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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Also by Kathryn Kaleigh

  Key Stone Princess

  Twenty-Seven Minutes Collection

  Kathryn Kaleigh

  Chapter 1

  I fix time.

  Other than that, I’m one of the most ordinary people out there.

  After straightening a collection of cuddly teddy bears wearing a wide range of pastel colored t-shirts, I sat on a stool and began the process of restacking some boxes of candy.

  I put the cinnamon sticks with the cinnamon hot balls. The peppermint sticks with the peppermint balls.

  I left a box of each open in front of the stacks. All the more to tempt anybody who happened to wander into my store.

  Since there was no one currently in my little store I called The Mercantile Time, I stood up and stretched in a most unladylike fashion. But it felt absolutely wonderful.

  I hadn’t named the store. It had already been named before I got it.

  The name of the store confused people. Some people thought it was a newspaper office. Or a cloth shop.

  And once they came inside, the confusion was only compounded. It looked like a cross between a general store, a candy store, and a sporting goods store.

  The confusion was intentional. People rarely wandered inside and people rarely came in for anything specific.

  During the height of tourist season, I kept a rack of t-shirts hanging near the front to satisfy those curious enough to come inside.

  But it wasn’t tourist season right now.

  It was October. And October transformed the island from tourist industry to just a small mountain town.

  The sun was starting its downward trek over the horizon. Through the window and across the tops of the buildings on the other side of main street, the sky had turned a beautiful shade of red.

  The cuckoo clock happily announced the six o’clock hour.

  It was time to check the mailbox.

  I went over to the door. Waved at Mr. Mitchell as he walked past, and turned the lock. Mr. Mitchell ran the bank next door to my shop.

  Like the other merchants, he kept a friendly, but safe distance away from me.

  I went behind the counter and slid out an old leather trunk.

  It was about three feet wide and two feet deep.

  I sat down on a little stool in front of the trunk, held my breath, and lifted the lid.

  The trunk only opened at sunset and only for one hour. Other than that, if anyone opened it, they found nothing inside but two stacks of musty old quilts.

  There had been nothing else inside the last two months.

  But today the quilts weren’t there.

  My hands trembling, I reached inside and picked up the letter. There was no envelope.

  Just a letter on old stationary, folded in half.

  The clock chimed the half hour.

  Had thirty minutes actually passed already?

  Time had gotten fuzzy as it often did when the trunk was open.

  The sun had set by now and the lights had dimmed along with it.

  Over the last couple of months, I’d gotten complacent and hadn’t thought to light a candle.

  A candle would hold, but electricity never did.

  I should have remembered.

  The paper was old and rough beneath my fingertips.

  Each week there would be a name.

  A name of someone who was in danger. Someone who needed help. Safe passage to another time.

  The two that I’d worked with had been strangers to me and I assumed that they all would be.

  When they showed up at my door, I would know what to do.

  It was a lot of responsibility.

  Responsibility I hadn’t asked for.

  But being a princess of the Skye Wolf Fairies Clan, I had responsibilities.

  The paper crinkled as I opened it.

  The name was written in pale ink. In a fancy script.

  Arya Farren

  My name.

  Chapter 2

  I stood beneath the fir trees at the edge of the forest and looked out over the valley below.

  The little town where I’d made a home this last year was no more than a distant twinkle of light. The faint scent of firewood blended with the strong scent of pine needles.

  I wore a long flowing cape with a hood. I only wore the cape when I came up here. Up the mountainside to the cave of my ancestors.

  With trembling hands, I tucked a stray lock of hair beneath the hood of my cape.

  A gust of cold wind whipped at my hood.

  I’d been here twice before. Once with my older sister and then twice when I’d helped others who needed to be saved.

  I almost hadn’t come tonight.

  Seeing my own name on the paper was unsettling, to say the least.

  I didn’t understand.

  I didn’t need saving.

  I was the savior.

  Though the moon was bright, it was dark up here. And cold.

  Normally, I would put a shield of light and warmth around me, but I wanted to stay out of sight.

  To make sure no one was watching before I made my myself more visible than I already was.

  A wolf howled in the distance and I put a hand on the nearest pine tree.

  If I was in danger, I didn’t know it.

  But someone had thought so. Someone had summoned me here.

  Alone.

  I’d never come here alone.

  I’d left alone, but that was different.

  I had been summoned to the circle of stones.

  But that would mean…

  A wolf howled in the distance.

  I took a deep breath.

  Maybe it was just a mistake.

