“You sound like I’m high.”
“But I have to go see if he’s there.”
Quentin said, “I don’t want to go again, I just got—”
“You don’t have to go, as a matter of fact, you shouldn’t go. You would be a liability.”
He feigned disbelief, “A liability?”
“I don’t know if you know this, but you’re blacker than everyone in Scotland in the eighteenth century, the seventeenth century I imagine would be even worse. And Magnus might not be there to vouch for you.”
“As your security guard though, Magnus might be pissed.”
“Magnus is forever grateful to you. He won’t hold anything against you. I promise. And this is of course if he’s there. I’m going. Alone.”
Emma shuffled into the room. “What’s happening?”
“Katie’s going to the 17th century to find Old Magnus and find out—”
Her eyes went wide. She whispered. “Is it Magnus?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’m going to go see.”
“After a good night’s sleep though, right? We need to help you pack again.”
* * *
It was very hard to sleep that night.
Chapter 62
First thing when I woke up I checked the weather. I really hoped that I was wrong and Magnus was coming to the present now.
Because the alternative: What if he was old?
What if Tyler telling me the story had changed us so that our time loop went weird and loopy?
What if the old Magnus in the castle was a Magnus from my future and by seeing him I was removing a whole chunk out of the middle of our lives?
The more I thought about it the more confused I got, the more uncertain and weirded out.
He promised me he was always coming home.
So why wasn’t he here?
* * *
Emma helped me get dressed. My shift was washed, the woolen outer layers had been spot-cleaned and seriously Febreezed.
Zach and I spent the morning with the computer out, the ancestry website open while we figured out what year I should travel to. Lizbeth had told me she remembered Old Magnus from when she was little. Like maybe the age of three?
She was two years younger than Sean, five years older than Magnus. He was born in 1681. So if I went to Scotland two years before Magnus was born...
I chose the summer. Lammas Day, because that was his favorite holiday. If he was in the past-past for some reason, it would make sense that he would want to be there for his favorite day.
Lastly the question was where? The castle at Balloch? At one point Magnus mentioned that when he was very young he lived at a castle in the Argyll region, but how would I know how to find him there? And why would Old Magnus go to a castle I had never been to before? Unless he was trying to hide from me and that didn’t make sense.
The only thing that made sense was that Magnus for some reason was stuck in 1679. Lost. And if he wanted me to come, if he wanted there to be a possibility of me finding him, he would go to Balloch. Definitely.
We strapped another handbag to my waist with leather strips and filled it: beeswax candles, matches, a basic first aid kit, and a few protein bars unwrapped and folded in waxed cloth. I had knives strapped to my body in three different places. Last minute, I realized, there might be a chance, a slim possibility, that the timeline might have made it so Magnus wouldn’t recognize me. That he might not remember me.
I printed out a small photo of us together, cut it down smaller, and placed it in my bag, too.
Like if I had proof I could solve anything.
Quentin drove me to the south end of the island again.
When he let me out to walk across the sand he said, “You know, you don’t have to do this. I can go. I will. I’ll go get him and bring him home—”
“Nope this is for me to do.” I straightened my skirts and pushed the hair from my face. “I’m the one, I’m going to go get Magnus.”
“You might be one of the bravest people I know.”
I took a deep breath. “Yeah, well I’m the one that needs to take care of shit.” I put my hand on his cheek. “Speaking of which, fellow person who takes care of shit, take care of Zach and Emma and especially Ben, okay? Don’t let anything happen to them.” I clicked open the handbag wrapped around my waist and checked inside, it was all there. I had checked already eight times. “And Hayley needs someone to take her to a meeting. She quit drinking, but she can’t seem to totally quit it, maybe you can, I don’t know, be her buddy system or something. Would you do that for me?”
“Aye,” he joked, “but I never took her for a quitter.”
“Well this she ought to quit. And she can do anything she sets her mind too, she just needs a little help.”
He smiled.
I asked, “What?”
“You. Going three hundred years in the past to rescue a warrior. It’s pretty bad ass of you.”
“A whole different century too. Technically it’s four hundred years. By myself. Magnus called me a terrible arse. He got the words all wrong.”
“Go get him. And don’t get in any dark back rooms with any of the other Campbell men, trust me. They are not the modern men you’re used to.”
“Yeah, I figured that out pretty early on.”
He said, “See ya.” And turned to walk back to the car.
I wiggled out all my arms and legs and rolled my head around on my shoulders.
I was doing this. I was going to time-jump by myself to a forest in the 17th century.
I had been doing the 18th century, but this was — the 1600s sounded really really far back there. I pulled the vessel from my pocket and twisted the ends. I took a deep breath and shook out my right hand passed the vessel to my other hand and shook that out too.
Quentin was leaned on the car, watching.
I had to do it. He told me I was brave, I couldn’t chicken out now.
Magnus was there. Waiting for me. He hadn’t come home, though I one-hundred percent knew he meant to.
And I wasn’t going to wait anymore.
Three days? Long enough.
