by M. J. Putney
Allarde’s brows arched. “You can’t stop us, sir. Even if you report us to the headmaster, we can be through the mirror before he could act.”
As Mr. Stephens hesitated, torn between his responsibility to his students and his duty to his country, Tory said, “We’ve been training to help if England needs us. Maybe it’s the future we’ve felt calling.”
Miss Wheaton smiled, rueful but resigned. “We must bow gracefully to the inevitable, Lewis. These young people are mages. They might accept guidance, but they cannot be forced any more than you and I could be at their age. Besides, the danger should not be great. They’ll be in England doing weather magic, not heading into battle.”
Mr. Stephens exhaled roughly. “Miss Wheaton is right. Any young man who chooses to serve his country is a warrior in truth if not in years. Go with my blessing, and I wish I could go with you.”
“Young man or woman.” Tory’s hands clenched as she remembered the horror of passing through the mirror, but she had no doubt of what duty demanded. “I’m going, too. You’ll need me to blend and enhance magic, and I can help with the portal as well.”
Mr. Stephens’s expression looked even more horrified. Males might be warriors, but not frail, delicate flowers like her. She gave him an innocent smile. “I’m the only one who has made the trip both ways, so I know what’s involved.”
“You said you didn’t want to go through again,” Miss Wheaton said, frowning.
“I don’t.” Tory’s mouth twisted. “But now there’s a compelling reason.”
“I’d better come, too,” Elspeth said calmly. “A healer might be useful.”
Jack nodded. “True, and you’ll add quite a bit of power.”
Rachel Rainford said, “I’ll come also.”
Her brother frowned at her. “Mum will go berserk if we both leave.”
“She’ll go berserk if one of us does, so how would both of us going be worse?” Rachel said stubbornly.
“It would be, and you know it,” Jack replied. “Since I’m the one with weather magic, I need to be the one to go.”
“I think he’s right, Rachel,” Tory said quietly. “Your mother has always been so helpful to all the Irregulars. It hardly seems fair for her to watch both of her children go into the unknown.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Rachel looked ready to spit. “But you’d better come back and tell me all about it, Jack Rainford!”
“My word on it, Rach.” Jack’s attention returned to Nick, who was sitting up now, though still pale. “Tory said your little sister has weather-working magic?”
“Yes, but Polly hasn’t much training or experience.”
“I’ll guide the magic, so that doesn’t matter.” His gaze went to Cynthia. “You’ve quite a bit of weather magic, Cyn. Do you want to join us for a great adventure?”
“No!” she said, aghast. “I’m not going through a hole in time to a war with horrid new weapons! You can’t make me!”
“No one is trying to force you,” Allarde observed. Cynthia flushed.
“We might as well leave now,” Jack said. “Nick, are you up for it?”
“No,” Tory said firmly. “It might be dangerous for Nick to go through the portal twice in such a short time. It’s a wretched journey.”
“I can manage,” he said, but he didn’t look happy with the prospect.
“Better to leave tomorrow night, I think,” Allarde said. “Nick will have time to recover, and there are some preparations that could be useful.”
As the others nodded, Cynthia suddenly blurted out, “I’ll go, too! You need weather talent and general power, and I have both.”
“You would be a great asset,” Allarde said gravely.
Jack didn’t look quite so certain, but he said, “If you’re sure—well, you have the right kind of magic.”
Cynthia preened under the male attention. “After Jack, I’m the strongest weather mage, so it’s my duty.”
“I … I don’t know how to thank you all,” Nick said, his gaze moving from one face to another. “I never expected so much help from people who don’t know me from Adam.”
Jack chuckled. “What kind of grandfather would I be if I didn’t help my many times removed grandson when he needed it?”
Everyone laughed, but Tory felt somber as she and Elspeth and Cynthia left. It was the laughter before the storm.
CHAPTER 25
“You don’t have to do this,” Tory said to Cynthia as they headed to the Labyrinth the next evening. Tory wasn’t looking forward to passing through the portal again, but she was resigned to the need, and at least she’d see friends on the other side.
