Page 52 of A Winding Wave of Magic
“No, that’s all right. I’ll just meet you at the restaurant.”
Despite the fact that this man had acted as an impromptu chauffeur three times now, I still didn’t like the idea of being completely dependent on him to drive me places. Especially in the dark.
“Blue Sky looks promising. I’ll make a reservation.” Jonathan stood and extended his hand carefully, looking somewhat unsure.
I stood too, then shook it with just as much caution. Careful sympathy vibrated up my arms— moderated but struggling to maintain that control. Control of what, though? What was he trying to hide?
Gran’s smile flashed through his mind, and I Saw her wrap him in a warm hug, the kind I had felt so many times myself. I recognized the musky scent of the cable knit sweater she always wore over her red skirt, but barely had time to register that, in his mind, Jonathan was wearing an exquisitely tailored three-piece suit and had a mustache.
He looked disturbingly good with facial hair.
He squeezed and pulled his hand away. “I’ll miss her too,” he said with another half-smile. “Just wanted you to know that.”
I walked him to the front door and watched as he stepped over the landing (was it me, or did he go out of his way to avoid the cracks between the wood beams of the porch?) and walked to his car.
“Seven,” he called before getting in. “I’ll answer more of your questions then. I promise.”
17
THE BREAK
She sends me with a guide for my safe conduct from the mansion,
She is the Brightness of Brightness I saw upon a lonely path.
— AOGÁN Ó RATHAILLE, “BRIGHTNESS MOST BRIGHT”
The weather had broken with intermittent patches of sunshine. Noting the clean waves breaking along the shore, I decided that the best way to escape the house and the memory of my father’s last farewell was to jump in the surf.
It was almost like the ocean, which usually shouted my name the moment I could smell its salty brine from my window, had quieted since my arrival, as though it knew I needed a moment to take everything in before I could say hello.
Now it was hailing me with every sleek wave, the crash of the break a siren for my attention.
It didn’t take long to secure my surfboard onto the Prius and tug an old wetsuit over my sports bikini. The only key to the storage shed was on my keychain; Gran had staunchly refused to take it, insisting that she’d never need to go digging through smelly neoprene anyway.
I drove the few miles to Short Sands, one of the more consistent breaks on the north-central coast. The will’s memory still danced in my mind. As I took my old board off the top of the Prius, suddenly, I was fourteen again on the morning I had received it.
“Promise me again,”Gran said as she watched me rub surf wax over the surface.
I rolled my eyes but did my best not to give her any sass. She had, after all, just given me a surfboard.
“Gran, there are just birds out there,” I said. “Sometimes a little seal or a baby shark, but the big stuff stays farther out and watches.”
“It’s especially the seals you want to watch. Big brutes, they all are, with no thought for anyone but themselves. Just promise me, Cassandra, or you won’t be leaving this house any time soon.”
I looked up from waxing my new board, ready to tease her some more. But the pain and worry etched into her brow and into her shining gray eyes stopped me.
“I’ll be careful, Gran. And I’ll keep to myself. I promise.”
I shookmy head as the memory drifted away. I had made her the same promise every time I rode the gray, kelp-filled waves. Keep to myself. Stay away from any creatures. Isolate.
Any time I had asked her why, she’d demurred, and I’d never pressed, preferring my own company to the chaos of others. It was clear now that it was one more lesson she had intended to give me later in life. One more lesson I’d never receive.
I sighed and zipped my wetsuit, then hid my keys over the left tire.
“I promise, Gran,” I murmured as I started toward the trailhead into the old-growth forest, board under one arm.
It was still a quarter mile through the forest, but I could imagine the waves crashing on the shore at the end of the hike. My blood began to churn, and my feet felt lighter. I yearned for the smooth glide through the water and the clarity and peace that came with it.
