Night Games

by Nina Bangs

  “I think we have company.”

  Ally’s comment shifted his gaze to where a small group of people and one calico cat were carefully making their way down to the path. It didn’t take Nebula’s green hair to identify them.

  Great. Just great. He turned back to Ally. “They won’t come over. They’re just keeping track of me.” Brian had expected them to follow, but their presence still made him angry.

  Katy peered over the edge of the cliff. “I don’t hear any spirits, just a bunch of birds.” She glared at Ally. “I know, I know. You told me there’d be birds. I don’t see any of those merrows either. Can’t write a book about nothing. I think I’ll try another spot.” She started walking farther up the path.

  Ally took a step closer to the edge even as Brian took a step back. Extreme heights made him . . . uneasy. Okay, so he was afraid of high places.

  “Brian, maybe I’m seeing things, but it looks like there’s a woman down there. Come and look.” Ally’s voice was edged with excitement.

  Brian knew his would be edged with fear. “I’ll take your word for it.” He stared straight ahead, so he wouldn’t be tempted to look down. For the first time since he’d arrived in Ireland, he was relieved to see the gray mist rolling in off the ocean. Within minutes, visibility would be gone and they’d return to the wagon.

  “It’s hard to see, but she doesn’t look like she’s in trouble. How did she get down there? It’s too rough for a boat. She looks like . . .” Ally turned to Brian with widened eyes. “A merrow? I have to get Katy. If she misses this . . .” She turned back to scanning the cliff’s base. “Darn. The mist is moving in, and I can’t see now. Maybe I just imagined it. What should I do?”

  Leaving came to mind. Brian knew his fear was irrational, but knowing didn’t end it. The mist cloaked everything in shades of gray. It was like some mythic monster moving in from the sea, touching him with a cold, damp tongue. He shivered, afraid to move for fear he’d step off the now invisible cliff and plunge into the abyss. Get a grip. He closed his eyes, blocking out the mist, gathering the shreds of his courage so he could drag Ally and Katy back to the wagon without their knowing he was scared witless.

  He opened his eyes to the sound of Ally’s surprised gasp.

  And stared, horrified, as she teetered on the edge of the cliff. Ally flailed her arms wildly in an attempt to regain her balance. Useless. She would fall to her death.

  He reacted. No time to think. Stepping to the cliff’s edge, he grabbed the back of her jacket. But her forward motion caught him off guard. He hadn’t had a chance to set his feet, and her weight yanked him off balance.

  In a moment of clarity, he knew if he didn’t let her go, he’d go over the edge with her.

  He held on.

  Suddenly, someone grasped him from behind and pulled. The backward yank was just enough to give him a chance to get his feet under him. With a last effort he didn’t think he had in him, he jerked Ally back from the edge.

  She fell into his arms, her legs barely supporting her, and just shook. His own legs felt like he’d returned to Earth after a month of space’s weightlessness. Weak and shaky. He wrapped his arms around her and forced himself not to crush her with his need to keep her safe. He took several long, calming breaths.

  Then he turned to thank the person who’d grabbed him. He stared into the eyes of the woman he’d seen at the keep. Claudia? She looked as shaken as he felt.

  “Thanks. We’d be lying at the bottom of the cliff by now if you hadn’t grabbed me.” He smoothed his hand over Ally’s hair, felt her shaking ease.

  “I’m glad I was standing close enough. Another few feet in this mist and I wouldn’t have seen what was happening.” Claudia focused her attention on him, never once glancing at Ally. “I couldn’t let you go over.”

  Brian frowned. Why did he feel Claudia’s message was for him alone? He abandoned that thought as Ally drew a deep breath and stepped away from him.

  “What can I say? Thanks, Claudia.” Ally didn’t glance toward the cliff’s edge. “I think I’ve seen all I ever want to see of the Cliffs of Moher.”

  Katy materialized out of the mist. “Didn’t see a darn thing. Maybe Ireland doesn’t have any fairies or ghosts. I sure wish something exciting would happen. Did you guys see anything?”

  My life flash in front of me? No, Brian now knew that in the moment before death there were no thoughts, just the frantic effort to stay alive. He glanced at Ally, saw her shake her head. He took his cue from her. “Nothing to see, Katy.”

