Cham was already awake, leaving her alone in bed. A flash of lightning burst above her as the rain beat against the window.
She climbed out of bed and jumped into the shower, her last one for she couldn’t imagine how long. The water was extra hot. She soaped and continued to rub at the bubbles until they were fluffy peaks in her palm. She chuckled at the sight, of the simplicity of the things she would miss.
Only for a few days.
Time travel was such a complex concept. It was difficult to wrap her brain around it. It was impossible to think she could leave this morning and come back tonight while living in the past for days, weeks, or even years.
Annie touched her skin, smooth with water and soap, and let her hand trail her taut body. She thought of all the jokes she had made that week about how she could come home tomorrow.
But what if I get trapped in the past for decades? What if I age and they don’t?
The thought frightened her. She rested her head against the cool tile and cried.
“Annie? Are you almost ready?” Cham asked.
She wiped her eyes. “Yeah. I’m coming,” she said. She finished rinsing and let the water and soap slide down her body and pool at the drain before being sucked inside. She shut off the water, clean and warm in a clean and warm house with no sickness, no pain, a television, and phones.
A warm towel wrapped around her, she wiped the mirror and looked at her young self before she prepared to leave.
*
A hearty breakfast waited for her when she entered the kitchen. Her clothes were comfortable, the protection charm Zola gave her hung against her chest under her lightweight sweater, and her field pack was hidden in her waist of her pants.
She sat at the table and took a bite of eggs, then toast. She chewed slowly but didn’t feel like eating
Cham sat beside her playing with his food. “You need to eat too,” Annie said.
“I know.” He stabbed an egg and took a bite.
The kitchen clock ticked away the time quickly. Before Annie knew it, the clock read 7:15 and she felt nauseated.
“You okay?” Cham asked.
“I’m fine. I’m ready,” she said as she pulled on a jacket. Annie took a last look at her house and exited to her back porch.
She let Cham wrap his arms around her and teleport her to the spiral portal.
*
It was agreed that only the necessary people would be there for the portal opening. This included Gibbs, Brite, Kolgaar, Lial, Milo, and Cham. Everyone else was told to stay away. The rest of the group had arrived before her and was waiting anxiously. Annie looked at the portal. In the gray light, the magical anomaly hung in the air and shimmered. Annie felt dizzy, nauseated, and ran to the bushes to vomit.
Milo held his hand up and shook his head. He joined Annie at the bushes.
“I’m okay,” she said when he knelt beside her.
“I know. I’d be a little nervous, too, if I were you.” Milo waited patiently for Annie to sit up. She glanced at her team, then looked away, embarrassed by her reaction.
“Sorry. I didn’t realize how jumbled I am inside.”
“Jason was my friend. And, as I always told you, you were like a niece to me. I expect you to come home.”
“What if I get stuck in the past for years and come back old?” Annie asked.
Milo chuckled and reached for her hand. “Congratulations.” He dropped his eyes, but not her hand.
Annie watched him. She felt he had more to say. “Thanks. Is there something else?”
Milo looked at her. “While you’re in the past, I’m going to work with Bucky and see what we can find out about Emily… before she finds you.”
Annie held her breath and nodded. “What if… what if I have to kill her?”
Milo shook his head. “No. Don’t think like that. We’ll deal with her. One problem at a time. You concentrate only on this. This, Annie.”
Overcome with dread and emotion, she hugged him. “Take care of yourself,” Annie said as she pulled away and joined the others.
The storm rolled across the Chicagoland area and felt as though it was drenching their location in particular. Lighting flashed, thunder roared, and all of their group remained in the clearing to watch Annie, Gibbs and Brite leave. Annie was glad for the thunder. It had truly become where she felt safe.
Both Kolgaar and Annie wore the talismans. The statues were twitchy and active so close to the portal’s magical energy.
As the rain pounded on them, Lial set a crystal on the ground below the spiraled energy and summoned the magic where it hung in the air, inches above the rock.
