Page 242 of The Seven Rings
Sonya slipped it on her middle finger where, for an instant, it glowed.
“Move.” Owen grabbed her arm, pulled her away. “Don’t think about it now.”
“In just a few minutes, she’ll—”
“We can’t stop that.”
“Dobbs is coming. Can you feel her?”
“Yeah, I can feel her.”
Owen all but tossed Sonya through the mirror, and leaped behind her.
Trey grabbed her. “Eleven minutes, forty-two seconds. You’re pale.”
“A little dizzy.” But she held up her hand, where Johanna’s ring sparkled beside hers.
“We weren’t over there more than three minutes,” Owen said. “Anything on this side?”
“Nothing.” Cleo put a hand on his cheek. “You’re a little pale yourself.”
“Rough ride. We good?” he asked Sonya.
“Yes. It’s Clover now.” Because she knew this would take the biggest toll, she shut her eyes. “We need to go to the bedroom. Where she had Collin and my father. Where she died.”
Clover’s understanding came through with “In the Name of Love.”
As they walked to the bedroom, a scream sounded on the third floor.
“She missed the seventh ring,” Cleo said as something boomed like cannon fire.
“We need to see Clover and Charlie, the birth of Collin Poole and Andrew MacTavish. We need to be there, take back what was stolen so we can return it.”
When the mirror came, Owen saw movement in the glass, and the flash of fire, heard music—“I Only Want to Be with You.”
“Watch your backs,” he said to Trey and Cleo. Grabbing Sonya’s hand, he pulled her through just as the fire in the now roared to life.
Cleo pulled the sage stick from her pocket, lit it. “I put protection in every space Sonya laid out. If it’s not enough—”
“We’ll handle it.”
For the second time, Sonya saw her father’s birth, heard his first cry.
“Well, Jesus” was the best Owen could manage.
“It’s my dad. Charlie’s holding my dad.” Streaming tears blurred her vision. She wanted to touch, just once to touch the tiny new life that would grow into the man she’d loved so much.
For a moment, she swore the infant looked at her with her father’s eyes. Reaching out, she brushed a finger over the soft cheek.
“Man, I’m sick with sorry, Sonya, but you have to get the ring.”
“I know. I will.”
As she put her hand over Clover’s, the tableau froze.
Or so she thought.
Clover’s hand moved under hers. Her head turned and she offered a weak smile. “Did you come to see the babies? Me and Charlie have two beautiful boys. Hey, you’ve got Charlie’s eyes. You, too.”
