She looked up and couldn't find Will for a moment.

"You're shot," said a boy's voice.

She looked at the kid, no taller than she, who stared at her left hand then her right shoulder where her red uniform darkened around a black hole in the fabric.

His eyes widened. "You're a woman."

"I need to get to General Hill." Her voice came out reedy.

"But you're shot. You need to see the surgeon."

She shook her head. "It's not bad. I need Hill."

The boy's face tightened with frustration. He couldn't be more than sixteen. The way he worried over her injured shoulder was adorable. She'd heard of the brotherly affection that fellow soldiers had for each other. Working intelligence, she'd never had much experience with it, except in Afghanistan when she'd been caught in a skirmish with a small brick of Green Berets. But even then, she'd been the outsider, the one they had protected. She'd never seen the way a soldier would worry in such a nurturing way over her. It touched her, and she wanted to tell Will about the boy soldier, she wanted Will to give him a medal. She wanted Will to stay alive so he could.

She glanced in the direction Will had been, then saw him circling his horse, a thicket of trees behind him, giving him shade to see better. He gave an order to three large men, probably sergeants, and they raced back into formation. G.o.d, he looked beautiful-no, magnificent-on that horse, giving orders, his face concentrating on what needed to be done. This was what she had most wanted to see. He'd been a soldier since he was seventeen years old. The only time he'd had off was when he'd married, and he'd tried his hand at other investments. But as soon as Julia had died, he'd returned to the military.

Erva's heart smashed around itself and was about to dissolve into nothing when she recalled the reason why Will had chosen to be here. She'd a.s.sumed he probably wanted to be close to this brotherly affection soldiers often had for each other. But ultimately, he'd been here because he'd given up.

Now he was here in this buckwheat field to sacrifice himself for her.

She didn't talk any further with the boy, but began jogging to Will. Every step seemed to jar a red-hot fire poker into her shoulder. But she kept on until she finally was about ten feet from him.

"Yes, yes, sergeant. Tell the men of Bixby's line to fall back fifty feet, make those Continentals creep forward, then we'll have them at our mercy," Will said almost softly. His always gravely deep voice had an odd lilt to it, as if he knew every word he uttered might be his last. Then he added, "But make sure to tell your men to have mercy. The Continentals are our brothers after all."

The brawny man Will had been speaking with nodded. "But sometimes, sir, brothers make the most fierce of enemies."

Will nodded too. "I'm afraid of just that, Sergeant. Make sure your men and Bixby's never cut the Continentals into an outright rout, will you?"

The sergeant saluted. "Aye, sir." Then he brushed past Erva as if he hadn't even seen her.

Erva lost her voice, when she needed it most. But she cleared her throat, which made Will look over his shoulder at her. At first, he gave her a cursory glance, but then he looked again, his eyes wide. Immediately, he jumped from his horse.

At that same instant they both heard the whiny, high-pitched zip of a musket shot. The tree where Will had been sitting close to exploded into shreds of bark.

Will halted and stared at the hole in the tree. That had been exactly where his chest had been, and Erva knew it. She made an odd noise-part relief and part anguish-then raced to him. Holding him around his neck, she enjoyed his clean male scent rushing through her senses. Mixed with his usual smell was dirt and gunpowder. Unwrapping her arms from him, she searched his hard body with her eyes and hands for any injury.

"You're wounded," he whispered.

She shook her head as she felt along his thick arms. "It's nothing."

He took her by her arms and shook her. "Nothing! Good G.o.d, Erva, what the h.e.l.l are you doing here? And you're bleeding. Don't you dare tell me it's nothing."

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't you dare tell me I can't be here when I know perfectly well why you're here!"

He swallowed. "You-you're not supposed to be here."

Hot tears instantly fell down her face. "And what? I'm supposed to wait and hear about your death from Sergeant McDougal?"

"No. I don't know how it works. Wouldn't the muses tell you?"

"Ah, no. We don't like sharing bad news," said a feminine yet low voice with an unmistakable Greek accent.

Erva glanced up. There sat the muses on a nearby fence rail, wearing their golden togas, looking as if they were enjoying Shakespeare in the Park, instead of a full-fledged battle. But when Erva looked around, she realized the combat had ceased. No, it hadn't. It had paused. Every single man was frozen in odd positions, some in mid-scream, some in mid-shot.

