CHAPTER FOUR
~
“You haven’t mentioned it,” True said, eyeing her sister from the stool at the end of the bar where the vampire usually took up residence.
Faith was busy auditing the stock to complete the order for the bar. She absently waved a hand in her sister’s direction. “Mentioned…?” She scribbled a number on her pad and focused on True.
“Bairn, strong and kind, make haste treasure find…”
“Stop right there,” Faith said, holding up her hand to silence her sister.
“Protect from what killed me, need witches three…”
“Enough!” Faith said.
“You usually can’t wait to…”
“It’s a dead subject,” Faith said, placing her hand on her hip and lowering her chin to eye her sister from beneath her long lashes.
“Harsh,” True said, frowning.
“Not the ghosts,” Faith said after momentarily pausing to catch up. “The whole thing.” She waved circles in the air. “Ship gone – me – over it already.”
“Pah!” True said with a snort of a chuckle.
Faith’s eyebrows shot up. “No, really…”
“Double pah!” True said, snorting another chuckle. “There be treasure in them there hills.”
“Was that pirate speak?”
“Kind of…”
“Fail – epic fail – failed on all fronts with that one; I score you a zero,” Faith said, snatching up the pad.
“Hey, at least I tried to conquer my fears,” True said, raising her chin.
“Conquer your fears?” Faith asked, lost. “Which fears am I not conquering?”
“You want a list, cos I got a list, sister,” True said.
“Go ahead, give me your list,” Faith replied, folding her arms and tipping her head to the side.
True looked a little uncomfortable being called out, but it was Faith, and she should have expected it. “The vampire…”
“I do not fear the vampire…”
“Being his soup of the day every day,” True replied, cutting Faith off.
Faith screwed up her face. “What a way to phrase it…”
“The ship…”
“I’m not even going to…”
“Calling off your hunt for the treasure when you are so close…”
Faith took two steps and slapped her palms down on the countertop. She leaned in and lowered her voice. “Did you forget that I got a warning from the crone-not-a-crone about that?”
“Nope.” True eyeballed her sister right back.
“I made my choice…”
“Are you happy with it?” True asked.
“No!” Faith said as if her sister was insane.
“There you go then,” True said. “Another point to me.”
“You didn’t even score a first point, and that point is null and void.”
“Why?”
“Because I chose Hope, and I chose you, and I chose us, all of us. It’s done, dusted, end of the treasure hunt,” Faith said. She pushed back from the countertop and retrieved the pad she’d tossed aside.
“Did it ever occur to you that the crone-not-a-crone was lying?”
Faith froze in place, everything but her eyebrows that drew down low as True’s words sunk in. Then she turned slowly towards her sister. “Huh?”
“Didn’t, did it?” True said with a smirk that was growing. “Played by the crone…”
“Uh-uh-uh,” Faith said, wagging her finger. “Don’t interrupt the thought process.”
“Something you’ve always had problems with,” True replied, smirking harder.
“Bite me,” Faith said, holding up her witching finger before she narrowed her eyes. “And – you have a point.”
“Another thing…”
“Oh, God, not more,” Faith said, mocking her.
“Lex is missing,” True said, motioning to where she was sitting.
Faith cocked an eyebrow and shrugged a shoulder. “I thought that was a good thing…oh…”
“There you go, score, back of the net, by George; I think she’s got it,” True replied in a cut-glass English upper-class accent.
Faith took two steps and leaned in, lowering her voice. “You think the vampire and the not-a-crone are in it together?”
“I think you accepted a challenge from the Others over the veil, and it’s not going to stop just because you decide it will,” True replied. “There’s magic involved there – some dark and some light, and I’m not saying which side of that you’re on…”
“Hey!” Faith said, pulling back her head as if her sister had slapped her face.
“But still, that challenge is in play, and there isn’t a thing you can do about that unless the Others from the veil have decided to stop playing as well.”
“Unlikely,” Faith said, quickly weighing up the odds.
“Bingo!” True said. “So, this one mentions the treasure.”
“It does.”
“Are you just going to walk away from a pot of gold at the end of a sunken ship?”
“Isn’t that a rainbow?”
“Not in this case,” True said, shaking her head. “Pirates, not Leprechauns.”
Faith frowned. “My God, you are getting more like Nana every day.”
True didn’t think, didn’t hold back, and she zapped her sister with the rush of magic to her fingertips.
“I apologise; that was more than harsh,” Faith said, nodding and taking the sting of her sister’s magic in her stride.
“Thank you,” True replied.
Faith planted her elbows on the countertop, dropping her chin into her upturned hands. “So, what do you think comes next?”
True took a slow breath in and considered it. “Probably the same as before – things we don’t want to happen, happen, and we deal with it.”
“We do?”
“We – do,” True said. “And somebody needs to give Evie the heads up because Bairn could mean Jennifer.”
Faith pulled back. “Yeah, I need to be on Jennifer-watch twenty-four-seven.”
“That’s easy. Jennifer loves you, and she loves playing games with you…”
“Game night!” Faith said, throwing her hands up in the air.
