Page 27

I slid the glass door open and met the chaos in my house head on.

Marco leaned against the living room wall, arms across his chest, listening to a lecture from Angel. She had the right to be mad. When I first met her, I guessed she had the gift. When we found the Sleigh key in Berlin that belonged to Marco’s family, it confirmed my suspicion, but it was Marco’s choice to keep it from her. I didn’t want to rock the boat.

Jake was on the phone pacing in my kitchen. He saw me and held up a finger.

I couldn’t gage his mood. I couldn’t tell if someone at base had called him and ratted me out. Was he on the phone with headquarters discovering I had returned Caiyan’s key? Time would tell.

Victory, Brodie, and Gertie sat in the den. Victory’s eyes were wide and curious, and I knew they were filling her in on all the things she’d missed in the last ten years. She’d been dropped into a fast world filled with technology even I didn’t understand.

I walked over and sat down in the chair next to her, extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Jennifer Cloud, Elma’s great-niece. We didn’t formally meet after the um…Mafuso thing.”

Her amber eyes held an intelligent sparkle, and she wore a hand stitched summer maternity dress that I assumed Mahlia had found for her. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head with a matching scarf to hold it in place. She was beautiful.

She took my hand and held it. A soft tingle fluttered up my arm like the wings of a butterfly tickling my skin.

“So, you’re the one.” She smiled at me with perfect pink lips.

“Yeah, I’m the one who opened the box and found your key.” I unlatched my hand from hers and the butterfly massage stopped.

Gertie slapped her palms together and interlocked her fingers. “Wait until you hear this!” My cousin was almost giddy.

“Hear what?”

Victory clasped hands over her large belly and gazed into my eyes. “You’re the one who ends this.”

“Ends what?” I lifted an eyebrow at her. Pretty but a little cuckoo.

“I had a vision when I was in Gettysburg. A woman with blond hair and Elma’s eyes would save me from the war and return my key. I didn’t understand the raccoon at first, but I do now.” She reached over and I realized Tonto was sitting next to her in the chair.

She scratched him behind the ears, and he looked up at her adoringly.

“I’ve seen you in many visions, and now that I have my key back, you’re as clear as ever. You end us.”

“Can you believe it?” Gertie continued before I could answer her question. “You’re the one who finds the King’s key.”

“Say what?”

Victory threw her head back and gave a throaty laugh. “You end this, the gift, this genetic monstrosity that we have.”

“Hey, I kinda like zipping over to see Gertie,” Brodie said, taking a sip from the bottle of beer he held. The amber liquid made my mouth water, and after the seer’s visions, I wished I had one, too.

“How do I do that?” I finally asked her.

“I’m only a seer, but I see you with many keys, and I see the king’s vessel.” She waved her hand in the air. “Maybe with time and normal hormones, I’ll be able to see more.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell me.” I bit into my lower lip.

Jake ended his call and joined us in the den. He gave Angel a stern look. “You shouldn’t have given Victory the key, but now that you have…” he turned his attention to Victory. “General Potts requests you to be inducted into the WTF as soon as possible.”

Victory seemed taken aback. I didn’t blame her—with a baby on the way, why would she want to risk her life? Besides, when Caiyan wore the Thunder key he was all aboot the woman should stay at home and raise the bairns.

Toches told me the Thunder key enhances your desires. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to be with him. Maybe this was how it ended for us.

“Jen, I need to speak with you.” Jake tilted his head toward the back yard.

I followed him outside. He turned and stared at me, hands on hips.

Yep, he knew.

“Seems like Angel’s not the only one returning keys to their owners. You returned the key to McGregor.” It was more of a statement than a question.

“Did headquarters call you?” The tattletales.

“No, when Gertie told me she gave you the key, I knew where you were headed.” His big brown eyes held an understanding I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“It belongs to him,” I said. “He put his life in danger to save Victory. She’s an important piece to our puzzle.”

“I agree; she sees things that will help us. General Potts is going to have my ass, and probably ground you for returning McGregor’s key. He wanted a carrot to dangle.”

“Do you believe Victory’s vision that I unlock the secret to the King’s key?”

“I don’t know what to think. I’ve got an agent who was shot over one hundred and fifty years ago, the Mafuso attorney breathing down my neck, my girlfriend’s brother threatening bodily harm, and a traveler who just skipped ten years of her life. My system’s on overload.”

“Can I help?” I knew the answer, but thought offering sounded nice.

“Are you OK with Victory staying here for a few months?”

“A few months?”

“I need to find a safe place for her to live until we get things worked out. She’ll need someone to help her acclimate to this time.”

By things, was he referring to Caiyan’s recovery? If she stayed a few months, the baby would be here. I wasn’t sure I could hang.

“I guess so.” Did I say that?

