The Water Witch (25 page)

“What’s in there?” I asked Brock.

“Something you have to face in order to be free. You have to go alone …” His voice faded. I wanted to turn and look for him, but I didn’t. I stepped into the roiling eye of the hurricane …

… where it was a calm and clear summer night. I stood on a grassy lawn beneath a twilight blue sky, surrounded by the flickering light of fireflies. The place tugged at my memory. The smell of smoke and night-blooming flowers riding the warm summer air, the thick blue dark pinpricked by pulsing fireflies, the damp grass beneath my bare feet … my bare feet? I looked down and saw my pale feet half-buried in grass, except … they looked smaller than my feet. I wriggled my toes. Definitely my feet … A noise caught my attention. A humming that blended with the cicadas and tree frogs but wasn’t cicadas and tree frogs. I looked up … and
up
, as though I had shrunk and the world had grown taller around me. A cloaked figure towered above me, arms raised to the crescent moon. As I stared in amazement, the figure took hold of the moon and drew it down toward her. I gasped and the figure spun around, robes billowing in the warm air, wafting the smell of smoke and something else toward me, something bitter … Then there was a flash of silver as a sickle knife arced down toward me …

I screamed and turned … and felt the coil wound inside me snap. Instantly, I was spun out into the void with the force of an exploding star. I’d broken the spiral by turning and now I was hurtling through space. Far away I heard a distant hum, an echo of that summer night insect hum … or of the circle trying to sing me home. But I was out of their reach. Out of anyone’s reach. Brock was lost and I was lost, all because I hadn’t had the courage to face my past. I had been that little girl standing in the grass watching the tall woman pull down
the moon and slash the air with it. That knowledge did me no good now. Without the spiral I had no path home …

Then I remembered Liam’s voice telling me that Aelvesgold linked true lovers together, no matter how far apart. I imagined Liam’s face and saw him, his face above me as we made love, a halo of gold light blazing around him, his eyes looking deep into mine, reaching into my core. Warmth uncoiled in my chest, wrapping around me and unspooling like a loose ball of yarn.

See
, he said as the thread came to its end, his voice as clear as a bell in the emptiness of space,
like I said. True lovers
.

The thread snapped back, hurtling me back into space. I reached out my hands and felt a hand grasp mine. I slammed up against something hard.

Damn
, I thought.
Love hurts
.

I opened my eyes. I was lying on the ground, surrounded by a circle of concerned faces, but not the one face I wanted to see.

“Brock? Is he …?”

“I’m here, Callie.” I saw Brock hovering over me.

“Oh thank God,” I said. “I thought I lost you.”

He knelt down on the ground beside me as Liz and Ann Chase helped me sit up.

“I turned around and the spiral broke. I thought we were spinning out of control.”

“We were, but you pulled us both back.”

“It was Liam,” I said. “I heard his voice …” I stopped as an expression of dismay crossed Brock’s face.

“That damned incubus!” he swore with unaccustomed anger. “It’s his fault I was trapped in the shadows in the first place. I was on your roof when I saw the storm coming, carrying something with it—a creature from Faerie …”

“That was Lorelei,” I said.

“No. I saw her descend into the woods, but the storm came on, carrying with it another presence and heading straight toward Honeysuckle House. I realized then that although I’d warded the house—”

“That was you!” I interrupted. “Duncan Laird said someone had.”

“Duncan Laird?”

“My tutor, and a wizard of the Ninth Order. The circle found him to train me.”

I noticed Liz exchanging a look with Ann Chase. The rest of the circle were picking themselves up from the ground, brushing grass off their clothes, and stretching cramped limbs. Ike and Amma approached from the house, tears streaming down the old woman’s face at the sight of her grandson restored. Brock, though, was focused entirely on me, his face creased with guilt.

“A wizard of the Ninth Order would have no trouble recognizing my humble wards. The problem was that I’d just put in a new section of roof that
wasn’t
warded and that meant the creature in the storm could get in. I couldn’t leave you unprotected like that so I stayed on the roof until the storm arrived.”

