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clothes.”
    “I’ll figure them out, or Sharon can show me.”
    “Are you up for this? We can trade clothes, and I can go to Egypt instead.”
    “How much do you know about ancient Egypt?”
    “How much do I know about the Roaring Twenties? I can’t even talk to Esther to get pointers.”
    “I suspect Sharon chose who to send where for a reason.”
    “She doesn’t know me.”
    “But she does know me,” I said.
    “Point taken but if she knew you weren’t completely healed, would she make the same choice?”
    “I may not be a hundred percent, but I’m still a Sekutar.”
    “I didn’t mean it like that.”
    “Yes, you did.”
    “Well, maybe a little but you’re right. You’re still the best fighter here.”
    I nodded.
    “You want me to send Sharon in to help you with the clothes?”
    “Please.”
    “Consider it done.” Rayna opened the door to leave then looked back. “Out of curiosity, how much do you know about ancient Egypt?”
    I smiled. “Just some basic things. I saw a documentary about Hatshepsut, I read a book about Egypt a few years ago, and I saw some artifacts in a museum once.”
    “That’s what I thought.”
     
    JONATHAN SHADE
     
    Rayna looked nice in her dress with an overcoat draped over her forearm. I hadn’t seen her wear lipstick in two months. When her brother died, she stopped doing fancy dinners and fund-raisers. Hobnobbing with the rich and famous wasn’t really her thing. She much preferred helping people get in shape at The Steam Room. I walked up to her and whispered in her ear, “You look like a million bucks in 1920s money.”
    She looked at me and grinned. “And you need to lay off the doughnuts.”
    I wore a white kilt-looking thing with brown sandals. I looked down at my stomach. I hadn’t worked out as much as usual in the past few months, so I wasn’t sporting a six-pack, but I wasn’t sporting a muffin top either. “What do you mean?” I asked.
    She poked me in the gut with her forefinger then gave me a quick kiss. “I’m teasing. Don’t be so sensitive.”
    “I wish we were going to the same time,” I said.
    She gazed into my eyes, and her smile faded. “Me too.”
    I wrapped my arms around her, and we held each other tightly. “It won’t take that long,” I said.
    “Oh,” Rayna said. “I need to make a phone call.”
    “Okay. What for?”
    “Someone needs to take care of Clara while we’re gone.”
    Clara was Rayna’s dragon. Don’t ask.
    “If we don’t succeed, it won’t matter,” I said. “If we do succeed, we’ll be back later today. The time delay is only due to the link we’ll have in the past. We’ll live through however long it takes, but we should still come back to today.”
    “You don’t know that.”
    Having done a bit of time travel, I felt I did know that. Rayna knew the truth, while nobody else did. Still, I didn’t really know. She could be right.
    She took out her cell phone and scrolled through the names. “Who here can take care of a dragon?” she wondered aloud.
    “Someone with a massive pooper scooper,” I said.
    She grinned and swatted at me then turned away to make her call.
    Brand walked out in brown trousers, cowboy boots, and a beige button-down shirt. He had a brown jacket in one hand. “Don’t I get a gun?” he asked.
    Sharon was sitting on one of the chairs in the circle. She shook her head. “Do you own a Colt Peacemaker from the 1800s?”
    “No.”
    “Neither do I. You’ll have to buy one when you get there. You’ll find plenty of money in your trouser pocket. You’ll also want to buy some clothes for Jonathan and Kelly when you get there. When they come forward, they won’t blend in wearing a kilt or a dress of Egyptian style.” She looked around. “Where’s Kelly?”
    Rayna pointed to the locker room. “She’s trying to figure out the Egyptian clothes. Maybe you should go help her.”
    Sharon nodded. She looked me up and down. “Your kilt isn’t wrapped correctly. I can see