  Mistakes weren’t supposed to happen, but if there one thing I’d learned in the mortal world, it was that anyone could make a mistake.

  It was time.

  I stepped forward. Toward the circle of stones.

  Moonlight reflected off the smooth stones that made a rough circle about six feet around.

  If I went into the circle, anything could happen.

  I liked it at the Mercantile Time. I was comfortable there.

  My father had always said that I was more suited to the mortal world than the fairy world. Being a mortal himself, he was probably biased.

  But my mother wouldn’t have it.

  She’d say it was my birthright.

  More like a responsibility.

  I would be more than happy to hand the whole responsibility thing over to my younger sister.

  Now my sister was a true fairy. Very well suited to the role.

  I put one foot inside the circle.

  The wind was calm here. And the temperature was warmer. Like dipping a toe into a warm bath.

  Just get it over with.

  The words of my grandfather were so strong, I looked sharply back over my shoulder to see if maybe, just maybe, he was standing there.

  But there was only the moonlight sparkling through the trees.

  I turned back, tapped the timer on my watch, and stepped all the way into the circle.

  A flush of warmth enveloped me.

  Twenty-seven minutes.

  That’s how long I could stay here in the circle.

  But I wasn’t alone.

  Chapter 3

  Mason was a larger than life, more handsome than could possibly be legal, man.

  And he was standing right here with me in the circle of stones.

  We’d been close as teenagers. About as close as two teenagers could be.

  But then he’d learned that he was to be married to Penelope.

  That had changed everything.

  I hadn’t kept up with Mason since those days, but I couldn’t focus on any of that right now.

  All I could think about was how he was looking at me.

  He held out his hand, smiling at me.

  He looked… different.

  The same. Yet different.

  Better even.

  Not surprising since men get better looking with age.

  His gaze locked onto mine.

  His blue eyes were bluer than I remembered.

  But they had the same effect on me that they’d always had.

  Scattered my thoughts.

  Sent my pulse racing through my veins.

  I all but rolled my eyes.

  Then I put my hand in his.

  I’d forgotten how intense the circle was.

  How the world outside the circle seemed to disappear.

  I even almost forgot why I was there.

  “Hello,” he said.

  I tugged on my hand, but he just tightened his hold.

  “Why am I here?” I asked, glancing around.

  The area outside the circle was starting to get hazy.

  I glanced at my watch.

  Already three minutes had passed.

  The only time I’d spent in the circle had been as a facilitator.

  Not like this.

  “I called you,” he said.

  I shook my head.

  “I’m not in danger,” I said. Then looked at him questioningly. “Am I?”

  He was holding my other hand now. Somehow without me even realizing it, he’d managed to take hold of both my hands.

  If I hadn’t been in danger before, I was now. But in a way I hadn’t anticipated when I’d come up here.

  Mason had a way of putting my heart in danger.

  I’d put Mason behind me. I’d moved on.

  But right now all those years of making myself forget about him seemed to just vanish.

  It was almost like a I was a teenager again.

  Mason was shaking his head.

  “No,” he said. “You’re not in danger.”

  I bit my lip.

  Mason had broken a cardinal rule of the circle.

  He’d used the summons for something not intended.

  But I didn’t say anything. There was something in his eyes. Something that kept me from calling him out on what he’d done.

  “I’m in trouble,” he said.

  Chapter 4

  Ten minutes had passed.

  I could feel the ticking of my watch on my wrist.

  It seemed to pulse along with my blood.

  I shook my head. Digital clocks did not pulse.

  But time did skip and jump.

  Inside the stones.

  The light inside the stones was increasing.

  The world outside the circle was slowly, but steadily fading even more.

  I had seventeen minutes left before it disappeared altogether.

  I could smell Mason’s skin now.

  He smelled like a mixture of the forest and the earth.

  A faint version of walking through the cologne counter at the department store in Denver.

  He was becoming more real.

  Fifteen minutes remaining and I was more confused than I had been even before.

  “How are you in trouble?” I asked.

  He closed his eyes and shook his head.

  “It’s a long story and I don’t have time to explain.”

  I’d said the same words to others.

  “But why do you need me?” I asked.

  Why have you called me here? When you know what you do to me?

  He opened his eyes again. Squeezed my hands and locked his gaze onto mine.

  “You’re the only one who can help me.”

  “What can I do?” I asked.

  My watch seemed to be squeezing my wrist. I wanted to unhook it. To fling it away. But Mason’s hold on me was too tight.

  I tested his hold again.

  If I needed—wanted—to step out of the circle, he wasn’t going to let me.

