Hilda walked back in, Sir Buster and Lady Lola at her heels, and smiled when she heard my words.
“You’re joining us?”
“Aye.”
“Welcome, Faelan. We’re lucky to have you.” The way Hilda beamed at me warmed my soul, almost as if she could be a stand-in for the motherly energy I missed in my life. Nobody could replace my mum, but it was nice to feel the approval from a woman that the people in this room looked up to.
“Thank you. I’ll just be right back.”
I needed a moment. Whether it was the emotions of being welcomed instead of chased away, or the realization that maybe I had finally found my home, but either way a quick walk in the brisk night air would help me to breathe more easily.As long as Clyde doesn’t scare me again playing boo.
Gloam joined me the instant I was passing the gardens, slipping out from the bushes to prowl along at my side.
“Why didn’t you tell me that there were Kelpies here?”
“Didn’t want to scare you off.”
I mulled that over. Though the lack of communication annoyed me, it also warmed my heart to know that Gloam had wanted me to stay.
“I’m stronger than I look. And the women? There’s magick here.”
“You knew that. It’s what called you here in the first place.” Gloam paused, his tail going straight, his nose lifted to the wind.“Something follows us.”
“Is it Clyde again?” I asked, unbothered this time now that I knew the castle grounds were haunted by a ghost coo.
“I can’t say.”
“You can’t say or won’t say? Or you don’t know?”
Gloam didn’t answer me, and I scanned the dark hills, hoping to catch a glimpse of movement. When nothing happened, I continued to my flat. There wasn’t much I could do about something following me. So long as it didn’t pose a threat to me or Gloam, I had to assume it was just something curious about the newcomers in town. At least I hope that is what it was.
I liked to think that if I was in danger I would feel it.
But maybe that could be survivor bias speaking.
Either way, I made it to my flat without a surprise ghost coo attack or a Kelpie screaming across the water toward me, so I considered that a win.
By the time I made it back to the castle, scalpel sheathed in my pocket, inky night had drawn close, and warm light flickered from the torches that Archie and Lachlan held. The group was standing outside the castle doors, waiting for me, and had I not known better, I could have been convinced we were villagers off to kill the beast.
“We’ll start with the east,” Archie directed, pointing toward Loch Mirren, and I fell in line as he led us to a narrow footpath that wound around the stables and over gently sloping hills. Sophie chattered about Scotland as we picked our way along the dark path, choosing our steps carefully in the light of the torches.
“Here we are.” Archie crouched and brushed wild grasses away over an old stone plaque with a Celtic insignia on it.
“A Kelpie?” I asked, leaning closer.
“Here you go, lass.” Hilda held out a bundle of dried thistle wrapped in twine, and I took it.
“What’s this for?”
“It’s just an added layer of protection. Keeps the bad stuff out.” Hilda winked at me. It made sense. My mum always “saged” every new place we moved into.
I lit the bundle, thinking briefly about the handful of flowers on my doorstep earlier that day. More flowers. Maybe there were signs everywhere and I’d just been ignoring them. A thin curl of smoke emanated from the bundle of dried flowers, and I held it over the stone, watching as the smoke curled into the night sky.
“I, Faelan Fletcher,” Archie said, “a Charm Witch in the Order of Caledonia, announce my arrival.”
I paused and looked up at Archie, the reflection of the flames dancing in his eyes.
“Charm Witch?”
