Page 44 of Wicching Hour (The Sea Wicche Chronicles #3)

FORTY-FOUR

Here Comes the Rain

W e know your demon is dead, Cal. What have you done with Gran?

Gran looked outraged for a moment and then laughed, shifting into Calliope. Caught me . She glanced over her shoulder onto the floor. Currently Gran is bleeding out and powering this spell. We’ll see if you find us before she dies. Spoiler: We’re not here. With a smirk, she disappeared.

I let go of Mom’s hand, experiencing a moment of motion sickness as I was dropped back into my body.

Mom’s eyes were wide. “Arwyn.”

I nodded. “I know.”

Robert was back at the helm. Declan sat on the deck with me, his chest red. Sections of skin had burned off, but he didn’t seem like he was in pain.

“It looks worse than it is,” he said. “Your uncle dealt with the burns and used a pain-numbing spell on me, which I appreciate.”

I rubbed his leg, reassuring myself he was okay. “Can everyone hear me?” When I saw lots of nods, I said, “Okay, so, Mom and I joined to spectrally look for Gran. We went to her house. I was worried that if a demon was there, he may have hurt her.”

Elizabeth wrapped her arm around Mom’s shoulders.

“We found Gran standing in the dark of the living room, trembling, telling us about how she’d been terrorized all day by a hellhound and visions of our deaths.”

Mom stared into her hands. She’d picked up a demon and brought it to us and then believed a sorcerer who was pretending to be her mother. Something was wrong. Mom was normally far more suspicious and distrustful than this.

“It was nagging at me, though,” I continued. “Gran is Gran. She doesn’t hunch or tremble. I knew the demon had been destroyed. That only left one culprit. Sure enough, Calliope showed herself. She said she had Gran, had used her blood to power the spell joining the Three.”

“So,” Faith began, sitting beside her mother, “we need to get Cal, destroy the grimoire, and rescue Gran?”

“That about sums it up.” It was interesting how none of us wanted to use the word kill for Cal. There was no rehabilitation for her. She, along with the book, needed to be destroyed, but she was still our cousin, our niece.

“If I can direct your attention,” Robert called back, “we’re coming up on the first spot. I know this area well. When Bracken showed me the map, I knew exactly where he meant because I’ve often wondered why no one’s built here. It’s a large plot of land, right on the water. It never made sense to me as to why some millionaire hadn’t snapped it up and built a mansion.” He looked over his shoulder at us. “I guess we know why now.”

“Maybe we know why,” I said. “It’s one of two possibilities.” I checked Declan’s wounds again. It was hard to tell in the dark, but his chest looked a little less red.

He rubbed his huge mitt of a hand over my knee. “I’m fine and I’ll be ready when it’s time to go.”

“When I go in the water, you can use my coat. You must be freezing.” The poor guy didn’t even have a whole shirt.

His eyebrows rose. “Are you seriously under the impression your clothing will fit me?”

“I meant you could use it as a blanket.” I gestured to his chest. “Just sort of lay it on yourself so your burn is out of the salty wind.”

He leaned forward and kissed me. “Thanks for the thought, but if you’re in the water, it means I’m getting off the boat.”

“Good point.” I started to take the coat off now, but he stopped me with a shake of his head.

“All right, Faith,” Bracken said, “I believe it’s time for a storm.”

Faith stood up and moved to the front of the boat. Mom watched her go, brows furrowed. She didn’t know we had an elemental in the family.

Holding her father’s hand, finding that anchor, Faith closed her eyes, lifted her other hand, palm out, and made a slow pushing movement. We were hit by a few drops, but the rain clouds quickly moved on and hovered over the rocky, forested land, set between two large homes with manicured lawns that ran to the water’s edge.

“Frank?” I called. “Can you give us some cover in case anyone is looking?”

He nodded, his fingers twitching at his side. “Sorry. I meant to do this sooner. I can’t make us invisible, so this is more of a chameleon spell. We’ll blend with the ocean.”

“That’s perfect,” I told him.

Mom turned to Elizabeth, whispering, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Elizabeth sighed. “There are lots of reasons, too long to get into right now. Suffice to say, I saw how they treated Arwyn. They knew she was gifted and resented her for it, terrorized her for it. You knew too, but you didn’t stop it. If you wouldn’t protect your own child, how could I trust you to protect mine?”

Mom reared back as though she’d been slapped. “I—of course I protected Arwyn.”

Elizabeth just raised her eyebrows. “You don’t honestly believe that, do you?”

I couldn’t look at my mom and see that hurt, bewildered expression on her face. Instead, I scanned the shore and noticed something moving in the dark. I stood unsteadily on the rocking deck and went to the front of the boat, trying to get a feel for what was out there. More than likely it was a deer, confused by the sudden rain, but just in case, I got down and crawled out to the bow, wanting to be as far away from the emotions behind me as possible.

I let my guard down a bit and focused on where I had last seen movement.

Curiosity. Hunger. He sees us and knows we’re the ones causing this storm but is unclear as to why.

