“Yeah, well, I don’t know what to make of it. I think Moonstone Bay is so small that everybody is up in each other’s business, so it creates unnecessary tension.”
“I don’t think that’s going to change.”
“No. Definitely not.” I sipped my tea. “Anyway, I actually had a reason for stopping by. I thought maybe you and I could take a walk around the festival when you finish your shift. I was hoping you could point out people who might be looking for employees.”
“Oh, well, sure.” Lilac didn’t appear thrilled by the suggestion. “I don’t see why I can’t do that.”
“Of course, I’m not sure I should really be taking on a full-time gig right now,” I admitted. “Part of me wonders if I should be spending my days reading those magic books in May’s library. I don’t know anything about magic, even though I appear to be the beneficiary of a magical lineage. It’s all so much to take in, and yet I feel as if I’m doing absolutely nothing.”
Lilac furrowed her brow, her expression serious. “You really don’t know anything about magic, do you?”
“Not even a little.”
“Well, I think I can help you there.” Her smile was unbelievably bright, which made me instantly suspicious. “In fact, I know I can. I agree you should be learning instead of wasting time every afternoon.”
“And how can you help me with that?”
Lilac’s smile turned sly. “There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”
“Who?”
“Let’s just say she’s an expert on certain witch subjects and leave it at that for now. I’ll be done here in an hour. Swing back then and I’ll take you to her.”
I wanted more information but knew it was unfair to pressure Lilac when she had a business to run. “Okay. That sounds good.”
“It’s going to be great. Trust me.”
PART OF ME THOUGHT I shouldn’t have been surprised when Lilac led me to the fortune teller tent I’d caught a glimpse of the previous night. She was waiting when I returned to the bar and was unbelievably chipper as we walked along Main Street. She didn’t reveal who we were going to see until it was too late for me to change my mind.
I read the sign hanging over the open tent flap. “Madame Selena, witch to the stars.” That had to be a joke. “I’m not sure this is what I had in mind.”
“And I’m not sure you have a choice in the matter.” Lilac was firm. “I’m not a witch. I can’t help you with witchy powers. You need someone who can teach you the ways of your people.”
Now that she mentioned it, I wasn’t all that sure what species Lilac belonged to. She didn’t volunteer that information – and we’d only been hanging around together for two weeks, so it felt presumptuous to ask – but my curiosity was rampant. “What kinds of things could you teach me?”
Lilac merely shrugged. “To start out with, nothing. That’s why I think you should talk to Madame Selena. She and May go back a long time.”
That was slightly more interesting. “She and May were friends?”
“Well, I wouldn’t use that word.” Lilac’s smile was sheepish. “It’s more that they knew each other and crossed paths quite often. I don’t think I’m the one who should explain their relationship. I’ll let Madame Selena do that.”
“I can’t wait,” I muttered, reluctantly following Lilac into the tent and pulling up short when the overpowering scent of lavender smacked into my olfactory senses. “What is that?”
“That is the power of our people,” a woman replied, lifting her head as she swiveled to face me. She sat in a chair in the center of the room – it actually resembled a throne more than anything else – and she wore a turban so I couldn’t see what color hair she boasted. “Lavender strengthens the mind, encourages love and boosts fertility.”
Huh. I had no idea what to make of that. “The mind stuff sounds great,” I said after a beat. “I’m not sure how I feel about being more fertile.”
Madame Selena chuckled. “You might change your mind on that in the future. Come. Sit.” She gestured toward a chair to her left. It was a simple folding chair, nothing like the throne she perched in, and I felt exposed as I shuffled across the tent. “You’re Hadley Hunter.”
“She is.” Lilac bobbed her head, her enthusiasm on full display. “May was her grandmother.”
“And Emma was your mother. I know.” Madame Selena’s eyes never left my face. “You never set foot on Moonstone Bay until about two weeks ago.”
“It’s actually closer to three weeks now.” My palms were sweaty, so I rubbed them against the knees of my cargo pants. “Are you really a witch?” I realized only after I opened my big mouth that the question might be construed as rude. “I mean … are you?”
Instead of acting offended, Madame Selena merely smiled. “I am a witch. You are, too.”
“So I’ve been told.” I shifted on the chair. “Lilac thought maybe you could … I don’t know … teach me a few things about being a witch. I was going to do research with May’s books but I’ve always been better with a hands-on education.
“Like, for example, when I had science classes,” I continued, recognizing I was blathering and unable to stop myself. “I was always more comfortable, earned better grades and everything, when we had labs than reading about the process in a book.”
“I was that way, too.” Madame Selena stretched out her rather short legs as she regarded me. “What have you been able to do so far?”
The question caught me off guard. “Oh, well, I’m not sure.”
“She blew a guy who was trying to attack her with an ax out of a second-story window,” Lilac offered helpfully.
I kind of wanted to strangle her for being so open with my secrets. “That was a fluke.”
“Fluke?” Madame Selena arched a perfectly-manicured eyebrow. “I don’t know that I would call it a fluke. I’m more apt to call it an interesting display for someone who had no idea at the time that she was a witch.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” I drawled. “I’m still not sure how that happened.”
