“Someone who’s functionally illiterate,” Reese said, hoping he wasn’t pretending to be interested, “can read and understand some words but not well enough to handle things like job applications, bank statements, complex signs, or even past-due notices. It’s hard for them to find work, and it’s easy for them to be taken advantage of.”
“You always were a do-gooder,” he said.
“That’s not a bad thing.” Reese tried not to feel hurt, but it didn’t work.
“Don’t take offense where none was intended.” Jem lifted his glass, as though in toast. “It’s something I’ve always admired about you.”
Reese didn’t say anything. The sooner the evening ended, and with it his self-appointed role of flattering dance partner, the better.
“Kaitlyn’s signaling us.” Jem pointed to the entrance, where the others had gathered.
“Let’s see what’s going on.” Reese put her nearly full glass on the tray carried by a passing servant. Jem offered her his arm, and she accepted it.
“Took you long enough to notice me.” Kaitlyn smacked her brother’s arm.
“We have something on the top floor you all want to see,” Cyrus said.
“What do you think?” Jem asked Reese.
She shrugged. Anything to leave the ball early worked for her. When Cyrus grabbed Kaitlyn’s hand and they hurried toward the stairs, Cora followed. Jem took Reese’s hand and pulled her with him.
The first room Kaitlyn led them into was full of clothing. It must be where Nellie kept everything for her guests. Considering the amount of clothes in the room, the dry-cleaning bill for the place must be huge.
“In here.” Cyrus reached into the dark room and fumbled until he found the light switch. Kaitlyn rushed in, pulling Cora and Reese with her.
“There,” Kaitlyn breathed, her voice a hush. “What do you think?”
As Reese stared at the large portrait, her scalp prickled, and a sense of unease filled her. Where the rest of the paintings were busts, this one was full-length. Her face stared back at her, and a chill went down her spine. All of them were there, though they weren’t dressed quite the same.
“What the—” Jem began.
“I told you.” Cyrus started humming the theme song from The Twilight Zone.
“How is this possible?” Reese half expected their lifelike alter-egos on canvas to talk to each other, like they did in the Harry Potter books.
“Nice trick.” Jem shot his sister a skeptical look. “How’d you have the picture taken? We didn’t even all get here at the same time.”
“I didn’t do it.” Kaitlyn’s eyes flashed.
“This is kind of creeping me out.” Reese’s sense of unease increased, and she stepped back.
“We need a picture of this.” Cora positioned herself and her portrait-self in her phone’s screen and took several pictures. “Come on, everyone. Stand by yourselves in the picture.”
Reese hesitated, but Kaitlyn pulled her over.
“Squash up a bit.” Cora held her phone high.
Everyone huddled together, and Reese found herself with Jem at her side, his arm around her shoulders, and her arm around his waist. The rightness of it distracted her for a second, but then the lights in the room went all weird, bright and sparkly. An instant later everything around her seemed to sway.
The room spun, like Reese had been twirling around in circles, and she felt like she was falling back, toward the painting. She clung tighter to Jem, now with both hands. The next thing she knew, they were falling. Reese landed on top of him with an umph.
“What—” he began.
“Oh dear.” Aunt Nellie’s sharp voice came from the doorway.
Chapter 2
DIZZY, REESE LIFTED HER HEAD and tried to focus on their hostess. How had she changed from the ball gown she’d been wearing a few minutes ago to a day dress?
“A couple this time. What fun!” Aunt Nellie clapped her hands with her usual happy enthusiasm. “However, I cannot stay to explain how you have come to be here, as I have guests arriving soon. My servants will take care of you. You are in for such a treat.” She turned to a tall man with graying hair and wearing the suit of a butler. “Take them to the guestrooms as usual and send up refreshments.” With a parting grin and a twinkle in her eyes, she left the room.
“Wait.” Unable to move, Reese groaned, feeling disoriented and slightly nauseous. She had no idea what had happened and wanted nothing more than to lie there on Jem’s chest. Jem’s chest! With a gasp, she rolled off him and groaned again. Had they been drugged?
“You all right?” He slowly sat up and rubbed his temples like they hurt.
“I don’t know.” The lingering queasiness kept her in place. She stared at the windows. It had been close to midnight, yet that had to be afternoon light streaming in. Reese scanned the room. The furnishings and wallpaper had changed, like she had blinked and the background on her computer had switched. Even the smell of the room was different, with a touch of burning wood.
“Do you feel well enough to stand?” Jem asked.
Reese glanced up. He had gotten to his feet and was bending over her, concern etched on his face, one hand extended. She took it and let him pull her up. The motion made the room swim again. She clung to him, and he put an arm around her.
Only then did her brain register the absence of the others. She met Jem’s worried gaze, and they both said, “Kaitlyn.”
“Where’s my sister?” he demanded of the butler.
“I beg your pardon?” The man looked sincerely confused.
“We were with three other people,” Reese said. “Where are they?”
“Aunt Nellie said all we could tell you was that the year is 1850,” a young woman in a maid’s costume said, stepping into the room. “Your friends have not yet arrived, and they may not. The magic may have missed them altogether.”
