“I mean, I’m not going to give up on astrology. I love it, Z. You know that. But I do need to figure out why I just can’t seem to make it work. Clearly something’s off if I keep giving bad readings, well at least what people feel like, are bad readings.”
“I mean, there’s a common denominator here.” Zara raised an eyebrow and sipped her tea.
“Bitch,” I gasped, holding a hand to my chest. “Betrayed by my own sister.”
“Never, but I’m also not going to sugarcoat things for you.”
“Och, that much I know.” Sugar and Zara were not friends.
“Maybe just ease back for a bit? Or if you’re dead set on astrology, maybe we need to go through some of our old booksand see why it’s not working for you? I think your life will go much more smoothly when we get this sorted.”
Zara’s abilities ran more to empathic and aura readings. She could instantly tell a person’s character by the colors she saw in her mind’s eye. She could also speak to plants. Her gifts were unique to her, and none of our family had her magick, at least that we were aware of. I’d always thought my gift had landed firmly in astrology, latest catastrophe notwithstanding, while Mum’s had run more to empathic readings. I couldn’t remember what Gran had as a gift because I only had blurry memories of her from when I was quite young. It had been a while since I’d done a deep dive into our history.
“Do you have any of Mum’s stuff here?” I asked. After our mum and dad had split when we’d both been just out of school, Mum taking off for London and Dad for the States, there wasn’t much in the way of physical memories left behind. With Zara being a neat freak, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d sifted through and tossed most of it.
“I do, actually. A few boxes she left for us in storage. I haven’t gone through it because I figured I’d wait until we were settled somewhere and then we could pick a few pieces each for our place.” Zara shrugged. She was pragmatic to a fault and had been recently living in Edinburgh until she’d decided to return to Loren Brae, craving nature and the small-town life. Like me, she hadn’t yet fully planted her roots, but it was beginning to sound like Loren Brae might be just the spot for her.
And maybe, just maybe, it might be for me as well.
“I’ll pull the boxes out and have a look.” I laughed at Zara’s look of dismay. “And I’ll make sure there’s nothing on the floor or in your way when you come home. Promise.”
Zara’s shoulders relaxed and she put her tea down on the side table and drew her feet up to snuggle into the chair.
“That’s fine then. The boxes are in the cupboard at the end of the hall by my bedroom.”
“I’ll take a look tomorrow. For now, I just want to catch up. Tell me … how is it being back?” I danced around the reason I’d left, though I still felt the prickly threads of shame twining around my gut as I thought about the situation that had driven me from Loren Brae before.
My friend, Avery, had come to me for a reading. Specifically of her boyfriend, Torin. She’d been convinced they were perfect for each other and had become enraged when I’d shown her the differences in their charts. In my effort to explain that a mismatch in charts did not mean the end of a relationship—it usually just meant more work for the couple—I’d inadvertently shown her how neatly his chart lined up with mine.
I’d meant to use it as an example, since I could see the complementary angles in our charts, but she’d exploded.
Suddenly, I’d become a green-eyed witch, desperate to steal her man, determined to break them up. She’d left that day, refusing to speak to me, and their relationship had imploded shortly thereafter.
Rumors had quickly spread that I was the reason for the breakup, with the heavy implication that it had been my prowess in bed and not in the astrological charts that had torn them apart. Avery refusing to speak to me only fueled the fire, so instead of sticking it out, I ran to Glasgow and started my life over. Maybe it was a bit dramatic, but I’d been ready for a change anyway, so the move had come at a good time. Still, I wasn’t overly excited to run into anyone who still thought of me as a homewrecker.
“Honestly? It’s great. I mean, it’s changed, like,a lot, since we were last here.” Zara shifted in the chair, tapping a finger against her lips. “A lot of people that we once knew have left. There’s been an influx of new people moving here. Many fromoverseas. And, well, there is just one little problem. Loren Brae is in trouble.”
“What?” I almost dropped the mug I’d just picked back up. “What do you mean by that?”
“The Kelpies have risen from the loch. They’re terrorizing the town.” Zara’s eyes stared into nothingness, but I knew she saw more than I ever could. I flinched at the concern on her face.
“What the actual hell, Z? The Kelpies?” My heart hammered in my chest. My sister shrugged one shoulder, her lips tightening, her expression suggesting we were just meant to live with these pesky mythological beasts. “But … you … and Mitch. Will you be safe? And your new job?” I asked, faintly, as I gripped my mug more tightly and took a bracing sip of the tea. This didn’t sound like alittleproblem. This sounded like a big, fat, magickal problem that could seriously hurt someone. No wonder people were leaving Loren Brae.
“Aye, it’s fine enough, I suppose. There’s a group of women here who are fighting to protect the town. Or so I’ve gleaned, as I’m fairly sure my boss is one of them. I listen, you know. I think they just might be successful in defeating this. But until then, don’t stray too close to the loch.”
“Too close …?” I gulped. “Z, the entire town is literallyonthe loch.”
“I know it. But I think you’ll be okay. Just be smart.” My almost blind sister, who needed a guide dog to navigate the uneven streets of Loren Brae, dismissed angry Kelpies as casually as swatting away an annoying fly.
“Be smart, she says.” I rolled my eyes. “Like I have any clue how to fight a Kelpie. What are they, anyway?”
“Water horses. Biting ones.”
“Och, that’s grand. Just fecking grand.” I sighed and buried my nose in my cup of tea. Did I manage to trade one set ofproblems for another? Taking a calming sip, I shook off my worries.
No. This is your new adventure and you are going to make it amazing. Water horses be damned.
CHAPTER THREE