“I bet it does.”
Something leapt down from one of the beams in the rafters and settled on one of the benches. She jerked but quickly calmed when she realized it was just a cat.
Julian chuckled. “I should have warned you. Horses aren’t the only animals in here.”
She relaxed and laughed. “I knew cats were nimble, but this one seemed to come out of nowhere.” She glanced up from the spot where it had been and saw an owl hiding in the corner.
“That’s a barn owl,” Julian told her. “That, and the cat, are good at getting rid of rodents.”
She frowned as she became aware that a memory lingered just on the edge of her mind. It was silly. She hadn’t seen the barn owl before, and there had been no cat when she came to this property in the future. But still, there was something familiar about the two animals. If she was right, they picked up on the memory, too, since both seemed to be staring at her.
A horse from a nearby stall neighed, and she turned her attention to it. It was a dark-brown steed. Like the owl and cat, it seemed to be focused in on her. She glanced at the owl, but it was hard to see much of it in the shadows. The cat, however, was out in the open, and she had a perfect view of it. It had deep rich black fur and bright green eyes. She’d seen eyes like that before. She was sure of it. But where? And when?
The horse neighed again, and Julian went over to stroke its mane. “This was my father’s horse. I thought it had gone missing. I don’t recall seeing it for the longest time. Though, to be honest, I didn’t make it a habit of keeping track of the animals.”
The horse turned its attention to Julian, and that’s when she noticed the white streak in its black mane.
Willow gasped. It couldn’t be! It wasn’t possible.
But how was coming back into this time possible? How was it possible that she hadn’t been able to physically leave this property? How was it possible Julian had been stuck inside the same day for two centuries?
Was it possible she wasn’t the only thing that came into the past when she stepped through the portal?
She glanced around the barn. Was there another animal that would remind her of the people she had seen on this property in the future? The lawyer? Violet? Surely, if Violet’s crewmen were here, then Violet should be here, too.
“What’s wrong?” Julian asked as he went back to her.
She gave a careful inspection of the stables but didn’t see any other animal that reminded her of anyone she’d recently met. Even the dog seemed like an ordinary mutt.
Her gaze went back to the horse and cat who were still watching her. The owl hooted, and this time she saw that, while it was still in the rafters, it had come closer. Its face was smushed in, and it had light-brown feathers and a white body.
They were the three men who worked for Violet. Except, they were in animal form in this time.
“You said this was your father’s horse?” she asked as she took a cautious step toward it.
The horse didn’t give her any indication that it was dangerous. Come to think of it, neither did the cat or owl. They were all just staring at her out of curiosity.
“Yes. He was sired by that horse down there.” Julian gestured to another horse further down the stalls. His eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t understand. What’s so important about this horse?”
Ignoring him, she asked the horse, “Do you remember me?”
The horse neighed. The cat leapt in front of her feet and let out a pleasant meow, and from above, the owl hooted.
“You all remember me,” she said. “Does that mean you remember the passage of time, too?”
The horse nodded and neighed again.
“Obviously, there is something important about this that I’m not privy to,” Julian spoke up.
She turned to him. “This horse, that cat, and that owl were in the future with me, except they weren’t animals; they were people. They were men. They were in charge of taking care of the property. And,” she added as something else occurred to her, “they could leave and come back. The magic didn’t confine them here.” She glanced at the horse. “Did you age at all?”
The horse shook its head.
“I don’t know what to make of this,” she told Julian. “For some reason, they were turned into men and were given the task of maintaining this property. There was a woman who was in charge of them. Violet something. I don’t remember her last name.” She turned back to the horse. “Is Violet here?”
The horse shook its head.
There went the theory that Violet was an animal somewhere on this property.
The cat let out a meow, and she looked at it. The cat swiped its paw in the air and then hissed.
Unfortunately, Willow had no idea what to make of that, except that the cat didn’t seem to like Violet.
She sighed. “I wish animals could talk. They know something we don’t, and whatever they know, it might be able to help us.”
“Lord Blackwell,” the stablemaster called out. “The horses are ready.”
Willow’s attention went back to the horse and cat. “I don’t know what any of this means. All I know is that magic is behind it. And somehow Violet is involved. But I assure you that Julian and I are determined to find an answer to all of this.”
“Are you certain they understand you?” Julian asked her.
“Yes. They might be animals, but they have a consciousness regular animals don’t. They remember the passage of time, and they remember being human. For some reason, they became human to go into the future with Violet, but now they’re back in this time as animals. I’m sure there’s a connection somehow. It’s just a matter of figuring it out.”
And, unfortunately, she wasn’t going to figure it out right now.
The horse let out a neigh, and the cat returned to the rafters where the owl sat. She supposed that settled things for the moment. She knew the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, but it was too soon to see the whole picture. She was just going to have to hope that things would continue to unfold so this mystery could be solved in time.
