Free Howling Sacrifices by J.K. Coi Page A

believed that evil’s hold o’er the natural world was strongest during the solstice, which is why it was popular to make sacrifices to the gods on this night, to welcome back the light.”
    His words only compounded Lucy’s feelings of foreboding. Cold slithered up her spine and settled over her heart as she gazed out the window once more. On one side of her, the narrow road they were traveling had been cut out of the mountain. It wound across the bumpy terrain in lazy S’s. On the other side of the carriage, craggy moors had given way some time ago to tall trees that hid even the brightest stars. There were no road lamps or markers to light the way. Anything could leap out into their path at any moment and they’d never see it coming.
    It was all just a little too spooky for a girl who’d been living in Toronto for the past fifteen years, where no street went without a neon sign or two and there was never a time of day without some jarring noise ringing in the air to remind you that you were never truly alone.
    “Every corner of Scotland seems to have some eerie ancient mythology attached to it. It’s a little unsettling,” she admitted sheepishly to Dougal.
    “Aye. Ye’re afraid some of the stories might still prove true?”
    “You mean about evil witches, fairies and magical selkies?” Lucy’s nervous laughter echoed between them.
    “Ah, well. Maybe not so much then,” he chuckled. “Ye’re a modern woman, after all.”
    Some of Lucy’s tension eased at his easy manner. “It’s all fascinating, though,” she said. “In fact, when I was waiting for the coach in Crianlarich—”
    “You mean ‘Cree-an-larrikh’.”
    “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m butchering the pronunciation, aren’t I?”
    Since he had still refused to lean forward and give her the benefit of seeing the face of the person she was speaking with, she could barely make out the shrug of his shoulders from the shadows. Was it just her, or did he seem bored?
    Of course he was bored. Lucy couldn’t even keep a Canadian guy interested for longer than it took to get in her pants—her boyfriend had dumped her like a hot potato less than a week ago—so how was she supposed to keep a dark, mysterious stranger interested?
    Not that she was trying.
    She wouldn’t be trying to flirt with him? A stranger? One whose face she hadn’t even seen? She wasn’t that crazy. Right?
    Lucy shook her head, even as she found herself opening her mouth to speak again. She wasn’t eager to go back to the silence of before, which had felt thick and uneasy and more than just a little scary.
    “The ticket master back at the station was telling me there have been reports of strange things happening in the area recently.” She chuckled, but it sounded hollow even to her own ears. At the time, she’d thought that old man was just teasing her, trying to scare the naïve foreigner with spooky tales. But now she remembered the look on his face as he’d tried to talk her into staying off the road at night, and she wasn’t so sure anymore. It had looked a lot like fear.
    “And he also mentioned wolf sightings,” she added with a shiver. “But that can’t be true, right? I thought wolves were rare in the Highlands.”
    “Aye,” he answered. “So rare as to be naught but a myth.”

Chapter Two
     
    She waited for Dougald to say more, but he didn’t. After a few tense minutes, she shrugged past his rudeness and assumed their brief conversation was over.
    Looking down at her hands, she forced open her death grip on the strap of the purse clutched in her lap and wondered how much longer before they would arrive at Kinlochleven.
    Lucy had been a little concerned when there was nobody to meet her at the cozy town of Crianlarich at suppertime. Her conversation with the old guy at the station hadn’t helped.
    When she’d called the number Aileen had given her, a man answered. She worried when he said Aileen wasn’t available, but since he’d identified himself