Tanner glanced at me and grimaced. “Exactly. And I’ve known a few good men who’ve gone down.”
I swallowed. I was joking about sirens.
The porch was deserted when we came within hollering distance of the Pearmains’ house. Rose must have been alerted to our arrival. She exited the back door, closed it deliberately, and waited for us to get closer.
“Calliope,” she began, her voice softer than before, “we need to hurry. I heard from the other witches, and they want us to meet them tomorrow on the Blood Moon. Which seems a good omen considering your Blood Ceremony comes next after this ritual of initiation.”
My knees shook. This was getting real. I reached for Tanner’s wrist.
“I can drop the boys at the Fulford ferry,” he volunteered, “or they can take the one later tonight out of Long Harbor.”
“I don’t even know what I need,” I stuttered.
Ms. Petite and Formidable gave me the once-over. Her waist-length hair was absolutely striking, its dark silver and white strands patterned like a wild checkerboard starting at her roots. I couldn’t tell if the pattern was natural or dyed, and I wasn’t about to ask.
“Here.” Rose paused on the lowest step and handed over a book with a folded piece of paper tucked inside. “I made a list of supplies you’ll need to bring. Call me if there’s anything you can’t locate. And don’t forget to read the book. All of it.”
Lucky for me I was a fast reader.
Tanner’s steadying hand left my lower back when he stepped from behind and made his way to the stairs. “Rose, are Cliff and Abigail all right to be left alone?”
She nodded, turning to the screen door and leading us into the house. “Come say your goodbyes. They have plenty of food, and they don’t appear to have any residual physical discomfort. I had Clifford drive their truck to the road and back, and he did just fine.” Rose lowered her voice, leaned into Tanner, and whispered, “Him being cranky is a good sign.”
I crested the last hill before the center of town. Tanner spent the entire ride from the Pearmains’ staring out his open window. My insides were reeling from the effects of kissing him. Not knowing how much of his past had arrived to haunt, influence, or seduce him, I wasn’t sure I wanted more of his company. If I dropped him in town, he could figure out how to get to my house, maybe commandeer a hefty stick and fashion it into a mode of transport.
I didn’t realize I’d snorted out loud at the image of Tanner astride a makeshift witch’s broom until I realized he was looking at me oddly.
“Something funny?” he asked.
“Not really. Do you want me to leave you anywhere?”
“I’m fine going to your house, if you’re fine having me there.”
Fine. I focused on the road ahead and the ever-present clusters of gawping tourists. Tanner could have a time-out in the car while I shopped. Rose’s list included items stocked at the natural foods store, and I was in and out in a few minutes.
“I have to make one more stop before we head home.” After the incident at the orchard, I wanted to add another herbal ally to my garden, and there was a well-stocked nursery on the northern tip of the island. Tanner grunted, re-folded his arms across his chest, and returned to staring out his window.
I parked. He elected to stay in the car and paw through the bag of trinkets River had left on the back seat. Shrugging my bag over one shoulder, I ignored the feeling Tanner was tracking me through the rear view mirror. Once I located the rows of potted herbs, I lifted one after the other to my nose. I crushed a few leaves and petals between my fingers until I decided two pots of motherwort would fit in nicely with my other herbs.
“Got what I needed.” I tucked the pots behind the passenger’s seat. Once I buckled myself in and started the engine, I gripped the steering wheel with both hands and turned to look at my passenger.
The air around him was cool, like he’d withdrawn every bit of heat and curiosity into himself. Maybe he wasn’t the one raising the fine hairs across my back and up my neck.
“Did you feel anything just now or when I was shopping in town?”
“No. Nothing.”
I backed up, shifted, and drove to the road. An SUV with tinted windows was parked in the pull-off area by the bank of rural mailboxes. The sign on the driver’s side door declared it property of the Flechette Realty and Development Group. With at least six offices on the lower mainland and Gulf Islands, it was inevitable I’d see my ex or his fellow agents out with clients, but I didn’t recognize the citified woman behind the oversized sunglasses.
“Tanner. What was the name on the business card left at the Pearmains’?”
He scanned his phone. “Adelaide Dunfay.”
Bingo. I would bet my two pots of motherwort Ms. Dunfay’s presence on this sparsely-populated road was anything but coincidental. “Can you keep an eye on the car behind us?”
Moody one moment, alert the next, Tanner repositioned the back of his seat and adjusted the mirror on his side of the car. “What’s up?”
“Not only is that one of my ex’s SUVs, the name on the door matches the business card from the Pearmains. And I haven’t seen a single For Sale sign anywhere on this road.”
That solidified his attention. “Any reason to suspect Doug or his family would send someone to follow you?”
“Well, no,” I mused, signaling the upcoming right-hand turn with my blinker. “But the boys are supposed to spend the weekend with him, and they mentioned he’s bought a new condo in Vancouver and I’m curious, that’s all.”
The SUV’s left blinker went on. The driver peeled away and accelerated up the winding road toward the other side of the island.
“Should we turn around and