  “Hmmph. I’ll meet you in the wagon. May as well take a nap so I’ll be fresh for tonight. Maybe those tortured spirits buried under the keep will make up for this.” She disappeared into the mist.

  Brian glanced around. Claudia had left, and the others were nowhere in sight. In the distance, he could hear the faint echo of voices, but within their gray cocoon he and Ally could well be the only people on Earth.

  “Thanks for not telling Katy what happened.” Her voice seemed disembodied, as though she were speaking outside herself. “How could I explain that the cliffs almost gained two more spirits, that the next time she visited this spot she’d definitely hear ghostly shrieks? Mine.”

  Brian knew she expected him to laugh. He didn’t.

  Ally leveled a stare at him, searching, emotionless. Brian sensed the emotionless part was simply an attempt to hold reaction at bay.

  “Why didn’t you let go, Brian? If Claudia hadn’t grabbed you, you would’ve gone over with me.” Her gaze never wavered from his face.

  Because in that instant where thought ended and inner truth began, I knew I couldn’t lose you. What did that mean? He couldn’t explain something to her that he didn’t understand himself.

  So he gave her another reason, one he’d just realized. “Redemption comes at unexpected moments. I told you that I broke a promise once, but I never told you the promise.” He could close his eyes and pull up the scene with Landis as though it were yesterday. Funny how the really ugly moments in life stuck with you. “I was sixteen. It was right before Jupe found me. Landis was one of the guys I ran with. We were just a gang of petty thugs, but we’d vowed to take care of each other. He’d climbed a bilectron power pole to try to reach the window of a gem distribution center, a place where precious stones from across the galaxy are kept in controlled conditions until dealers order them.”

  “You don’t have to tell me this, Brian.” Her voice had softened, grown warmer.

  “I want to.” It was that simple. He wanted her to understand. “I didn’t go up with him because . . . I’m afraid of heights.” He glanced at her to make sure she wasn’t laughing.

  She studied him, unsmiling, not judging, just letting him speak.

  “He’d almost reached the top when something snagged him, and he couldn’t get loose.” The telling got harder now. “He called down for me to climb up and help him.” Brian gazed into the mist, seeing the pole, feeling his fear. “I yelled for him to relax because I’d be up to get him. I stood at the bottom of that pole, tried to step up, and froze. I was so afraid I thought I’d throw up. Maybe I would’ve eventually gone up to him, but in the end I didn’t have to.”

  He knew his voice had turned bitter, rank with all his old self-loathing. “In some faraway power station, someone pressed a button.” His breathing caught with the remembered horror. “The force of the energy bolt threw Landis from the pole. He was dead before he hit the ground.” Brian exhaled on a long breath of old pain. “I broke my promise to Landis, but I never broke another one.”

  She closed her eyes, and within her silence he touched peace. Her understanding wrapped him in warm, caring arms.

  Opening her eyes, she slid her palm along his clenched jaw, then gently massaged the tense muscles along the back of his neck. “You need to let it go.”

  He felt everything go at once: his tension, his bitterness, his belief that he would never face his fear. The relief left him weak. “I did.” He fixed his gaze on
her, wanting her to understand what the last few minutes had done for all his yesterdays. “Today.”

  She nodded, her gaze warm with something he’d never seen in any woman’s eyes. Something more than desire. “I’m glad.” But before he could do any analyzing, the wind picked up, and the swirling mist dissipated enough for them to see the path that led back to the wagon.

  Brian could make out the shapes of other people who’d been standing near them when the mist drifted in. He was no longer alone with Ally, had never really been alone. “What made you lose your balance? Did all that open space make you dizzy?” He shook his head. “Makes sense to me. I was dizzy, and I wasn’t even at the edge.”

  Ally didn’t answer him as she peered into the mist at the people surrounding them. There wasn’t much to see beyond darker shades of gray.

  Finally, she turned to look at him. “I didn’t lose my balance.” She started walking up the path that would lead them away from the cliffs.

  Now he was puzzled. He caught up with her. “What happened, Ally?”

