“。 . . and traveled to another time,” Luna says. “And that’s probably what happened to Saffy and my mother. They’ve gone to another time.” Her voice catches. “And I’ll never find them.”
“What about that girl they found?” Cassie says. “The one called Sapphire they found here last year. She could be Saffy. Couldn’t she?”
Luna nods. It’s possible, but she’s terrified of investing too much in it. She’s still processing the truth about Clover, about her own childhood. And the girl who was found is no longer here. The police won’t divulge the information easily. It’s not like Luna can tell them the truth.
Hey, officer. The girl you found might have time-traveled from 1998. Can I have her address in case she’s my sister?
The ferries are back on; Cassie follows behind as Luna drives to the port. As she drives, she thinks of Isla, her hardened stare. She remembers running from the people in the woods, from her mother holding the knife. She remembers the fear and confusion that felt like a living creature, a monster with its teeth bared, snarling after her.
And she remembers finding a grove of trees and stopping there, exhausted, sinking down behind a large trunk to catch her breath. But she wasn’t alone. In front of her was a girl. The other Luna, still wearing her nightie. She was afraid. Why was she here? Was she something to do with the reason her mother had tried to kill her?
The other Luna had looked worried for her.
“It’s all right,” she’d said. “They’ve gone the other way.” She’d held out her hand.
“We have to take hands, remember? That’s how it works.”
At that, she’d remembered what Saffy had told her the night she asked about the book of spells. If you see yourself in human form, you have to take hands. One of you is from the future, and one of you is from the past. If you take hands, you become one again—in the present.
She’d reached out and closed her eyes, clasping hands with the other Luna.
When she’d opened her eyes, she was alone. The other Luna was gone.
No, not gone, she’d thought. Inside her memories. Her memories, she thinks, have combined both versions of her.
One and the same.
III
Ethan is waiting for her at Cromarty. Cassie says her good-byes at the port.
“I don’t think I can let you go,” Cassie says. “You’ve only just got here.”
“Promise you and Lucia will visit us in Coventry,” Luna says.
Cassie nods. “I’ll do my best to find out where Saffy is. I’ll ask around.”
“No, don’t do that,” Luna says, remembering the night she encountered Brodie. “I don’t want to put you in danger. Promise you won’t.”
Cassie cups a hand to her face. “As long as you promise me, dear friend, that you will tell Ethan the truth.”
“That I wasn’t rejecting him,” Luna says.
“Exactly.”
She smiles. “I promise.”
Cassie waves her off as Luna gets into the car and pulls away, ready to drive onto the ferry. Foot passengers are queuing to board, the engines roaring.
As the car in front moves forward, Luna spies a figure among the foot passengers walking beside her. There’s a girl there, a teenager, tall and skinny. Her blonde hair is piled up in a messy topknot and spiked with a pen. She’s wearing nine-hole Doc Marten boots and a lumberjack shirt underneath a denim coat. She has a familiar walk.
Before she knows what she’s doing, Luna’s stepping out of the car and shouting, “Saffy! Saffy!”