He stared at me, surprised, and I could only stare back at him, wide-eyed and breathless. I still had more than five days left until the switching enchantment wore off and I’d just come close to forgetting everything and making myself a permanent resident of the Middle Ages.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just that . . .” Did I tell him or not? I hadn’t wanted to tempt him with the knowledge of how easy it would be for him to get rid of his enchantment, but he wouldn’t take advantage of me, would he? I could trust him. He’d risked his life to save me from the cyclops . . . Of course he’d needed to kill the cyclops anyway . . .
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I’d waited too long. Tristan supplied his own ending.
“You’re still getting over Hunter?” I hated lying to him, but it was the safest way. I nodded. “I need a little more time before I can get involved with anyone.” Five days to be precise.
I heard someone walking down the hallway and waited for them to pass before I finished talking to Tristan. But they didn’t. They walked right to our door. I heard the innkeeper say, “This here be your sister’s room.”
And then Jane and Hunter walked in.
From the Honorable Sagewick Goldengill To Madame Bellwings, Fairy Advancement Dear Madame Bellwings,
Due to the limitations of the Memoir Elves, there appears to be an essential gap in this narrative. Will you contact Leprechaun Relations and ask them for details regarding the transportation of Jane Delano and Hunter Delmont back in time to the land of Pampovilla?
Yours,
Professor Sagewick Goldengill From Clover T. Bloomsbottle To Professor Sagewick Goldengill Dear Professor,
Some blokes up at the Roadside Tavern said you wanted to know my part in how those two mortals ended up in the Middle Ages. Well, after a series of unfortunate circumstances, I found myself in the land of the Yanks. I made a pact with a mortal girl and she said she’d mail me back to Ireland. Aye—but never trust a mortal—it was just a trick. She trapped me in the box so her sister could find me and demand me gold.
So there I was, trusting as you like, when I heard the tape ripping off the box. Then, sure enough, there were two gigantic heads peering down at me.
“What is that?” the lass asked.
And the lad said, “I think it’s alive.” I at once told them what’s what. “You can’t have me gold, so don’t even ask.” Well, the two of them took to staring at me some more and the lad said, “I think it’s supposed to be a leprechaun.”
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The lass blinked at me. “A leprechaun? Magic is real?”
Ah, the arrogance of mortals! “Of course magic is real,” I told her. “You think just because you don’t see something that it isn’t real? When was the last time any of you saw gravity or electricity? You don’t appreciate magic when you see it, and that’s why you mortals see so little of it.”
The lad looked down in the box as though he hadn’t heard a single word and said, “Why is Savannah mailing a leprechaun to Ireland?” So I told them, “I promised I’d help send Savannah to the Middle Ages if she’d send me to Ireland. I did my part of the bargain. She’s there, isn’t she?”
Well, you’ve never seen such hysterics. Thelass started gasping and clenching the side ofthe box so hard I thought she’d tip me gold rightover. “Savannah can’t go running around theMiddle Ages! She’ll catch the plague orsomething. What is she doing there?”To tell you the truth, I couldn’t remember myself. What are the affairs of mortals to the likesof us? Just one mess after another. So Iscratched my beard and said, “It had something 294/431
to do with a prince. She wanted to go to some fancy dress-wearing thing you mortals all do when you’re in love.”
The sister started a-gasping again. “A wedding? She wants to marry a prince?” But I can’t be expected to keep track of foolish young girls’ wishes. I said, “I expect she’ll be there for no more than a few months. Unless she gets stuck there altogether or killed. Sometimes that happens to the more foolish mortals.” The lass let out a shriek, and repeated, “She’s doomed! I’m never going to see Savannah again!”
I hated to see the poor thing so distressed and technically I owed them a favor, as they opened the box that I’d been shut in. So I told them I’d use me magic mirror to check in on Savannah and tell them how she fared. Right generous of me, and I don’t mind saying so.
A few minutes later I set their fears to rest.
“Your worries have been for nothing,” I told them. “Helped kill a cyclops, she did. True, it almost ate her, but she made good bait. The cyclops was so distracted with her that the other fellow was able to kill it. And all’s well that ends well.”
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The lass proved to be of a weak constitution, for she nearly swooned—had to sit down, right there on the floor.
The lad said, “How do we get Savannah back?”
“Get her back?” I asked. “Why would you want to do such a thing when she went to all that trouble to get there?”
The lad got angry then. Pointed a finger at me and said, “If you won’t help her, we’re not taking you anywhere. You can just wait here for her to come back. If she ever does.” Well, I had to do something then, even if leprechauns have no power to send people to other places. I told them, “If you relinquish any claim on me gold—not that I’d give it to you anyway, so don’t even ask—I might be able to call in a favor.
Several years back I taught a fairy chap how tospin straw into gold. He still owes me somethingfor that one, he does. I could have him send youback for a bit. That way you could talk to yoursister and convince her to come back.”Perhaps it was dishonest for me not to tellthem about the contract, and they may havebeen under the false assumption that all theywould have to do to come home was to convinceSavannah to ask her fairy godmother to send 296/431