Try what? Isa had no idea what it was she should be doing. Think on someplace she’d never even seen? How was she supposed to do that?
Only Robbie could see where they were to go, and he seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness now.
“Stay with me, love. I need you to concentrate on yer home for us.” Isa grabbed his shoulders, giving him a little shake.
When her hand covered the mark on his arm, a shaft of green light burst from between her fingers, shooting out into the room.
“Whoa,” Leah breathed, leaning forward. “Tell me you saw that, Grandma Mac.”
“I did,” Margery replied. “Though I’ve no idea what it was I saw.”
“It’s those tattoo things!” Leah cried. “Robert’s Guardian Mark. It’s on the back of Isa’s hand, too. When they touched, it sparked the magic.”
“But no enough.” Isa swept her hand over Robbie’s forehead once again, desperate to come up with an idea. Any idea.
“Love you,” Robbie groaned, “Need to say that before I lose...”
“Oh, Robbie.” Isa put her face close to his, kissing his cheek. “Dinna you die on me, do you hear? I dinna want to live without you.”
“Soulmates,” he whispered. “I’ll find you again.”
“No!” Isa sat up on the bed, grabbing his shoulders, sparking the shaft of light once more. “I dinna want you to find me. I want you to stay with me!”
As the light died down the door burst open and Jamie ran inside.
“I saw a strange light coming from yer door.”
“Not enough,” Leah murmured. “Not enough! Of course! It’s only two.”
She reached into the neckline of her shift and jerked, pulling a broken ribbon from around her neck. A shiny black stone dangled at the ribbon’s end she held out to Isa.
“Take this. Hold it in your hand against the mark on his arm. You’ve two marks. This will make three. It’s worth a try.”
Isa took the stone, sparing only a second to look at it. Carved into its polished surface was the same mark that Robbie wore on his arm. The same mark as on her hand.
“Wake up, Robbie. Stay with me. You must see where you want to be in yer mind.”
His eyes fluttered open. “Be with you,” he muttered.
“Aye, with me, love. But in the future. In yer home where yer safe. See it in yer mind for me. Please.”
She slapped the stone against his arm, holding on to it as tightly as she could. If this worked, it would be up to him where they might go, for her thoughts were centered on him.
An odd green glow began to pulse through the room, with strange little bursts of color sparking in and out.
“Isa!” Jamie yelled, as he nimbly slipped past Margery’s outstretched arm, straight up onto the bed beside Isa, his little arms locking around her waist.
With her free hand, she grasped onto Jamie’s wrist, filling her mind with a new vision. A vision of the three of them. Together.
The tingling along the back of Isa’s hand intensified and she fought the urge to slap at the invisible creatures she felt crawling on her skin as thunder rumbled nearby.
The green light grew more brilliant, shrinking into a wavering sphere that enclosed the bed, and the sparkles of color multiplied until it looked as though there were thousands upon thousands of them shooting around inside the sphere. They dashed soundlessly against the wavering emerald walls and through Isa’s body, picking up speed until she could no longer discern individual shapes but only streaks of color swirling around her head.
The myriad colors gyrated around them, faster and faster, and at last, as if hitting the peak of their frenzy, they merged, and the world around Isa turned to black as she felt herself being thrown through the air.
Chapter 31
As the black lifted, Isa found herself flat on her face, her grip holding tight to her two men. She opened her hands, trying to flex her cramping fingers before she pushed herself up to sit.
