Crest (Book #2,Swift Series)

by

Heather London

* * * *

Copyright © 2013 by Heather London

Cover design -
http://www.ravven.com/

Book formatting by
JT Formatting

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

To the readers of
Swift
,

thank you for your support and encouragement.

August 12, 1905

Six weeks and two days. That’s how long I’ve been back in time. That’s how long I’ve been away from all that I’ve ever known
.

I lifted the pen from the page, threw it in the journal and slammed it shut. This was so stupid— writing your feelings and thoughts down in a journal—it never made much sense to me. This was Abby’s bright idea. She insisted that I start writing everything down since there were so many
changes
going on in my life. It was maybe after the hundredth time she asked me how I was feeling and me responding with nothing more than my usual
fine
that she decided to get me this ridiculous thing. It’s a book with blank pages in it... How is it supposed to be therapeutic? However, after her insistent pleading, I couldn’t refuse any longer; finally giving in and promising her that I would try. Sighing loudly, I opened the journal again and attempted this so-called therapy once more.

So where do I even begin? My training is going well. Abby and I are down to a nice routine now—one that starts at dawn every day and ends at sundown. Well, every day, except Saturday. Blake argued with Abby about how I needed at least one day off. I was on Abby’s side. I never wanted to take a break. If there was a spell to cause me to never have to sleep, then I would cast it upon myself, but I’d learned that you can’t cast spells upon yourself, that’s against the rules. Oh yeah, I’ve also learned that there are many rules to magic—rules that the council created in order to keep the magical world operating properly. One in particular haunts me every second of every day. Abby told me that the council’s main concern is keeping the balance in the magical world, that’s why crossing time is not allowed without their permission. So I can’t help but think that me being in 1905 kind of throws off the magical balance, right? So, as strange as this place is, and as much as I’m overwhelmed with everything that’s going on—the thing that I’m most afraid of is the possibility of ever having to leave it. The balance that the council is concerned with can’t possibly allow me to stay here forever. I’m just waiting for the moment the council will transport me back to my time—away from here, away from Abby—and the most frightening—away from Blake. So, for now, I feel like I’m a ticking time bomb that could explode at any second and be transported through a hundred years of time...

With that thought, I slammed the journal shut again
—
just writing that sentence about the council made it feel more real. The council, which my mother was a part of,
could
transport me back to my time at any moment. Sure, in the back of my mind, I’d always known that it was a possibility. The first few days after I arrived here, Blake rarely left my side. I’m assuming that he had the same fear as me, that I could vanish at any second. It was difficult for me to sleep those first few nights. So instead, I laid awake and stared at the ceiling, thinking of all that had happened over the past few weeks, and about the people I left behind back in my time.

Even though I hated thinking about it, I couldn’t deny the fact that Aunt Rose and Jack had to be hurting from my disappearance. I wondered how they felt the moment they realized I was gone and what fears went through their heads. Did they think I was dead or had been kidnapped? Did they call the police? Were there missing person posters hung around Marblehead with my face plastered on them? Had they called Roger? Was he hurting and looking for me, too?

Deep down, I knew it was a real possibility that the council could let me live the rest of my life in 1905 and that I would never return to my time. In a strange way that one thought both comforted and terrified me as much as the thought of leaving did. It scared me to think that I would never see Aunt Rose, Jack, or Roger ever again. It made me sad to know that they would live their entire lives not knowing what happened to me.

It was no secret that things had been tense the last few days I was home. Aunt Rose and Jack came back from their honeymoon to a totally different girl. They couldn’t understand why I had changed in such a short amount of time or why I was acting different. They had no idea that when they were gone, I had learned a lot of secrets about who I really was and who my parents had been.

Maybe I should have left a note telling them what had been going on; why the Harpers were really there—and the truth about me— but I knew that as much as they loved and cared for me, they would think I had gone off the deep-end. If nothing else, I wish I could go back in time and tell Aunt Rose what I really wanted to tell her the night I left. Tell her how much I loved her and how I don’t know what I would’ve done without her all these years. Now, I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to tell her those things.

The sun was rising above the trees in front of me, signaling that my quiet time was coming to an end and my training for the day would soon begin. I stood up from the rocking chair on the front porch, stretched my stiff limbs, and then headed back inside to see if Blake was up yet.

My eyes were drawn to him the second I walked inside.

“Good morning,” Blake said, looking up from the book he was reading. He was sitting on the couch, already fully dressed and ready for the day.

“Morning.” I returned his smile. “I didn’t know you were up, you should’ve joined me outside.” It was a rare occurrence when we got any time alone together and I hated not taking advantage of it.

“You looked as if you were in deep thought and I didn’t want to interrupt you.” A concerned look covered his face. “Everything okay?”

“Fine.” I shrugged, trying to shake off the thoughts I had been writing about in my journal; mainly the one about me ever being separated from him.

He looked unsatisfied by my response and sat there for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should dig deeper, but he refrained. “Are you hungry?” he asked instead.

 “Not really, but I guess I should eat considering I probably won’t get another chance until dinner,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood. I knew he was worried about me... that all of the Harpers were worried about me. It wasn’t difficult to see the way they all looked at me with their faces full of pity.

 “You’re right about that. I believe Abby has another full day planned for you.” He cleared the worried look from his face and smiled again. “You know you’re allowed to tell her to back off when she gets to be too much, right? We all know how she can be at times.”

“She’s really not that bad,” I said, following him into the kitchen.

Okay, that was a small stretch of the truth. When Abby got into her mode of training she rarely gave breaks; let alone enough time for lunch. Abby had been teaching me some basic spells, but she mainly concentrated on spells that would protect me from dark magic. She said my power was a great gift, however it also came with a price. Dark magic would always come searching for someone with my kind of power, wanting to take it from me.

Just as we were finishing breakfast, Abby graced us with her presence. The first couple of weeks after the church incident, Abby had completely shut herself off from everyone. It was easy to understand why she needed time to herself, though. The man she had been trying to bring back from the dark side of magic—the man she had once loved—had betrayed her and tried to have her family killed just to get to me. At first, I wasn’t sure if she would be able to forgive me for what I did that day. Even though Isaac had turned evil and tried to kill me and the Harpers, she had still loved him at some point in time, and I knew she was still reeling from it.