Time Everlastin' Book 5 (22 page)

"Wake up!" she said in a
harsh whisper. "Wake up!"

Lachlan grunted and rolled
onto his left side, away from her.

"Lachlan!" She shook his
upturned shoulder. "I think Reith is in trouble!"

"Blue?" Beth said sleepily.
"What about Reith?"

Lachlan lit a match and
turned up the oil lamp on the night table beside him. He squinted
at Blue, his ruffled hair and unshaven face lending him a comical
appearance.

"Wha' abou' the
laddie?"

"I think he's in trouble,"
Blue repeated, watching Beth scoot into a sitting position against
the headboard. "We have to find him!"

Lachlan worked his dry
mouth, yawned, and grinned sleepily. "It sounds like ye're a wee
concerned."

"Just because I'm worried
doesn't mean—" She clamped her mouth shut, her wings twitching in
annoyance.

"You love him?" Lachlan
completed. He yawned and briskly rubbed his palms up and down his
face. When he lowered his hands to his lap, he eyed her
speculatively. "Fegs, you dinna."

"It's a bit early to be
butting heads," Beth said.

"Of course I'm worried!"
Blue blustered. "He is a fairy."

"Ostracized by none ither
than Yer Greatness," Lachlan reminded, and flexed his bare
shoulders.

"That doesn't mean I want to
see him harmed!" she hissed low.

"Och, no," Lachlan said
airily. "Twould hurt a wee in the heart, lass, wouldna
it?"

Blue gnashed her teeth
against a retort then unlocked them and sputtered, "Look, you said
you were cut off from him yesterday, right? And th-that you
couldn't get through to the hotel where he's
staying...right?"

"Aye, but Winston spoke wi'
the phone service up there and they said a storm was causin' line
problems in some areas. And—"

"That doesn't mean something
isn't wrong!" she exclaimed.

"Aye, tis true," Lachlan
said patiently. "But I spoke wi' the hotel manager this efternoon,
and he conveyed a message from Reith."

"A message?" Blue asked in a
small voice. "What was it?"

"Tha' he was headin' for
Stornaway and no' to expect to hear from him for a few
days."

Blue churned the words
through her mind, and finally shook her head adamantly. "What's in
Stornaway?"

"Tis where Taryn rented a
car."

"You, Roan and...Reith
already went there, though. Why return?"

Lachlan covered an
eye-watering yawn with a hand. "Blue, ma-lass, I dinna know why he
wants to return to Stornaway—" Lachlan sucked in a breath and
scowled. "Doesna make sense."

"What doesn't?" Blue
asked.

"Last I spoke wi' him, he
mentioned a mural at the Astory Inn."

"I know he's at that inn,"
Blue said, her chin quivering.

"Why mention a mural at the
inn if his intention was to go to Stornaway?" Beth murmured, as if
voicing her thoughts.

"I'll wake Roan," said
Lachlan, swinging his legs over the side of the
mattress.

"I'm going, too," Blue
said.

Lachlan looked at Beth
before he cocked an eyebrow at Blue. "No' wise."

"Since when has that stopped
me?"

Frowning, Lachlan said,
"Roan and I—"

"I'm going." Blue lifted off
the bed via her wings. She hovered above the couple as if expecting
further protest.

"Aye," Lachlan sighed. "We
may need yer magic afore we're through on the isle."

"I'll be ready in a few
minutes." She flew toward the window, shrinking during the flight,
and disappeared into the night.

Lachlan bent and planted a
kiss on Beth's brow.

"I miss you already," she
said, climbing out of bed.

"Aye, me, too," slipping out
of his pajama bottoms and reaching for his black trousers. "But we
must find Reith."

"Lachlan...Blue does love
him, doesn't she?"

"Oh, aye."

"Will we ever know what
really happened between them?"

"In time."

"Promise me you and Roan
will be careful."

