Roni released her legs and slowly slid down the wall as Jake lowered her to the ground. His eyes ran over Olivia and Theo, dirty and disheveled and still wearing their 17th century clothes.
‘Dude, you’re wearing tights,’ Jake’s mouth curved.
‘They’re socks, asshole.’ Theo’s face broke into a wide smile as the two of them laughed and wrapped their arms around each other tightly.
‘Boys,’ Olivia shook her head in amusement as she turned to her friend.
‘Hello Roni,’ she smiled.
Roni let out a low cry and wrapped her arms around Olivia, swaying gently as she hugged her firmly.
‘You’re real,’ she laughed as her eyes filled with tears, ‘you’re really here?’
‘Yes we are,’ Olivia replied quietly, swallowing past the knot of emotion burning at the back of her throat.
She was finally home.
‘Move aside Roni,’ Jake released Theo and moved over to Olivia.
‘Jake,’ she grinned.
‘Olive,’ he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her gently. ‘Missed you’ he whispered, burying his face in her neck.
‘Missed you too’ she sighed, relaxing into his arms.
She looked up as she heard a sudden desperate scrabble of claws on wood. Breaking away from him she hunkered down on the floor as a ball of golden colored fur came barreling into the room.
‘BEAU!’ Olivia gasped happily as he dived at her.
He was a lot bigger than when she last saw him and although he was still a small dog he had a lot of weight and enthusiasm behind him as he leapt on her, knocking her to the ground on her ass. She laughed in delight as he rolled and trod all over her, licking every inch of her he could reach, his large soft paws padding over her belly and thighs and his tail whipping around as he rubbed his face all over her.
‘I missed you too baby,’ she smiled as her eyes filled with tears.
Theo leaned down and Beau suddenly abandoned her and jumped all over him lavishing him with affection.
‘You looked after him for us?’ she looked up at Roni.
‘Yeah,’ she glanced over at Jake and smiled, ‘we both did. We also made sure he got his next lot of shots as well.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Yeah well, he wasn’t too thankful,’ she grimaced. ‘He demonstrated his opinion by peeing all over my bed.’
‘Oh no,’ Olivia chuckled, ‘last time it was the back seat of my car.’
‘I had to buy a mattress,’ she laughed and shook her head.
‘How long have we been gone?’ Olivia asked.
Roni threw a look at Jake who stared back.
‘How long?’ Olivia stood slowly as Beau continued to climb all over Theo.
‘Olive,’ Jake told her gently, ‘you’ve been gone nearly six months.’
‘Six months really? Shit…’ Olivia breathed slowly, her forehead creasing, ‘I’ve still got that library book.’
‘How long did you think you’d been gone?’ Roni asked curiously.
‘I have no idea,’ Olivia shrugged, ‘time passed differently for us in the Otherworld and the Underworld. We kinda lost track, although time went back to passing normally when we were in Salem.’
‘Salem?’ Jake frowned. ‘You were in Salem and you couldn’t call to let us know you were only an hour away?’
‘Um not Salem now,’ Olivia replied, ‘Salem 1695.’
‘1695?’ he repeated slowly.
‘Why do you think we’re dressed like this?’
‘Oh my God 17th Century Salem? Are you serious?’ Roni’s eyes widened and her historian’s heart began to beat wildly. ‘That must have been insane.’
‘You have no idea’ she muttered, ‘trust me it’s not as much fun as it sounds.’
‘Hold on’ Jake frowned suddenly, ‘the Underworld?’
‘I guess we’ve got a lot to catch up on,’ Olivia replied quietly. ‘What did you tell everyone? I mean about where Theo and I were?’
‘Well apart from those of us who knew the truth, we told everyone else you were on a research trip and Theo went with you.’
Olivia nodded and looked across to Roni who’d pulled out her phone and was scrolling through her contacts.
‘What are you doing?’ Jake asked.
‘Letting everyone else know you’re back, we’ve all been so worried.’
Theo’s eyes locked on Olivia’s and she knew what he was asking.
