Love Beyond Belief (Book 7 of Morna’s Legacy Series) (24 page)

Most likely, Jerry was injured. What if Grier hadn’t kept her word to him? What if no one was on the other side?
 

I couldn’t leave him there bleeding and alone. Callum would have to forgive me.
 

I took the steps down two at a time and vanished into dust.

CHAPTER 34

1650

“Jerry, are you okay? You are a stupid, stupid fool. I told you this was a terrible idea. Give me your hand so I can help you out of here and back to our own time. There’s no one around to stitch you up here.”

I couldn’t see him, and his lack of response worried me greatly. The stairwell was completely dark, and I hadn’t the slightest idea why. I supposed it probably had some sort of door, but the entire time I’d known about it, I’d never seen it closed.
 

I called out to him once more, only to have a hand latch on to my mouth to silence me.
 

“Can ye not tell that we closed the door for a reason? Jerry is bleeding, but there is not time for me to do anything for it now. Ye surely have drawn their attention to us. Laird Allen’s men are sieging the castle.”

She released her grip on me. While I knew it wiser for me to stay quiet, I couldn’t stand there and say nothing. Terror and confusion gripped at me, and it took every bit of strength I had not to panic.
 

“Jerry, get up. We have to go back through.”

The stranger’s arm—which I assumed belonged to Grier—shot out and yanked me backward toward the steps.
 

“There’s no time. They’re already here. I see them.”

That instant, the door to the stairwell swung open and light streamed in. I struggled to adjust to the quick onset of light as bellowing voices hollered down at us.
 

“Down here, sir. There are people hiding.”

The man stepped away, and I hurried to pull Jerry up so we could run back through. Grier blocked our way.

“Can ye not see? They’ve seen us all. If we go through the portal now, they will follow us through. Is that what ye want?”

In my panic, that thought hadn’t occurred to me. All I could think of was how desperately we needed to get away. I knew Callum would never recover if anything happened to either Jerry or me. The guilt and grief would eat him alive.
 

“Can you close it? Let us run through and then close it before Laird Allen’s men have a chance to go through. We can’t let them take us.”

She shook her head. The calm on her face did nothing to soothe me. She looked as if all of it were pointless.
 

“I canna close it from that side. They will take us, and we must allow them to do so lest we wish to end up murdered this day.”

For the second time in a matter of moments, everything around me seemed to slow, making every thought calm and clear.
 

“Can’t you use magic to stop them?”
 

“I’m powerful, but no. I canna take down two dozen men. Listen to me. When they take us, they canna know I’m a witch. It willna end well for me, and I’ll be no help to either of ye if they do.”

I knew she was right. If Laird Allen learned of Grier’s powers, he would either force her to use them for his will or kill her outright.
 

I thought of Jerry’s fall down the stairs. While I couldn’t see him, I knew his wounds must be significant for he said nothing as Grier and I spoke. Someone would have to carry him up the stairs. By doing so, they risked traveling forward as well. I knew by watching others, only the smallest part of you had to touch the back wall for it to pull you forward.
 

“Grier, can you close the portal from this side? We need to be certain they can’t get through.”

She didn’t answer right away. When she did, her voice was small and surprisingly unsure. “I doona know.”

“Do you have time to try?”

“I doona. They’re coming now. If I do so, they’ll see me.”

They might see her, but she must try. Otherwise, we risked the lives of so many others.
 

“I’ll run up and distract them. Try and close it.”

I ran up the stairs and busted through the door while screaming like a banshee. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the sudden sunlight. When they did, all I could see was six giant men hurdling toward me.
 

As they pulled at my arms and began to drag me away, I swung and kicked my legs in every possible direction. I would be bruised and bloodied and very possibly dead, but at least Grier now had a few more moments to close the portal, hopefully keeping everyone at the Cagair of the twenty-first century safe from harm.
   

CHAPTER 35

Present Day

“Sydney, I doona wish to disturb ye, but Orick and I are headed through, Adwen as well this time. I doona think we will be returning—not until we’ve answers, and all of this with Laird Allen has reached its end. I wanted to tell ye goodbye.”

It wasn’t like Sydney to rest so late in the afternoon, but everyone was more tired than usual today, and Callum knew there was good reason for it. Her room was dark. He walked quietly before flipping on the small lamp next to her bedside so he could wake her gently.
 

The covers were crinkled, the indentation of her body still present, but she was no longer on the bed. Callum glanced at the clock in the corner of the room. She would be deep in dinner preparations now. He stood and made his way to bid her farewell there.
 

When he reached the kitchen, the only one inside was Anne.

“Hey, are you guys about to head back?”

“Aye. Do ye know where Sydney is, Anne? I wish to tell her goodbye before we leave. It may be some weeks before we return. She was not in her bedchamber.”

Anne pursed her lips in a way that sent a shudder down his spine.
 

“I…I was just about to ask you about her. I wondered if maybe she was sick or something because she is usually already in the kitchen by now. I was about to attempt to start on something myself. You haven’t seen her?”

“No. Not in some time.”

Callum turned to the sound of descending footsteps behind him. “Cooper, what brings ye into the kitchen. Are ye hungry? I bet Anne could find ye something.”

“No, I’m not hungry. I came here looking for you, Callum. I’ve got a really funny feeling about something. Sydney comes and gets me every day to help Jerry workout, and this was supposed to be our very last one before he returned home, but she never came and got me. I waited an hour. Now I can’t find Jerry, either. I’ve looked everywhere for both of them, and I can’t find them anywhere.”

