“Damn it,” he swore. I glared. “Sorry,” he shrugged. “Just trying to find the fun in all this…” He sighed. “All this insanity.”
“Hey.” I stepped closer, reached up and took his face in my hands, looked him dead in the eye. “I know the past several months have been hard—really hard—for both of us. There’s no way I would’ve chosen for all this to happen. No way I would have planned to go through everything we’ve been through. But you know what? It led me to you. It brought us together. And I can’t help thinking that may have been the higher purpose all along.”
“A higher purpose from a Higher Being?” he smirked, removing my hands but only to press a kiss to both palms.
“Exactly,” I whispered, my mouth suddenly gone dry. “Don’t tell me you can’t see it.”
“Ah, Ellie.” Carter drew me into his chest, and I laid my head on his shoulder, content to let the moment linger a touch longer before we headed back into the unknown. “If anything gets us through this, it’ll probably be your stubborn faith.”
I smiled against the rough weave of his borrowed shirt. “I’m going to remind you of that one day when everything is finished and I’m trying to get you to come to church with me.”
“I’m not setting foot in a church ever again.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I wasn’t going to fight about it. Now. That was another argument for another time.
It took a lot of willpower, but I made myself push away from the man I finally realized I’d crazily grown to love.
“I don’t think we can delay any longer. We better figure out how to use that Stone.”
Chapter Nine
In the end, using the Stone really wasn’t that hard. The shifter/angel/whatever-it-was had implied it worked the same way as the original Stones. It wasn’t difficult to find a small rudimentary blade inside the cottage, which he liked the idea of using better than the mysterious sword. Not knowing what the previous owners might have used it for, Carter held it to the sputtering flame of the oil lamp for a moment to kill any germs before transforming back into his alter, the Talos. This time, he had Ellie use the blade to slice the newly healed skin. She did so delicately, carefully, with the precision and nerves of a surgeon.
Sean was right. She would make a good doctor. She had a heart full of compassion, coupled with an undergirding strength that kept her going when times were tough. Sean had told him about offering to pay for her medical training, should she choose that route. Silently, watching her steady hands, Carter told himself he’d support whatever decision she made along those lines, provided they survived this adventure. She certainly had the right to do what she wanted with the rest of her life, stuck with him or not.
Once the skin was sliced, a few drops of blood welled up. Ellie placed the shard next to the blood, twisting his ankle a little, allowing the blood to drip onto the rough surface. Then she handed the Stone back to him, grasping his other hand tightly in her palm. For a few seconds they waited. Nothing happened. Carter felt a lance of worry that it wasn’t enough. Would he have to open the vein, like he’d done previously? How was he supposed to survive? He’d made it this time because of magical intervention. That probably wasn’t available back in the grounds of the Chesterfield Country Club, or wherever they would return.
Luckily, after a few seconds, there was a slight whooshing, crackling sound. A ring appeared in the air in front of them—bright, undulating, oscillating.
“There it is,” Ellie whispered.
They watched as it quickly grew brighter, hotter, larger. It wasn’t anywhere near as big as the first portal through which they’d arrived at this strange place, but it was big enough a human adult could enter, and that’s all they needed. It hung in the air in front of them, the heat strengthening, until the size quit changing and solidified.
“I think it’s time,” Ellie said.
Carter nodded, although he felt a shade weak. The Talos wasn’t actually supposed to lose blood. His human side had lost plenty over the years, but not the Talos. He considered shifting back to his human counterpart, but feared the magic of his alter was necessary to get them both through the portal and safely to their time, their world.
Ellie reached for his other bronze hand. He thought she meant to hold onto it. Instead, she placed something in his fingers. He glanced down. The sword. When he touched it, it sprang to life, bursting into flames that would have scorched his human skin but didn’t bother the bronze. Almost with a will of its own it stretched toward the fiery portal, like the sword was guiding his arm rather than his arm guiding the sword. As soon as the tip touched the blueish-orange flames, it blazed into brighter life. Sparks of the same color raced up and down the blade, revealing words etched on the blade that had previously been hidden.
“What is that? What’s it doing?” Ellie breathed.
The Talos shook its head. He didn’t know. They’d have to find somebody among Sean’s many contacts to decipher the strange writing, which required getting home first.
Clutching the sword hilt tightly, the Talos reached for Ellie. His arm went around her waist as he pulled her against his bronze body, securing his grip. She wasn’t going anywhere during this journey back into the unknown. Nothing was going to take her from him. Not now. Not after all this. Not after the insanity they’d already survived.
He didn’t ask verbally if she was ready, but his expression must have. She looked up at him, trusting, and said, “I’m ready.”
There wasn’t anything
