Page 15 of Betrayal from Beyond
“You are welcome.” She held him for a moment. “We will make arrangements. But for now, sit back and pass me those pastries.”
*
The interlude ledto Harold’s satisfaction, but a couple of more days of their isolation stretched out and began to lead to frustration for the others.
“I’m going to go and speak with Wooten myself,” Niall announced as they sat in the parlor one evening. “There must be something else we can do to find the damned woman. Perhaps Iwill also go and consult Towland. I’ll have him set the members of the Druidic Order to investigating.”
“I’ll go along,” Stayme chimed in. “There are files that I must have, if I’m to extend my stay here.”
“I’ll take the train into Town with you both,” Gyda said. “Charles writes that he has good news and something to show me.”
Nerves flaring, Kara stood. “I am not sure,” she said, pacing to the hearth and back around again. “Perhaps it is too soon.”
“We cannot stay locked up here forever,” Gyda told her. “For all we know, Petra could be on the Continent again, or on her way to the Americas. She’d be laughing at the thought of us holed up here, hiding from nothing.”
Kara couldn’t explain the dark foreboding that clawed at her every time she thought of that note. “I don’t think we are hiding from nothing.”
“Stayme and I will stay together,” Niall said, frowning. “We will take every precaution. But Gyda—”
“Let me send a note with one of your couriers, Stayme,” Gyda interrupted. “I’ll have Charles pick me up at the train station. He’s the son of one of the most powerful men in the realm. I’ll be safe as houses.” She sighed. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen him.”
“I still don’t like it,” Kara objected. She couldn’t stop pacing.
“We cannot keep at this stalemate forever,” Niall said grimly. “But we must all be very careful. Prepared.” Standing, he drew Kara into his arms. “You and Harold will be safe here. But you must stay alert as well.”
Nodding, she burrowed further into his arms.
Chapter Four
They all leftearly the next morning. Kara and Harold breakfasted, then went together to the laboratory. A shiver shook Kara as they passed the forge, gone cold and quiet for the first time in a while.
“I think I remember all the gears and sequences needed to make the Green Man’s arm raise his sword,” Harold said as he donned an apron over his clothes. “I’ll start on the arm and show you before I attach it.”
Kara smiled. Harold liked to include a sword in all of his automaton figures, because he could forge the blade with Niall. She couldn’t object to his urge to combine their arts.
They spent a quiet, productive morning, then paused to take luncheon back in the house.
“Mr. Welk is due to arrive this afternoon,” Turner reminded them as he placed a platter of cold ham on the table.
“Oh, yes.” Kara had forgotten that today was the day the mathematics instructor visited Harold. “Do you have the problems he left for you all worked out?” she asked.
“Yes, although the last one took me a good long time, only because I’d left off a null sign,” Harold confessed. “I had to go back, and then I realized.”
“Good for you, for figuring out where you went off track. That is a skill that will translate into many aspects of life.” Kara smiled at Turner. “And if Mr. Welk is due, then that means it is your half day today. What do you have planned for your afternoon off?”
The butler hesitated. “Perhaps I should delay my plans until tomorrow, seeing as the others have not yet returned.”
“Delay what plans?” Kara raised her brows. Turner could be remarkably non-forthcoming about his private time.
“Well, the Camleighs have left for Shropshire, on a visit with their eldest daughter.”
The Camleighs were the family at Wood Rose Abbey. “Ah, so you and Mrs. Canning have an afternoon together? Of course, you should go.”
“I don’t like to leave you…” But Turner sounded hesitant.
Kara’s anxiety spiked a bit, but she heard the note in her friend’s tone. Hewantedto go. Turner had a life of his own. She’d had to remind herself of that since she was a girl, and she hated the thought of her troubles interfering with it. “Nonsense. What did you have planned?”
“Perhaps just a stroll into the village.”