  This time she didn’t look at him, didn’t pause as she walked toward the wagon.

  “Someone pushed me.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Someone pushed you?” He clasped her shoulder and swung her to face him. “Are you sure?” His voice was low, deadly, suggesting that if she was sure, he’d hunt down the person responsible and do some serious bone breaking.

  Was she sure? Her eyes filled as the reaction she’d kept at bay set in. She’d been sure a few minutes ago. She could still feel the press of a palm against her back, the hard shove . . .

  Had the shove come before or after she lost her balance, before or after Brian reached for her? Had it really been a shove, or the accidental brush of an arm against her back? Details faded when compared to her recollection of the moment she knew she would die. That memory had a sharp clarity that would fuel nightmares for years.

  Ally took a deep breath and swiped at the corners of her eyes. She would not cry. “I’m not sure.” Only one person had been close enough to know for sure. “Did you see anyone?”

  He cursed. She didn’t understand what the words meant, but she understood their intent. “I didn’t see a thing. I had my eyes closed.” He glanced around. “We need to go back, ask some questions.”

  Ally shook her head. “It was probably an accident. Why would anyone want to push me off a cliff? Wait, I forgot. My favorite reviewer, Mrs. Scowly, thinks the world needs to be saved from more of my books.” Her attempt at a joke sounded lame even to her.

  Brian frowned. He didn’t look convinced.

  Ally pressed on. “Whoever bumped into me is probably long gone. Besides, no one could’ve seen anything in this mist. Claudia was close to us, and she didn’t see anyone.” A shiver slid up her spine. “I want to get out of here.”

  Reluctantly, he nodded. He clasped her hand, and they walked the rest of the way to the wagon in silence.

  Katy stood in the doorway waiting for them. “It’s about time. Jupe and the rest drove past a few minutes ago. Didn’t look too happy.” She grinned. “I couldn’t resist pulling someone’s puffed-up calico tail. When Jupe rolled down his window to ask if you were in the wagon, I said you hadn’t gotten back yet. Made a big show of being mad because I had to wait for you to finish making hot love down on the cliff. Said you’d wanted to do it dangerously. Jupe got real pale and the Old One did some whisker twitching. Guess they pictured you rolling right off that cliff in a fit of ecstasy.”

  Katy chuckled, Brian looked thunderous, and Ally was beyond confused. Not about her near-death experience. She’d convinced herself that was an accident. Nothing else made sense. Murder needed a motive, and no one would profit by her death.

  Ally was confused about Brian. Distracted, she allowed him to help her onto the wagon, said nothing as he picked up the reins and guided the horse back to the main road. She barely noticed when Katy disappeared into the wagon.

  It seemed natural for her to sit close to him. When he shifted both reins to one hand, wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, and pulled her against him, it felt right. Ally knew nothing could happen to her now.

  Okay, she could explain away the safety feeling. If you couldn’t feel safe with a man who’d saved your life, who could you feel safe with? But what about her other feelings? The feelings of desire mixed with yearning?

  Desire she could understand. It was lips, nipples, and lower-body specific. A clenching need that kicked in automatically when Brian was around.

  The yearning? Troubling. It wasn’t specific. It was a need, but a need for what? It was sadness, but not for today. It was sadness for her tomorrows when Brian Byrne would be only a memory. It was a wanting for something more, something just out of reach.

  “When we get back to the keep, you need to lie down and rest. I’ll take care of Katy and the others. You’d better eat something, too. All you had was Cap’s coffee this morning.” He tightened his grip on her shoulders.

  She turned her head to study his profile. A strong jaw, clenched now as he worried about her. Eyes and lips narrowed in concentration, no doubt ready to do battle if she dared argue with him.

  “I’ll tell everyone the coffee made you sick. Do you need anything from town? I could borrow Cap’s car and get it.”

  “You don’t know how to drive.” She couldn’t help it; she smiled.

  A scowl line formed between those incredible eyes. “If Cap can drive, I can drive. No one’s going to stop me, babe.”

  Stubborn, hardheaded, bossy. He would never be anyone’s perfect husband. So why did her yearning for him fill her until she felt she would explode with it? One of life’s great mysteries. “I have all I need here, Brian.”