“You’re great! Have I told you that lately?”

“No, you’ve been keeping secrets.” I frowned up at him.

His dimples winked out at me. “No more secrets. Angel and I have been dating for about six months.”

“Did you know she had the gift?”

“Not a clue.” He grinned wide. “But that explains a few unanswered questions.”

Jeez. Was I ready to hear about Jake in love with another woman? It was all over his face.

“I didn’t tell you or anyone else because I wasn’t sure how to handle Marco’s wrath, and I felt like a hypocrite. I was always on everyone’s case about dating a coworker. I even gave Gertie grief for hooking up with Brodie. I was a real piece of shit.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. We ignored you.”

Jake dimpled at me.

Angel slid the door open. “Can I come out?”

Jake motioned for her to join us, and his face softened when he looked her way.

She walked toward us. Her dark hair rippled down her back in a mass of glorious waves. A playful smile spread her cute button nose that resembled her mother’s, but the rest of her appearance screamed her Italian father. She was the dark to Marco’s light; however, based on her perky attitude, he got the quick temperament of the Italian side.

Her dark lashes fluttered at Jake. This girl had it bad, and I was a little envious of the secret love affair these two shared.

She wrapped her arms around Jake’s middle, stood on her toes to accept a kiss from him. They made a cute couple. I hoped Marco would accept his sister dating the boss.

“Did you talk Marco out of murdering me in my sleep?” Jake asked Angel.

“He’s agreed for a trial run, as long as I stay away from the WTF.”

Jake chewed on his lip. It was his nervous tell. He didn’t want her there either. Another woman he cared for under the command of the gift.

“Did you agree?” he asked her.

“I told him I’d think about it. I mean, a girl has got to make her own decisions.”

I smiled. Angel was going to keep my best friend and her brother on their toes.

After Jake and Angel left, I cornered Marco in the kitchen.

“This was a crazy moon cycle.” I chose a coveted beer from the fridge and offered him one.

He accepted and twisted off the cap. “Yeah, I thank the stars it’s closed and over.”

“Jake’s a good guy,” I said, opening my beer and glancing at him for his reaction.

“I know.” He took a long pull from his beer.

“Are you going to give Angel her key?”

“Not if I can help it,” he sighed. “I probably won’t be able to keep her from it.”

“You’ve been protecting her for a long time.”

“Maybe it’s time I stopped keeping secrets from her. She deserves to know about her grandfather. The good and the bad.”

I clinked bottles with him. We leaned against the kitchen counters and drank in silence for a few minutes.

“How’s McGregor?” he asked.

“The nurse told me he’s not doing so good. She said his blood pressure keeps dropping, and he hasn’t been awake for more than ten minutes.”

“That was a pretty bad hit he took in Gettysburg.”

I forced the swig of beer down my throat. “I was mad at his desertion, but I understand why he had to stay close to the Mafusos. If they knew Victory had visions of the King’s key, Gian-Carlo never would have let her go.” And there was the kid thing.

“Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees.”

“Amen.” I looked up into his crystal blue eyes and wished my heart did the trippy thing for Marco that it did when I was within a hundred feet of Caiyan.

Marco finished the beer and tossed it in the recycle bin.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” I asked him. “We’re going to introduce Victory to Chipotle.”

“No, I’ve got to bolt.”

“Because you have a date?”

“Yeah, jealous?”

“A little.”

“Good.” He pulled me in and hugged me tight, kissing the top of my head.

My inner voice reminded me about Caiyan’s little secret growing in the other room and encouraged me to take Marco upstairs and relieve him of his t-shirt and jeans.

Another time, I told her. I needed Caiyan to share his secrets before I could move on and open my heart to someone else.

I invited Darryl over for Chipotle.

Since the club had been the scene of a CIA shakedown involving a notorious crime family and needed repairs, he had the night off.

Darryl didn’t know Victory missed the last decade, but he entertained her with stories about things he’d come across in his business as a picker.

I called the hospital at Gitmo to check on Caiyan while we waited for the food. The nurse told me his blood pressure had stabilized and he was doing much better. She thought his lucky charm was the real deal. I knew it was.

We sat around the coffee table eating burrito bowls and listened to how Darryl manipulates steel remnants into funky art animals. Ragina breezed in through the front door.

“Thanks for knocking,” I said. With the Mafusos on the mad, I needed to remind Gertie to lock the door.

“Whoa,” Darryl said.

Ragina hovered over us in designer pink cowboy boots and matching sequined cowboy hat. 90210 had gone all out sparkly cowgirl.

“I don’t know how you did it.” Ragina tossed her photos on the table and scowled in my direction.

“Did what?” I asked her.

Brodie picked up one of the photos and his face lit up.

“The owner of Mama’s Double Wide rejected my photos. Thanks for doctoring them up with your Photoshop,” Ragina said.

