Emily took Jessa by the arm and led her to the bench beneath the wide antique windows of the pub.Except now, they were no longer antique.They were probably the latest invention in window panes.“You remember me telling you about my great-great-grandmother from Scotland?”
“Vaguely.”
“Well…as it turns out…she was a Spell Weaver.”
Jessa shifted on the bench and fully faced Emily.“I’m almost afraid to ask, but I’ll bite.What is aSpell Weaver?”
“A Mairwen person with an aptitude for magic.”
Pulling together everything she knew of the Weavers and Mairwen so far, Jessa found herself thoroughly confused.“But…your great-great-grandmother isn’t…if she was like Mairwen…Is she still here?Somewhere?”
“She had the goddesses strip her of her longevity because she fell in love with a mortal and couldn’t bear the thought of living on without him.She chose to die the same day my great-great-grandfather did.”Emily stared down at her folded hands in her lap.“They were a rare combination of fated mates—a Weaver and a mortal.Mairwen said it doesn’t happen very often.”
“But you inherited her magic?”
“Yes.”
“Do you feel magical?”Jessa eyed her friend.She didn’t look any different.
“I’m not suremagicalis the word.You know I’ve always driven Mama insane with my intuition.Maybe that’s part of it.Only time will tell.”Emily shrugged.“Maybe whatever I’m capable of is latent—like your ability to heal.That’s why I agreed to train with Ishbel.I’m curious.”
“I wish I could train with someone and figure out that healing thing.I never know when it’s going to work, and when it’s not.”
Emily reached over and squeezed her hand.“I wish you could come with me and train too, but riding a few hours here and a few hours back every day would be quite the commute in this century.”She nodded at Jessa’s flat middle.“And soon, it won’t be recommended.”
“I don’t feel pregnant.”Jessa clung to Emily’s hand with both of hers.“If the goddesses only allow us to visit in Seven Cairns, I may not be able to see you when I need you the most.”
“Don’t invite another day’s worries into today.Mama would give youthe lookright now.Remember?”A sheen of tears made Emily’s dark eyes glisten a deeper shade of brown.“At least we can still visit.Not everyone has that option.”
“I’m going to work on that with Mairwen,” Jessa said.“If this is a way station for us, it should be a way station for all the fated mates.I would think such harmony would not only make the Weaver’s matchmaking go smoother, but it would also give the Veil an extra boost of goodju ju.”
“And from what little I’ve seen, we don’t want that Veil to fall.”Emily patted Jessa’s hand as she stared off into the distance.“Who would have thought?All this?”
“No kidding.”Jessa could feel time slowing, feel it dragging across her and snagging like a hangnail in a sweater.The Weavers were silently telling them it was time for Emily to go.“Where is the curtain you have to walk through to go back through time?”
“The one I used before was in the pub’s back room, but from what Ishbel’s told me, portals are scattered throughout the village.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?What if some unsuspecting visitor wanders through one?”Jessa envisioned a delivery person accidentally passing through to another time.
“A Weaver has to activate them—kind of unlock them and aim them.”
“Then you’ll always have to be the one to come back here, and I won’t be able to travel forward?”That seemed like a recipe for missed visits.What if Jessa needed to see Emily or Mairwen for some unknown reason but couldn’t move past the eighteenth century?
“All you have to do is ask one of the shopkeepers for help,” Emily said.“They’ll open a portal for you, or get a message to me.Whatever you need.You already know them.They’re the same ones you met in the future.”
“Everyone living in the village is a Weaver?”
“Most everyone, from what I understand.Several Defenders live here too.But it depends on the century, which Defender lives where, because they are mortal.”
Jessa held Emily’s hand tighter,feelingtheir time together slipping away.“I hate this, Em.”
“I do too, Jess.”Emily coughed and swiped her fingers across her eyes, trying to hide her tears.“I have to go now.The portal is pulling at me.”She rose and fisted her hands against her middle.
Jessa stood, too, then pulled Emily into a fierce hug.“I love you bunches, Em.”
“I love you more,” Emily said, choking out the words in a hiccuping sob.
“I’m going to stay out here—to make it easier.”Jessa hugged her again, then stepped back.“I’ll see you before too long.Learn some spells to show me.”She didn’t bother trying to dry her tears, knowing it was futile.The way she felt right now, she would never stop crying.“Learn how to conjure up a magic mirror or something so we can FaceTime.”
