I slipped the ring onto the middle finger of my left hand. I could have sworn the center of the amber was slowly swirling like molten rock, it was almost imperceptibly slow. There was a knock on the door that lead to the beach, someone was waiting on the sand for us.
“That will be Miller now, are you ready?” Effie asked. I said nothing, how could I know if I was ready for this?
8
“Sadie, good morning,” Miller said as I opened the door. Oliver and Effie had made their exit back through the café kitchen and I was standing alone in the hallway in front of the very attractive sheriff.
“Good morning,” I replied. We were both inspecting the other, he was trying to avoid staring at my bare legs and I was watching his lower lip as he spoke. I had been in a relationship for such a long time that apparently I had forgotten all social skills and thought that I was acting normally.
“Is there something on my face?” he asked. My cheeks flushed pink.
“No, you’re perfect... I mean, you’re good, nothing, there’s nothing on your face,” I flapped. Let the earth open up and swallow me. He was smiling but I could tell he was embarrassed on my behalf. I was radiating an awkward energy and he must have thought it was contagious based on the distance he was maintaining between us.
“Have you been told what’s happening today?” he said. I didn’t want to be the one to say what I had heard. I still wasn’t sure this wasn’t a prank, something elaborate, maybe they were hazing me. Could I really say to Miller, ‘Oh, well a ghost told me last night that I need to solve a murder with my witch powers’ because he would walk away and never look back.
“Something about Greta?” I said, avoiding saying anything that a crazy person might say.
“I mean, the peacekeeping side of it all,” he prompted. The way his upper body was leaning towards me reminded me of a flower twisting towards the sun. He wanted to suggest that he was in on the witch prank, that’s what I was surmising from it, so I decided to stop fighting it.
“Oh yeah, Effie told me about the witches on the island and the treaties,” I smiled.
“Good, well I’ll try to explain some of the more memorable clauses between the various clans as we head over to Port Wayvern,” he said. He turned to begin walking away onto the beach and I stepped out of the house to join him. I realized I didn’t have any keys, money or my phone and turned back only to find a small, over-the-shoulder purse with a metal clasp shaped like a bee. It was hanging on hooks in the hallway that I hadn’t previously noticed.
As I grabbed it, I heard the jangle of coins. Inside I found my phone, a handful of cash, some change and the house keys. I swung the bag over my shoulder and pulled the door closed behind me. Miller had a head start and I jogged to catch up. The flip flops that I had worn to breakfast might not be the best choice for a day out solving crimes and pretending to be some sort of witch detective, but it was too late to do anything about it now.
I was sure I’d seen a show where someone had boarded a flight to an island and then they thought they had all landed and lived a whole lifetime in a strange, isolated place, until it became apparent later on that they had in fact crashed into the ocean and it had all been a dream. The more seriously everyone took this ‘witch’ thing, the further from real I felt everything was.
It would make sense for my brain to do this to me, to play this trick. I had watched so many shows as a kid about teenage witches or kids going to magical high schools that it only made sense that, when my flight from Virginia crashed into the water, my mind created a fake version of the world in which I did make it to Hallow Haven and suddenly was a witch that could see ghosts. Totally predictable, almost boring really.
We continued up the beach and no one had spoken in a while. The café was growing smaller in the distance, until we followed the curve of the island around a corner and the café disappeared from view entirely.
“Have you found any fossils yet?” Miller asked.
“Excuse me?”
“This coast has become popular with fossil collectors recently. If you grab any of the bigger rocks and hit them with a hammer, they often reveal some ancient creature that’s been locked inside. I have a couple of the spiral ones from when I’ve brought my nieces out here,” he explained. He smiled as he spoke about his family and I couldn’t help smiling along with him.
“Ammonites,” I said.
“Bless you?” Miller joked in confusion. “What did you just say?”
“Ammonites. That’s what the little spiral fossils are called.”
A look of interest came over his face. “Well, you really learn something new every day.”
“Where are we headed now?” I asked. The gentle rise of fall of the land had erupted into the huge cliffs that towered over us. These must be the cliffs that Wes had driven along when she brought me to the café, learning the geography of this place was going to take a while.
“There’s a small marina just up here and we have our own boat,” he explained.
“The police have their own boat?” I said, impressed by the budget of a small island department. It occurred to me that it probably wasn’t a giant yacht, and of course this
