“Then I guess if I go down into the dungeon, I’ll go through your magic portal and step out in the Middle Ages, right? Blackbeard and Braveheart and Bonny Prince Charlie?”
“You’re kind of getting your time periods mixed up but basically, yeah.”
“I’m kidding. You think I don’t know about the Middle Ages with a mother who wrote twobestsellers about it all? I know more about the thirteenth century than I do about this one thanks to you. Right, come on then.”
“Come on then what?”
“Let’s get this over with.”
“I swear I’m telling the truth.”
“Then let me make you a deal. If we go down there and there’s no one, you let me walk on the battlements, agreed.”
“I haven’t let you before?”
“Too dangerous,” Tanya said in a decent imitation of her mother’s voice.
“And if he is there like I say?”
“Then we move to the thirteenth century and both get to live happily ever after.”
“Really? You’d do that?”
“What has the twenty-first century got for me apart from school bullies and too much homework? Let’s do this.”
Tanya was already out the door and heading down the stairs by the time Natalie was able to move. Her legs felt like Jell-O.
She could hardly believe this was real. Part of her was sure she was about to wake up with a huge headache from a blow to the skull. Fate could not be this kind. It just couldn’t.
She tried to run, having to grab onto the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over her. When it went, she felt okay at last, taking the stairs two at a time and catching up with Tanya at the bottom.
“There’s no one in there,” Tanya said, turning to look at her from the doorway. “To think I almost believed you.”
“Walk inside.”
“Why? There’s no one there.”
“Come on, we’ll do it together.” She slipped her hand into her daughter’s, took a deep breath, and then walked through the door.
Out of the shadows, figures began to emerge, figures she knew very well.
“Who’s this?” Tanya asked, gripping her mother’s hand tighter. “Where did they come from?”
“This is the captain,” Natalie said. “This is Daisy and Jock and this right here is the man I was telling you about.”
“You’re real,” Tanya said, prodding Wallace in the chest. “I can’t believe it, you’re actually real.”
Wallace looked down at her for a long time before glancing up at Natalie. “Who is this?” he asked, looking as if he already knew the answer.
“This is my daughter, Tanya,” she replied with a grin. “And she needs to stop prodding you.”
“Any chance we can do the introductions somewhere that doesn’t smell quite so bad?” Tanya asked, wrinkling her nostrils. “Come on, upstairs everyone.” She waved her arms and they willingly let her herd them up the stairs. Last out of the cell, she pulled the door closed.
Natalie heard it shut and almost said something but then decided not to. It was done. They were in the past. Except it wasn’t the past anymore. In the blink of an eye, it had become the present. It had become their time.
Upstairs, they headed into the great hall, sitting together along one of the trestle tables that lined the wall. The conversation began to flow as Tanya talked to everyone at once.
Natalie found herself sitting between Daisy and Wallace who was patiently answering a never-ending barrage of questions from Tanya.