Will turned too, glancing around. His mouth was ajar at the battle halted in the middle of action.

One of the muses jumped off the fence and strolled closer. "As I said, we don't like sharing bad news, but with you two kids we have a bucket load to spill."

The other one, Erva wasn't too sure which one was which, since they looked so similar, lunged off the fence too and walked close to the tree with the bullet hole. She shook her head as she inspected it. "This was supposed to go straight through your heart, Will."

He huffed and clutched onto Erva's non-wounded arm as if to hold him up.

The other muse, Erva thought it might be Erato, shook her head at her. "Erva, what are you thinking, trying to change history?"

Erva sidestepped until she was in front of Will, protecting him with her body. "I won't let you repeat history. I won't let you kill him."

Clio stepped away from the tree and walked closer, her head c.o.c.ked to the side. "Erva, come now. You of all people know the importance of history."

"And with my death," Will said, his voice hoa.r.s.e, "wonderful things will happen to you, Erva."

"Finally a voice of reason," Clio said.

Erva whirled around and captured Will's coat in her hands, realizing her right arm, though, was much weaker. "Wonderful things will happen? Don't you get it? Don't you understand that wonderful things have already happened? They happened because of you!"

Will's eyes reddened. He gave her a small smile. "I hoped so. Because I know for myself, you are the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me."

"And for me," Erva cried. "I won't live without you. I won't."

A tear trickled down Will's sunken cheek. He hadn't shaved and the moisture thinned through his dark, two days old beard. He smiled again. "Lord, I love you, Erva."

"And I love you."

"So it's love, is it?" Erato asked, carefully stepping closer.

"Yes," Erva said savagely, defensively. "Yes, it is, and there's nothing you can do now. I'm not going to leave him."

"Not even for all your dreams come true in your own time?" Erato asked.

Erva shook her head wildly. "You of all people, or whatever you are, should know about love. It exceeds all your expectations, all your wishes. My silly dreams of researching and writing are nothing compared to what I feel for Will."

She felt Will's hand caress her neck then turned to look at him. He bowed his head and spoke quietly. "No, my darling."

"It's the truth!" Erva screamed.

Will nodded. "I'm not arguing how you feel about me, and Lord knows how you have healed my heart, mended it until I was whole again, then made me a better man for it. But you are your dreams as well, darling. You can't give them up."

She clutched at his coat with her left hand. "No. Don't tell me this. Don't you understand what they're here to do? They're here to kill you and take you away from me. Don't you understand by now? You are my dream."

"I-I can't do this, Sissy," Erato said as moisture flowed down her pale face. The sun made her tears glisten like silver.

Erva saw from her periphery that Erato took a few steps away, covering her face with her hands. Clio took a tentative step closer to her sister, but stopped and looked at Erva and Will. She smiled with tears standing in her own eyes.

"My sister, the Muse of romance." Clio shrugged. "But I'm not immune to your love either."

"Then let me stay here, Clio," Erva begged. "Please."

Clio looked from Erva to Will. "You really fell in love in just a few short days, didn't you?"

"Yes," Will answered before Erva could. His voice was authoritative and deep. Maybe even held a trace of hope.

Erato fell to her knees sobbing, shaking her head. "I can't do this."

Erva glanced from one muse to the other. "What does she mean she can't do this?"

Clio stepped closer and then held up her hand toward the tree with the bullet hole. Immediately, a round metal-looking ball emerged, spiraling in the air. Clio waved her hand and the ball flew seven feet from the tree, but lingered, twirling, spiraling ominously.

Then Clio turned to Will smiling sadly, then Erva. "Oh, honey, you can't change history."

At that, Will was ripped from Erva's grasp and suddenly back on his horse. Before she could even scream or take a step, the bullet hanging in the air suddenly flashed toward Will. With an eerie popping noise, Will grunted and curled in around his chest.

"No!" Erva screamed. "No!"

Suddenly his hands lay limply beside his hips, his head lulled to one side. He fell from his horse, and then the noise of the battle grew loud, deafening. Musket shots whizzed by. Men screamed in agony. And Will lay in a heap beside his horse.

