Page 14 of Love Beyond Words
“Aye, ye are. ’Tis the only way ye will ever truly believe any of this.”
“You’re right about that, but it still doesn’t mean that I want to go.”
Morna wasn’t interested in arguing with him at all.
“Tough. Ye are going, and that is the end of it. Yer destiny is more tied to the isle than Laurel’s.”
Before Marcus could ask what she meant, Jerry, who’d walked on ahead of us, hollered after his wife from inside the kitchen.
All I could think of as I followed after them was the portrait inside the book. At the time, I’d simply thought the man resembled Marcus. Was it possible that it actually had been him?
Was Marcus destined to be one of the legendary eight?
Chapter 8
“Don’t tell me that you’re becoming a time traveler already?”
It was midnight back home, but Kate sounded completely awake when she answered her phone.
“Actually…I think I just might be.”
“What?” Her voice was a high-pitched screech that caused me to hold the phone away from my ear. “Are you serious? I truly had been sort of joking.”
“I know you were. I mean, let’s be realistic, every logical part of me tells me that come noon tomorrow that when this supposed witch casts her spell, Marcus and I will look around to find ourselves totally unmoved. I know that. And that’s totally okay with me. I just made you a promise that I would call should the need arise, and according to Morna, it has.”
“How will I know if it is real?”
“Well, I’m quite sure that this woman is harmless, so you needn’t be worried about her harming us. If her spell does nothing, I’ll call you the moment Marcus and I leave here. If you don’t hear from me tomorrow, then I guess you can assume that it worked.”
Kate sighed, and the sadness in her breath made me hurt all over.
“What’s wrong? Do you need me? If you do, I’ll head back home right now, Kate.”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I’m a little jealous, is all. An adventure like that sounds amazing. Also, you should know. Mom called me this afternoon, and I made the very stupid mistake of telling her where you’d gone. She’s booked on the next flight out here tomorrow.”
That went a very long way to explaining the sigh.
“Oh, Kate. I’m sorry. Whatever you do, don’t let her do everything for you. The last thing you need is to have her coddling delay your progress.”
“I know. I won’t.”
I immediately felt guilty for ordering her around. She wasn’t a child. She knew better than I what was best.
“I’m sorry. I just worry about you.”
“I know you do. How long will you be gone? You’ll be able to come back right?”
“Of course, I will. I could never leave you and Mr. Crinkles. I’ve become quite attached to that damn cat. Morna says whenever I’m ready to leave all I need to do is place a letter to her in the fireplace, and she will return us to her inn. Sounds simple enough.”
“Sounds a little too simple.”
Kate’s tone was suspicious. I understood why. I’d had the same foreboding feeling when Morna had explained everything to me.
“It does, doesn’t it? But, I can hardly argue with her.”
“Where are you going?”
When I told her where, she repeated the shriek she’d let out earlier.
