Page 45 of Thunder Road

“How about the North Carolina lighthouses?” Miss Eppie asked. “Wasn’t there a seven-pointed star connecting them?”

“It works for those locations, and it’s a nice well of power, but the South Carolina lighthouses are in a line down the coast, so that’s not a thing we can recreate,” Father Anne replied.

“How soon can we do this? The troll’s attacks are happening more often.” Simon reminded them.

“The full moon is in two days,” Father Anne pointed out. “My folks at St. Expeditus are already on standby, so it’s really how quickly you can marshal your folks to lend support.”

“We know the troll just took another person, so that timing should work for us to be in his recharge cycle,” Simon told them. “I’d rather do it sooner than later because we don’t know how long it takes for him to power back up.”

The supernatural community had its own informal grapevine, and those on the call were well-connected, so spreading the request wouldn’t take long.

“I’m happy to have people gather at my shop since we can’t take a crowd close to the Georgetown Lighthouse,” Simon volunteered. “My Skeleton Crew are comfortable at the store, and ghosts don’t take up much space. But I feel like I need to be with the group going to Georgetown. And that means Vic will be with me.”

“Eppie and I will go with you,” Gabriella offered. “I agree, Simon, that you should be near one of the powerful lighthouses. I have a very strong reading on that.”

Miss Eppie nodded. “So do I. Go. We’ll make sure there are associates who can handle both the living and the dead at the shop.”

“I’ll let Cassidy and Teag and the Charleston contingent know,” Father Anne said. “May wardings and light protect us all.”

They talked logistics for a few more minutes, then ended the call. Simon felt a little better about the plan, although he knew it was still an enormous risk. His stomach growled, and he decided to set the planning aside and eat lunch.

Simon warmed a plate of leftovers and checked to make sure Vic hadn’t been trying to reach him. Then he headed into the shop, where Pete had already opened for business.

“Hey, boss! Everything okay?” Pete greeted as he rang out a customer.

Once Simon knew they were alone, he gave Pete as quick an update as he could.

“Wow. That’s some story. Whoever said that truth was stranger than fiction didn’t know the half of it,” Pete said.

“Since the working is just a couple of days away, would you and Mikki be willing to continue staying upstairs? You’ll be safer there. Gabriella will have some of her people helping with the gathering here, so you don’t have to be involved unless you want to be.”

“We can hang a closed for a private event sign on the door to keep out looky-loos,” Pete suggested. “Because it’s definitely an invitation-only party.”

“That’s perfect. Please clear my calendar that day too. I’m sorry to have to reschedule people, but I have a feeling all hell is going to break loose,” Simon replied.

“Already planning to. Any time afterward will be good, right? Either the troll will be managed, or we’ll be in too much deep shit to care.”

“I don’t know that I would have put it that way exactly, but you’ve got the gist of it. I don’t think the troll will be happy with us, and if he still has the mojo to strike back, it’s not going to be pretty,” Simon answered.

“Can you actually destroy the troll, or just cut down on how much damage he can do?” Pete asked, and Simon was proud that his assistant seemed nonplussed at the idea of a major magical gathering downstairs from his temporary apartment.

“I don’t think it’s possible to destroy him—from what we’ve figured out, he’s an ancient, elemental creature. But we should be able to rein him in, which is what the original guardian wardings did,” Simon replied.

“I guess the people who set up the protections with the lighthouse keepers never envisioned a time when the lights wouldn’t be manned and the guardians would die out. And without a central group overseeing the magic—like the St. Expeditus folks will be doing from now on—there was no one to organize a Plan B.”

“It’s funny, we hear so much about shipwrecks and pirates, and I’m sure there was plenty of drama on top of the legends,” Pete said, “But beyond isolation, no one ever thinks about the lighthouses and their keepers. On bad days, I think being off on an island by myself would be sorta nice.”

Simon laughed. “Oh, I totally understand, although I’d take Vic with me. But not dealing with the hustle and bustle of everything and getting paid for it? Sounds amazing.”

“Although I might change my mind in a hurricane,” Pete mused. “The keeper had to stay at his post to man the light, even in the worst weather. Which I’m sure was absolutely terrifying.Not the kind of thing you want to have a front-row seat to watch.”

“And those stairs would be hard on the knees. I wouldn’t want to go up and down them all the time. Then again, it was built-in cardio since many of the lights didn’t have much open space around them,” Simon pointed out.

“Have you figured out what you’re reading for the Halloween program at the library?” Pete asked, switching subjects. “Any new inspirations from real life?”

“I don’t think ‘the troll that poofed Myrtle Beach’ would be a bestseller,” Simon replied, laughing. “I think I might see if I can find books about lighthouses for both kids and adults. I’d love to see if one of the keepers from any of the Carolina lights wrote either true stories or fiction about it.”

“Bonus points if it’s either a haunted lighthouse or involves a ghostly pirate or shipwreck,” Pete said.

---