Page 88 of Killing Time

Something they’d probably need to reach out to the Wilcoxes for, since I didn’t think the McAllisters had any real computer hackers among them, and I knew my cousin Jeremy was an absolute genius at that sort of thing. I supposed I should haverealized Seth would need all that paperwork to start over. To be fair, though, most of the time we’d spent together in the past, we’d been focused on not getting killed and not really thinking about all the minutiae involved in getting him to be a legitimate member of modern society.

Seth’s brow had creased at Tricia’s comment regarding a Social Security card, since the institution hadn’t even existed in 1926. But he seemed to realize it would be better to put aside his questions for now, because he only nodded.

“We’re all very relieved you made it here safely,” Levi went on. “How were you able to manage that?”

The moment had come. Over dinner the night before, Seth and I had agreed that we needed to tell the truth about the amulet, just because bringing such a powerful artifact into this time and place seemed like the sort of detail that probably should be divulged to the people in charge. It didn’t seem as if the elders had thought our arrival merited the presence of Angela and Connor at this meeting, and I was okay with that. They’d meet Seth eventually, after all.

So I launched into an explanation of how we’d seen Lorenzo the Magnificent performing in 1884 Flagstaff, and how we’d realized he was using the amulet to enhance his powers.

“He wasn’t happy to surrender it,” I concluded, “but he also knew deep down that what he was doing was wrong. So he let us take it.”

“And its power was what got you back to the present day?” Allegra asked, and Seth and I exchanged a glance.

“Well, we had a couple of missteps along the way,” I replied. “And in the end, I think it was Ruby lending her power to us that helped just as much as the amulet did. A group effort, I suppose.”

All three elders looked startled at my mention of Ruby McAllister. “You met Great-Aunt Ruby?” Tricia said.

“Well, she was only twenty-one and nobody’s great-aunt at that point,” I said. “But yes, she helped us a lot.”

“May I see this amulet?” Levi asked.

I’d known one of the elders would probably make that request. Still, it felt a little strange to pull the artifact out of my purse and hand it over to him.

His eyes narrowed as he examined the various runes and sigils engraved in the bronze, the smooth, blood-red glow of the garnet embedded in it. “This is a thing of great power,” he said, and the other two elders sent him worried looks.

“You recognize it?” Tricia said.

“Not as such,” Levi responded. “But some of these runes…they are older than this world, older than time itself. Whoever created the amulet, they were tapping into a power that human minds can’t completely comprehend.”

To my surprise, he handed it back to me. Somehow, I’d gotten the notion in my head that he might try to hang onto it, or say it was something that shouldn’t be in the keeping of anyone except the elders or possibly the clan’sprima.

But it seemed that Levi believed if Seth and I had found the precious artifact in the first place, then we should be the ones to keep it.

“You should get a good safe for that thing,” he told me. “Something with a biometric lock, I think — and as many protection spells laid on it as possible.”

“I will,” I said, shoving it back into my purse. “As soon as I can.”

Maybe the wine tasting would have to wait.

The three elders had a few more questions after that, but I guessed they mostly had wanted to meet Seth and assure him he would always have a place in the community here — and let me know that they would take care of getting him settled so he would be able to integrate seamlessly into this new life.

I knew I needed to reach out to my own family as well and let them know a very important someone had become a part of my life. But since it wasn’t as though I’d been missing, and they had no reason to believe I’d been in danger, I thought I could put that contact off for just a little while longer while we handled some necessary logistics.

“We’ll need to go to Prescott,” I told Seth after we left Tricia’s house. “I don’t think there’s any place in the Verde Valley where we’d be able to get the kind of safe Levi was talking about.”

“It’s important, isn’t it?”

“Levi thinks so, and that’s all the persuasion I need,” I replied. “But I think we’ll still have time to hit a couple of wineries after we get back, even if we have to stick with the ones here in Jerome and Cottonwood rather than driving over to Page Springs.”

“I think I can live with that,” Seth said with a grin.

And that was what we did — went over the hill to Prescott and found a safe at the local big-box electronics store so we knew the amulet would be protected. Afterward, I introduced my time-traveling boyfriend to the delights of Trader Joe’s, with the two of us stocking up on so many goodies, we probably wouldn’t have to eat out for at least a couple of weeks.

Not that I planned on staying home the entire time. There was too much I wanted to share with Seth, too much I needed him to see.

Including the store. Rachel wasn’t there when Seth and I dropped by, but it seemed she’d left a present for us.

“Rachel found this,” Bellamy said as she pulled out a manila folder filled with what looked like old newspaper clippings andnotes. “I told her about you and Seth, and she said something about an old mystery being finally cleared up.”

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