She didn’t want to alarm Julian, but she had a sinking sensation that whatever was behind this magic had evil intentions. The cat had hissed for a reason. Violet, it seemed, had not been the kind woman she had pretended to be when Willow met her.
“Come,” Julian told her. “I want to see if we can cross the bridge.”
Giving one last look at the horse, cat, and owl, she joined him.
Chapter Fifteen
Julian and Willow left the stables on their horses. Unlike his father’s horse, neither Golden Ember nor Scarlet Glow seemed to have the intellectual capacity to understand what he or Willow were saying. They seemed like any other animal he’d ever come across.
He tried to remember if he had seen his father’s horse, the black cat, or the barn owl over the past two centuries, but the days had blurred together. After a while, he’d stopped picking up on anything unless it was different.
“You were born in the future, weren’t you?” Julian asked Willow.
“Yes, I was born in the future. I’m only twenty-five. I’m not like Violet or the animals she changed into humans.” She didn’t bother glancing his way as she spoke. Her gaze was fixed on the reins in her hands, as if she was afraid if she let her gaze off of them, they would disappear and she’d fall off the mare.
“Scarlet Glow is a gentle horse,” he assured her. “She prefers to go at a leisurely pace. She provides a smoother ride than most. I’ve taken her out a couple of times. You can trust her.”
“I’m trying, but it’s a lot different to ride a horse than it is to be in a car, or even in a carriage,” she replied. “This thing has a mind of its own. If it wants to suddenly take off running, there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
He tried to hide his amusement, but the grin found its way on his face anyway. “She won’t take off running. She hates to run. The worst you have to worry about is her coming to a stop and refusing to go.”
“I
f she does that, I can walk.”
“So there’s nothing to worry about. Try to relax and enjoy the ride to the bridge. The sun is out. You can see everything better today than you could yesterday when it was raining.”
“I’m as relaxed as I can get.”
She was? He had hoped his words had eased her nervousness, but apparently, they hadn’t. She was still clutching the reins as if her very life depended on it.
He urged his horse to close the distance between them and reached out to pull on her horse’s reins so it stopped. Willow let out a gasp and shot him a startled look.
“I apologize for scaring you,” he said. “I only wanted you to be able to take a moment to see the view.” He released the mare’s reins and gestured to the landscape around them. “It looks much better in the sunlight.”
Her grip on the reins didn’t relent, but she did finally take in the green grass and colorful flowers around them. The water from the moat was a nice sparkling blue color. With the clouds and rain, it had looked gray. Today, without a single cloud in sight, it seemed to reflect the blueness in the sky. It’d been a long time since he’d had his last sunny day, but he did recall thinking the colors outside were more prominent after the rain had passed.
“It is nice,” she said.
“Nice? That’s all you’re going to say about it?”
“Nice is a compliment.”
“It’s a meager compliment. Nice is something you say when something is just a little more than bland.”
She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Well, I’ve seen this in the future. I know what those trees and shrubs are going to look like when they’re fully grown. Everything is in its infant stages right now. You might think of it as a child that has yet to reach maturity. Children are cute, but it isn’t until they grow up that they become handsome or beautiful. It’s a shame I didn’t take a picture and bring it with me so you could see it. You’d be happy with the way things turned out.”
The reference to a picture made him think she had something other than a drawing or painting in mind, but even if she tried to explain it to him, he probably wouldn’t completely grasp what kind of picture she meant. The future had inventions he couldn’t even imagine.
“With all that said,” she continued, “this place is much better when it’s full of activity. In the future, it just seems to be sitting here, as if it’s waiting for something. Or someone.” She shrugged. “Maybe it was.”
Intrigued by the prospect, he asked, “Do you think it was waiting for you?”
“I wouldn’t be so egotistical as to suggest that.”
“Egotistical?” he interrupted before she could continue with her next thought.
“It means self-centered.”
“Ah. You mean, arrogant.”
Her eyes grew wide. “I prefer to think of it in nicer terms than arrogant, but yes, one might think of it that way.”
“Well, time didn’t move forward for me until you came here. This place could have been waiting for you to come here. You and I are the only two people who’ve ever been trapped here. We’re the only ones who see the magic.”
“There are three others, but they’re now animals.”
“Granted, that’s true, but if they did leave this property when time stopped for me, they weren’t able to return until you came here. You must be important for some reason.”
A worried frown crossed her face. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Why not?”
“Because it implies that I have something to do with the magic.”
“You do. And I do as well. You and I are the only ones who can’t leave.”
“Maybe we can leave today.”
“We might be able to, but there’s a reason why we weren’t able to leave yesterday or any of the other times we tried to leave.”
She paused then let out an exasperated sigh. “I hate the line of your reasoning, especially since I have no idea what to do about the magic on this property.”
“I don’t know what to do about it, either, but there might be something we can do together that we couldn’t do apart. Maybe there’s a reason you could enter this time. Whatever this thing with magic is about, it started with me on the first day it was June 17. Since then, time went on without me until you came here.”