Lady Cynthia, however, looked like she was heading to the gallows. Her face was white and she was strung so tightly that she might break if someone touched her. Tory’s comment gave her an excuse to glare. “You can’t tell me what to do!”
“I’m not trying to,” Tory said mildly. “But you obviously don’t want to go through the portal. Why torment yourself?”
“I’m going to be needed. I’m certain of that.” After half a dozen more steps, she added in a low voice, “And I need to know that I can do this.”
So Cynthia was testing herself? Tory understood that. For her, the magic that had once seemed like a curse had become her challenge. If her abilities could help rescue British soldiers from death or captivity, it would be easier to accept the way that magic had shattered her life.
They reached the main hall. It wasn’t a regular class evening, so there were only a few people apart from those who were actually going through the mirror. Jack, Rachel, and Nick were sitting on a sofa. Jack greeted Tory and Cynthia. “Nick and I have decided to say that we’re cousins.”
“Many times removed,” Nick said with a smile.
“That’s sufficiently vague,” Tory agreed as she looked around. She and Cynthia were the last to arrive. Tory would have left for the Labyrinth earlier, but Cynthia had been fussing about what to take, and Tory felt it would be discourteous just to walk out.
Miss Wheaton and Mr. Stephens had come, of course, and Jack’s mother. Lily Rainford was a small, calm woman who was a hearth witch who’d studied magic in the Labyrinth herself as a girl. Without the fear of invasion, classes had been more relaxed then.
Allarde scanned the group. “Everyone is here, so I suppose it’s time to be off.” His voice was calm, but there was a spark of excitement in his gray eyes.
“I’m ready,” Nick said. He’d spent much of the time since his arrival in the main hall sleeping and recovering from the ordeal of the mirror. Jaw set, he headed into the tunnel leading to the mirror.
Tory hoped she looked calm, but her stomach was so tied in knots that she hadn’t been able to eat a bite at supper. Though she wanted to see her friends in 1940, first she must get through the appalling portal. She followed Nick into the tunnel, others falling in behind her. The group reached its destination, stopping a little short of the dead end.
The mirror wasn’t visible, but Tory felt its magic burning. Waiting.
“Don’t try to be a hero!” Rachel said as she gave her brother a fierce hug.
“I can’t help it if I’m naturally heroic.” After hugging her, he embraced his mother. “Take care of Mum, Rachel.”
His mother laughed, her voice almost steady. “As if I needed taking care of, my lad! You make yourself useful and get on home quickly.”
“Yes, Mum,” he said meekly. “Are you going first, Nick?”
“It’s my place.” Nick took Tory’s hand. “You next since you know the way.”
She clasped his hand and stretched her other arm back. Jack’s warm fingers locked around hers. Next came Elspeth, then Allarde. If Cynthia still had doubts, they were assuaged by being able to hold Allarde’s hand at the end.
“I wish I was coming with you,” Mr. Stephens said wistfully.
“We’re needed here for our classes and the other Irregulars.” Miss Wheaton smiled, her worry almost concealed. “Trave
l safely and come home soon.”
Nick turned to the invisible veil of magic that marked the mirror’s location and raised his right hand. He probably didn’t realize how hard his left hand was gripping Tory’s. She didn’t blame him. He hadn’t fully recovered from his journey the previous night, and now he had the responsibility of leading all six of them through time.
His need had been powerful enough to bring him here, and now he was equally determined to return home, if he could. She felt him collect his energy and summon the mirror. The air in front of him shimmered as if trying to coalesce. Tory braced herself for the passage.
Nick reached out to touch the coruscating air—and nothing happened. His fingers passed through the haze of flickering light and the mirror didn’t materialize. Tory added her energy to his, along with her desire and her memories of 1940.
Still nothing! Magic swirled through the corridor, thick and menacing, but the portal refused to form.
Nick tried again and then again without success. He was shaking with fatigue and the hand holding Tory’s was clammy when he said in a choked voice, “I can’t make it work. I’m trying as hard as I know how, but it won’t work.”
