Begin Where We Are Read online

  Hayley asked, “What did you…?”

  “Maybe it's not — maybe it’s…”

  Quentin asked, “Maybe it’s what?”

  “The thingy, maybe it’s…” I ran toward the right tower and scanned the clearing ahead of it. The distance was about right, though nothing looked familiar, manicured grass and pebbled paths. I ran towards the woods.

  Quentin followed.

  Hayley called, “Why are we running now? Aren’t we going to sit here and wait for the storm?”

  “Stop asking dumb questions and follow me!”

  The woods were manicured. The underbrush was cleared. The first rows of trees were more like garden trees than woods.

  I turned left, walked for a bit, and looked back at the castle. The tower that I needed to judge by was not there anymore, just the base of it, but I aimed my sights on the blank space above it. My guess was I was still too close. I backed up, my heart racing. I brisk-walked backwards even farther.

  The tower was still visible, but that wasn’t necessarily good — I scanned the area for the oak tree. There was one to my right, much larger than before. I looked up at the branches. There was nothing familiar about it. I turned away to locate the stone wall.

  I found it, almost hidden behind bushes, a stone wall crumbling in places.

  By now Quentin wanted to know what was happening.

  “It’s the wall.” I scrambled over it.

  “I see, you’re going over a wall.”

  Hayley said, “What’s up with the wall is what we’re asking?”

  “It’s where Magnus hid the time vessel for me last time. What if it’s here? What if I’m about to find it? What if it’s been messaging me to come to him? What if?”

  The inside corner was built up higher than the outside, dirt and leaves and lichen and — I popped my head up. “Got anything to dig with?” Quentin climbed over to join me in the corner.

  “TSA stole my shovel,” he joked looking for a rock with a sharp end. “Use this.”

  Hayley climbed over the wall and watched while sipping from her water. I scraped at the earth. The top layer was soft above hard layers that didn’t want to move. I passed the stone to Quentin and he scraped and dug for a few moments.

  I said, “My turn again,” and kept digging until I had gone pretty deep. Like inches deep. And then I dug more.

  Hayley asked, “You think something will really be there?” I mean, couldn’t we watch, see if the storm is centered here? Maybe it’s somewhere else?”

  I stood and rested and blew the hair from my face. I was sweating and really tired. And now mucked up and totally dirty.

  Quentin asked, “Want me to dig, Katie?”

  “I should do it so if nothing’s here I won’t feel guilty.”

  I went back to digging on my knees in the dirt, scraping with the stone, using all my strength and then — clunk. My stone hit metal. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.” I had my hand on Magnus’s time travel vessel. “It’s here, oh my god.” I gingerly pulled it up from the muck and mire of three hundred years.

  Hayley asked, “What does this mean?”

  “I don’t know." I leaned on the wall with the vessel cradled in my hands. “I don’t know. What does this mean? Magnus left it here for me. Or, he left it here. Definitely. Probably for me.”

  “What are you going to do with it now that you’ve found it?”

  “I have no idea.”

  I stared down at it.

  Quentin said, “Would you go to the past? To 1702? I mean, probably — right?”

  I looked at him working it through my mind. “Yeah, 1702, I mean that’s all I’ve got. The only numbers I know. Let me make sure it works.” I twisted the ends and the vessel purred to life. The markings glowed around the middle.

  Quentin said, “I should go with you — Magnus wouldn’t want you to go alone. I’m not supposed to leave your side and…”

  “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “I don’t want to explain to Magnus after I let you go through time by yourself. So I might as well quit now.”

  I huffed. “Okay, fine. But as soon as I find him we’ll send you right back.”

  “What about me?” asked Hayley. “I’m just supposed to get myself home from Scotland? Freaking Scotland? We’re in some kind of primordial forest and the only way home is driving a car on the wrong side of the street?”

  I said, “Here’s what you’re going to do. You’ll drive the car to Edinburgh. Call Emma. She’ll buy you a ticket home. Stay in a really nice hotel. Go to a pub. Be the cool girl out on the town in a foreign country. Turn the car back in. Get our stuff. Fly home with it.”

