***
Mark was waiting in the library with food and coffee, as promised. I settled into a well-padded chair across from him and practically devoured the plate of pizza he handed me.
“Better?”
“Much.” I smiled thankfully.
“Come sit with me?” He moved to a couch that rested in front of a tall shelf of books.
“Sure.” I curled up next to him and closed my eyes, feeling sleepy for the first time since that morning.
“What are we going to do?”
“Right now?”
“About Kahn. And Michael.”
My eyes popped open. I cleared my throat. “We? You want to help me find Mike?”
“We’re in this together.”
“Are we?”
He pressed a kiss to my hair and I noticed for the first time that the room was growing incredibly warm.
“I would like for us to be.”
“To be what?”
“In this thing together.”
“I…” I pressed my lips together, having no idea how to respond to that.
“Do you have any more notes?”
“Yes,” I replied automatically.
“Get them?”
“Sure. They’re upstairs.”
“I’ll wait.”
All thoughts of sleep were quickly forgotten as I darted up the stairs to retrieve the rest of the documents. The thought of joining forces with Mark jumbled my nerves for more than one reason. But no matter how conflicted I was about the latest turn of events, instinct told me that I could trust him.
“Here’s everything that I’ve got. The green gem is called a seeing stone. The woman in town thinks that it’s a summons.” I took a seat next to him on the floor. “I am not sure how it works, though. Not yet, at least.”
We spread everything out on the carpet around us and rested our backs on the base of the couch. Mark grabbed an armful of books and spread those around us as well. We worked until four in the morning before we found what we were looking for.
“Claire. I found something about the seeing stones.”
I set my research to the side and rubbed my eyes. “Anything good?”
“I think so. It says that to answer the summons, the stone must be returned to the same place it was taken from.”
“The meadow.”
“Exactly.” He shook his head in frustration. “But I can’t find anything on the meadow. Are you sure the sign said ‘Triniti Supply’?”
“Yes, and the numbers on the bell were 1784. There’s nothing yet?”
“No, but don’t worry. We’ll find it.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure that Kahn will lead you to your brother?”
“I think so. I think Mike went to challenge him.”
Mark frowned thoughtfully for a full minute before he turned to me.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Your brother does not sound like a stupid man.”
I chewed on that for a while, mulling over the implications. “No, he is not stupid. I have been wracking my brain from day one, and I still can’t figure out what he thought he was doing by coming here. The best I can figure is adventure. This is a hell of a discovery, I will grant him that.”
“Is there any other reason that you can think of to explain why he would have come here?”
“I can’t say for sure, but I think he may have thought it was fate.”
“The game you used to play when you were kids, right? The one about the shape shifter that he mentioned in the notebook?”
I nodded. “That would be the one, yes. It must be coincidence though. Come on, that’s crazy, right?”
“Maybe.”
“Well, I guess that’s something only he can answer. My main concern is where the hell he is right now. The only thing that I can figure is to go to Kahn. He wants my half of the key, I know he does.”
“If Khan had Michael’s…”
The grim expression on Mark’s face spoke volumes.
“No, he won’t kill him…not yet anyway. He’s using him to get me to come to him. How else can you explain my seeing Michael in that meadow, the first time? Miranda thinks it was really Kahn taking his form, and I think she may be right.”
“So do I. So we find the meadow.”
“Right.” I reached for another map before Mark placed his hand on top of mine.
“In the morning. Well,” he amended with a wry glance at the lightening sky outside the window, “later in the morning. Right now, we need sleep.”
“True. We might miss something trying to do this right now.”
“So…bed?” His eyes held mine, warm and steady. I knew what he was asking. I took his hand anyway.
“Yes.”