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“I did find out I can sense where there is water.” Sage beamed at that revelation. “Not too shabby for people who live in the desert, huh?”

Bryn couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s thirst for knowledge and achievements. If anyone was able to figure this whole mess out, it was Sage.

“Oh my...” Danu was suddenly in the center of the room with them, and Bryn had to grab her chest to keep her heart within the confines of her ribs. A yell that was a bit more high-pitched than Bryn would have expected came from Kessler and had her turning wide eyes on the man.

“Where in the blazes did you come from?” Kessler growled, his own hand clenching his shirt near his heart.

“I felt a surge of power from this area and came to investigate. I’ve been curious how you are all fairing, most especially since you are not updating me hourly as my dear Sage is.” She gave a look to Kessler.

“With all due respect, ma’am, every time I see you, you turn my world upside down.”

“Yes, well, our timeline was moved up with all the bodies showing up.” Danu didn’t bother expanding on her revelation.

“Bodies?” Sage asked, beating Bryn to it.

Not again. Not. Again.

“Yes, at the gate. Perhaps you should try speaking to me once in a while if you want to know what is happening outside of this little town you all hide in.”

Well, that wasn’t fair at all, but Bryn let it slide as she slipped out of Sage’s home and made her way to the sheriff’s office where Justin would be ending his day. At least he should have been anyway.

Justin was easy enough to find as he was holding off a crowd from the gate, but it wasn’t the crowd of people from Ifreann that halted her in her tracks, it was the crowd she couldsenseoutside the gate.

“Looks like I have my work on both planes cut out for me, as do you.” Mr. Rafferty moved to stand next to her, looking like the human she had grown up with, his ears no longer pointed and the gray only threaded through his hair instead of taking up the entirety of it.

Danu appeared next to her, this time Bryn was focused enough that her sudden arrival was not the equivalent of the old children’s toy called a jack-in-the-box from long ago.

“As you each learn your powers, you will grow stronger. It looks like you are about to be thrown into the deep end, my dear.” Danu patted her shoulder as she spoke before turning and walking away with too much pep in her step, whistling a tune that grated on Bryn’s nerves.

Callum walked to stand on the other side of her in Danu’s absence.

“I can be of assistance working with her once again to cross the veil as we did earlier today,” Callum offered, and Mr. Rafferty nodded.

The fact that Callum and Danu were out and about, and no one in the whole town noticing, did not bode well. Could they not be seen?

Wishing she had the ability to turn invisible, Bryn turned to Mr. Rafferty, but he cut off any words she was about to speak.

“That would help. I cannot go back and forth across to move souls when I need to make sure they are settled.”

With those words, he turned on his heels and walked away, leaving Bryn and Callum without her getting a word in.

They were all pushing her buttons today.

“We should move this to your domicile since I am unsure of what to do with your physical body once you cross over. It is one thing to do so at the pyre when the town is in a state of calm, but there are too many agitated people, and agitated people do not know how to stay still.”

“I understand,” she replied, torn between listening to Callum and watching Justin try to calm the people gathered, but her eyes found Arioch and Daran leading the group before she walked away. Figured they’d be thosetownspeople.

They obviously forgot their torches and pitchforks at home. What a shame.

“Come, let us begin so the souls do not have a chance to turn.” Callum touched her elbow, her body walking before her mind could catch up with what he had said.

Turn?

As if privy to her innermost thoughts, Callum answered as they walked side by side to her apartment.

“Many things can happen to a soul left on the earthly plane. Myths have been created from the souls walking the earth, looking for hosts. But that is for another day.”

Ending the conversation by heading to her apartment stairs, she followed him, Cyerra hopping along with them on the railing.