‘Gift?’ I scoffed. ‘Some Gift. Is stealing your magic a fucking Gift?’

She touched my arm. ‘The boy will come around.’ She watched me then said, almost to herself. ‘Maybe the prophecy is true.’

My eyes narrowed. ‘What prophecy? I keep hearing it mentioned but I don’t know what it is.’

‘You don’t know?’ She paused. ‘Then perhaps we should keep it that way. Knowledge is not always a good thing. You might kill yourself trying to fulfil it and then where would we be?’

In the ground most likely. The old woman was right though. I didn’t have time for mumbo-jumbo like this.

‘Come and find me,’ she repeated. Then she walked away.

Left alone on top of the hillside with nothing more than the haggis’s trail beside me, I felt more alone than ever. Morna could make all the overtures she wanted; whether I had my friends with me or not, Byron’s censure meant that the bottom had been ripped out of my world.

Chapter Nineteen

When day finally dawned on the morning of the last challenge, I wasn’t feeling any better. No matter what Lexie, Speck, Brochan, Taylor or Bob said, I just muttered dull responses. I was supposed to win this challenge for my father and my Clan, and to take the first step towards righting all the wrongs that had been done them, but I couldn’t muster the energy to care right now.

Taylor’s concern was palpable. ‘This challenge is as much about brain work and intelligence, Tegs. You need to snap out of this funk.’

‘Yeah!’ Bob agreed. He jumped onto my shoulder and started dancing. ‘No funk! Let’s get funky!’

I ignored him. ‘We need to go,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to be late.’

Lexie looked miserable. ‘Tegs…’

‘I’ll be fine,’ I told her. I lifted my head and looked at them. ‘I will do this. I’ve not come this far to fail at the final hurdle.’

‘That’s my girl,’ Taylor boomed but he still looked worried. My blues were dampening everyone else’s spirits. I took several deep breaths and focused.

‘Sorry,’ I said. I shook my head. ‘I’m letting everything get to me.’

‘Tell us a joke.’

I tried to think but even my cheesiest lines had deserted me. ‘I’m all out of them.’

Speck brightened. ‘Things aren’t all bad then.’

Everyone grinned and their warm camaraderie did its usual job. The tight knot inside me loosened and I smiled slightly. As they beamed at me like idiots, I started to relax and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning back. Brochan slapped me on the back in a gesture of solidarity. Unfortunately, he didn’t know his own strength and I went flying into Speck, who tried to dodge out of the way but ended up tangled in his own feet and crashed against Lexie. The pair of them went down in a mass of writhing limbs.

‘Speck, darling,’ came Lexie’s muffled voice, ‘I know you’re hot for me but perhaps we should wait until we have some privacy. And until I’ve shaved my legs.’