The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,70
them. Was this what he meant, to get the children?
I shook my head to dislodge the thought. It had only been a dream, not instructions.
Probably.
Quentin clapped his hands on his knees. “Welp, now we have to go get Magnus.”
“Yep, again.”
James said, “I’m going with. I’ve got a defibrillator.”
“What? Why you got one of those?” asked Quentin.
“Remember when my Dad had a heart attack a couple years ago? After that he wouldn’t contract a job if there isn’t a defibrillator on site. He made me promise to always carry one in my truck. ‘Saves lives,’ he says. So I have one and I know how to use it.”
“Okay, James is going with his defibrillator—”
James said, “Plus a meth alligator.”
I said, “What the hell is a meth alligator?”
“You missed those? You know how every now and then Florida combines its two most terrifying things to bring us something even worse? In this scenario drugs flushed down the toilet create hyper-aggressive gators: meth gators. We need one for this plan to work.”
Quentin said, “You want to time travel with a meth gator and do... what with it?”
“Let it loose in the castle. I tell you all good plans need a wildcard. There’s nothing more wildcard than a meth gator in a castle.”
“No plans ever need a wildcard, that’s why they’re plans. That’s why you’re manning the defibrillator but not making the plan. Okay, so Fraoch, you coming?”
“Aye.”
“How about you Hayley?”
She said, “I think yes.”
I said, “I don’t think so. I love you, Hayley, but that might be too many people.”
“Override, her please, Quentin, I’m useful, you need me.”
“Hayley can come.”
I said, “Fine, but I’m not saving your arse.”
Quentin said, “Katie, actually, you aren’t coming, you’ve been through too much and—”
I held up a hand. “I know my way around the castle. My palm gets me in secure rooms. Plus I know where he is. I have to go.”
Emma said, “Archie’s going to freak out.”
“Yeah, but he understands the stakes. He knows I have to go get Magnus. Hopefully he can hold onto his breakdown until I get back. We all deserve one, I’ll hold him through it later.”
Zach nodded from the kitchen, where he was making some food for me and Isla and Archie. “I’ll be here watching for storms. We’ll help the kids through it.”
Quentin said, “Magnus has the transmitter on still, I hope. So once we get to the date, we’ll be able to track him with a monitor. I know where to meet Hammond. We’ll tell him Magnus is captured, ask for troops and vehicles to mount a rescue.”
Zach brought me a warmed sandwich. I peeled up the corner: roast beef with horsey sauce and Swiss cheese. “My fave, thanks.”
He said, “I’ll go call in the kids, we done talking about the dramatic stuff?”
James said, “I still think we ought to get a meth gator.”
I said, “You are overruled.”
The kids ate. Then I talked to Archie privately in my room.
“I have to go get your da. I know you’ll be worried, but try to be strong. Take care of your sister. You might cry, that’s okay, that’s not the kind of strong I mean. I mean sad and maybe scared but also—”
“You be back tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
He looked off into space. “What if you forget the day?”
“I won’t. Here—” I yanked open the bedside drawer and pulled out my fancy pen, the one Magnus had given me years ago. I raised my sleeve exposing what Magnus had written way back in Edinburgh, it was faint, and only partially there, but underneath I wrote tomorrow’s date.
I showed him. “I won’t forget. I will see you on the morrow, okay?”
He nodded. “I will see you on the morrow.”
“Good. I love you.”
“Bring da home.”
“I will. I promise.”
Then I went and sang Isla to sleep, packed up my gear, dressed for war, and got ready to jump.
Forty-two - Magnus
A man screamed intae m’face, “Where are they!”
“I daena ken.”
He struck me and the blinding pain was good, it woke up m’nerve endings and reminded me tae live.
“Take him upstairs to see King Padraig.”
My head lolled as I tried to see him through my swollen slit of an eye. The other was completely closed from the beating the night before. “I am the king, Magnus the first... Tis my castle. Ye meant tae say, ‘take the king tae the upper floors of his...” I was trying to be menacing but my breath was puffing. I could nae finish the threat.