by Jones, AE
“Why not?” Darcinda asked.
“Because it doesn’t exist anymore.”
“We should still go to the location to check it out,” Maeve said.
“We’re already there. McHenry’s house is built where it used to be.”
“Another dead end,” Devin said.
Darcinda gripped the book tighter. “No. I think this locator spell is telling us they’re in that house.”
“How can they be?” Selina asked.
“You think they’re trapped in the book?” Tim asked.
“Or maybe they’re in a time when the cabin still existed.”
Everyone stared at her like she’d lost her mind. Except Maeve and Tim.
“So what do we do?” Maeve asked.
“If they’re in the book, we can try an extraction spell.”
“On it,” Tim said as he pulled more ingredients out of her healer’s bag.
Darcinda paged through her spell book and found an extraction spell that they quickly recreated.
“I think everyone should stand back,” Tim said.
Maeve and Tim recited the spell this time. At first nothing happened. Until the book started to shimmy across the table while the pages flipped back and forth.
“What’s happening?” Selina whispered.
Darcinda held her breath. Please work.
Magic can be found in the smallest of packages.
Chapter 25
McHenry watched Roderick practically wear a rut in the cabin floor with his pacing.
He knew how that kind of anxiety and helplessness felt. Hells, he had felt them himself the first few months he’d been trapped on his land. He’d practically lost his sanity.
But they didn’t have time for Roderick’s breakdown. Not if they wanted to get out of here.
He thought about how worried Andrew and Jamie had to be by now.
And he also kept imagining a certain faerie with wildly colored hair and a penchant for ridiculous T-shirts. How could he be thinking about her right now? Were they not trapped in a curse cast by a faerie? A curse that started with their grandfathers and passed from father to son?
But there wasn’t anything logical about his attraction to Darcinda. The Fates had a tendency to play tricks, and since his family had been in the faeries’ sights for more than a century, he shouldn’t be surprised.
“Roderick.”
The male didn’t answer, instead mumbling to himself as he kept up his frantic pacing.
“Hey!”
He stumbled to a stop. “What?”
“Sit down. You’re makin’ me dizzy.”
Roderick scowled at him. “We have to get out of here.”
“And how is your pacin’ going to help us do that? Let’s think things through—together.”
Roderick thunked down in a chair. “Fine.”
“We are both powerful demons. We should be able to use our powers to break us out of here, right?”
“I couldn’t move through the earth.”
“Right. But maybe we can create somethin’ that will help us break through the barrier. If we combine our powers.”
“Okay, but if we break through, won’t we still be in the past?” Roderick asked.
“Maybe, or maybe the barrier is a bubble in time, and if we can get through it, we’ll be back in our own time. I saw various herbs dryin’ in the lean-to. We might be able to use them to help with a spell.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
As they stood, the floor underneath them shook.
“What the hell?” Roderick said as a pan clattered to the floor.
“Get outside!” McHenry shouted.
They both ran out the front door and stood in the open space between the house and the lean-to. McHenry shot his arms out from his sides to balance himself. Not that it would do him any good if the earth decided to break open and swallow them whole.
After a few minutes the shaking finally stopped.
“Was that an earthquake?” Roderick asked.
“My gut tells me no. So I’m not sure what it means. Maybe it’s unstable here and we don’t have a lot of time to figure out what to do.”
“No added pressure or anything.”
McHenry chuckled. “Why didn’t I know you’re such a sarcastic arse?”
Roderick grinned. “It’s part of my charm. Besides, it takes one to know one.”
“True enough. Let’s go get some of the herbs and figure out if we can magic our way out of here.”
They had spent decades trapped under this curse. He doubted herbs would help them, but hells, they had to try if they were ever going to see their family and friends again.
The only hope he had right now was that the stubborn team of males and their mates were working on how to help them, led by Darcinda, the stubbornest one of all.
* * *
The book came to a shuddering stop. Darcinda blew out a hard breath as several muttered curses sounded around her while they all stared at the still table.
Devin crossed his arms. “Now what?”
Darcinda picked up the book. “If we can’t get them out, then someone needs to go in.”
“We don’t know what’s inside,” Maeve said.
“I’m willing to take the risk.”
“And why would you do that?” Belinda demanded.
Darcinda didn’t know how she knew, but she voiced her thoughts. “Someone with faerie blood needs to do this. Fight a faerie curse with a faerie.”
Belinda shook her head. “Except you don’t have any powers, and neither does she.” She flipped her chin toward Alex.
Devin took a step forward. “Watch what you say.”
“I’m not saying anything that isn’t obvious. Your wife isn’t a true faerie.”
“Don’t test my patience, Belinda,” the elf king said in a low voice that triggered goose bumps along Darcinda’s skin.
“So why don’t you volunteer, Belinda?” Darcinda said.
“I am not going into that book. We don’t know what waits on the other side.”
“So we’re back to me going in.”
“Let’s think this through,” Tim said. “What if we send you with a homing signal…a magical GPS, if you will.”
