Page 73 of Beyond Dreams

Holly tried to push through the wall of men surrounding her and Cora, and Kayla and Gabby. Graeme and Michael were unmovable. From behind them, she shouted, “Please, just tell us what is going on! Why?”

“Lucas! Do something,” Cora implored. “Lock her up before she sends someone else through time.”

The witches ignored them, ignored everyone.

“You’ll have to answer for this,” the witch, Samara, said to Sidheag.

“I dinna answer to thenigheanan sgàil,” said Sidheag. “No more.”

“Banishment does not mean you are not accountable to Moireach,” returned Samara.

Holly and the others remained frozen, rendered mute and motionless by the figures and the conversation before them.

“And what of you? And Magaidh?” She turned and pointed directly at Michael MacClellan. “And your sisters who interred that one?”

“All of that,” Samara said, as softly as Sidheag was shrill, “all of us have had out reckoning with Moireach. You have not. But you will.”

Sidheag shrugged, which seemed to tick off Samara, who then lifted her hand toward the old woman. With a simple twist of her wrist, Sidheag was enveloped in her own glowing light. Suddenly, she was taller and younger, straighter and less shriveled looking. She was not as young or as flawless as Samara appeared but was no longer an ancient and bent crone. Inside the golden glow, she appeared middle-aged at most, her gray hair having darkened and lengthened, falling down around her hips. The ragged contemporary clothes she wore transformed, right before their eyes, to gauzy white robes, the same as Samara wore.

Lucas swore. “Bluidy hell.”

Graeme questioned the improvement. “What sorcery is this?”

Aedan’s reaction was most shocking of all. “Damn ye to hell—I ken you!”

“What chaos do you bring?” Michael wanted to know. “What summons you here? Now?”

And finally, the witches turned their attention to the circle of humans.

“Be not alarmed,” said Samara. “’Twas only the energy that drew me here.” She glanced beyond the protective line of men, specifically at the faces of the young women. “So much...power just here, with these lasses gathered. It called to me.”

“But why areyouhere, Sidheag?” Holly asked. “Have you come to send me home?”Please say yes.

At the same time, Lucas burst out again. “Goddammit, Cora! This is exactly what I feared. I said as much, did I nae? I said I dinna want to tempt fate and now look what we’ve done.”

“You did not do it, Lucas the Thain,” said Samara. “’Twas not you what called us here. And ’tis not I, nor any of us, who can break the bonds found here.”

“Speak plainly, witch!” Aedan commanded.

“’Tis stronger than either time or magic,” Sidheag answered. “The bond can nae be broken. Only if she—any of them—wanted to leave you, could the magic be effective.”

Lucas growled through clenched teeth, “What is stronger?”

“Love,” answered Samara. “It is love joins people through time. Once it is known and felt they cannot be separated, even by the most powerful magic. ’Tis stronger than minutes and hours, impervious to enchantment. Once love is known, walking through the layers of time is not possible.”

“I’m not sure about anyone’s experience,” harrumphed Gabby, “but I did not walk through time. I was thrust into and flung through and spit out by time.”

Samara waved her hand at Cora, her fingers undulating gracefully.

Lucas roared and raised his sword at the woman just as Cora was cloaked in a bright white. Lucas was immobilized at the exact moment, trapped in mid-motion, one foot off the ground, his sword raised over his head.

It lasted but a second, whatever spell had been cast. At the same time the light that burst from Cora faded, Lucas was released from the wizardry that had immobilized him. He, and Cora directly behind him, deflated similarly as the magic was cast off.

“See?” Samara said blandly. “She canna be moved. Her love is deep.”

Holly was amazed, both at the brave and bold Lucas looking as if he were pretty close to tears and then at Cora’s reaction. After she shot Samara a furious and resentful frown, her breath burst from her, and she faced her husband with a burgeoning smile. And then, as if she had not almost been lost to him, she boldly winked at him. “Told you so.”

He was appeased, but not fully, his mouth twisted with irritation. Lucas took hold of Cora’s hand and kept her close.

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