Book One of the Copper & Cobalt Trilogy.
After finding what appears to be an ancient, Celtic necklace in a second-hand boutique, Bridget and her best friend Celena have the strange feeling that they've seen the pendant before, a long, long time ago. This, and the unusual familiarity they've felt ever since they met, leads them to ask questions and trace their find back to its source.
Once in Wales, Bridget is compelled to an eerie, megalithic structure and suddenly finds herself in another time and place - as Enid, the dark-haired servant girl she was thousands of years ago. She is immersed in her horrid past and forced to relive it, helpless to avert the tragedy, save her dearest friend or even herself.
Waking at dawn inside the ring of stones, she and Celena begin to embark upon the true adventure laid out before them. They need to right the past not only for themselves, but for a much higher purpose. And Paul, a mysterious stranger who jealously guards his own secrets, may be able to help them.
Excerpt:
Bridget crossed the street and made her way to the bus stop at 6:30 a. m. It was still dark outside. Although she had been awake for over an hour, was fully dressed and walking, the hushed streets and darkened houses gave her the impression that it wasn’t really morning yet. It was like going to school in the middle of the night. The fact that zero hour even existed was one thing (a whole hour of school before school, as though all the other hours weren’t enough), but that Bridget was going to participate in this additional hour in some way was something else entirely.
She rounded the corner and approached the little stone retaining wall where she would sit and wait. As she sat down and dropped her bag like a sack of bricks onto the concrete, a few birds had begun to sing. Bridget was the only one at this stop. Celena was probably already on the bus and headed her way from a couple of blocks down. If she wanted, Bridget could walk the extra distance and meet Celena there, but it would mean leaving about ten minutes earlier. Instead, she would see her friend in a few moments from right where she was.
Since Bridget first met Celena several months ago, she had scarcely bothered to associate with anyone else. She remembered that first day when Debbie introduced her and she was greeted in the hallway by this interesting new girl her own age. Bridget’s first reaction could only be described as a sort of mild shock and appreciation. Celena was tall and slender, with bright blue eyes rimmed with heavy black liner, and beautiful, dark brown hair that hung down most of her back in spirals. She wore a deep burgundy lipstick that was really too dark for her, but which nevertheless seemed perfectly flattering. Her clothing was rather interesting as well: a black t-shirt with strange words and designs (of eccentric taste, Bridget recalled thinking), a slightly-too-large army jacket and jeans that were beginning to fray at the ends from being worn too many times. Around her neck was a little silver pendant in the shape of a heart with a skull in the middle. Most peculiar of all, Bridget thought, was that Celena made all that stuff look good.
Next, Bridget noticed that Celena was very forthright and direct. She spoke her mind and didn't care what people thought, although when it came to Bridget she was very considerate. Bridget had often felt that her own mouth sometimes “got her into trouble,” so it was nice to be able to say what she wanted for a change. Celena was easy to talk to and understood her. They shared a similar sense of humor and in fact seemed to share a similar opinion on just about everything.
From that first day forward, the girls were friends as though they were just picking up where they left off, from some friendship long ago. Bridget never voiced it, but she felt it.
The zero hour bus turned the corner and Bridget got to her feet. When she stood up, she was aware that her dress was probably a little too short, cut about three inches above the knee. She had the fleeting thought that it didn’t make any sense for designers to make dresses that were considered too short for people to wear. Bridget pretended not to be self-conscious, got on and slid into the seat next to Celena.
There was really no good reason that Bridget had to go to school for zero hour. Celena took an additional art elective at that time, but Bridget didn’t have a class scheduled. What she had been doing was using the extra period to write in her journal for extra credit in Ms. Morrow’s creative writing. She was allowed to write about whatever she wanted as long as it was appropriate; Ms. Morrow believed that letting the students have one outlet to write material of their choice strengthened their writing ability on all fronts. Besides the journal writing though, lately Bridget seemed to have trouble sleeping and was restless. To her surprise, Celena actually noticed this, and urged her to just come with her in the morning and get it out of her system. It was better than holding in all that pent-up emotion until 4th period (Ms. Morrow’s) or the end of the day. Bridget couldn’t see any reason not to, so obliged, and was relieved that she actually found it fun and rebellious for some reason to sit in the hallway before class and write.
Bridget’s only real problem was that she constantly felt she should be doing something other than what she was doing, and she could never figure out what that something was. There was always a strange pulling sensation, something gnawing at her, making her feel compelled, but she didn't know what to reach for. She tried to recall when this problem began, but came up with nothing; it seemed to have started very recently, definitely within the present school year. Before that, she was concerned with what she deemed the more trivial pursuits of other girls her age: homecoming, clothing, various cliques and people to fawn over, and other bits of what she now considered “fluff.” Now there was only an uneasy stirring and she noticed the activities which went on around her with an almost detached amusement. Things once important had lost their solidity.