Page 120 of Promises to Keep

“He will do his best, but any time travel draws attention to where we are.”

“But they know we’re here, right? This is a known base of his family.”

“Remember that protocol Hammond and I came up with called Melodious Cave? It’s in operation now that Magnus is out of power, it’s hiding records of you, creating a shadow, and creating extra noise to keep you hidden. It should work until…”

“Until when?”

Quentin shrugged. “I don’t know, it could stop working, we have no idea how long it will last. What Idoknow is we don’t want them to turn the vessels on remotely and find us. We need to hide the vessels well away from here. But other than that, we should be good. We still have the monitor, right?”

Chef Zach said, “Still the best theft ever.”

Ben’s eyes went wide and said, “Daddy did you steal something?”

“Oh, no, little guy, not at all, it was more like this evil dude stole something from Uncle Mags, and I had to go get it back… think of it like National Treasure, I was like Nick Cage.”

“Who’s Nick Cage?”

Zach said, “Grug from the Croods movie — fuck,” he looked at Emma, “what are we teaching these kids?”

She sighed. “Terrible language and nothing else right now, we’ve literally been on the run every day for the past couple of years.”

“They’ll be fine, I’m toning it down, one f-bomb a day won’t kill them, and Ben and Archie can read. I brought a stack of Harry Potter books with us, it’s going to be okay.” He rubbed his hands together. “This is all going to be good. I will go downstairs to the kitchen this week and become reacquainted with cooking in the eighteenth century, so we don’t starve. It’s going to be great.”

I frowned. “No coffee?”

“I forgot to pack it, so yeah, no coffee, not until Magnus fixes the future-future.”

“But definitely before the babies come, right?”

Quentin said, “Oh… yeah, definitely, of course…”

But he seemed uncertain.

CHAPTER 57 - KAITLYN

That night at dinner, Zach put down his plate and arranged his lanky body over the bench and sat down. “Guess who’s here? Auld Eamag! She moved back after Kilchurn caught on fire and has been here working for the Earl. Isn’t that great news? First thing she asked me for was coffee though, and yeah... I got no coffee, but I did bring a big Tupperware of rice crispy treats, but no coffee. What was I thinking? But honestly, I thought we would be able to come and go.”

I wanted to share his enthusiasm for Auld Eamag, but I had just finished the last bite of blood sausage and oats and was pretty sure that was the meal that would kill me when it was my time to go. It was horrid and impossible to feel upbeat about, even when a familiar face was cooking it.

I gulped and looked around and everyone seemed to gulp. Zach said, “But we can’t travel, we have to make the best of it, right? Right.”

We morosely nodded.

Quentin said, “James, want to ride with me tomorrow to hide the vessels?”

“You well enough?”

“I will be, and I promised Magnus I would do it as soon as I got here.”

James said, “Tomorrow it is.”

Sophie looked around at all our faces. “I ken ye are disappointed that ye hae tae live here with these deprivations, but we hae done it before — back at Kilchurn. We were verra happy for a time, perhaps if we hae goodness in our hearts and mind—”

Hayley said, “But Fraoch isn’t here, or Magnus, or… even Lochie.”

“I ken.” She smiled comfortingly at Hayley. “I ken tis nae the same, but what I am saying is this is my own time. I am returned tae the eighteenth century, tis familiar. I will do all I can tae make it comfortable for ye. We will hae fun, I promise. We are surrounded with friends and family, enough food, the finery of this castle, under the auspices of the Earl. We are verra fortunate. Ye made me feel welcome at yer home for a time, I will return it by sharing some of my favorite parts of living here. I will do everything tae make ye comfortable.”

She seemed very earnest and everyone else seemed kind of dejected, so I decided to whip up some excitement. I said, “So what you’re saying is you will be the tour guide and our games director?”

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