“I guess once we convinced Lady Givens to stop trying to kill my past self, our mission to the past ended and we returned to the present,” I concluded.
“That seems likely,” Misty agreed.
“It’s crazy that only five seconds passed here.” I yawned and rubbed my eyes. Jet lag had nothing on time travel. “We were gone for a week.”
“How do we know that it worked?” Drew asked Misty.
“It clearly worked.” She laughed. “You just told me the story yourselves!”
“Not the time traveling,” he said. “Breaking Chelsea’s spell.”
“I think it worked,” I said before Misty could say anything. “That dark feeling I felt hovering over me before … it’s gone.”
Drew looked at me, his eyes intense. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Good.” Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief. “I promise I’ll never do anything like that again. You believe me that I didn’t know what I was doing, right?”
“I believe you,” I said, because it was true.
“I can’t believe it worked,” Misty said, her voice full of amazement. “The three of you know you can never tell anyone about this, right? No one will ever believe you, and they might think you’re delusional or in need of serious help. You’ll have to keep everything that happened secret for the rest of your lives.”
“I don’t mind.” I found Drew’s hand under the table and held it, loving the stability his touch gave me. “The only people I would want to share it with are here with me right now.”
“Agreed,” Drew said.
The three of us looked at Chelsea.
“Come on.” She laughed. “Do you really think I would tell people that I got temporary powers from a witch by drinking her blood, and then used those powers to help my best friend and ex-boyfriend travel back in time so they could stop her past self from being murdered by the mother of my past self?”
I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.
Chelsea opened her mouth in shock. “I’m not that crazy!”
“I know,” I said. “I was just kidding.”
“All right.” She stretched her arms in the air. “So, what’s next?”
Drew plucked the ring from its place in the center of the table. “I believe this belongs to you,” he said, presenting it to me.
I allowed him to slide it onto my finger. It fit perfectly.
“Always and forever,” I said once it was securely in place.
This time, we would get our fairy tale ending.
EPILOGUE
Last week I graduated high school, and now I was standing inside the church, ready for the wedding.
Arrangements of white roses adorned the end of each pew, sheer sheets draped between them. The altar was even more incredible—clusters of flowers everywhere, with summer vines winding around the awning over my head. The priest stood with the Bible in hand, ready to begin.
When the wedding march came on, tears formed in my eyes as I watched my mom walk down the aisle. Her dress looked perfect on her—beaded and intricate—and she was radiating happiness.
I was thrilled to be the maid of honor for my mom’s marriage to Mr. Givens, and happier to be up there with Chelsea, my future stepsister, who was a bridesmaid.
Drew sat in the front, watching me with love in his eyes. One day, it would be me in my mom’s place, walking down the aisle to promise Drew forever. But while we considered ourselves secretly engaged—I never removed the garnet ring—marriage after high school wasn’t something either of our families would consider. We knew better than to bring it up to them. Plus, we still had to go to college. We would both be starting Rollins College, a small school in central Florida, in the fall. Chelsea would be at the University of Miami, and while it would be a bit of a drive, we promised we would visit each other whenever possible.
As much as I loved him, waiting to marry Drew was the right decision. We were only eighteen years old. Neither of us minded waiting the four years until finishing our degrees to make our promises to each other official. They were already official to us, and that was what mattered. We had our whole lives ahead of us. There was no need to rush things.
The love between us was strong enough to transcend time—it would last always and forever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In the fall of 2008, Michelle saw Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” music video for the first time. She thought up a story to go along with the video, and wrote the first chapter as a homework assignment for class. Her classmates and teacher loved it so much that they wanted to know what happened next, so Michelle continued writing, and that story eventually became Remembrance, the first novel in the Transcend Time Saga. She’s so happy to be able to share this series with you, and hopes you enjoy reading it as much as she loved writing it!
Check out her website, www.michellemadow.com, to add her on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and her many other social networking sites.
Michelle lives in Florida, and is hard at work writing more novels for young adults.
Timeless (Transcend Time, #2) Page 16