“Wait. What was that?” Jem shook his head, like he was trying to dislodge something inside. “Did you say magic?”
“Yes, sir, but Aunt Nellie must be the one to explain it all to you,” the maid said.
Reese put a hand to her temple. They had definitely been drugged.
“Magic and time travel.” Jem gave the two servants a flat look. “That’s not possible.”
“Ah, but time is a fuzzball,” the butler said. “Many things are possible with faerie magic.”
“Where’s the camera?” Reese mumbled, squinting around the room. “I don’t want to be mocked on YouTube for falling for a prank.”
“I thought a fuzzball had to do with quantum physics,” Jem said.
Reese’s head felt like it was a fuzzball. She couldn’t shake the drugged feeling and wondered again if someone had put some kind of hallucinogen in their food or drinks. Were they going to be kept as prisoners here? What about the others?
“Please take us to our friends.” She had to blink her eyes several times to focus.
“We cannot, miss.” The butler’s expression held sympathy for the first time. “Aunt Nellie may be able to determine their whereabouts, but that will take time.”
“It looks like we’re not going to get any answers. Can you walk?” When Jem offered her his arm again, she took it. All this touching was just one more thing to mess with her head. They followed the butler to a large staircase, where he handed them off to a footman.
“Your rooms are in the family wing.” The man led them up the stairs and then down a few doors of a long hallway.
Still feeling floaty, like she’d been given gas for dental work, Reese tried to take in her surroundings. The house was so much like the one she’d just spent the last week in—yet there were subtle changes in furniture and picture arrangements, numerous enough that the servants couldn’t have made them all so quickly. And why would they?
Was it possible they really were in 1850? The sick feeling in her stomach grew. Would they be able to get home to their families again? If they didn’t, her poor mother would be left alone.
“People died of simple staph infections in 1850,” she said, stopping short.
“What?” Jem turned back and stared at her, seeming a little lost himself.
“If we’re really in this time, they don’t have antibiotics yet.” Reese put her hands to her cheeks, the pitch of her voice rising as she spoke. “They still have smallpox, and we haven’t been vaccinated against it. Doctors don’t wash their hands because they don’t believe in germ theory yet. They bleed sick people in 1850.”
“It’s going to be okay.” Jem put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze. He quirked a brow in the way he did when he was amused. “We’ll just keep away from the doctors.”
The humor in his voice brought her back, like it always did when she overreacted. She gave him a wan smile.
“Your room is here, sir.” The footman indicated a door to the right. “If you will follow me, miss, your room is a bit further down the hall.”
“Will you be all right?” Jem asked.
“No.” She didn’t want to be alone with these people yet.
“What can I do to help?” He stepped up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
Besides take her in his arms and tell her it was all a terrible dream, that she’d wake up in a minute.
“Tell me this isn’t real.”
“This isn’t real.” Jem said it flatly, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Fatigue threatened to overwhelm her. She didn’t have to energy to fight it.
“I’ll try to get some rest,” Reese said. And maybe wake up from this nightmare.
“Me too.” Jem let his own tiredness show then. “I’ll be right here if you need anything.” Jem gave her hand a gentle squeeze and entered the now-open doorway to his chambers.
She missed him as soon as he was gone, not realizing how much his calm presence had fortified her.
“This one, miss.” The footman pointed to a door and a tiny young woman standing just inside the room. “This here is Lulu, your personal maid. If you need anything, you just tell her.”
The tiny maid bobbed a curtsy, her expression expectant and a little wary.
“I need to go home,” Reese said.
“In due time, miss,” Lulu said. “Now let’s get you out of that gown, so you can lie down for a bit. I’ve got a nice cup of tea that will help you sleep.”
Reese wondered if her lack of energy came from whatever bizarre thing had happened to her. Maybe, if it was a dream, it didn’t really matter anyway. She didn’t argue with the maid but allowed her to help Reese out of the gown.
“Now you climb into bed, miss.” Lulu tucked her in like she was a child and turned to a small table. She returned with a small demitasse teacup. “A few sips of this, and you will be right as rain.”
Reese stared at it. If she felt this bad because she had been drugged, it’d be pretty stupid to take something else.
“You will feel better, miss.” Lulu put the cup and saucer next to Reese’s hand. “I promise.”
If it was a dream, it didn’t matter.
Reese accepted it. The tea had a mildly sweet bouquet and a pleasant, if unusual, taste. She took another sip and then another. Her eyelids grew heavy, and the little maid took back the cup and saucer.
“After you’ve had your rest,” Lulu said before leaving, “I’ll help you dress for dinner.”
Reese wasn’t normally a napper, but she fell into a deep sleep. When she woke, she thought at first the whole back-in-time thing had been a dream, until Lulu spoke.
“If you’ll just sit up, miss, I have something that will perk you right up.”
For a second, Reese had a surreal feeling that she had jumped down a rabbit hole. Would this potion turn her into a giant? Or maybe shrink her to the size of a mouse?
“What does it do?” she asked.
“‘‘Tis a vitality tonic.”
