That may have been the most logical thing I’d heard in days. All the same, I don’t know why, other than to look at him, I wanted Andrew along. Anyway, I didn’t like the idea of throwing a wolf out of the group and sending him to fend for himself. What if the killers really did know about us being out together? What if a lone wolf traveling back to Brighton by train was exactly the kind of thing they were watching for?
I wouldn’t say all this. No jumping at shadows or provoking more arguments.
Instead, I said, “He’s here now. It’s fine. But we can’t all ride in the Jeep. Is it legal for you to ride in one of those things at all? Does it have any sort of seating with a belt?”
“No need to worry, fair maiden,” Andrew said. “Even the suffocation bit isn’t so bad with windows wide.”
Just to Cornwall and back.
“Okay?” I looked to Isaac. “Not ideal, but … let’s move on and find the people we need. That’s the priority and the faster the better.”
I noticed tension, bristling in the others from the corner of my eye and edges of my senses. But who else was I supposed to look to for a reasonable opinion? If they didn’t want me favoring Isaac maybe they could come up with logical points themselves.
Isaac nodded, though I couldn’t say he seemed pleased about it. “As you wish.” Still speaking softly. “Andrew, Jason, you were uninvited. Perhaps you could both ride in the caravan and give the rest more space?”
“Sure,” Jason said while Andrew gave a bow as if being offered the Queen’s carriage.
Jason checked the water tank just to make sure. I was really starting to like him.
Zar climbed in the far back so he didn’t have to sit between Kage and Jed, both of whom seemed even more put out with Andrew along than they had been anyway.
Andrew ran in for burgers and a milkshake.
I settled in the passenger seat and started to fish my phone from my purse. I needed to see how much longer we had on the road. But the phone wasn’t there. Through the bag, all around the seat, under, in the door, in my backpack, everywhere.
I hurried inside to check tables I’d been at, ask at the counter if someone had turned it in, check the bathroom. Starting to panic as I went out.
Think.
When had I used it? Recently. Looking at maps of Cornwall as we’d come into Dorset. Not as if I’d left it behind. It had to be here. Unless I had dropped it in the restaurant and someone walked off with it. But there was hardly anyone even here.
Heart pounding, I headed back out, looking across the sidewalk and parking lot.
Andrew walked ahead. He passed Jason a milkshake at the door into the trailer and both stepped up. Weird how they gave Jason food but no one else. Not top of my thinking space right now, though.
“What’s wrong, Cassia?” Isaac asked through the open door.
Everyone else was settled. I was the last unaccounted for.
Bubbles of panic made my breath short.
“I’m looking for my phone.”
“Does it have a blue case?” Andrew called from the trailer.
I spun to face him.
“Nice new screen protector?” Grinning, he held my phone out from the trailer doorway.
I almost ran to snatch it from him. “Where did you find it?”
Andrew shrugged. “I always find what I’m looking for.”
“Thank you.”
He winked and shut the door.
It wasn’t until we were pulling out of the interesting parking job that it dawned on me: Andrew hadn’t “found” my phone. He’d stolen it.
Chapter 11
Once we reached Cornwall late in the afternoon—after a relatively peaceful drive and having been unable to carry on conversations due to noise—we faced the problem not only of where to stay but the more pressing one of finding druids. The image I’d seen showed open green pastures, then coastal cliffs.
Isaac, calling through the din of engine and open windows, told me that could be any number of places on the Cornish coast, aside from the standing stones. A search for stone circles around here on my phone also yielded no promising results. At least we had water to go on, although even that was a problem. Most of the county was coastal.
Another concern: they wanted a public woodland where they could stash the caravan out of sight, so inland. I wanted a real campground with water and electric hookups. But I would settle for a wood—mostly because I didn’t want to see mundane campers. As much lying as I’d done in my life, I just didn’t have a story to explain us. Six English hunks and one all-American cheerleader. On a camping trip.
