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JEN

M y eyes swept the scene — the wind had lessened, the last of the rain was dripping off leaves, the lawn was trashed, mud puddles formed in the deep grooves created by the battle we had just witnessed.

The storm had been so sudden and intense that I had had to duck and cover, and now that it calmed enough to stand up and look around, everyone and everything was gone, all the men and horses had vanished into the storm.

Even the men who had been on the ground.

I was on the bottom porch step, my mouth wide open in shock. I slowly turned to see Cooper, his tall and lanky self, with his hands in his hair, looking out at the scene.

Cooper said, “What the hell was that, I just… where did she go?”

I shook my head and mumbled, “I don’t know.”

“You saw that, right? It was right there, Lexi was there, Torin… where are they?”

I said, “I saw it. Did you see the medieval men on horses?”

“Yeah, I saw a man dying on the ground, right there, dressed like he was at a Ren Faire, covered in blood. Now he’s gone.” With his hands still on his head he turned and said, “What the hell did we eat? Did someone spike our pancakes?”

I shook my head. “Doesn’t feel like a hallucination. That felt weirdly realistic, yet insane.”

He looked right and left. “Did he kidnap her?”

“They’re both gone, they were both kidnapped, somehow.”

He dropped his hands. “Did you happen to get a description of the guys, anything useful? I didn’t, that was too crazy, I couldn’t think.”

“For the police? No. I mean, the horses were brown. The men were wearing old-school costumes.”

Coop said, “Dammit, I never got my gun either. I didn’t get a good description, what the hell was I doing?”

“Well, none of that was normal. We should call the cops, right?”

He said, “Yeah, yeah, for sure, call the cops, we gotta. Do we need to get our story straight?”

“Why, we didn’t do anything!”

“But it just sounds so absurd. There were horses, like eight men?—”

“Two groups, were they all together?”

“I only know all of them were trying to get Torin.”

“Or Lexi.”

“Don’t start, Jen, none of that was…” His voice trailed off.

I raised my brow. “You think you still get to be skeptical of what he told us? He freaking told you he was a time traveler. He said he travels on storms. He said she was a princess and swore to protect her from danger, and not ten minutes later, there is so much danger and then they disappeared in a storm. Not believing him now is senseless.”

He shook his head. “I know, I know, I just don’t know what to think. I was wrong, I was totally wrong. Wait, where’s Dude?”

He looked around. “Do you see Dude?”

“No, but he probably went inside.”

Cooper turned and banged into the house, calling, “Dude! Dude, here kitty-kitty, Dude!”

He came back out a few moments later.

I said, “Did you check the basement, we were all down there.”

“Yeah, he’s not in the house.” His hands went back to his head. “Damn, did he get taken too?”

I scanned the yard. “I mean, sometimes he disappears for days, he’s pretty independent, he’ll likely come back tonight.”

Cooper said, “I don’t know, I think he’s gone.”

I said, “I’m glad you do finally believe in time travel.”

“Yeah, I know, I didn’t believe the unbelievable... I was skeptical and now freaking Lexi and Dude are missing. If I had listened, maybe I could have done something.”

I said, “Doubtful, what could you have done?”

“I don’t know, been ready for one. Jeez, we need to call the police. What are we going to say though, that a time traveler took Lexi?”

“Yeah, better sooner than later.” I walked into the house, but then turned around and came back out. “But, Coop, what are we telling them? There were eight armed men, horses, a giant storm, and now they’re gone?”

“That’s what I mean by getting the story straight. They’re going to haul me down to the station for questioning, for sure . None of this makes sense. I’ll be the number one suspect.”

I gulped. “They might think you did something?”

“Probably. Missing woman. A missing wealthy woman who I’m in a relationship with. Yeah, there’s no other plausible explanation.”

“The day after you didn’t get your investors!”

“What’s that got to do... oh. ”

“Yeah, they might think that’s suspicious.”

He groaned.

I added, “But in your defense, most men who were planning to do something dire to a rich?—”

He groaned again, “Don’t say it, it’s too awful.”

I finished, not caring about his discomfort, “...would marry the rich woman first, to get her money.”

“Ugh, why are you saying that?”

“I’m just saying, you could have married Lexi for her money, but you wouldn’t. You never wanted to. That’s proof you’re not involved in her disappearance.”

He blinked.

I said, “I’m just saying this is your defense.”

He said, “I wouldn’t marry her? What do you mean...? It just wasn’t the right time. I would have married her, I wanted to, it?—”

“Bullshit, you didn’t want to marry her, you could have asked her a million times. She thought you were going to ask her this weekend and?—”

He groaned again. “No... no, really? Is that what she thought? Damn... I had no idea.”

“Honestly, Coop, I love ya, you’ve been like a brother, but if you didn’t know that Lexi thought you were going to ask her to marry you, then you are a dimwitted fool.”

He exhaled, shaking his head. “I couldn’t figure out why she was so intent on going to Falls Landing.”

“Yeah, because you’re an idiot, and you’ve only been thinking about yourself for, I don’t know, months .”

“Shit, but... what do I do? How do I make it up to her? She’s gone.”

I shrugged. “I have no idea, she’s pretty bummed, she was even planning what she would wear to the big dinner.”

He had his hands on his head again. “Jeez, Jen, you’re right, I’m a fool. I’ll ask her, first thing, soon as I find her — We need to figure out how to get her back.”

I leaned against the rail. “Let’s think about this rationally . If it’s not time travel, then she’s here somewhere, right? And likely they won’t treat it like a missing persons case until twenty-four hours have passed. I saw that in a show.”

Cooper said, “True. That seems right.”

“Could she have run into the woods?”

He said, “I didn’t see it. Did you?”

I said, “Nope.”

“Put on your shoes, we ought to go look.”

I said, “But… to continue being rational. If it was time travel, then we are not going to find her around here. Those medieval dudes did not just chase her into the woods surrounding her house and then disappear.”

Cooper nodded.

I continued, rationalizing, “And the thing is, she’ll probably be back soon. If you think about it, Torin has landed here like five times in a few days. She’ll be back in a few hours, probably. Right?”

Cooper said, “It would follow, yeah.”

“So maybe we don’t get the police involved, there’s not much they can do, right? If it’s time travel they can’t do anything but be a great big hassle.”

Cooper chewed his lip. “Okay, but seriously, Jen, if she’s not back by… I don’t know, we… we call it in.”

“Yeah, let me put on some shoes and we’ll start looking.”

I sprinted up the steps and slammed into the house. I put on my hiking boots and then I left a note for Lexi:

Hey Babe,

Where did you go? Coop and I are out looking for you, if you come back here, stay put.

Love,

Jen