Page 63

With a jerk, she sat up and opened her eyes, squinting from the brightness. The sun was brilliant in the blue sky and reflected against the ocean, almost blinding her.

Palm trees. Rough, low rocks of the California shoreline. Some people surfed the waves while others chilled on the beach.

Pain rolled over her, crushing her heart, stealing her breath, her fingers clutching and gathering sand in her fists.

She had left Andor.

Fridstein had taken her to the mound. She had drawn the runes on the rock and then put her hands on it.

And it had worked.

Now she was here. And Andor was hundreds of years in the past. He didn’t even exist in this world. She felt so heavy she couldn’t move a digit.

Tears welled in her eyes as she looked around and struggled to stand, her head spinning, the ground sinking under her shoes. She straightened slowly, put her chin on her chest, closed her eyes, and took several long, deep breaths.

When her head stopped spinning, she looked down at herself. She was still dressed like a Viking, the sword on her hip.

What now?

She was here. She had come for Brad, so she had to go to him and make sure he was still alive and that no one was trying to switch off his machines.

If Andor was right, and she loved Brad and not him, why did her chest hurt as though a bomb had exploded and shredded it to pieces?

She walked up the beach towards the path leading to the road. She should maybe find a horse or just walk—

Wait. What horse? Walking would be crazy. She was back in the modern world and she owned a car for god’s sake. At least she had before she’d traveled in time. How much time had passed? Was her car even there? Stolen or towed? Were people looking for her or did they think she’d drowned?

Her car would be useless even if it was still here, because she didn’t have her keys or her phone.

She looked around and saw surfers walking up the path. Maybe they would give her a lift, but she needed to do something about the sword first, and her clothes… She was so used to the sword by now she’d feel naked without it, but she couldn’t go around LA with it. She hid it behind some big rocks near the path. It was hard enough to get a lift here under normal circumstances, but the way she was dressed was going to make it impossible. Unless—

If she took off her pants. Andor’s tunic reached her mid-thigh, at least as long as the dresses a lot of women wore these days. And his boots were tall and looked really badass.

Cathy wondered where her old self had gone, the one who would never assume the local surfers would help her and who would get totally self-conscious about showing her legs or her curves. Now she was in warrior mode; she had a target and there were no obstacles that would stop her.

Besides, she didn’t feel self-conscious about her body anymore. Instead, she took it as it was: tall and strong.

And beautiful.

Hmm. That was new.

Cathy took off the pants, tucking them in around the sword, and walked up the hill to the parking lot. When she got there, surprisingly, the car was still parked where she’d left it, and she patted it as she passed by.

In the parking lot, the surfers were loading their boards on their cars, and Cathy hurried towards them. She scanned the group and spotted Jason—no Miranda.

“Hey, Jason!” Cathy cried as she hurried towards the group.

Jason turned around and his eyes widened. “Cathy? What are you doing here?”

“I like your vintage dress,” said a girl Cathy had seen before on the beach. If Cathy was right, the girl sounded sincere, maybe even a little envious.

“Thanks,” Cathy mumbled. That must have been the first compliment she’d ever gotten from the group. “Jason, I need your help. Please.”

He glanced at the two friends who were getting a ride with him, but they said nothing and just frowned at her. “What is it?” he asked.

“I lost my car keys and my phone, and I need to get to Brad’s hospital right now. Please, can you take me there? For him?”

Jason glanced back at his friends. “Sorry, guys, I’m taking her. If you want to go home with someone else, I’m sure Ollie and Lance can take you.”