Across Time Part 36

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"What do you mean? I thought this was it for me."

Ceara grinned. "You are a quester, Jessie Ferguson. That means others are likely to call on you in similar situations. You may never see Cate or Maeve again, but that doesn't mean your days of serving are over."

Jessie perked right up. "Really? You mean this isn't the end?"

Chuckling, Ceara patted her shoulder. "My dear, this is just the beginning."

Getting to the Isle of Mona took less time than they thought because the Chieftain had given them his swifter horses, and because Druid magic was, after all, magic. Once they were back in Fennel, they collected all the remaining Druids and headed desperately for the coast.

"He ought to have followed us," Lachlan argued. He had done everything but beg the Chieftain to turn his troops toward the coast, but the Chieftain had other plans. He did not wish to fight on the water, choosing, instead, to come at the Romans from behind.

"I do not think he believed the whole notion of flat-bottom boats,"

Cate said.

Maeve nodded. "Just the thought of a boat having a flat bottom was too foreign to him, but he is surely not to blame. It is as strange to him as the idea of man in flight."

"In all the years, we have never led him astray. He should have believed us. He should have faith." Lachlan shook his head angrily and pounded his fist into his palm.

"It is his job to do what he thinks best for our people, Lachlan. You must respect his position."

"That he would let us go to Mona to fend for ourselves while he does what? Wait to battle? The battle is to be on Mona! He believed us not, or he would be acting along with us. Does he truly believe we can push the Romans out of Britannia? According to Cate, we are to suffer huge losses, and yet, he does not follow? The Chieftain is a dolt."

"Lachlan!"

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"Spare me your plat.i.tudes, Maeve. The man is short-sighted and he's led us straight into a trap."

"He may be short-sighted, but we are not. If anyone can save those sent to Mona, it is we. Stop your fretting. It does us no good."

They rode a few more hours before finally reaching the coast.

Lachlan went to the small fis.h.i.+ng villages of Ness to see about arranging a boat to the Isle of Mona. No longer wearing his Druidic robe, he had difficulty convincing the fishermen he was who he said he was. The people were justifiably suspicious of everyone claiming to be a Druid since the practice had been outlawed four years ago.

When he returned, he told Cate and Maeve they could cross in the morning, and would be able to leave their horses in the stables overnight.

"Have they seen any boats at all?" Maeve asked.

Lachlan shook his head. "Nothing. I did ask him about flat-bottom boats and he laughed outright. Apparently, he does not believe they would float." Lachlan cut his eyes to Cate, as if beginning to doubt the possibility of flat-bottom boats.

"Our job, Lachlan," Maeve lectured, "is not to doubt the information we have received, but to put it into action. If Catie says the Romans are going to walk across the water with camels on their backs, then our job would be to stop them before they got there."

Lachlan sighed. "I apologize, Maeve. Twelve hours in the saddle has made me somewhat irritable."

"We shall bed here tonight under the stars and leave for Mona at first light. Maybe then your intolerance will diffuse a bit."

It didn't take Cate longer than four deep breaths before she fell fast asleep. She dreamt of many things-of deer running through the forest mist, of digging beneath a large round rock, of an eagle soaring, and something-something that ripped her from her sleep.

As she stood looking into the hills, at the eagle, at the deer, at the thing coming directly at her, Cate's breath caught in her throat. A large red and gray chariot pulled by two broad-chested mares rode out of the sunset at such a speed it was all too quickly upon her. Driving the chariot with the reins in one hand and a spear in the other was a tall, *

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broad-shouldered woman with long flaming locks trailing behind her.

She held the spear high above her head and let out a huge war cry before slowing down long enough to stare into Cate's face. The woman grinned conspiratorially, slapped the reins against the horses, and took off-but not before looking over her shoulder at Cate and yelling one word that reverberated through the air.

"Boudicca!"

Jessie slept better than she had in many nights. The large four- poster bed engulfed her like the feather comforter lying at the end of the bed. When she finally woke from a dreamless sleep, it was twelve hours later.

Slowly rolling out of the big bed, Jessie started downstairs and was met by the delicious aroma of bacon frying and coffee dripping.

"Ceara?"

When there was no answer, Jessie poked her head into the kitchen and was surprised to find Tanner standing at the stove. Jessie immediately tried to straighten up her hair, but she knew it was to no avail. She had bed head and there was no turning back.

"Hey," Tanner said, flipping the bacon over. It was the first time she'd seen him without his black leather jacket and she was somewhat surprised by how fit he was.

"Hey yourself. How'd you get in here?"

"Ceara called me this morning and asked if I'd make you breakfast.

She was worried you weren't eating."

Jessie looked over at the stove. There were scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and coffee, all of which smelled divine. "Coffee would be great."

Tanner poured the coffee into one of the whale mugs and handed it to her.

"Where did you learn how to cook?"

Tanner poured himself a cup. "I was a short-order cook at Denny's on Main Street for a summer. It sucked, but I learned a thing or two."

Jessie wrapped her hands around the mug and watched Tanner *

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finish cooking. "Are you always so nice?"

Tanner laughed. "Hardly. I just know what it's like to be in distress-to feel so out of whack you don't know which way is up. A little kindness is often enough to get your balance."

