Page 61 of Under Gorse and Stone

“No,” she says, her eyes full of sly amusement. “That isnotwhat we eat.”

Sigurd stirs. “Well, we must be off. Good day to you, ladies.”

We’ve started away when Agnes says my name suddenly. I turn and jump as I find her directly behind me. “Yes?”

She rummages in her bag again. “Take this,” she says, removing a small burlap bag and shoving it into my hand.

“For me?” I ask.

She nods, that odd warmth in her eyes again.

“A present for you. Good manners and a kind heart are rare in these times and should always be rewarded.”

“Thank you,” I say and open the bag. An object falls into my palm. It’s a pendant made of green sea glass with a cord threaded through it. “A necklace?” I ask, looking at her. Sigurd draws in a startled breath, and I look curiously at him before turning back to Agnes.

She nods. “’Tis a hagstone.”

I touch the glass. It’s the colour of jade—the shade of the sea when the sun shines through the depths—and it has a gold thread running through it that’s the exact shade of Sigurd’s eyes. “It’s absolutelybeautiful,” I say. “Thank you so much.”

She takes it from me and fastens it quickly around my neck. The stone falls against my chest, and for a second, I smell salt, and the stone warms against my skin.

She taps it. “A hagstone protects you at sea. You will need that very soon, Cary.”

“I will?”

Sigurd’s arm tightens on my shoulders. “Thank you, Mistress Agnes,” he says formally. “I am in your debt.”

The witch and the dragon stare at each other.

“How do you know I need it?” I ask.

She gives her wicked chuckle and steps back, the softness gone as if it was never there. “Ah, mayhap I see the future.”

“Well, thank you again.”

She nods. “Thank you for the shop idea. Maybe we will do that.”

“I wish you luck,” I say formally and blink as they vanish in front of my eyes. All that remains are three trails of coloured smoke, and even as I watch, a breeze sets up, and they disappear. I hear a wicked cackle in the air, and then nothing.

Sigurd steers me away, his efforts slightly hampered by my constantly looking back. The harbour is empty once more, the rain lashing down and the wind howling.

“Well, that was interesting,” I say chattily.

His mouth twitches. “I believe you have made a friend.”

“Can they really tell the future?”

He nods. “They look into old glass fishing floats to see the future, and they are very accurate in their weather predictions. They commune with the wind on the cliffs around Boscastle.”

“And I wouldn’t have seen them without you?”

He shakes his head. “Be thankful we didn’t come upon them in Boscastle. They do their communing naked.”

“Wow. I can’t believe all this was going on around me. It’s so thrilling.”

“Thrilling?”

I gasp as he pulls me to a stop, wrapping his arms around me and dropping a hard kiss on my lips. He pulls away.