Page 45 of In Dangerous Water

“Lured?” Tim frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The spirit was very angry and wanted revenge,” I explained. “Bridgette didn’t care who she entrapped. It wasn’t an easy thing to banish her. I’ve never seen a spirit fight so hard.”

“Wow.” He stopped walking and stared at me. “I thought it was only Skye who was into ghosts and the paranormal investigations.”

“I’m notintoghosts,” I said patiently.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “That came out wrong.”

Laying my hand on his arm, I tried to explain. “The truth is that my family was called to assist in the removal of a malevolent spirit. As it was important and a child had nearly lost his life, I went to lend my help.”

He gave my hand a squeeze. “Of course you did. I can totally see that. You and your sisters would be all in.”

His declaration had me blinking back tears.

“So...” He tucked my hand in the crook of his arm, and we started walking again. “You are part of a coven.”

“Not formally, no,” I said. “But I participated in a Grand Coven onthatnight.”

“Meaning?”

“In a serious situation sometimes Witches from various circles, or covens, will band together—creating a Grand Coven—in order to defeat a common enemy.”

“You know,” he began, “I read somewhere that a Grand Coven was rumored to have been formed in England to keep Hitler’s army from invading during World War II.”

“On Lammas night.” I nodded my head in agreement. “It wasn’t a rumor. Their magick worked.”

“And the more Witches, the bigger the magick?” he asked.

“Correct.” I smiled, pleased that he was understanding the concept. “Also, by working in a larger group, no single member does the heavy lifting, magickally. The load is shared and usually no one individual is weakened by it.”

“That makes sense,” he said. “Arianna was knocked for a loop after she banished the ghost of Emile Francois by herself. The energy she let loose was wild. It broke windows, and when she threw that ghost out, it made an incredibly loud sort ofboom. The morning after, she was so shaky and weak that I thought I was going to have to take her to the hospital.”

I nodded. “Which is why it’s smart to work in a group for something so serious.”

“Not unlike different law enforcement agencies working together during a natural disaster,” he said.

“Exactly,” I said and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Above us there was a piercing cry, and I looked up to see a pair of hawks circling above. “It makes me very happy to see how the wood’s energy has shifted back to a positive one. Nature is reclaiming this area.”

“It does feel good out here,” he said. “Whatever you and your family did with the daughters of Midnight worked beautifully.”

By the time we walked out of the woods the sun was starting to set, and I spotted people out in the gardens. It was Gabriella and her sister Drusilla. Dru was currently cutting fall flowers and tucking the stems into a bucket of water.

“Hi,” I said as Tim and I strolled over.

Gabriella took one look at us and grinned. “Hey you two. It’s nice to see you together again.”

“Gabriella.” Tim nodded to her and her sister. “Hi Dru.”

“Hi Tim. Hey Cordelia.” Drusilla Midnight-Rivers smiled. “I promised Brynn I’d have some additional fresh flowers and fall foliage from the hotel’s gardens for her to work into her floral arrangements and centerpieces.”

I nodded. “She’ll like that. Be sure to keep them in a cool location.”

“I will,” Dru said, snipping some Autumn Joy Sedum.

Gabriella snipped a few branches from a dogwood tree. It was filled with scarlet leaves, and I knew Brynn would enjoy working with them for her arrangements for the event.

“Be sure and smash the bottom of those dogwood stems, so they can pull up more water,” I told Gabriella. “It’s a trick Brynn taught me to preserve woodier stems and blooming branches.”

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