Chapter 1

“He was a good looking guy with raven black hair that was so rich and shiny that it made Lance’s gorgeous dark head of hair seem faded.  His eyes were almost the same; captivating and unforgettable in an eerie sexy way that sent chills all over my body,” my best friend, Nora, said as she lay on the bed watching me pull my thick coppery mane of wild curls into a ponytail, “but not the most congenial. He came in and dropped you off without saying much at all.   That mirror was so small.  I don’t know how he managed to step out of it with you in his arms.  First one leg came out, then the other, and then all of him.  He did it with such ease before he took long confident strides across the floor and gently set you onto that bed like you weighed no more than a bundle of linen while telling me that you had to come back due to attempts on your life.  He said that it would take a while for you to wake up and that when you did, you’d have a whopper of a headache.   Then, he walked back to the mirror.  He turned and gave me a nod and a smile that almost stopped my heart before…,”  She splayed her fingers for emphasis.  “Poof!  He stepped back into that mirror and was gone.  Just like that!  I had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming.”

I’d heard the story of how the sexy Scotsman came through the mirror to deliver me multiple times since my return from the past, but I didn’t stop her from repeating it.   I found her enthusiasm and awe over Anton amusing.

It was several weeks since my distant cousin from the nineteenth century, Anton, carried me from the other side of the mirror and brought me back to the future.  By doing so, he took me away from Lance; the man that I fell in love with practically on sight and who I’d only just married.

Lance had taken care to make arrangements for my potential return from the past by visiting a law firm and turning all of his estates over to me.  Nora gave me the paperwork as soon as I regained consciousness after the drink was out of my system.   The drink slowed down my vitals to the extent that the physicians -who lacked modern technology- were unable to detect them and, therefore, pronounced me dead.  Unbeknownst to my enemies, while my mock funeral was taking place, I was being transported back to the future for safety.

She also gave me a private note that Lance wrote in the event that we were separated.  It not only spoke of his love for me, but he mentioned that a box containing magic was hidden beneath the floorboards in the top of the grand mansion that he’d so generously turned over to me.  In this box, he would leave messages for me to keep me abreast of his progress in finding a way for us to safely be together again.  Unfortunately, he neglected to give me the exact location of the floorboard that protected the magic box.

For the first few weeks, I spent a good deal of time searching for a loose floorboard that a wooden box could be hidden beneath, but the house was enormous and the upper level was cluttered and filled to the brim with antiques and collectibles. Clearly, my husband hadn’t taken into consideration any remodeling and such that would happen over the course of centuries that passed between our times. Not only did I not have the strength to move a good deal of it out of my way, but I lacked the time.  Work had gotten crazy.  It felt like the world had gone mad and the call for private investigators was at an all-time high.

Although Lance had managed to manipulate time so that Nora was only waiting the rest of that weekend for either me to come back or for him to return and inform her that I was staying with him in the past, she was forced to call our office and make an excuse for our absence while she waited for me to come out of the induced coma-like state that Anton delivered me to her in.  This made it so that my boss was placed in the position of having to inform an extremely wealthy, impatient, self-indulgent, and overbearing client whose husband’s activities I’d been investigating that he wasn’t having an affair.  He was simply providing his transsexual cousin with emotional support.  Her husband was also giving his cousin financial assistance for his medical transition from male to female by way of her money.  Since his wife was a bigot of the worst kind, he was keeping this factor a secret from her.  Having met with this client on more than one occasion -and finding that I much preferred the husband- I think that it would have been easier for him had he been having an affair.

Needless to say that the stomach flu that Nora claimed we’d both contracted would have been better to actually have endured than the wrath of my boss when I finally did go back to work.

“Why would you think that you were dreaming?” I asked while I held back the smile that was forming with lips that were fresh with a new color lipstick that I was trying out.  “Lance and I went to the other side of that mirror and he came back through it in front of you, didn’t he?  He also said that either I’d come back or he’d come to tell you that  I wasn’t coming back.  Right?”

