by
Heather London
* * * *
Copyright © 2013 by Heather London
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Book formatting by JT Formatting
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
To the readers of Swift,
thank you for your support and encouragement.
August 12, 1905
Six weeks and two days. That’s how long I’ve been back in time. That’s how long I’ve been away from all that I’ve ever known.
I lifted the pen from the page, threw it in the journal and slammed it shut. This was so stupid— writing your feelings and thoughts down in a journal—it never made much sense to me. This was Abby’s bright idea. She insisted that I start writing everything down since there were so many changes going on in my life. It was maybe after the hundredth time she asked me how I was feeling and me responding with nothing more than my usual fine that she decided to get me this ridiculous thing. It’s a book with blank pages in it... How is it supposed to be therapeutic? However, after her insistent pleading, I couldn’t refuse any longer; finally giving in and promising her that I would try. Sighing loudly, I opened the journal again and attempted this so-called therapy once more.
So where do I even begin? My training is going well. Abby and I are down to a nice routine now—one that starts at dawn every day and ends at sundown. Well, every day, except Saturday. Blake argued with Abby about how I needed at least one day off. I was on Abby’s side. I never wanted to take a break. If there was a spell to cause me to never have to sleep, then I would cast it upon myself, but I’d learned that you can’t cast spells upon yourself, that’s against the rules. Oh yeah, I’ve also learned that there are many rules to magic—rules that the council created in order to keep the magical world operating properly. One in particular haunts me every second of every day. Abby told me that the council’s main concern is keeping the balance in the magical world, that’s why crossing time is not allowed without their permission. So I can’t help but think that me being in 1905 kind of throws off the magical balance, right? So, as strange as this place is, and as much as I’m overwhelmed with everything that’s going on—the thing that I’m most afraid of is the possibility of ever having to leave it. The balance that the council is concerned with can’t possibly allow me to stay here forever. I’m just waiting for the moment the council will transport me back to my time—away from here, away from Abby—and the most frightening—away from Blake. So, for now, I feel like I’m a ticking time bomb that could explode at any second and be transported through a hundred years of time...
With that thought, I slammed the journal shut again—just writing that sentence about the council made it feel more real. The council, which my mother was a part of, could transport me back to my time at any moment. Sure, in the back of my mind, I’d always known that it was a possibility. The first few days after I arrived here, Blake rarely left my side. I’m assuming that he had the same fear as me, that I could vanish at any second. It was difficult for me to sleep those first few nights. So instead, I laid awake and stared at the ceiling, thinking of all that had happened over the past few weeks, and about the people I left behind back in my time.
Even though I hated thinking about it, I couldn’t deny the fact that Aunt Rose and Jack had to be hurting from my disappearance. I wondered how they felt the moment they realized I was gone and what fears went through their heads. Did they think I was dead or had been kidnapped? Did they call the police? Were there missing person posters hung around Marblehead with my face plastered on them? Had they called Roger? Was he hurting and looking for me, too?
Deep down, I knew it was a real possibility that the council could let me live the rest of my life in 1905 and that I would never return to my time. In a strange way that one thought both comforted and terrified me as much as the thought of leaving did. It scared me to think that I would never see Aunt Rose, Jack, or Roger ever again. It made me sad to know that they would live their entire lives not knowing what happened to me.
It was no secret that things had been tense the last few days I was home. Aunt Rose and Jack came back from their honeymoon to a totally different girl. They couldn’t understand why I had changed in such a short amount of time or why I was acting different. They had no idea that when they were gone, I had learned a lot of secrets about who I really was and who my parents had been.
Maybe I should have left a note telling them what had been going on; why the Harpers were really there—and the truth about me— but I knew that as much as they loved and cared for me, they would think I had gone off the deep-end. If nothing else, I wish I could go back in time and tell Aunt Rose what I really wanted to tell her the night I left. Tell her how much I loved her and how I don’t know what I would’ve done without her all these years. Now, I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to tell her those things.
The sun was rising above the trees in front of me, signaling that my quiet time was coming to an end and my training for the day would soon begin. I stood up from the rocking chair on the front porch, stretched my stiff limbs, and then headed back inside to see if Blake was up yet.
My eyes were drawn to him the second I walked inside.
“Good morning,” Blake said, looking up from the book he was reading. He was sitting on the couch, already fully dressed and ready for the day.
