I sat up and held my head with a groan. Zach’s voice, “You’re up, good.”
I followed the sound — he was at the doorway of the living room, standing between the living room and the foyer, holding a gun. “Because we need to talk about what’s going on.”
Another explosion. Ben made a noise beside me. Emma was holding him in her lap, jiggling him with an anxious expression. “Where’s Quentin?” I asked.
Quentin’s voice from the far end of the room. “Here. Beaty is… not good.”
“Shit.” I moaned and stood and stumbled to where his voice came from, near the hospital bed, now on the inside edge of the room against the wall. Beaty was feverish, sleeping. “Where’s the doctor?”
“We can’t get one here, Roderick is attacking, we can’t—”
“Yeah, no I get it. You can’t stay here. This is— this is not good. Where’s Archie?”
Emma said, “He’s in Bella’s wing. Lady Mairead has just been here looking for you.”
And Hammond?”
“He’s outside, at the barricades."
Hayley moaned and rolled to her side and began to sit up. The far wall had an overlarge projection of a nighttime war scene: red hot explosions, helicopters, military men running with weapons in hand, a town siren wailing. The volume was turned down low, but still felt alarming.
I said, “Hayley, to get you up to speed, there’s a shit-storm here to deal with, so don’t start asking a bunch of questions, thank you for jumping with me and all your help, but we have to get you guys out of here, pronto. So just listen up.”
She groaned. “Everything about your life sucks.”
“I have been telling you this for months and months. You just thought I was being overdramatic, now hush so I can think.”
The house shook with an explosion outside.
“What the hell was that? Oops, sorry,” she said.
Ben burst into tears.
I pushed the hair out of my eyes and stood.
“Do you think she will survive another jump?” I asked Quentin.
“Fuck Katie, I don’t know, shit, you’re freaking me out.”
I was suddenly too hot. I unzipped the front of my parka and dropped it to the floor. “I’m sorry about that. Really. I don’t know the answer to it but—” Through a back hallway Lady Mairead bustled in.
She nodded at me. “Where have ye been; where is Magnus? Explain tae me why ye were too incompetent tae rescue him.”
I said, “I want to go over the parameters of our conversation first. One, you don’t get to kill me or physically injure me in any way. As a matter of fact you stay across the room, over there.”
One of our backpacks was on the ground near Beaty’s hospital bed. I scrounged through it for a gun, found one, and held it aimed at Lady Mairead. “I will kill you in a red hot minute if you try anything.”
Zach stalked over to the wall where he had leaned the shotgun he had been guarding us with earlier.
Hayley said, “Where’s mine, if this lady is planning to threaten you again, I need to be armed too.”
Lady Mairead glared at me. “Where is he?”
I took a deep breath. “He’s still not here and I will talk to you about it in a few moments, but I need your advice first. You’ve jumped a lot, do you think it’s safe for Beaty to do it in her condition?”
I followed her eyes to Beaty. There was a flash of concern then she said, “Well, you haena much choice do ye? She canna stay here and the only way out is tae jump.”
“Is it?”
“Roderick has us surrounded, tis the only option at this point. They should go tae a time where there are good hospitals.”
“Okay, sure. They should go home, but do you know if they can go? General Reyes has been tracking our movements in and out of Florida—”
“Och, he has a device that can sense the area of travelin’.”
“Oh my God, we should have asked you in the first place.”
“He was supposed tae be protecting Magnus not monitoring him—”
“He is not just ‘monitoring’ him, he’s literally trying to kill Magnus, and he’s been using it to—”
The look on her face was one of indignation.
Exasperated, I gestured with my gun and asked, “Tell me, is there some way around it?”
“Of course, they can jump intae another place and drive across tae Amelia Island. Tis simple tae do. And daena worry about Magnus, Reyes will be dead soon. Magnus will see his weakness and will easily best him in—”
“What do you mean, his weakness? Magnus hasn’t found one.”