Under his words, Tory could feel the panic that he wouldn’t be able to return home. Since they were all linked by touch, she could also feel Cynthia’s relief along with varying degrees of disappointment from the others.
Time to test the theory that Tory had special mirror magic. “Let me try,” she said lightly. “I think the mirror likes me better.”
“I hope it does!” Haggard but relieved, Nick exchanged places with her.
Feeling the weight of everyone’s expectations, Tory closed her eyes to clear her mind, then summoned images. Countless soldiers jammed together as they waited for ships, desperate to get home. Nick’s father among them because he’d given up his comfortable life to serve his country against a growing evil.
Tory and her friends were needed. Desperately needed. She opened her eyes and reached out with her right hand and every ounce of her will. Take us where we must go. Please, for the sake of England, take us there!
Cool silver burned under her fingertips, and then she was dragged into wrenching chaos. Disorienting, painful, yet Nick’s firm grip remained real even as she plummeted into the abyss. Through him, she could dimly sense the others, their fear and alarm but also their strength.
Abruptly she twisted into normal space and crumpled to the hard floor. This time she didn’t lose consciousness, quite. Though she was dizzy and cold, she wasn’t alone. Nick had made it through as well, his fingers locked in a death grip around hers.
Light. They needed light. She managed to form a mage lamp in her right hand and tossed it up to cling to the ceiling. Throat dry, she asked, “Is everyone here?”
“I think so.” Allarde’s voice was unsteady, but he pushed himself to a sitting position. “You weren’t exaggerating about what an uncomfortable journey that is!”
“Actually, it was a bit easier than before.” Creakily, Tory got to her feet.
Nick gave her a twisted smile as he stumbled up. “I really hope we came to the right time, because I do not want to do that again!”
“Just what we need,” Jack said tartly as he lurched up, bracing one hand against the wall. “The reminder that most of us will have to do this again.”
“Maybe it becomes easier with practice,” Elspeth said as she rose.
There was one person who hadn’t spoken up. Concerned, Tory moved along the wall to where her roommate lay huddled and apparently unconscious. “Cynthia?”
She knelt on one side and Elspeth on the other. Elspeth rested her hands on Cynthia’s head and sent a rich flow of healing energy. “Cynthia, can you hear me?”
After a minute, Cynthia’s lashes flickered up. “That … that was ghastly!”
Tory sat back on her heels, relieved. “I warned everyone.”
“I thought you were exaggerating to make yourself sound braver,” Cynthia grumbled as she sat up.
“She’s being insulting,” Tory said mischievously. “Obviously Cynthia is getting back to normal.”
Cynthia gave Tory a scowl fierce enough to blister paint. Allarde offered his hand to help her to her feet. “But we all made it here, which is quite amazing. I suppose we must go outside to learn if we’ve reached our destination.”
“This looks right. The amount of dust, the footprints.” Nick started down the tunnel. “I marked the way in when I came with Tory, just in case I ever had reason to need the mirror. I didn’t expect it to be so soon!”
“I’m ready for fresh air,” Tory said as she collected her mage lamp and followed Nick. The others came after her with a bobbing of mage lamps.
She was relieved to see that the abbey looked exactly as she remembered from her previous trips through the mirror. There were gasps when the other Irregulars saw the ruins of their school. It was one thing to be told what to expect, another to see it.
It was a very dark night that felt like May. “We’re here,” Nick said quietly. “The abbey looks right and the blackout is in effect, or we’d see along the shore.”
Tory hadn’t known that when she’d emerged here before. Darkness had seemed natural since she’d never seen electric lights. “I hope there’s lots of food at your house. Time travel makes me ravenous.”
“I think the portal burns some of our own energy in order to work,” Allarde said thoughtfully. “That would explain why the transit is so tiring and disorienting.”
“A good theory,” Elspeth said. “Perhaps we could travel with food so we could start rebuilding our energy as soon as we arrive.”
