Page 58 of The Little Shop of Curiosities, The Music Box Part 2

“Of course,” I reply. “I’m certainly not going to turn away paying clients.” I stand and offer him my hand. “Thank you for the tea and the information. You’ll have my answer in a couple of days.”

He shakes my hand, and I turn and head for the door. I’ve just got my hand on the handle when the sound of my name has me pausing and looking at him over my shoulder. “Mr. Stone, just one more thing. I believe that you are labouring under the misapprehension that your psychic gifts were caused by your unfortunate brush with death, but that’s not the case. In my experience, while true that a near death experience can alter one’s perception and awaken talents, they don’t simply materialise from nowhere. They would have been latent inside you all along. The experience only woke them slightly ahead of schedule.”

“What do you mean?”

“Abilities like yours, like your friends’? They don’t manifest by accident. You were chosen for a reason, Mr Stone.” He raises one brow slowly. “I suggest you figure out what that reason is.”

14

Tristan hasn’t been coping well with his father’s death—and none of us blame him—but that means Danny’s been focused on helping him over the last few days. I’m still helping with Viv’s investigation, but it’s currently at a dead end what with Detective Byrnes throwing up roadblocks at every turn.

This all means that I have been sitting in my office with my mind going around in circles over the conversation with Mr Hadley, the contract he and his partner have offered me, the demon trap in the bookshop, and Harrison’s dreams.

The first thing. The contract? Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m going to accept. I’ve read over it very thoroughly—several times, in fact. It’s a decent deal while still allowing me the freedom to pursue other cases. It’s really a no-brainer.

Which leads me to items two and three, the demon in the bookshop and Harrison’s dreams. All signs point to the two being connected.

I’m trying to figure out why Harrison would have a connection to Cordelia or be experiencing her memories. Being able to follow her rampage through Victorian London the way he has shouldn’t be possible in the first place.

Why Harrison?

I stare down at the notebook where I’ve scrawled that question at least a dozen times. I suppose it could be because of his magical abilities. Maybe those made him susceptible to whatever this is, just like my gift for being able to psychically read inanimate objects leaves me susceptible to cursed ones. But something is gnawing in my gut, and every instinct I have is telling me that’s not it.

This is specific to Harrison.

Whether he’s actually seeing Cordelia Crawshanks’ memories through her eyes or, even more alarming, the demon is somehow showing him it all seems to point to one unassailable fact.

Somehow, he has some sort of connection to the Crawshanks bloodline.

Of course, there is one very obvious explanation. He’s adopted, about the right age, and has been very vocally adamant that Vivienne’s missing son is not responsible for her death, so…

What if?

I swallow hard and shake my head.

Is it possible he’s Viv’s son? Yes. But surely he wouldn’t keep something that important from the others…from me?

There must be some other explanation. Maybe Harrison’s link to Cordelia and the demon has something to do with this sudden epidemic of supernatural abilities. It’s possible Harrison is just tapping into an ability he didn’t know he had.

Maybe they are just dreams.

Blowing out a breath, I scrub my hands over my face, then push away from my desk and stand, stretching out the kinks in my back. I can’t keep sitting around and stewing over this for yet another day. I still need to contact Mr Hadley and give him my answer as well as the signed papers. I’m also, as it turns out, going to be out of London for a day or so. A while back, Danny and Tris had asked me to track down an elderly lady who has a connection to that weird haunted hotel they stayed at just after Christmas. Turns out she’s the sister of one of their ghosts. Somehow I ended up volunteering to drive her up north, which I don’t mind.

I do need to see Harrison before I go, however. His shop’s been busy ever since one of the Witches’ Sabbats at the beginning of the month—Imbolc, I think he called it—and he says it’ll probably stay this way until the beginning of spring, so I’ve stayed out of his way.

Despite my suspicions about his possible biological family, I’m not going to say anything. Not yet. I don’t really have any actual evidence, just instinct, and since he only ever talks about his dads and has never mentioned the woman who gave birth to him, I don’t want to broach what may be a sensitive subject.

I really want to talk to him about Mr Hadley and the investigation he’s contracting me for, though. Apart from mentioning the paranormal PI cases to Danny briefly when he returned to London, Harrison is the only person who knows all the details about these cases since we discussed them when I was in Leeds.

My mind made up, I head out of my office and straight for my car. With only one brief stop to pick something up, it doesn’t take me long to get to Islington. Knowing he’s working today, I don’t go through the private entrance but instead head to the front of his shop.

The door opens with the merry little tinkle of bells, and as I step inside, he looks up from where he’s standing at the desk. The genuine smile that graces his gorgeous face makes my heartbeat kick up a notch.

“There you go, Raine.” He hands a neatly wrapped package to a young woman in a flowy dress and Doc Martens. “Everything you’ll require for the full moon ritual is in there. If you need any further advice, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

“I will do, Mr Ames.” She beams at him. “And thank you so much.”

“It’s my pleasure,” he replies. “I hope you and your coven have fun.”