“Oh Brock, you shouldn’t have! You shouldn’t have put yourself at risk to protect the house. It’s only a house …”

“It’s your
home
, Callie. If a creature breached its wards, it would have power over you. Power over your mind and body and even your dreams. That’s how the incubus possessed Dolly. First it possessed Honeysuckle House.” Brock dropped his head and covered his face with his calloused, work-worn hands. “I’m so sorry, Callie. I let the incubus back into your house.”

L
iz insisted on driving me back. “Diana can drive my car back to the inn,” she explained as we walked to my car, “and I don’t think you should be driving so soon after your … journey.” She started to say something else but then glanced out at the fields and motioned for me to get inside the car. As soon as we were inside, with the windows rolled up, she didn’t waste any more time getting to the point. She turned to me. “Brock’s right,” she said. “Your incubus is back.”

She said it as if I’d had a reccurrence of shingles or bedbugs.

“Maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” I said defensively. “I’d still be spinning through space if Liam hadn’t pulled me back, and that wouldn’t have worked if he weren’t my true love.”

Liz clucked her tongue and started the car. “According to him, Callie!” she said, keeping her eyes on the road and grasping the steering wheel so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “He’s enslaved you. Look at yourself. You’ve got so much Aelvesgold in your system that you’re glowing. He’s gotten you addicted to the stuff.”

“Oh, so now I’m an addict
and
a sex slave … Hey, wait a second, I’ve been using Aelvesgold under the direction of Duncan Laird, the tutor
you
got for me.”

A pained look crossed Liz’s face and she took her eyes off the road long enough to give me a doleful stare.

“You don’t think …?”

Liz turned her eyes back to the road but not before I saw her lip tremble. “I’m sorry, Callie, but yes, I think Duncan Laird is your incubus.”

“No,” I said, my stomach roiling. “You said he was recommended by a member of the circle …”

“Yes, but I’m afraid it’s possible that the circle member who recommended him might not have been acting with your best interests in mind.”

“Who …?” I began, thinking of Moondance’s obvious hostility and wondering if she had been the one to recommend Duncan, but Liz silenced me with a raised hand.

“I’d rather not say until I’ve verified my suspicions, but I think we have to consider the possibility that Mr. Laird might have been foisted on us under false pretenses.”

“But you checked his references personally.”

“Such things can be faked. I’m afraid now that I might not have been careful enough. Believe me when I say that the thought that I may have made the same mistake twice and put you in harm’s way again is deeply mortifying to me.”

Liz’s face, even in profile, was so pained that I had to look away. I looked out the window at the woods that lay to the west of Trask Road, into the deep shadows of the pines. The same woods where I’d roamed as a deer and an owl with Duncan Laird. I had felt an attraction to him—he was undoubtedly a handsome man—but when he’d tried to kiss me, the wards had prevented him.

“Duncan can’t be the incubus. My wards pushed him away.”

“That might be a trick, Callie.”

But it hadn’t just been the wards. “I pushed him away,” I said, turning back to Liz. “I wouldn’t let him kiss me.”

“Well,” Liz said with a tentative smile, “maybe you’ve finally developed some sense.”

I sighed. I’d very much like to agree with Liz that I was developing better judgment in my love life, but I doubted it. I had slept with Liam in Faerie and in my dreams. So why would I have any better judgment if Duncan were my incubus in the flesh?

I pondered in silence until we headed up Elm Street to my house.

“What are we going to do? Duncan Laird is coming over tonight. Should I still go ahead and transform with him? If he’s the incubus, it could be a trick.”

“It may indeed,” she said with a grim set to her lips. “I’m afraid that what Duncan’s been doing with you hasn’t unlocked your power …” She slammed her hand against the steering wheel. “What an idiot I’ve been! I’ve compromised your power just when we needed it the most—and Lorelei’s still on the loose.”

“Soheila didn’t find her at Lura’s house?” I asked.

“Lura wouldn’t let her in.”

“I could try talking to Lura,” I said. “She let me into her house before.”

“I think it’s better if you try to rest up. I have another idea of how to trap Lorelei. I’m going to ask the Stewarts to help.”

“The Stewarts?” I asked, remembering the plaid-shirted farmers at the diner and the guileless boy I’d met last night in the woods. “Do you mean Mac Stewart’s family?”

“Oh, so you’ve met him … a nice boy, although a bit thick. Yes, his father, Angus, and his brothers are part of an ancient order that has protected the woods for generations. I’ll coordinate their efforts … oh, hellfire!”

