“I’m okay,” Thomas called weakly from the bed, although he sounded anything but, and Charlotte and Stephen both nearly ran to his side, kneeling down together next to the bed.
“Come on,” William whispered softly to Quinn, placing his hand gently between her shoulder blades as he led her out of the room.
When they reached the living room where they had slept the night before, she was surprised by the number of people in there. Marcus and Ben had returned, from wherever they’d been – she figured they must have had something to do with Charlotte and Stephen’s arrival, along with another guard from the castle in Eirentheos, Jeremiah, she thought his name was. The two Philothean guards were there, and so were Ellen and Henry. Lily and Graeme sat close together in the middle of one of the couches, holding two small children.
In Grame’s lap was a tiny, dark-haired girl, maybe around two cycles old. A little boy of about four was wrapped around Lily’s neck, looking like he might never let her go again.
Quinn vaguely remembered hearing that Lily and Graeme had children. She wondered where they’d been when their parents were taken hostage. She was surprised, for a moment that Charlotte and Stephen would risk bringing them here, but then she realized that regardless of how upset Tolliver might be, or what happened later, nobody was going to be foolish enough to tamper with the king and queen of Eirentheos while they were here.
She shuddered, though, when she contemplated what this turn of events was going to do to the already-strained relations between the two kingdoms, and she was suddenly very anxious to get out of Philotheum.
Everyone in the room was wrapped up in their own conversations. She glanced over at William and noticed that he looked as tired and speechless as she felt. They continued past the busy living room and into the kitchen. On the counter, two large bowls sat on a wooden tray, forgotten, most likely, in the activity that had just ensued. William carried the tray over to the table, and they sat down, although actually eating seemed too complicated a task just then.
Both of their bowls were still mostly full when King Stephen came into the kitchen and sat down at the table with them. He looked tired, too, and the skin underneath his eyes was puffy and red. He immediately put one arm around William and pulled him tight to his chest, kissing his son on the temple before he released him.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
William nodded. “How did you know where we were?” he asked.
“Aidel brought us a few messages from Nathaniel. As soon as we heard that Thomas had been captured by Tolliver, we left the castle. We’ve been staying just outside the border, trying to keep updated on the situation, and figure out the safest way to approach.” He raised an eyebrow at the full soup bowl and nudged it closer to William.
“Tolliver’s soldiers wouldn’t bother your mother and me of course, if we revealed who we were, but we were worried about compromising the safety of the Friends of Philip.”
“So you knew about all of this?”
Stephen nodded. “Of course I did, son. But most of this is not information we want falling into the wrong hands, even accidentally.”
“And you didn’t think you should tell us, even knowing we were coming here?”
The king looked down at his hands, folded in front of him on the table, then looked up, making eye contact with each of them before he spoke. “That was a mistake. I realize that now. But we were still foolishly hopeful that nothing was really wrong – that Thomas had merely been waylaid for longer than he expected.” His voice was heavy, tinged with sadness and apology.
“How did Lily and Graeme’s children get here?” Quinn asked, deftly changing the subject.
“Marcus was able to make some contacts and found out that Lily and Graeme’s children had been staying with Graeme’s older sister since about a week before Lily and Graeme were taken. They had been worried about something happening.
Marcus and Ben went to get them yesterday – your mother was insistent on bringing them, of course, knowing what it would be doing to them to be separated. We didn’t know he’d been rescued and brought here by James and Dorian yesterday – we would have come last night.”
William sighed, the shadows under his eyes growing perceptibly darker.
Stephen paled, and grabbed William’s hand. “I’m so sorry son – I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”
William just nodded, squeezing his father’s hand in return.
Then the king turned his kind, gray eyes over to her. “And how are you doing, Quinn? I’m sure this has been a very difficult few days.”
“It has. I’ve definitely been better. But I’m okay now that we’ve found Thomas.”
~ 26 ~
Astounding
THERE WAS A SOFT knock on the door of her bedroom before it opened just enough for Queen Charlotte’s voice to reach her. “Quinn, can I come in?”
She set the book she’d been reading down next to her on the couch. “Of course.”
“How are you doing?” Charlotte asked, sitting down in one of the soft armchairs across from the couch.
Quinn shrugged. “I’m okay. How is Thomas this morning?” She’d gone to his room a little while ago, but stopped outside the door when she heard him in there chatting with William and Charlotte.
Charlotte smiled. “You know Thomas, always making the best of everything, although I think he’s getting a little frustrated with being stuck in bed.”
Quinn nodded. Although Nathaniel and William both said he was recovering better than anyone could expect, the surgery that they had been able to do in Philotheum was just not enough to restore any kind of strength to Thomas’ leg. His arm was healing nicely, but he still couldn’t move around on his own at all. He had been just barely stable enough to be brought back to the castle in Eirentheos in a wagon eight days ago.
“Nathaniel has finally made the decision that we must send Thomas to your world for a different surgery,” Charlotte said.