“Yes, that makes the most sense.”
It did. He was sure that her coming here changed things in his favor. Whatever curse had been holding him to the same day had been broken. On impulse, he reached forward and put his hand over hers. “I haven’t had hope in a very long time. Now I do. I know you sacrificed much to come here. I don’t take that for granted. It makes me all the more grateful for you.”
A blush crept up her face, and he was struck by how lovely she looked. He had noticed how attractive she was before, but something about this moment seemed to make her even more so. He offered her a shy smile then removed his hand and straightened up on the horse.
He cleared his throat. “We should go to the bridge and see if we can finally leave. Do you feel comfortable enough on the horse to keep going?”
She offered a nod, and since he had nothing else to say to ease the sudden awkwardness that had fallen between them, he urged his horse to resume the leisurely pace it’d been using just moments before.
When they arrived at the bridge, they came to a stop. He took a deep breath and released it. “Well, this is it. I’ll help you down from the horse.”
He got off of his horse and went to her.
“Aren’t you worried that Golden Ember will run off?” Willow asked him.
“Golden Ember is a good horse,” he replied. “He doesn’t go anywhere without me. Scarlet Glow is just as well mannered.” He held his hands up to her.
She released the reins then took his hands. She started to lean forward and ended up slipping, so he hurried to catch her before she fell to the ground.
She grunted but managed to steady her footing in short time. “Thanks,” she muttered as she straightened the bottom of her riding outfit where the fabric had wound around her boots.
Noting how red her face was, he said, “Don’t be embarrassed. That could happen to anyone who isn’t used to getting off a horse.” And he certainly hadn’t minded it. She was just as soft and curvy as she looked.
“Yeah, I guess.” She straightened up. “This never happens with a car.”
“Next time, you’ll do better.”
She grimaced. “One can only hope. I still wish I could ride like you do. You look more secure in the saddle.”
He had no idea if he was more secure or not since he’d never ridden in a sidesaddle, but his mother had seemed to manage it fine. Willow was probably just experiencing a wave of apprehension about it because this was new to her. Once she got used to it, he bet she’d enjoy it.
“I’m here with you,” he assured her. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” He took the reins to both horses. “I’ll follow you.”
Willow glanced at the bridge. “I don’t know if I should get my hopes up or not.” She lifted the hem of her riding outfit and walked to it. “We’ll be disappointed if we’re still trapped here.”
He followed her. “I won’t be all that pleased about it, but I’m too relieved to be in a new day to care all that much about being stuck here.” Though, he was sure that given the passing of enough days, he’d start to care.
“I don’t like being stuck anywhere,” she said. “I like knowing I can come and go as I want.”
He considered asking her if she was upset with being stuck here in the past with him but decided against it. It wouldn’t change anything. There was no way for her to return to her own time. She might as well get used to being here.
She reached the center of the bridge and glanced back at him. “Wish me luck.”
“I wish you luck,” he replied.
She shot him a surprised look. “You’re supposed to say, ‘Good luck’.”
“Oh. Good luck.”
She seemed satisfied with that, and he found himself smiling. Ever since he’d met her, she had demonstrated an odd way of talking at times, but he surmised that had to do with the fact that she was from the future. Language was one of those things that changed with time. At least they both spoke English, so he could understand most of what she said. It was all the better that she was enjoyable to be around.
Next to him, his horse let out a neigh as if it could read his mind. He frowned and studied his stallion. Golden Ember couldn’t possibly read his mind. Willow had said nothing about animals reading minds, nor did she say this particular horse had been in the future with her. No. Golden Ember was just a regular horse. He relaxed and turned his attention back to her.
She put her hand up to the space where the invisible barrier had been yesterday. A wave of pink and purple colors rippled from her hand. She let out a frustrated groan. So, she was unable to get across the bridge. He couldn’t say he was surprised.
Sure he was going to end up with the same result, he led the horses up to the spot next to her and put his hand up to the barrier. The same colors rippled out around him and traveled the length of the moat. He tried other areas, and the same thing happened. As before, he was unable to penetrate the barrier anywhere.
“So much for luck,” Willow said.
“At least the servants can come and go,” he told her. “They can bring things for us as we need them, and I have more than enough money since Francis is investing some of it for me. He’s good when it comes to investing. We won’t lack anything.” Since that didn’t seem to completely make her feel better, he added, “Maybe there’s something in those books and journals my grandfather left behind to let us know how to get out of here.”
That brought a newfound hope to her eyes. “All right.”
“We’ll study what my grandfather left behind after we have lunch,” he said. “And don’t forget the three animals in the stables. They might be a link to something, too.”
“Yes, that’s true. There has to be a reason why they’re here.”
Since there was nothing else to do at the bridge, he helped her onto the saddle of her horse then hopped up on his horse.
An Earl In Time Page 13