  Quentin climbed over the wall and jogged across to our packs and rifled through them moving the car keys and the paperwork into Hayley’s bag.

  Hayley nodded, “Okay, I can do that but you seriously owe me. You owe me a trip to Europe with you. When Magnus is home we’ll leave him in charge of the house and you’ll go on a trip with me because you owe me big.”

  I smiled, “Definitely, I owe you — “

  A loud thunderous boom filled the air, and lightning struck the oak tree right beside Quentin. The tree caught fire and flames spread from branch to branch. Quentin said, “Holy shit!” and rushed toward me but he was too late.

  The wind whipped around me and like a cannonball a force hit me in the stomach, pulled the air from my lungs, tore me to pieces, and then it got really really really bad.

  Magnus

  Bella was petulant for the rest of the day. She sulked around the room and stayed verra long in the bathroom. Twas nae easy tae live with her.

  At dinner we ate in silence until I began tae speak of the plan. I knew the guards had guns and I was nae happy with the prospect of being shot. “You are sure the guard will be able tae keep me from harm?”

  She scowled. “If you do your part, shoot Donnan, the guards won’t hurt you. You’ll be the next king. Why would they risk your revenge? So what are you going to do?”

  “Shoot him.”

  “Exactly.” She watched me for a moment then languidly sighed. “This would be much better if we were planning our ascension together. Can’t we?”

  I shook my head.

  She stood and walked around the table trailin’ a finger along the table top and then up my neck tae my chin. She clasped my chin in her hands and forced me tae look up in her face. “Think about this, My Magnus.” She leaned down and kissed me, pressing against my mouth and bitin’ my lips. I tried tae turn my head but she pulled and bit and then she whispered, her breath enterin’ my wounded lungs, “I could take care of you. I would like that.” She straddled my lap and sat down.

  I groaned.

  “And we would be together, me and you.” She forced my chin up and kissed along the edge of my neck.

  “We have spoken of this, you and I, ye ken the reason—”

  She pressed her lips tae my mouth stoppin’ my words. “We haven’t truly spoken of this yet, My Magnus.” She pulled my chin so she was looking intae my eyes. “We haven’t spoken of the plan you have to kill Donnan, how you are planning to take his throne. We haven’t spoken of it yet, about how I know this is what you are planning. That I know all about your plan and Donnan still doesn’t know.”

  “What are ye sayin’?” Rage filled my chest.

  “I am saying that I know your plans. I know everything about you. I know that you have a gun. We have secrets that we keep together. And being together is—”

  “Are ye sayin’ you will tell Donnan about your plans, Bella?” She raised up a bit, kissing me, tugging my shirt up over my head. I grimaced from the pain of it. My ribs were hurtin’ terribly. “Is that what you’re sayin’?”

  She ran her hands down my chest and kissed along my collarbone. “I wouldn’t want to Magnus, I would never want to do anything to hurt you. You’re My Magnus, my warrior.” She raised her hips and pulled my kilt up tae my waist. “And you want me.” Her hand wrap
ped around my cock and pulled it firm tae her front.

  “I promised I would protect ye, you daena have tae resort tae threats.”

  “Yes, My Magnus, but I want more than protection. I want you.” Her breath was comin’ heavy in my ear. “You want me. They aren’t threats, they are simply reminders that you have a secret. And that I will keep it if I’m happy, but I could go to Donnan if I wanted to.”

  “Ye would go tae Donnan and tell him?”

  “Only if you refuse me.”

  She kissed along my throat and her hips raised and lowered causing a much missed friction. My breaths were comin’ fast. She whispered against my skin, “You want me. You want to survive. You will be king. And Kaitlyn has been dead for centuries.”

  I closed my eyes. “Stop speakin’ of Kaitlyn.”