“And you and Stephen have agreed?” Quinn asked. William and Nathaniel had been talking about the possibility for a couple of days, trying to sort out how that would work.
“Yes. It will be difficult to be away from him again, to know that he would be alone much of the time … but it is what he needs. Nathaniel will make all of the arrangements after he goes back through the gate tomorrow with you, and then we will meet him the next time the gate opens with Thomas.”
“It’s hard to believe I’ll actually be going back tomorrow. I’m starting to get a little worried about what will be going on in Bristlecone when I get back there.”
Charlotte nodded. “I can’t imagine what the last two days have been like for your mother.”
“I’m sure she’s in a panic.”
“Go easy on her when you get there, Quinn – you don’t know what it’s like to worry about one of your children.” There was a look in the queen’s eyes that made Quinn feel like there was an extra meaning in her request.
“I will. I’m just hoping I don’t walk through the gate tomorrow and find police officers searching the river.”
Charlotte reached across and squeezed Quinn’s hand. “I’m sure everything will work out in the end.”
“I hope so.” Seeing the concerned, motherly look on Charlotte’s face only heightened her anxiety. She had been so preoccupied with the rescue for the first part of her journey, and then assisting with Thomas and his recovery after his surgery, that she hadn’t thought much about actually going back home. Yesterday evening, though, it had hit her that it was actually going to be happening.
“Are you still having bad dreams at night?” Charlotte asked.
Quinn nodded. “It hasn’t gotten any better.” During the nights she had been sleeping at Ellen’s house, right at the time of Thomas’ surgery, she hadn’t dreamed at all. She’d hoped, foolishly, she supposed, that knowing Thomas was safe would stop the crazy dreams permanently.
Looking back, she realized that probably the only rea
son she hadn’t dreamed on those nights was that she’d barely slept. She and William would crash out together on the couches, exhausted, for a few hours each night before getting up to do it all over again.
The dreams had returned with a vengeance the night they were traveling, as she slept in the tent, Queen Charlotte in a sleeping bag next to her, so she wouldn’t be alone. Her yelling had woken up everyone.
“And you still haven’t remembered anything about them?”
“No… I mean, sometimes I wake up, and it’s like I can still feel the dream. I’m still scared, or worried, or it feels like there’s something I have to do when I wake up, but I don’t know what.”
It seemed like, if she could at least remember what happened in them, it would solve something. It was like missing the last piece to a thousand-piece puzzle, or the topic sentence to a five-page essay.
Charlotte just listened to Quinn speak, sympathy in her eyes.
“Does any of that make any sense? Have you ever had a dream that you couldn’t quite remember, but you knew it was important? It just seems so weird.”
The queen shook her head. “I haven’t, but I don’t think it’s strange. In our world, it is quite common for some people to have dreams that give them insight to something they don’t understand, or that help lead them a certain way. He doesn’t tell me anything now, but when Simon was younger, he used to have vivid dreams whenever he had to make a choice about something – sometimes even something as simple as which subject he was going to study next.”
“Really? Simon?” Quinn’s eyes were wide.
“Yes. And, he never said anything, but right before he met Evelyn, he had just begun to court another young lady. The feelings he had immediately for Evelyn were obvious to everyone, but he didn’t pursue her at first – the other girl was quite lovely and sweet, and he did care for her. He didn’t want to hurt her, and I don’t think he knew what the right thing to do was.
But one morning, he woke up, and his decision was just … made. He rode off to the other girl’s home straight after breakfast, and that evening, brought Evelyn to dinner at the castle. A short time later, they announced their betrothal.”
“So you think that my dreams mean something?”
“I don’t know, but I do believe that sometimes dreams do have meanings or that they carry some kind of message.”
“How am I supposed to understand a message from a dream I can’t remember?”
Charlotte chuckled. “I don’t know, dear one. Maybe you can’t remember because you’re not quite ready for it. Perhaps there is something else you need to understand, or another choice you need to make first.” They both turned as the bedroom door creaked open again.
“Thomas is asking for you, Quinn,” Linnea said, as she came into the room, bouncing baby Hannah gently on her hip. “And this one is asking for you, Mother.”
Charlotte smiled, and looked at Quinn. “Go to him.” She stood and placed her hand on Quinn’s shoulder, squeezing it gently, before she went to take the infant from Linnea.
* * *
“Hey, beautiful,” Thomas said as Quinn entered his bedroom. He was alone, which was unusual, sitting up in his large, four-poster bed, and leaning against a stack of pillows.
“Hi,” she answered.
He grinned widely. “Did you hear the news? I get to visit you in your world again soon.”
She smiled. “I did hear. I just wish that it was for a different reason.”
He shrugged. “I’ll be all right. Will says that hospital rooms in your world have televisions.”
“I think they do.” She laughed. Even after everything he had just been through, Thomas was still himself, and she loved him for it.
“So, I haven’t really gotten a chance to talk to you – to tell you how sorry I am.” The sudden change in his voice startled her.