“Morning.” I returned his smile. “I didn’t know you were up, you should’ve joined me outside.” It was a rare occurrence when we got any time alone together and I hated not taking advantage of it.
“You looked as if you were in deep thought and I didn’t want to interrupt you.” A concerned look covered his face. “Everything okay?”
“Fine.” I shrugged, trying to shake off the thoughts I had been writing about in my journal; mainly the one about me ever being separated from him.
He looked unsatisfied by my response and sat there for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should dig deeper, but he refrained. “Are you hungry?” he asked instead.
“Not really, but I guess I should eat considering I probably won’t get another chance until dinner,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. I knew he was worried about me... that all of the Harpers were worried about me. It wasn’t difficult to see the way they all looked at me with their faces full of pity.
“You’r
e right about that. I believe Abby has another full day planned for you.” He cleared the worried look from his face and smiled again. “You know you’re allowed to tell her to back off when she gets to be too much, right? We all know how she can be at times.”
“She’s really not that bad,” I said, following him into the kitchen.
Okay, that was a small stretch of the truth. When Abby got into her mode of training she rarely gave breaks; let alone enough time for lunch. Abby had been teaching me some basic spells, but she mainly concentrated on spells that would protect me from dark magic. She said my power was a great gift, however it also came with a price. Dark magic would always come searching for someone with my kind of power, wanting to take it from me.
Just as we were finishing breakfast, Abby graced us with her presence. The first couple of weeks after the church incident, Abby had completely shut herself off from everyone. It was easy to understand why she needed time to herself, though. The man she had been trying to bring back from the dark side of magic—the man she had once loved—had betrayed her and tried to have her family killed just to get to me. At first, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to forgive me for what I did that day. Even though Isaac had turned evil and tried to kill me and the Harpers, she had still loved him at some point in time, and I knew she was still reeling from it.
Slowly, she began to return to her old self, and even though her bubbly personality was not my usual type, I found myself loving each and every second I was around her.
“Good morning my beloved brother and his beautiful girlfriend,” she greeted, prancing towards us.
Blake rolled his eyes and I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear. Not at the beautiful comment, but the one about me being Blake’s girlfriend. Even though Blake and I had not discussed the girlfriend/boyfriend title, we were certainly that. I think when you each travel through time, risking your lives to save one another, titles become irrelevant.
“Good morning Abby,” Blake said. “You are extra chipper this morning.”
“Well, why wouldn’t I be? I have the most amazing family and my favorite student is an all-powerful Astoria.” She winked at me, taking a seat beside me at the table. “So are you ready for another day of my torture?”
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at that comment. “It’s not torture Abby. I told you, I want you to do your worst on me. If Blake would allow it, I probably wouldn’t sleep so you could drill spells into my brain all night long.” When I found out that I was not only a witch, but a very special and powerful witch that only exists every two hundred years, it made me feel like I had to try even harder to perform and be successful.
It felt like Blake’s stare was burning holes right through me. After turning towards him, I saw the look of disapproval and frustration in his eyes.
“I’m just trying to give you some balance, Meredith. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself. You need to relax a little more and trust that it’s all going to work out,” Blake’s face softened as he spoke.
“I’ll make you a deal. When the day comes that I can defend myself and actually say a spell correctly—with no slip-ups—then I’ll find some balance.” My tone was serious. I appreciated all that Blake had done for me, how he always had my best interest at heart, yet I didn’t like it when he told me when and how hard to train. I knew what I was capable of and confident that Abby would never give me more than I could handle.
“Give yourself some credit,” Blake said, still trying to reassure me. “You’re doing very well, especially under the circumstances.”
By circumstances, I assumed he meant that I should give myself a break considering it was only a couple months ago that I found out I was a witch. That my entire family had been witches and that they had died at the hands of two men who were trying to kill me in order to take my power. Oh, and not to mention being transported back over a hundred years of time, too. I guess all of that should allow me to be a basket case, right? Sure, it was scary and confusing... but in a weird way, it also made all the sense in the world because I had never felt like I belonged anywhere until now. What helped more than anything were the two people sitting beside me. It was clear to me that I would never be able to repay them for all they had done for me.
“Are you all ready to go?” Abby’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
“Uh, yeah. Let me just get my bag,” I said, pushing my chair away from the table.
As I walked out of the kitchen and into my bedroom, I could hear Blake and Abby whispering to each other... Actually, arguing would be more accurate. As much as I wanted to stay and listen in order to find out what they were saying, I was already pretty sure it was about me and I was also pretty sure I had heard variations of this argument before.
