Breath of Yesterday (The Curse Series) (5 page)

“What exactly do you mean?”

“Well, I might not be familiar with Roy’s mysteries, but I have ears. People from the Highlands have been telling one another legends for as long as I can remember. And this young Scot right here who looks like he’s in his early twenties—when exactly was he born?” With her eyebrows raised and finger extended, she demanded full disclosure.

“In 1721,” Payton replied with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“So there you have it. That’s the stuff legends are made of. There are gaps in the fabric of time, ken? Roy, how many legends talk about creatures from another time traveling to visit the human realm?”

“Well, there are a few.” Roy nodded, only to object right away. “But those are old stories without any tangible proof.”

“Ha! That’s where you’re wrong! When I was a child, my mother always warned me to never play too far away from the house. Otherwise the fairies would come and get me—just like they had this American lady who disappeared without a trace by Craigh na Dun. Three years later, dressed in rags, she turned up at the exact same spot where she had disappeared. It caused a real sensation and was all over the papers at the time.”

“Still, that’s no proof at all.”

“All right,” Sam said, “let’s pretend for a second that Alison is right and that there exist tears or openings in the fabric of time. How would we go about finding them? And how would we
operate
them? How could we possibly find answers to these questions?”

I couldn’t believe that we might waste our energy on something as silly as that, especially with Payton’s life on the line. On the other hand, a Scottish boy, damned to eternal life, was enough for me to look at outrageous things like time travel and witches as something within the
bounds of possibility
. As I had experienced firsthand, more things existed between heaven and hell than we could possibly imagine. Something like time travel almost seemed trivial in that regard.

“None of us has any knowledge of such things, but we can try to find out if there is a chance,” Roy declared. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and uncover something, but even then there’s no guarantee that it’s true and that Payton can in fact be saved. But it’s worth a try, so let’s get to work.”

Two hours later back at the castle, Payton and I sat with Sean in the Great Hall. Old books and scrolls were piled high on the big banquet table in front of us.

Since we now had a starting point, we all felt much better and had quietly decided not to give up. A freshly delivered pizza was to feed us for the next few hours so that we could put all our focus on our research.

“Time travel?” Sean pondered. “That seems a bit unrealistic, even to me. Are you sure we’re not wasting our time here?”

By now Payton had lost all color in his face, and he frequently needed to stop for a break. His fever ran high, and the medication didn’t seem to work at all. We had to hurry.

I pulled the next big tome close to me and flipped open the heavy leather binding. The first page was beautifully written in quill by an artful hand, but I couldn’t decipher any of it. Those Gaelic or Celtic words, written in narrow letters and spread across the entire page, made me groan. I wasn’t of much help, given that I didn’t speak any of the old tongues.

“Anyway, what are we going to do if we really do find a tear in the fabric of time?” I asked, grabbing a slice of pizza.

Sean looked up from the book in front of him and, in turn, snatched a slice of pizza from the box. Payton, who was soaked in sweat, walked around the table and sat down beside me. I thrust my half-eaten pizza slice into his hands and took a fresh one from the box.

“I would of course try to get Vanora’s blood somehow,” he said out loud.

“How do you imagine that?” I asked. “Do you want to walk up to her and tell her you’ve come from the future and that her blood is your only hope? Makes no sense! Besides, what would you then do with her blood? Drink it? Eww!”

Payton shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Sean was already on his second slice and pointed the floppy end of it at his brother. “That’s not how it would work. Right now you’re in no condition to pull off something like that. Travel back in time? I mean, look at yourself! You need to conserve your energy, and there’s no way you’d be able to face any of the dangers that we used to experience back in the day. No way.”

“But I have to at least try. I have no other choice!”

I pressed Payton’s hand in encouragement. If we got to a point where we found a way, he would be capable of doing whatever was necessary. I was sure of it.

We kept working for a while without any real results. Then Sean suddenly stopped.

“Did you find something?” I asked, jumping from my seat. Even Payton looked up anxiously from his papers.

“No, unfortunately not. But I was just thinking what would happen if one of us really were to travel back in time. Imagine if we could save Kyle’s life! Maybe even stop the attack on the Camerons. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?”

“Fantastic…sure, but maybe also disastrous, wouldn’t you think? I mean, who knows what might happen if someone were to change history,” I reminded them.

“I’m not sure. What do you think might happen? Could we perhaps undo the terrible harm we did that night?” he reflected.

“Yes, but then what about me, for example? I’m a descendant of Muireall Cameron. She married an American after she escaped. If she doesn’t escape, if she never makes it to America, will I even be born? And what about my parents and grandparents? Will I meet you guys? Or, I should rephrase my question: Would I even have met you last summer? You two wouldn’t be alive today if the massacre had never happened and Vanora had never spoken her curse. I think it’s very risky!” I pointed out, slowly getting angry. Because, seriously, all I needed now was a sudden end to my existence thanks to a change in the historical timeline.

