Chapter 12
New Friends
In the western Highlands of Scotland, surrounded by snow-peaked mountains, amid the black tidal pool of three ancient lochs, there is a lonely, rugged island dressed in green heather and a few scrappy pines. Atop this wild island there sit the ruins of a castle, hundreds of years old. Legend says the castle was built by the first son of a Highland clan chieftain as a stronghold against warring Viking invaders. The chieftain’s son was renowned for his success at business and his shrewdness for war. It was said he possessed the peculiar, magical gift of being able to communicate with birds.
When Nicolas was eight years old, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett took him to see the castle’s remains. Its windswept and scoured walls, its narrow paths, its blackened stones, and its wild
