Dark Mirror 2 - Dark Passage (36 page)

Tory took a swallow of tea for her dry throat. Mrs. Rainford was a schoolteacher and well educated, but Allarde’s magic was powerful. “Foretelling is what
might
happen, not necessarily what
will
happen, isn’t it?”

Allarde eased his grip, though he still held her hand. “This felt very, very likely.”

Mrs. Rainford returned with a textbook. As she thumbed through the pages, she said, “There’s a chapter about how close Napoleon came to invading, but he didn’t.” She found the chapter she was looking for and caught her breath, her face turning white.

Tory peered at the book and saw that the letters on the page were twisting and flickering like live things. The words couldn’t be read.

Mrs. Rainford said in a choked voice, “I remember what this chapter said, but … it doesn’t say that anymore.”

“The text being in flux suggests that the history isn’t set,” Allarde said grimly. “Perhaps Napoleon just made the decision to launch and that’s why we had the visions. If the Irregulars can do something to prevent the invasion, that might be why history records that it didn’t happen.”

“If the past has changed, wouldn’t the present also be different?” Rebecca, raised by two scientists, frowned as she tried to puzzle it out.

“Time travel is a mystery, and I don’t pretend to understand how it works,” Jack said, as grim as Allarde. “But there is danger at home and to my family. I can feel it like a gathering storm.”

Elspeth rose. “We need to leave right away. Most of us are already packed.”

Ever practical, not to mention hungry, Cynthia said, “We should take the rest of the cake. It will help us recover from the mirror passage.”

Knowing that was true, Tory tried to eat her slice, but it tasted like straw. She and the other Irregulars had faced danger here in 1940, but her own time, her home and family, had not been threatened. Not until now.

“I’ll pack the cake and some cheese,” Polly said briskly.

As the party dissolved, Nick caught Tory’s gaze and said with deadly seriousness, “You’ve done so much for England in my time. If there is anything,
anything,
that I can do to help, send a message through the mirror and I’ll come instantly.”

“You saved my whole family,” Rebecca said in her soft French accent. “I have only just discovered that I have magic, and I don’t know how to use it. But I pledge everything within my power to your service.”

Tory thanked them, but she realized with cold foreboding that even if all the Irregulars and their 1940 friends worked together, they were few and the French were many. The Irregulars might not be able to save England.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

DARK PASSAGE
. Copyright © 2011 by Mary Jo Putney, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

e-ISBN 9781429984423

First Edition: September 2011