“What are you talking about?” Gertie leaned in toward Brodie to examine the photo. Her mouth formed a giant O .

Ragina plucked a photo off the table and shoved it into my hands. The black and white reproduction of a vintage photo showed a group of doctors standing next to an amputation table. Dr. Seuss minus the wig and mustache stood in the background.

“That man sort of looks like me,” I chuckled. I vaguely recalled a group of men gathered in front of the medical tent where I had stopped to watch Caiyan disappear into the woods. I didn’t realize they were posing for a picture.

Brodie flipped his photo over to show us. A bleary-eyed Gertie stood with Marco in front of General Lee’s tent.

“How do you explain that one?” Ragina asked.

“Coincidence?” I shrugged.

“The owner of Mama’s Double Wide told me he couldn’t pay me for photos of the karaoke queen and her bar-dancing sidekick.”

“Look who’s the sidekick now.” Gertie beamed at me.

“I’ll be your sidekick anytime,” I said to Gertie.

“You bet your sweet ass.” Everyone laughed, causing Ragina to storm out of the house.

“I’d better go after her. She’ll need to release all that pent-up hostility, and I know just the guy to help her.” Darryl stood, a determined grin across his face.

“Good luck, mate.” Brodie gave Darryl a fist bump.

Darryl thanked us for the dinner and excitement, then followed Ragina’s trail.

“I don’t suppose ya have any pent-up hostility you’d like to set free?” Brodie asked Gertie.

“There might be a strong agitation I need to get off my chest after you help me clean up the kitchen.”

Gertie stood and gathered our empty plates.

Brodie flashed his million-dollar smile and followed Gertie into the kitchen, leaving me alone with Victory.”

“I like him,” Victory said, waving a hand at Brodie as he disappeared into the kitchen. “I can see why Caiyan is friends with him.”

“Yeah, Brodie’s a sweetheart.”

“I can also see why Caiyan has a thing for you, too.”

My eyebrows shot upwards.

“Angel told me.” Victory adjusted herself in the chair, so she sat facing me. “She also told me her brother has it bad for you, but you’ve always been with Caiyan.”

“We broke up before he joined the Mafusos. He never told me about you.”

“I was the WTF’s shameful secret. Elma tried to help, but in the end, she sided with the politics instead of the cause, and dumped me in the past.”

“It’s hard for me to believe my aint Elma would do that.”

“I messed up in Salem. Almost got myself hung. Kishin saved me, but Elma saw the whole thing.”

“Elma was there, I saw her.” I bolted upright. “I didn’t realize it was her until now.”

“You were there, too?” Victory looked surprised. “I guess you saw. I was only trying to scare the idiots so they wouldn’t hang all those innocent people, but I went too far. Got myself arrested.”

“You would have changed history.”

“Yeah, for the better.”

“Sometimes changing the past causes more problems than you’d think.” I pictured the boy I saved, and Caiyan hovering near death.

“When the WTF found out I was traveling without their permission and saving people in the past, they banished me.”

“How did they get your key?”

“The boss man at the time held a gun to Caiyan’s head and threatened to kill him. It’s the reason a non-traveler is in charge. I didn’t think they would kill him, but it wasn’t a chance I was going to take. Actually,” she thought for a minute, “when Caiyan had that gun to his head was the first time I saw the vision. The one where you find the King’s key. I told Elma about the vision and she dumped me in the past.”

“Aint Elma hid you to save you,” I said. She was talking smack about my family. “If the Mafusos or the WTF gets their hands on the King’s key, it could be a game changer.”

“She told me it was for my own safety. She didn’t realize I’d run away from the family she had left me with and get captured by a bastard of a man. He made me a slave on his cotton plantation. Now there’s some back breaking work. Dawn to dusk with overseers eyeing me like I was some kind of mule.”

“How did Caiyan find you?”

“He found Boon.” She smiled and rubbed her belly. “Boon was a freed slave. See, your aint Elma left me with a family in Texas, thought she’d fix things back home then come get me before the war broke out. Boon worked for them. They didn’t believe in owning slaves.”

She took a drink of her water. “I was stupid. I thought, since I’m here, why not go help the Underground Railroad? Be a part of something that has meaning. That would show the WTF I could still fight for my cause even without my key.” She sighed. “That’s how I got captured.”

“Caiyan spent every moon cycle meeting up with Boon and they’d search the plantations from Texas to Georgia looking for me. They became close friends.”

“I’m sorry he was killed.”

“Me too. They found me in Louisiana about six month ago. Caiyan told me he’d be back for me the next moon cycle, but he never came.”

“I guess you’ll have to adjust to living in this time,” I said to Victory.