“Reyes has a shoulder injury. He canna use his left arm verra well. It pains him and—”
Hayley asked, “What happened to his shoulder? He hasn’t always had an injured shoulder — when did that happen?”
She looked at Hayley with her brow drawn. “He has always had it. He daena have the full use of his left arm. He is a good fighter but it — it happened when he was young. I have always kent him tae favor it.”
Zach said, “When he was at dinner with us he kept rubbing his shoulder. He told me he injured it a long time ago. You don’t remember the conversation, Hayley? He said the Florida weather bothered it. That’s why he lives in the Greek Isles for the dry summers.”
Hayley said, “I don’t remember this at all.”
Lady Mairead said, “I kent it from the beginning. I always learn of an adversary’s weaknesses afore I do business with them.”
I looked at Quentin. “Are you hearing this?”
“Yeah, I’m hearing it.”
I said to Lady Mairead, “Well, you have Quentin to thank for Reyes having a weakness. He used to not have an injured shoulder. He used to be very powerful and has almost killed Magnus many times, but Quentin and I went back in time and he shot Reyes. He did that. I was with him. We are responsible for Reyes being weaker. So yeah, you can thank us for that.” I huffed and said under my breath, “…I always learn of an adversary’s weakness…” I huffed again.
I said to Zach, “How about you jump into Savannah, rent a car and drive to Fernandina Beach, take Beaty to a hospital? Just lie low — don’t make any new friends, that kind of thing.” An explosion rocked the house. “But Beaty needs to be in a hospital and it should be close to our home, so… yeah, it’s time for you to go back.”
He shook his head, “Nah man, I’m not leaving you. I’ll send Quentin with Beaty, Hayley, Emma and Ben. Emma will get them to Florida, but either Quentin or I need to be here in case you need us. You can’t be alone.”
Hayley said, “She won’t be alone, I’m going to stay with her. I’ll—”
I said, “Thank you Hayley, but I think I’ve risked your life enough, besides you’re our go to person for everything. I need you on the ground in Fernandina.”
“Last time I really screwed it up.”
I put my hands on my hips. “You aren’t going to screw up again. You get the stakes.” I tried to smile. “You’ve been in the trenches.”
“Yeah, but I’m still not leaving you, you’ll need me.”
Emma asked, “You’re going to stay, Zach? I don’t—”
“I’m going to stay and help. Quentin can’t. Katie can’t do this by herself.”
She looked worried, jiggling Ben to keep him peaceful. “Sure, I get that Quentin can’t, but are you sure you need to?”
“Magnus would do it for us. Lady Mairead says you’ll be safe on the island, but Katie isn’t safe here. If I can help I have to.”
She shook her head, then thought a moment. “No, I get it. I understand, but don’t be a hero. Just help, don’t throw yourself in front of bullets or anything.”
“Of course not. I’m like the least brave person you know.”
She smiled sadly.
I said, “Okay. So we are going to jump some of you to Savannah, same place. Emma you’ll go to the car rental place near the hotels and get a car. You and Quentin will get Beaty to Fernandina.”
/> Hayley said, “What about Mags’s baby? He can’t stay here. Should he go with Emma?”
Lady Mairead said, “I will take Bella and Archie tae another time period and get them settled. I plan tae do that in just a moment.”
Hayley asked, “Is that safe?”
“Tis how all the sons of kings have been protected, hiding them in the past. Yes, tis safe with some care and consideration.”
I said, “Will you make sure I know where they are, so I can tell Magnus?”
“Of course Magnus must ken. I will make sure he always kens where his son is. My first priority is tae keep Magnus safe and keep his kingdom under his control, unlike you, with your galavantin’ around—”
I said, “Don’t forget I’m armed.”
Lady Mairead waved a hand at me. “You winna kill me, ye need me tae help ye save Magnus. Ye dinna even ken that ye could go tae Florida. You daena have half the information ye need.”
