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“Indeed, miss. It is a lovely morning. I…er…met Mr. Ascot on his way out and he informed me he stayed last evening down the hall from ye and would be staying here for a time.”
“Yes. I hope it won’t mean more work for you? He thought we would do well to work long evenings for a time and that it would be convenient for him.”
“No, no, and I am that pleased…very pleased that ye won’t be alone in the evenings,” she said, and actually smiled warmly at me. She eyed me and asked, “Would ye like coffee and some eggs? I’ve made Davis a plate and there is plenty.”
“Oh, what a doll you are. Yes, yes, I would. Shall I come to the kitchen?” I said.
“Tch now, lass, I can see Mr. Ascot set ye to working already so I’m happy to bring ye a tray,” she answered and hurried off.
I spent the rest of the morning, after devouring eggs, toast, and wonderful potatoes, studying Jeremy’s manuscript. He was quite right. That one page he had pointed out was jam-packed with very important spells. One spell in particular caught my interest. I have a good memory. I immediately memorized it, worked it over in my head, and then put the spell to the test—sorta.
It was a protection spell and in this case, for myself. A personal shield of sorts, a bit different than the one my mother had taught me.
I grinned as I made my way to the kitchen to try it out on Mrs. Tunny.
It was nearly lunchtime, and as I came up beside Mrs. Tunny I got a whiff of the banana bread in the oven and said, “Oh, yum…smells so good.”
She eyed me. “Ye could do with a little meat on yer bones, child. Here sit…” she said, and reached over to steer me to the table.
I didn’t remove the shield and her hand seemed to stop short of my arm. Surprised but only mildly curious about this, she waved me forward and said, “Sit, go on with ye now, and I’ll put a nice chicken sandwich before ye.”
I couldn’t help but smile to myself. It had worked!
Now all I had to do to remove my protection shield was to blink and silently chant—San fhaclair air fad. Apparently it was from an ancient Gaelic language that Jeremy had discovered, loosely meaning terminate.
Unlike myself, he and his sister knew where they had come from and why. Reading through the beginning of the journal, I discovered that there had been a war in Jeremy’s world, a world called Osmis—Land of the Wizards.
During the war, Dark fought Light for control. He and his sister had not reached their majority yet, but were old enough to survive on their own. His parents sent them to the Human Realm for their protection when things looked dire. Jeremy wrote in the journal
that his parents were never heard from again and when he came into his full powers, he discovered his realm had been destroyed.
He and his sister managed and then she met and fell in love with Devin MacLeod.
I felt a twinge of something I couldn’t name reading this, but brushed the odd sensation away. All things Devin MacLeod were troublesome and confusing to me.
I looked at Mrs. Tunny, who was covered in flour, and I laughed out loud. “You have as much on you as on the cutting board,” I told her.
She laughed. “I do, don’t I. ‘Tis m’own fault. I dinnae have the flour tin tightly closed and some of it spilled when I took it down from the cupboard. I’ll go wash up when I’m done.”
“Mrs. Tunny, I need to purchase a few things, some toiletries and such that I didn’t have time to shop for before I left New York. How do I get into town? Is there a bus or something?”
“Och aye, child, one way or another we can get ye there, but can ye drive?”
“Sure,” I said, excited at the notion of venturing out on my own.
“Well, we have a serviceable SUV in the garage. It is meant for our use…but mostly Davis uses it. Jeff, down at the stables, has a pickup for his needs. The key for the SUV is in the central hall on the key rack near the door. Feel free. Are ye going now?”
“No, I have a few more things to do,” I told her.
She gave me a long look. “Well, don’t go too late. Ye need to get back before dark.”
“I will,” I told her, to hopefully get off the subject. “Can you be honest with me and tell me why you think I need to be worried about the dark?” I had a notion that Mrs. Tunny knew a great deal more than she was letting on.
“Do ye believe in things beyond yer ken?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said, and looked directly into her eyes. “Yes, I do.”
“Right then, did Mr. Ascot tell ye about the night his lordship left here…?”