“Maybe it’s because I didn’t expect you to be brought back by a handsome, six-foot something Scotsman in a kilt with calf and arm muscles made of brick,” she mused. “I don’t know what you’ve been wearing that’s acting like a sexy man magnet, but I want some of it.  First Lance and then the Scotsman.  I can’t wait to see who’s next.”

“No one is next,” I said as I pulled my ponytail tight and slipped into a loose fitting sweater.  “I’m married.  Remember?”

“Married to a man who lives three-hundred years in the past and can’t come forward in time anymore,” she said with sadness.  “What kind of marriage is that?”

“It’s my kind,” I said with defiance as I headed for the bedroom door.  “Besides, I told you already.  He’ll regain his magic at some point.”

“What about the people who want you dead?” she asked. “Anton said that it was a serious situation back there.  Lance may get his magic back, but he still has to figure out how to join you without any of them realizing that’s what he did.  Isn’t his own life at risk too?”

“I need to find that dumb box so that I can see what’s happening,” I complained.  “I could use some help.”

She shrugged.  “I’m free, so why not?”  With a glint of excitement in her eyes, she added, “I love that old place. It’s just magnificent.  I get a thrill every time we go there.  I can’t understand why you don’t move into it.  You are the owner, after all.”

“It holds bad memories for me,” I said with a frown. 

“They can’t be all bad,” Nora mused. “After all, you met and fell in love with Lance in it.”

She was right, of course.  It did hold some very good memories.  Sadly the bad memories were so dramatic that they overshadowed the good ones.

After filling my lungs with air, I said, “Besides, it’s not as convenient as here.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with work.  Driving in from the estate house would only add to a day that is already too long.”

“I hear you on that point, girlfriend,”  she said with a smile. “Maybe we could just spend our weekends there.  The ones that the boss doesn’t make you work on, that is.”

“Ha,”  I said with a sarcastic tone. “If the day ever comes.”

“What’s going on lately, anyway?” she asked.  “I’ve never seen it so crazy at work.  Has the whole of society become sneaky thieves and lying cheaters?”

I shrugged.  “On the bright side, the paychecks are decent.”

She threw her head back in laughter.  “You’re so funny.  Lance left you so much money that you’d never have to work another day in your life.”

“He was big on respecting his inheritance,” I grumbled.  “I doubt he intended for me to become a fat princess spending it all.”

She scowled.  “Not spend it all, but spend some.  I’m sure he didn’t intend for you to not use any of it.”

“I’ll use it for the upkeep of the house and property, but I don’t need it for me.  I make a good living without it,” I insisted.

“At least live in the damned house,” she practically shouted with frustration.

“It’s not…”  I began.

She interrupted me as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up.  “I know.  It’s not convenient.”

I thought for a moment.  She was right.  Lance left me that beautiful house with its grand and gorgeous manicured grounds, yet I continued to live in my small, one bedroom apartment with a few potted plants on the windowsill to represent nature.  Of course, I was also right.  My apartment was more convenient to the office.  Perhaps if I compromised… “Maybe it would be easier if we spent weekends there instead of traveling back and forth.”

She clapped her hands as she followed me out of the bedroom, through the living room of my six-hundred square foot apartment, and into the hallway of my apartment building.

“What’s on the agenda today?” she asked over her shoulder as she bounced down the stairs in front of me like an energetic schoolgirl.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” I asked with amusement since I already knew the answer.

She stopped short on the next to the last vinyl tiled step and turned to look at me.  Her face was pale and her eyes were wide open.  “Is the part of the house where we’re going haunted?”

“You do realize that walls don’t stop ghosts, right?” I giggled.  “If there’s a ghost in one part of the house, it’s in all of it.”

“Don’t tell me that,” she pouted.  “I spent a few days alone in that house.”

“Do you still want to move into it?” I asked with a teasing tone.

She moved to the door and yanked it open.  “You’re picking on me now. You don’t even believe in ghosts.”

I nodded.  “You’re just too easy a target.”

I didn’t bother to tell her that I’d changed my opinion on the existence of ghosts after my encounter with Agatha while I was back in time.  I don’t know why I brought up the topic to begin with.  Perhaps it was my subconscious trying to tell me something.  Like, maybe Agatha was still haunting the house?

Time would tell.