Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
He looked over at Pete. “Why’re you being weird?”
Quick shrug from the deputy. “Sorry. I haven’t been sleeping well, and I’m a bit edgy because of it.”
“Then go home and get some rest.”
“See, that’s the issue. Me and Marina, we’re staying over at the Birch Lodge while we’re having some renovations done on our house. And I dunno what’s going on, probably it being a different place and all, but—we’ve both been up most nights.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
Pete shrugged. “Not your fault, but if I’m worrying about you on top of not being able to sleep, then I—”
“Why would you worry about—”
“You will for sure take Xan with you, yeah?”
“Yes,” Lorne answered sharply, waving Pete off.
His deputy, and my friend from elementary school, gave a wan smile and then drove away.
After a few moments of silence, of us sitting together in the vehicle, Lorne cleared his throat. “Listen, I’m sorry I yelled at you before when you told me about Nott.”
“That’s okay. I know you’re worried.”
“Yeah, but I should be able to do that without getting loud.”
I chuckled. “Or maybe just don’t get loud in the car.”
“Police utility vehicle,” he corrected me, and turned his head so I couldn’t see the smirk I knew was there.
“Yes, yes, whatever you say.”
He scoffed. “That’ll be the day.”
“Sorry?”
“Whatever I say,” he teased, arching an eyebrow. “You’re not made that way. You don’t listen to anyone when you think you’re right.”
“I do about things I know nothing about,” I reminded him.
His grunt was soft.
“I never second-guess you about anything related to your work.”
“True.”
“I don’t meddle with things between you and your brother or you and Cass, and when people in town give you trouble, I don’t hex them.”
He laughed then. “You don’t believe in hexing anyone. What was it again, only for the highest and best, that’s the sole reason to perform magic.”
My turn to grunt.
“You don’t fool me. I know how your heart works.”
“So you say.”
“Now tell me again what you’re getting ready for.”
I chuckled. “Sometimes your brain makes jumps I can’t follow.”
“Sorry. I mean, what witchy holiday is next?” he asked as he pulled away from our cobblestone drive.
“Lammas,” I answered with a sigh. He was working on remembering things that were important to me, and I appreciated that more than he knew. “Or Lughnasadh, if you prefer.”
“What do you say?”
“I say Lammas because my grandmother did.”
“And that’s a sabbat, right?”
“It is.”
“And there’s eight of them.”
“Very good.”
“I listen.”
I knew he did. It was one of his very best qualities.
“And back in the day, these neo-pagan religious festivals marked the changes in the seasons and they stuck.”
“That’s correct. Lammas, in particular, is still celebrated all over the world.”
“By pagans.”
“By lots of people.”
“I love how so many celebrations, like Yule, got turned from being pagan holidays into Christian ones. I never knew that growing up.”
“Well, it’s nice you’re open to learning about it all.”
“Don’t I have to be? Isn’t that what it means to love a witch?”
For that, at the next stop sign, I kissed his neck softly, with only a slight nibble.
“Knock it off, you’re gonna give me goose bumps,” he muttered. “Now, what all do you hafta do for Lammas?”
My sigh was long. “In another week, week and a half, I have to start baking bread, but Amanda and Declan will help me.”
“How much bread are we talking?”
He had no idea. To prepare for the first of August, I would need many different kinds. I also had corn dollies to make, decorations to put up, like the wheat and lavender wreaths, and much like I’d done for the solstice back in June, ones made of St. John’s wort for protection. “So much,” I whimpered. “Not only bread. Biscuits and muffins and lots of jam.”
“Jam?”
“I make persimmon and strawberry jams every year. You’ll love them.”
“I’m sure I will, but honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a persimmon in my life. I would have no idea what one looked like.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll educate you on all kinds of fruits and herbs.”
“Oh, gee, I can’t wait.”
The sarcasm was not lost on me.
SIX
Lynette Fornell, a.k.a. Aurora Moon, lived in the older part of town, where Lorne had lived with his brother and niece when he first moved to town. Unlike the newer developments, the houses here stood on larger plots with enormous mature trees, and Lynette’s house, which had been her parents’ before they moved to Miami two years ago, used to be called home by a very large family. But as is the way of things sometimes, when you go off to college, you end up staying in that new place or moving somewhere else for your new career. That was what happened with her three older brothers and two younger sisters. Years ago, the four-story Greek Revival home had been filled with love and laughter, as Lynette’s grandparents and her aunt had all been in residence there as well. It had been, Amanda told me, a place she had loved to visit. They had been close once, she and Lynette, but that was before Amanda’s world had been turned upside down, first by an assault, then by her family abandoning her and being shunned by friends. Lynette had been one of those who turned their back on Amanda when she was needed the most. Now, she and Amanda never crossed paths, Lynette always quick to scuttle out of the way of the person who owned most of Osprey.