Tide Dance

A Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery Novella

Danielle Garrett

Copyright © 2018 by Danielle Garrett

Edited by Magical Words Edits

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

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Contents

Books By Danielle Garrett

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

About Danielle Garrett

Books By Danielle Garrett

BEECHWOOD HARBOR MAGIC MYSTERIES

Murder’s a Witch

Twice the Witch

Witch Slapped

Witch Way Home

Along Came a Ghost

Lucky Witch

Betwixt: A Beechwood Harbor Collection

BEECHWOOR HARBOR GHOST MYSTERIES

The Ghost Hunter Next Door

Ghosts Gone Wild

When Good Ghosts Get the Blues

HAVEN PARANORMAL ROMANCES

Once Upon a Hallow’s Eve

Introduction

Tourist season is underway in the coastal community of Beechwood Harbor. Holly Boldt is up to her eyebrows in work. Between the coffee shop and her potion business, things are moving at a break-neck pace. But when a teenage runaway starts causing trouble around the harbor, she has to step in, especially when she realizes the terrified girl isn’t just another out-of-towner on summer vacation.

With her posse of magical misfits, Holly’s ready to kick up some sand and get to the bottom of the guarded teen’s dilemma.

After all, summer in Beechwood wouldn’t be any fun without a little magic mystery.

Chapter 1

Though the sun had gone to sleep hours before, the unseasonable heat of the day lingered well into the night. Even with the windows thrown open and a metal box fan running, my first-floor bedroom was sticky and uncomfortable. I tossed and turned in bed, much to my tabby cat, Boots’s, chagrin. The rhythmic crashing of waves beckoned to me and I threw off the lightweight coverlet. An amber eye swiveled in my direction with a disapproving glint.

“Sorry, Boots,” I whispered, adjusting the blanket so it wasn’t touching him.

The eye closed, followed by a thump of a bottle-brush tail.

I stroked my fingers through his thick fur until a sputtered purr gave way to a full-on motor roar. “I’ll be back in a little while,” I told him, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

Boots opened both eyes and shifted them from me to the bedside clock. I could almost hear him reminding me of the time.

“I swear, Boots, you’re worse than an old nanny goat. I’m not going to do anything crazy. I’m just going to take a quick walk.”

Smiling, I pushed off the side of the bed and reached for a cable-knit sweater from the peak of Mount Laundry on the top of my dresser. “If you’re worried,” I continued, pulling the sweated on over the long t-shirt I’d worn to bed, “you’re more than welcome to come with me.”

As my familiar, he was half pet, half guardian, and while Boots took his job very seriously, he was still a cat, and therefore liked all things soft and cozy.

It was pretty clear which side was winning tonight.

I shimmied into a pair of black yoga pants. “Or, you can stay here and keep a lookout for monsters under the bed. Your choice.”

His tail swished. He’d been had. After a moment, he rested his head back on his paws and stared up at me, his golden eyes glimmering in the moonlight.

I laughed softly as I gathered my auburn hair into a high ponytail. “That’s what I figured.”

The wood floor creaked as I crossed to the door of my bedroom. Every room of the hundred-year-old home had its own sound effects: squeaking hinges, groaning pipes, scratching branches against the windows. It was all part of the Beechwood Manor’s charm.

I slipped my feet into the pair of canvas flats I’d kicked off after working my shift at Siren’s Song, the local coffeehouse. They were covered in coffee grounds and splashes from five different types of milk, and still smelled faintly of hazelnut from an unfortunate incident a week ago when one of the new hires dropped a bottle of flavored syrup behind the counter mid-shift. A little sand and sea water certainly couldn’t hurt. They might come back cleaner than when I left.

The historic estate stood on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean right where it pooled into the harbor that gave the town its namesake. It was a short walk down the road to a steep staircase carved into the hillside. Within five minutes, my shoes were off and my toes were buried in the sand.