“Sam’s right,” Payton agreed. “If we do find a way to accomplish the
unimaginable,
we will also need to think about the personal responsibility that goes along with it.”

I suddenly remembered something else that lacked any scientific evidence whatsoever but seemed logical all the same.

“Um, I’m not sure, but I remember that in
Back to the Future,
Marty McFly was not supposed to meet himself. What do you think about that? Shouldn’t we be extra careful, too?”

Payton smirked. “Oh yeah, sure—there it is: definitive proof that time travel is possible. After all, Michael J. Fox did it several times!”

Even Sean burst out laughing before burying his nose again in the book on his lap.

“You guys are idiots!” I shouted. But I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, either. “Seriously, though, we have to try to not leave any footprints.”

Payton stared at me in disbelief.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” he called out. He’d raised his eyebrows so high that they almost met his hairline. “You don’t seriously think that I would agree to your doing something this crazy and highly dangerous? Let me be very clear about this, Sam,
mo luaidh
. I am in this…let’s call it a
regrettable
circumstance that will soon lead to my demise…because I saved
your
life. And now you think that I would agree to your carelessly risking your life for
me
? No, my dear Sam. If necessary, I will personally lock you up in the dungeon that—yes—does exist in this castle. I will do that if it’s the only way to stop you from doing something stupid. Am I being clear?”

He stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at me furiously.

Sean’s barely restrained laughter from behind a discolored parchment scroll destroyed the poor illusion of Payton uttering a threat, and I gave him an amused wink.

“All right, all right. Calm down already. But do you think you and Sean could maybe try not to reinvent life on this planet by way of some history-changing, space-time-bending maneuver?”

Sean peered at us over the edge of his document and decreed, “I will lock both of you in the dungeon, because I’ll be going alone. And yes, I’ll make sure your cute little butt doesn’t dissolve into stardust.”

With that, he turned his attention back to his parchment.

“What do you mean you’re going alone? Are you nuts? Did you forget that I’m the one who needs this blood?” Payton exclaimed. He walked around the table and reached for the document Sean was hiding behind, when Sean suddenly stood up and shrunk back.

“Wait, wait! I’ve got something!” he called out, wiping several papers off the table to make some room.

“Here, take a look at that! Maybe it’s something!”

We immediately stuck our heads together to examine his find. The old document might help us save Payton. My palms began to sweat from the excitement. That inner Indiana Jones of mine was sick of dusty old books. He was ready to pull out his bullwhip and fight. Payton and I looked at each other over Sean’s head. I took his hand, and his smile made me incredibly happy.

“Come on, you guys, look!” Sean demanded, pointing at several words he deemed important.

“What does this mean?” I asked.

Payton was fully immersed in the content, silently mouthing the words he read on the parchment.

Without looking up, he explained, “It’s an old legend. The legend of the five sisters of Kintail.”

“A legend about what?”

I silently cursed my ignorance. What the heck was written in that text? It was like pulling teeth with these guys! Payton had already advanced by a few pages, and when he reached the end, he smiled at his big brother.

“Yep, there could be something to it,” he admitted.

“For crying out loud, will you tell me already!” I demanded. “What secret are these five sisters guarding?”

Talking about the old legend in detail made time fly for the three of us. It was deep into the night when we finally parted, tired but full of newfound hope.

Payton and I crawled into his warm, cozy bed and cuddled up to each other. We were unable to find sleep despite our exhaustion.

“Tell me again,” I asked, afraid of missing anything significant. Besides, the legend was so extraordinarily beautiful that I’d almost cried when Sean had translated it for us.

I caressed Payton’s chest, touching the scar under his heart. It was still fresh and pink. His chest trembled as he started to talk.

“The legend of the five sisters talks about a long-ago man who lived near Kintail with his five daughters. People said that he was a druid. He was also said to be so protective of his daughters that they grew up full of innocence—but also very unaware and ignorant. All of them were said to be exceptionally beautiful. So beautiful that no man from around there would ever dare to talk to these girls. Men were also very afraid of the girls’ father.

“One day, the man sent his daughters to the loch to catch some fish. That day was to become the tragic day of their doom, because evil awaited them in the shape of two handsome men. The two oldest sisters had stayed behind on the shore and, when the men approached and introduced themselves, the girls immediately fell for their flattering words and good looks. Because they had never seen the face of evil, they were unable to recognize it. It was easy for these warriors from a faraway place to deceive the beautiful girls and steal their hearts with false promises.