Her mouth opened and closed. “I dinna ken everything from the beginning. I had tae learn it over time... but whatever ye think of me, I am nae lying. I truly daena ken how tae go that far intae the past. Tis like the vessels stop short at the mark, while flinging the traveler farther along. I daena understand the workings of it.”
The wind was rising, the storm growing higher. Lady Mairead was wringing her hands. “Even if I could go farther back, I winna ken what time ye are in.”
“Aye, ye will need tae do some searchin’,” I said, “Kaitlyn and I spoke about it once, tis as if an explorer has cut a new trail. They hae carved intae the darkened forest, but only tae a certain point. Then other travelers come along at a fast rate of speed, they hit the forest, the trail ends. They are thrown from their horse, yet the horse remains.”
“Magnus, how is that helpful?”
I shook my head. “It inna, except tae say, ye best get explorin’.” I held the horse reins and twisted the vessel tae complete the activation, the storm rose as she hustled away. In m’fury, the one I had been ridin’ all day, I got a certain pleasure in watchin’ her scurry — the fear in her eyes that I was headed tae a certain death.
I couldna consider it, the death sentence of it, only that Kaitlyn was already farther along, and I had nae choice but tae join her. Twas nae ones fault, but twas a great many years of m’mother’s manipulations that had brought us here, and were now forcin’ us there, as if off a horse —
I was thrown.
Twenty- eight - Kaitlyn
I was face down in the snow, freezing, like really cold. I raised my head to see Bella’s body beside me. I straightened to see her, dead, stone cold, murder-crime-scene dead. I threw up in the snow.
Where the hell was I?
Pine trees, forest, the ground, it looked a little like where I had left, but completely different, the weather was shit — that was all I had to go on.
It was too cold to think.
I needed the knife jutting from Bella’s stomach. I clamored to my feet, clutched the handle with freezing hands and tried to pull, but my fingers were too frozen to grip. I rubbed them vigorously to get the blood moving and tried again, one two three — tug. The blade yanked free. I wiped it in the snow and stuck it in my belt. Then I reached in Bella’s pocket for the vessel trying not to look at her face — her eyes were freaking me out.
I dug through her pockets. “Where is it?” I frantically looked in her other pocket. Also empty. I dug through the bag around my waist, no vessel there either. There was only an old grocery list: diapers, wipes, chocolate, pasta; a wadded up baby wipe that had been used on Archie’s hands; and an empty candy wrapper. I had taken out everything important and put it in the diaper bag. Did I have a vessel though? I thought I had, maybe I had given mine to Beaty along with the bag?
It had all happened so fast.
But there had been one here. It was how we got here. It had to... I pushed her shoulder to look under her body. A bloodstain in the snow, but nothing else. I wanted to bury her, I needed to get her out of the clearing, but it was also so freaking cold, terribly bone-chilling cold. Fuck. What if...?
Isla’s face flashed in my mind. Why wasn’t I with her? Why the fuck was I here? My front was wet. My breasts were leaking milk and they were so sore. My whole body felt tight and shivering and my breasts were hot. I felt them, damn it. They were hard, and sore.
I had to do something.
I couldn’t think, couldn’t figure out what — I just knew if this was the clearing, then Balloch was northwest. I trudged through the snow, in some places knee-deep, as fast as I could go. I needed to go fast, but I was exhausted and in pain and so cold. I was wearing fucking sneakers! Why didn’t I ever wear snow boots? I should wear them everywhere, even in Florida, just in case. I should learn. I should be better.
Desperate, feeling the stinging scratches on my face, I made