Linda Kay Silva - Across Time 02, page 1
SECOND
TIME
AROUND
Spinsters Ink 2009
LINDA KAY SILVA
Spinsters Ink P.O. Box 242 Midway, Florida 32343
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper First Edition
Editor: Katherine V. Forrest Cover designer: Linda Callaghan
ISBN-10: 1-935226-03-7 ISBN-13: 978-1-935226-03-1
Like Delta Stevens before her, Jessie Ferguson lives in the marrow of my bones…speaking to me in ancient riddles and whispering words of encouragement and wisdom in my ear. One of those conversations included thanking those who have buffeted us along this solitary path of writing. We are in this together, she and I, but we could not be successful without:
Lori: for giving me the gift of time to do what brings me so much joy.
Sandi: aka Bacon Saver. Thank you so much for saving mine. Invaluable and priceless.
All of those who picked up Jessie the first day.
My greatest true love, Lucy, who fills my heart and loves me unconditionally.
A Shout Out To
My…uh…peeps in the English Department at Maricopa High School. Let’s face it.We ROCK! Thank you for welcoming me with so much laughter.
My sophomores and juniors at MHS who have managed to survive Miss’ class and make her laugh in the meantime. You ROCK, too!
About the Author
This is Linda Kay’s ninth published novel and the second in the Across Time series. She is currently working on the sixth of the series as well as another paranormal series starring an empath. Linda Kay works and resides in Arizona, where she teaches a crazy bunch of teenagers who keep her on her toes and make her laugh every day. Writing, teaching online and learning all there is to know about her new home state is keeping her plenty busy. She has a new motto on a banner in her classroom that she wants to share with all her readers in the hopes of inspiring them to follow their dreams:
It costs you nothing to dream and everything not to So dream big.
Or go home.
Jessie Ferguson walked into the newly refurbished library and stood at the door staring. She and her father had finished the whole library by hand, creating ceiling to floor bookshelves, including a wheeled ladder for reaching the top shelves. The shelves contained over two thousand leather-bound books and another three thousand hardbound books purchased solely by her over the course of the three years she’d been living in the Inn. She’d spent her first two summers scouring the coastline estate sales, garage sales and library sales. Her third summer was spent cataloging and organizing her precious possessions. As a history major and a frequent flier through time, she’d found that the history books and thick tomes on philosophy and religion were like priceless relics to her and she cared for them as lovingly as anyone else might a puppy or kitten. This was her favorite place in the world; in this time period, of course.
When she’d returned from Wales, she announced that she, personally, wanted to contribute to the Inn’s growth and wellbeing. The pronouncement had surprised and delighted her parents, who had thrown every penny and muscle into creating a
Grande Dame out of the ugly step sister Victorian, but they had never anticipated just how serious Jessie was about her books, the library or her studies. Now, her library was the talk of the town, and several of the town’s antique dealers kept an eye out on the book trade in Portland, Salem and Eugene to help add to her growing collection.
She took in the smell of the dark woods and the leather wingback chairs, and admired the polished silver swords adorning the red wall on the far side of the library. A new window seat overlooked the majestic Pacific Ocean, and directly across from the window seat, thirty feet away, a stone fireplace loomed like a silent gargoyle. A huge mahogany desk balanced the room on the other side and held the one thing all the travelers of the twenty-first century would need: the Internet.
Her father had paid her for the work she’d done when they first moved here, and her contribution to the family’s new life was to use that money to create her own special place in the Inn. She had works dating back to the sixteenth century, signed novels, and complete sets that were the envy of many a book collector. There were a handful of first editions, which she kept behind the only locked glass bookshelf. When no one was looking, she would open the glass door and just touch her first edition Alice in Wonderland. Maybe she felt a kinship to Alice because the rabbit hole was analogous to the portal she used when she traversed through time. Like Alice, she’d met fascinating characters, learned incredible lessons, and went places few would ever believe. She wondered about Lewis Carroll. The man, after all, also wrote the other first edition standing next to Alice, a book called Symbolic Logic, and though it wasn’t fiction, it showed the kind of genius a man like Carroll possessed. Surely he had slipped through time as well.
Stepping into the library, she grabbed a stack of books and ensconced herself in the window seat to start reading up on pirates. She’d had a couple of odd flashes of pirates the last couple of nights, and that almost always meant that someone was trying to contact her. Someone was trying to come through. Cracking open a book that groaned as she turned the first page, she grinned. Pirates from two centuries—Irish pirates, Vikings,
English pirates, Spanish buccaneers—there were more pirates than she had imagined, but that didn’t keep her from reading until she could barely keep her eyes open.
Just before nodding off, she glanced up at the clock and was surprised to see it was nearly ten o’clock. The dinner her mother had brought in for her lay cold and unappetizing on the desk. She had been too absorbed in the accounts of piracy and famous exploits of Bluebeard to stop and eat. Though her major in history had an emphasis in ancient civilizations, not one of her professors had given pirates so much as a passing glance. It was as if they had existed in some sort of vacuum which historians refused to acknowledge, perhaps due in part to the modern day British viewing their pirates much like Americans viewed their own shameful history of slavery.
