They scribbled their cards and sent them off with three separate messengers, telling them to run as fast as they could and to bring back their answers with all haste.
Tilly reassured Farrah that nothing was wrong and stayed to play a game with the boys while she waited. It was a torturous hour before all the messengers returned. Ariana wasn’t at any of the houses.
“Would you like me to help you look for her?” Farrah asked. “She used to play up in the north attic, remember?”
It had been years since Ariana went up there. Once she started caring about her dresses, she stopped playing in dusty, cobwebbed places. But even though Tilly waved off Farrah’s help, she headed upstairs anyway.
She looked in every spare room, every attic. She returned to Ariana’s bedroom, sweaty and breathing hard. She would have hated if her mother searched through her things. She knew her own mother trusted her when she was a teen, despite having a difficult time of it after her father died. She was positive her diaries and closets had always remained sacrosanct.
She went into Ariana’s room. Only to wait for her, that was all. She sat on the dressing table chair, noticing in the mirror that her hair was a fright. Sliding open one of the drawers for a brush, she hurriedly viewed all the other contents while the drawer was open. It was full of hair ribbons and pins and bits of jewelry and she slid it shut, not bothering to take out the hairbrush.
“Okay, I guess I’m snooping,” she said guiltily to her reflection.
Her reflection refused to offer her any advice and she decided to wait a bit longer. Ariana could have gone on a long walk. Perhaps she was out shopping. But alone? And without telling anyone?
Ah! Perhaps she left a note. There was a reason to look around a bit. Nothing on the dressing table, nothing on either of the side tables or on the small settee. Nothing on the mantel or bedside tables. Tilly knew Ariana wouldn’t leave a note inside her wardrobe and if she opened it, she would have sunk to her lowest point yet. She’d be a liar and a snoop.
She sat down on the edge of the bed to wait some more. It would be dark soon enough and Ariana would have to come home. Wouldn’t she? Something about that look Ariana had on her face when she left them all to finish their argument kept pulling at Tilly’s heartstrings. She knew her daughter had been angry, no matter how quietly she left the room. Volcano angry.
“You’re doing the right thing,” she said to herself, her heart already pounding at the thought of having to confess her years of untruths. “It’s time.”
Her heel hit something hard under the bed as she wriggled around to get more comfortable. She leaned over to see what Ariana was stuffing under there, expecting to see old hat boxes and stray boots. What she saw had her crumbling off the bed to her knees.
At first it looked like a sewing case, with padded sides and wicker top. But she could feel a slight, buzzing energy around it. Though it had been years since she handled the book, as soon as she touched it, the hex to disguise it faded away.
“No,” she gasped, recoiling from it. “No, no, no.”
How did it get there? Did Owen leave it? Yes, he must have. But for the life of her, Tilly couldn’t figure out why. Did he told Ariana about it, after all? It didn’t make sense. She unclasped the hands she hadn’t realized were curled into fists and pulled the book all the way out. Almost against her will, she opened it.
The old familiar sensations washed over her. It invigorated her as much as it made her sick. Leaning over she saw it was a time travel spell, the one Ashford tinkered with to come after her when she got lost in time. There was a childish scrawl along the side of the page she recognized instantly as Ariana’s old schoolgirl handwriting.
Never, ever do this again. Pain atrocious, it read.
Recoiling, she tried not to pass out. How long ago had she written it? And how did she know anything about the spell? She couldn’t make herself believe they might have tried it.
She turned page after page, seeing more notes jotted along the sides and bottoms of pages. Little bits of paper were stuck in here and there, filled with handwriting she recognized. Owen’s blocky, boyish printing. And Ariana’s careful, flowing script she was so proud of.
Tilly ran to the basin and threw up. They knew about the book for years. Were using it for years. She rinsed her face and sat down to look through it once more. She had to know the depth of what they learned.
Healing spells, disguising spells, abundance spells, memory spells. And dear God, the time travel spells. She tore through the pages, trying to find the one she used to reopen the portal and the subsequent one Liam had used to close it. Both pages had notes stuck between the leaves. Both in Ariana’s handwriting.
Tears dropped onto the pages and Tilly wiped them away. She stumbled toward the portal room, lugging the massive book with her. The door was unlocked. Did Ariana already go through? Tilly could scarcely breathe. Her daughter’s words reverberated in her head.
“What about that book, then? Why did you act so upset about it?”
She was all but begging them to finally tell the truth. So was Owen. And what did the responsible adults do? Ashford snapped at her and Tilly pretended to be too tired to deal with anything. Shame and regret filled her like nothing she had ever known.
Dear God, what if those were the last words she ever heard from Ariana? A plea she didn’t answer.
She tore from the room, screaming Ashford’s name as she hurried down the stairs. She found him in his library and skidded to a halt, panting from fear and hauling the heavy book.
“Julian,” she cried, tossing the book away from her.
“Goodness, love, what is it now?” he asked, looking concerned at the state she was in.
She threw herself to the floor, landing in a heap near the wretched book. She could barely see him through her tears.
“Our baby’s gone.”
Stay tuned for Book Six!
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More books by Cassidy Cayman
Lost Highlander
Reunited
Revenge
Sam & Evie
Reckoning
Smitten by the Spinster
Wild about the Witch
All for the Heiress
Belmary House Book One
Belmary House Book Two
Belmary House Book Three
Belmary House Book Four
Valhalla Cupcakes
The Marquess Mess
The Lost Heiress
Endearing (Knight Everlasting book 1)
Enchanted (Knight Everlasting book 2)
The White Christmas Inn
Belmary House 5 Page 23