Page 31 of Witch and Tell

“I mean, before you moved to Astoria. Do you know Ian Penclosa?”

“Who?” When I didn’t respond—why was she here, then, if not for Ian?—Lise tipped up her chin to examine the treetops. Rodney brushed against the pants of her jeans, and when she glanced down, he skittered into the ferns.

“Do you believe in magic?” she asked.

The question caught me off guard. “What? Why?”

Something in her relaxed. “You didn’t sayno.”

“You’re right,” I replied, but declined to explain further. “What does that have to do with why you’re here?”

“I met Leo. He told me about you.” As she spoke, she watched me carefully to gauge my reaction.

“You know Leo?” Leo, the man I’d met the year before, the man researching the documentary about folk magic. What had he said to Lise Bloom? “How is he these days?”

“He said he thinks you’re a witch.”

My breath stuck in my throat. I fought to keep a level expression. “He’s been spending too much time reading about old spells. If I was a witch”—here, I forced a laugh—“what’s it to you? Witch hunting went out centuries ago.”

She looked away. “It’s nothing. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Yet it clearly was something to her; otherwise, why would she find it so urgent to ask me about it? I remembered the witch-centered novels she borrowed at the retreat center. “You came to Wilfred because you thought I was a witch and wanted to check me out? You’re not here because of Ian?”

She looked strangely disappointed. “I don’t know who Ian is.”

He might have changed his name when he came to Oregon. “The used book seller in Patty’s This-N-That. Dark hair, a scar right here.” I patted my right cheek.

“Nope.” She had lost interest in me since I hadn’t claimed my magic. She pointed off the trail. “Did you see that clearing in the woods? Someone made a fire.”

The witch’s circle was a solid ten-minute walk from the trail, which meant she must have been wandering in the woods. A casual hiker wouldn’t have found it. If I hadn’t known it was there, I wouldn’t have found it, either. “You went into the woods?”

“I smelled smoke.” She turned toward the barely vis ible trail through the underbrush. “A dead fire, that is.”

She must have an incredible nose. I adopted a dismissive tone. “Campers, likely. Or kids from the high school.”

“I see.”

We both knew how unlikely it was that campers or teenagers would find their way to this obscure part of the forest. I still wondered how Lise had found it. I sure couldn’t smell anything. Had she really come all the way to Wilfred to see if I was a witch? Or was she a witch herself—in short, was she Aunt Beata?

“I’ll be moving along, then,” Lise said. “I’ll tell Leo you said hi.”

“A witch,” I replied. “As if.”

Chapter Seventeen

As I walked home, I pondered what Lise had told me. Leo had labeled me a witch. That, in itself, didn’t concern me. Thanks to his research, Leo was steeped in folk magic, and people probably figured he saw witches everywhere. Besides, his definition ofwitchwas fluid and applied to regular people who cast spells as well as those rumored to have magical abilities. History interested him. Folk tradition. I didn’t even know if he believed in magic.

Why had she brought it up at all? Unless she had magic, too. I’d felt a gut-level connection with Lise, but I couldn’t tell if I should trust it or stay far away.

Rodney emerged from the brush to follow me along the trail. After a dozen yards or so, he dashed into the bushes again. A few steps later, I saw why. One of the workers from the Empress’s renovation was ambling toward me. He lifted his baseball cap and raked a hand through dirty hair.

For a split second I wondered if I should be worried by his furtive glances to the side. Here, if I screamed, no one would hear me. The nearest building was the library, and that I knew to be empty.

Then the construction worker smiled, and my fear dropped away. I recognized him as Cliff, the man arguing with Tyrone earlier in the week, the one who lived in his van. No wonder Cliff was out stretching his legs on the trail, although I would have thought he’d be at work.

There was no way we could pass each other without a greeting.

“Hello,” I said. “I’m surprised to see you. I didn’t think many people knew about this trail.”