“Yeah, whatever, I suspected that I could go to Florida by car, I just didn’t know. You know, whatever, yes, you have some information I need. I also have things you need. We are sadly very stuck with each other.” I blew out air. “I will kill you if I have to. I will make up for my deficit of information by googling it if I need to.”
“What is ‘googling it’?”
“Exactly my point. And I wasn’t galavanting around, I was trying to rescue Magnus. I thought you might be right about why Reyes has him. I went back to the day and year when your ancestors got the vessels, because I do have the book, by the way. I’ve had it the whole time, and guess what? Magnus wasn’t there.”
She looked furious.
I gulped. “So you were wrong about that.” I powered on, “While we were there Quentin shot Reyes and injured him, but Magnus wasn’t anywhere to be found and now I don’t know where he is.”
Her words were clipped and angry sounding. “I wasna wrong. I was right about it. If Magnus was nae there then Magnus has escaped.”
“How do you know it?”
Her voice elevated. “Because I am never wrong and I am right in this. Reyes told me enough of his plan for me tae ken what he wanted tae do. If Magnus was nae there then he is not cooperatin’ with Reyes.”
I kept asking questions, apparently unable to stop myself. “So where is he now? Why isn’t he here?”
She screeched, “I daena ken where he is, Kaitlyn! The reason he is nae here is because he daena have a vessel!”
My eyes went wide. “He doesn’t have a — wait, what... oh my god, what are we going to do? How will we find him?”
She took a deep irritated breath, looking off into space for a moment. “I have some ideas how tae find him. Twould be best tae go tae him if he is injured. But how would we ken? It may be best tae set a vessel with a homing call. Dost ye ken how tae do this?”
“No, I don’t. Let’s do that, how?”
She shook her head as if I was being purposely dumb instead of just not knowing something. I said, “Just tell me how to do it and don’t be such a judgey bitch about it.”
She glared. “Twould have tae be in a place where he can locate it, but once we set the homing signal anyone can find the vessel; tis verra dangerous. You remember that once Donnan set a homing signal and you found it and ye were brought forward tae this time. Imagine how frightening it would be if—”
“It was plenty frightening.”
“Imagine how frightening twould be if ye dinna ken of traveling through time?”
“I get it. Where would Magnus be?”
“Reyes spends some of his time in Florida—”
I said, “But we can’t set it in Florida because Reyes would find it. Magnus wouldn’t stay there. He’s smarter than that. He knows I’m here, not very far from Balloch castle. That’s where he would go. No matter what time period, he will go to Balloch.”
“Then we have tae take a vessel tae Balloch and set the homing signal on it so he will find it.” Beaty began to cough and looked wretched. It was enough to get us all moving as if the war outside wasn’t enough already.
Quentin picked Beaty up and we all went out one of the back doors that overlooked a thin stripe of grass and some woods beyond. It was secluded. Zach looked left and right. No one had breached this side of the house, at least not yet.
I dialed Quentin’s vessel and handed it to Emma, and went over the numbers with her. “Do you have your wallet, your phone?”
Emma held up her purse.
“Okay, then, take care of Beaty. Thank you, Quentin, for all your help back there and thank you, Emma. I’m so grateful, and we’ll see you back in Amelia Island, soon, okay?”
Emma said, “Bring Zachary home safe.”
“Definitely.”
Zach hugged and kissed her. “Get some ice cream. I’ll be there soon — same day.”
“Sounds good.” She looked up in his eyes. “I love you, don’t be a hero, don’t die.”
He said, “This is me being a hero and I won’t, I’m too fucking important.”
Emma said, “That goes for you too, Katie, don’t die. Magnus needs you.”
“I won’t.”
The storm grew above them. Zach and Hayley and I backed up to the door and watched through the glass as our friends and family held onto each other and time-jumped back to our present lives.
A helicopter took off from the front of the house, loud and close. I ignored it and asked Lady Mairead, “Has Magnus’s castle fallen to Roderick?”