The fear he struggled to keep at bay every moment rose up inside him.
 

“Are ye certain, lad? Is there any place in the castle that ye have not looked?”
 

Cooper shook his head, his eyes wide and serious.
 

“No. I looked everywhere in the castle. The only place I haven’t been is outside, but Jerry never goes out there so I thought it would be a waste.”

Callum allowed himself a deep, calming breath at Cooper’s words. Surely if he hadn’t checked outside, then outside was where he would find them.
 

“Cooper, ye stay here and help Anne begin dinner. I’ll go and look for them outside. I’ll be certain to let them know ye are not pleased with them when I find them.”

“Yeah, you tell them that because I am not pleased at all.”

Callum hurried from the kitchen, eager to find them so his worry would subside. Rather than opening the main door to find Jerry and Sydney, Adwen stood in the doorway.

“Callum, I was just coming for ye. Ye best come. Something has happened.”

He could feel the blood drain from his face at Adwen’s words. How much more could happen? How much more could they possibly bear?
 

“What? Tell me now.”

Adwen turned and waved for him to follow.

“The portal. It…it doesna seem to be working.”

Callum traveled through only a matter of hours ago. He was only in the twenty-first century now to see Morna and the McMillan men off.
 

“Ye’re wrong. I used it not long ago. How could it stop working?”
 

“I doona know, but I swear to ye, it’s shut. I dinna feel comfortable with all of us being on this side, even if it was for such a brief time. I thought I would go ahead and watch for messengers until ye and Orick arrived. Callum, ’tis nothing at the bottom but a stone wall.”

His heart pounded in his chest as he hurried down the all-too-familiar steps. Adwen must be mistaken. If he wasn’t, something was very wrong.
 

He stopped at the bottom step and cautiously reached out his fingers. The wall ahead of him was solid for the first time.
 

Callum turned and ran up the stairs as quickly as he descended them. “Go and tell everyone to search for Sydney and Jerry. Now.”

Adwen turned from him, and Callum ran for the castle behind him, shouting to Orick, who was just exiting his cottage, to do the same.
 

The entire castle spent the better part of an hour searching for them. When every last corner was searched, Callum collapsed on the castle’s front steps, allowing his anger to take him as Adwen, Orick, and Anne watched on.

“Damn her. She told me she wouldna do it. She swore to me, and she did it anyway. I’ll not have her near me again. I’ll not share my heart with a liar and a fool. I doona understand what she’s done or why, but she and Jerry traveled through the portal, and now ’tis closed for the rest of us.”

He continued to lament, screaming and cursing, using his anger as a way to keep his worry from consuming him. He didn’t stop until Anne stepped in front of him and reached up to grab both sides of his face tightly between her hands.
 

“All right. I let you have a good five minutes of that, but it is time to grow the hell up. You’re right. You don’t know why she and Jerry went back, but Sydney is no idiot. If she did so, she had reason to, and you know it. I know you’re frightened, but this temper tantrum will do you no good. You don’t have time for it. Laird Allen could be headed for Cagair now. What if he finds them there?”

He started to speak but was rewarded with a quick smack from Anne’s palm.
 

“No. Be quiet and listen to me. You boys must get back as quickly as you can. You can’t do that here, so take my keys and drive as quickly as you can for McMillan Castle. As slow as Morna drives, you may be able to reach it before she leaves.”
 

Anne paused, stood, and reached for the keys in her pocket before placing them in his hand and giving him a good shove toward the car.
 

“I’m serious. Get out of here now. And if all three of you—in fact—if everyone else that is back there that we know and love doesn’t get out of this thing alive and well, I will never forgive any of you. Now get.”

Callum grunted as she kicked him in his bum for good measure. Without another word, the three men loaded in the car and raced away from Cagair Castle.
 

Anne was right. There was no time to waste.

CHAPTER 36

On The Road To Macaslan Castle

1650

“Oy, there ye are. I’m glad to see ye awake. I feared perhaps ye truly injured yerself. I’ve never seen anyone throw themselves about in such a manner.”

My eyes flickered open slowly, and I struggled to keep them from closing once more from the pain in my head. My hands were bound between my legs, and I rode in front of a man I didn’t know on a horse so large in size my thighs ached dreadfully from spreading them so wide.
 

“Injured myself? Is that how you see it? I was dragged and bound and knocked unconscious. I’m not sure how I could manage that myself.”
 

“Ach, I like that ye’ve still got bite after the fight ye put up. I doona care how ye remember it, lass. Neither I, nor any of my men, harmed ye in any way. We simply tried to stop yer screaming. Ye thrashed about such that ye managed to hit yer head on the blunt side of one of my men’s swords. Ye’ll have a mighty bruise from it, but otherwise ye seem to be fine.”

I twisted slightly, and I could see that the man I rode with led the group of men behind us. I couldn’t see Jerry or Grier anywhere, and I said a silent prayer for their safety as I turned to look up at him.
 

He had dark eyes and hair, a full beard, and a sharp slant to his nose that only added to his intimidating look.
 

“So, what…you didn’t injure me now just so you could do so later?” I laced my voice with as much venom and sarcasm as I could manage with my pounding head. It irritated me to no end that he found it amusing.
 

“Ye’ve a verra poor impression of me, lass. I must say that I canna see a reason for it. We arrived just in time to rescue ye from far worse hands.”

Rescue me?
I sat quietly for a moment, toying with the idea in my mind. Was it possible that I was wrong about who this man was?