Moonlight danced along the surf, the silver light reflecting over the soft sand beneath my bare toes. The beach was abandoned this time of night. Earlier that day, it had been packed with beachcombers. Tourist season was just beginning, and it was already clear it was going to be a busy summer. I’d be trading peace and quiet for killer tips at the coffee house for the next few months.

I tipped my head back and let the moonlight wash over my face. The energy of the tide and starlight soaked into my skin, fueling the magic embedded in every cell. As an elemental witch, I felt especially powerful when close to nature. The ocean was a source of wild and unbridled power, and whenever my head felt foggy or unfocused, I found that a walk along its shore was the best remedy.

As a bonus, the recessed tide was a great place to find ingredients for my potion work.

When I started walking again, I conjured a ball of light and let it dance a few paces ahead of me, casting a pale blue ray on my path. A few shells caught my eye and I stopped to scoop them up. They wouldn’t work in any potion I knew of, but they would look good on the shelf in my bathroom.

As I rose from gathering a pearlescent stone, I caught a blur of motion from the corner of my eye. My heart skipped ahead a few beats and I quickly extinguished the orb of magical light floating ahead of me. That would be a little hard to explain to a night-owl tourist or restless local.

I turned toward the movement and saw a hulking form lumbering out from behind one of the massive rocks that butted up against the craggy walls surrounding the harbor.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t human. I called the light orb back into existence and frantically fed it more magic, making it grow to the size of a soccer ball. Beechwood Harbor was a sleepy community filled with humans, but I’d run into more supernatural nasties than I wanted to remember over the two years I’d been a resident of the beachside community.

“He—hello?” I called.

The light spread over the beach and the figure moved into the light. With a sigh of relief, I lowered my hand. “Oh. Whew.” It was a sea lion. I scanned the beach for signs of more. I’d never seen one on its own before. They usually came and went in packs. Or, whatever the technical term was for a group of sea lions. Was it a pride? No, that was regular lions.

I took a tentative step toward the creature and extended a hand. I was far from being a Disney princess, but I had something of a knack with animals. “What are you doing out here all alone?”

The sea lion stood frozen in place. Not so much as blinking. Fear washed off the poor creature and I took a step back, not wanting to spook it further. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said, holding out my hands. “The beach is all yours. I should get back to bed anyway.”

Still not blinking, the creature stared up at me.

I smiled and offered a small wave before turning away.

“Holly?”

I whipped around and for the second time that night, found my heart halfway up my throat, pounding out a cha-cha rhythm. The orb of light zoomed around, speeding toward the voice and illuminated a male silhouette.

A familiar male.

“Adam!” I screeched, holding a hand against my chest. “You scared me half to death!”

He winced and took a step closer. “Sorry, gorgeous. I wasn’t trying to.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you with a stunning spell,” I replied, a terse clip to the words. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was shutting everything down and I saw you leaving the house. Thought I’d come see if you wanted some company.”

He’d probably been working in front of one of his three computer screens up in his room on the second floor of the manor. I hadn’t noticed his light on as I’d walked away from the house. Then again, I hadn’t bothered to check. We’d been dating for some time now, but things had felt distant for the past few months and, so far, we hadn’t found a way to bridge the gulf.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I said with a shrug.

“Looks like you already have a friend, huh?” he said, jutting his chin over my shoulder.

I turned, surprised to find the young sea lion still standing nearby. “We were just saying goodbye,” I told Adam as I reached out for his hand. “Come on, let’s go home.”

Adam smiled and enveloped my hand in his. We walked back toward the staircase and were halfway there when a loud cracking sound made us both jump and turn back. A flash of white light illuminated the night, coming from behind the large rock formation where I’d first seen the sea lion.

“What in the Otherworld was that?” I asked, looking up at Adam.

He held my hand tighter. “Bonfire popping? Maybe a little farther down the beach.”

I scoffed and glanced back over my shoulder. “Yeah, maybe if someone dropped a firework into it.”

“Whatever it was, it’s gone now. Come on, Holly. Let’s get out of here.”

