Page 14 of Crown of the Fae King

“Where to now?”

“To find Hazelton’s would-be arsonist.”

Andy Weaver renteda little farmhouse north of town whose canal dried up a decade ago, but he still complained about it, as if he had crops to water or cattle to raise. Truth was, he worked at a big plant in Burley and probably never so much as pulled a weed, let alone farmed an acre.

No sign of his truck, and since he and his truck were inseparable, we went looking in town and hoped he wasn’t working the night shift in Burley.

“If he has it,” I said, “he would have called in sick. If he was able to think that clearly.”

We drove past the old, abandoned Simplot building. Charlotte’s shack butted up against the hill that lay halfway between the rear parking lot and the cemetery, and I was reminded of Andy’s plans to burn it down. Though I didn’t have to worry about Charlotte anymore, it pushed me to ask what had to be asked.

“Wickham?”

“Aye.”

“How did you know Andy was planning to burn down Charlotte’s shack? Or even Lynette’s house?”

“The shack! We should check it while we’re here, aye?”

He made a sharp turn into the Simplot parking lot, but I couldn’t let myself get distracted. “You were telling me how you knew…”

At the side of the building, he sighed and stopped the car, then cut the engine. “Ye’ve had enough shock for one day, lass. Can we not discuss this tomorrow? In my experience, normal folk must be spoon-fed, so to speak.”

“Normal folk? At my apartment, you used the wordmortal.You froze everyone at the café, and you’ve been throwing around prophets and predictions and witches for hellsakes. I’m not sure you can shock me now. It may take some time to catch up to your vocabulary, but I’m pretty sure normal people don’t carry curses around with them. Or do they?”

“Touché. I’ll owe ye’re not the usual—”

“Just tell me. Was this all just a scheme by Andy to get me out of town?”

He looked me in the eye. “I am not in cahoots with Andy Weaver.”

“Then tell me. The truth, please. Can you read minds or something?”

He nodded once. Admitted it! “I cannot read minds as I once could. But I can look at memories. So not current thoughts, but often…fresh ones.”

I made a noise I didn’t recognize. A laugh, maybe. “Not a mind reader, but a former one.”

“Aye. We Muir witches usually come in sets of two. When my brother died, my ability to read thoughts diminished. Became…shoddy.”

I imagined what he’d seen in my own head and thought I might be sick. But maybe he’d encounteredcurseslike mine before, and he hadn’t been surprised at all. That strange laugh escaped from me again. “Just to be clear, you can see people’s memories?”

“I typically ask permission first, so ye can relax, Lennon.”

And I did relax. As if all of this was believable. As if I could trust him. As if I wasn’t headed for the State Hospital in Blackfoot. But first, I had to know that my curse was safelycontained,where it couldn’t do any damage.

“Okay. I lied. I am shocked. But I have to ask, can you read Andy’s memories now? Remember where he went last? See if he found Hank?”

“Nay, lass. I have no connection to him. He must be nearby and within sight.”

“Do you have to see him to freeze him?”

He grinned. “Now that is much more complicated. No time for that lesson tonight.”

Time had ceased passing normally the moment the black-clad Scot had stepped into Twila’s, but he was right. It was getting dark, and if we were going to confront Andy, I needed to clearly see where all the exits were.

Other than Neal cleaning me out, I’d never been robbed before. I kept waiting to feel like my personal space had been violated, but now that I’d left that space, and considering the condition I’d left it in, I felt a little bit like I’d violated it myself.

As far as having my precious curse taken from me however, deep down, I was pretty pissed.

---