Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Imagine that.
“I wish that being home, being inside, was restful for everyone,” Lorne murmured, taking a sip of the Moroccan mint tea I mixed up from an ancient recipe that had literally been in my family for centuries. “I hate being called out for domestic disturbance because men wake up with nothing to do but beat on people they’re supposed to love.”
I knew he did. He had a soft heart, and it was hard for him to understand wanting to hurt anyone on purpose, especially women and children. Before schools had let out for the holidays, he’d gone to each one in town and given out his business cards to every kid, every teacher, anyone who might need him. He’d been driving around over the break, being vigilant, and was now available as we all lived through the deep freeze of midwinter. And even being married to the kook who lived on the edge of town, to a witch, people still called in their hour of need because they knew a knight in shining armor when they saw one. There was a certainty that he would protect them, and he did not disappoint. The good news was, there were not many men Lorne had to remove, but even one was too many.
“I’m sorry you’ve had to—”
“Oh look, look right there,” he almost yelled. “Did you see that? What is that?”
This had been happening for at least three days, and I’d never seen anything at all, but I still moved closer to him to try and spot what had captured his attention.
In the past, it used to be hard to see out of the cottage windows as the glass was old and rippled, hand-blown, thicker in the middle than the sides, placed in frames sometime in the sixteenth century. But once Lorne took up residence on Corvus, the glass had changed, becoming clearer and easier to see out of. My best friend Amanda’s kids had remarked on it the last time they were here, asking when I had changed out the glass. The thing was, I hadn’t actually noticed, the alteration having happened over time. Simply put, when Lorne came into my life, the cottage sought to please him, and so small things, like windows he could easily see out of, had become paramount. Clarity, however, was not the issue right now. I imagined he was seeing disappearing and reappearing ghosts, but…
“I don’t see anything,” I reported, dejected because I felt bad for not being able to spot what he did.
“It’s gone,” he muttered.
That too had been happening a lot. In the moment it took me to move to his side and squint out at all the white, whatever it was had disappeared.
Gently, I cleared my throat. “Yesterday, I shifted and flew the entirety of Corvus. I saw nothing of note.”
“It’s always so cool, seeing you turn into a flock of ravens,” he said with a slight smile.
“Not the point.”
“I know, but it bears repeating that it’s amazing.”
As long as he thought so, I was happy, though I tried to keep the flying to a minimum in winter. The ravens I became stood out sharply against pale winter skies, which was not the safest. “I’m not suggesting you’re seeing things. You get that, don’t you?”
“I do,” he grumbled, and put down his cup and walked toward the front door.
“Ghosts walk across Corvus quite a bit.”
“I know that.”
“So is it at all possible…?”
“No.” He was adamant. “Whatever it is, it’s lurking, and I don’t like it.” He grabbed his beanie from one of the hooks by the front door.
“What are you doing?”
“That should be fairly obvious,” he retorted, sounding a bit surly as he pulled on his parka, then his fleece-lined boots, yanking them to mid-calf and shoving his sweats down into them.
“Well, wait for me to go with you.”
“Why? You’re not seeing anything.”
“But as you suggested yesterday, maybe whatever it is hides when I look.”
“Which sounds even stupider than it did when I said it the first time.”
“Please wait,” I insisted.
“Why?” he asked petulantly.
“Because I don’t want you traipsing around outside by yourself.”
He glared at me. “You’re a witch. Our home is a magical cottage that’s practically sentient, and the land we live on is enchanted. In what realm of the imagination could I be in any danger here on Corvus?”
But the fact of the matter was, he’d been seeing something for several days, and every single time I tried to spy whatever he’d gotten a glimpse of, I was disappointed. That in itself was disconcerting.
“Let’s—”
The wind chimes on the porch started making various noise then, the bigger ones sounding like bells, the smaller ones tinkling, which startled me, as there was no breeze at all.
Lorne turned for the door.
“Don’t you dare,” I ordered, rushing across the room to stand in front of it, barring his exit. “Check and see what’s outside, but don’t go.”