"Promise." He donned a white
shirt that tied down the front and had puffy sleeves—a nineteenth
century style he favored. "Dinna worry, love."

"You have a way of finding
trouble."

"Me, you say?" Lachlan
combined a chuckle and a groan. "It finds me."

"Hmmm."

"Beth?"

"What?"

"I love you."

"Of course you do. No one
else would put up with you," she said, laughter in her hushed
voice.

"Gettin' a wee cocky,
aye?"

"You know you love
it."

He chuckled again. "Tis sad
but true."

"I'll fix some travel food
for you and Roan."

"Thanks, love."

He planted a kiss on her
lips and headed for the door. His hand gripped the doorknob but
jerked back when a crescendoing moan bled through the
house.

"Deliah!" Beth
cried.

She snatched up her bathrobe
draped across the foot rail. Another moan resounded as Lachlan
opened the door. They were running for the second floor when Alby,
Kahl and Kevin sprang up the staircase and joined them.

Winston, looking sleepy and
frazzled, stepped on to the landing. "Deliah's in labor," he said
thickly.

"She's only six months
along!" Beth cried.

"Deliah says it's her time,"
Winston said, as if disbelieving he would soon be a
father.

Another moan came from
below. Winston and Lachlan winced, while Beth disappeared down the
stairs. Shortly, Roan joined them, his hands covering his ears
until he stood in front of Winston.

"Deliah having the baby?"
asked Kahl, his eyes wide with excitement.

Winston nodded, staring off
into space.

Another moan then a
long-winded groan that prompted the three men and three boys to
clap their hands over their ears.

"Where's Laura?" Lachlan
shouted.

Roan's thumb stuck out in
the direction of Winston and Deliah's bedroom.

Winston was the first to
uncover his ears, his sickly pallor and swaying alarming
Lachlan.

"Och, laddie!" Lachlan
gasped. "Dinna pass ou'!"

Another moan, this one
causing the six to hunch together like rabbits hiding from a hungry
fox.

"Tis goin' to be a verra
long night," Lachlan grumbled. He leveled an exasperated look at
Roan, whose eyebrows lifted in a silent question. "And Laura will
soon be—"

"Damn me, don't remind me,"
Roan said, and shuddered. "This birthin' business was never
intended for men to endure."

"Aye," Winston
murmured.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "You
helped make the babies. Grow up, guys."

Another groan froze
Lachlan's smile in the making. He was about to comment about
Kevin's statement when an image flashed across his mind's eye. He
saw Blue flying toward the twisted oak. Saw her stagger in
mid-flight, clutch her chest, and plummet to the ground.

"Blue," rumbled from him
before he ran down the stairs and blindly burst from the house and
into the yard. Instinct alone guided him. Twenty feet from the
twisted oak, he found Blue's tiny form on a patch of grass, face
down, her lifeless wings blanketing her. He gently scooped her into
his hands and carried her toward the house where the other males of
Baird House waited with pented breaths.

"Wha' happened?" asked Roan,
leading everyone into the library once the gas lamps were
lit.

Lachlan laid the tiny form
on the couch and knelt to one knee. Winston and the boys observed
over the back of the couch, while Roan, one hand braced on
Lachlan's shoulder, stood by his side.

"I saw her fall in a
dreamin'," Lachlan said.

From one story above, Deliah
released another moan. Blue's eyes fluttered opened. She stared at
Lachlan, bewildered and lost in a moment's uncertainty. Extending
into human size, she sat up, a hand to her brow.

"What hit me?" she
asked.

"You dropped in flight,"
Lachlan said, and pressed the back of a hand to her
cheek.

Another moan, giving Blue a
start. "Deliah?" she asked anxiously.

"She's in labor," Kevin
said.

"I should be with her," Blue
said, her face suddenly taut, "but—"

"Tis Reith," Winston stated,
his psychic gift homing in.