“Every night?”
“Sure,” Faith said, dropping her arms. “That little witch has our backs, and I’ve got hers for as long as it takes.”
“Including going to school with her?”
“Steady there, Captain,” Faith said, turning her nose up at the idea. “Besides, tomorrow starteth the school holidays. I’m gonna need some time off.”
True raised her eyebrows at her sister. “That’s convenient.”
“But right now,” Faith said, taking a deep breath and letting her gaze wander the room. “I need ice cream!”
“Shocker!” True replied, mocking her with a knowing grin.
Faith screwed up her face again. “Why did Hope think the ice cream thingy would be good? I won’t be able to fit through the door to get into work.”
“That’s okay; we can open up the patio doors at the back for you,” True said, snorting a chuckle.
“Harsh…”
“But helpfully solving the dilemma of your hips and butt,” True said, grinning.
~
“You’re staring,” Drew said, standing behind Faith at the water’s edge. “Thinking of going in after it?”
The depth of his tone brought Faith back from her musings; the amusement in his voice made her prickle. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“Are you my boss now?”
“Not even close.”
“Good, because I feel like I’m not the only one playing hooky,” Drew said, drawing level with her and following her gaze to the rocky outcrop of the cliffs where the wreck went down. “Besides, I’m on a break and spotted you from the deck.”
“When are you going to be done with the guesthouse?”
“Why?”
“I thought Hope wanted it to be open to visitors as soon as possible, but with Nana and the ghosts…” Drew groaned. Faith turned to look at him. “Nana or the ghosts?”
“Well, both,” Drew admitted. “But mainly Nana.” He tried for a smile, but it got lodged in a sickly look on his face.
“She has the effect on people; don’t sweat it, just avoid her…”
“I try, but she’s following me around the house, room by room, lecturing on how best to do my job, and this morning, she wanted to lecture me on how best to look after Hope and other…” Faith’s spluttered chuckle made him stop and stare. “It’s not funny.”
Faith raised her eyebrows. “Now imagine my pain as Nana sits you down and tells you about the birds and the bees.”
“Ugh! Don’t remind me…”
“Oh my God, she didn’t?” Faith screwed up her face.
“Kinda did, in a roundabout way,” Drew admitted. Then he snapped his attention back to the cliffs because the look of pity on Faith’s face unsettled him. “I thought you said you were done with the whole treasure thing.”
“But then True said, what if the crone-not-a-crone and Lex were lying,” Faith said. “I’m thinking about it.”
“Lex is your…”
Faith whirled towards him with fire in her eyes. “Don’t say it!”
“But he is your…”
“I’m going to recommend to Nana the long version of the birds and bees talk for you…”
“Got it, zipping it,” Drew replied.
“Good,” Faith said, returning her attention to the cliffs. “Then True said, what if the Others in the veil weren’t done with me and the challenge.”
“Makes sense,” Drew said, forcing his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and eyeing the cliffs. “What’s the next clue?”
“Bairn, strong and kind, make haste treasure find.”
“Ah,” Drew said.
Faith turned with a scowl. “Elaborate.”
Drew grimaced. “Promise you won’t get all salty and make Nana give me a lecture on…”
“Cross my heart,” Faith said, swiping her fingers across her chest. “Now, spit it out.”
“Well, if I were a betting man, the fact that the next clue has the word treasure in it…”
“Actually, smarty pants,” Faith said, cutting him off. “The next clue has the word bairn in it – as in, maybe, possibly Jennifer.”
Drew considered that for a moment and he didn’t like it. “That might be a problem…”
“To say the least,” Faith replied.
“So, what are you going to do?” Drew asked.
“Stick close to Jennifer,” Faith said. “School holidays start tomorrow, and I have a feeling…”
“It’s going to be a long six weeks,” Drew said, grinning. He liked children, but a witch child was a handful.
Faith raised her chin. “And on the bright side, I get to brush up on my gaming skills.”
“Sounds – unhealthy.”
“Also keeps Jennifer out of trouble,” Faith said.
“So will the ice cream machine…”
“Now that’s unhealthy,” Faith replied, suddenly wondering if another whipped cone with chocolate sauce would do the trick and take her mind off things.
“Only if you eat it the way you do,” Drew replied, grinning.
“Are you saying I have a fat butt?” Faith demanded.
Drew pulled his head back and eyed the witch as if she had suddenly gone crazy. “What?” He wondered how his simple comment had led him into a minefield.
Faith raised her hand and wagged her witching finger at him. “I’ve got your number.”
Drew whipped his hands out of his pockets and held them to his chest in mock surrender. “I did nothing.” He promptly turned and headed back toward the bar. “Crazy witches – I’m surrounded by them – work, home, and play – crazy witches,” he grumbled.
Faith pressed her lips together to stop from smiling as she turned a look back at the cliffs. “Better than crazy ghosts,” she muttered, wondering what came next, where Lex was hiding, and if he was conspiring with the crone-not-a-crone and to what end. “I have a horrible feeling you’re not done with me yet.”