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society with this information? People have to stop work on construction projects all the time because of historic artifacts. This is about as historical as it gets.”
    “That would take too much time.” I got to my feet, agitated by the idea. “We couldn’t stop them from drilling fast enough. This is the only way.”
    Kevin stood up and put his arms around me. I was glad he cared enough to get so close despite the sand and who-knew-what-else I’d brought in with my clothes.
    “Okay.” His tone was gentle. “We’ll do it your way. It’s hours before dark. Take a shower. Change clothes. Get some sleep.”
    None of that was part of my plan. “I should be out there, protecting the site. What if someone disrupts my work?”
    “The only way I’m going out there tonight is with Dae O’Donnell.” He stared into my eyes. “If you can’t slow down enough to get some rest, I might be forced to believe what Shayla and Ann said—that you’re possessed by Maggie Madison. Let’s not go there. Okay?”

Chapter 2

    I had no choice. I needed Kevin’s little digging machine to reach what was left of Maggie’s house before tomorrow morning. I didn’t know how to run it. I couldn’t stop the drilling process in time by myself. It had to be this way.
    It had taken the best part of the last three days, since I’d put on the amber necklace, to figure out all the details. It had been hard overcoming what had seemed like a fantasy world. The area where I’d found myself was nothing like the place I lived. Nothing was where it belonged. I’d felt like Alice in Wonderland.
    To begin with, it was all I could do not to be sick. I don’t get motion sickness, but this was something entirely different. I wasn’t aware of where I was for several hours. When I woke up from my first meeting with Maggie, I was shaking so hard I couldn’t get up from the burgundy brocade sofa in Missing Pieces.
    Gradually, I understood what had happened. When I put the amber necklace on again, I was better prepared. But the process had taken too much time. When I realized what had to be done, I was already almost too late.
    It looked like I was still going to have to wait to see this thing through. I tried not to worry. It was going to work out.
    Kevin drove me home in his old red Ford pickup after our conversation. He had to be at the Blue Whale Inn for the party at lunchtime, so he’d convinced Ann to stay with me at my house. Obviously, he still wasn’t quite sure about my story.
    That stung a little.
    Gramps was out with someone from the mainland in his fishing boat, the
Eleanore
. Talk about someone doing things that didn’t make much sense. Fishing during an ice fog was dangerous and not worth whatever his charter had paid him.
    Gramps and I were cut from the same Banker cloth, I guess. People who went back generations on the barrier islands did what they had to do to survive. He was proud and tough. I always hoped I was that way too.
    He’d left some macaroni and cheese in the refrigerator along with a note telling me to call him before I went out again. I knew he worried about me, though he tried not to show it. We were the only two left in our family after my mother and grandmother had died. I tried hard not to make him have to wonder where I was, or if I was safe. Sometimes that wasn’t easy.
    The hot shower felt good as I washed three days’ worth of dirt off of me. I put on a heavy sweater, jeans and thick socks when I was finished. It was barely two P.M. What was I supposed to do until it got dark?
    Ann was sitting in my window seat, overlooking the Currituck Sound. I laughed as she fended off claws and teeth from Treasure, the black cat Betsy had given me last year. For some reason, he only seemed to like me, Gramps and Kevin. Most of the time, that was all that mattered.
    “Will you put this thing in a cat carrier or something?” Ann yelped when Treasure bit her. “I’m not staying here and watching you sleep with it