Yawning and stretching, Jessie slid her Celtic bookmark into the book and rose unsteadily to her feet, her mind swirling with three-masted Spanish galleons, swashbuckling Errol Flynn types and booty galore. She was amazed at how rampant piracy was and even more surprised to discover that English piracy had been advocated by Queen Elizabeth I herself.
As she made her way to her room, she heard Daniel call her, so she stuck her head inside his room.“Hey, Sport, still awake?” Jessie sat on the edge of his bed and looked down at him. Gone were the X-Men and Spiderman posters of his childhood. Now, at age thirteen, Daniel had movie posters of old classics like Poltergeist, Ghostbusters, and, much to his family’s surprise, Ghost. He’d found them all on eBay and bought them with his own money. Rick and Reena thought he was just going through weird boy adolescence, but Jessie knew better. Daniel was certain of the spiritual energies and powers within the house, and was determined to make contact with them. The posters weren’t just posters…they represented his favorite movies. He belonged to three chat rooms about paranormal subjects, read everything he could get his hands on about psychic phenomena, and had even taken the bus on several occasions to “woo-woo” Eugene to listen to a renowned ghost hunter detail his experiences.
“I think I saw a man in the house this afternoon when you went out to lunch.”
Hearing the spirits was one thing, but seeing them worried her. “A man?A real man or one of your—”
“A real man. I was outside watering the Japanese garden
and I felt I don’t know_my hackles rise. So I turned around,
looked up at the window, and there he was, staring at me.” “Maybe he was a worker or something.”
Daniel shook his head. “Mom and Dad didn’t have anyone scheduled. I checked.”
Jessie felt her heart quicken. “Did he see you see him?” “Yep.When I looked up, he stepped away from the window. The curtain moved. I saw him, Jess. I swear I did.”
“I believe you, Sport. What did he look like?” “Brownish-colored hair—that was really all I could see from down here. I went upstairs but he was gone.”
“You say anything to Mom and Dad?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right.They already think I’m cuckoo. That’s all they need is to think I’m seeing things. I’d be sitting in a padded cell.”
“Anything else you can remember about him?”
Daniel shook his head. “Just that he was looking down at me. It was kind of creepy.”
“Which window was he looking out?”
“The library.”
“Really?The south window?”
“Yeah.”
Jessie nodded. “I’ll check around town and see if there are any strangers in town. Maybe someone was lost or wandered in the wrong door. You’re sure he wasn’t someone just checking out the Inn?”
“I’m positive, Jess. There was something_not right about him looking at me. I felt_spied on. I know that sounds paranoid, but—”
“No, it doesn’t. I’m glad you told me. For now, you get some sleep and don’t worry so much.” Rising, she tousled Daniel’s hair.
“Hey Jess? Thanks a lot for believing me. That means a lot, you know?”
She nodded. “Get some sleep,
Walking into her room, Jessie exhaled loudly. Since coming to New Haven, she’d met a woman whose soul was over two thousand years old, hung out with a “bad boy” who was an empath, and her brother heard and was now seeing ghosts.
Suddenly, time travel didn’t seem like such a strange concept after all.
***
21st Century
Jessie focused on her breathing before she held the ankh in her right hand. Closing her fist around it, she was surprised at how quickly it became hot; so hot, it felt as if it might burn her skin.
Falling deeper into the familiar embrace of the mists of the Otherworld, she found herself standing at the edge of a stone circle; the same circle where she’d met Cate and Maeve three years ago. The three squarish stones the size of hope chests made Jessie smile. She loved this circle and all it represented. Normally, when she arrived, Cate and Maeve were soon to follow.
Normally.
Odd how those fleeting moments with them had seemed so much longer. Like the ankh, those times were burned into her mind. Perhaps the greatest lesson she’d learned was that the quality of one’s relationships had less to do with time spent together than with the manner in which it was spent.
In the background of the stone circle a mist dropped from the sky like a gray curtain. She had wondered if it were the fabled Mists of Avalon or merely the dividing line between her world and the Otherworld, for surely the Otherworld was where they had bridged the gap of two thousand years.
Taking her seat on the stone, she sighed. She felt so much more knowledgeable about this world than the last time she was here. It wasn’t just college that had enlightened her. She’d read every book she could about Druidry, the ancient Celts, and the transmigration of souls. She’d scoured the Internet for chat rooms, usenet groups, and e-zines; anything she could get her hands on that would give her more information on where she’d been and where she might someday go. Nothing sated her curiosity about her Druid friends. There was only one thing she really wanted to know: Did they miss her as much as she missed them?
Watching the mist as she had done so many times in the last three years, she willed it to part. She had to see them this time. How could she help if she didn’t know what was being asked of her?
Suddenly, the fog swirled around as if blown by a great wind. As it parted, Cate McEwen walked through it, her green robe gently caressed by the mist.
Jessie was on her feet in an instant.Three years she had pictured this moment, yet she still wasn’t prepared for the flood of emotions washing over her.