"Well, I appreciate it. I'm afraid I owe you big time."

"Nah. Call it celestial payback. Ceara helped me when I was at my lowest point. She came out of nowhere, yanked me to my feet, dusted my a.s.s off and helped me get my act together. She believed in me, and sometimes, that's all any of us need to get back on track."

"What was wrong? I mean . . . was it drugs?"

Tanner turned the gas off and dished up two plates of food. "It was everything. The drugs were just a symptom." Taking both plates into the dining room, Tanner set them both on the table that already had fresh flowers in a gla.s.s vase and table settings for two.

"Did you bring the flowers, too?"

Tanner nodded. "Madame loves fresh flowers. She believes they still have a certain energy that changes the ambiance of every room."

Jessie yawned and stretched. "I never would have guessed you and Ceara were so close."

Tanner sat down opposite her and took a bite of bacon. "No one would. She knew I'd have no friends if people thought I hung out with the town looney, so it's not like we broadcast it." Tanner held his hand up. "And before you get all self-righteous on me, it was her plan, not mine."

Jessie tasted a forkful and nodded. "It's good."

"Thanks."

"But if it wasn't the drugs, what was it that took you to such a dark place?"

Tanner moved his hash browns around his plate before looking up and exhaling loudly. "Madame says you can be trusted. With anything."

"I can."

"She a.s.sured me you would never betray my trust."

Jessie set her fork down. This was something very important he wanted her to know. "On my word of honor, Tanner, whatever you tell *

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me stays with me."

He grinned sheepishly. "It first started when I was about six. I thought it was fun to pick up on people's feelings, to know their state of mind or emotional state before they even spoke it. But as I got older, I could not control it, and the emotions I was receiving became overwhelming, nearly driving me insane. What was fun at the beginning quickly became a curse."

"What is it?"

Inhaling deeply, Tanner looked out to the ocean for a moment before turning his eyes to Jessie's. "I am an empath."

"A what?"

"An empath. It is the emotional equivalent of a mind reader, only I get vibrations from people and these vibrations translate in my mind as emotional energy."

"You mean, you can tell how people feel?"

Tanner nodded. "Yes."

"Wow."

"But the problem was, the older I got, the less control I had. I was going crazy hearing everyone's vibrations. The only thing that blocked them out was dope. So, at the age of ten, I was smoking dope as a means of escaping the power I'd been born with."

Jessie leaned back, speechless.

Tanner shrugged. "I know. It's sorta hard to believe, but you know how it is. Any supernatural or preternatural abilities are either magic tricks or outright frauds. We may not kill people with extra senses, or burn them as witches, but we do everything we can to break their spirit."

Jessie could only stare at him. She thought she was different. "So, you smoked dope to escape these vibrations."

Tanner nodded and finished his bacon. "When I was fourteen, I ran, literally ran into Madam. I'd just stolen a watch from the store to sell so I could buy more dope, and I ran right into her. Knocked her down. She grabbed me and gazed right in my eyes with a look I swear to G.o.d, went right through me. And all she said was, "I can help you.

You don't need to do this anymore. When you are ready to understand *

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what it is that is happening to you, come see me."

"And you did."

"Well, it was a week when I couldn't get any dope and emotions were, like, overloading my circuits. She took me in and taught me how to build psychic walls to keep the vibrations out unless I chose to hear them."

"She taught you how to use your senses?"

"Yeah. That's when my whole world opened up. She taught me that we're all mammals, you know? And mammals in the animal kingdom rely on senses we call instincts, the deer that suddenly raises its head because it feels a hunter nearby. A male animal of nearly any species knows when it's the right time to mate. Jessie, we're just mammals who wear clothes and who pay bills. We claim to be the smartest animals on the planet, but we choose to ignore the other senses that would truly enhance our lives."

Jessie remembered her conversation with Ceara about women's intuition. So much of what she and Tanner said made perfect sense.

"We can't escape the scientific fact that we are mammals, but we do everything in our power to deny ourselves the unproven scientific issue of natural instinct."

"What do you mean, unproven?"

"No one can prove instincts in animals. We call it that, but we could just as easily call it extrasensory perception. Whatever we call it, it's just science guessing at the strange and wonderful phenomena animals use to communicate with each other. Look at all the work we do trying to understand dolphin-speak. It bothers us that we don't know how they talk to each other. We're wasting all this time and money studying their clicks and whistles, when they probably communicate via telepathy of some sort."

"Are there many like you?"

Tanner shrugged. "I don't really know. Madame says there are plenty of psychics who are really clairvoyant. The problem is, there are three times as many phonies who just want to make a buck, thereby invalidating those who truly have the sight."

The sight. Jessie shuddered at the term, hearing Maeve's voice in her *

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head. "Are you?"

"Clairvoyant? h.e.l.l no. I'm just an empath." Tanner chuckled.

"Anything more than that, and I'd have to slit my wrists." He finished his breakfast and set his fork down. "Speaking of which, you better call your folks."

Jessie groaned. "They're at the inn, aren't they?"

Tanner shook his head. "Actually, no. They never came back or I would have woken you up. They must have decided to go after your little brother after all."

Jessie lightly touched his wrist. "Thank you. You're a really good friend, Tanner, and your secret is safe with me."