The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

tell. But while the odds are almost a hundred percent that Dad will come, I don’t know when. It could be a week, next month, or five years from now.”

She shook her head. Years? Did she hear that right? “Why on earth would your dad wait a week, much less a year?”

“He wouldn’t. He’ll leave almost immediately and will ask his brooch to take him to me. But the vortex might not spit him out this month or even this year. Whatever controls the magic will decide when. I can’t explain it any better than that.”

She smacked the side of her head. Maybe the tiny crystals in her inner ears had gotten out of alignment, and she didn’t hear him correctly. “Vortex? Spit them out? What the hell are you talking about? Are you saying the brooch is alive and makes decisions about where a traveler goes—or even when? Or maybe it’s”—she made air quotes—“the man behind the curtain.”

“It could be. We won’t know until we get four more brooches and can open the door in the cave beneath the castle.”

“It’s like you’re speaking a different language. What cave? What door?”

“You’ve been to the castle in the Highlands. Well, there’s an oak door that dates back several centuries. Around the door frame are twelve slots that match the shape of the brooches. The Vikings told Dad that once he fills up those slots and has possession of the torc, which we already have, the door will open to the other side.”

“What’s a torc?”

“A necklace that holds a pendant, and the pendant holds a brooch.”

This was beginning to sound like a sci-fi movie. “What’s on the other side of the door?”

“We don’t know, but I have a theory that it’ll be like Jodie Foster’s experience in the movie Contact. We’ll go through a wormhole like we do when we travel back in time, then walk out on a beach and meet the man with all the answers.”

“Answers to what?”

“Are we alone in the universe? What makes us human? Why do we dream? Are there other universes? How did life begin? What’s so weird about prime numbers? Will we ever cure cancer? What’s at the bottom of the ocean? Shit like that.”

“Seriously?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “It’s possible, but I think we’ll discover the true purpose of the brooches. Who made them, and why the MacKlenna Clan has responsibility for them. And we might even discover how to solve world hunger.”

“That’s a lofty goal.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

JC didn’t say anything for several moments, and she had an itchy feeling there was something else he wasn’t telling her. “Is there anything more I should know?”

He grabbed his saddlebags and removed a blanket, towel, antibacterial wipes, and a Dopp kit. “Yeah, you stink. Why don’t you wash up while I catch a rabbit for dinner?”

“I know I’m filthy, but that’s not what I meant. Is there anything else I need to know about the brooches?”

“There’s a lot we’d all like to know. But that’s it for now.”

She didn’t believe him, but she knew him well enough to know that if he didn’t want to tell her, there was no way to get it out of him until he was ready.

He stood, reached down to help her up, and pulled her into his arms. Her head barely reached the center of his chest. “I’m sorry about this, Ens. If George and I had left the Porcellian Club immediately, we would have stopped your disappearance. I’ll do whatever I can to make it easier for you. However long we’re here, you’ll be my top priority.”

She sighed a breath, and the breeze scattered it into nothing. Maybe JC wasn’t hiding anything after all, and she was just reacting to him and what he knew of the brooches.

“You’ve already sacrificed your future for me. You’ve got to think about what’s next for you, too.”

She took the blanket and Dopp kit and returned to the spot where she’d been spying on him earlier. The wipe had a refreshing, woodsy scent with lemongrass and cedarwood. She started with her face, and the soothing aloe vera and energizing ginseng seeped into her pores. Then she used the dry shampoo and combed it through her tangled hair.

Too bad there was nothing she could do about her filthy clothes. Maybe they could stay here for another day so she could wash her underwear and blouse and spot-clean her jeans.

Just as she finished cleaning up, the tantalizing smell of roasting meat tickled her nose, making her mouth water and her stomach growl. She collected the supplies and returned to the campfire, feeling clean for the first time in days.

JC had skinned, gutted, and skewered a rabbit, then attached each end of the skewer to an upright Y-branch frame to roast.

“How’d you catch that rabbit so quickly?”

He looked up at her, grinning. “When we were kids, my cousins and I competed to see who could catch and skin rabbits the fastest. I’m good, but my cousin Lincoln is better.”

“It smells delicious. My mouth is already watering.”

“It’s going to take a while to roast. In the meantime, you can eat some of this fish, an energy bar, or an MRE. What sounds good?”

She sat down next to the fire to make another cup of dandelion coffee. “Not the fish. I’ve eaten enough of that. I’d like an energy bar if you have plenty.”

“I do.” He dug into a saddlebag and handed her a bar.

“Thanks. Ripping open a package is a nice change from fishing for every meal.” She crunched on the sweet and salty peanut butter and honey energy bar. “Do you know where we are? I know where I’m going, but not how much farther I have to walk to get there.”

JC flipped the rabbit to cook on the other side, then unfolded his topo map. “I landed here”—he pointed—“and followed you to here”—he tapped the map again. “If we continue to follow the river, it’ll take another day or two to