Then I pushed the worries away. This wasn’t a wish; it was a business deal. Rumpelstiltskin had told me mortals had recourse with the Alliance if a business deal with a fairy wasn’t performed correctly.

When I was done creating gold diapers, formula, and toys, I stood up. Chrissy held her palm out to me. In an official-sounding voice, she said, “Give me the enchantment and your request will be granted.” I took hold of the edges of the gold heart that pulsed over my own.

It was attached to my chest so tightly that I was afraid I would tear away a huge chunk of skin when I pulled it off. But it came off with only a little tug. My own heart immediately felt better, lighter. My lungs could finally expand fully.

I put the still-beating heart in Chrissy’s hand, and it transformed from a heart into a gold apple. She smiled at it, satisfied, and slipped it into her purse. “I’m totally going to gloat to Clover about having his enchantment. It serves him right for making deals behind my back.” Her voice faded, and a dizzying array of lights went off around me. It felt like soda bubbles were fizzing past me. When they cleared, I wasn’t in the forest any longer. I stood on a modern street back in Rock Canyon—I could tell by the stucco houses, the hot evening air, and the cacti and palm trees perched in the lawns.

Chrissy leaned over my shoulder, pointing far down the street.

“Hudson’s house is that one. His mother is about to come out.” And then Chrissy vanished.

The door opened. A tall woman with Hudson’s brown hair stepped out. Even from a distance, I could tell she slammed the door behind her. She strode across her lawn and went down the sidewalk 328/356

heading in my direction. Her gaze was down, her expression furious.

She didn’t see me. She wasn’t paying attention to anything around her.

I glanced back at Hudson’s house. It sat silently behind a manicured lawn. Hudson was inside right now, thinking he should go after his mother. But he wouldn’t.

She came closer, her pace fast, and I felt awkward standing in the middle of the sidewalk wearing an evening gown and baby sling. I took off the sling and shoved it into the diaper bag that sat at my feet.

Which only made me marginally more normal. I still had the evening gown and diaper bag.

Hudson’s mother glanced up long enough to see me. She was pretty in a motherly sort of way. Her hair and makeup were still done at this late hour, and she wore a crisp tailored blouse. She struck me as the type who would run the PTO, be on all sorts of committees, and make sure her family ate nutritious dinners.

“Mrs. Gardner?” I called to her.

She paused, looked at me more closely, and stopped altogether.

Surprise flitted across her large, brown eyes. Hudson’s eyes. Stetson’s eyes.

“Mrs. Gardner?” I asked again. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Her gaze ran over me. “Do we know each other?”

“I’m one of Hudson’s friends. I wanted to talk to you about the party tonight.”

Her lips thinned into a tight line. “You were there too? I didn’t know it was a formal event.”

“You need to know that Hudson is sorry. He wasn’t trying to undermine his father, or the law, or set a bad example. He went to the party because his friends were there, and he didn’t consider the consequences. He wants you to come back home so you can talk about it.” 329/356

Her eyebrows rose and she scrutinized me for a moment. “How do you know that?”

I couldn’t tell her we had chatted about it in the twelfth century, but I didn’t want to risk lying. Chrissy had said the liar’s hat would only be in effect until my wishes were fulfilled, but I wasn’t sure if this trip counted as part of my wishes. “Cell phones are wonderful things,” I said.

Mrs. Gardner looked around the street, as though she might see Hudson. “Why didn’t he tell me any of this himself?”

“Sometimes it’s hard to say those sorts of things, and then it’s too late.”

She put one hand on her hip, drumming her fingers against her pants. “He realized I’m going down to the party to break it up, didn’t he? He doesn’t want me to embarrass him in front of his friends. Well, you can tell him he’ll be a lot more embarrassed if his father breaks it up and hauls his friends off to the station.” She moved to go past me, and I reached out, brushing my fingertips against her arm. “Please, go back to the house and talk to him. He loves you. He would be so devastated if anything happened to you.” She stopped and tilted her head at me. “If anything happened to me? What exactly are they doing at this party?” I hadn’t expected changing history to be quite this hard. My words came out too fast and emotional. “Call your husband about the party if you want, but go back and talk to Hudson.” I stopped and held out a pleading hand. “You’re his mother. He needs you.” I saw the break in her anger. It slid away from her, taking the tension in her expression with it. She ran a hand through her hair, then looked back at the house. “Okay,” she said, “I’ll talk to him.” She turned to me, putting on a polite smile. “It was nice of you to come out and talk to me, uh …”

330/356

She was waiting for me to tell her my name, and I couldn’t lie, but I hesitated, not wanting to impact the future more than I already had.

“Tansy,” I said. “But don’t tell him you talked with me. I wouldn’t want him to …” Tell you he doesn’t know anyone named Tansy.

She nodded. “It will stay between us.” She looked like she was about to say more, but a car barreled down the street, tires screeching as it turned onto the street next to us.

It went up on the sidewalk and across a corner of the lawn as it made the turn. I let out a slow breath. Mrs. Gardner would have been there if she hadn’t stopped to talk to me.

She watched the car and reached into her pocket for her cell phone. As she punched in the number, she shook her head. “This is why those parties are a bad idea. That guy is going to hurt somebody.

Did you get the license plate number?” I hadn’t been looking, but I knew it anyway. NDSTRCT. It was Bo’s brother’s car. I had recognized Bo in the driver’s seat.

I gave her the license plate letters, feeling both sick and relieved.

Had Bo even realized what he’d done that night? How could he have lived with himself if he had known? I wasn’t sure whether to feel angry or sorry for him.

Mrs. Gardner’s phone call connected. She was no longer looking at me, but down the street where Bo had turned. She gave her husband the information and told him about the party. I was glad she wasn’t looking at me because I saw lights spinning around me, coming in close, and then I stood in my family room.

Chapter 24

The room wasn’t like it had been before our trip to the Middle Ages.

The furniture and curtains were gone, and the carpet had been pulled up, as though someone tried to take it but realized it was too big and heavy to move. Clutter lay everywhere. Books, pencils, electronics, canned food. Apparently the thieves hadn’t known what to make of a lot of our modern things.

I was definitely back on our street. Through the bare windows of the living room, sunshine poured in. I could see the paved road, the neighbors’ houses, the streetlamps standing sentry over the sidewalks.

Sandra held Stetson in her arms, gently bouncing him on her hip. I caught sight of my dad in the hallway, checking the rest of the house.

The desk in the family room was gone, but the computer sat on the floor, still plugged in. Nick was bringing up an Internet page. Hudson, sitting next to him, looked at me wryly. “Did you say your good-byes to Robin Hood?”

“I did. And he was very grateful for the chance to change his destiny.”

“Oh really? How grateful?”

Nick jiggled the mouse in an attempt to hurry along the computer.