Page 70 of A Winding Wave of Magic
But maybe it wasn’t what I actually wanted.
“Given what you saw, I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Jonathan replied. “I cast a few more obscuring spells on the house last night, but nothing’s foolproof. Whoever did that to Penny is a bloody powerful sorcerer, and he may be back if he didn’t find what he was looking for. I don’t want you there alone, and neither would she.”
I pulled up outside the inn. The interior of the Prius had warmed, but my hands felt cold at the thought of thatthingreturning.
Still, what right did I have to ask Jonathan to stay?
He had a motive—to get me to Ireland.
And I wasn’t sure about that either.
“You can’t babysit me forever,” I said with more bravado than I felt. “Nor do you need to.”
“Cass—”
“No. The autopsy will be finished by Friday, you said, and I have a week until I have to get back to Boston. Possibly longer—the department can cover my class as long as I need, they said. I need to See what else the house might want to show me.”
I rubbed a hand on my forehead, trying to figure out the logistics of staying here versus returning to Boston. I would probably have to take a leave of absence to figure out everything I wanted to know, especially since the house seemed to have its own timeline for giving up information. As for the idea of the shadow in the fedora returning…
I shook my head. From what I’d Seen, Gran had caused him just as much pain as he’d caused her. He might have been her end, but I had a feeling he was gone too.
“I’ll be fine here,” I said again. “The house wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”
Wouldn’t it?This time Gran’s voice seemed to reach me from beyond. A warning, not a vision.
I ignored it completely.
Jonathan was studying me like I was something in his lab. “You want to wait around for the house to offer you more…what? Of Penny’s death?”
I nodded.
“Some seers know spells that reveal a specific history if you know what you’re looking for. They’re fairly common. Penny didn’t teach you any?”
“No. She didn’t teach me much of anything, if you can’t tell. I still don’t understand why she didn’t tell me about the Council either.”
“Well, that’s because she wasn’t meant to.”
His words came out sharply, but before I could snap back at him, Jonathan got out of the car. He leaned back down to peer through the door and chewed on his upper lip for a few moments before he seemed to come to a decision. “I’m planning to go for a hike this afternoon. If you won’t let me be your escort, perhaps you’d like to join me.”
I blinked. “A hike?” Talk about a change of subject.
He looked toward the ocean, just a few blocks from his inn. “You touch the water to reset, right? I find the woods and the earth more soothing. Do you know of any good spots?”
Touch the water. Breathe the air. Feel the earth. Light the fire. Hear the silence.
I looked up at the sky. It was cold and blustery today, but the cloud cover looked relatively thin. A good long hike did sound like a pleasant relief from the literally suffocating confines of the house.
“Do you have good walking boots?”
“Always.”
“All right, then,” I said. “Go get a raincoat and a hat. We’re going to climb the mountain.”
22
BEAUTIFUL SYMMETRY
Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.
