“Well, this is a pleasant surprise.”

Dreary-eyed and still a bit wobbly from sleep, Kate entered the kitchen where Marcus and I sat at the table, a road map of Scotland spread across the top. It was just past nine in the morning. We’d spent the rest of the night catching up while he helped me pack.

Marcus stood the moment he saw Kate and moved to wrap his arms around her just as he’d done me the night before. He really did give the very best hugs.

“You look wonderful, Kate. I’m glad to see you getting on so well.”

She smiled, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. She always tried so hard to stay positive, but every once in a while she couldn’t hide her pain.

“Thank you, Marcus. I’m glad, too. It’s been a long few months, but I’m feeling a little more like my old self every day. When did you get here?”

He chuckled lightly and bared his teeth in embarrassment.

“About three a.m. actually. I’m afraid I gave Laurel quite the scare. I think I’ll run home and get my own bag ready. I’ll let Laurel tell you what’s going on.”

He bent to give her a quick kiss on the cheek before pointing to me.

“I’ll be back to pick you up at two. See you in a few hours.”

Kate waited until he was gone to say anything.

“Well, that was some night, wasn’t it? I went to bed wondering if you two would ever speak again, and I wake up to find the two of you as chummy as ever. What’s going on?”

Setting a cup of coffee down on the table for her, I waited for her to sit down to answer. The moment she was seated, Mr. Crinkles jumped up into the empty chair between us and purred so that I would pet him.

“You know how yesterday you were begging me to get my life back and to leave you be for a while since I don’t do anything for you anyway? Well, you’re about to get your wish. Marcus and I are going back to Scotland this afternoon.”

Kate’s face lit up with excitement. “To visit the castle in the documentary? I really do think it could be just the place to get you writing again. Oh, Laurel, this is wonderful.”

I’d almost forgotten about the castle, but Kate was right. If I was going to be in Scotland anyway, I should definitely pay it a visit to see if it could spark some writing inspiration.

“Well, that castle isn’t actually the main reason for our visit, but I do want to get over to it while I’m there.”

Kate’s smile fell. “Oh. Then, what are you going there for?”

I’d said nothing to anyone about what had happened to me in Scotland, and Kate had been so overwhelmed with her own recovery after the fire that she’d not noticed the hours I’d spent digging for information. It was hardly the sort of story you could tell someone without coming across as insane, but I could see no way to leave without telling her now.

“Would you like to know what happened between me and Marcus all those months ago?”

She nodded and leaned back to sip her coffee.

“So, we had a fantastic trip, but there was something that happened not long before the fire that I haven’t told you about. At one of the castles we visited, I came across this book. You know how I am with books—if there’s an interesting one just lying around, I can’t really keep myself from picking it up. It was the strangest book I’d ever seen. There was a note inside addressed to whoever found it, and it made the point of telling the reader that the story inside was true. Within the first twenty pages, any rational person would realize that the woman’s story couldn’t possibly be true. It was filled with witches and magic and love, and most surprisingly, time travel. I didn’t put the book down until I finished. And then…at the end, there was another note imploring the reader to come and find the woman who wrote it at the inn where her story ended.”

I stopped and looked nervously at my sister. Her expression was entirely unreadable.

She waited a long moment before saying anything. I could see by the way she kept pursing her lips that she was thinking through everything I’d just said.

“Well, did you go and visit with the author?”

“That’s the thing. The inn she mentioned was along a road that Marcus and I had passed many times. It wasn’t there, but the story implied that maybe the inn wasn’t always visible. That when we were meant to find it, we would.”

“Was it there?”

“I don’t know. I got the phone call from Mom about the fire on our way to see. When I got home, I looked for information about this woman, but all I could find was the historical info about a Morna who died back in the seventeenth century. While that would fit with the woman’s story, it couldn’t possibly be the same woman who wrote the book.”

She nodded in agreement.

“Obviously, but you still have to get in touch with her. It’s just all too curious to let sit. I’m sure it’s been driving you crazy all these months—wondering what that conversation would’ve been like had you found her.”

“It has. The thing is…” I hesitated. It embarrassed me to even say the words out loud. “I sort of believed her story. I know it’s impossible, but it just…it felt so real. I don’t know. If you’d read it, perhaps you would be able to say the same thing. Anyway, Marcus knew I believed it, and it worried him. When he saw how much time I was investing trying to get to the bottom of this after we got home, he confronted me. He called me crazy and told me I should drop my plan to return to Scotland to search for the woman once you were well. I think what upset me the most is that I was starting to feel a little crazy myself. I lashed out and pushed him away. I haven’t looked into the woman any further. But then Marcus showed up last night with some very interesting news.”

Kate leaned forward in her seat as her voice lifted with curiosity.

“Which was?”

“He received a letter from someone named Morna, and she somehow knew that he talked me out of returning to Scotland to look for her.”

Kate’s eyes opened wide.

“What? Are you serious?”

“Completely. And it must’ve really gotten to him because he showed up here last night already having booked us on a flight out today. Which brings me to you. I know you can take care of yourself, but that doesn’t mean you should have to. Will you be okay here? I’m not sure how long we will be gone. If you want, I can call Mom. You know she’d be here by this evening if you wanted her to.”

She reached out her hand and placed it on mine as if to stop me.

“Oh God, no. Don’t call her. I’ll be fine. I promise. I’ll call Maggie and she can come and stay with me a few days. Some time alone will be good for me. I miss my independence. It’s time I start practicing doing even more by myself. Just promise me one thing.”

I smiled and leaned forward to hug her.

“Anything. What is it?”

“If all this does indeed turn out to be true…if the woman is some centuries old witch who travels through time, just give me a call and let me know before you go hurtling through to the past.”

I laughed and pulled back assuming she was joking, but there was no humor in her eyes as I stared back at her.

“You don’t actually believe that it could be possible, do you?”

She shrugged. “I haven’t any idea, Laurel, but isn’t it more fun to live in a world where it just might be? Most of what any of us believe about the world is delusional anyway. We might as well believe in delusions that make us smile. The thought of you getting to travel back and get a glimpse of all those wonderful things you write about makes me smile. So…like I said, if it is real, just promise you’ll call me.”

It was the most ridiculous promise I’d ever made, but I couldn’t deny my little sister anything.

“Okay. I promise to call you before I allow a witch to send me into the past.”

She smiled as Mr. Crinkles crawled into her lap.

“Good. I can’t wait to get that phone call.”