‘Have you got Tammy Burnett’s number?’
Roni said nothing, but her eyes were filled with understanding as she scrolled through to the right number and passed the phone to him.
He waited as it rang, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
‘Hello Roni’ the smooth female voice answered, ‘what can I do for you?’
Theo’s voice caught in his throat as he heard the one voice he thought he never would again. It was older, more smooth and polished, but it was still her.
‘Roni?’ the voice came again, ‘is everything okay?’
‘Tempy?’ Theo whispered.
The line went silent for a few moments.
‘Theo?’
‘Yes,’ he smiled.
‘Where are you?’
‘At Olivia’s house.’
‘Is she with you?’ Temperance asked.
‘Yes,’ he replied again.
‘I’ll be right there.’ The line suddenly went dead and he handed the phone back to Roni.
‘I guess she’s on her way over.’
‘I guess so,’ he replied quietly.
Olivia sank down onto her old couch which was covered with a dust sheet. Beau immediately jumped up into her lap, padding her down a couple of times before curling up with a contented sigh. Olivia smiled and stroked his soft coat lovingly.
‘So why are you painting my library oatmeal?’
‘See,’ Roni smirked at Jake as she mouthed the word ‘oatmeal’ to him. She perched comfortably on the arm of the couch and looked down at Olivia. ‘The library was in a pretty big mess when you disappeared.’
Olivia thought back to the last time she’d been in her favorite room. It was the night they’d gone to the old abandoned hotel high up on the cliff overlooking the lake, in order to look for Charon, the Ferryman of the Underworld. God, it seemed like a lifetime since that night. But Roni was right, the library had been an absolute mess, as that had been not long after her mother had broken into the house and trashed the room looking for Hester’s Grimoire.
‘When you disappeared,’ Roni continued, ‘I borrowed a lot of your books trying to find a way to locate you and bring you back.’
‘I thought there were a lot missing,’ she glanced around the almost empty room.
‘Well a lot of them are stacked up neatly in Theo’s studio with his paintings. We didn’t want them to get damaged while we were decorating. Anyway, if you remember we briefly talked after your mom trashed the room, about you redecorating and sorting through all the mess in here. I figured I’d get started while you were gone as a surprise,’ she replied rather sheepishly. ‘It gave me something to do other than worry. I’m sorry, I hope you don’t mind.’
‘Mind?’ Olivia chuckled, ‘no I don’t mind. Knowing me I would have gotten distracted and the room would have stayed that way for years, with piles of books stacked everywhere. At least it’s one job off my list.’
Roni breathed a sigh of relief.
‘I’m so glad’ she smiled, ‘but I have to ask you…what do you think of the color?’
‘I like it’ Olivia decided, staring at the walls, ‘it’s neutral but warm and inviting.’
Roni turned and smirked at Jake again.
‘Plus it goes really well with the dark wood of the shelving.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Roni nodded.
‘So how are things going at the museum?’
‘Really well,’ she beamed, ‘the renovations were
finished a few months ago. The new exhibits have been a big hit.’
‘And?’ Olivia prompted.
‘And?’ Roni repeated in confusion.
‘Did they give you the job permanently?’
‘Oh,’ Roni blushed, ‘well yes…yes they did. They decided I was adequately suited for the job so my probationary period is over and I am now the permanent curator’.
‘Adequately suited?’ Jake laughed, ‘they couldn’t offer her the job quick enough. She’s done incredible things at the museum, in fact, she had the new wing dedicated to Renata. The Renata Gershon Memorial wing now houses an exhibition on Mercy during both World Wars, and a whole section on the Holocaust and the Jewish community who chose to make their home in Mercy. Then there’s her new intern program that students are climbing all over each other to apply for, plus her young curator program.’
‘Young curator program?’ Olivia asked in interest.
‘We give children from the local schools a chance to experience what it is to be a curator. They have a chance to learn how to preserve and display items of historical significance as well as some insight on what it’s like to run a museum. We also have a night at the museum once a month, where the children get to have a sleepover actually on the premises. We have specific night time exhibits and they get to have a midnight feast.’
