Page 26 of Wild Scottish Fortune

“Or eyes peered at me from the dark corner of my kitchen pantry,” Lia chimed in.

“Or cats started projecting images into my head.” Willow tapped a finger on her forehead.

“What is your power?” I asked Willow, realizing I didn’t know what she could do.

“I can see the future,” Willow said, and my mouth dropped open.

“No way,” I breathed.

“Yup, though I can’t really control it. It’s not on demand, but it more comes to me in flashes.”

“I have voice command, which helps with keeping the Kelpies back.” Sophie tapped a finger at her chest. “Shona is a garden witch, so she grows magickal herbs. Lia is a kitchen witch, so she has food-based spells. Willow sees the future,and you, my friend, apparently sense ghosts. Which in my opinion, makes you a house witch.”

“Ghosts aren’t just tied to houses,” I pointed out, taking a healthy gulp of my wine after speaking. It rattled me to talk about these things so openly.

“Yeah, but you build houses. And you sense ghosts. And I think you mentioned you can help them…move on?” Willow tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and I flushed, unused to such undivided attention upon me. No, that wasn’t it. I was used to my crew focusing on my instructions and guidance. This was…kind and…personal. It warmed my curious and lonely soul.

“I don’t know what I do. Not sure if there’s a name for it or not. Some I help move on. One has stayed with me for…” I snapped my mouth shut, glancing at the almost finished glass of wine. Ineverspoke about the Green Lady.

“Ohhhhh, you’ve got a ghost familiar already? That’s so cool,” Lia said.

“Want to tell us about it?” Agnes asked, and the table quieted, waiting.

Did I? I was so used to hiding her that my instinct was to shut this conversation down. But she’d told me to trust the Order, hadn’t she? So far, she’d been the one constant in my life that had protected me.

“I don’t know what to say,” I admitted, folding and refolding the napkin in my lap. “She just showed up one day. I was in the middle of getting jumped and I?—”

“Excuse me, what? Getting jumped? Orla, that’sawful,” Sophie said, her eyes huge. And to her it likely was. Life played out a little differently when you had to fend foryourself though.

“Right, anyway, so, she just appeared. Scared the crap out of him and me to be honest. But she stayed with me after that.”

“What does she look like? Does she have a name?” Agnes asked, her bright eyes curious.

“She’s never given me a name. I’ve asked, repeatedly. She wears a green dress and…” I paused. How was I supposed to explain she didn’t have human feet?

“The Green Lady!” Agnes exclaimed and my mouth dropped open.

“You know her?”

“Aye, orofher. She’s quite famous around Scotland, though some will say there’s more than one of them. Cloven hooves, right?”

“Talking about me, darling?” Graham stopped with a tray of food and winked at Agnes.

“Only if those are horns I see peeking out of your thinning hair.”

Graham audibly gasped, his eyes widening.

“You didn’t just say that.”

“Aye, I did.”

“Damn it, Agnes, are you really that mad? It’s not like you to be downright mean.”

“Och, I’m just tetchy today, Graham. Ignore me. I promise your hair isn’t thinning.” Agnes waved her words away.

“There she is. I was hoping you’d be back.” Before Agnes could stop him, he dropped a kiss on her cheek, and she swatted him away. Not before she disguised a grin, though.

“So, a half-woman, half…goat? Haunts you?” Sophie brought us back on topic.

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