignity. ‘With a few bits of something else in there, too.’
‘Is he?’ says Izzie, wrinkling her long nose in suspicion. She pulls a pair of spectacles out of her cloak and puts them on.
‘Ach, so he is. It’s just a dog, right enough, Ian,’ she says. ‘Sorry about that, everybody, false alarm.’
‘She sees Black Shucks everywhere, this one,’ says Ian, chuckling. ‘The last one turned out to be just a very small cow, didn’t it, Izzie?’
‘You wait until you’re my age, young Ian,’ says Izzie fiercely. ‘You’ll be seeing Black Shucks everywhere, too. Harbingers of death, so they are. This one’s just a Very Good Boy, though,’ she adds, crouching down to pet Stevie, who immediately rolls over so she can scratch his belly. ‘Aren’t ye, Good Boy?’
‘I don’t know what a Black Shuck is,’ says Millie eagerly. ‘But there’s an invisible woman in the castle. I heard Rosie talking about her yesterday.’
‘I don’t believe in ghosts,’ says Yasmin vaguely. ‘But I once read a book where a group of women were staying in a castle, and the locals butchered them all, one by one. Then they ate them.’
She makes a slicing motion across her throat with her finger, and we all stare at her, open-mouthed.
