Chrysoprase (The Chalcedony Chronicles) (19 page)

“It isn’t, but didn’t you tell him about being able to time travel?” Logan replied. He wasn’t immediately telling me
no
like Seth had.

“Yes, but Seth still doesn’t think it’s safe. I just need to get in and get close to my mom. I have to save her. I can’t let her be sold off to the highest bidder. She’s my mom,” I explained. “Once I get her home, I will come right back here for Seth and Dee. We can take them home also.”

“The plan is your mother, and then get the guys out right away?” Logan asked.

“Yes, can you help me get to her, and then come back and tell the guys what the plan is?” I asked. I would have left Seth a note if they had a pen and paper in the room. One more thing for my list of things the past was annoying about.

“Yes, but what will you do then?” Logan replied. “You need a stone to send her into the future.”

“Which you have, right?” I asked, not giving away the second line on my arm. I had a feeling from his look not even moments ago, that he would not come back for Seth if he had the choice.

“I don’t have it on me,” he replied. “I’ll have to go get it, and some sort of disguise that will allow you to get close to your mother.”

“Fine, but come right back. I don’t know how long Seth will be out with Dee,” I replied. Logan was already fading away. He wasn’t gone for more than two seconds before he returned with clothing that he handed to me.

I took the lighter dress and over tunic. I indicated to Logan to turn around. I wasn’t dressing in front of him, friends or not. Logan complied, but gave me a suggestive smile first.
That was exactly why
.

I got the clothing on quickly with my back turned to Logan. While I was completely comfortable with Seth in the small room, I wasn’t with Logan. He still made me wonder about his motives. He was doing exactly what I asked, but I still was unsure. Something just didn’t seem right. He didn’t even try to bargain, or ask for something in return.

“Now we need to fix your hair, too,” Logan said, stepping closer with something in his hand. He had something dark-colored and stinky. I didn’t ask what, and got the hint at what he was going to do. I stood still as he applied the powdery substance to my hair. There was no mirror in the room, but Logan was happy with the results.

“Then you’ll take me to her? This sounds like a good plan?” I asked.

Logan hadn’t tried to talk me out of anything like Seth did. It was strange. I knew Seth’s intentions were to keep me safe, but Logan was a mystery. He claimed to still love me and want to help me, but had no objections to what I suggested. Maybe Seth was just being overprotective and Logan was not. Maybe my plan was exactly what we needed to do. I couldn’t be sure, and I couldn’t read Logan’s face.

“I promised Ty that I’d help you, and I don’t break promises. I can take you inside the palace, as close to your mom as I can get. You’ll have to do the rest. There are female servants all over the women’s wing. You should fit in fine. Just find your mom and get out of there as fast as you can,” Logan said, offering me his arm.

“And then you’ll get Seth and Dee out of here?” I added the second part of my plan.

“Yes, I’ll get them both home as soon as I see your mother there,” Logan answered.

I took his arm, and we immediately were inside a building. Logan disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, and I was left alone. I didn’t even look around much as I moved quietly down the empty hallway to a place where I heard talking. As I neared a corner, I looked around it carefully. Beautiful arches led into an open courtyard. Women and children of all ages were sitting or running around. There was a pool or fountain of some sort in the middle of the open-roofed room, and several children were playing in it no matter what the mothers yelled to them. Plants grew around the courtyard, and the scent of flowers came from the slight breeze. Outside the arches, just down the hallway from me, were several soldiers walking around with swords hanging from their belts. There was no way I was going to be able to walk by them and not be noticed.

I hid back around my corner. My mother had to be in there somewhere. It was almost like how I could feel Seth; I could feel her now, too. I had the same sort of tingles in my arm, but this time instead of excitement, which was always with Seth’s, I felt more at peace, more like love coming from the carnelian and chrysoprase lines. She was in that room, but so were at least six dozen other people, too. And they were guarded, whether to keep people out or in, it wasn’t a good situation for me. I heard walking down the hallway from behind the guards and snuck another peek. Two women dressed like me entered the open courtyard. Maybe they would just allow me in. I waited a few more minutes because I still wasn’t sure. I needed to see more people enter dressed like me. I needed to do exactly what they did.

Leaning against the wall, I tried to decide what to do. I could just walk past the guards and pretend I was there for a reason, but I was unsure what the women were even doing who were coming in and out of the courtyard. I’d need to know more.

I looked around the corner again to see two more women walking past the guards. It looked easy enough, but that wasn’t necessarily a good sign. They were all going in pairs of two. Unless I found someone to go with, I would stick out. I glanced around the courtyard. It was enormous, and I wasn’t sure where my mother was in the gaggle of women. I pulled back to think more about what to do when I caught a flash of fabric coming around the corner behind me. Someone appeared and squealed at my presence there.

I didn’t even think, but just time traveled between my location and into the courtyard. I ended up in the dark corner that I had been thinking would be a good hiding spot once I was able to get there, but I didn’t intend to just travel there. Most of the women looked to the open arches toward the squealing woman that entered through it. I couldn’t see a single face to look for my mother. The guards had yelled for backup and more men arrived. They stood just outside the arches as the woman calmed down and finally talked to the guards. The room went back into their normal chatter.

The distraction, which I unintentionally caused, gave me time to look around the courtyard from a new perspective. A group of younger women sat the closest to me. I saw all their faces and knew none were my mother. The rest were more confusing as I couldn’t see their faces well enough to even guess which one was my mother. Most of the women had a dark brown color for their hair, but many others had the same red sheen to their brown hair as my mother did. I could see now how Seth said I’d be considered family to these people that I knew nothing about. Several of the women from my view could be my mother, but I wasn’t sure.