“Liz!” I’d never heard her swear before.

“Look!” We’d pulled up in front of my house but Liz was pointing across the street to the Hart Brake Inn, where a large black SUV was hulking like a malevolent water bug in the inn’s driveway. Three doors clicked open at the same time; two disgorged men in identical navy blue suits, both so tall and blond and similar in features they might have been twins. Each carried a long furled black umbrella. The third occupant of the car was a silver-haired woman dressed impeccably in a St. John knit suit and carrying an ox-blood Birkin bag.

My heart sank. “I didn’t know my grandmother was going to stay at the inn … It’s not exactly her style.”

“I didn’t know either. She must have made the reservation under a different name. Diana will be beside herself.”

We both watched in horror as my grandmother led the way up the path, glancing disdainfully at the ceramic gnome at the foot of the porch steps. She said something to one of the men and he touched the tip of his umbrella to the offending gnome. The red-capped figure began to vibrate, then rock back and forth on his stubby feet, then, with a high-pitched whine, he exploded.

In the car Liz flinched and cried out, “Oh no, poor Aethelready! He’s been with Diana since she moved to Fairwick.”

Adelaide brushed powdered plaster off her suit jacket and proceeded up the steps, followed by her gnome-smashing minions.

“I’d better help Diana cope with them,” Liz said, flustered. “Don’t worry about tonight. I’ll organize the plan to trap Lorelei.
In the meantime, try to … um … fend off Duncan Laird, if you know what I mean.”

“I had no intention—” A bang from inside the inn made both of us jump.

“I really must be off,” Liz said.

I got out of the car and hurried up my front path, swooping up Mr. Rukowski and bringing him into the house.

“There you are,” I said putting the statue down in the foyer and locking the door. “You’ll be safe here.”

But would I? As Liz had pointed out, my threshold had been breached. I might already have let an incubus into my house. Who knew what else might be coming?

I hurried upstairs and into Liam’s old study to get a view of the inn. I caught sight of Diana hurrying out onto the porch with a basketful of bric-a-brac. Her face looked pinched and pale. A series of pops, crackles, and loud bangs from the house made her look over her shoulder. A trail of smoke wiggled out of a second-floor window.

Poor Diana
. I’d always thought that the inn was too cluttered with bric-a-brac. Only now did it occur to me that the ceramic creatures might have greater significance to her. Why would Adelaide be getting rid of them if they didn’t have magical powers? It couldn’t be just because she was offended by the twee decor. Perhaps, like the gnome, they were guardians that protected Diana’s home and person. I recalled the way Liam brought home little tokens from the forest—round river stones, twisted bits of wood, birds’ feathers—and lined the windowsills with them. Had he been weaving a protection spell?

I looked around the empty room, running my hand along the windowsills. I crouched on the floor to check for loose floorboards.

“Are you looking for something?”

My hand jerked at the unexpected voice and I jammed a splinter into my finger. Looking up, I found Bill standing in the doorway gazing down at me, his cap, even indoors, pulled low over his eyes.

“I’m sorry I startled you,” he said, crouching in front of me and taking off his cap. “I thought you knew I was up here painting the ceiling. Let me see that splinter. I’m good at getting them out, seeing as I’m always getting them myself.”

I laid my hand in his wide cupped palm, where it fit as snugly as a bird in a nest, and felt a swell of warmth that made me dizzy. It must be exhaustion from today’s circle or the pain of the splinter, which Bill was now prodding with blunt calloused fingertips—only it wasn’t really pain. The current of sensation his touch released felt a lot more like
desire
. The feeling was so overwhelming that I let out a little moan.

“Sorry,” he said.

“It’s all right! It’s my own fault!” I squeaked, trying to mask my reaction to Bill’s touch. I must still be under the effects of Aelvesgold. Liz was right. It was making me attracted to my handyman … who really was quite handsome, I thought, getting my first good look at him with his cap off. He had beautiful eyes—the color of leaves in autumn or aged brandy flecked with gold …

“Why your fault?” Bill asked.

“Oh … I was checking the planks for hiding places like I was Nancy Drew or something. My … um … boyfriend stayed in this room last winter and I thought he might have left something behind.”