Maeve’s eyes widened. “Yes! We’ll make three magic bags, and you can take them with you, one for each of you. That will help us extract you.”
“Right. We’ll mirror the spell on the other side. The demon king is powerful, as is McHenry, so their magic should help.”
Something told her it wouldn’t be enough. But she had to try. If she didn’t, she didn’t know what the alternative might be.
“Let’s get to work.”
Maeve and Tim started putting together the contents of the magic bags she would carry with her. Charlie ran and got more herbs. Jack and Connor returned from searching the forest and were brought up to speed on what was going on.
Then it was almost time for her to try and journey into the book.
Maeve had given her the three nickel-size bags wrapped in canvas that was tied with a leather strap. Darcinda tied the bags around her neck.
“Give me an hour and then try the extraction spell. If you don’t feel me respond, try again in half an hour, and keep trying every half hour till it works.”
Maeve nodded with a slight frown.
“You can do this, Maeve. You’re one of the strongest beings I’ve ever worked with, and you and Tim are an unbeatable team.”
JT cried out in his mother’s arms.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Alex asked.
He squirmed in his mother’s arms and reached for Darcinda. She exchanged a look with Alex before she reached for the baby. She held him around the middle so that he could look out at the crowd, but he started squirming again. Darcinda turned him around so that he was facing her.
“I have to go away for a little bit, buddy.”
JT reached up and patted her face before resting his small hands on her cheeks. He blinked his b
lue eyes at her once, and then again.
Warmth flowed out of his hands, and she gasped as it flowed into her face and down through her chest. After a couple of drawn-out seconds, he let go of her face and grinned at her.
“You little devil,” Darcinda said before opening her healing senses. Her healing senses that worked again. She kissed JT on the top of the head while he giggled.
“What happened?” Alex and Devin asked at the same time.
“Um, I’m pretty sure JT just helped restore my magic.”
“What!” Alex exclaimed as she reached for her son.
The faerie queen stepped closer. “That’s impossible. He’s too small to have that kind of power. He doesn’t even understand what’s happening.”
“If he’s empathic, he can feel when something is wrong,” Darcinda said.
Devin wrapped his arms around Alex and JT.
“That’s my grandson,” the elf king bragged.
“Okay, guys. Let’s do this,” Darcinda said.
Everyone backed up. Maeve and Tim recited a new spell to open up the book again, but instead of trying to extract something, this time they were pushing energy into the book.
Maeve nodded to her.
It was time.
Darcinda reached out slowly to rest her hand on the drawing of the cabin.
Her fingers heated for a moment…right before her vision went gray.
Learn from the past, look to the future.
Chapter 26
The earth started shaking again. Damnation.
McHenry and Roderick abandoned the herbs on the table and ran out of the cabin.
McHenry tried to balance himself while the earth pitched. A flash of light burst across the meadow, and he covered his eyes against the intensity.
A few seconds later the light disappeared and the shaking stopped. He blinked to clear the spots in his vision and frowned.
What was lying in the meadow? He squinted and could just manage to see bits of purple and red. Darcinda! His heart stuttered as he raced across the meadow. What the hells is she doing here?
His knees slammed to the earth as he landed next to her. No no no. He hesitated before touching her.
“Is she breathing?” Roderick asked, jarring McHenry out of his paralysis. He hadn’t realized Roderick had followed him.
McHenry turned her over slowly and blew out a sigh of relief as he watched the rise and fall of her chest. “She’s alive.” He pushed her hair off her face. “Darcinda, lass, wake up.”
Her eyelids fluttered slightly but she didn’t open them. He ran his hands over her arms and legs, checking for injuries. She seemed fine, so he scooped her up and carried her back to the cabin.
Roderick opened the door for him, and he carried her over to the bed and laid her down gently.
“Can you get some fresh water?” he asked.
Roderick nodded before going outside to the well. McHenry patted her cheek lightly. “It’s time to wake up, faerie girl.”
McHenry grabbed a cloth as Roderick brought the pail of water inside. He dunked the cloth in the water and ran it over her face.
After a minute her eyelids fluttered again and she opened them slowly, looking up at him with an unfocused gaze.
“There you are.”
She blinked and stared at him for a moment. “McHenry?”
“Aye. You gave us a scare. How are you feeling?”
“Okay.” She looked over at Roderick. “Good. You’re both here. How long was I unconscious?”
“Just a couple minutes.” His stomach twisted. “I’m sorry, lass, that the curse sucked you in too.”
Darcinda levered up on her elbow, and he helped her rest against the pillow. “It wasn’t the curse. We did a spell to send me here.”
He couldn’t have heard her right. “You did what?”
“We’ve been trying to find you both. After you declared you were cursed and you both got sucked into the ground, we started looking for details about the curse.”
He stared at her, and she plowed on.
“Since it’s a faerie curse, it made sense for me to be the one to come here.”