“I’m going to reverse the energy. Kolgaar, stand here. Annie, here.” Lial guided them to either side of the portal, held his palms toward the energy, and said, “Revertere.” Wind shifted as the magical energy sizzled. Lial held a second crystal and followed the spiral of magic; rather than spiraling upwards to the right, it spiraled up to the left.
“You sure that’s going to take us back?” Annie asked, worried.
“Yes. I’ve been up all night rereading the books. Now touch the talismans to the magical energy,” he ordered.
Annie and Kolgaar obeyed. A swirling mass of air began to blow from the portal. Tiny flashes of lightning sparked inside the whirlpool of wind as thunder roared between the talismans. Annie glanced inside but could see nothing more than swirling colors. She took out the vial of Gila’s blood and handed it to Lial.
Lial stood in front of the whirling mass of air and said, “Praeteriti aperiri.” He tossed the vial inside.
“Come back to me,” Cham whispered in her ear. She turned and kissed him.
“We need to go!” Kolgaar said anxiously.
Annie looked back inside the whirling mass. It still was a wild jumble of wind, thunder, lightning, and colors.
“Jump through,” Kolgaar ordered.
“You first,” Annie shouted over the clap of thunder above her.
Kolgaar grabbed her upper arm as a wind whipped against them, and yanked her through the portal.
She fell.
Her arms flailed about; her legs kicked at nothingness. Disoriented, she twisted and turned to get a look at where she was falling. With each twist of her body, Kolgaar tightened his grip on her as if she could escape from him.
A heavy weight pulled against her waist. She had no idea who had grabbed her as she was dragged into the portal.
The notion of time raced before her eyes in a long blur of colors. Each foot another year, another decade away from the life she knew and the people she loved, away from Cham.
Lightning flashed around her without touching her. A soft roll of thunder pulsated through her as she continued to fall to the earth.
Chapter 19
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled.
THUD!
“Ooooff.” Parched earth flew up around her. Annie groaned.
A heavy thud shook the ground around her. A gentle whimper.
Where am I?
Her body ached. Her head was fuzzy.
Where am I?
Her memory came back to her: a bitter wind, water pummeling her skin and drenching her hair, a clap of thunder, a flash of lightning.
She slowly realized she was warm and dry now. The sun beat down on her back and her hair, warming her. Annie turned her head and closed her eyes against the blinding sun. A hand clutched her ankle. She pulled away, and pain shot through her body.
A man’s deep moan came from somewhere near her feet.
Gibbs or Brite?
A warm summer breeze rustled Annie’s hair and fluttered her clothes. It kicked up the dust around her face. She coughed, and it rattled her body.
“Crap,” she murmured. To her left, a second male voice groaned.
Feeling pain throughout her body, she wiggled her toes in her boots, moved her feet, made a fist and released it, assessing any injuries.
I must be alive.
Kolgaar pulled himself up and
limped across the path. He mumbled as he turned and walked the opposite direction, passing her vision for a second time.
Annie held her breath as she pulled herself up. “Shit!” she murmured. Her lungs burned with each breath as she took in her surroundings.
“Get up!’ Kolgaar pushed on Brite’s shoulders attempting to rouse him. Brite groaned.
Annie turned slightly. He lay at her feet.
“Get up!” Kolgaar shouted again, pulling Brite up by the shoulders.
“Stop!” Annie’s throat was dry and sore, her words garbled. She pulled herself across the dirt to her colleague and friend, and pushed Kolgaar away. Anxiously, she felt for Brite’s pulse and pulled up his eyelid, looking for signs of concussion.
“What are you doing?” Kolgaar asked.
Annie ignored him and held her hand above Brite, maneuvering across his body from his head to his feet, while chanting a healing spell.
Her hands should have felt a tingle as the magic passed through her, but she felt nothing.
“Damn.” She looked at her palms. “Damn.”