Begrudgingly, I gave into his gentle tug on my arm and followed him up a sand dune. After all, I had promised Boots I wouldn’t get myself into trouble.

Chapter 2

“I’m telling you, it was weird.”

“What do you think it was?” Evangeline Loren, my roommate and fellow witch, asked after I’d caught her up on the midnight light show over coffee and donuts the following morning.

“I don’t know. If I’d been alone, I probably would have checked it out, but as it was…” I trailed off. There wasn’t a further explanation needed. Evangeline had lived with Adam and me long enough to know he wasn’t a fan of my curious side. Or, as he would call it, my death-wish side.

Evangeline nodded and stirred another scoop of sugar into her coffee. How she managed her tiny waist with her diet of sugar and take out was beyond me. I’d say it was witchcraft, but I was a witch too and struggled to keep from busting out of my favorite jeans every few months.

If magic was involved in her enviable figure, I had no idea how to replicate it. And believe me, I’d tried. I’d once cooked up a potion that temporarily made chocolate taste like cabbage. It worked, but the potion itself wasn’t exactly like biting into a slice of apple pie, and eventually I tired of the bitter-tasting concoction.

That was my story, anyway. In reality, I didn’t think I had the willpower to outsmart my own willpower. At least, not when it came to chocolate cravings.

The kitchen door swung open, and Adam appeared. “Morning, ladies,” he said, smiling. If his eyes lit up when he saw us, they hosted a firework display when they snagged on the grease-splotched paper bag between us. “Mmm. I thought I smelled donuts.”

I laughed and passed the bag over. “Of course you did.”

“Holly was just telling me about the weird light you guys saw on the beach last night,” Evangeline said, casually dunking one end of her cinnamon twist into her coffee.

I frowned at her. “You know that’s not a biscotti, right?”

“Close enough,” she replied with a shrug.

Adam fished out a cake donut and practically managed the whole thing in one bite. As a dog-shifter, he mostly kept his doggy counterpart under wraps, but there were moments where it shone through anyway.

“It had to be kids with a couple of flashlights or something,” he said, shrugging one shoulder before reaching for a second donut.

Evangeline and I exchanged a look. She opened her mouth but I gave a slight shake of my head and she dropped whatever it was she’d been about to say.

“You busy with work today?” I asked him.

“Yeah.” He licked the powdered sugar from his thumb and forefinger. “If the guy had just hired me the first time around, this would have been a lot easier. Instead, he went with that hack Diego and now the whole server is a mess!”

Evangeline and I nodded, though neither of us understood the high-tech world that Adam lived in. As witches, we’d grown up without technology, and even now, living in the human world, neither of us saw much point in keeping up with the digital Joneses.

I had a smart phone, but beyond phone calls, text messages, and occasional Candy Crush binges, it was a fancy paperweight. Evangeline was a little more tech savvy than me, but not by much. She had a shiny, top-of-the-line laptop at her day spa, but it was mostly for keeping track of appointments and billing. As far as I knew, it never came home with her and if she could get her staff on board, she’d probably be happy enough doing everything on paper.

“I won’t be home anyway. I’m putting in another shift at Siren’s Song,” I said, smoothing a hand down the front of my work t-shirt that was silkscreened with the company name and logo. It was slightly wrinkled from hanging out in the dryer for more than forty-eight hours, but it was the only clean one I had.

Stars, I really needed to do laundry.

“You’ve been working a lot over there this week,” Evangeline noted.

“Tis the season,” I mumbled. “On the plus side, I’m cleaning up in the tip-money department.”

“Oh, good.” Evangeline waggled her eyebrows. “So, pizza’s on you tonight?”

I laughed and got up from the table. “I’ll call Ziggy’s before I clock out.”

Evangeline clapped her hands together. “Perfect! Now, speaking of work, I need to get to the salon and start whip cracking.”

Adam chuckled. “Somehow, I find that hard to picture. When I was in last week, that new girl spilled a thing of red hair dye all over the floor and yet you were the one scrubbing the floors like you were on crime-scene cleanup duty.”