Old Magnus, I was on my way.
I began to recite the numbers but then stopped. Deep breaths.
I jogged. And then did sort of a jig, jiggling from one foot to the other. I got this. I totally got this. I was the motherfucking matriarch. I recited two of the numbers. I wasn’t scared. Two more. I knew the forest, I knew the castle. I had done this before. Three numbers. This shit was totally handled. One last number and the screaming, awful, horrible ripping began.
Chapter 63
I peeled my eyes open. I was face down on a forest floor. I flipped to my back and stared up at the careening primordial trees pointing up to the sky. I would have given anything to have Magnus’s hand on my hip, guarding over me while I floundered.
A rustling. What the...? I lifted my head—a red squirrel was about a foot away from my fingers, sifting through the leaves. I dragged my hand, stealthily, to my side. It scurried away. I probably should have forced myself up, but I could barely move. I sank back down into unconsciousness.
* * *
This time when my eyes opened I forced myself up. Still dazed I opened my backpack took out a protein bar, ate it, and washed it down with water. I sat for a few moments with my head on my knees listening to the soft rustling noises in the surrounding woods.
Then it crossed my mind that soft rustling noises meant that shit was in here with me and why would they not want to eat me? I would be delicious, full of vitamins and yoga and McDonald’s French fries. I would be the greatest feast a varmint in the year sixteen-something ever had.
I climbed to my feet, stretched out my legs, slung the backpack across my back and trudged in the direction, I hoped, of the castle.
Chapter 64
Balloch loomed large. I slowed down and didn’t really want to keep going. I really needed Lizbeth to be there to greet me. It was evening, by the looks
of the sky, but summer, so I couldn’t really tell.
It smelled of baking grains and horse shit. The stable was right there, same place. Actually not much had changed which was a major relief. I would walk right up to the guards at the gate and ask to see Magnus.
If they didn’t know who I was talking about, I would run.
Easy.
One, two, three, go.
Chapter 65
The men were smelly, dirty, and terrifying.
I channeled a sort-of impression of Lizbeth. “Good day sirs, um, I be needin’ tae speak tae Master Magnus, might I partake of the inside of the...” I wasn’t sure what I was saying. You would think that on a trip of four hundred years I might have taken a moment to practice.
One of the men grunted.
The other spoke in Gaelic to the first and then swigged from a mug close by. Great, just my luck they were drunken guards.
I was trying not to look nervous. Trying for imperious. Also trying to watch their faces. Did they know who I was talking about?
“Master Magnus?” I interrupted their discussion, they laughed. But they were looking at each other not at me, maybe it was an inside joke. “I am here tae see Master Magnus—”
The other man spit on the ground and gestured with his head for me to head through the gate — holy shit.
My heart soared. I stopped myself from asking, “Master Magnus? He’s inside right?” No questions, just walk in, get past the Campbell guards, find Magnus. He was inside or else why would they tell me to go in?
I straightened my spine, rolled my shoulders back, and walked straight across the courtyard toward the main doors. A group of men leered at me as I walked. I picked up my pace and I wished for Lizbeth’s arm to loop through mine.
How many times had she wiped my tears and helped me get my act together?
I didn’t need help though.
This was me being a hero.
Chapter 66
The longest walk of my life: through the doors, across the foyer, down the halls, past the ornate and lavish walls, the sweeping high ceilings. The only difference between this time and twenty years after was less furniture. I headed toward the Great Hall. Groups of men and women were bustling around, traveling in and out of doors and stairwells. The entire place smelled of baking bread. And everyone seemed busy and as if they had been celebrating, which was perfect. They weren’t inclined to notice me much. It was evening and yet, so bright. Another thing I had counted on. Happy residents, in case I was cornered and questioned, and plenty of light in case I needed to flee.
At the last wall, missing the tapestry that I usually admired just before going in to eat, I took a deep breath — a group of rowdy men and women bustled out of the room. I stepped back and shielded my face until they passed. I took another deep breath and entered.
There were easily a hundred people in the room. Sitting and eating. Bagpipes played at the far end and it was loud as hell, though quietly loud, because I was in that thing again: darkness clouding around my sight, my breath echoing in my ears. I scanned the room, but all I could see were indiscernible faces looming in and out of the darkness, forward and back as I focused. I checked a group of men, not him. I scanned toward one of the tables. It was less lavish than the one I was used to, the chairs were blockier, less comfortable. There was a group of men and women who were holding onto each other and I remembered the time I saw the girl — what had been her name — touching Magnus’s shoulder.
He wasn’t there, I scanned and wove through the crowd. I saw a back that looked close, but not tall enough, and when I drew near I saw he was mostly toothless and — I kept walking because I thought if I stopped someone might want to talk to me. But now here I was at the end of the hall near the bagpipes and I hadn’t found him yet.
I turned and took in the room behind me and then —
Magnus.
Unmistakable except almost unrecognizable. He had a beard, not a scruffy bit of beard like he hadn’t shaved for a while, this was a long beard, a full beard, like a—
He was in conversation with a group of men and suddenly his eyes swept the room and landed on. Me.