  The area around the stones was no longer visible to me.

  It had grayed out. Leaving me alone with Mason in this little circle.

  Ten minutes.

  Time was doing that thing.

  That thing where it sped up and would be racing soon to the finish.

  “How can I help?” I asked.

  I needed to know and I needed to know quickly.

  He shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

  “Mason,” I said, feeling some of that frustration I’d felt that last summer.

  “Don’t be mad,” he said. “It was the only way I could get you here.”

  Five minutes.

  I hadn’t planned on this. Hadn’t prepared myself mentally for it.

  Anyone but Mason and I would have stepped back out of the circle.

  But Mason was… well… Mason.

  My thought raced. I’d been here for three years.

  I’d made a life for myself.

  I had friends… sort of. Acquaintances anyway.

  Mr. Mitchell from the bank. Amy from across the street. She ran a little coffee shop that I stopped at every morning.

  I had a little cottage. I was happy here.

  Four minutes.

  Mason tugged on my hands, pulling my attention back to him.

  “What did you do?” I asked.

  “Nothing irreparable,” he said quickly.

  Two minutes.

  I needed to go now.

  Now or never.

  If I stayed here in the circle, I would go into a different timeline.

  My heart pounded in my chest as the seconds ticked down.

  I’d be going into an alternate timeline.

  With Mason.

  With Mason.

  This was something I’d wanted for so very long.

  Too long.

  I relaxed my hold.

  Just a little.

  Shifted one foot. Then the other.

  If I didn’t move now. Didn’t step out of the circle, I’d be in a different timeline.

  With Mason.

  Chapter 5

  The seconds pulsed against my wrist. An Apple watch.

  The magic of the stone circle had entered the watch, combining with the circle’s own internal sense of time.

  I don’t know how I knew this. I’d never heard of it happening.

  Yet it was happening to me.

  My job was to save people by sending them into a different timeline.

  Mason wasn’t supposed to be in here with me.

  But if he was the one in trouble, somehow the rules had been bent.

  Somehow two different people had entered the circle together.

  I could feel sunshine on the top of my head. Somehow my hood had fallen down.

  I was standing at one of the most important points in my life.

  A person—mortal or fairy—got only one chance at changing timelines.

  Otherwise, people would be jumping around all over the place and there would be no order to the universe.

  Most people never invoked their one opportunity. Of course, in all fairness, only a tiny, tiny percent of people even knew that it was an option.

  And truth be known, it wasn’t an option for just anyone. I’d never seen it happen personally, but I’d heard the legends.

  A person would go into the stones and it didn’t take. They would come right back out in the same timeline.

  Having all these details tucked into my brain made me wary of being here with Mason.

  And if one of us went into another time line, we were guaranteed to never see each other again.

  Timelines were like a human’s thoughts. No two were ever exactly the same and they were never ever repeated.

  The timelines were fleeting. And unique. Like a single flash of lightning.

  My clan had valiantly tried to track the timelines.

  I’m sure there were some factions out there who were still trying.

  They’d never give up.

  And one day, just like putting a man on the moon, it would happen.

  But most people—the fairy people—just used the stones to their advantage instead of trying to understand how it happened.

  This last minute had stretched out, going into slow motion. The pulse against my wrist slowed.

  Still, there was less than a minute left.

  Whatever had happened to Mason didn’t matter in this moment. It didn’t matter that he’d married. Or not.

  I looked into his fathomless deep blue eyes.

  The seconds were pulsing more quickly again.

  Damn it.

  Time to disentangle my hands from his and get out of the circle.

  Or find out what happens when two people change timelines at the same time.

  Would they split up and go to different timelines?

  Or would one stay here and the other one go?

  Or would they go together?

  The blood pounded in my ears.

  I lunged myself into his arms.

  Chapter 6

  Mason’s arms were tight as a vice around my waist.

  My cheek pressed around his chest.

  I felt his heart beating, echoing with mine.

  Sunlight still beamed on my head and soft wind fluttered in my hair.

  My watch was no longer pulsing on my wrist.

  I slowly opened my eyes, but couldn’t see anything other than Mason’s arm.

  “Are you ok?” he asked, his breath tickling my ear.

  I took a deep ragged breath.

  “I think so,” I said, my voice muffled against his cotton shirt.

  “We’re here,” he said, but didn’t release his hold on me.

  “Where is here?” I asked.

  I felt, more than heard his soft chuckle.

  Oh. My. God.

  Mason and I had gone into another timeline.

 

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