Page 66 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty

“I understand.” Giving in, I started to listen to more of the commands she kept throwing around.

“I have no knowledge of the future, only the fear that I failed my family’s destiny,” she began, sounding like she was in agony. If only I could do something to help her. But listening was the only thing she wanted me to do.

Dottie brushed her long red hair over her shoulder, giving me a clearer look at the book she held like her greatest possession.

It was her diary.

A brown leather-bound book that was held together by an elastic band to keep the pictures and notes that stuck out in place.

“Show me a place where I can hide it. A place where it’s safe from all nature and evil that could destroy my words, and I make you the keeper and protector of it until my great-niece is ready.” Dottie spoke so quickly it was difficult to understand each word she said as thunder continued to brighten the room through the windows.

Summer nights were terribly scary when the night cooled the warm air to a decent temperature.

I jumped to my feet and ran over to the second row of benches, kneeling and searching for the loose wood. My friend followed me and saw what I was doing. She knew I couldn’t touch and lift the wood to reveal the empty place beneath it, so she did it instead.

Underneath the loose floor was a metal breakfast box I once used to hide the treasures I had found in the woods, like pretty stones or flowers. As a child, I had imagined a story for each treasure and played as if fairies wanted me to find them.

Suddenly, it hit me why my friend was asking me to be her treasure keeper. She knew that I protected what was mine and had hideaways everywhere on school grounds.

Dottie lifted the box lid to reveal where my handmade tiara, made from the materials these woods had gifted me, lay.

She placed her diary underneath my tiara and her ivory necklace on top. I gaped at her. “But that’s the necklace James gifted to you.”

She looked at the beautiful necklace where a rose quartz was hugged tightly by ivory, which danced around the crystal like ivy, with tears in her eyes.

“I know,” she said, full of sorrow as a tear spilled over. But instead of breaking, she closed the box and let the piece of wood fall back into place, making the floor look as though nothing was hidden underneath.

“You’ve been the best and kindest friend I could have ever wished for, Gwyneth. May we someday meet again and have the time that was long stolen from us.” Dottie got up without looking at me and walked down the aisle towards the doors.

I imagined my dead heart racing in my chest as I ran after her.

She wasn’t saying goodbye to me. I wouldn’t let myself lose the last person who meant something to me.

“Dottie, stop!” I called, clinging to her arm tightly, as the next words she said ripped me apart.

“I won’t allow you to touch me. Leave me alone, Gwyneth Wright.” The command in her voice sliced through me, and my hand went straight through her arm.

I cried out in agony as she left me without looking back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

DOROTHEE

The memory beganto let me loose, and I blinked, my eyelids heavy.

Two pairs of dark eyes peered down at me in concern. The dim light streaming through the tinted glass windows made me blink a few times to clear the fog in my head.

“How long have I been knocked out?” I asked, sitting up with the help of my friends, who had me cradled safely between them. I would thank them later for that, when I wasn’t feeling like I had the biggest hangover of my life.Bloody hell.

I had undoubtedly spent an excessive amount of time with Jesse, as his language usage was adjusting to my own. He surly secretly loved that.

“Almost forty minutes. We started to get worried, and I called Nathaniel, but that was only a few minutes ago.” Maisie gave me an apologetic look, but I wasn’t angry. Fairly, I would have done the same.

“Did I try to get myself killed while I was out?” I asked, pushing to my feet as I brushed the dirt off my clothes. Before heading to class today, I needed a shower because I felt disgusting.

“No, you were as limp as the dead,” Naomi answered with a yawn herself.

“It was almost scary. Not even in sleep are you that silent,” Maisie added, and I snorted. “Good to know.”

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