I could only hope so, if for Mary-Beth’s sake alone.
Nathaniel turned his head and pressed his lips to my temple, letting them linger there. “Get some sleep. We’ll figure it all out in the morning.”
I let my eyes close and let out a relaxing breath. It was ridiculous, what he’d just said. But there wasn’t anything else I could do today. We’d accomplished so much already.
“I love you,” I said softly as sleep gripped me.
“I love you too, Margot.”
Chapter Thirteen
We headed home Sunday afternoon. Saturday turned out to be a bust. We visited the bookstore and didn’t find a single thing. We went to every library within a twenty-mile radius. And we found nothing.
This trip was supposed to give us hope, but in the end, we all rode home in silence feeling defeated. We were reaching for the stars, doing something impossible. Trying to resurrect a dead race with no basis of how to do this.
We all drove home in silence.
We dropped off Mary-Beth and Borden at their dorms. And when we got back to my house, even Nathaniel had to go back to the solarium and get some homework finished.
Alone, I walked back into the house, my bag in one hand.
Dad was in the kitchen when I walked in, humming as he started something for dinner.
“Margot,” he said with a smile. “How was your trip?”
I grunted a sound of defeat and annoyance. I dropped my bag on the floor and then walked into the kitchen, moving over to the dining room to sit at the table. “Not what I was expecting. We found two journals and one book, but the book is written in Sanskrit, and according to Nathaniel, no one speaks it anymore.”
“True,” my father the history professor said. “Sanskrit died out in the twelfth century and only a small sector in Nepal still speak it.”
“Know anyone from Nepal that can come translate for us?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“That would be a no,” Dad said. And he still wore a smile as he continued chopping vegetables and putting them into the pot for soup. “But I do have some exciting news to share.”
I perked up at that. I sat up a little straighter.
“You know that study grant I applied for five years ago?” he asked. “The one to go to Scotland and study the McGregor land and history?”
I’d completely forgotten about it. My parents had come and talked to me about it a long time ago, because if they got it, it would mean we would move to Scotland for a few months. “Yes,” I said.
Dad looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “I got it.”
“What?” I asked, my pitch rising in excitement.
“The letter came yesterday,” he answered in jubilation. “I’ve been approved for a three-month study beginning in May when the semester is over. This could be something significant for you and your friends, Margot.”
“We’re coming with you,” I said. He looked back at me, seeming surprised. “We were actually talking about it over the weekend. If you think about it, each of our lines trace back to the UK. There wouldn’t be much here in America for us to discover, because there wasn’t enough time for them to establish here. We…we were already planning a trip this summer.”
“That’s very exciting, Margot,” Dad said. “But…I don’t know that I can afford another international flight and board. The grant only covers myself. And they revoked your mother’s place obviously, considering.”
I shook my head. “I don’t love it obviously, but Mary-Beth has already said she will pay for me and Nathaniel. In fact, she’s already hiring her family’s personal librarian to go investigate where we should start.”
“But she hasn’t told them why or what you all are, has she?” Dad asked, his brows furrowed in concern.
I shook my head. “She knows to be discreet.”
He nodded and returned to his work on dinner.
“Dad, there’s something else I wanted to talk to you about,” I said, feeling my stomach sink a little. I knew we were going to have to have this conversation, and now seemed the time.
He finished his work at the stove, wiped his hands on the towel hanging there, and came to sit at the table.
“When is the baby coming?”
He said it as a joke, but also somewhat seriously, and at this point, it was becoming an ongoing thing, him jumping to the conclusion that he was going to become a grandfather any day.
I smiled and shook my head, and he smiled. “That’s definitely not it,” I said, even as I blushed a little. Someday I’d stop doing that. “No, I needed to tell you that this is going to be my last semester at Alderidge.”
He was quiet at that. He just stared at me with slightly widened, slightly surprised eyes.
“We’re killing ourselves trying to balance everything,” I said. “And even though Nathaniel is hardly sleeping and looks like a zombie most of the time, I know he’s not going to stop school. But I hope you’ll understand. My path is changing. I know I’m not going to be a Latin professor anymore. This…everything we’ve learned in the last six months… it’s where my life is leading me. And I don’t see any use in continuing classes for something I’m not going to need. I need to devote all my time to this. To learning magic and bringing it all back, and someday creating a school where others like us can learn how to be what they are.”
“A school?” Dad asked. And I was ever grateful that was what he chose to question and focus on.
A little smile pulled on my face. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s kind of the goal. Learn as much as I can. Make some money. And open our own school so we can teach others.”
Dad stared at me for a moment, and it was okay that he was silent for a bit as he processed everything I’d just thrown at him. He’d earned that right considering I’d just changed my entire life plan.
“It’s… it’s a surprise,” he said, reaching for my hands across the table. “That’s for sure. But I can’t say I don’t see the logic. I knew your path had changed from the day you and Nathaniel showed me what you could do. So, even though it’s a little disappointing that the Bell professor legacy won’t become a legacy, I support your decision.”
A breath of relief expelled from my chest. A smile took over my face, and I walked around the table so I could wrap my arms around my father.
“Thank you,” I breathed. “Thank you for always being there for me and supporting me no matter what.”
“You’re all I’ve got,” he said, hugging me tight. “And you’re one of the smartest people I know. I know you’re always going to make the right decision.”
I’d done it. I’d told my professor father that I was quitting school.
And here we were, closer than ever.
Chapter Fourteen
I stepped out of class on Tuesday, headed to the library to work on homework, when I stopped in my tracks.
There were pages taped to the walls, splashed all the way down the hall. They were handwritten, and my heart sank as I walked closer.
I recognized that handwriting.