  “True,” she put her weight on one leg, dragged her panties down with one hand, stepped out of them, and stepped across my lap again. She sat back down with a soft breath against my ear. “I said that to you just yesterday. And we shouldn’t talk of her because she doesn’t matter. Not to you. Because you and I have secrets. We keep them.”

  “If you tell Donnan her life would be in danger, you know that, how could you?”

  She pulled her shirt, little more than a strip of cloth, off over her head. “I don’t want her to be in danger. I’ll help you keep her safe. It will be easier if I’m happy. That’s all I’m saying.” She raised and lowered again. “I learned about her, you know. I saw photos. She had a child, a long happy life without you, she died old and—”

  “Stop speaking of her!” Enraged, grabbing her around the arse, I stood, my fingers digging intae the flesh of her. I lifted her tae the bed and threw her on the mattress.

  She squealed happily, makin’ me even more furious. “I told you you wanted me.”

  “I daena want ye.”

  “Oh yes you do, you want me because you want to live, you want to be king, and you want to survive.”

  “Stop sayin’ it.”

  “I won’t, without me you’re a dead man. Without me, Kaitlyn doesn’t live to meet her child. She bedded someone else, why are you—”

  I pushed my kilt tae the ground, lunged onto her, shoved her legs apart and pushed intae her and used her against all my fury. She held on and wrapped her legs around m’back and bit intae my shoulder.

  When I finished, I shoved away and sat at the edge of the bed. She rubbed a foot along my thigh. I pushed it aside. “Daena touch me.”

  I tried tae catch my breath, twas too fast from exertion and anger. I doubled over and tried tae calm m’self down.

  She stretched long on my bed watching me try tae overcome the pain of breaths comin’ and goin’ within a chest that had been much abused.

  “Are you okay, My Magnus?”

  I swallowed a deep breath and held it long then exhaled slowly. I pulled my kilt off the floor, stepped intae the center of it, and managed tae get it on with a lot of effort.

  There was nae puttin’ on the shirt my middle was in too much pain. “You winna ever threaten me again.”

  “I won’t, My Magnus.”

  “And ye winna go tae Donnan anymore. Not anymore. I winna stand for it.”

  The edge of her lips curled up a bit. “I won’t need to, I’m truly yours now.”

  Kaitlyn

  When I pulled my conscious self up from the place of pain where I had been writhing and screaming forever it seemed, I felt trapped. The pain was red hot and I was sweaty, stifled, and weighed down.

  My eyes were clamped shut, but it wasn’t dark in my head. It felt burning bright around me, like if I opened my eyes they would burn to ash. There was flesh on my skin. I was skin to skin, a movement — my breath caught, what the fuck was — I forced my eyes open, skin, freckled, spotted, a shoulder against my chin, butting against my chin and he—? Oh my god, a man was on me, fingers on my neck, a hot stinking breath against my temple, holy fuck he was inside me. I struggled and wiggled against the body. The light so bright I couldn’t see past the few inches of strange skin in front of my face. “Let me go, let me — get off me.” My voice was small and pleading against the incredibly loud strange-man’s breath ringing in my ears and his grunts as he pushed against me.

  It was really hard to get my arms to move. In pain and weak, I flailed trying to beat his back. I bucked against him trying to get him off my body. “Get off me, get off me!” but he wasn’t stopping. I begged and cried until the man finished using me. He pulled away with a satisfied pat on my hip.

  My eyes still closed, I scrambled to the headboard of the bed, wrapped my arms around my face and cried again for longer.

  * * *

  Tears streamed from my eyes, the trauma, the bright lights, but I squinted trying to understand where I was, what I was dealing with. The light all around me was white and so bright it made the details indiscernible. In the hazy middle at the end of the bed a man was dressing,

  I said, “Give me my fucking clothes.”

  He was big, broad shouldered, his hair light. I guessed he was in his late forties. Except for his lightness there was a familiarity to Magnus that made my stomach drop.

  His smile, spread across his face, was ice cold. “Your clothes are filthy. And now that you’re a guest here you won’t need them. I prefer you naked.” He chuckled.