“Next time, I’ll carry shortbread.” Tory dimmed her mage lamp to the barest of glows. “We need lamps to get out of the abbey without tripping and breaking our necks, but keep them very dim.”
“What if we want to use more light?” Cynthia asked.
“Concerned citizens will come after us threatening to call the police because we’re violating the blackout.” Nick dimmed his light, then headed toward the gate.
The others fell in behind him. Tory waited and brought up the rear. At least on this journey, she knew what to expect.
The Irregulars’ journey to Lackland was shorter than Tory’s had been because they walked to Nick’s house on the bluff rather than down into the village proper. Even so, there was plenty to intrigue the Irregulars who were seeing paved roads, power lines, and motorcars for the first time. Tory thought it was fortunate that the blackout hid their conspicuous group from curious eyes.
Jack whistled when they reached their destination. “This house belonged to my uncle. It was smaller then, though.”
“The property has been in the family forever. We have several acres, so there’s privacy and room for a large garden. And some chickens that my mother just bought,” Nick said. “My dad says every generation has added something.”
He bounded up the steps and swung into the kitchen. “Mum, Polly, I’m back!” As soon as everyone was inside, he flicked on the overhead light. There were gasps of surprise. Cynthia looked admiringly at the fixture above. “This would be a great help when one is dressing for a ball.”
“Or reading a book,” Allarde said.
“Or doing embroidery,” Elspeth added.
Feet pounded down the stairs and Polly and Anne Rainford surged into the kitchen dressed in nightgowns and robes. “You’re safe!” His mother hugged Nick with rib-bruising force. “When I found your note that you would try to find Tory by going through Merlin’s mirror, I was ready to do murder!”
“She’s not exaggerating. You’d have been in big trouble if you got yourself killed, Nick!” Polly gave Tory a fierce hug. “Oh, Tory, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again!”
“Not only did I make it to 1803, but I’ve returned with help.” Nick waved at the Irregulars, who filled most of the small kitchen. “These are classmates of Tory’s who volunteered to come because they have talents that will be useful. Unle
ss—has the situation in France become better so help isn’t needed?”
Mrs. Rainford sighed. “No such luck. The government hasn’t publicly admitted the magnitude of the disaster, but things are going from bad to worse.”
Nick’s face tightened. “Then it’s a good thing I went for help. Mum, Polly, can you guess which one is our very distant relation Jack, the weather mage?”
Mrs. Rainford’s gaze went unerringly to Jack, with his fair hair and handsome, wide-cheekboned face. “You must be the Rainford.”
“Yes, ma’am. Jack Rainford at your service.” Jack glanced at his companions. “Nick didn’t have much time to learn names, so I’ll do the introductions. This is Lady Elspeth Campbell, Lady Cynthia Stanton, the Marquis of Allarde, and, of course, you know Lady Victoria Mansfield.”
Mrs. Rainford and Polly blanched. “Tory?” Polly said faintly. “You’re Lady Victoria?”
Tory shrugged. “Students at Lackland Abbey are stripped of our titles. I’ve found I don’t really miss mine.”
Pulling herself together, Mrs. Rainford said, “I hope that none of you object to plebian potato and leek soup. I made a great pot of it in the hopes that Nick would return soon. There’s enough for all, but I’m sure it’s not what you’re used to.”
Elspeth smiled. “It sounds lovely. Don’t think of us as a pack of aristocrats but as a group of hungry young mages.”
“Just as alarming in a different way!” Polly said.
“I’ve been feeding hungry young people for years, so that I can manage.” As on Tory’s visit, Mrs. Rainford lit a gas burner on the stove and pulled a pot of soup onto it from the back burner. “Polly, you and I need to change. Lady Victoria, could you show your friends the facilities?”
“I’m still Tory, Mrs. Rainford.”
“I shall try to remember.” The teacher’s brow furrowed. “I didn’t expect five guests. I haven’t enough beds. There should be enough blankets and pillows, but you won’t have much comfort or privacy.”
“I know this is a great imposition,” Allarde said in his soft, deep voice. “But we shall manage. It will only be for a day or two, I assume.”