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The storm’s interruption distracted us from our discussion of the Ferox Cor. We settled in the kitchen, near the warmth of the fire. Margaret and Della sat at the table, while Rafe and I propped ourselves against the wall.
“That wind wasn’t real,” Margaret said. “Or it wasn’t natural, anyway.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means another weatherwitch caused it,” Rafe said, his frown deepening.
“A sudden change in the weather like that can mean that somewhere, a weatherwitch is being careless,” Margaret said. “Someone in Canada, perhaps, or Germany. Their attempt to calm their local weather causes disturbances in other parts of the world.”
“This felt more deliberate.” Della tapped the tabletop, her hair all the more wild because of the storm.
“Yes, I agree.” Margaret reached out and covered Della’s hand with her own. “In addition to carelessness, there’s another reason for an abrupt change in the weather. Someone can direct foul weather, aim it at another with the intention of doing harm.”
“You think someone meant to ruin our morning?” I tried to inject some humor into my voice, but no one seemed to find my comment funny.
“I do, yes.” Margaret’s expression turned somber. “Though I think this was more of a test, than a real attack. I was able to dispel it fairly easily.” She shrugged. “I also worked out some of the sender’s, well, peculiarities, for lack of a better word. If he disrupts our weather again, I’ll be better prepared for him.”
“Him? You know it’s not another woman?”
That made Margaret smile. “A foul wind is a distinctly masculine weather pattern. A woman would have done something both subtler and more vicious.”
I found I didn’t want to imagine that set of circumstances. “Assuming you’re right, have any of us made sworn enemies of a weatherwitch? Could Martin be practicing from…wherever he is right now?”
Rafe glanced at me for the barest second. “Not Martin, no. More likely Oliver Stevenson is behind this.”
“That does seem more likely.” I frowned at nothing in particular. “So unless one of us has secretly made an enemy, the instigator behind the weatherwitch’s attack was the Seattle Witches’ Council.”
Della stood up from the table. “That’s about right.”
Margaret refused to go to bed, instead insisting that she wanted to sit at the kitchen table near the fire. Della brewed another pot of coffee, while Rafe fretted about his wards.
“I’ll need to make a new spell, one with stronger wards.”
Della gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’d help if I could.”
His scowl softened. “I know.”
“How?” I planted myself between him and the door.
He faced me, a scowling dark shadow. “Get out of my way.”
I yielded, but only so I could follow him. Rafe went outside with me on his heels. The storm had faded to a light sprinkling of rain, though the waves still crashed on the beach, sending up sprays of foam. Broken clouds in the west allowed shafts of sunlight through, enough to prove that it would be sunset soon.
Rafe walked along the beach, heading for the tree line. Glad I’d stopped to grab my overcoat, I followed. He reached the gap in the trees and stopped.
“Go back to the house.”
“No.” I stood an arm’s length behind him, determined to be a witness to whatever he was about to do. “Should your spell have resisted the storm?”
He tipped his head back, as if pleading with the Mother for patience. I didn’t really care that I was annoying him. We’d been here long enough that it was time for some answers, and I had every intention of posing the questions.
Without another word, he disappeared between the trees. I took that as an invitation to follow. He sped up the path, his steps sure, his cane carried parallel to the ground. The trail rose and we began climbing the side of the bluff.
After several minutes of rapid travel, he left the path, striking out through the trees. I did my best to keep up, tracking him by sound rather than sight.
Things grew suddenly quiet.Now what?I kept moving until I found Rafe standing in the center of a clearing. The space was large enough for a scattering of grass to grow, and I stopped at the edge, content to watch.
“There’s a difference between a spell that makes a ward that will discourage people from visiting and one that makes a barrier to keep people out. This new spell will be stronger than the one before.”
