Page 45 of The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles 2)

I swooshed the scotch counterclockwise and looked up. Into the same aquamarine eyes I’d seen in my dream. I felt myself gravitating toward those eyes. “It was you,” I said.

“Oh,” he said. “Oh. That’s…”

“Embarrassing?” I suggested, shaking my glass at him. “Mortifying?”

“I was going to sayflattering, but I guess that’s from my perspective. You do know why you saw my face, don’t you?”

I raised my glass for another gulp of scotch, but he touched my hand and made me lower the glass. He covered my hand with his, steadying it. A warm tingling current flowed through my hand, up my arm, and into my chest. I tried to remember if this was how I’d felt when Liam had touched me for the first time.

“It’s because I’m your guide. Aelvesgold can grant visions, but often those visions are confusing. That’s why it’s important to have a mentor. Your subconscious superimposed my face on your dream lover to remind you that you weren’t alone in this. You have someone to guide you.” He squeezed my hand and the warmth in my chest expanded throughout my body.

“But what was the vision trying to show me?” I asked. “I mean, it seemed to be trying todrownme.”

“You meanIwas trying to drown you, don’t you?”

I nodded, my throat thickening at the memory.

“That’s because I am taking you to places with the Aelvesgold that you’re afraid to go. Part of you senses that you’ll have to face who you really are, witch or fey. You’ve got both in you, but which is stronger? Which side will you pledge allegiance to?”

“Do I have to choose?” I asked. “I thought Fairwick was the place where witch and fey lived together in peace.”

He laughed. “More like an uneasy alliance. And that alliancewill be cracked in two if the Grove closes the door. I think your dream was partly a result of that anxiety.”

“I guess I can see that,” I admitted. “I have been feeling edgy lately, torn between my promises to my grandmother and the Grove and my loyalties to my friends at Fairwick. But why would the vision try to drown me?”

“Oh, that’s because you’ve got a water witch in your house.”

“A …?”

“Look down.”

I looked down into my glass. Although I’d stopped swirling the scotch a minute ago and Duncan was holding my hand steady, the liquid was still moving in circles.

“Something’s controlling the water in your home. And I’m pretty sure we know who that is.”

“Lorelei.”

“Yes. Now drink up. Once she’s strong enough, she’ll come for you. You’d better have allyourstrength by then.”

“Are you telling me that Lorelei sent me that dream?” I asked Duncan a half hour later as we walked into the woods. “Because…ew!”

“Not the content of the dream,” he assured me, flashing me a grin. In his dark clothes, all I could see of him were his teeth and eyes, which caught the reflection of the moon. “Thatwas the Aelvesgold, I’m fairly sure. But I believe the drowning part was the water witch. The water took on the shape of your dream and tried to drown you.”

“I thought a water witch was a forked stick dowsers used to find water.”

“Wheelock lists three definitions of ‘water witch’ in his glossary. One is indeed what you describe, but there’s anolder kind of water witch, a creature who can control the flow of water, who can summon rain from the sky, make rivers flow backward, or turn the ocean tides.” His pale hands moved like moths in the darkness as he waved them in the air between us. “A water witch can move any kind of water—from a glassful to an ocean. Lorelei can’t get into your house because it’s warded…”

“I haven’t placed any wards on it!”

“Someone has—probably your handyman Brock. Unfortunately, with him unconscious, the wards aren’t as strong. Lorelei is looking for ways in, and the most direct route for her is water. She’s reaching into your home—and into your mind—through her most familiar element.”

“No wonder everything’s been leaking,” I said angrily, batting a branch out of the way. “The bitch. When I think of the plumbing bill…We have to find her. Liz and Soheila thought she might be hiding out at Lura’s house.” While I explained that Lura was Lorelei’s daughter, Duncan listened, but his voice sounded impatient when he replied.

“Even if Lorelei’s hiding there during the day, she won’t be there tonight. She’ll be hunting. We have to find her before she finds her prey.”

I was surprised by the anger in his voice. “And if we do find her,” I asked, “what will we do with her?”

Duncan stopped and turned to me. We’d come to a clearing where the moonlight wasn’t blocked by the trees.

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