Looking for Mr. Good Witch

by Joyce

  “You know my name.” He smiled and took my hand. “You are indeed worthy of that amulet, Molly.”

  The sea witch changed at the same time. She was the beautiful, red-haired woman who’d been in my dreams, the one who’d been burned at the stake as a witch hundreds of years before. The magic net slewed off her to the ground. She stood tall and proud at his side, her hand on his arm.

  “I thank you for returning me to my home, Molly,” she said with a graceful nod of her head. “I was lost and could not find my way back. Only here am I safe. Only here can others be safe from me.”

  My heart thudded in my chest and my breath came faster. I was caught in a net of magic just as the sea witch had been, the passionate emotions between these two people swirling around me. What was I going to do? How could I force the Bone Man to give her up to the council?

  Easy answer—I couldn’t. I wasn’t even sure it was the right thing to do.

  “That’s right.” He looked at his mate again with love in his eyes. “I could not give her back human life, you see. All I could offer was shelter here with my magic. We were separated. I couldn’t find her.”

  “I swear I meant no harm to you or your kind,” she assured me. “The magic is too strong for me to contain unless I am here.”

  “Why didn’t you use your magic to go get her?” I asked in the throes of conscience.

  The sea god put his arm around her. “I am punished here forever for my deed after her death, as she is punished with me for our love.”

  I thought about the deaths of the colonists that I’d seen in my dream. I looked at the two lovers, who were doomed for what they’d done to be together. I knew I wouldn’t tell the council what had happened.

  I felt sorry for him and the sea witch. It was better to have Joe for a human lifetime than to live so long going into and out of the spell MacLir had cast.

  “And now you know my secret.” He took both my hands in his. “If you agree to keep my name to yourself, I vow to always protect you and your family, as I vowed to protect your family when I gave the amulet to your ancestor.”

  I had no intention of telling anyone that I’d had a conversation with an Irish sea god. Who would believe me? It was an easy deal to make. “From this day forward, I won’t tell anyone your real name.”

  “Then the deal is made.”

  I knew it was time to go. I smiled at the handsome couple, wondering how I would ever explain this to Belinda and her sisters, or to the council.

  “One last word of warning,” he said. “Never give that amulet to anyone not in your family. It could be dangerous in the wrong hands.”

  I started to speak, but he was gone. I took a deep breath and made my way back through the trees. As he’d said, everyone was waiting for me at the lighthouse. There were too many questions to answer. The storm had stopped as soon as I’d vanished. Dorothy, Elsie and Brian had looked for me. They swore I hadn’t been in the old cemetery.

  “Did you give the sea witch to the Bone Man?” Elsie asked. “Should we call the council now?”

  “She’s with him,” I told her. “I’m not volunteering any information to the council. I’ll explain later. Let’s catch the ferry before it leaves without us.”

  EPILOGUE

  We discussed plans for training Brian and Dorothy on the way back to Wilmington. Though Brian refused to admit that he needed some help in that department too, he grudgingly agreed to let us show him a few things.

  “I think this is a new golden age for us, Molly,” Elsie said as we reached Smuggler’s Arcane. “I can feel all that young magic coming together with ours. Gives me goose bumps all over.”

  Olivia laughed. “Are you sure you’re not thinking about Larry?”

  I started to open the door to the shop—it was already open despite magic and mundane locks.

  “Let me go in first,” Brian volunteered. “It’s probably someone from my family. I hope having me around isn’t going to be too much of a problem.”

  Cautiously, we made our way into the shop, noticing that there was a stranger sitting at our table. He got to his feet. He was tall, lean, handsome and dressed like a pirate. “You must be Dorothy,” he said, walking right up to her with a broad smile. “Yes. I’d know you anywhere.”

  Olivia’s jaw dropped. “Drago? Is that really you?”

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