“From what I’ve seen so far, it looks pretty good. You’ve got phones that fit in your pockets, cars that practically drive themselves, great takeout, and thousands of movies on the TV. I think I’ll adjust fine.”

“Can I ask you something?” I didn’t want to be nosy, but I had to know. The secret was picking at a scab. “Why did you leave with Toches and break Caiyan’s heart?”

“I doubt I broke Caiyan’s heart. He doesn’t seem to let anyone or anything near his heart. It’s shatterproof.”

She made a good point, but I disagreed. “Don’t you want him to see the baby?”

She looked at me funny. “He can if he wants. He’s not good with kids, you know?”

I’d never seen him with kids. We never talked about it.

She rubbed her expansive belly. “This girl’s sure going to miss her daddy.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way. I’d never break up a family.”

“Are you okay?” She cocked an eyebrow at me.

“Yeah, I just wanted you to know that I won’t get in the way. After Caiyan recovers, y’all can see how things work out. I’m not sure he’s marriage material.” That might have been more my fault. I was the one who didn’t want to move in with him. Both of us had commitment issues.

“Oh, he’ll be mad at me for ditching him, but I knew Toches could take me home. I saw it in a vision. I wasn’t sure about the time or place, but I knew Caiyan would be here. And I knew you would rescue me from the Mafusos. It’s the reason I led them to believe I was on their side. When I saw you at the club, I knew my vision was correct. When this baby comes, I want you to be her godmother.”

“Uhm. I can’t do that. I mean. I’m going to give y’all some space so you and Caiyan can…you know. Be together.”

Victory threw her head back and laughed. “Do you think Caiyan is the father of this baby?”

I nodded slowly. Did I miss something?

“The guy has a heart of gold, but we’ve been friends too long for me to go down that road with him. Thomas is this baby’s daddy.”

“Thomas?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, Thomas Boon.” She placed her hand over her heart. “God, I loved that man. We didn’t always get on so well, but I loved him.”

“The man who died at Gettysburg.”

“Yeah. It’s Caiyan’s fault we got married.”

“Caiyan’s fault?”

“When Caiyan and Thomas finally found me, he…” she paused, by the look on her face she was deciding if she would offend me. “Let’s just say he had a good time with the plantation owner’s daughter.”

I rolled my eyes. “It was before me.”

She blew out a short breath. “The moon cycle closed, and Caiyan promised he’d return the next cycle with a transporter to bring me home. Left Boon there to work the farm. The next thing I know, the owner’s daughter’s accusing me of sleeping with Caiyan and that was punishable by a real beating.”

Her eyes went misty and I handed her a tissue from the box on the table. “Sorry, the hormones make me so emotional. Thomas gave up his freedom and took the beating in my place. I married him the next day, in a small grove of apple trees. Then the war broke out and the owner sold me to Miss Maggie. That’s how I ended up in Gettysburg.”

“Did Boon find you in Gettysburg?”

“Yes,” she wiped at her eyes. “Boon ran away from the plantation and found me. After that, we fought together to make sure the Underground Railroad helped as many men, women and children make it to freedom as we could. When I got pregnant, Thomas wanted to stop and use the Railroad to gain our freedom. But I had work to do at Gettysburg to make sure the South didn’t win that war.”

“But you knew the North won, right?”

“Did they?” she cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at me.

Had the South won the war in another timeline? I paused, considered. “They won because you gave the Union Army General Lee’s plans sewn into the lining of the Rebel coats, and because you warned Mead about the final attack on the center. It’s a loop.”

“Yes, I believe the North won not only because of me, because of Boon and all the brave men and women who fought. You can’t look at it any other way. Boon was killed fighting a noble cause. And I’ll make sure his daughter knows him well.”

A tear slipped down her cheek.

Her eyes shined and I placed my hand over hers.

“I’m sorry he died.”

“I am too, but we fought for a good cause, together.”

If her visions were correct, maybe she was supposed to be here.

“You and Caiyan have known each other a long time?” I asked her.

“Since we were kids. The three of us, me, Caiyan, and Kishin sort of grew up together. Our grandparents were, let’s say, in the business.” She dropped her gaze to her hands resting on her stomach.

“Kishin knew the WTF banished you?” I asked her.

“He did, but he didn’t know where. I imagine it drove him nuts.” She stifled a yawn.

“Let me show you to Eli’s old room.”

She pushed up from the chair, and I showed her the room and adjoining bathroom.

“Thanks for letting me stay,” she said.

“No problem.” I handed her a set of clean towels. “Stay as long as you need.”

“Gian-Carlo was pretty mad when he found out I didn’t have the key.” She turned to move into the room then paused and turned back around toward me. “Who’d have thought Elma would put it in the box. It was the only thing I couldn’t see. I hope nothing bad happens to Kishin.”

“Me, too.” And I meant it.