Page 169 of The Dawn

Jack chewed three times and swallowed. “Twas verra good!”

Isla frowned. “Ye are supposed tae chew the whole time and not swallow, Jacky!” She tore her piece in half and gave him the other. Zoe tore her piece in half too and gave it tae Jack. We were always lookin’ out for him, as he was verra young when he lost our ma and da. And we remembered them and he dinna, so we tried tae make it up tae him.

Blakely said, “I wish I had more.”

Liam said, “Aye.”

I said, “We need tae jump, as soon as ye are able, I hae tae get ye back. What was the date when ye left, Liam? I need tae ken, as far as I can tell this is the only vessel in the world that is still workin’.”

Blakely said, “I don’t understand any of what is going on at all.”

Uncle Fraoch asked me, “Ye ken how tae set it?”

“Aye, ye hae instructed me, for many long years ye instructed me.”

Ben said, “We all ken how tae do it.”

Uncle Fraoch said, “In m’defense it has been verra borin’, daena forget or ye will get stuck somewhere.”

Uncle Zach said, “Check twice, jump once. That’s the rule. There are a shit ton of people you have to rescue and get back here to rescue us before Emma had her accident in June of 1300.”

I said, “Before that, definitely, I will do everythin’ in my power tae get back before that.”

Uncle Fraoch said, “As long as we are listing our dates, ye could come before we ran out of batteries.”

I nodded.

Jack said, “Daena forget tae come home, Archie.”

I said, “Of course I winna forget, Jack, I promise, I am goin’ tae solve this.”

Uncle Fraoch said, “And go fast, ye need tae gather everyone before that vessel gets shut down too.”

Blakely said, “That’s a thing that can happen? Ugh.”

Liam told me the date they left.

I worked on the setting, when he said, “Somethin’ tae mention though, I daena ken if this is applicable — we were at Taymouth Castle and right before that vessel thing, did... ye ken, what that thingdoes,there were armed men surroundin’ the castle...”

My brow drew down. “Truly? Och nae.”

Uncle Fraoch said, “Well, ye canna go back there, ye hae tae go somewhere else.”

I asked, “Can I take ye tae... Florida?”

Uncle Zach put his hands over his ears, “I can’t listen, it’ll break my heart.

Liam checked his wallet. “We don’t have our passports, I didn’t?—”

“Dost ye hae any money? I need tae drop ye somewhere and ye will hae tae get back, or ye hae tae come with me, but ye would hae tae ride a horse, possibly get in a sword fight, are ye an accomplished horse rider and sword fighter?”

Liam said, “Nae, I am no’… Blakely, can we get back from Florida?”

Blakely nodded. “We’ll rent a car, we can do it. I have my phone in my pocket, we can do what we need to do.”

I said, “Good, thank ye for understandin’.”

I finished workin’ on the settings on the vessel.

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