“You came,” she sighed, her voice sounding unlike itself. Cate smiled and dropped the hood of her robe as she approached, revealing a shock of bright red hair cut short. “How could I not? You called and I answered. It only seems fair since you answered when I called.” Wrapping her arms around Jessie, Cate hugged her tightly.
Jessie clung to her and tried not to cry. It had seemed so long, and she cared so much. Reluctantly pulling away, she stepped back and smiled at Cate. “You look wonderful, and I see you’ve moved up in rank.”
Cate looked down at her robe. “Oh, yes. I finished my training earlier than anticipated. They gave me extra points for coming through the portal successfully. I see you’ve been studying your Druid lore. Are you remembering?”
“More and more each day.” Jessie stepped further back. “Let me take a look at you. Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
“And I, you. You look well, my friend. You must be happy.” Cate gestured for Jessie to resume her seat.
She sat back down, but remained holding one of Cate’s hands. “How’s Maeve?”
“Quite well. She sends her love.”
Inhaling deeply, Jessie said, “I have so many questions.” Patting the back of Jessie’s hand, Cate said softly, “I am sure
you do, but they are not the reason for this visit, are they?” Shaking her head, she replied, “I wish they were. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought of you and Maeve. Not a single day in three years.”
Cate wiped a tear from her eye. “As have I.” She looked at the necklace around Jessie’s neck. “I see you were able to dig up the ankh.”
Jessie touched it. “Yes, thank you so much for burying it for me. It meant so much knowing you all made it out. I so wanted you to be safe. I don’t know what I would have done if I had to live the rest of my life not knowing.”
“Thanks to you, we managed to save so many more than we ever imagined. I cannot thank you enough_for saving not only my people, but the woman I love. Every day with her is a gift.” “It was my privilege. You_you’ve changed my life.”
“Did Ceara help you figure out the ankh, or were you able to manage it on your own?”
Jessie blushed. “A little of both. I’ve been coming here_ trying out my craft_hoping to find you, talk to you and see how you were. I know I promised—”
“You promised you would not use the portal. This is not that. To come here takes skill in the arts, a knowing that only comes with practice. I am glad that you have been practicing, and sorry that I have not been here. My time has been spent under the tutelage of Maeve and Lachlan, and they do not want me to get overly fond of this Dreamworld or the Otherworld. The Sidhe can be_dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
Cate nodded. “They enjoy a good joke, as many faery folk do, but they also have a power that can entrap a person. They are not to be trifled with.”
“Then how come we never see any when we are here?” “The Sidhe have left you alone because of Maeve.”
“No kidding?”
Cate cocked her head. “No_I am not_ kidding. Maeve has powers beyond anything I have ever imagined. Something happened in Gaul once, I do not know what, specifically, but she did something that put the Sidhe in her debt. They respect her.
She asked them to leave you be while you trained yourself, while you remembered that which is in you. The Sidhe have done so not only out of respect for her, but because people like you, in your time, have the power to bring the faery realm closer to the Land of the Living. They would really like that.”
Jessie nodded. “That would be totally cool.”
“Now then.” Turning to the fire pit, Cate waved her hand and a huge fire rose. “Everything is magical in here, Jessie, but it is no place to linger.”
“Not even for you?”
Cate grinned. “Not even for me. I respect it. I can move through it and around it, but it is not a place for either of us.” She laid her hand over Jessie’s. “Tell me, my friend, what is it that brings you here this day?”
Jessie sighed. It felt so good being with her again. She realized how lonely she had been. Spending so much time in her head, she had been neglecting her heart. Three years had gone by and she was no closer to finding her Anam Cara, or soul mate. Three years_she made a note to work on that part of her life.
“I had a visit from one of us,” she told Cate.
Cate frowned. “A visit? From another?”
Jessie nodded. “He’s a pirate.”
“A pirate?”
“Yes. His name is Spencer. I think he lives in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and he’s looking for a box of some sort.”
“A box? And what does he need you for?”
Shrugging, Jessie rose and warmed her backside by the fire. “That’s just it. I don’t know. I went through the portal to find—” “You went to his time to find a_box?”
Jessie bowed her head. “I did. I’m sorry. I guess I was expecting to find a different you, another you, but I was wrong. I wasn’t prepared for just how different.”
“I see.” Cate frowned and muttered something under her breath. “So, we are this Spencer the pirate in the fifteenth or sixteenth century looking for a box. Why on earth would he need you to help him find it? More importantly, how did he find you? Is he a Druid of some sort? Is he knowledgeable in
the arts?”
Shaking her head, Jessie replied, “Far from it, I’m afraid. The man couldn’t be more different from you.”
Cate stared hard at her. “Once again, one of your past lives has come to you for help. You should not be so surprised, my friend. You have opened a door that any of us can come through now.” Cate’s eyes sparkled. “I cannot help you with this pirate and the box, because I know nothing about the time you speak of. Maeve and Lachlan have forbidden anyone from going through the portal again, though I have often thought about it.”
