I am truly sorry to not be there with you.
I know how draining this must be for you.
I always found that the full moon would help to recharge my energies.
Safe travels,
Love,
Adera
Eden
Ifrown down at the note she left me. It doesn’t explain how she managed to get all this evidence and it’s doesn’t even really sound like her. She was never into the mystical or moon worship that I know of so I don’t know why she would tell me…wait…safe travels? Why would she say that? I can’t remember the last time I traveled anywhere except…I bolt in my seat. Holy shit! Could she mean?
“Mr. Dunhurst, do you have a calendar I can look at?”
“Of course, my dear. I will be right back with one.”
I chew on my lip as I run my fingers over her note, picking it apart in my head. The words draining, full moon, and recharge stand out. And safe travels? I think this is code for the mirror and how it works but I just need a calendar to be sure. Mr. Dunhurst is back quickly and he slides a desk blotter-sized calendar in front of me. I track back the days to the one I went through the mirror on and sure enough, it was on a full moon. I count ahead to the next one and breathe out through pursed lips. Eight days. If Adera was really trying to tell me how to use the mirror, then I have eight more days until I can travel back to my men. I turn and beam a smile at my lawyer but then narrow my eyes in thought and tap the file with one finger.
“Mr. Dunhurst, are there any other files that my aunt left for you to give me?”
He ducks his head and that tells me there is.
“Your aunt set certain conditions and dates for items to be released to you. I am bound by her will to carry out the terms of that to the letter. She also said you would understand that the timing for some of these things would have to be right for them to be effective. I’m not sure what that means, do you?”
I consider that and wrack my brain trying to figure out why these things need to be timed in a certain way but come up blank. Clearly my time traveling aunt knew about events that haven’t happened to me yet and it makes me wonder if the mirror allows travel into the future as well as the past.
“I don’t but it gives me comfort to know she’s going to be looking out for me even if she’s gone.”
Eight days. I have eight days to get my affairs in order before I go back where I belong and hopefully, this time I won’t be back.
“Sir, does your firm have a private investigator you can recommend?”
He gives me a measured look. “I take it you wish to have someone looking deeper into your ex-husband?” When I nod, he pushes to his feet. “Let me walk you out. I’ll have my assistant forward you the details.”
Time seems to slow right down over the next week as I finish my preparations. I’ve gone over the contents of my bag, again and again, discarding and adding things to it until I feel like I’m going to go crazy. I’ve been filling hours of my time since I returned with a French language app to try and cram as much of the language into my head as possible. The day of the full moon has me walking Seattle’s streets, soaking up what I will miss once I’m gone, and picking up the last few items I want to take with me.
My cell phone rings as I step out of the jeweler’s where I picked up the small velvet bag of loose cut stones that is now hidden in my bra. If it takes me a while to find my way back to the manor house, I’ll need some form of currency to pay for transportation and the remaining stones can be given to pay for my upkeep. I know my men will be happy to cover my expenses but this way I won’t ever feel like a burden to them. I juggle my shopping bags and the large latte I’ve been savoring as my last cup of good coffee until I can fish my phone out of my pocket.
“Hello?”
“Miss Kelly? Hi, it’s Paul Travis.”
“Mr. Travis, thanks for getting back to me. Have you had any luck tracking him down?”
“That’s why I’m calling. Your ex has left the country. He flew out the evening of your meeting to Switzerland, hopped a connecting flight to Prague and disappeared from there. I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”
I sigh in disappointment. “It’s fine. Thank you for looking into it for me. Please send your invoice to Mr. Dunhurst and he will see to paying it.”
I push my phone back into my pocket and turn for home. I must have scared Troy with my parting question about my family for him to skip town so quickly. I hate that he’ll never pay for everything he did but I’m out of time.
I order in all my favorite Thai dishes for my last modern meal and eat way too much as I scan over the items laid out on my bed that will be going into the carpetbag and the deep pockets of the outfit and cloak I will put on after my last shower. Everything modern has been repackaged or hidden to fit the time I expect to be traveling to. The medicine has all been put in small glass bottles with a cork stopper as well as the few beauty items I’m taking like hair serum, body and face lotion, and toothpaste. The bottles are secured in a thin, lightweight wooden box with linen stuffed around them to protect them from breakage. Hidden under the bottles and packing will be five toothbrushes, two mascara tubes, two eyeliners, and a razor with ten replacement blades. The tablet that is loaded with movies and TV shows, earbuds, and a paperback book-sized solar USB charger will go into an antique-looking book that’s been hollowed out and secured with leather ties to hold it closed. There’s a two-pound waxed canvas bag of freshly ground coffee that I will hoard like a madwoman and only allow myself one cup on special occasions and a small silver single cup mesh filter.
Most of the rest is clothing. I have two pairs of yoga pants and two sets of leggings rolled up tightly. Five bras, five sets of matching underwear, three pairs of fluffy socks as well as three tank tops that will be rolled into two oversized hoodies that have had all the tags and branding removed. Handfuls of thick elastic bands and a few black scrunchies are in another small linen bag. The final two items are a spare pair of Toms shoes with the tag cut off to replace the ones I will be wearing and a pair of weatherproofed leather boots.
I’ve packed these items into the bag countless times until they will all fit with not an inch to spare. I hope the bag will make the journey with me but if it doesn’t, I can live without any of it as long as I have the men I love.