I was pretty sure I recognized what he was. I lifted a hand in greeting and thought I saw movement in return.

“At ease, Faith. That’s not her.” I got up and walked back. “He’s a supernatural. I think a vampire, but I’m not positive.”

Faith’s eyes went wide, her gaze darting back to the shore.

Robert turned the boat around and headed back across the bay. Elizabeth pulled a juice box out of her bag and handed it to Faith, who had sat down beside her. While I was at the bow, Mom had moved so she was no longer sitting near Elizabeth. At some point, they’d need to have a longer discussion, but now wasn’t the time.

“You’re going to have to do that again in a few minutes and probably for longer,” Elizabeth said, kissing her daughter’s temple. “Great job.”

“Thanks.” Faith glanced around, seemingly embarrassed by the mothering. “Did you bring us candy bars too?”

“I could use one of those as well,” Frank said, maintaining the chameleon spell.

“You can take a break too,” I told him. “She can’t see this far out. Maybe just hide our running lights from view. Robert, tell us when you start to see detail on the shore. Frank can hide the boat again.”

Frank slumped in his seat and took the candy bar from his mom. “Please tell me you brought us more than one each.”

She handed him a juice and said, “I have more.” She looked in her bag. “I also have protein bars.”

Nodding, he reached for one of those as well.

Robert looked over his shoulder, saw his children eating after expending so much magical energy, and cut the engine before bringing down the main sail. He was giving them time. Robert and Elizabeth were changing generational patterns. It made me hopeful for the future of this family.

Toxic behaviors had become the norm for Coreys over the ages. No wonder so many of us turned to black magic and sorcery.

“Why have we stopped?” Mom asked.

“He’s letting Frank and Faith recuperate before pushing them again.” I often had to remind myself, when my mom did something that appeared cold and unfeeling, that it was most likely because she was repeating how she’d always been treated and didn’t realize another way was possible.

With a short nod, she sat back, watching how Elizabeth pulled out bottles of water for each of her children. Mom stared at the bag a moment, as though unclear as to how her sister fit so much into it before her expression cleared. She, like me, had figured out that Elizabeth had spelled her purse, making it a true bag of holding. Who knew how much stuff she carried around on the regular in that small, tasteful bag.

Once the teens were done, Frank and Faith worked together to put the main sail back up and Robert got the boat moving faster again. Once done, Frank sat beside his mom, turned in his seat, and put one dark hand on the light wood at the edge of the boat. Eyes closed, he blew out a slow breath. After a moment, he nodded.

Bracken unsteadily got back up to talk with Robert, who had the map clipped above the wheel, beside his navigation instruments. Robert pointed at the map and then at a spot on what looked like a computer tablet.

Faith looked down at me, as Declan and I were still sitting on the deck. “It’s going to be this one, isn’t it?”

I saw the fear in her eyes and wished I could tell her everything would be okay. “I think so, yes.”

“And you, Uncle Bracken, and Declan are going to try to break in?” She leaned in harder against her mom.

I nodded.

“I’m going too,” Robert said.

“What?” Elizabeth’s voice was pitched high. She was doing a good job of appearing relaxed for her children, but she was terrified. “You need to drive the boat,” she protested.

The two shared a look and then Robert said, “You heard Arwyn. Your mom is bleeding out. They need a healer.”

I shook my head. “Wait. No. I didn’t see you in my vision. Only Bracken, Declan, and I go in.”

He barely glanced at me before putting his focus back where it belonged, the sea ahead. “You had that vision before you knew your Gran was dying. It would probably be different now.”

My visions didn’t rely on what I knew. He was right about one thing, though. We were going to need a healer.

Declan and I shared a look. Neither was feeling good about this new development. Robert had a family, a beautiful, loving one. We didn’t want to do anything to ruin that.

Elizabeth straightened her shoulders, every nightmare scenario no doubt racing through her mind.

“Can you captain the boat?” I asked. “Frank and Faith will be busy.”

She pasted on a smile that looked sickly around the edges. “Of course. We all can.” She stood, stowing her bag under her seat, and went to the wheel, where Robert and Bracken were checking the map against the dark shoreline, looking for the spot.

“There!” Bracken pointed to a black void between two houses that had dim lights in their windows.

Declan stood and pulled me up with him. He had the best eyes on the boat, so he could provide confirmation. Head pivoting like he was at a tennis match, he growled, “That’s it. It doesn’t want me looking at it, so it keeps pushing me away.”

“Orla said the same. It kept pushing her off course.” Now that we’d actually found it, my heart was in my throat. I’d be fine in the water. Declan, Bracken, and Robert were the ones who’d be risking their lives.

“Okay, Faith,” her father said. “We need to make sure. Give us a storm.”

Elizabeth took over the wheel and held Faith’s hand while her daughter called up a beaut. Her nerves must have been getting to her because hail bounced off my head before Declan blocked it, palming my skull.

“Sorry!” she called.

“Don’t worry about us,” I told her. “We’re fine. Focus on what you’re doing.”

Her braids bobbed as she nodded, pushing the storm toward the void in the shoreline.