Annie held her hands against Brite’s cheeks. “Brite,” she said again. “If you can hear me, wake up. Say something.” She lightly slapped his face, rousing him.
He groaned. “Annie?” His eyes were closed, his lips curled.
“Yeah. It’s me. Where do you hurt?” she asked, her hand rested on his arm.
“Everywhere,” he murmured. Annie couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Yeah. I’m achy too. Listen, my magic’s down. Can you get up?”
“I think so. Just feel so stiff.”
With a hand against his back, Annie pushed him up. Her shoulder stiffened.
“We need to go,” Kolgaar said as he still limped across the narrow dirt path.
Annie stumbled as she stood and nausea gripped her. She bent over and fell to her knees. The earth spun around her.
It was a pleasant day: warm, but not hot, sunny and breezy enough for the grasses on either side of the narrow road to wave gently.
When nausea subsided, she stood again and scanned the landscape. The path they landed on was narrow. Barely one car would have fit on it. It stretched across the landscape, twisting and turning through the valley leading to a wide hill.
Grass as tall as Annie’s hip covered the land and the hills, all she could see across the miles of England. She continued to look from east to west and north to south. There was nothing in her line of sight: no buildings, no people, no white noise to remind her she wasn’t alone.
Where’s Jorvik?
She had expected a town of considerable size, the Viking stronghold that should have covered several acres or more of land. She saw nothing. “Where are we?” Annie demanded.
Kolgaar stood at the edge of the narrow path and peered into the distance. His steely blue eyes crinkled in thought. “I don’t… I am not sure. We should be just outside the Jorvik. I fear we are not,” he said plainly.
“Why didn’t the spell work?” Annie asked, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to answer that question. She looked behind her.
“Something is wrong. We need to go before nightfall. It won’t be safe,” Kolgaar said.
Annie glared at him.
“We need to go. Now! You do not understand. The demons come out at night. We need to get somewhere safe before that happens.” Impatiently, Kolgaar limped across the path and back again, kicking up dirt, skipping a rock into the grass.
The silence of the countryside enveloped her, unnerved her. They were alone and possibly in the wrong place.
And wrong time?
Annie turned back to Brite, who shook as he limped to her. She turned and looked for Gibbs. He was nowhere in sight.
“Gibbs!” she shouted and walked east through the tall grass. “Gibbs!”
Brite walked through the grasses to the west calling out for Gibbs.
Annie thought she heard a low groan and stopped shouting. She followed the sound and ran to Gibbs, who lay at the edge of a small pond.
“Gibbs!” She rushed to his side. “I found him, Michael. I found him!” she shouted. “Gibbs. Damn. Gibbs!” She checked for a pulse and lightly slapped his face as she had done for Brite. “Gibbs!”
Brite trekked through the grasses to Annie. “Shit!” he said.
He knelt beside Annie as she held her palms above Gibbs’s head, to heal whatever might have been wrong. Again, where she should have felt tingling as the magic released from her hands, she felt nothing.
“No magic.” Annie stared at her hands, feeling powerless as a nonmagical.
Brite placed his hands above Gibbs’s head. “Place your hands on mine. Maybe together?”
She did as he suggested, but even together, there was barely enough magic between the two of them. Still, drawing what little magical energy they could, they continued until Gibbs jerked his head and opened his eyes. He was bewildered and confused.
“What…” he muttered.
“Can you move?” Annie asked.
He glanced at the blue sky and waved her away. But for Gibbs, considerably older than Annie and Brite, sitting up was difficult as dizziness gripped him. He pulled his legs up and rested his head on his knees.
“Girl.” He waved her away again. “Just a little stiff,” he said. He glanced at her through nearly shut eyes before pulling himself up. Dizziness sent him back to the ground with his head between his legs.
“Stay down,” Annie said. He waved her away again. She returned to Brite. “And you’re okay?” she asked.
Brite nodded and continued to pace along the roadside, stretching his stiff muscles.
