Where A Witch Goeth

Chapter Twenty-Two: Chemistry of Two Types

My first few days at Sanguine Springs were a flurry of magic, intrigue, and murder.

All the mysterious excitement stalled about three weeks ago when Cutter and Maeve drove off together in Cutter's Packard. Since then I've spent my afternoons looking for excuses to duck Tracker, Trotter, and Minnie in order to get back to Battle Mountain and figure out whether I actually saw Morgan behind the mini-waterfall, or if I was simply losing my mind. I hadn't had much luck. I had only managed to peel myself away from the mundane Livingstones a few times.

Each time, I spent my limited opportunity splashing in the creek, getting facefuls of water as I laid hands on the cliff-face from whence I swear I saw Morgan emerging. Neither time did she reappear. I thought perhaps the cliff face behind the mini-fall had a secret, magical entrance, so I tried summoning spells, locator spells, and deglamorizing spells but I couldn't see any breach in the solid granite. In desperation, I cut my palm with the knife Geordie had given me and let it flow down the mini-waterfall.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I was beginning to doubt whether I saw Morgan at all. It did occur to me that perhaps thinking about her recently made me hallucinate her. Maybe time travel was rough on the ole gray matter.

The thought that I might not know what was real scared me, so today I was determined to get answers. I managed to slip away right after brunch because Trotter and Tracker tied one on last night and weren't up and about yet, and Henry was taking Minnie down to Asheville for a matinee. I had one hairy moment when Graham accosted me in the kitchen, but he only wanted to know about the meal plan for the mandatory vampire and mundane family brunch that Evander had dictated for Sunday morning. I knew Minnie had requested the meal, but Graham didn't. She told Evander that the family hadn't had a proper opportunity to catch up since Evander had returned, and Sunday mornings were slow, allowing for everyone to sit down together at once. However, I suspected the real reason for Minnie's brunch request, and therefore I deferred the menu to her. She would know better than I what food would sit better with the news about her and Henry.

Soon, I had slipped Graham's inquiries and was headed out into the bright morning, armed with a knapsack of bread, fruit, and cheese, and a canteen of coffee I pilfered from the kitchen. I figured if Morgan was hiding out in the caves, she might be hungry. The coffee was for me. I was burning the candle at both ends, dancing until dawn with my vampire "fiancé" and rising early to witch-hunt.

As always during my hour-long trek to the pond, I tried to puzzle out what the hell Morgan was doing in 1924. Had she accidentally been transported by the water sprite, like me? Had she been in the past for a long time? Perhaps since she disappeared from our lives over a decade ago?

As always, my striped soul warned me that coincidence was an illusion of the mundane. There was a reason she and I were both here, in the same unbelievable circumstance, and I was going to find out why.

I put my head down, ignoring the blue sky and the birds and the waxy green scent of mountain laurel and rhododendron as I hustled through the manicured valley gardens down the gravel path to the pond. When I could see the pond, I struck out in a northwest diagonal and entered the woods. When the terrain began to climb, I transformed my old-fashioned shoes into a modern hiking variety and hoofed it hard, focusing on my feet and the trail.

That's how I ran smack into a very tall, thin, but terribly strong man who stepped from nowhere. I shrieked in surprise and stumbled backward. He chuckled and gripped me by the arms.

"Steady, Little One."

The apology on my lips caught as I gasped. My eyes flew to his face, and I was ready to both fall into this man's arms and scream fury at him.