Clio grabbed Erva by her shoulders, her right one screaming in pain. "Write about this, Erva. Write it all down. The world needs to know what a hero he was." She shook Erva as Clio's own tears spilled down her alabaster cheeks. "And get yourself to a doctor. You gunshot wound looks bad."

With a snap of Clio's fingers, Erva fell into a sickening, heartbreaking blackness that consumed everything.

Chapter 29.

It took several attempts at pushing eyelids to do the unthinkable, but finally there was light. The sun streaked its way through the orchard, browned the gra.s.s Will laid on. His horse's back hooves moved nervously close to his head.

"Get his legs." Will heard Clio's hurried voice.

"G.o.d, he's big. I thought men of this time were supposed to be shorter, especially weigh less," another voice said.

"Urania, you lived through this age just like we did. What are you talking about?" an annoyed Erato asked.

He looked up to see Clio, Erato, and another woman who looked almost exactly like them, all clad in Continental uniforms, trying to pick him up.

"I said, get his legs, Urania," Clio ordered. She looked down as the sounds of fighting nearby suddenly streamed through his consciousness. Smiling at him, she said, "Hi, Will. How you doing?"

"Erva?" he croaked, but then clasped a hand over his heart. Oh, that hurt.

"Oh my G.o.d, the first thing he thinks about is her," Erato cooed. "It's so cute. They're so cute."

"Yes, yes, they're cute. Now grab his shoulder. We have to get him out of here before his men try to take him from us." Clio looked down again as she tried to heft him, while Urania, Will guessed the other muse to be-though he wasn't that knowledgeable about Greek mythology-grabbed his legs and lifted him a few feet in the air. Clio smiled again. "Your men will think we're Continental soldiers, looting your dead body. Now act dead, okay?"

"Pardon?" he could barely ask. His chest was deeply affected by something, but he didn't feel an internal wound.

"Ick, looting his dead body? Won't the British be p.i.s.sed then?" Erato asked.

Clio nodded as all the sisters finally began walking with his sprawled body between the three of them. "Unfortunately, the Continentals really did rummage his dead body. They got his sword and the engagement ring he had for Erva. By the way, Will, nice choice on the ring. The emerald was especially eye-catching. She's really going to like that."

"G.o.d, he weighs a ton," Urania complained.

"Kevlar is heavy," Erato smiled and winked down at Will.

"When we get him deeper into the woods, we can take off his Kevlar vest, then he'll be lighter. Plus maybe by then he can walk on his own." Clio jostled him as the three women walked faster. She glanced down at him again as the trees thickened, making the sun disappear. "You took quite a hit, buddy. You okay?"

"What-what do you mean, Erva's going to like the ring?" he rasped.

"Set him down here," Clio demanded, and they dropped their cargo, making Will wheeze in agony. Clio knelt beside him and gently cradled his head. "Sorry."

Urania stood over Clio, arching a brow. "You said he was smart."

"He's very smart," Erato hissed defensively.

Clio rolled her eyes but then smiled at him. "I may have to abide by history's laws, but sometimes I deter from the letter of the law. Just a tad. Unfortunately, you're dead, Will. At least in this time, but now you can live with Erva in her time. That is, if you want to?"

Erato clutched her hands together and placed them over her heart. In the blue Continental uniform, even wearing taupe breeches, she looked quite comical and cute. "Say yes, Will," she said.

Urania huffed. "Aren't you ever going to introduce me? I mean, I just saved the man's life, and he doesn't even know who I am."

Clio and Erato turned to their other sister, both of their dark red eyebrows cast down.

"Not now," Erato hollered. "He's got to answer Clio's question first."

Urania huffed again and knelt close to Clio, then took Will's hand in hers, shaking it. "Hi, Will. I'm Urania. I'm going to be your tutor while we take you to Erva's time."

"Tutor?" he moaned.

Urania smiled broadly. "That's right, big guy. You'll be taking orders from me, because I'm going to get you through medical school in a flash."

Erato knelt close to the other sisters, right above Will's head. "But he hasn't answered Clio's question yet."

Urania rolled her eyes. "And you're the muse of love? Love stories, right? But even I, the scientist that I am, can tell what his answer is." She smiled down at Will.

He couldn't help but beam up at the muse.