‘That sounds amazing,’ Olivia laughed in delight. ‘I want a sleepover in the museum.’
‘Well you might just get your wish; we’re always looking for volunteers to help out. Mrs Bailey has been an absolute Godsend when it comes to managing thirty over-excited kids.’
‘That’s because they’re scared of her,’ Jake coughed.
‘Mrs Bailey?’ Olivia’s eyes widened in surprise.
Roni nodded. ‘Don’t listen to him,’ she threw a look at Jake. ‘She’s been great; in fact, I think working with the kids has softened some of her sharp edges. After Mr Bailey passed away she couldn’t bring herself to return to the store, so Tommy’s been managing it for her and she started volunteering at the Museum.’
‘Tommy? What Louisa’s Tommy?’
‘Yeah,’ Jake explained, ‘he’s been honorably discharged from the army now. Louisa’s happy to have him home permanently and its given them a chance to work out some of their problems. They’re doing okay at the moment.’
‘That’s good then,’ Olivia agreed.
‘In fact now you’re home, once you’ve settled back in I have a project I’d love your help with,’ Roni told her.
‘Oh?’ Olivia looked at her curiously.
‘It’s going to be an exhibit of the role of women in Puritan society. As you’ve written a book on the subject I thought you might like to help me and maybe even give a guest lecture?’
‘I’d love to’ Olivia smiled, turning towards the open window as she heard a car pull up outside.
A few moments later the front door opened and she heard footsteps.
Olivia moved off the couch, disturbing Beau who gave a disgruntled sniff and jumped down just as Mayor Tammy Burnett walked through the doorway.
She stopped dead, her eyes locked on Theo and for a moment neither of them spoke.
‘Tempy,’ he finally whispered.
Her eyes filled with tears as she rushed across the room and threw herself into his arms. Olivia’s own eyes filled with sentimental tears as she watched them hug each other tightly.
After a while she pulled back slightly and with her arm still wrapped around her brother she reached out and pulled Olivia in and hugged them both.
‘Temperance,’ Olivia smiled.
‘Oh,’ she pulled back smiling, tears of happiness shimmering on her long dark lashes, ‘it’s been a very long time since anyone has called me that.’
‘You’ll always be Tempy to me,’ Theo tugged her hair playfully as he did when she was a child.
‘I’ve waited so long for this day,’ she wiped away a tear with her fingertips.
‘Why don’t we give you three some privacy,’ Jake grasped Roni’s hand and pulled her from the room, closing the door behind them with a quiet click.
‘I want to know everything’ she told them, ‘everything that happened from when Sam pulled me out of the house to the moment you arrived back in Mercy.’
‘I have so much to tell you Tempy,’ Theo pulled her over to the couch and sat with her while Olivia pulled up the chair from her desk. ‘But first tell us what happened to you, when Sam pulled you out.’
‘Well,’ Tammy replied, glancing back and forth between Olivia and Theo, ‘as you know Sam had been really sick, first from his extended exposure to the Underworld then from being infected with Demon fire.’
‘You know about that?’ Olivia asked curiously.
‘Sam told me’ she nodded, continuing with her story. ‘By the time he got to me he was better, but still very weak. When he jumped us through time he intended to bring me here to your present but he didn’t have the strength, nor the experience as it was only the first time he’d made the jump through time. We fell short and ended up in 1983.’
‘1983?’ Olivia repeated in confusion, ‘that’s not right. If you landed up in ‘83 and stayed there that would put you in your forties. I read your bio when I first returned to Mercy and that says you’re just over fifty.’
‘I’ll get to that part of the story in a moment’ she smiled. ‘As I said we ended up in Mercy, Christmas 1983. I was really sick, I had pneumonia with a secondary bronchial infection. They managed to treat me but I was out of it for weeks. When I finally woke up Sam was there, but the jump through time had made him really weak. He said he had to go home, he couldn’t bring me forward until he’d healed himself. He left me here in Mercy and told me he would be back for me but not to tell anyone my real identity. Then he disappeared. I don’t need to tell you how shaken up I was. I didn’t speak for months but as I had no apparent family and they didn’t know who I was, I ended up in the system and fortunately I was fostered by the Burnetts. They called me Tammy.’
