Page 12 of Stay with Me

“Nicholas?” she whispered, staring at the place he’d been just seconds ago, almost feeling his presence still there.

Though weariness fell over her, she fought against the pull to sleep. Instead, she tried to visualize him. For a second, she thought maybe she heard his voice, heard him say her name.

Then the sensation went away, as if the connection to the past was lost, like a phone line gone dead.

According to the digital clock, she’d stayed in the past about four minutes. That was more than previously. Maybe the extra minute or two had to do with taking in a slightly large blot of the holy water. Was it possible that the more one ingested, thelonger one crossed time, until reaching the point of a coma and complete transfer to the past?

Whatever the case, she had enough left for a final overlap. She could only pray it would provide sufficient time to get the dungeon keys and set Nicholas free.

Unable to hold her eyes open a second longer, she let the blackness of slumber claim her, all the while thinking of Nicholas, that his body wouldn’t survive the trauma of being beaten again and that she didn’t want him to die before she had the chance to set him free.

~ 6 ~

“Sybil, wake up.”

A gentle shake roused her out of a heavy exhaustion.

“Are you ill?” The concern in the question prodded her again.

Isaac. Work. She was supposed to be awake before he arrived.

With a start, her eyes flew open and she sat up. “What time is it?”

Isaac stood beside the hospital bed, a coat slung over his arm and a coffee travel mug in the other hand. “A little after nine. Don’t tell me you worked all night.”

“Something like that.” She wrangled a hair tie from her pocket and began to comb her hair with her fingers into a ponytail.

His brows were arched high above concerned eyes. “You’re going at this too hard, Sybs.”

“I always go at everything hard.” She wrapped the elastic around her hair, her mind already scrambling with plans for the day ahead. First on the list, she had to check the alcove under the stairway and find out if Nicholas had placed holy water there as he’d claimed.

She also had to sort out the best time to make her last overlap into the past. Probably after night fell so Nicholas could make his getaway from the castle under the cover of darkness. But if she waited all day, what if he received another beating? What if she showed up and found him dead—or too incapacitated to escape in his own strength?

Isaac released an exasperated sigh. “You can’t keep going like this.”

“I’m fine.” She hopped from the bed and fought off a wave of dizziness.

“No, you’re not.” He reached out to steady her.

She dodged him, a sense of déjà vu hitting her. This interaction was just like their arguments when they’d been together—Isaac complaining she worked too much and her insisting she didn’t.

As if realizing the same, he dropped his hand and took a slurp from his coffee.

With a tug at her leather jacket to straighten it, she froze. There, across the lower part of her T-shirt, was a long rusty stain that looked like dried blood. Her shirt had been spotless when she’d put it on after showering last night.

She gave herself a once-over, searching for any injuries she might have sustained over the past hours of deep sleep. But she saw and felt nothing that could have caused the blood. It had to be Nicholas’s. From when she’d leaned against him.

A tiny shiver raced up her spine.

She hadn’t just imagined him, hadn’t simply hallucinated. The sights, sounds, smells—everything had been so vivid. And now, this trace of his blood proved she’d gone to the past and that he’d been real.

She crossed to the door, hoping she could escape before Isaac said anything they’d both regret, something that would make working together impossible. She didn’t want that to happen, since he was the best at his job.

“I think I finally figured you out.” His statement was laced with sadness.

She paused, her hand on the door latch. “Don’t say it—”

“You and Dawson are more alike than you realize. After losing your mum, you’re both running scared. He’s hiding behind his blindness, and you’re losing yourself in your work.”

---