The grasses rustled as Kolgaar marched to them. “We need to leave!” he shouted.
She exchanged glances with Brite who continued stretching. Annie turned and shouted back to Kolgaar. “Listen to me. We’re not ready! Go if you want. We’ll leave when I say!”
“I only need you. They can catch up later,” Kolgaar jeered.
“Enough. We’re sore and need a minute to catch our breath. Have you figured out where we are yet?” Annie asked.
Kolgaar glanced to the north and pointed. “It’s just over the hill, that way. We should make it within half a day.” He glanced at the sky. “The problem is that it will be dark soon. We need to find shelter.”
Gibbs hobbled to the path. “What do you mean a half day? We’re not in Jorvik? Are we even in the correct year?”
“We’ll find out when we get there,” Brite said. “Test your magic. Annie and I are down.”
Gibbs held out his palm, attempting to summon his field pack. “No. I’m down too.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin.
“If we can’t get our field packs to original size, we’re screwed.” Annie sighed.
Gibbs glanced at her. “Such negativity, girl.”
“You realize once I come into those powers, I’ll be more powerful than you. You can start by calling me Annie.”
He grimaced and said, “Such negativity, Annie.”
She chuckled. “See, you’ll get there. I have supplies we kinda need.”
“There’s magical energy across the planet. We’ll just have to borrow that,” Gibbs said.
“This wasn’t a problem I expected,” Annie said.
Gibbs held his palm up as if he was going to summon an object. “Nothing. How did you wake me?”
“We called for the magic together.” She pointed to Brite.
“Are you done discussing this? We need to go,” Kolgaar reminded them.
Annie glanced down the path. The valley stretched out for miles.
What if this isn’t the right year?
Without her magic, their magic, she was less certain of what would happen, less confident that she could right this ship. “Fine. Let’s go.” Annie exchanged a concerned glance with Gibbs and Brite as they followed Kolgaar down the path leading to the valley.
*
It had grown warmer, yet they still hadn’t reached the bottom of the valley. A
nnie was parched. She held out her palm.
“What are you trying to summon?” Brite asked.
“I’m thirsty. I’d like my field pack.” She glanced behind them and sighed.
Brite placed his hand on Annie’s, together summoning her field pack. The small object appeared. “Do you think we can grow it?” Annie asked.
It sputtered and shook and grew slightly. Annie sighed.
“You can stick it in your pocket for now,” Brite suggested.
They continued to walk.
The sun moved again, and soon was several degrees west of high noon. “We’ve been walking about two hours,” Annie said.
“You’re right,” Brite said, holding up his wrist to show his winding watch.
“Smart,” Gibbs grumbled.
They continued to follow Kolgaar.
Another hour passed as they crossed into the valley. Kolgaar stopped at the side of the path and looked out into the landscape. “It should be here.”
“What do you mean it should be here?” Annie asked.
“A path to the village.”
“We’re not where you thought we were? Terrific. And we’re without magic,” Annie said.
“What do you mean you are without magic?” Kolgaar asked.
Annie explained their difficulty in using magic. Kolgaar growled. “Why did I risk my life to come and get you if you are useless?”
“Figure out where we are.” Annie pulled out the small field pack and lay it in her palm. Brite held her hand, Gibbs placed his below as they slowly grew her field pack to normal size. They glanced at each other.
“Are you feeling exhausted, too?” Brite asked.
Annie slung her field pack across her shoulders. “Pretty much.” She sat down in the grass.
Gibbs opened her pack. His fingers grazed one of the water bottles and pulled it out for her. “Thanks.” She took a sip and passed it back.
“Well?” Gibbs asked Kolgaar.
“Near the trees is a house. We’ll head there for the night,” he said. He slung his bag across his back and walked at a quick pace.
“I guess we move on,” Annie said as Brite helped her up.
While the path continued north, they stepped into the grass heading East. Here the ground was uneven and thick with long grasses, wildflowers, and hay. Annie felt a twinge in her back.
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