Prologue I - Kaitlyn

Magnus was sitting in the sand, while Isla and Zoe splashed around in a tidal pool. I was crouched nearby sifting through shells looking for shark teeth.

Everyone else was under umbrellas: Jack napping beside Noah on a beach towel, Quentin, Beaty, James, Sophie, Hayley, Fraoch, Zach and Emma were on beach chairs. Ben and Archie were swimming with Lochie.

We had come down here for a day of fun because Ben and Archie told us we were "boring" and that all we did was "lie around and do nothing."

They were right, we had been resting from the shifting craziness of the last long, time shifting, terrifying months. We deserved the rest, it was only about a month since we kicked ass in 1557, since we were separated through time, losing memories, since the world had been shifting.

Everyone looked relaxed on their beach chairs, a little tan, laughing as we talked about little-nothings.

Magnus splashed a hand in the water of the tidal pool a few times, watching the ripples. "This is the life, we canna want anything else in the world."

Fraoch said, "Aye, tis the best place on earth. I am never leavin'."

James held up a bottle of beer. "Definitely. We should come out here every day and just do this, no more crises."

Quentin squiggled his toes into the sand, his eyes closed, his hands on his belly. "Amen to that, not doing anything but this from now on. We've earned it. I'm retiring." He pulled his hat down over his eyes.

Magnus said, "Ye arna goin' tae be my Colonel anymore?"

Quentin flicked the front of his hat up a bit. "I'm still your Colonel, but you're retiring too, we're all retiring, this is our new normal."

The rest of us raised our drinks. Zach said, "Good, retiring sounds great." Then he joked, "What does everyone want for dinner?" We all laughed.

Then we fell quiet. Lochinvar returned from the beach and shook, showering us, then dropped to the sand, getting it all over him."What are ye talkin' about?"

Magnus said, "How much we are enjoyin' that we are restin'."

Lochie nodded. He opened the cooler, grabbed out a soda can and opened it, spilling some on his legs. He drank with big gulps then burped.

Hayley said, "Lochie!"

"M'apologies, Madame Hayley."

We grew quiet again. Then he said, "But we ought tae do somethin'."

Magnus nodded. "Aye, we ought tae... I hae been wonderin' does the path still go back past 1557 all the way tae 1290? Last we checked it did, and it bothers me that we hae such a long stretch of timeline tae protect... it weighs on me. But then with all the loops and shifts recently, and usin' the Bridge, it seems things might hae changed — we ought tae test how far back the time travel path goes."

Quentin flicked the front of his hat up. "I'm in. I'll test. James, you in?"

"Yep. I'm in, leave tomorrow?"

Quentin said, "Return the next day. Or someone comes to rescue us with the Trailblazer."

Fraoch said, "I am Trailblazer rescue team. Ye on m'rescue team, Og Lochie? I warn ye, tis a horrible experience."

"Aye, ye will need m'help."

Magnus said, "Och, for a bunch of men who were retired a moment ago, ye are all rarin' tae go now!"

So that was how we sent Quentin and James to use the vessel to test the timeline. They were going to go to October 28, 1557, first. If the timeline was open they would be able to go farther and farther back, we had a list of places and dates.

If the timeline was closed down, they would be stuck there without a vessel and wouldn't be able to get home.

If they didn't come home we would know, we would mount a rescue with the Trailblazer, using the dates to look for them.

This was the royal we, it was Fraoch and Lochinvar who would blaze the trail.

The following day we had stormy weather, big dark waves, howling wind, spraying sand, we waited, it was nerve wracking, and they didn't return.

The next morning at dawn, Fraoch and Lochinvar left to go rescue them with a vessel and the Trailblazer, headed to the first of the agreed upon dates.

I felt awful for them when they left, because the Trailblazer was notoriously awful to use. Fraoch said, "Maybe they will be there on the first date we check, maybe we winna hae tae use the agony machine."

Lochinvar said, "Twill be nothing."

I expected that I would feel the Trailblazer at work, a splitting headache and the electric feeling, but no, nothing.

It was another night of worry, but at dawn we heard Zach, "They're back!"

I got up, bleary-eyed, and pulled on a robe, following Magnus downstairs.

Magnus grabbed his keys and went to go pick them up from the beach.

All us adults were up, waiting. Zach made coffee. While he dumped spoonfuls of coffee into the maker, he said, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, we hope it's zipped up. I can deal with the eighteenth century, a bit of the seventeenth, I'm not a fan of the sixteenth, but fine, we can deal, but I don't like having the middle ages to contend with."

They returned a while later, wet and cold. We met them in the foyer, and wrapped them in beach towels. Quentin said, "Well, the timeline shifted back, we can't go past November 1, 1557."

James said, "It was an easy test, we went to October 29, and got stuck, first jump. We camped for three nights, woke up the morning of November 1, 1557 and Fraoch and Lochie were there."

Lochie said, "We dinna even hae tae use the Trailblazer, tis too bad, I was lookin' forward tae it."

Fraoch said, "Och nae, ye werna lookin' forward tae it. I ought tae hae let ye use it for a try, let ye see how God-awful tis."

Magnus dropped his keys into the bowl on the table by the door. "Except using the Trailblazer would open up the timeline again, nae we are glad tis closed."

James said, "November 1, 1557 is the end of time for our purposes."

Magnus said, "This is good news. There are centuries we daena hae tae think on, we are not responsible for them, we canna shift them or change them. We hae our timeline settled, our enemies vanquished, we are in a time of peace. Tis all good."

Quentin joked, "Now we can retire."

Magnus laughed. "Did I mention I ought tae go check in with Lady Mairead at my kingdom?

We all groaned.