I winced. “Yikes.”

Evangeline crossed her arms.

“You’re too nice, Evie,” Adam added with a good-natured smile.

“It has nothing to do with being nice,” she replied, leaning forward with a smile. “That tile is imported straight from Italy! I couldn’t have some newbie coming in and ruining it with bleach and steel wool!”

“She has a point,” I interjected. “Wrecking those floors would be a crime against humanity.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “It’s tile.”

We glared at him and he relented, throwing his hands out to stave us off before we could ready our pitchforks. “Really fancy … uh, pretty tile.”

Evangeline looked at me and we smiled. “It’s fun watching him squirm, don’t you think?”

I nodded, flashing her a wicked grin.

“Yeah, yeah.” Adam scoffed.

Evangeline leveled a finger at him. “For your information, St. James, I was actually using a cleaning spell.”

Adam barked a laugh. “Really? I had no idea!”

Evangeline winked. “Then I’d say it was mission accomplished.”

She breezed from the kitchen, calling her pizza order over her shoulder as she went—like I didn’t already know exactly what she wanted on the pie.

“I assume you’ll take care of the rest of these?” I said to Adam once she’d gone, gesturing at the bag of donuts.

He grinned. “I’ll see what I can do.”

I popped up onto my toes and kissed him. “All right, then I’ll see you at dinner.”

“See you then, gorgeous.”

* * *

It started sprinkling on my walk to Siren’s Song, and the wind whipped the drops against my face with each step. By the time I got inside the quaint coffee shop, my hair was doing its best Albert Einstein impression. Or, maybe it was more like Alfalfa from The Little Rascals. Either way, it wasn’t cute.

“Morning, Holly!” Rita, one of the part-timers, called from the front counter as I scurried inside.

I waved as I made a beeline for the employee restroom and found that the reflection in the shop’s window had been a kinder, gentler version of the reality in the mirror.

“Ugh. No weight-loss spells and no magic potion for anti-frizz. What’s the point of even being a witch?” I muttered, slicking my wayward strands into a low ponytail.

“It’s kind of nasty out there this morning, huh?” Rita said when I joined her at the counter.

“No kidding. Yesterday was downright tropical and then … this.” I tossed a hand at the large picture windows lining the shop’s walls. A newspaper bandied down the street, carried along by the fierce wind. “This isn’t Florida.”

Despite the less-than-ideal weather, the morning rush was in full swing. Rita and I didn’t have much time to chit chat as we manned our battle stations: aka the cash register and the espresso machine, respectively.

When the morning rush finally died down, I made myself a large latte and snagged a chocolate muffin from the front case. “I’m gonna take a quick break,” I told Rita. She nodded and I went out to the cozy dining room and cleared off a table.

A few regulars lingered over their coffee and pastries, doing crossword puzzles in the daily paper or pouring over their laptops to get a jump-start on their workdays. The only occupant not busy was a teenaged girl sitting alone in the corner. I’d never seen her before and couldn’t remember her coming through the line for a coffee. There was no way I would have missed her. She had waist-length silver hair and violet eyes. A rosebud mouth and high cheekbones. Anyone would have noticed her.

The table before her was empty but for her clasped hands, nervously working together as she stared out the windows, watching the ocean with unblinking eyes. She almost looked like she was in some kind of trace.

Was she on something? Stars. Now I sounded like Nick, my private investigator friend.

Abandoning my latte and muffin, I stood and went to the front table where we kept the sugar packets, cup sleeves, tiny straws, etc. I grabbed the pitcher of ice water and a plastic cup. With a gentle smile, I approached her table and held out the glass. She didn’t seem to notice me until I cleared my throat.

Her eyes went wide as they swooped around the room and then landed back on me. Without warning, she leapt up from the chair, nearly knocking the glass from my hand.

“Whoa! Are you all right?” I asked, backing up a step.

She reminded me of a spooked foal, her long legs unsteady beneath her. “I have to go.”

