Page 22 of Darro

The women had a few theories, but none of them had been attempted. Ava thought they should try to run through the barrier between worlds the next time it opened, but no one knew when that would be. She was also reluctant to send anyone from the twelfth century through as they would have difficulty adapting to modern world life and might even end up institutionalized.

“How many people from our time are here?” Esme asked.

“Nearly everyone who disappeared in the castle—almost a hundred.” Ava met her gaze. “You, Grace, Olivia and me are the latest arrivals.”

“I didn’t try to come here,” Alec’s wife put in. “Bodach shoved me through a hole he created that dropped me into the spell trap.”

Olivia wanted to try to find the spot where the hole she’d fallen through had appeared. There they could test the stone to see if it had been weakened enough for them to dig through to the other side. Since the enchantment regenerated everything as it was each day, she wasn’t too optimistic that it would be possible.

“Nothing ventured, you know,” Esme told her. “Maybe not everything is restored perfectly.”

Grace suggested sending a message out the way her grandmother had, but wasn’t sure what they could tell anyone on the other side to help them escape—assuming the message wasn’t first intercepted and destroyed.

“Bodach is still out there,” the model said. “We think he’s monitoring the spell trap somehow, and coming and going as he pleases.”

“What gave you that idea?” Esme pulled out her notebook to start taking down the details, setting aside her digital camera and her phone as she did. Then she saw how all of the other women were staring at her gear.

“They don’t work,” she told them, gesturing to the devices. “I know because I tried earlier to make a call and take pictures in the guest room. I think coming here drained the batteries.”

“May I see your phone?” Ava asked, and when she handed it to her examined it closely. “It’s remarkable that you still have these things. All of our devices were thrown out of the spell trap at dawn just after we arrived.”

“It’s part of the enchantment,” Olivia added. “No technology has ever been allowed to stay.”

“Technology wasn’t part of this world in the twelfth century,” Esme murmured, writing that down. “So people and animals can come in, but not insects or electronics.”

“Devices can come in for a while, but they’re thrown out again when the trap resets,” Grace put in. “Location doesn’t matter, either. Mine disappeared when I was trapped with Farlan in the passage that collapsed just after I came through the barrier.”

The laird’s wife gave the phone back to her. “I wish I knew why bugs can’t stay. They’re alive like the dogs and birds and otters.”

“Insects are invertebrates,” Esme said. “Skeleton on the outside.” Everyone stared at her as if she’d just explained all the secrets of the universe. “I never liked bugs when I was little. My abuelo tried to teach me that some are useful, and gave me books to read about them. I still hate them, by the way.”

“Thank you for hating them,” Ava said. “That’s the first real lead we’ve had on how this place works.”

“This is why we need to have meetings of our own,” Grace put in. “There are things we all know from the modern world that the guys can’t even fathom.”

Esme turned her head and smiled at Elspeth, who approached their table with another maid who had damp hair. Everyone fell silent as both maids curtseyed first to Ava and then to Grace.

“If you’d permit Una to speak for a moment, my lady?” Elspeth asked Ava, who nodded.

“I’m sorry for the remarks I made about you when you were hurt, my lady,” the maid said to Grace, and knelt down on the floor. “’Twas unkind and undeserved, and never again shall I speak thus for any reason.”

“Good, because it was a horrible thing to do.” Grace nodded to Elspeth with a look of satisfaction.

“My thanks, my lady,” the dark-skinned maid said, and then regarded Ava. “I should like to ask that Una work with me as a chambermaid. She’s no’ suited to toiling in the stables, and now that we’ve a newcomer and newly-weds changing their chambers, I’m in sore need of another maid to aid me.”

The laird’s wife glanced at Olivia, whose expression had darkened. “Well, Liv? What do you think?”

“It’s fine, on one condition.” The war master’s wife scowled at Una, who was cringing. “If she steps out of line for any reason, I want her sent back to the stables permanently.”

“What that means is, you have to work hard, be nice to others, and not say anything unkind or hateful,” Grace told the maid, who nodded quickly as she got to her feet.

“Thank you for your understanding and generosity, my ladies,” Elspeth said, and ushered the other maid off the platform.

Tasgall passed by them as he came to the table, and after greeting them eyed Esme’s devices. “What’s this gadgetry?”

“Excuse me, my lord. I have to find my husband right now.” The supermodel got to her feet suddenly and rushed out of the hall.

“Sit down, my man,” Ava said, and handed him a steaming mug of brew. “Thanks to Esme, we just figured out some things.”

Chapter Six