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"I ahosts of London knew my business

"It’s so difficult to tell which of Elizabeth’s prophecies are to be taken seriously when every one of thear" Linda pursed her lips in disapproval, and Sarah nodded sympathetically

"Um, I hate to break this up, but I think y expired" Not only could I seeup--otherwise the babies were in the way), but Monsieur Vallin’s door had utterly vanished

"Expired?" Linda laughed "You ic has a sell-by date"

"I certainly didn’t tell it to stop," I gruain, I had never told it to start either

"It stopped because you didn’t wind it up tight enough," Sarah said "If you don’t give a counterclock a good crank, it runs down"

"And we do recommend that you not stand on top of the counterclock once you cast it," Linda said, sounding a bit like y, then step away from it at the last minute"

"My mistake," I murmured "Can I move now?"

Linda surveyed Playhouse Yard with a crinkled brow "Yes, I do believe it’s perfectly safe now,"

she proclai still for so long hadto explode I propped one of the and bent to loosen the ties on h the bench’s slats I reached down and retrieved a scroll of paper tied up with a red ribbon The fingers on led when I touched it, and the pentacle at my wrist swirled with color

"It’s tradition for people to leave requests for ic in the yard There’s always been a concentration of power associated with this spot" Linda’s voice softened "A great witch lived here once, you see Legend says she’ll return one day, to reain

We haven’t forgotten her and trust that she will not forget us"

The Blackfriars was haunted by my past self Part of me had died e left London It was the part that had once been able to juggle being Mattheife, Annie and Jack’s mother, Mary Sidney’s alche And another part of rave when I walked away from Matthew on the mountain outside New Haven I buried s," I whispered

"No, you dove into the deep end and got in over your head," Sarah replied "This is what Eot involved You both ht about what this relationship was going to require"

"We kneould face plenty of opposition"

"Oh, you two had the star-crossed-lovers part down--and I understand how roainst the world" Sarah chuckled "Em and I were star-crossed lovers, after all In upstate New York in the 1970s, nothing wasin love"

Her tone grew serious "But the sun always rises the nextFairy tales don’t tell you ht light of day, but soure out how to be happy"

"We were happy here," I said quietly "Weren’t we, Gallowglass?"

"Aye, Auntie, you were--even with Matthew’s spy down his neck and the whole country on the lookout for witches" Gallowglass shook his head "How you ed it because neither of you were trying to be so to be civilized, and you weren’t trying to be hu to be Rebecca’s perfect daughter, or Matthew’s perfect wife, or a tenured professor at Yale either"

She took my hands in hers, scroll and all, and turned theainst the pale flesh

"You’re a witch, Diana A weaver Don’t deny your power Use it" Sarah looked pointedly at ed in the pocket of ainst hope it was a kind of e fro The display indicated there was a text waiting froe contained no words that the Congregation could use against us, only a picture of Jack

He was sitting on a porch, his face split into a wide grin as he listened to soh his back was to the ca around his collar--tell a story as only a southerner could Marcus stood behind Jack, one hand draped casually over his shoulder

Like Jack, he was grinning

They looked like two ordinary young h over the weekend Jack fit perfectly into Marcus’s faed

"Who’s that with Marcus?" Sarah said, looking over my shoulder

"Jack" I touched his face "I’lass sniffed "Marcus’s eldest, and he puts Lucifer to sha Jack, but I reckon Matthes best"

"Look at the lad," Linda said fondly, standing so she could get a look at the picture, too "I’ve never seen Jack look so happy--except when he was telling stories about Diana, of course"

St Paul’s bells rang the hour I pushed the button on ain later, in private

"See, honey Matthew is doing just fine," Sarah said, her voice soothing

But without seeing his eyes, gauging the set of his shoulders, hearing the tone of his voice, I couldn’t be sure

"Matthew’s doing his job," I reet back to mine"