“What are you doing here?” a shrill voice asked me from behind. I guess my hiding spot wasn’t as good as I thought.

“Nothing, miss,” I replied, trying to be the dutiful servant. “I’m new here.” I hoped that would be enough of an explanation.

“Where is your trainer, then?” the woman asked, eyeing me over. With the commotion and me being alone, I kind of stuck out like a sore thumb.

“They just left me here to wait for them to return,” I replied. It did seem like a good explanation.

“Then I guess I’ll wait with you,” the lady suggested, not believing me. I now saw exactly how this plan wouldn’t work. Even though the women sat around and didn’t seem to notice the working women that came and went, that wasn’t the case.

“Who are you working for?” the lady asked casually.

I didn’t understand the question. Did she think I was a spy?

“Which lady were you assigned to?” the lady repeated more slowly, like I was dim-witted and didn’t understand her question.

“Hepa,” I spat out. My mother was the only one I knew, and if I said her, maybe this lady would direct me to my mother.

“
Hepa?” the lady questioned, raising her eyebrows.

“Yes,” I squeaked and looked back at the floor. I needed this lady to believe me.

“In that case, we should wait with Lady Saska,” the lady replied with a smile that was not friendly in the least, and I didn’t understand why. There was some joke to her words that I didn’t get.

The lady moved around the edge of the courtyard, and I followed. I had to hope she would lead me right to my mother, and this Lady
Saska would be with her. As we made it to the edge nearest the columns that led out, I still didn’t see my mother anywhere. I continued to gaze about and barely stopped in time to not step on the lady’s clothing in front of me. I hadn’t notice her stopping.

I looked up in time to see we were right next to the lady that had been squealing for the guards earlier. She was the one that saw me spying into the courtyard. This wasn’t good. I needed to get out right away, but noticed that the tips of the lines on my arm were faded. When I jumped into the courtyard, I did it out of instinct and used up some of my time traveling. I’d have to wait to do it again. I was stuck, and my mother was nowhere in sight.

“Lady Saska,” the woman who had been leading me called to the ornately decorated woman.

Lady
Saska was inches taller than the rest of the women and had hair that was a rich chocolate brown. It cascaded in curls down her back and not a strand looked out of place. I could tell now that I was closer, she was the most ornately dressed of all the women, and had jewelry dripping off every place you could put it. Her hair had jewels, her throat had multiple necklaces on it, her wrists chimed with every movement due to the amount of bracelets. Even her dress had stones sewn into it.

Lady
Saska turned to the voice of the woman who spoke.

“I found this trash hiding around the back. I thought maybe she was the one you were looking for,” the lady replied.

I sucked in a breath. I had been caught and not even realized it. I had walked right into this trap. I was unsure now that my mother was really around these women. I let my instincts kick in and messed up again.

Lady
Saska turned her icy blue eyes on me. She scowled and looked closer at me.

“Yes, she looks about the right height,” Lady
Saska replied. “Guards,” she called to the men standing just outside the columns. “Take this servant away to be punished.”

Two men stepped only feet into the open room. They grabbed my arms roughly and pinned them behind me. I didn’t struggle as I had no clue what was going on. I could leave soon, anyway.

“Yes, my lady,” one of the guards replied. “How would you like to be her punishment?”

“Ten lashings should do, and then make sure she spends a week down in the dungeon,” Lady
Saska replied. “We can never be too safe in these difficult times. She might be a spy.”

“I’m no spy,” I answered before one of the guards hit me across the face. My lip cut on one of my teeth and blood pooled in my mouth.

“Only royalty can address our future queen,” the guard huffed. Lady Saska smiled sweetly at the man, like he had just protected her honor.

“I’m no spy,” I repeated, this time to the guard. I stared at his eyes, challenging him to hit me again. I didn’t address their future queen, but I was sure she had heard me.

“I think she was sent here to take Lady Hepa away,” the lady who found me told Saska.

Saska’s
smile temporarily fell at my mother’s name. She looked at me and glared. “I take that back. This one has to be a spy. Lash her until she tells you who she is working for.” Her voice was laced with anger. I thought maybe this lady was really trying to protect her women, but now something broke through her perfect exterior. My arm tingled with that feeling of love again, and I knew my mother was nearby.

“
Hepa is my mother,” I declared. I still felt like my mother was around somewhere. I couldn’t see her, but she was there.

I needed to stall the men from taking me away to be able to see her. My travel powers would be back soon, and I would free her. The Lady
Saska that stood before me was no one that I wanted my mom left around. My mother was a kind, gentle soul. There was nothing kind in this woman even if what she called me could be true, in a way. Perhaps I was a spy after all. My plans were to free my mother, but I’d never admit that. The women had stopped their talking and all stared at us as we spoke with the guards. Now they all whispered between them.

“Impossible,” Lady
Saska replied. “I see we need more punishments to teach her not to lie.” Lady Saska tapped her lips as she thought.

“My mother is
Hepa,” I repeated as some of the whispers grew louder. Many of the women seemed to think I looked like her.

“
Hepa has no children,” Lady Saska repeated, like saying it would make it so. Maybe in her book it did. “Send her to the guard’s quarters first. Maybe you guys can convince her to tell the truth, and if not, then you can just have some fun with her.”

My mouth dropped. This lady was truly evil.

The warm tingles in my arms increased. My mother was around somewhere close.

“Mom,” I yelled over the murmur of the women. They seemed to be just as shocked as I was. “Mom,” I yelled again, as loud as I could.

The guards weren’t waiting for Lady Saska to order us away. They had already begun to drag me out of the women’s courtyard. This time I struggled. My mother was near. Someone pushed aside women in the crowd that were all standing and watching me. The person came closer, and I smiled in relief. I had found her. It was my mother.