“Aye. Do ye wanna get their attention or should I?”
“I’ll do it. I know just how to get a response out of Mom.” Bri smiled before she shouted, “Adelle,” in her mother’s direction. Instantly, her mother’s eyes widened and whipped toward her, awarding Bri with a stern expression.
“What? I know that you didn’t just call me ‘Adelle,’ right? I’m your mother.”
Bri stepped away from Eoin and looked up at him. “Told ya,” she whispered before moving to pull her mother into a hug. “We’re leaving now, Mom. It’s going to be fine. Morna’s spells seem to be pretty reliable.” Bri pulled away from her mother’s vice-like embrace and moved over to hug Mary. “Now, both of you try not to worry while we’re gone. It may be a few weeks before we get back. Just keep yourselves busy.”
It was Mary’s turn to react. “Do ye no think that I always keep meself busy? Do ye think that I just lie around the castle, trying to dream up things to do?”
Bri rolled her eyes and stepped back so that Eoin could bid both of the women farewell. “No, of course I don’t think that, Mary, and you know it. Now remember, don’t let Arran find out where we’ve gone off to. He’ll find out soon enough if Blaire wants to return. If she doesn’t, I don’t want him getting his hopes up.”
Both women nodded and, when it was clear that Bri and Eoin were about to begin the spell, they quietly retreated from the small room.
Standing in front of the old, faded book, Bri took Eoin’s hands. Together they lit the candles and read aloud the words from the book. Momentary shockwaves of pain coursed through them. They wrapped their arms around one another, and together, vanished from the room.
*
Muffled voices became audible above their heads. Both groggy and confused, they leaned against the walls of the once familiar room until they found themselves reoriented. Having already made the trip through once, Bri knew instantly the headache Eoin would have and went straight for her mother’s backpack, still tucked neatly behind the bench in front of the table, out of sight from the eyes of wandering tourists.
Opening the inner zipper pocket, she pulled out the bottle of Advil and dumped out five round pills into her hand, two for herself and three for her beast of a husband. They had no water, but if either of them were to function, they had to medicate the head trauma that always seemed to occur when travelling through time by Morna’s spells.
“Here.” Shakily, she moved to stand in front of Eoin, her legs still slightly unsteady and discombobulated. “Put these in your mouth and swallow them. They will help with your headache.”
Obligingly, Eoin held open his hand as he looked down at the pills questioningly. “What are they, lass? They look too small to do much for me head.”
Bri slowly raised his hand to motion for him to put them in his mouth. “Trust me. They’ll help. But at least it looks like we made it. Look at how old everything in the room looks.”
Bri smiled as she watched Eoin wander about the room awestruck. She reached a hand in his direction as she moved to the door leading to the staircase out of the basement. “Did you hear the voices above us just a moment ago? I think they must be conducting a tour. No surprise really, since we were able to stop the castle from being destroyed. I’m sure it’s quite the tourist attraction today. Which means, it’s going to be difficult for us to get out of the castle unseen.”
Eoin winked, and Bri smiled at the playfulness in his eyes. “Aye. I expect since I have ye with me, it shall be impossible. Ye are talented at falling down. I’m certain I will have to scoop ye off the floor at least twice before we make our escape.”
Bri whispered as she leaned her ear against the spell room door, listening for any sign of movement on the other side. “What about you? You’re not so light on your feet yourself. Now, let’s go. I don’t hear anybody on the other side.”
Cautiously, Bri pulled the door open, finding the main basement room empty. As she closed the secret door to the spell room behind them, she could tell that it had remained unfound despite the years of tourism at the castle. The only sign of entrance within the basement was an “employees only” sign that was draped across the floor in front of the staircase leading up out of the basement.
Hesitantly, Bri climbed the stairs and gently pulled at the door. The ridged nature of the door’s hinges showed her that not even castle employees went down into the basement very often.
But as luck would have it, just as Eoin had securely shut the spell room door, hiding it away from view, they both heard the door at the top of the basement stairs open. Listening to the sound of footsteps descend the staircase, they soon found themselves staring back at the very official looking castle employee whose eyes widened in shock at the sight of them.
*
Scotland
Present Day