Since it was clear that I would be more of a permanent fixture here at the Harper estate, Samuel and Annette—the best parents Blake and Abby could ask for—insisted that I should have my own room; my own space. I hadn’t been excited about being separated from Abby or Blake, mainly since the only available room was located on the first floor, near the kitchen and far away from the both of them on the second floor.
After grabbing my bag, I stuffed my journal underneath a pillow and headed back down the hall to the kitchen. Before turning the corner, a sound distracted me. I followed the noise down the hall and into Samuel’s office. Samuel sat in his desk chair murmuring something to himself as he tore through a book in front of him.
I cleared my throat, making him aware of my presence.
He fumbled around on his desk for a moment, covering the book he was just rushing through. “Oh, Meredith.” He seemed flustered. “Good morning. How are you?”
I fidgeted with the strap on my bag, suddenly feeling embarrassed that I had just barged in on him. “I’m fine, Samuel. How are you?” It always felt strange to call him by his first name, but he’d insisted on it when we first met.
“Oh, I’m doing fine... just fine,” he answered. It seemed that he was trying to hide his flustered demeanor and I had to admit to myself that it was unusual, because he normally exuded calm.
“You sure? When I walked in, it seemed like something was troubling you. Maybe I can help?” I felt a little bad for prying, but I wanted to help if I could. I always felt like I owed the Harpers so much. They had risked quite a bit for me and now I was living in their house. It never seemed like I would ever be able to repay them for all of their kindness.
“It’s nothing, but thank you for offering.”
I hesitated, wanting to ask if he was sure, but it was clear that he didn’t want to tell me. “Okay. Well, Abby and I are headed out for the day.”
He smiled. “Tell Abby to take it easy on you. I know how tough she can be at times.”
“She’s not that bad.” I shrugged.
“Oh, she’s that bad.” He laughed gently. “I’ve seen her in action. She can be quite demanding when it comes to her role as a teacher. Maybe you’re just tougher than you give yourself credit for.”
I smiled timidly, said goodbye, and then proceeded back towards the kitchen where I found Abby and Blake still sitting at the table.
“Don’t tell me how to train my students.” Abby’s voice was barely above a whisper, but her tone was bitingly cold.
Abby’s head jerked up when she noticed me standing in the doorway. She stood up quickly and shoved her chair under the table. “Ready to go?” she asked, irritation pouring out of her.
The tension in the room was thick. Blake turned around to face me and a small grin appeared, revealing the dimple on his left cheek, which immediately made me feel more at ease. “Have a good day in training. Don’t let this one work you too hard.” He jerked his head in Abby’s direction.
Abby rolled her eyes and stomped towards the front door. It killed me to know that they were arguing about me and I felt guilty because I cared for them both and I didn’t want to see either of them hurt or upset. Despite only knowing Abby for a few months, she had become like a sis
ter to me. The connection we had—that I had with all of the Harpers—was unmistakable, and I knew there was something between us before I even found out about my destiny. Now that I knew what I was and that they were the ones chosen to help guide me, it created an even stronger bond between us.
Abby and I were silent on our walk to Steer Swamp. She still looked annoyed and even though I wanted to ask exactly what their argument was about, my gut instinct told me not to butt in. Instead, I tried to focus on our lesson from yesterday and wondered what new lesson she had in store for me today.
It was times like this when I wished my flying was better. We could have skipped this long, awkward walk and just got to training already. Abby decided to put my flying lessons on hold until I could defend myself with spells a little better. She said that it was more important for me to learn how to protect myself from dark magic, rather than run away from it. Abby had also decided to designate Steer Swamp as our official training grounds. It was where we had trained a few times back when I originally found out that I was a witch, so it seemed natural to continue using it in 1905.
After walking through a maze of trees, we approached the clearing. The area was not as developed as it was in my time, of course, but it was still covered in trees, and was still the safest place to practice magic.
As usual, Abby already had everything set up. I walked over to the blanket she had laid out and picked up the lesson plan for the day.
Resisting Mind Control was scrawled across the top of the page. According to the council’s rules, mind control was not allowed and was only used by the witches who practiced dark magic. So, for those of us who practiced clean—good—magic, it wasn’t allowed; unless it was by a teacher trying to help a student learn how to protect ourselves against it, of course.
Crest (Book #2,Swift Series) Page 1
