parchment, as norms always needed to see numbers. The laird’s archivist, Morven, gave me the supplies. I liked Morven because he had black hair and green eyes, and lots of muscles, but he wasn’t extra nice to me or any of the girls. He also had a big scar on his head.
“’Tis twinning,” he murmured, and when I frowned at him he pointed at the figures I’d written down. “The calpa attacks, aye?”
I nodded. “I have to warn the laird.”
I explained my theory, and then Morven came up with the same answer I had. He didn’t seem upset, though, which is when I realized he might not be a norm. There was a way to find out, although I knew it might make him emotional.
“What did that to your head?” I asked.
“I took an ax to the skull during our final battle as mortals.” He started to tell me the details, then stopped. “Forgive me, Mistress. I ken ’tisnae seemly to speak of such.”
I lifted my hair to show him my scar, and told him how I got mine. “It made you different, right?”
“I dinnae feel as others do. The druids call thus scrupulosity.” He peered at my scalp. “You?”
“Same. I’d rather feel with my skin and my hands and the rest of my body. I like your body, too.” Since I was curious I leaned forward and kissed him. “Do you like that?”
“Aye.” He looked very interested in me now. “You dinnae long for words of love?”
“Nope, but we should have sex first and see if we like that as much.” I rolled up my parchment. “Let’s go tell them.”
Morven asked if he could first kiss me back, and we did that for a while. Then we met with the laird and Coach, and gave our presentation.
“The calpa attacks are doubling every week. Every time one dies, two more come here.” I could see even with the parchment the laird didn’t understand, so I added, “If my theory is correct, then there will be thirty-two attacks next week.”
“And sixty-four the next,” Morven said.
“How long will it take before there are enough calpa to attack all the mortals here?” Coach asked him.
He glanced at the laird, who nodded. “In two moons, my lady, they’ll overrun the island.”
“That’s eight weeks,” I said.
“Thank you both for telling us about this.” Coach rubbed her forehead. “Gill, we need to talk to Kendric.”
“Then Morven and I are going to have sex now,” I told her, and smiled so she wouldn’t freak out. “He’s like me, but we want to be sure.”
The laird grinned. “A good match.”
Sex with Morven was even better than numbers, so we got married the next day. The end.
Chapter 15
Night Watch
The first time my cheerleading squad and I time-traveled back to fourteenth century Scotland, nothing bad happened. I fell for this guy named Ualan who looked like Brad Pitt with black hair. Luckily when our plane went down on our second trip we crashed into a sacred oak grove, which healed all our wounds before taking us back again. Afterward my eyes felt funny, but I blamed it on the smoke from the plane.
A few weeks later I sat in the infirmary, but all I could see was a blur where Doc’s face should have been. Even the faint light from the one candle she’d lit hurt my eyes.
“Your pupils have become permanently dilated, Stephanie,” the doc said. “I can’t tell you what’s causing it. I’ll talk to the druid healers and see if they have any ideas.” As she rebandaged my eyes she added, “I heard that you and your guy broke up.”
Thanks to my improved hearing I’d heard Ualan telling Gayla that I revolted him, which had made it easy to dump his vain, insensitive ass.
“He’s not into the handicapped.” I stood up and used my cane to make my way into the great hall.
When I heard voices talking I stopped and picked out Coach Jennings, the laird, his war master Sorley, and Griogair, the captain of the guard.
“If Morven and Hannah are right about the calpa attacks doubling, then we don’t have enough time to relocate the population,” Coach was saying. “Master Gowan said his tribe won’t leave the island. We have to focus on protecting these people.”
“Too many to bring here,” Gill told her.
“We may go to them,” Sorley said. “Send sentries to stand guard at the settlement and the village.”
“Aye, but what of the farms?” Griogair asked. “And we’ve dozens of fishers and cargo boats in