He wished he could understand what all if this meant. Unfortunately, he had nothing else to distract him right now, since he hadn’t been assigned to a new case.
Unless he wanted to consider the strange call he’d had yesterday and the dead guy on the island.
He took the keychain from his pocket once again, and much to his surprise, the quartz began to glow.
Sure enough, there she was. He couldn’t quite figure out what she was up to, but she appeared to be shopping for…
“A snowmobile?”
Birch blinked, before smiling widely.
“Definitely a woman after my heart,” he muttered dryly, continuing to watch as she apparently haggled about the price.
Birch scowled as the quartz suddenly went dark. Apparently, he wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on her every minute of the day, but the glimpses he was seeing of her in action were enough to arouse his curiosity.
What he wanted to do was drive back to the island, but something was telling him that it was much too soon. Hopefully, he would receive another sign of what was to come and how he fit into the picture.
There was a knock on the kitchen door, and Birch walked through the living room and kitchen to answer it.
Birch was shocked when he opened the door. “Gramps. What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help you as much as I can,” he responded, walking into the kitchen.
“What’s happening to me?”
“It’s the change, and time for your transformation,” Gramps answered, walking inside.
“My what?”
“Nice place you have here,” Gramps muttered, laying down his luggage on the kitchen floor. “Mind if I come in?”
“Of course not,” Birch murmured, motioning him into the living room with a wave of his arm. “How about some coffee?”
“Sure. But I can’t talk about the transformation,” Gramps answered, taking off his coat and hanging it on one of the hooks near the back door.
“Why not?”
“Because in order for you to achieve your goals, you need to recognize your mission without any outside interference. It’s very important for you not to have any preconceived notions of what this conflict entails. You must be allowed to remember everything you’ve learned about your enemy in the past.”
“You can’t even tell me what this is all about?”
Gramps shrugged, answering, “No. Although, in part, it’s only because you’ve never believed in the magick you’ve inherited and have chosen to tamp it down. You have to be accepting in order to see the path of your future in detail.”
Birch hated when his Grandfather started talking in that cryptic language of his, but strangely, he was beginning to have more patience to try and understand.
As Gramps walked into the living room, he halted staring at the paintings lined up along the top of the couch.
“She’s such a talented artist,” Gramps said softly. “I see you’ve already met the Enchantress?”
Enchantress?
“Not exactly,” Birch answered gruffly. “For some reason, I just had to have them when I saw them this morning in the gift shop at the Inn.” Birch reached into his pocket and pulled out the keychain. “I was also drawn this this. Apparently, she made it.”
Gramps blinked. “A crystal Quartz. I haven’t seen one of those in years.”
“It lights up sometimes and I can see things,” Birch mumbled.
Gramps nodded approvingly. “It’s like a crystal ball. You made so much progress in just twenty-four hours. I’ll admit, I’ve been worried. You don’t even seem skeptical anymore.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, Gramps. I feel like what I’m doing is what I was meant to do – what I have to do.”
Gramps heaved a sigh. “No, you won’t need my guidance. But you’ll have all the support I can offer.”
Feeling strangely nervous, Birch nodded his thanks.
Chapter Four
“Let me get this straight, lady,” the man growled at Ariella over the phone. “If you purchase it, you need the pontoon to be hauled into the lake so that you can use it today? It’s out of season. You’re going to have to haul it right back out of the water in another week or two.”
Grimacing, Ariella held her phone away from her ear, covering the receiver and muttering, “So much for trying to avoid being seen by too many people in town. I guess I’ll have to make an appearance.”
She spoke into the phone. “I’ll be there shortly to see what you have available in stock.”
“Alright,” the man answered, still sounding grumpy.
It was extraordinarily helpful to hold this power over men when they met face to face, but truthfully, she’d been getting tired of it since no one appeared to be seeing who she was inside. The pheromones supposedly made her irresistible to men, and it had started to become a nuisance[TFD1] while she’d been living at home in New Orleans. It must have somehow been connected with this tale of the Enchantress her mother and Aunt Serena had been telling her about.
She sighed. The snowmobile would be delivered at around four this afternoon. If her timing was right, she could arrange to have the pontoon delivered at around the same time. There was a cabin and a boathouse at the crossing, and it would have been cloaked along with the island.
Another twenty minutes later, Ariella arrived at the marina, and when she walked inside through the doorway, there were two men inside, who both approached when she strolled toward the counter.
They asked in unison, “May I help you, Ma’am?”
Recognizing the voice of the older man, who she must have been talking with on the phone, she turned to him first, since he was probably the owner. Employees typically didn’t get impatient with potential customers.
“Hi. I’m Ariella Cappella. I spoke with you a few minutes ago about purchasing a pontoon.”
The man was all smiles when he answered, “Sure. I’m Matt Renfrow, the owner. Let me show you what models we have available.”
“Thank you,” she answered, giving him a soft smile.
Oops. It appeared to have been way too much encouragement still, and Ariella sensed that somehow the concentration of pheromones she exuded must be somehow getting stronger.
“What do you think of this one, Ms. Cappella?” He motioned at a fairly large pontoon in shaded of blue that was even had a hardtop roof.’
“I like it. How much does it run?”
She winced, hearing the price. It wouldn’t be fair for her to try and talk him lower since she’d already done some price comparisons before calling this particular marina. “Any chance you have something a little less costly? I do like the idea of some kind of cover so I can use it three seasons of the year.”
The man became thoughtful. “I know of one. In fact it’s already down on the water. It’s about two-thirds the cost and it does have a few miles on it since it’s been driven as a demo.”
Ariella grinned as he politely escorted her down the staircase toward the lake. She noticed that some of the other employees, who appeared to be preparing the business for the winter months, were staring at their boss rather strangely.
But when Ariella saw the pontoon, all else was immediately forgotten. It was much smaller than the other, but the deck was covered by a roof, and the entire pontoon was painted in a yellow that reminded her of sunshine and summer. It would be perfect for hauling her luggage and groceries back and forth to the jeep, which she would leaved parked at the landing’s cabin.