“I daena ken, but this safe house will fall soon enough.”
“Then I have to go fast.”
“Come with me tae see Bella first. She will need convincing tae go tae the past. Bring your gun, Zachary.” Lady Mairead looked grim. She handed me two vessels from a bag she had slung over her forearm.
“How many do you have?” I asked.
“I have enough.”
She turned brusquely and we followed her through a small doorway at the back of the house and along a long, dark, windowless corridor to the west wing.
Thirty-one - Kaitlyn
The room was darkened like the main house with window coverings pulled tight and furniture pushed up against the front doors and over the windows, and the room was completely, totally, unequivocally empty of people.
Lady Mairead called, “Bella!” Then she yelled, “John Mitchell!”
I gasped for air.
She bustled down the hall looking in rooms and as soon as I got my wits about me I ran down the opposite hall slamming open doors and calling for Bella. It was scary though, so quiet and empty, when I opened doors I didn’t really want to see. What if something happened?
What if something happened to Archie?
“Where are they?”
Lady Mairead’s face drained of color. “I daena ken.”
“Where is Archie?” I was more asking the universe because he was not here and none of us knew where he might be.
“You said that John guy works for you — where is he? Can you call him?”
“The last I spoke tae him he was verra angry. He wanted permission tae marry Bella and be the caretaker of the prince. I reminded him that he was only here because I allowed him tae be here.”
“Well he’s not here now!”
She looked furious.
I said, “Hayley, do you see the car seat, Archie’s bottles?”
Hayley and Zach dug through piles of furniture and around in the other rooms.
“I don’t see anything.” Hayley called from the kitchen.
Lady Mairead said, “Did ye do something in the past tae change it?”
I did that slow turn thing. “Wait, what do you mean?”
“I mean, what did ye do, in the past? Since ye returned I have learned that Reyes’s arm has been injured and now my grandson, who was here hours before, isna here. Tis nae trace of him, what did ye do?”
I opened and closed my mouth. “I don’t know, I don’t think we changed anything, I…” But my mind was reeling: We killed peop
le. We messed with that whole entire time-travel scene, like really messed with it — death, mayhem, chaos.
Maybe Magnus wasn’t around anymore.
Maybe Archie was gone.
It would be one big fucking ironic bullshit cosmic joke if I lost Magnus and Archie but had to keep Lady Mairead.
Just then Hayley rushed in holding a trash basket. “Diaper! There’s a diaper in here! Archie was here, we didn’t screw anything up!”
Relief rushed over me. Suddenly I felt idiotic to have even considered it. Of course Archie existed. He was a living breathing, albeit missing, baby. And there was a war outside.
Zach said, “That helicopter took off a little while ago, maybe they were in it.”
I said, “Oh, that’s right. Crap, how will we find them?”
Lady Mairead said, her voice clipped and even and scary as hell, “I have an idea. I will go get them.”
“Okay, yes, where will you take them once you find them? I’ll write it for Magnus.” I crossed the room to a desk and found in the drawer a piece of paper and a pen.
Lady Mairead said, “First I will kill John Mitchell, and then I will take Bella and Archie tae the year 1890. In New York, the address is—”
“Why New York? ”
Lady Mairead said, “Because I have decided it, without question.”
“But I don’t know my way around New York, Magnus doesn’t know anything about it, how can you think of taking his son there?”
Lady Mairead’s face turned red with fury. “Because I have friends—”
I said, “But we don’t know anything about New York or that time or anything. To see Archie will be too difficult.” Her face held a fury that scared the hell out of me. I asked, “Can we put him somewhere else?”
“And where exactly would ye want tae put your husband’s mistress and son?”
Well, shit when she put it that way— nowhere, nowhere is where I wanted to put my husband’s mistress, but Bella and Archie needed protection and I needed to be the hero who protects them.
Under the Same Sky (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 7) Page 11