So, before heading to the northwestern coast we made our way to a wood and nature preserve in the center of the county. Here were scenic landmarks Golitha Falls and Cholldon Falls on the River Fowey. The latter waterfall was smaller and less visited, while being surrounded by a lush wood that eventually gave way on all sides to roads or farmland.
We dropped off the caravan in the gravel parking lot at the trailhead for Cholldon Falls. Then, after far too much debate, left Jed, Jason, and Andrew with the caravan to figure out a way we could get it into the wood and make a campsite. Again, I was sure this was illegal. There were legitimate campsites in Cornwall where we should be paying to park overnight.
I said nothing about it. As far as I was concerned, it was a tossup. Sneak and break the rules, or do everything legit but involve mundane outsiders? Anyway, there was no question that the whole lot of them were in agreement on this one: camp illegally and unseen. If they could make this work and we didn’t hurt anything or damage any property I didn’t mind.
This left Isaac, Kage, Zar, and myself to continue for the north coast and start looking.
Less harebrained than it sounds for two reasons. First, I could scry once I was in the area, likely to pick up more information. Second, Zar seemed to know a good deal about druids and magical creatures. He should have insights into this search as well.
He’d made a shouted effort on the ride over to tell me that many druidic groves were coastal because the druids placed them in best proximity to elemental properties; that a few hundred years ago Cornwall was host to one of the largest wolf packs in the British Isles; and that the kindred—called the faie by the magical human community—still dwelt throughout the British Isles, yet spotting one was as common as spotting an albino badger.
Isaac also seemed to know his way around Cornwall. That left Kage as the dead weight in the company. I’d have rather had Jason along. I suspected Jason could actually talk to mundanes and behave like a normal person in public. But Kage, having already handed over his keys, would not leave his Jeep and, really, he had a point.
By the time we reached Wadebridge, I felt ready to stretch my legs on the beach, druids or no. But there didn’t seem to be a beach here. Only the River Camel flowing out to sea.
“Can we get to any cliffs?” I looked out to the estuary through the windshield. “A physical connection to an object or place for scrying is a huge help. I’d love a walk anyway.”
On to Padstow, then Trevone and the tiny village of Harlyn.
We walked to Trevose Head Lighthouse above the beach.
It wasn’t right. None of it.
Where were the vertical cliffs? The sweeping green?
This place was breathtaking, worth the trip. But all scrub and rolling, miles of beach and more miles of the Irish Sea or Atlantic Ocean. I hadn’t expected we’d pick a random spot in Cornwall and march right to the stone circle I’d seen, yet I had expected familiarity.
Wind was so violent here on what felt like the tip of the world, I struggled to find a hairband or ponytail tie in my pockets. No luck. Not far from the white lighthouse, I sat above the sea, hands over my face to keep hair from lashing my eyes. It probably struck a dramatic pose—holding my own face, communing with my magic. My three escorts remained silent on the bluff above the lighthouse tower.
I mentally opened my third eye and drew from my magic and helpers, asking mys
elf and powers of the natural world for the sight. A different question now. Different intention.
Druids of Cornwall. Show me where they are. Guide me to their door. Take me to a druidic grove in Cornwall.
A path of water, a circle within rock. Water dropping through the circle. A pool, a river, mounds of stone in the water. Small, graceful. Not standing stones. River rocks stacked in the stream. White waterfall beyond black rocks made a striking picture.
But where?
Zar. Standing behind, watching me, frowning slightly. I saw him clearly, the focus of the other two misty, while Zar, with his long hair streaming out as if sticking his head out a car window, remained crisp.
That wind was stunning, magical in itself. I have always loved and respected the wind. Now that image of Zar leaning into it captivated me, drawing me with him. I longed to invite him to share the magic journey with me, to show him what I saw.
I thanked the magic, the wind, the helpers, Goddess, and stood to return to them. I focused on Zar—this time with my eyes open.