He looked up at Roderick, who spoke since McHenry apparently didn’t have anything to say. “How do you know a faerie cursed us?”
She gestured at McHenry. “We found your grandfather’s journal. It seemed logical that a faerie had cursed both of your grandfathers.”
“Logical,” he said.
“Yes.” She continued. “First we tried to extract you, and when that didn’t work, I was sent in to help get you out.”
“Sent back in time?” Roderick asked.
“No. Sent into the journal. The curse is tied to it.”
“The journal,” McHenry mumbled.
“Yes. The journal,” she said. “Why do you keep repeating what I’m saying? Are you okay?”
He stood up from his kneeling position by the bed. “Am I okay? You came here with no idea of what you would face in terms of this curse. You could have died. And what if we can’t get out? What if you’ve trapped yourself here forever!” he finished on a growl.
The corner of her mouth quirked up. “Glad to see your sparkling personality is still intact.”
Roderick had the audacity to laugh. McHenry stomped over to the hearth before turning back to her.
“If I get out of here, I’m goin’ to kick every arse on that team for lettin’ you come on this insane trip.”
Darcinda sat up. “They didn’t let me do anything. You do know that I am way more of a threat than most of the team.”
His shoulders slumped. “You shouldn’t have risked yourself.”
Her eyes softened. “Everyone else would have done the same. It just made more sense for me to do it.”
“But you don’t have your powers.”
“Actually, I do.”
“How?” he and Roderick asked at the same time.
“JT restored them.”
“You’re kiddin’,” McHenry blurted.
“Who’s JT?” Roderick asked.
“Alex and Devin’s six-month-old son.”
Roderick’s mouth fell open.
“I know it sounds crazy. If it hadn’t happened to me, I would struggle to believe it too. But I was holding him, and he put his hands on my face, and energy flowed through him into me, and my healing powers came back. So I can help.” She looked at them both before a grin appeared. “Close your mouths, gentlemen, and let me tell you the plan, since we don’t have much time to waste.”
And she did.
“So, in less than an hour they’ll try the extraction spell again,” McHenry said.
“Correct, and now I have my powers back, I will also be casting a spell from this side to boost the power.” She reached for the leather strap around her neck and untied it.
“These will help.” She handed a tiny canvas sack to each of them and kept one for herself. “Tim calls it a magical GPS.”
“Of course he does. How will we know when they cast the spell?”
“What happened when I appeared?”
“An earthquake,” McHenry said.
Her eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”
Roderick nodded. “It was the second one.”
“That would make sense. The first quake was probably when we tried the extraction spell. Well, we don’t need to worry about missing the spell, then.”
Fates. Could this possibly work? McHenry hoped so, for all their sakes, but especially for Darcinda. He couldn’t believe she’d risked herself for them…for him.
Something warm surrounded his heart. He told himself it was indigestion because he couldn’t face what it might be. Not now, while he was still trapped in his grandfather’s journal.
The journal. He stood and walked over to the book, flipping it open again, and when he studied it, his breath caught. What the hells?
“What’s wrong?” Darcinda asked.
“There’s more writing in the journal. When we first got here, the las
t page of the journal talked about the planned trip to see the stable master in the Faerie Kingdom. Now there are more pages after that. Listen.”
We had a successful meeting with the stable master, or rather Roderick did. He is the true salesman. While they were talking, I wandered the stables, looking at the horseflesh and checking their shoes and tack. In one of the stalls a female wiped down a sable horse. A horse who whinnied at her while she sang to him in a lilting tone.
When she turned toward me, I know I gaped at her like a fool. How could I not? She was beautiful. Long brown hair and eyes the color of the sea. And an impish grin. I didn’t know what to say.
She looked me up and down, as if taking my measure, and then asked me if I was going to just stand there or help her brush the horse.
I helped her, and we worked in silence. When we were done, I asked her name. She grinned and told me if I came back to visit, she might tell me then.
He put down the book. “Why are these showing up now?”
“Good question,” Darcinda said. “I didn’t have time to read the whole book, but I don’t remember this being in the journal.”
McHenry shook his head. “I have read the journal front to back more times than I can count. It’s not in the journal at my house. It has to be one of the ripped-out pages.”
“Which still doesn’t explain why it’s appearing,” Roderick said.
“Maybe it’s finally time for you both to find out what happened,” Darcinda said.
“I know what happened. My grandfather told my father, who told me.” He pointed at McHenry. “His grandfather betrayed my grandfather by taking away the love of his life.”
McHenry crossed his arms. “That’s not what happened. This is obviously a description of when he first met Anna. She was stolen from him by Roderick.”
Darcinda held up her hands. “Okay, guys. Let’s not try to kill each other until after we escape the curse.”
“You’re right. What do you need us to help with?” McHenry said.
Darcinda pursed her lips for a moment, and McHenry ended up having to shake himself so he could look away from them. Had this curse done something to him?
“Where did I appear when I first arrived?”
“In the meadow,” Roderick said.