“Oh—okay. Are you—”

Without waiting for me to finish my question, she swerved around me and bolted for the door. I watched her go tearing off down the sidewalk and then glanced at Rita, who looked just as confused as I felt. “What on earth was that?” she asked when our eyes met.

“I have no idea,” I replied, crossing back to the counter. I placed the water pitcher and cup down and let out a sigh. “I’ve never seen her around town before. Have you?”

“She came in earlier, lingered around the case, and then left without buying anything. I actually thought she might have stolen one of those cookies, but I couldn’t tell for sure.”

“Oh?” I went to the display of cellophane-wrapped sugar cookies and considered the stack. We didn’t keep inventory on things like that so there really wasn’t a way to know if one had been pilfered.

We shrugged it off and went back to cleaning and prepping for the impending lunch crowd, but I couldn’t get the flighty girl out of my mind. She’d looked so scared and fragile.

Later that night, when I returned to the manor—pizza box in hand—I still hadn’t been able to shake the girl’s image from my mind and told Evangeline and Adam about her as we noshed.

“Rita thinks she might be a runaway,” I concluded. “I wonder if I should tell Nick about her. See if he can access the missing persons database and look for her. I can’t imagine there are too many girls who would fit her description.”

“Maybe,” Adam replied. “But if she really did steal some food, why would she hang around the place she stole from? Then again, those cookies are really good. Maybe she was coming back and waiting for a chance to grab another one.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw before shifting his gaze back to me. “Were they the kind with the white frosting?”

Evangeline snorted. “Uh, relevance?”

“You can’t eat just one of those cookies. It’s not possible.”

I laughed. “I’m sure you’ve done extensive testing on the matter.”

“Penny had me help her when she was developing the recipe,” he answered with a shrug. “The secret is a hint of almond extract.”

“Good to know,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Maybe she was just late for something,” Evangeline suggested. “You said she was kind of daydreamy before you approached her. She probably lost track of time.”

I took a pensive bite of my slice and mulled it over.

“Still, it can’t hurt to have Nick keep an ear open,” Evangeline added. “He works with Chief Lincoln and would likely hear about it if they suspected a missing girl was in the area.”

I nodded and drank my soda.

“In a town like this, she won’t be able to fly under the radar for long,” Adam added.

Evangeline smiled. “I’d say we’re all doing a pretty good job.”

She had a point. The Beechwood Manor had served as a halfway house for displaced supernatural creatures and beings for decades without anyone in the sleepy town catching wind of any paranormal shenanigans. Sure, the manor itself was listed on several websites for wannabe ghost hunters as a potential haunted house—which it technically was—but so far we’d managed to keep looky-loos off the premises. And as far as the townspeople, they were none the wiser. People came and went, but that was fairly common in roommate situations.

There was a knock on the door, and I popped up to go answer it. “Speak of the devil. I invited Nick over for a slice. Hope that’s okay?”

“Of course!” Evangeline replied.

I went to the door and let Nick inside. “Busy day at the office?” I asked, leading the way back to the kitchen.

“Not really,” he answered. “There was some excitement down at Thistle. Some teenager got caught shoplifting and when the owner called the police, the girl went berserk. Started throwing things and yelling.”

I winced. “Did you see her?”

Nick nodded. “Yeah. Chief gave me a jingle to see if I’d heard anything about her. She’s not in the system and didn’t have an ID on her at the time of her arrest. She told the officers she doesn’t have a last name. The whole thing is a little weird.”

I paused at the swinging door separating the living room from the kitchen and turned back toward Nick. “Was she about five-seven? With silver hair and a pink dress?”

His expression twisted, a furrowed line appearing between his brows. “How did you—”

“Come on,” I said, pushing open the door to the kitchen. “Grab a slice and I’ll tell you all about it.”