Reese took a sip. The pleasant flavor was different from the tea, but the biggest change came from the mild electric-like jolt that followed her first swallow. She almost expected steam to burst from her ears like in Harry Potter. The stuff kicked energy drinks back home clear down the street. Energy flowed through her, sweeping away the dreadful fatigue and clearing her mind. It also soothed her worries and made them seem trivial. Was this how Nellie made sure her accidental guests accepted what had happened?
“I could have used some of this for finals week,” she said.
“I beg your pardon, miss?”
“It’s nothing.” She finished it, a little disappointed that the second rush wasn’t as powerful as the first. When she’d finished the drink, her worry had been replaced with a sense of rightness in being there. The tonic had managed to both energize and soothe her.
“I have good news for you, miss. Two of your friends have arrived.”
“Who?” Reese slid from the bed, her heart thumping.
“A Miss Kaitlyn and a Mr. Cyrus.” The maid took the teacup before Reese dropped it
“They’re okay?” Reese asked, relieved.
“They are.”
“But no Cora?”
“Not yet, miss.” Lulu lifted a dressing gown from a settee. “Aunt Nellie will be here soon to answer your questions.”
“Oh, then let’s get with it,” Reese said, anxious for an explanation.
The maid had only just put a dressing gown over Reese’s shoulders when Aunt Nellie entered the room. She glanced at the empty cup on the tray.
“Good,” she said. “You look much better, Miss Hamilton.”
“Why good?” Reese asked, wary. “Because I won’t freak out as much now?”
“In part.” Aunt Nellie seemed amused, with the hint of a twinkle in her eyes.
It irritated Reese. She wanted a serious response, and Nellie’s whole demeanor made it seem like she thought this was a great joke. Reese narrowed her eyes, fragments of comments the woman had made when they first got here coming back. That unexpected guests had arrived had been no surprise. The number of the guests had. So, it seemed her hostess had done this before. Maybe many times.
“When do I get to see Kaitlyn and Cyrus?”
“Lulu has informed you of their arrival. Very good.” Nellie said. “Please sit so your maid can finish your toilette. Your friends will also attend the dinner, though you will not be seated near each other. They are also being dressed, so you may not have time to discuss your little adventure before dinner, but the ball should provide ample opportunities to speak with them then.”
“Still no Cora?” When Nellie shook her head, Reese added, “Is there any way to find out what happened to her? Do people ever get stuck in the process of traveling through time?”
“No, they do not ‘get stuck,’ as you call it. You may not know until you return home, but—” Nellie raised her hands, “you mentioned standing in a group when the magic caught you. Your other friend might yet arrive here.” She studied Reese, her expression turning more serious, like she was trying to figure out the best approach. Nellie finally nodded. “I believe you to be a forthright woman, am I correct?”
“Very.” Reese was so done with the deflections. “So, cut to the chase. How can we possibly be in 1850?”
“You and your friends were brought here by faerie magic,” Nellie said simply.
Reese blinked, her thoughts scattering in different directions, one part reminding her that the servants had mentioned magic earlier and another screaming there was no such thing.
Her heart rate sped up, but it seemed to reach a limit and slowed down. She put her hand over her heart, reminded of the antidepressant she’d had to take for a few months in high school. It had kept her from feelin
g any extreme emotion. The logical part of Reese’s mind said it must be the tea keeping her from overreacting. She was glad she’d taken it. Otherwise, she might already have run screaming from the room.
“I am a guardian for ancient fae ley lines,” Nellie continued. “Twickenham Manor was constructed over them as a way to protect against periodic releases of magic. They occur during a full moon. Unfortunately, if people are in the right place when these releases happen, they are moved through time. In the case of you and your friends, you were brought here to 1850.”
Reese sank onto the dressing table chair, wishing Jem were there. He would make a joke about it. Maybe when they got back home— She straightened abruptly.
“You can send us back, can’t you?” she asked.
“Oh, yes, but not straight away.” Nellie said, her positive attitude for once not an irritation. “It has to do with the painting you saw of yourselves—that I will now have to create.”
“You painted that?”
“I will. And, once I have a match for the future painting, when the magic releases at the next full moon—if you are in position—it will return you to your own time.”
“I can’t be gone for a month.” Reese put her hands to her cheeks. “My mother will freak out.”
“Have no fear. You will return to almost the exact moment that you left.” Nellie gave a mischievous grin, her playful side back. “Your family need know nothing of your little adventure here.”
Reese closed her eyes. The next full moon. They were stuck here for a month. It would be the Regency immersion vacation, times four. And for real.
“You and your friends,” Nellie continued, “will be introduced as rich Americans looking to marry into the English aristocracy.”
“What?” Reese stood, standing as straight as she could so she towered over Nellie and Lulu. “I’m not looking for a husband, and I’m not rich.”
“You will not be here long, so that is irrelevant,” Nellie said with finality. “It merely gives you status and a way to interact with the Quality. I have done this many times quite successfully.”
“Aunt Nellie has a knack for helping to make love matches,” Lulu said enthusiastically.
Against the Magic (Twickenham Time Travel Romance) Page 3