Sky answered at once, her clipped tone suggesting that Morgan had just disturbed something important.
"Sky? It's Morgan. I'm sorry-are you in the middle of something?"
"Just trying to get my bloody toaster to turn out one decent slice, the bugger. Have you noticed how hard it is to spell appliances?"
Just hearing Sky's voice stopped Morgan's nerves from dumping adrenaline into her system. It was so familiar, from so long ago, when Morgan had just been discovering magick and love and sadness all at once.
"Uh, isn't that a-p-p-l-i-"
"Oh, very funny," Sky growled, and Morgan actually smiled. "Smart ass. You know what I mean. They're impossible. Hell, even rocks are easier to control."
"I know what you mean," Morgan agreed. "I'm pretty low-tech."
On Sky's end Morgan heard the scrape of metal and a slight thud, as if Sky had given her toaster a blow.
"Anyway, what's going on?" Sky asked.
Morgan hesitated. Sky had gone through almost the same pain that she had so many years ago, when Hunter had died. She hated raking it all up for her. But she needed help.
"I'm… afraid," she admitted. She could almost feel Sky sit up, her interest sharpen.
"Tell me what's going on."
"Weird things. I was looking out the window at night, and I had a vision. A face appeared next to mine in the window. I couldn't tell who it was, but it was someone fair. Then just this morning I found a big chunk of morganite right in my yard, on the path. Morganite. And it had been spelled to hold a person's image. Again, I couldn't make out who it was. It was blurry and the stone was full of flaws, cloudy."
"That is odd," Sky said slowly. "Is someone working against you? Or your coven?"
"That's not all." Morgan quickly described the black smoke at the circle and filled Sky in on her history with Lilith and Ealltuinn. "But those things don't explain who the person is that I keep seeing. Why send me images? What would that do?"
"Maybe just unnerve you?"
"Well, yes, but the images themselves aren't scary. It's the idea that someone's doing this on purpose, you know? And there's more-just now I fell asleep, and I had a dream. It was… it was about Hunter, about me and Hunter." She paused, swallowing. "And I said I forgave him for something, and he said he forgave me, too. I asked what for, and he said, 'For believing I've been dead all this while. "
After almost a minute Sky said, "Really." Her voice was concerned, thoughtful-and held a twinge of sadness as well.
"Yes," Morgan said, hearing a slight crack in her voice.
"Who around there knows about Hunter?"
Morgan thought. "My mother-in-law knows. You know I was a mess afterward, and she took me in. Colm knew about him. Some members of my coven."
"Do you think it could be one of them, trying to work on you?" Sky asked. "Maybe they've been resenting Hunter all these years? Either Colm doing this from the other side or maybe his mum, now that he's gone and can't protect you?" Morgan took a minute to work through those ideas. Her automatic response was, Of course not, but she had to think through all possibilities.
"I don't think it's Colm," she said. "Colm knew about Hunter but never seemed that jealous of him. Hunter was gone, and Colm had me, and we had Moira."
"Did he wonder if you loved him as much as Hunter?"
Morgan sighed. Sky had a knack for asking the tough questions.
"He probably did," Morgan answered with unflinching honesty. "I mean, no one could replace Hunter-he was my muirn beatha dan, and Colm knew that. But once I was married to Colm, I did my best not to let him down or make him think he was second best. And I did truly love him."
"And Katrina?"
"No, Katrina is more the in-your-face type," Morgan said. "She wouldn't bother resorting to anything this subtle."
"Which leaves who?"
"Well, the leader of Ealltuinn, as I mentioned. But how could she know about Hunter? I mean, the morganite. Who could possibly know about that? Only Bree and Robbie. And they're not blood witches. And of course wouldn't want to do this to me."
Robbie was living in Boston, a partner in a law firm, married to a woman he'd met in law school. He and Bree had dated through high school and broken up in college, but both of them and Morgan were still good friends and kept in touch regularly.
"Who else?" Sky said. "Someone who would want to hurt you?"
Morgan thought. "Well, there's Grania," she said. "But it's been so many years since I last saw her, at the funeral… it doesn't make sense that she'd be doing all of this now. And I don't think she's all that powerful, frankly. Neither is her son Kyle. I'm not sure about Iona-but I do think Killian would have warned me if he knew I was in danger from any of his family."
"Right." Sky said. "Then we're still stuck."
"Sky," Morgan said hesitantly, "you don't think-there's no way-I mean-" She heard Sky draw in a deep breath, then let it out.
"I think we'd be able to feel it somehow if he were still alive, don't you?" Sky's voice was rough-edged but gentle. "We've both tried, with small means and powerful ones, to track him through the years. But since the day that ferry went down, I haven't felt his presence. I haven't felt him anywhere in this world. And I really think that I would. Not because I'm so powerful or even because he was, but because of our connection."
"You're right. I haven't felt him either. And I'm sure I would have as well," Morgan said. At that moment she realized that deep down she'd somehow been hoping Sky would say, Maybe he's still alive! Let's find him! How sad, after all these years, to have that hope.
"You're much, much more powerful than I am," Sky went on. "More powerful than Hunter. And your connection to him was stronger than mine-I'm only his cousin. I think you would have felt something if he were still alive."
"I would have," Morgan said, feeling deflated. "It was all just so horrible. Because I didn't see it happen-that seems to make it less real. They never found him. I never had that final proof. When it happened, I felt nothing. I didn't feel his living presence, and I didn't feel his definite death. I just felt nothing." "Maybe that's what death feels like."
"I guess it feels different every time," Morgan said hollowly, thinking back to Cal, Hunter, Ciaran… Colm.
"I'm sorry, Morgan." Very few people saw this softer side of Sky, and Morgan was deeply grateful. She and Sky had practically hated each other when they'd met, and it had taken years for them to achieve this understated friendship. "I could come down," Sky said casually. "I'm between jobs." Sky traveled around and had most recently worked as a translator for the Medieval Studies Department at the University of Dublin.
Yes! Morgan cried inside, but she forced herself to say, "Thanks, Sky. I should probably figure things out here first. I've got some good people around me. We'll scry. Maybe we can uncover more information. How about I'll call if things get worse or I need your help?"
"Are you sure?"
No. "Yeah-I'll definitely call you if things get worse."
"Well, keep your eyes open. If someone's really doing this, it sounds a bit scary. Be careful — protect yourself, all right?"
"All right. Thanks. I'll talk to you soon."
7. Moira
I have to write this down before I forget. I want to forget, but I know it's important to remember. Who said, "If man doesn't learn from history, he's doomed to repeat it?" Or something like that. That's what this is like.
I don't know how to explain it, how to talk about it, even to my Book of Shadows. Oh, Goddess, I walked the fine edge between light and darkness tonight, and even now I don't know if I chose right.
Selene is dead at last. I saw the life fade from the eyes of her hawk, and I know her spirit couldn't escape. I didn't kill a person in a human body, but I crushed the spirit of someone who was once human, someone who was incredibly evil, who had tried to kill me, had hurt my sister.