Reaching Through Time Read Online Free Page A

bridle as they approached. “How come it’s so foggy on the other side?”
    “Sometimes the fog hangs around for hours,” Heath said. “Just the climate around here.”
    “What’s on the other side of your property?” Sarah asked. Lethe neighed nervously.
    “Unfriendly neighbors.”
    Sarah was shocked. “Like who?”
    “People who want to steal our property. Sometimes they stand at the fence for hours and howl like wolves.”
    The hair on her arms rose and the back of her neck tingled. She imagined an angry mob reaching through the fence bars. “Are you in danger?”
    “This fence goes into a stone wall that surrounds my family’s estate. It’s high and impregnable. No one can get in.”
    Sarah squinted into the gloom, but could see nothing beyond the fence barrier. She was also feeling anxious, as if the fog wasn’t friendly. “Where did you find me?”
    “Over here, by the gate,” Heath said.
    She urged Lethe toward the gate, but the animal shied away. Heath spoke to Lethe and she calmed, walked to the gate, where Sarah stared down at the hard rock-strewn ground. She saw no clues, no hint about her identity, andcouldn’t imagine how she had ever ended up there. “Is the gate locked?”
    “Always.”
    “But how—?”
    “A mystery,” Heath said, coming alongside her. “Accept that you just came to be here and that now you’re safe.”
    Perhaps it was the gloom, but when Sarah looked into his face she saw that his pale gray eyes had darkened. It was difficult for her to accept his explanation the way he wanted her to. She had come from somewhere, but where? And how had she breached the impregnable gates?
    “Come back,” he said. “Let me show you the gardens, the creek and the woods.”
    She nodded, unwilling to press an argument with him. She would have to figure it out on her own. Maybe the voices would return that night and tell her something. As they rode away from the gate, Sarah glanced back one time only to see the fence holding back the soupy mist like a wall. It looked freaky, and she wondered—if nothing could get in, did that also mean nothing could get out?
    As they rode back over the grounds, Sarah noted that the sun was setting and long shadows were being cast on the rolling grass. “Is it late?” she asked above the sound of the horses’ hooves.
    “Night’s coming,” Heath said.
    “Are you serious? We just got outside.”
    “No. We’ve been out here for hours.”
    “No way.” She felt profound disappointment. To her, it seemed that almost no time had passed since they’d left the stables.
    “Look at the lather on our horses’ necks. They’re tired and want to return to the stables.”
    Heath was right. Lethe’s neck was sweaty.
    Sarah felt a twinge of guilt. She hadn’t meant to push the horse hard, but she couldn’t get over the feeling that little time had passed since they’d saddled up.
    At the stable she and Heath dismounted and Heath said, “Let’s walk back to the house while we still have light.”
    “But the horses—don’t you have to take off their saddles and put them back in their stalls?”
    “They’ll be fed and watered, then groomed and put away.”
    She craned her neck, searching for any other people, but saw no one. “Are your grooms invisible?”
    “No, just busy with other things.” Heath slipped his hand over Sarah’s, his touch cool and firm. “Time for dinner. I’m hungry.”
    Sarah felt as if they’d just eaten breakfast, but her stomach growled in anticipation. She found Heath’s world both strange and enticing. Of course, she had no memory of her own time and place, so how could she criticize his? One thing was certain, though—his world had an amazing way of measuring time.

5

    S arah awoke in the dark, her heart hammering like a drum. A whispering voice was calling to her. “Sarah … Sarah … I love you. Come back.…” She sat upright in the bed. The room was wrapped in darkness. The fireplace, stacked with