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I considered my own upbringing. What if Pops hadn’t known I was a goddess or hadn’t told me and someone from The Corporation tracked me down and spilled the beans? How would I have felt?
“I’m only searching for Sarah at the moment. The woman who struck the bargain.”
“Don’t be naive, Lorelei. What do you think will happen when your fairy friend learns of Sarah’s whereabouts?”
“Sian seems like a reasonable guy. I don’t think he’s here to wreck anybody’s life.”
“Then tell him to go back to Faerie and leave the changeling in peace. A bargain was made, and now they must honor it, regardless of any remorse or regret.”
“I’ll pass along your message.” I could see Phaedra felt strongly about this issue, so I decided to switch topics. I took a generous sip of the winter brew. “Wow. This one’s a winner.”
“Thank you. It definitely hits the spot.” She tipped back her cup and drank.
“While I’m here, can you think of any reason your mother or aunts would’ve checked out a library book about fifty years ago?”
Phaedra laughed, nearly spitting out the brew in the process. “Fifty years ago? I have no idea. We didn’t use the library very often, since we have our own in the other room.”
“Except presumably your books focus on witchcraft and magic.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you inquiring whether my mother ever read To Kill A Mockingbird? I can practically guarantee she didn’t.”
“Not literature. This is a book on Albanian mythology.”
Her eyebrows drew together as the information sank in. “Albanian,” she repeated, as though the word had, in fact, jogged her memory.
“Yes. Does that sound familiar?”
“I remember my grandmother telling a story about a demon. I can’t recall the name, but it wreaked havoc on the farm. Eating animals. Causing storms that flooded the crops. The demon was Albanian.” Phaedra’s gaze seemed to grow more distant as she spoke. “This was all before I was born, so I only remember brief comments made in the years that followed. There was one particularly brutal autumn when my grandmother was convinced the demon had returned because a storm wiped out one of the fields.”
“Did they use a spell to cast out the demon?”
Phaedra chewed her lip. “I’m sure they did. Magic would’ve been their go-to. Do you think it’s back?”
“I’m not sure exactly what we’re dealing with yet. It may have never left.”
“I hope not because if that demon was powerful enough to piss off the entire Bridger coven, I wouldn’t want to cross paths with it now. You’d better watch your house. The Castle is an appealing target. All that land and a working moat.”
“Do you recall the type of demon?”
Phaedra lapsed into contemplative silence. “No, I’m sorry. I don’t.”
“Is there any chance your family would’ve relocated the demon to Bone Lake?”
Phaedra blinked in surprise. “Isn’t that place haunted? What makes you ask that?”
“The demon I came across there—there’s a chance it’s the same one that plagued your farm years ago.”
Phaedra laughed. “I highly doubt it. That demon was as relentless as it was monstrous. We’d have heard all sorts of stories in town over the years, or it would’ve left the area to seek out more victims.”
I gave her a pointed look. “But what if the demon couldn’t leave?”
Phaedra’s eyes sparked with understanding. “You think my family cursed it?”
“It makes sense. They wanted the demon gone.”
“They wanted the demon out of Fairhaven, though. Bone Lake isn’t too far.”
“Yes, but what if they tried and their efforts only resulted in the demon getting trapped in Bone Lake? That would explain why so many hikers have disappeared there over the years.”
