“You don’t have to be pretty sure,” Lily said. “You can be positive. Hettie could kill all of us if she wanted. Good thing she doesn’t want to, huh?”
“Huh,” I echoed.
“Take a seat,” Lily said. “I was just about to have a cup of tea. My personal mix okay by you?”
“So long as it’s not going to kill me,” I said.
“It shouldn’t,” she said, in not a totally reassuring way.
In that moment I saw an uncanny resemblance between Lily and her grandmother.
At Lily’s urging, I curled up on the couch in front of the roaring fire. Despite the tropical temps outside, there was a delightful chill in the air this evening. When Lily plunked a cup of deliciously minty herbal tea in my hands, I felt more relaxed than I’d ever been in my entire life.
Lily sat in an armchair adjacent to the couch, pulling a blanket over her lap and sipping her own mug as she looked my way. “What do you want to know?”
“Talk to me about magic,” I said. “Today, it seemed like people were fascinated by the fact that I’m a doctor. A basic, human medical doctor.”
“That’s not the only reason they’re fascinated by you, though it’s probably a part of it.” Lily considered. “It’s not often we get a newcomer to the island, so that’s a novelty alone. People were shocked when I arrived, and I didn’t have any credentials to my name.”
“That’s fair.”
“More than that, the islanders are shocked becauseSilasbrought you here.” Lily took a long drag of tea. “Silas is a complicated man. He’s a loner. Quite frankly, he’s a mystery. He owns a lot of land on the island, but he keeps such a low profile I had no clue he existed until justrecently. He flits in and out, comes and goes as he pleases without much care for what other people think.”
“Do you know what he is?”
“No clue. I don’t think anybody knows.” Lily shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. “We just accept Silas for who he is because he’s got deep roots on The Isle. His grandmother lived in Wisteria Cottage before you, as I’m sure you know. She was a healer of sorts. The closest thing we had to a medical doctor on the island.”
“So I’ve heard. She has some supplies that I could at least recognize.” I glanced pointedly at her shelves.
“Yes.” Lily gave a soft laugh. “You’ll figure out the uses of dragon’s bane and recycled turtle shell at some point, but that point doesn’t have to be today.”
“I am also having a hard time understanding what I can do that a healer can’t.”
“Take it from a former mainlander: I truly understand what you’re saying. Whatyoumust try to understand is how isolated this community is. It’s a magical oasis so separated from anything that you find familiar that things you might think are quite normal—like a tick bite—are completely foreign here. Even magical healers can’t heal something they know nothing about. It would be like a surgeon trying to operate on a curse. The logistics don’t cross over.”
“Ah.”
“In an ideal world, the magical and medical could work in sync. Sometimes, it does. Who knows?” Lily cast a sly glance in my direction. “You could be the bridge that links the two fields for us. Unfortunately, there are plenty of instances in history that show magical and non-magical folks have a difficult time working together.”
“Are you talking about the Fae Queens?”
“That’s just one example. Even in recent years there has been massive conflict. A Faction of magical folks attacked our island in the not-too-distant past, intent to exterminate all non-magical folks from existence. With power comes greed, and we must safeguard against the temptation. Sometimes, it’s just easier to coexist separately but in peace rather than try to intermix.”
“Why aren’t people talking about the curse more?” I asked. “All day yesterday, I heard nothing about it. I know it’s not totally a secret, but it also feels like something that people avoid mentioning.”
“People are afraid. We’re doing everything we can to break the curse,” Lily said. “The people who can help are working on it. The people who can’t just need to keep on living. What other option do they have?”
“Your husband, Ranger X—tell me about what he does.”
“He’s the head of the Ranger Program,” Lily said. “The Rangers are the protective force on the island. Like the police, but magical—and more. They are responsible forkeeping the island safe, investigating foul play, and pretty much everything else dangerous.”
“Why do you think Silas brought me here?”
Lily licked her lips, looked down at her lap. “I think he knows something we all don’t. Something important. Silas sees something in you that nobody else can see…yet. It’s no secret that he believes you’re integral to breaking the curse.”
“Do you know why he’d think that?”
“No. But I do know that Silas doesn’t do anything accidentally.” Lily paused. “When I was brought here, it was because it was my time to step into the Mixologist’s role.”