I twisted back my hair and held it spiraled around my fingers at the back of my head. Even so, wheat-colored strands stung my eyes as it flapped into my face. I had to raise my voice to call to him in the wind, though we stood only feet apart.
“We’re close. There’s a waterfall. Maybe near here?” I used my free left hand to gesture, giving a sense of the shape of the thing. “Water flowing down, then a circle in the rock. It’s as if you look into the water through a ring out of stone. The pool below is dotted with stacks of river stones.”
I thought he would look puzzled. I should have known the magic better than that.
Zar was already calling back when I’d hardly stopped, “That’s Saint Nectan’s Glen. I’d have to look at a map, but it’s in this part of the county. I’m sure it’s only a short drive.”
The other two looked at him, then me. They had no trouble with their hair, though Isaac’s now looked as rugged as Kage’s.
“How did you know that?” I shouted.
Zar shrugged. “Anyone who knows anything about the kindred and Cornwall knows that. The Saint Nectan’s waterfall has been associated with the kindred for as long as anyone can remember. I didn’t know it had a druidic link, but it makes sense. It’s a mystical place. Although it’s not standing stones, or on a cliff over a beach.” He cocked his head.
I shook mine. “Forget about the cliff. One lead at a time. Scrying can be like that—a treasure hunt. This waterfall may be why we’re here. Come on.”
Chapter 12
We hiked to the Jeep and I pulled my zip hoodie back on. The only warm garment I’d brought for the whole trip besides a thin rain jacket. I also found a brush and ponytail ties before climbing back in to navigate to Saint Nectan’s Glen on my phone.
It was getting late, sun sinking, past dinnertime, my stomach growling, by the time we reached the Saint Nectan’s Glen wood.
There was a car park, almost empty as tourists were leaving before twilight, and a walk to reach the falls.
This time I knew the instant I saw the waterfall that it was the place. A great sense of relief, of calm, came over me.
“We’ve found our druids,” I said. “I don’t know when or who but I know we can find them here.”
Kage looked around as if to catch one while Zar seemed transfixed, as I was, by the glorious sight of the waterfall. There were only a couple of mundanes still out taking pictures, making their way back on the trail.
I walked to the edge and squatted to see the little stone mounds.
“How did you know I would know?” Zar asked behind me.
I smiled at the river rock. “Magic.”
“So—” Kage also walked up. “We’re supposed to do what? Wait for druids to show?”
“That’s a good question. Yes. We should.” I stood slowly, feeling jubilation slide away as if into the crystal water. “But I don’t think I can. It feels like the middle of the night to me. If druids come here to perform rituals or meditate they must be doing it before dawn or after dusk.”
“Yes, too many visitors during the day,” Zar said. “So we could wait now.”
“We have to go back and shift the caravan,” Isaac said.
“We’re probably forty-five minutes from them,” I said. “Maybe we should bring it closer. Although…” I bit my lip.
“Nowhere near here to put it,” Zar said.
“No,” I said. “But it’s quite a commute.”
“I’ll stay and watch,” Zar said. “You lot go back and make sure camp’s sorted.”
“No one’s doing anything alone on this trip,” I said.
“Kage can also stay—”
“That’s my Jeep—”
“Or all of us just for a bit,” Zar went on.
Ravenous, jet lag once more all over me, wishing we could get the caravan squared away before it was pitch dark, I shook my head and walked along the water’s edge, having to think.
When Zar started to speak again, I said, “Give me a minute.”
I knelt on the stones where I faced the circle of rock looking through to the white water in purple shadows, then rested my right hand on the surface of the icy water. I felt a tingle of energy in that water, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Was it only what Zar had told me? Or could I sense the faie here, their gazes upon us?
I let the sound of the waterfall be my chant and took a moment for a light trance, counting backward in my head, hand on the water.
I looked through time of the approaching night. The moon rose, crested the sky, sank. Water flowed, silver and endless through the hours of darkness. No one came forward. No human figure in the glen. Only deer to drink, a fox trotted past like a shadow, and an owl’s wing flickered across the moon.
