Hallways led off in all directions with walls full of portraits of the MacLeod family ancestry and framed treasures. Elle stood and admired the craftmanship, taking her time with each one in turn. Would she have been an artist, painting family members of the Scottish clans, had she been alive back in those times? Probably not, she conceded; back then women were pretty much only allowed to breed or work as servants. Then a more sobering thought occurred to her—if she had been alive then and could talk to dead people she would probably have been tried as a witch.

There were no witches in our family, Gran reassured her, which was a relief. At least none that ever got caught, she added, causing Elle to give a small scoff, making a woman nearby glance over. Elle smiled quickly before turning away.

The chilling stories of the witch burnings and drownings in Edinburgh were still fresh in her mind, so she moved on to the next room, full of beautiful antiques, stopping before a framed piece of tattered yellow silk. Underneath was a sign stating it was the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan. There were, according to the plaque, many tales attached to the flag, but most involved a story about a fairy who had given the flag to the Clan MacLeod to protect them in times of trouble.

‘I know we’ve got the story of Isla and Gavan, Gran,’ she said quietly in the empty room, ‘but can you imagine having a fairy flag in your family tree? How cool would that be?’

She couldn’t be sure, but Elle thought she heard a small unimpressed sniff before she moved on to look through the rest of the castle.

In the grand dining room her gaze settled upon a huge portrait on the wall and she smiled. A grey-haired woman in a tartan kilt with a yellow shawl over her shoulders posed with the loch of Dunvegan behind her. Flora MacLeod, the only female chief of the MacLeods of Dunvegan, the plague read. ‘Hello, Flora,’ Elle murmured, and her smile became wistful. It was strange to see the woman whose grave she had visited only the day before. Flora had known how to live life to its fullest if her mysterious, slightly mischievous smile were any indication.

She moved on to look over the rest of the paintings and artefacts lovingly preserved in the old castle, imagining herself living in a place like this. Elle was sad to leave when she made her way back to the front towers and out into the drizzly weather that had descended once more.