Give Me (Wyrd and Fae #1)(8)

“Of course she is,” Marion said. “Elyse sent you. Isn’t that right?”

Lilith was glad of the reservation, but she couldn’t remember making it or mentioning the Elyse from her dream to anyone. The fact there was also an Elyse in Tintagos, one who had some sway with the innkeeper, was creepy. She had to think. Why was she going to Tintagos? She could blame it on Greg and say she was running away from a terrible break-up. But that wasn’t true. She wasn’t running away from Greg and Jenna.

She was running to something. Something that had existed long before she’d met Greg. As if the castle and the tree and the sea cliffs had always lived in some hidden spot of memory, waiting for her to wake up.

Marion had a frown on her face. It was hard to tell if she was lost in thought or staring at Lilith’s ring.

“Who is Elyse?” Lilith asked.

“That’s the wyrding woman,” Sharon said. “She’s called for the Handover.” She pointed her glass toward the laptop ladies. “Which those two are going to Tintagos for, no doubts there.”

“What’s a wyrding woman?” demanded Lilith. “What’s a Handover?”

“A wyrding woman is a witch.” Sharon raised her eyebrows. “The last of her kind.”

“Be nice, dear,” Marion said. “Long ago, Dumnos was a sovereign country with its own king. The wyrders of Dumnos weren’t witches. They were pagans.”

It sounded like a story Marion had recited a thousand times for her guests.

“Some say the fairies drove the wyrders away, but it was really the rise of the monasteries. All pagans went into hiding to avoid the church, and their practices died out. Today one wyrder remains in Dumnos, and she lives in a cottage outside our village.”

“The wyrding woman of Glimmer Cottage.” Sharon made her eyes big and her voice spooky.

Marion said, “A wyrding woman has lived at Glimmer Cottage as long as anyone knows.”

Like Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm, Lilith smiled to herself.

“When she gets old and begins to lose her powers,” Marion continued, “she calls for a Handover.”

“To hand it over,” Sharon said.

“She chooses a young woman with talent—”

“Talent?”

“Potential witch.” Sharon wasn’t going to let up.

“Whoever she chooses will inherit Glimmer Cottage and learn wyrding ways.”

“But wait, there’s more!” Sharon refilled their glasses. “Whoever’s chosen gets the cottage and a trust fund and supposedly wicked magical powers. Sounds good, right?”

It sounded great. “What’s the catch?” Lilith knew there had to be one.

“Well, there’s a curse involved, isn’t there?” Sharon looked at Marion in triumph.

“I knew it was too good to be true.” Lilith laughed and clinked champagne glasses with Sharon.

“Yes, there is a curse,” Marion said. “And the new wyrding woman’s only task will be to find a way to break it.”

“What’s the curse?”

“No one knows.”

“You did not just say that.”

“Makes it difficult to break,” Sharon said.

Marion didn’t laugh. “It must have to do with the interference in the county atmosphere. We can’t get wireless internet or a mobile signal. Aircraft with high-tech circuitry fly over at their peril.”

That explained the steam locomotive.

“Atmospheric conditions are screwed,” Sharon said, “but by metallurgy, not magic. Everywhere in Dumnos the iron ore gives off an intense kind of static. That’s what disrupts the wireless. It makes great steel, though. You’ve heard of Dumnos Clad?”

“Best cookware in the world,” Lilith said, “though too expensive for mere mortals. Well, too expensive for me. But I do possess an old stock pot I inherited from my mother. She called it her cauldron.” She sighed at the strange looks from Marion and Sharon. This was her mother’s legacy, a homemade necklace and a fantastic pot. “Is the Dumnos Clad factory near the inn?”

“No longer,” Sharon said. “They moved to Christminster. They needed to be online to manage the supply chain and order fulfillment. Even payroll is done on the internet now.”

“Sharon works at the factory,” Marion said. “Dumnos lost a lot of people when the Clad left.”

One of the laptop ladies asked loudly for another bottle of champagne. They were in a holiday mood. That was it, Lilith realized. There was no mystery here, no curse. The Handover was a gimmick to draw tourists. Like picking a child out of the crowd at Disneyland to pull the sword from the stone. The “wyrding woman” would choose a local actor for the honor—or the mayor’s daughter—with none the wiser. Very clever.

“Elyse has had Moo bamboozled forever,” Sharon said. “She takes advantage. Gets her to run errands and play along with her schemes.”

“I know what I know,” Marion said. “And this Handover has been good for the village. Cade was right about that.”

“Cade is always right about everything,” Sharon said as she looked out the window. “Oh, goody. We’re out of Dumnos.” She moved across the aisle again and pulled her cell phone out of her backpack. She talked with Jimmy until the train stopped.