  She was quiet for the rest of the trip home. Home? When had she started thinking of the keep as home?

  As soon as Brian stopped the wagon, he went back to talk to Katy while Ally sat staring at the keep and the cliff beyond. She couldn’t seem to keep away from cliffs. One misstep and she’d fall a long way. Brian? Maybe she’d already stepped off her own personal cliff where he was concerned.

  Brian came out of the wagon a few minutes later with Katy in tow.

  Katy hopped off the wagon, then peered up at Ally. “You look a little pale. Brian’s right, you need to rest. He’s going to unhitch the horse. Then we’ll take a stroll up to the keep. See if there’re any tortured spirits around.” She glared up at the afternoon sky. “Guess I won’t see anything while it’s still light, but Brian said he’d tell me some great stories about his sex games. Maybe I can work those into my book. Need to fill some pages since the fairies are a bust.”

  Ally smiled. Thank you, Brian. She went into the wagon and grabbed some chocolate chip cookies. Hey, a diet rich in chocolate led to emotional balance. Then she lay down on the bed Katy had fixed for her. She didn’t bother undressing.

  Ally didn’t know how long she’d been staring up at the ceiling mirror, thinking deep thoughts of maybes and what-ifs, when a calico reflection leaped onto the foot of her bed. Glancing down, Ally narrowed her gaze on the Old One, who stared fixedly back at her. “How’d you sneak past Brian?”

  The Old One’s yellow-eyed gaze suggested it wouldn’t be hard for a female with a talent for sneaking.

  Ally linked her hands behind her head. “I don’t know why you’re here, but since you are, maybe I can run some ideas past you. You look like a woman who can keep a secret.” Maybe it was her imagination, but the Old One’s whiskery expression seemed to soften into almost friendly lines.

  “I did some checking up on the man who’s supposed to be the father of the Brian Byrne in this time. Our Brian is impersonating his son.”

  The Old One’s eyes narrowed on the word “our.”

  “Understand that this present-day Brian Byrne was mentioned in our Brian’s family history. He really existed. Or should I say exists? Funny thing, though. When I did some investigating, I found that Kieran Byrne, father of the 200
2 version of Brian Byrne, was a priest totally devoted to his calling. So there could never have been a Brian Byrne. What do you make of that?”

  The Old One’s eyes gleamed, and the ancient intelligence Ally saw there was scary. Ally had no doubt the cat was turning the information over in her mind and coming to a conclusion. Unfortunately, the Old One wouldn’t be able to tell her what she concluded.

  Suddenly, the Old One’s eyes grew rounder, if that was possible. A cat might not express much emotion, but Ally had no trouble reading horror on every fuzzy inch of the Old One’s face. She leaped from the bed, ran to the door, and slipped outside. Probably running to Jupe to try and pass on her information. Ally smiled at the mental picture.

  Her smile faded as she tried to think of what might be serious enough to scare the Old One. Okay, for the Old One, disaster would be Brian not returning to win another championship for her. Ally thought back over the conversation. What had she said that would make the Old One think Brian wasn’t going home?

  Kieran Byrne had no son, but history recorded that a Brian Byrne, the son of Kieran Byrne, lived during this time. How . . . ?

  Her revelation didn’t come as a clap of thunder. Ally just knew. Kieran Byrne never had a son. Her Brian was the one history had recorded. He’d never returned to 2502. He’d stayed in this time to live out his life. To become his own ancestor.

  Her first explosion of joy was quickly followed by a mental “Huh?” and some symbolic head scratching.

  This level of weirdness was beyond Ally’s grasp. If she had been standing, she would have fallen down. How could something like this happen? But what did she know about cosmic truths and time travel, the possible and impossible?

  Okay, don’t get too excited. Think this out. Maybe Brian wouldn’t stay. The people in Liscannor knew he was here, knew he was a Byrne, so they’d record him as such even if he left tomorrow. But if he went back to 2502 without siring a child, he wouldn’t exist, would he? She drew a deep, steadying breath. That was what had scared the Old One. Because worse than losing her star player would be if he had never existed, had never won her a championship.