Not Without Juliet - By L.L. Muir Page 0,88
tell anything from their voices.
“Mhairi, Margot. We’re ever so glad to see ye,” said Monty to the hole in the floor. “What have we forgotten, ladies? We’re all hangin’ on to Juliet for dear sweet life. She’s wearing the torque, as Jillian has already tried, but it doesna seem to be working.”
“Och, Laird Montgomery, haven’t we said it had naught to do with the torque?”
“Aye. Ye did. I remember now. But there must be something more.”
“Aye, laird. There’s more. But we must have yer promise before we help ye on yer way.”
Everyone’s eyes bugged out a little, all but Percy’s. They all suspected that making a promise to the Muirs might not be the wisest move. But Jules was desperate. She was going to lose her effing mind if she didn’t get out of there.
“What is it?” she hollered. “What’s the promise?”
“The tunnel. You must all promise that no one will ken of it.”
“An easy promise to keep,” said Quinn.
“But ye must all vow, and Ewan as well, that the tunnel will never be destroyed.”
Monty was already shaking his head.
Jillian bent and looked through the hole. “Why, ladies? Why can’t we destroy it? What if our children wander inside?”
“They would need to be shown the way. If ye keep the first promise, ye’ll have naught to fear.”
“Why?” Jules had the feeling they weren’t telling them everything. “Why can’t we get rid of it?”
There was a long pause. No one moved. No one let go of her.
“Someone else moves within the tunnel. Cursed. And yet there is hope, as long as the tunnel remains.”
There hadn’t been anyone inside the tunnel but Percy and her. Or had there? They’d been watching their feet the entire way.
A shiver rose through her and she looked at Jillian. Her sister felt it too. The tunnel shouldn’t be destroyed.
“We promise,” they said in unison, then laughed. No one else in their little circle seemed to think it was funny. Under the circumstances, Jules resisted the urge to call out, “Jinx!”
“We need to go now, ladies,” Quinn called out. “What is it we’ve forgotten?”
“Wrought with love and sacrifice, Quinn Ross. Love. And sacrifice.”
One of the sisters laughed. “And shame upon ye, fer thinkin’ we’re a blood-thirsty bunch. The lad would never have been harmed—but what better way to make ye determined to take him along than to forbid ye?”
Quinn stiffened at her side.
Jules gave him a little squeeze. When he met her gaze, she gave him a wink.
“Enough love in here to choke a horse, I’d say.” She turned back to her sister. “What about the sacrifice?”
The seconds ticked away. No one spoke, though it was clear by their frowns they were all thinking. Then suddenly, James laughed.
“Sorry, Monty, lad. I ken ye dinna trust me near Isobelle for some reason, but it seems there’s no other choice.” James looked Jules in the eye. “Give ‘em hell, Juliet Bell.”
One hand loosened its grip on her arm, then disappeared, and with it, the light from below. She was standing in the darkness with the echo of James’ laughter fading from memory. Monty and Jillian released her. Quinn and Percy still held tight. A second later, a flashlight came on. Monty held it in one hand, his other was locked around Jillian’s forearm in a deathgrip.
There was an empty gap in their little circle, where James had stood.
“Son of a bitch.” Monty glared at the empty space.
Jillian laughed. “Well, at least your cursing is improving.”
“Jillian, dear!” came a sweet shaky voice from below. It had to be one of the old Muir sisters who’d first sent Jules into the tomb.
“I guess we’ve arrived,” she said.
It was a little shocking that she’d felt nothing at all. Inhaling in the fifteenth century, exhaling in the twenty-first.
Quinn finally let go of her wrist and tapped Percy on the shoulder.
“You can let go now, lad.”
“Jillian? Did ye find yer sister?”
“Yes, I did,” Jillian said with a smile.
“Well, then, there are a couple of surly gentlemen who suggest that she comes out with her hands where they might readily see them.”
***
Up at the manor house, Jules the Prisoner, was held in the upstairs bathroom—or rather, the upstairs loo—for two reasons. First, no one trusted her not to escape before things were settled, and secondly, Quinn refused to let anyone lay a hand on her, let alone allow two agents to hold her by the elbows. The loo, with its small transom window through which no adult human could escape, became the only option.
She didn’t