He shrugged. “As for how we got here, I have no idea.” He took her elbow and led her further away from the sleeping Maria. He stopped at a cracked wooden bench and sat down. He could have stood a nap as well. When Ariana sat next to him and he felt confident that Maria was truly asleep, he continued. “But the way she found you…” he shivered. “Do you remember all those years ago when we first tried to go through time?”
“How could I forget?”
She had nearly died, the spell had made her so sick. It was also the first time he’d called on the others. Whether he meant to or not, they’d heard. And had apparently been listening ever since.
“I think she’s one of them,” he whispered. Ariana gasped so hard she hiccuped, but didn’t bother blushing or excusing herself. She also didn’t bother pretending she didn’t know what he was talking about. She only stared at him. “She said I called her. Like how I called them when I was so scared you might die trying to get back to our own time.”
You called… them… for help,” she said after a long silence. “When you botched the memory spell. She’s one of them. Or, there’s one of them in Maria.”
“I think so. That’s how she found you. She asked the others.”
Their noses were so close together during their whispered conversation that they didn’t notice Maria until they saw her feet standing right before them. Ariana jumped but quickly composed herself with her hand on her heart.
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep,” she said, pouting. Owen shook his head, recalling a time when he thought that pout was amongst the most charming things on earth.
“You were barely out for five minutes,” he shot back. “Human bodies need sleep.” He could tell Ariana was appalled at the way he spoke to her, but she hadn’t been traveling with her for as long as he had.
“I didn’t want to sleep, though.” She sounded like a whiny, overtired child.
“You’re awake now, aren’t you?” Owen said. “But I’m shot. I want to sit here for at least a few more minutes.”
Maria narrowed her eyes at them each in turn. “You’re welcome, by the way,” she said before flouncing off.
“Is that the real Maria?” asked Ariana. “She’s acting a little more like herself.”
“Bother that. The real Maria was never such a pain in the arse. And I mean it, I’m worn to the bone. If I try to stand, you’ll both be dragging me wherever we go from here. Let her explore for a while. She likes to do that.”
Ariana opened her mouth to argue, but sure enough, Maria made a beeline for a shed at the far end of the property, leaning over to inspect the ground here and there.
“I’m tired too,” Ariana admitted, leaning back against the bench. “This was why our parents lied to us from the beginning,” she said after a long silence. The tremor in her voice made him think she was on the verge of tears again.
“You getting this house?” he asked. “Meeting up with other witches?”
“No, they knew someone was going to try and kill me. My cousin Dexter told me about it.” She wearily told him how she’d managed to go a mind boggling distance into the future. Apparently her mum had run away before she and her father were married and had ended up in a future in which Ariana was already born, grown up, and then been murdered.
He shuddered to think of such a future. The horror that he might have been only a few minutes later and it could have come true made him grab her hand and hold on tight.
“That must be the bad thing she was afraid would happen to you.”
She squeezed his hand back and then wriggled free of his grip. “I never let myself think about that. I thought I was so clever and strong that it couldn’t possibly happen.” She gulped several times like she might be ill and stood up abruptly, pulling her hand from his.
He felt awash with sorrow and reached for her hand again. Whatever calm assurance that he’d done the right thing in killing those men slipped away as quickly as Ariana had stood. Was that why she was looking at him that way now? She was pale with a hint of green and still gasped in short, labored breaths.
She hurried away from him, shaking her head. “I- I need to be alone for a bit. Please, let me be.” He saw tears streaming down her cheeks again and her shoulders shook as she hurried away.
There it was. It had finally sunk in what he did and she couldn’t bear to be near him. As he watched her hide herself away around the corner of the house, he felt utterly bereft. Would she always look at him and see the monster that lurked deep inside? That bald man had seen it as soon as he’d laid eyes on him. He made a supreme effort not to claw at his skin as he tried to reassure himself that the men had been trying to kill Ariana. Apparently they’d succeeded in another time. That line of thought only made his head spin and he concentrated on what he knew to be true. The man was holding a gun on Ariana. If Maria hadn’t taken the wards off the place, not only Ariana but he and Maria would all have bullets in them by now. It was cold comfort but the only comfort he had right now. Two of the most important people in his life had fled from him.
He shook himself out of his self pity, clinging to the fact that Ariana was alive and that was more important than him feeling guilty for the rest of his days. Maria hadn’t fled from him, she was as bad