“You protected yourself.”
“But … how?” I was frustrated. “How did I know to protect myself if I didn’t even realize I had magic?” My fingers twitched as I continuously shifted positions on the uncomfortable chair. “I mean … seriously. How could I protect myself that way when I didn’t know it was possible?”
“Your brain didn’t know it was possible,” Madame Selena clarified. “Your instincts – your fight-or-flight response, so to speak – understood that you had power. I’m guessing that you displayed magical abilities long before you arrived on Moonstone Bay but you simply didn’t realize that’s what was happening.”
I cocked my head, considering. “No. I don’t think that’s true. I would remember using magic.”
“Unless you rationalized it as something else.”
“Like what?” I didn’t want to let my frustration out to play – I barely knew this woman, after all, and it wasn’t her fault I’d grown up in the dark. “How could I have done magic and not realized it?”
Madame Selena shrugged. “I don’t know. I obviously am not privy to your entire childhood. You’re a witch, though, by birth. Given your lineage, you should be a strong witch. May was unbelievably powerful, and while I didn’t know Emma as an adult, she was a very strong practitioner as a teenager.”
“I wouldn’t know. I never got to meet her.”
Madame Selena’s expression turned sympathetic. “That must have been hard for you. Still, I’m guessing you did things – probably as a teenager – that you didn’t realize at the time. I don’t want to distress you, but it might behoove you to think back on that time and look at your life from a different perspective.”
I hated how pragmatic she sounded. “Even if I do that, what good could come of it? That won’t help me control my powers.”
“Are you struggling with out-of-control powers?”
That was an irritating question. “Well, no. I ha
ven’t really displayed any magic since … um … one night when Galen and I were taking a walk.”
Madame Selena was intrigued. Her smile stretched the width of her face as she leaned forward. “And what were you and Galen doing at the time of the display?”
Letting our hormones run wild. Of course, she didn’t need to know that. I cleared my throat. “He just wanted to show me that my magic could do more than throw a man out of a window. He walked me down to the water and kind of … I don’t know how to explain it … he helped direct my magic and we kind of made a mermaid or something out of the water.”
“Hmm.” Madame Selena furrowed her brow. “That sounds like an elemental exercise. May was something of an air witch with earth witch tendencies. I didn’t get to spend enough time with Emma to form a solid opinion, but I always thought she would lean toward being a fire witch. What you’re describing seems to indicate you might be a water witch.”
I had no idea what any of that meant. “I just want to be able to control it. I don’t want to be so surprised when someone comes to visit one day that I accidentally throw him or her against a tree or something.”
Madame Selena chuckled. “I don’t think you have to worry about that, but I understand why you’re struggling. I think I’ll be able to help …and I’m more than willing to. I believe you responded the way you did during the attack in your bedroom because something inside recognized you needed to fight – and fight hard – or die. That would hopefully be the exception rather than the rule.”
I didn’t want to appear overly hopeful, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. “So, you think you can give me lessons or something?”
“I think I can help. What you do with that help, well, that’s entirely up to you.”
That sounded more mysterious than anything else, but I was in a unique position. “Great. When do we start?”
9
Nine
“She basically said we could meet and she would show me a few things. Do you think that’s a good idea or am I making a huge mistake?”
Galen found me at the festival not long after I’d finished with Madame Selena. I launched into the tale of my talk with her right away, not giving him a moment to speak until I wrapped up what turned into a rather rambunctious monologue.
“Um … I think that sounds okay.” He absently smoothed my dark hair. “She’s a bit of a nut, but she might be helpful.”
“What do you mean? How is she a nut?”
“Everyone on this island has nutty tendencies. I’m including you in that statement, before you ask. Madame Selena is no different. But if you think you need help, she’s a good place to start.”
He wasn’t nearly as excited at the prospect as I envisioned. “Oh, well, maybe I’ll think about it a bit longer.” I chewed my bottom lip. “Do you have examples of the nutty things she’s done?”
Galen let loose a heavy sigh. “I can put together a list later if you think that will help.”
It couldn’t hurt. “That would be great.”
“Good.” He gave me a quick kiss, something I didn’t allow before launching into my exciting news, and glanced around the festival. “Do you want to eat here or go someplace else?”
It was only now, after I’d had a few minutes to calm myself, that I realized he looked weary. In fact, he looked absolutely beaten down. He’d obviously had a long day and my diatribe didn’t help. “Let’s eat here,” I suggested. “You can pick and I’ll order and pay.”
Galen snickered at the shift in my demeanor. “You don’t have to pay.”
“I want to. How about kebabs and rice?”
“That sounds fine.” Galen trailed behind me as I headed toward the Middle Eastern-themed food truck, his eyes busy searching the crowd while I placed our orders. Once the food was ready, we picked a table that was isolated near the edge of the busy crowd and spent the next few minutes feeding our hunger.
Because I was me, though, I couldn’t allow the silence to get a solid foothold. “Tell me about your day.”