‘Were they good to you?’ Theo asked in concern.
‘Yes they were,’ she squeezed his hand reassuringly. ‘Susan and Ed were lovely people, they loved me so much. I had a good life with them. After a while Sam showed up looking older and healthy. He’d come to jump me forward to find you but he could see how attached I’d become to Susan and Ed. So he gave me a choice.’
‘You chose to stay and be their daughter?’ Olivia realized.
‘Yes I did’ she smiled, ‘we were a family. I knew it meant I would have to wait longer to see you both but I didn’t want to leave them. They’d come to love me as much as I loved them, it would have hurt them terribly to lose me. I told Sam I wanted to stay, so he arranged false papers for me, a social security number and a fake birth certificate. He made me a few years older than I actually was and changed my name from Temperance Beckett to Tammy Jones just in case Nathaniel ever came looking for me. Eventually Susan and Ed officially adopted me and I became Tammy Burnett.’
‘Were you happy?’ Theo asked quietly.
‘I was’ she nodded, ‘I was cared for. Once I got used to this new place they put me in school and I excelled. I went to college, got a good job and ended up as Mayor. Sam always stopped by to check in on me, over the years we’ve become very close.’
‘Sam kept an eye on you?’
‘Of course he did,’ she smiled at him, ‘what did you think he was going to do? Drop me three hundred years into the future and then abandon me? I was a child, he always made sure I was okay.’
‘It seems I owe the man more than I can ever repay,’ Theo murmured, ‘first for bringing me to Olivia and then for taking care of you when I couldn’t.’
‘So tell me what happened after I left,’ she looked first to Theo then to Olivia.
‘We jumped forward ten years to 1695,’ Olivia replied softly.
‘How?’
Theo looked across to Olivia, who nodded s
ilently in agreement and so he began to talk. He told her everything, from Olivia being kidnapped from James’ house to the fire in Salem. He explained about Hester and Bridget, Logan, Justin and the Veritas, with Olivia filling in the blanks on The Timedhal, telling Theo at the same time as they had not yet had a chance to discuss what had happened at the Beckett farm after Logan had died.
‘Poor Logan,’ Tammy replied sadly. ‘I mean obviously I knew he was dead, after all it’s been three hundred years but seeing you and hearing about what happened it all feels like it happened yesterday.’
‘For us it did,’ Theo replied quietly.
‘He found his peace Theo,’ she squeezed his hand again.
‘I hope so,’ he sighed before turning to Olivia. ‘This man you saw?’ he asked, ‘the one who told you about the Timedhal, you don’t have any idea who he was?’
‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘I didn’t even see him clearly.’
‘But he told you how to use it, how to open the portal?’
She shook her head again, frowning. ‘That’s just it, he didn’t. I already knew, the knowledge was already there inside me. I didn’t just open it, I created the portal.’
‘Where did you send them?’ Tammy asked curiously, ‘your mother and Nathaniel?’
‘Antarctica’ Olivia replied, with a deadpan look.
‘Antarctica?’ Tammy laughed, ‘are you serious?’
‘Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘I couldn’t risk leaving them both in the past so I had to bring them back to the present day and I didn’t want to dump them down in the middle of a populated area. Neither of them care much about collateral damage so I dropped them down on a gigantic ice shelf and let them fight it out. Sooner or later one or possibly both of them will likely show up here but for now…’ she shrugged, ‘it was the best I could do at short notice. I do feel sorry for the penguins though.’
Tammy laughed, ‘God Olivia you truly are priceless.’
‘There is something else I have to tell you Tempy,’ Theo told her. ‘It’s about James Wilkins.’
He glanced across at Olivia who gave him a small smile of encouragement.
‘What is it?’ Tammy asked.
‘He was our father.’
‘What?’ she replied in confusion.
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 152
