Chapter Forty 

After dinner, the men remained in the hall drinking and talking. Melinda followed Lucy into the solar.

"Dinner was delicious."

"Thank goodness merchants come through frequently with spices. They're ghastly expensive, but William has loads of money and doesn't care how much I spend. He's grown quite accustomed to some of the dishes I've made."

"Your fried chicken rocks. Don't you worry about changing history?"

"For a long time I did. Then I decided the things I do are so small it doesn't matter. At least, that's what I hope."

Lucy chuckled.

"William said James is even richer than we are."

"I don't care. Although I'm glad I didn't come back and end up with a peasant. They have a hard life."

"Money always makes things easier, no matter what time you live in. I didn't care much about money in our time. But here, it can make your life comfortable, and I've grown used to it."

"What do you remember about traveling through time?"

Lucy's face turned pale.

"There was a storm. I remember the lightning. Of course, you have to remember I was drugged, so everything seemed like I was in a movie."

Lucy's hand trembled as she took a drink.

"There was also a raven. I swear I saw the same raven a hundred times before and after I traveled through time."

"I've seen a raven too. Lots of times. I believe he helped me find your letter."

"What's the deal with the bird?"

"I have no idea," Melinda said. "But he's connected to all of this."

"I also remember blood. There was a strange stain on the battlements of the castle. At first I thought it was some kind of hole in the wall. I grabbed it to try to keep Simon from throwing me over the wall."

Melinda put a hand on her sister's knee. "I'm glad he's dead. He was a horrible person."

"Part of the Merriweather curse. Bad judgment in men, and a terrible sense of direction."

"You're not kidding. When I left Falconburg, I would've ended up in Scotland if James hadn't found me."

"You know, I think the blood is the final piece of the puzzle. The stain on the wall. It was my blood. I thought it was William's all along, but it wasn't. It was mine. When his frenemy Clement stabbed me, I saw my blood on the wall, and that's when the lightning and everything came together at once. I knew I had the choice whether to stay or go. I made my choice, and at the same time William pulled me back."

Melinda vibrated with excitement.

"Something similar happened to me. I found a ring. It had a nick in the band. When I put it on, I cut my thumb and bled. There was a terrible storm. Lightning struck so close to me I thought I was going to fry. When I woke up, I was in the past. And then a few days ago, when James and William had their little tiff, I saw the same ring on James' hand. When that man tried to kill James and cut his hand, that's when I knew…"

Lucy finished the thought: "So we have to have all three. The raven, the storm, blood, and the object seems to be optional."

"We have to figure out how to leave a message for Charlotte without telling the whole world."