“What? For getting yourself captured and almost killed? As long as you don’t ever pull something like that again…”
“Well, I am sorry about that … but what I’m really sorry for is putting you in the position I did, kissing you like that right before you went through the gate.”
Her whole face grew warm, all the way to her neck, though she tried to shrug it off. In all the days she had been spending with Thomas and William, keeping him company as he’d recovered, this was a subject that had never come up – or, more to the point, they’d avoided. “Yeah, what were you thinking with that, anyway?”
Thomas grew quiet, and stared at her with an intense look. A bubbling feeling started to rise in the pit of her stomach – she wasn’t sure she was ready for whatever he was going to say.
“Quinn, you know I love you. The moment I met you, I knew that you were someone I want to know forever.”
She swallowed hard, afraid of where he was taking this.
“But it was horribly unfair of me to do something like I did, to confuse you like that, and mess with your heart. I never meant to put you in the position I did.”
The bubbling feeling in her stomach started to feel a lot more like nausea. She looked down at the floor.
“It’s not that I didn’t mean it, Quinn. Because, I did. In another time, in different circumstances…”
She looked up at him, stunned.
It took her a minute to process what Thomas was saying, but as soon as she did, she knew he was right. She blinked, not knowing what to say.
“If you’re mad, I understand.”
She shook her head. “I’m not mad.” She forced herself to look him in the eyes, to let him see the truth. She wasn’t angry at all – she was relieved. Now things between her and Thomas could be the way she knew in her heart they were supposed to be. Easy, casual. He was her friend.
He smiled, kindness and warmth in his expression, before his eyes became serious. “You have some big choices to make, Quinn.”
“Wh…” she started, but he put his finger to his lips, silencing her.
“I know you think you don’t have a lot of choices – that all of this is just some accident you stumbled into, and that soon you’re going to leave and go back to your ‘real life.’ You and William are the same in your feelings about that – believing the most difficult choice is the wrong one to make. But it’s not true. It’s always easier to leave a weed alone in the garden than fight to remove it, but if you leave it there, soon it starts to make all of the rest of the decisions about the garden for you.”
“But, I…”
“Shh, sweetheart. Don’t answer. Just know that whatever you decide, I’m here for you always. And … despite the fact that you often see evidence to the contrary… I’m not the only one.”
She only partially understood what he meant, but she nodded.
* * *
“Are you ready, Quinn?”
“No. But I don’t think that really matters, does it?”
William chuckled. “No, not really.”
“Do you want one of us to go through first?” Nathaniel asked.
“Are you going to go and find my mom and give her some perfectly logical explanation about where I’ve been for the past two days, and then come back and get me?”
Nathaniel burst out laughing. “No, I think you’re going to have to handle this one on your own.”
She nodded, taking a deep breath as she put her foot on the bottom step of the stone bridge. “I was afraid of that.”
“I’ll walk you home, if that will help,” William said.
“Really? You’re going to involve yourself in this?”
“I probably can’t avoid it completely,” he said. “Mrs. Williams did see us leaving the library together.”
“Right.” She hadn’t even thought of that. “I wonder if I’m even still going to have a job.”
“We’ve discussed this, Quinn,” Nathaniel said. “We’re just going to have to assess the situation when you get there. All of this worrying about it isn’t going to do you any good. It might be pretty rough when you first get back, but you’ll be ok
ay. You’re going to make it worse, though, if you don’t get going.” He pointed up to the darkening sky.
“Okay.” She climbed the rest of the steps, and then closed her eyes and took the next step forward.
In an instant, the warm, humid air was replaced by a frigid breeze. The sound of a truck zooming by on the highway above her was disorienting. She paused, steadying herself, and took a deep breath before she opened her eyes.
Well, she thought, there are no flashing lights or police officers, anyway. She glanced around at the riverbank, deserted except for some birds squabbling over something at the edge of the water.
Suddenly, she caught a motion out of the corner of her eye, a splash of red that shouldn’t have been there. Her heart almost stopped when she saw the figure sitting on a boulder a few feet in front of her. “Mom?”
Her mother stood up, nearly motionless as she stared at the broken bridge.
There was a new movement behind her, the air stirred as Nathaniel appeared on the steps behind her.
“Hello, Nathaniel,” her mother said, with an astounding lack of surprise in her voice.
“Megan.” Nathaniel nodded.
Megan turned to Quinn, ice in her eyes, her expression harder than Quinn had ever imagined it could be. “Go get in the car, Quinn. Now.”
The story continues in:
Thorns of Decision, Book Three of the Dusk Gate Chronicles
Available now.
Also Available
Book One: Seeds of Discovery
Book Four: Blooms of Consequence
Book Five: A Christmas Rose
Book Six: Canes of Divergence
COMING SOON:
An all-new adventure by
Breeana Puttroff
RUMPELSTILTSKIN’S DAUGHTER
Look for it in 2013
About the Author
To learn more about the author, Breeana Puttroff, please visit http://www.breeanaputtroff.net
Roots of Insight (Dusk Gate Chronicles -- Book Two) Page 26