Blue folded her arms against
her middle and shuddered. "He's in danger. We need to leave now.
But Deliah—"

Winston came around the
couch to stand before the fairy queen. Lachlan rose and stared into
his eyes, scowling.

"Wha' do you sense abou' the
lad?"

Briefly, Winston closed his
eyes. When he opened them, bleakness shadowed their depths. "You do
need to leave now. Laura, Beth and I will be with
Deliah."

"If any harm comes to him,"
Lachlan growled.

"I'll send some fairies to
help with the birthing," Blue said. She stood with Lachlan's help,
and shuddered again as her wings lifted her feet off the
floor.

"Is Reith in trouble?" Alby
asked, tears welling up in his blue eyes.

"Aye, but no' for long,"
Roan said, and passed Lachlan a resolute look. "Can we count on you
lads ta help wi' Deliah?"

"Sure can," said
Kahl.

The brothers nodded, sealing
the promise.

"Give me ten minutes," said
Roan, heading for the door. "I'll meet you at the car."

"Roan, you drive," said
Winston.

"Fegs, mon!" Lachlan
sputtered.

"I've enough to worry abou'
wi’ou'
you
behind
the wheel!" Winston declared.

"I'll drive," said Roan, and
disappeared into the hall.

Winston soon followed, the
boys in his wake.

"I'll walk you to the
oak—"

"No, I'm all right now,"
Blue insisted. "I'll change out of my nightdress and meet you at
the car."

Lachlan nodded despite the
look of fear he glimpsed in the beautiful aqua-blue eyes watching
him.

"Naught will happen to
Reith."

Blue's gorge rose into her
throat and she swallowed it back reflectively. "We have until
tomorrow night to reach him."

"Why then?"

"It's a full moon. They plan
to sacrifice his heart."

Outrage erupted in Lachlan.
"Over ma twice dead body!" he vowed, and ran from the
room.

Blue held back a few
moments, fighting back tears demanding release. Reith's fear was
her own, its blackness bleeding into her soul.

"Not this way," she
whispered, trembling uncontrollably. "I can't lose you again, you
sorry wart!"

Loving and hating her
estranged husband had been her life's blood far too long. She would
not let him die. Could not let him die until she was free of his
hold on her.

But according to MoNae they
were bonded everlasting.

"Damn you, Reith," she wept,
and flew from the room.

Chapter 12

Taryn wandered aimlessly,
noticing little around her, nary a thought intruding. She gave up
trying to justify the gargoyle's betrayal of her trust. Such was
life. A lesson she well deserved.

She wasn't sure how long she
had been traveling. Perhaps days, or weeks for that matter. She
would nap, awaken, seek pods to eat along the pools, and walk. The
aloneness seemed right. Comforting.

The descent to the river was
not as arduous as one might believe. The frothing water pounding
over rocks and around Olympian spiraling columns, stretched a good
twenty feet across. The misty air was cold but refreshing, and she
hiked along the river's edge until a harmony of sounds caught her
attention. She came to a bridge of quartz-crystal and crossed it,
the white-green glowing moss lighting her way to an area of
isolated cones of limestone and gypsum. The melody beckoned,
reminiscent of a thousand angelic voices.

Beyond the cones, she
descended into an enormous helictite chamber, the calcite
stalactite defying gravity and growing in every which direction.
She passed hot springs and verdant growth, none of the plants
familiar.

She came to a crawlway and
concluded the singsong sounds came from the other end. The rock
floor was relatively smooth and as she progressed, other sounds
tweaked her curiosity. She climbed from the thirty-foot crawlway
onto an escarpment, the view so incredible she found it difficult
to breathe. Across the gigantic chamber, a wide, glorious waterfall
cascaded from the ceiling two hundred feet above her, and tumbled
to a wide pool at least two hundred feet below. Countless pinpoints
of sunlight streamed from the ceiling, casting branching crystals
hanging like stalagmites, trees and ground vegetation into golden
splendor.