Murder by Magic by Gretchen Galway

Author:Gretchen Galway [Galway, Gretchen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eton Field
Published: 2021-09-16T05:00:00+00:00

27

The next morning I skipped breakfast with the family and went walking along the lake, searching for signs of the lake fairies. I heard a low moan that might have been their voices muffled by the ceiling of ice, but I couldn’t see any figures. From what Seth had told me, they favored the deep water, the rocks and weeds, the hulls of sunken rowboats on the lake bottom. Could Seth rejoin his kin, even for a few minutes, now that he was locked into his human form forever? I knew he could apparate for short distances—maybe long ones—and his control of air and water was more than any witch’s. I didn’t know if he’d ever trust me enough to share everything. Maybe it would be too frustrating to explain. If I’d never been fae, how could I understand the joy of climbing the slimy weeds from the sandy bottom of a Minnesota lake to the loons paddling on the surface?

I inhaled sharply, my heart pounding. The image in my mind had been vivid, and I could taste algae on my tongue. Sweat dripped down my forehead, and I wiped it off, still caught up in the vision. Was it something here at Lapis Lake? Were the fae trying to tell me something? Threaten me and any witch with a connection to the Gardner wand?

I closed my eyes and tried to bring it back. Deep water, northern pike, weeds, clay, shallow waves, water bugs, loons again. Minnesota. Seth’s childhood. I smiled, no longer afraid. The memory was a gift from my boyfriend. I wondered how long it had been waiting there in my mind for me to discover it.

I wiped the sweat off my face again. It was hot today, hotter than it had been the day before. I looked down and studied the shoreline where a ribbon of water had appeared between ice and beach.

The enchantment was getting stronger, not weaker. I pulled my T-shirt away from my stomach to let air get underneath. It was only eleven, but already it had to be ninety degrees.

Was the wand malfunctioning, or had somebody taken command of it in secret?

Could both be true?

“Alma!”

I turned and saw Isabel walking toward me with something in her hand. She wore a pink tank top and jean shorts and, with her gladiator sandals and straw sun hat, looked like an ad for a beach vacation. Knowing she was not, in fact, a harmless fashion model, I put my hand on the mixed wooden beads on my left wrist and strengthened my defensive spells.

“Yes?” I asked. The sun was behind her, and I had to cup a hand over my eyes to see her face.

She held out the bundle in her hand, something wrapped in wax paper. “Banana bread. We missed you at breakfast.”

I eyed it warily. This woman was not my biggest fan, had pretty much accused me of a conspiracy to murder her grandfather, and now she wanted me to hold and consume an object she gave to me.

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