  Pain tears swam down my cheeks. I clamped my eyes shut and tucked into my knee caps. “Who are you?” My voice echoed in my ears. I pressed my hands over them, sniveling into the space between my knees.

  “I’m Donnan. Your king. Stay on the bed you’ll be needed later.” He made to leave.

  Squinting I made out the door, his hand on the door handle. “Why am I here, why are you keeping me?”

  “You stole something of mine. The penalty is death, but you seemed too obliging to kill.”

  Magnus

  Kaitlyn was at the end of Barb and Jack’s dock. “One, two, three!” She held her nose and jumped with a squeal of laughter. As the water splashed and covered her over, my heart sank. “Kaitlyn!” I thundered down the boards tae the end. She was under the water, swimmin’ up, but nae swimmin’ up, strugglin’, as if something held her fast under the water.

  I dropped tae my knees and reached down splashin’, trying tae grasp her flailing arms. “Grab my arm! Grab it, I’ll pull you up!” She continued strugglin’ just below my reach. “Grab it Kaitlyn, grab my arm.” She slowly stopped struggling and sank away—

  “Kaitlyn!”

  * * *

  I woke with a start sitting up in bed. The act of it distressed my injured ribs knockin’ my air out again. “Och nae.”

  Bella’s voice in the darkness, “My Magnus, are you okay?”

  It took a moment for my voice to travel from inside the pain of my body to outside in the air. “Nae.”

  She dramatically sighed.

  “I am nae good enough tae overthrow the crown. I need more time.”

  “You can’t have more time. It’s now. You’ll have to find the strength. Donnan looks weak compared to you. People like you. You’ve won battles and it’s time. The Autumnal Equinox Gala is the place to do it.”

  I scowled.

  She rose up on her knees and rubbed my forehead, pushing away the wrinkles there. “I know you’re worried. But everything is in place. You just have to kill him and get back here. We’ll take care of the rest of it.”

  “And by we, you mean?”

  “The resistance. All of us, we will—”

  “And when I return here, how long before I am free tae take the throne?”

  “I don’t know how long, Magnus. I would think a few days? It depends on who is here to contest your ascension.”

  * * *

  A pile of clothes was delivered tae me while I was in the infirmary. I had been feelin’ verra hot and the pain on breathin’ was terrible. I spent a time with an air mask feedin’ my lungs until I felt a little better. The doctor told me nae tae go tae the Gala, but I had tae go. Twas my
duty as the prince.

  The other stuff I was plannin’ that was the extra I wasna sure I could do.

  I stared down at the clothes. They were in the fabric of the time, soft and flimsy, stretching, and form fitting but in the style of my own. A kilt, just in something resemblin’ silk. Bella walked intae the room as I was investigatin’ it.

  “Tis nae enough fabric tae cover m’pikestaff.”

  “That’s why you wear the undergarments, for layers.” She admired me and ran a hand down my back.

  “Undergarments with a kilt? Twould be an embarrassment. What would I do at the Gala when I want tae relieve myself?”

  “You plan to relieve yourself at Donnan the Second’s Autumnal Equinox Gala Dinner? Do we need to go over your manners again?”

  “Och, nae more lessons. I will behave like a — “

  Are you a barbarian Magnus, is that what you are?

  “—I’ll behave.”

  “Good. Just until your murderous rampage and then you can do whatever you want. And after, you can have me all you want.”

  I stepped intae the kilt and pulled it up. And then, because the fabric was so flimsy, I pulled on the undergarments. Twas a tiny pair of wee tight shorts. I was reminded of that night, long ago, plannin’ with Kaitlyn to travel to the past together. Gatherin’ with our friends tae organize our supplies and laughing about the shorts, teasin’ Michael about his new hobby.

  How long had it been?

  Time had gone so much faster in Kaitlyn’s present. The days slipped by as I was experiencing hours in my own time, but this was nae my time nor Kaitlyn’s. I had a vague sense of dread that many many years had passed. That the truth of Kaitlyn’s life, the baby with another man, the aging of her, had happened already.