“What’s your name?” the healer asked, tilting her head to the side as if trying to figure out what was wrong with Nancy.
“Nancy,” she replied.
The healer nodded. “What clan do you come from, Nancy?”
“I’m not from Scotland.” Nancy smiled, though she feared she probably looked maniacal.
“Hmm…” The healer crossed her arms over her chest and just stared at Nancy for what felt like an eternity, no doubt seeing every white lie etched on her face.
Clearing her throat again, Nancy gestured to the little girl, who thankfully hadn’t died today. “Is everything all right with the baby, then?”
“Oh, aye, aye!” Isla chimed in, with a hand to her heart. “Lady Gibson said there wasnae much more she had to do after what yedid to help wee Freya. Ye must remember what herb ye used; I daresay it could be useful.”
The healer, apparently a Lady, looked at Isla with such warmth in her almost golden-green eyes. Astonishingly beautiful eyes, honestly, and though Nancy couldn’t see much of the rest of the woman’s face, she could sense that the healer was wholly beautiful, inside and out. Being a healer in these times, she would need to be.
“Please, I told you to call me Adeline. Our alliance might be fresh, but I consider all of my allies to be friends,” the healer said.
Nancy felt the entire world around her screech to a halt.
There were coincidences, and then there was whatever the heck this was. Another weirdness to add to the collection. Another clue on a map she was struggling to navigate.
“Adeline?” she squeaked. “Your name is Adeline Gibson?”
The healer chuckled. “No, Gibson is my husband’s title. It took me a while to get my head around it, too.” She seemed to smilebehind her mask. “I’m Adeline Clark. Well, Adeline Anderson, technically, but when I’m practicing, I use my maiden name. I always tell my husband I was the one who did all the studying, the long hours, the hard work, and the exams to get to where I am, so when I’m being a doc—healer, I’m Adeline Clark.”
The others might not have noticed the little slip-up, but Nancy did. Then again, it didn’t matter much if Adeline had made a little mistake, considering she’d just given her name. The same name that Nancy had been searching for. The same name tied to the apartment in New Jersey.
Nancy grabbed the back of a nearby chair to steady herself. She was on the brink of losing it, her mind trying to decide whether to scream with joy or sit down and sink into the madness of all of this.
The missing woman was here. No wonder there’d been no trace of her in 2026, every lead turning cold. You couldn’t find someone who’d been gone for three hundred years.
Unless…
No, there was no way thatthiswas a pure coincidence. The woman with the surprisingly modern face mask and firm grasp of basic hospital hygiene wasn’t someone who happened to have Adeline’s name and vocation. Itwasher. There could be no denying it.
Of course, there was still the faintest chance that this was all a dream and Nancy’s dying brain was feeding her a solved mysteryin the strangest of ways, but that kiss in the dungeons was too real, too intense for hermind to be able to conjure.
She decided to sit down, pressing her palm to her forehead as her mind swam.
“Are you okay?” Adeline asked, pouring a cup of water from a pitcher. “Don’t worry, it’s filtered.”
Nancy reached out a shaky hand for the cup. “Adeline, do you have any siblings?”
She had to hear it. She knew it already, but she had to hear it for it to be the satisfying conclusion she’d hoped for.
But how am I ever going to write about this? And if she’s stuck here, when she vanished three years ago, then that must mean…
Her heart sank, a wave of dizziness assailing her.
“I have a sister,” Adeline answered in a voice brimming with concern.
“Jane,” Nancy whispered, nodding.
The healer recoiled as if she’d been struck, her golden-green eyes wide to the whites, her mouth clearly hanging open in shockbehind her mask. Around them, the other three in the room seemed curious, though Hunter’s gaze burned the brightest.
“I need some fresh air,” Nancy murmured, spilling some of the water as she rose to her feet. “I think I just need some fresh air.”
Adeline caught her by the arm to steady her. “I’ll take you to that private room over there. There’s a door that opens out into the gardens. I can examine you, make sure you weren’t affected by the bee, while you get some of that fresh air in your lungs.”
