Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“And I was having that conversation with Louisa in Hallows End and also lost track of time,” Jonas puts in. “Breena, why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
“Because I think I have.”
She relays to Lucy and Jonas what happened during her reading with Marydell.
“Maybe it was just an off reading,” Lucy says, waving it off. “Sometimes, the cards just don’t want to cooperate, or the guides don’t want to talk.”
“No,” Lorelei disagrees, shaking her head. “It was definitely the right reading.”
“Did I do the right thing?” Breena demands. “By not telling her what I saw and just placating her? How do you tell someone that, based on the cards, she’s not likely to make it?”
“You don’t,” I reply simply and reach over to pat Breena’s arm. “You can’t tell her that. You did the right thing, Breena. Everything can change in an instant. Maybe she takes the long way home or doesn’t eat the thing that would poison her. Or, well…anything. You can’t know for certain what the future holds because there’s always free will.”
“He’s right,” Jonas adds. “You did the right thing.”
“Thank you.” Breena wipes a little tear from the corner of her eye. “I’ve never had anything like that happen before. So weird.”
“I hope it doesn’t mean anything bad for her,” Lucy says with a frown. “I like her so much. She’s great for this town—and the witch community in general.”
“I agree,” Lorelei says. “I hope she stays safe.”
“What did Louisa say?” I ask Jonas. “You were going to ask her about water spells and such, right?”
“Yes, I wanted to pick her brain. She kept asking me why I was curious, and I hated lying to her. She’s my dearest friend.”
“It’s not malicious,” Lorelei reminds him but then frowns and turns to me. “Wait, I didn’t know you needed water spells. I have quite a few.”
Jonas catches my eye, and I nod. “I asked him to ask Louisa because of the music you keep hearing, Lora. We wanted to know if she’s ever heard of something like that happening to someone.”
Before Lorelei can respond, Giles adds, “Plus, with it using the water at Breena’s old place, we wanted some insight.”
“Did she have some?” I ask Jonas.
“Not much,” he admits, shaking his head. “I couldn’t give her specifics, so everything she told me was very vague. Frustratingly so. She did mention there was some lore about sailors hearing siren songs in the old times, but she thought it was just a tale. She told me to ask my mother.”
“Oh, Jonas.” Lucy leans over to kiss her husband’s cheek, and I feel sympathy for the other man when I see the sadness in his eyes.
His mother has been gone for three hundred years.
“My gods, how long ago is the old times?” Lucy asks. “If Louisa thinks it’s 1692, what timeframe would the old times be for her?”
“A very long time ago,” Jonas says with a laugh. “She also said she didn’t know of any spells that could be cast to affect large bodies of water. Of course, there’s no running water in Hallows End, and she wouldn’t even know what that is, so I couldn’t ask her about a town’s water source.”
“I’ve been doing some reading.” All eyes turn to me. “Whatever this is, it’s not mentioned in anything I’ve researched.”
“Of course, not,” Breena mutters darkly. “It’s like it’s an overachiever or something. It’s ridiculous.”
“Agreed,” Lucy says with a long sigh. “Xander, did you call a coven meeting yet?”
“No. Sorry, I forgot. I’ll do that for this weekend. My mom and grandma will be here.”
Jonas’s eyes narrow, and the others smile with excitement.
“Oh, that’ll be a wonderful surprise for everyone,” Breena says. “I’ve really missed your mother and Miss Sandra.”
“They’re excited, too.”
“This would be more relatives of mine?” Jonas asks quietly.
“They are, yes. I’ve told them about you and tried to explain the best I could. They’re both eager to meet you. Grandma says she’s bringing some things to give to you. I have no idea what they are.”
“It’ll be my pleasure to meet them.”
“Boy, it sure got stormy outside.”
At Giles’s observation, we all turn to look out the windows that give us a view of the pier and the water. It’s suddenly churning like crazy, almost sending waves up onto the pier itself. It reminds me of the outer bands of a hurricane.
And something about it has my blood running cold.
Of course, the people out there don’t move. They don’t flee and run for safety, leaving the pier for shelter.
They just pull out their phones to capture it all.
“I don’t like that,” I murmur, narrowing my eyes. I don’t want to alarm the others, but something is very wrong. “I want a closer look.”
“Xander, I don’t know if we should go out there.”
“I’ll fly over it,” I reply, already walking away from the table. I can feel the others walking behind me as I push through the door. The wind whips through my hair, and rather than shift into the raven, I stay back to make sure the others are safe.