I smiled.
Yes.
Aye.
He pushed through the crowd to me. It felt like it might take forever but then he was magically right there and I threw my arms around him and he lifted me from the floor. His face pressed against my neck, his first word, simply my name, spoken into my skin. I wrapped around the back of his head and held on. And I didn't think he would ever let me down — he rocked me back and forth.
“How?”
I turned to speak into his ear. “You didn’t come home. So I came to find you. You aren’t old, you don’t look that much older at all.”
“I feel a lifetime has passed, mo reul-iuil.” He nudged my cheek with his and met my lips with a kiss and we kissed long and delicious my lips and tongue exploring his mouth, my breaths quickening.
“I love you, where have you been?”
“I daena ken, I dinna think it at the time, but now I see ye, I think I must have been lost.”
I ran my fingers down his long hair and brushed it behind his ear and gave him a sad smile, “Well, you did just what you’re supposed to do, sit tight and wait for someone to come find you.”
He dropped my feet to the floor. Then led me through the crowds to the edge of the hall, to a small table, and leaned against it. I stood between his legs. His arms around. “How long was I gone?”
“Three days.”
His eyes looked deep into mine.
I ran my hand down his beard, long and bushy and a bit tangled. Growing up toward his cheekbones, accentuating the crinkle under his eyes — the one that came from smiling. “How long have you been gone, Magnus?”
“Och.” He winced as if the words were painful. He shook his head. “Tis been some verra long years.”
“Years, my love?” He nodded, his eyes full of sadness. I kissed the ridge of his nose and pulled his head down to my shoulder and held him huddled, mouth to ear, my eyes closed. I didn’t need to see, just hear... “But you beat Samuel?”
“Aye. I’m sorry I daena come home then... I had tae...”
The words didn’t come so I tried to help. “What did you have to do?” I stroked a hand down his shoulder and pulled him closer.
“I had tae keep fighting. The first year there were so many battles, but then there was a war, on the eastern ridges, I...” He shook his head again. “Remember the men who fought us on the banks of the spring? I have learned they are led by a General Reyes, I have been in a personal war with him, and it haena ended... It may be an eternal war as he and I are verra evenly matched.”
I lifted his chin and looked in his eyes. “Tell me honestly, Magnus, is there something you need to tell me about?” I found his two hands and clasped them in mine. His wedding band was on his left hand, just like it had always been. “Did anything happen while you were gone?”
“Nae.” He shook his head. “Nae, Kaitlyn, I have nothing tae tell ye of. I haena strayed from my path as your husband.”
“Then none of this explains why you didn’t come home.”
He stroked a hand down the back of my hair and pulled my mouth to his and kissed me long and slow and deep and — he tucked my head to his chest and held me.
After that hug I raised up and held his face in my hands and looked into his eyes.
“Tell me.”
“I lied tae ye, mo reul-iuil. I am sorry that I did. I said I had nae discovered the history of ye, but I had, and it hasna changed—” He shook his head. “When I am in the kingdom I check it every day. I canna stop checkin’ it. Tis close tae driving me mad. I daena like being’ there because of it and it hasna changed.”
I stroked down his cheek, soothing and smoothing. “Tell me.”
“If I tell ye, it may hurt ye tae ken what is happenin’—”
“I’m a big girl. I just stormed a medieval castle with nothing but a protein bar
and a vague idea that you might be here. Tell me.”
He searched my face and then said, “You will have a bairn with Tyler Wilson.”
“Oh.” My sad smile grew. “This is not what you think it is, my love — you have been torturing yourself about this for how long?”
“For a little over four years.”
“Oh my poor Magnus, poor wonderful Magnus, you are mistaken about it — it isn’t true—”
“But tis true, tis in the history of ye.” His brow drew down. “Just because it haena happened yet — daena mean—”
“So you were going to just let another man have me, Magnus? I truly expected you to fight harder for me.”
“I canna fight the men of your time, ye winna let me.”
“Well, yeah, with swords, but my love, in the future, I expect you to fight for me, whatever time period. And by the way, Tyler isn’t from my time period. He’s from the future. He’s your son.”
He continued to search my face.
“He came to the dock that night to help you fight those men because the first time it happened they killed me.”
There was a dawning realization on his face, but before he confused it further I added. “His name is Archie, right? That’s your son’s name?”
“Aye, but—”
“To help us he used a fake name. He had a fake birth certificate, and when he left, he gave them to me, for you. So I could take you on an airplane someday. I don’t know what or how or why, but I think you might be the Tyler Wilson you’re worried about. Maybe because we need to hide you in the future. Or maybe we need to hide our baby. But that’s the truth of it Magnus, you’ve been mistaken about it and now you’ve lived without me for four years and you made me go for three whole days without you and just about scared the poop out of me. So yeah,” I stroked his cheek and kissed his lips. “My future is with you and you should have come home.”
Entangled With You Page 21