“My day was … interesting.” He wiped the corners of his mouth with his napkin. “After you left, I spent several hours trying to talk down Gus and Henry. That didn’t go well. They’re both adamant that the other is evil and want me to do something about it.”
“Are they evil?” It seemed the obvious question. “I kind of thought they were evil given how they were acting. I didn’t get to see much before you kicked me out.”
“I knew you would bring that up.” Galen leaned back on the bench and gave me a long look. “I didn’t kick you out to be mean. I needed to focus on them, and maintaining proper focus seems to be an issue for me whenever you’re around. I much prefer focusing on you.”
“Oh, that’s cute.” I made a face. “I’m not sure I believe it, but it’s cute.”
“It’s true.” Galen flicked the end of my nose. “I’ve had a long day. I’m sorry if you feel I kicked you out of my office to be mean.”
The apology made me feel guilty. “I knew why you kicked me out. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t pout about it for a bit – that’s my way, after all – but I’m not angry. You had every right to kick me out. You have a job to do, and right now that job includes investigating a murder. Did you get any more information on that, by the way?”
Galen shook his head. “Ashley is still our prime suspect. The prosecutor hasn’t made a formal decision on charges yet, but it’s coming.”
I widened my eyes. “He’s going to charge her with murder?”
“He is. He didn’t say as much, but I’ve known him long enough to recognize the signs.”
“Do you think she did it?”
“I don’t know. I think there’s more than enough evidence to suggest she’s guilty.”
I had no idea what to make of that. “Well, once the prosecutor decides, it’s out of your hands, right? You can’t dwell on it. It’s not your fault.”
“No, but something doesn’t feel right about it.” Galen dug his fork into his rice. “I don’t want to spend our entire night talking about Trish’s murder. Tell me about your day.”
“I thought I already did.”
“You didn’t tell me about your visit to Wesley’s place this afternoon.”
Now it was my turn to sigh. “This island is thick with gossip. How did you even know that? The only person I told was Lilac. No one else knew.”
“Wesley knew.” Galen’s expression lightened a bit. “I ran into him on the east side of town when he was trying to shake fifty bucks out of Aaron Travers because he claimed that Aaron ripped you off.”
“Oh.” I really should’ve seen that coming. “Yeah. Wesley wasn’t happy about that.”
“Don’t worry. I stopped him before blood was shed. For the record, Aaron will probably give you ten free rides out to Wesley’s house to make things square. If you’re interested, I mean.”
“I might be interested,” I hedged. “I had a nice talk with Wesley this afternoon. He’s an interesting guy. I was worried before that he didn’t want to see me after the Ned Baxter thing, but it turns out I made up most of that in my head.”
Galen smirked, the expression lighting up his handsome features. “Well, at least you admit it. As for Wesley being a good guy, he mostly is. He’s a bit nutty, too.”
“I’m starting to think that everyone on this island is nutty, just like you said.”
“I think people are nutty everywhere. Moonstone Bay is simply one of those places where everyone knows about everyone else’s nutty behavior.”
“Good point.”
“I thought so.”
GALEN WAS SO TIRED when he walked me home I couldn’t help but worry about his draggy nature.
“Are you sure you should be walking home in this condition?”
Galen arched an eyebrow as he leaned against my front door and stared into my eyes. “I’m not drunk.”
“No, but exhaustion is worse than being drunk. You need to sleep.”
“That’s th
e plan. I’m going home to sleep.”
That seemed perfectly reasonable … except for the fact that I wasn’t keen on him leaving. “Or you could sleep here.” The offer was out of my mouth before I gave it the appropriate amount of thought. I didn’t want him to take it the wrong way. “I mean … just to sleep. I wasn’t inviting you to do anything else.”
Galen’s chuckle was warm and it sent a shot of energy straight to the nerves curling in my gut. “I knew what you meant.” He didn’t immediately respond to the offer, which made me uncomfortable.
“Anyway, it was just a thought.” I shifted from one foot to the other. “Probably a really lame thought. I just didn’t want you wandering around town when you’re obviously so tired you can barely keep your eyes open.”
“It’s not a lame thought,” Galen countered. “But it is a potentially dangerous one. Let me ask you a question: Are you going to make me sleep on the couch?”
I hadn’t gotten that far in my planning. “I … don’t know. You said the couch was too short and uncomfortable for your frame.”
“I stand by that.”
“On the other hand, I only have one bed,” I supplied. “If I let you share it with me, you might get ideas … and wandering hands … and a wandering tongue.”
Galen’s eyes momentarily filled with fire before he recovered enough to give me a considering look. “I think I can control myself if you’re willing to take a chance. If you remember correctly, we’ve slept in the same bed a few times now … and I never let anything wander.”
“No, but that was different.”
“How?”
“We weren’t dating then.”
“Good point.”
“If I invite you up now I’m afraid that our hormones will take over and clothes will end up shredded. It could be a mistake.”
Galen barked out a raucous laugh as he shook his head. “I think you’re the one worried about losing control of her hormones. I’m so tired all I can think about is putting my head on a pillow and passing out. If you don’t think you can keep your hands to yourself, though, I understand. I’ll leave you to your bed … alone.”
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