The two glare at each other until Marigold says, “Entertain yourselves for the day. I’m no longer up to the task.” She turns to go back inside.
“Oh, come on. Do not be so dramatic,” Lottie calls after her, but she does not turn. Their voices grow quiet as she gets farther away.
Marigold has passed through the gate and is standing at the door to the cottage when she hardly hears Lottie say, “Watch out for that snake.”
“Snake? Where?” August yelps.
“Open your eyes. It’s right in front of you.”
“Stop messing with me! I can’t see it!”
Is she talking about Talaya? Can Lottie Burke, somehow, in some way, see the landvættir? If so, it begs the question—what else can this impossible girl do?
Chapter Eighteen
Upon the night of the full moon, Marigold readies a vessel to make moon water. She cleanses it with crystals and wipes it clean with white silk. It rests on her hip, and she carries a white lantern in the other hand. Lottie and August follow close behind.
“Remind me where we’re going again?” Lottie asks as she adjusts the tight collar of her black dress.
“We are going to the moon pool. It’s a small oasis in the middle of the isle, and the perfect spot to make moon water.”
“Why can’t you simply fill up the jar with water from the lake?” August asks.
“I could, but it’s never quite as potent. We want only the best for your soulmate spell, right?”
“Of course,” he says with a playful flip of his curly hair.
When they arrive, Marigold places the lantern on a nearby tree stump and looks for Yliza, the landvættir of the oasis. The bright yellow koi normally greets her eagerly with bubbly kisses beneath the surface of the water, but tonight, she is nowhere to be found.
Still, moon water must be made, and there is no time to waste. As she kneels at the water’s edge, she pushes the vessel into the water and allows it to fill to the top. It emerges, filled with fizzy blue water that must sit beneath the moon for the remainder of the night before it is incorporated into any spells. She stands and tries to wipe the dirt away from her knees, but then she has a different idea.
She turns to face Lottie and August. “Would anyone fancy a swim?”
August points at the moon pool below. “In there?”
She nods. “It’s deeper than it looks.”
That small bit of reassurance is all that August requires. He immediately begins unbuttoning his shirt while Marigold removes her dress and starts unfastening her stay around her ribs.
Lottie scoffs in disbelief. “You’re going in that tiny puddle?”
“Aren’t you?” August says as he peels his shirt away from his body and drops his trousers to his ankles.
“August, you know I can’t.” Lottie tries to keep her voice to a whisper so Marigold cannot hear, but the urgency in her tone makes her words impossible to ignore. August glances over at Marigold, who tries to pretend that she is not staring.
“It’s dark, Lottie. No one can see anything,” August says, his tone reassuring. Lottie still hesitates, but Marigold comes over to her side.
“Do you not know how to swim?” she asks.
August and Lottie look at each other, back at Marigold, then back at each other, holding a silent debate with only their eyes.
“What’s going on?” Marigold asks.
Lottie sighs, hugging her ribs. August gives her a sympathetic look and a nod of reassurance.
“I have a certain job…” she says quietly.
Marigold raises a brow. “And this job means you cannot swim?”