I came back to myself on the bank and stood.
“They won’t be here tonight,” I said, watching the waterfall. “Just as well. Let’s get back to the others and return before dawn. We’ll try in the morning.”
“If you can tell they won’t be here tonight, why not pin down when they will be so we don’t have to guess?” Kage asked.
His tone irritated me. Sarcastic. I tried to ignore this. The past twenty-four hours, starting with me kicking him in the balls and his grandmother giving him a public dressing down, hadn’t gone that well for him either.
“I could try,” I said. “But none of this is certain. Scrying is a window across time and space, neither foolproof nor pinpoint. Either way, we should be here in the morning to watch. At least I’m fairly sure no one will be around tonight, but I can’t keep looking. I’m exhausted and hungry and I’m going to have a migraine if I try anymore. I already told you I’m not a very accomplished scry.”
“Does it hurt you to use magic?” Zar asked.
As I turned back to them, he and Isaac appeared concerned, watching me. Kage was stalking around the grove, apparently searching for hidden druids behind trees.
“No, it doesn’t hurt me. But it is a huge drain. I can only do so much and I’m not exactly starting at my best right now. Why don’t we pick up dinner that we can take back to the others and see what we can do about the caravan overnight?”
“Dinner?” Kage stopped patrolling and looked at me. “We already ate.”
Zar cocked his head.
Isaac smiled faintly. “We’ll stop at a pub. Don’t worry about us, though.”
“Don’t … what do you mean?”
“Didn’t you get enough?” Zar asked.
Isaac was already explaining. “We don’t tend to eat as often as humans. One meal, perhaps a snack, generally suffices for the day. Or two meals if they’re small.”
“How do worms—? I mean, how often do humans eat?” Zar asked.
“In theory, three meals a day. In practice, we can be a bit random. But a single huge meal and nothing else is not generally considered … healthy. That would be fine, Isaac. Maybe a baked potato, or—?” What did they call them?<
br />
“Jacket potato?” he said, still smiling.
“Thanks. I’ve never understood that one.” Picturing russet potatoes in raincoats.
We returned to the Jeep in diminishing light.
Minus the pub stop, it did indeed take nearly forty-five minutes to get back to the caravan, though no one had a better location to suggest for camp.
I ate my potato, topped with mixed sautéed vegetables that were quite good, if over-cooked, in the gloomy Jeep on the way while we discussed how and what we were looking for: best times to be there, questions we hoped druids could answer, and when we could expect sunrise.
We reached the car park at Cholldon Falls after night had settled and found our fellows ready with a route to tow the caravan into the woods behind the falls.
I followed on foot with Zar. Kage was back to driving, off-roading the two vehicles into seclusion. Andrew and Jason walked in the tracks and fluffed up the sparse undergrowth so no one would see where the Jeep had passed. The weather had been dry for some time and the ground was able to take the force without ruts.
Jed seemed to be in an even nastier temper after his time alone with Jason and Andrew. He steered Kage wrong in the dark, then smirked when he ran into a fallen tree. Kage, cursing him through the open windows, was trying to back to get around it when Isaac told him to leave it—he had a good spot anyway. No footpath, road, or human anything within sight.
They made sure the trailer was stabilized before disconnecting the Wrangler.
Deeply uneasy about what we were doing, and still cautious about my company as well, I tried not to think about all of the above while I collected my pack.
Kage gave me the caravan key. Jason lit a battery-operated lantern and showed me around the trailer.
It was … small. And old. And smelled like mildew and rust and stale grease from someone cooking. A toilet and shower stall, a burner and sink, cabinet, tiny table and booth, a little bed over the trailer hitch and storage space. That was it. The whole thing was about the size of an SUV.
There was water in the tank, even if it wasn’t hooked up. Limited toilet and hand/face washing and no shower. I had bottled water to drink and brush my teeth.
Moonlight Desire: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 1) Page 7
