Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Mom peered at Emma with growing horror. “You raised monstra?”
“Well, children aren’t monstra. They’re just children,” Emma chided, and color flushed my mother’s cheeks. “Rebels captured me. I escaped. I would’ve gone back to the village for my boys, but Elowen instructed me to guard Hakeldama’s queen instead. So that’s what I’m doing.”
Breath stalled at the name. Elowen, Elowen. Had I heard it before? Maybe. Maybe not. “One of your boys is here, in the barn. He’s an adult now and covered in metal. Frozen.”
“So I’ve been informed,” Emma replied, still unconcerned. “Sit. We’ll eat soon.”
“I’m confused,” Mom muttered. “The boys were children when we left Hakeldama, but now they’re adults?”
“I’m sure Rye will explain once she’s fed. Sit,” Emma repeated.
Unsteady legs carried me to the table, where I eased into the chair across from my dad. He watched me, curious and observant, but silent, unnerving me.
I trailed my fingers over the chain hanging from my neck and pulled the compass from beneath my shirt. My connection to Jasher.
Mom squealed a little. “The compass.” She dropped her utensils, slid off the stool, and waddled over. “Where did you find it?”
I glanced at Emma, who was humming and flipping pieces of toast, now in her own little world. “A water maiden gave it to me. Jasher—my friend—recognized it as the compass Emma wore.”
My mother frowned at the water maiden. “I’m confused again. You wore the compass?”
“I did. During my years with the boys, for a purpose that has now been fulfilled.” Emma reached into the oven and removed a dish—without mitts.
“But Elowen gave it to me before I married Ahav,” Mom muttered, brow furrowed.
Emma just smiled.
Once again, the name prodded at me. “Who is Elowen?”
“The water maiden queen,” Mom and Emma replied in unison.
Excuse me? “Queen?!”
They ignored me. “I gave the compass to Ahav mere days before I traveled here,” Mom continued, gently tracing her fingers over the rusted metal. Tears filled her eyes. “When last I saw this, it hung from his neck.”
Desperate to soothe her, I removed the necklace from its perch around my neck. “It’s yours. My gift to you.”
“Truly? Thank you!” Her sorrow melted away. She anchored the jewelry around her neck and returned to her companion’s side, beaming.
Emma patted her shoulder. “And now, I’ve answered all I wish to answer for the day. If you’ll excuse me.” With an incline of her head, she strolled off.
I didn’t let myself call her back.
Mom reached for the dish her friend had pulled from the oven, intending to lift it.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” My father hurried over. He picked up the platter, hissed at the heat, then donned mitts and tried again. He set it on the table.
My mom waddled behind him. “Emma traveled with me through the waterway,” she said, easing into the seat next to my dad’s while making an adorable, scrunchy face.
Waterway, waterway. Earlier, she’d said, You sent me through a door between worlds.
Were they one and the same?
“She’ll help me return to Hakeldama after the baby is born,” Mom added.
Uh… Should I tell her she stays here to raise her daughter?
Nope, no upsetting her. Lips zipped.
The indomitable Daniel Shaker placed the remaining dishes on the table and reclaimed his spot. “So what’s your story, Rye?”
A note of suspicion buzzed in his voice. I could lie, but that would only create distrust between us. Besides, we both prized honesty. It was a necessity for any successful relationship.
“It’s confusing,” I warned, deciding to omit the most upsetting details.
“Tell us anyway.”
Here goes. “I’m a time-traveler from the future. That’s why the timeline is off.” Both parents frowned. After that, words spewed out lightning fast. “I was born here. In Ozworld, Kansas. Twenty years from now, I will travel to Hakeldama via a tornado. For me, that’s already happened. Yesterday, I returned here, to Ozworld, via another tornado. But I arrived before my birth.” A big hint. Would Mom catch it? “From what I’ve pieced together, I’ll return to Hakeldama and meet you in your past.”
Silence held the entire room in a vise.
“See. Confusing,” I grumbled. “I’m still trying to make sense of it.”
She blinked rapidly while my dad leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin.
“There’s a legend in my husband’s family about time loops producing many versions of the same royal, and one defeating the big, bad,” Mom said. “But I never thought…had just assumed…”
Time loops? Instantly snared, I beseeched, “Please tell me everything.” Like, there were other versions of me running around?
“I remember…” she rubbed her temples. “A water maiden is involved. Yes! And a spark.”
So Ian hadn’t chosen the time of my landing; a water maiden had? But which one? This Elowen? Iris? And what that mean, a spark?
Mom pursed her lips. “Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” She stood and shuffled from the room, leaving me alone with a man who didn’t know who I was to him, either, and it killed me a little inside.