“A child of Lancashire blood will come and take what you love most…”
Celestine’s eyes widened. She tried to break the woman’s grip, but couldn’t.
“He will break all that you have left…”
“Stop it!” said Celestine. Her cry drew her daughter and son-in-law’s attention from nearby in the store.
“The magic will fail…”
She shook her arm harder, “Stop right now, Zelda!”
“…he will break her heart and the power of Moonstone will fall. All is lost. Only she?—”
“That’s enough!” Celestine shook the woman’s arm free, disrupting the prophecy. The light vanished from Zelda’s eyes, and she saw Celestine’s terrified look.
“What is it? What happened?” It was clear the woman had no memory of what she’d seen.
“You’ve doomed us all, Zelda, that’s what!” Celestine hissed.
The vision vanished, and the bright glow of the ice faded away.
Calli slowly turned to look at Malcolm, fear in her eyes as she echoed the first line of the prophecy.
“A child of Lancashire blood will come…”
Malcolm’s throat tightened. She knew he was descended from Lancashire witches. The rest of the seer’s words dug into his chest with sharp, invisible claws.
He will take what you love most… He will break all that you have left… He will break her heart.
No… he couldn’t.
I would never hurt Calli.
He saw the glimmer of tears on her lashes. What if Celestine was right? What if he had been brought here by destiny, just to hurt her? Just to destroy Moonstone? But how? Malcolm wanted to tell himself it was just his destruction of her pumpkins and her gardens, but that hadn’t truly hurt Calli. So what was he still yet to do that would be far worse?
He wanted to close his eyes. He didn’t want to see the fear and worry in Calli’s gaze. If he closed his eyes, he’d see her face as a child, young Calli, on the night her parents died.
He wanted to relive that first kiss they’d shared, the bliss it had given him, but every moment he’d ever had with her was now shadowed with guilt and dread for what the future would hold.
In that moment he was certain of two things: If he stayed he was going to hurt her. Hurt everyone. But if he left, he’d break his own heart.
CHAPTER TEN
The cave was utterly still as Malcolm held his breath. The yeti and Calli were both staring at him, the yeti with an expression of deep concern and Calli with a look of stunned pain. He only wanted to see her smile again, to know she was happy and safe. That started with him doing everything in his power not to let any more bad prophecies come true.
“Calli… I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. “Not now, not ever.” He nearly reached for her, but had the sudden, terrible fear that she might pull away from him.
But he meant what he said. He wouldn’t hurt her. But he couldn’t just ask her to trust him, not when he was still a stranger. Witch-lock or no, they’d only known each other for two days. She had no way of knowing she could trust him. Not yet.
“I believe you,” Calli said after a long, uncomfortable moment. “But we need to get to the bottom of the prophecy. We have to figure out what it means.”
Finnigan cleared his throat. “Ms. Calli, I advise caution. Your grandmother never liked prophecies for good reason. Sometimes knowing something in advance and trying to avoid it has a way of making the prophecy come true. Even then, the words of a prophecy may be misleading and not always what they seem. You must take care.”
Calli’s shoulders sagged. She nodded in understanding.
“Why don’t you go see Zelda?” the yeti suggested. “Even though she doesn’t remember what she says when she has her visions, she has studied them here more than anyone else. Perhaps she can provide some clarity.”
It was a good plan. “I think Finnigan is right, Calli. Let’s talk to this seer.” Malcolm had to prove to her he would never hurt her, and he’d visit a seer if he had to in order to get answers.