Chapter 3

“Sounds like she’s in some kind of trouble,” Nick agreed once I’d filled him in on the strange encounter with the girl at the coffee house that morning. “After Chief called me about her, I did a quick search, just based on the physical description, but I couldn’t find anything in the missing persons database. I’m sure the Chief’s deputies would have found something like that if it were in any kind of record. It’s tough without a full name.”

“What will happen to her?” I asked, fidgeting with the remaining crust of my pizza. I wasn’t hungry anymore.

I’d spent a good portion of my adult life living under the radar and as a result, had found myself in some pretty desperate circumstances. While I didn’t know a thing about the silver-haired girl, I did know something of her terror. I could easily imagine the frantic thoughts racing through her mind as she sat in a holding cell, feeling the walls close in around her.

Been there, done that, didn’t want the t-shirt.

“She’s sitting at the station, cooling her heels. Chief said he’d cut her loose once she agreed to pay back the damage done to Thistle in her little tirade.”

“But if she doesn’t have any money—” I argued, cutting myself off. “I want to help her.”

“Holly?” Adam said, touching my elbow. “It sounds like the chief has it under control.”

“Can I at least go and talk to her? There’s something about her that I can’t get out of my head.” I turned back to Nick. “You’re sure she’s still at the station?”

He consulted the large clock on the wall. “As of about two hours ago, she was.”

I got up from my place at the table and carried my plate to the trash. I scraped off the remnants of cheese and tossed the crust before putting my plate in the sink. Posy would kill me for leaving a dirty dish, but I’d deal with her later. Our ghostly landlady took persnickety to whole new heights, but as a card-carrying member of the spirit world, her bark was far worse than her bite.

When I returned from getting my shoes and informing Boots that his own dinner would be delayed—my second cardinal sin of the night—I found Adam, Evangeline, and Nick standing by the front door.

Guess I’d have an entourage to the police station.

It turned out to be a good thing. When I checked in with Chief Lincoln, he informed me that the girl had promised to pay her debt and been released a few minutes before our arrival. The rain and wind from the morning had burned off and led to a warm evening. I persuaded—okay, bribed with the promise of donuts—the others to search for half an hour and we split up to look for the girl.

The minutes ticked down and my heart sank a little lower when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I perked up when I realized it wasn’t the timer going off. Instead, it was a text message from Adam.

Found her. Hurry.

Below the alarming words was a map. I popped it open and found they were less than five blocks from where I stood. A perk of small town living—nothing is ever far away. I took brisk steps to the spot indicated and spotted Evangeline standing watch at the corner of the brick building that housed a popular pub. She jolted forward when she saw me. “This way,” she called, scurrying down the alleyway.

Adam had the girl cornered, his face tensed with worry. I took two steps and then stopped short. The girl was glowing. Actually, glowing. Her skin was alight from the inside out, her skin luminescent and shining in the shaded alley. She was curled into a tight ball, clutching her stomach and rocking back and forth.

“What happened?” I asked, my eyes flying to Adam’s.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. She was running this way and I called out to her. She spooked and came down here. When I caught up….” he trailed off and gestured at the girl. “She won’t say anything. I don’t even know if she can.”

With a stunning spell ready on the tips of my fingers, I knelt down beside the girl and reached out to touch her bare arm. I halfway expected her skin to radiate heat along with the light, but a sheen of sweat and goosebumps met my fingertips.

“She’s freezing cold,” I said. “We have to get her back to the manor.”

Nick arrived at the mouth of the alley, breathing hard. “What happened to her?”

“We don’t know. Adam found her like this.” I pushed up to my feet. “Can you help Adam get her back to the manor?”

“I can go get my car!” Evangeline offered. “It’ll take me less than ten minutes.”

“That’s too long. Here,” I said, reaching down the front of my shirt. I pulled out a vintage medallion and clasped it in one hand, taking Evangeline’s with the other. I squeezed my eyes closed and whispered, “The manor.”

When I reopened my eyes, we were standing on the back porch.

“Holly!” Evangeline squealed.

“What?” I said, slipping the Larkspur medallion back down my shirt.

“Next time, a little heads-up would be great,” she said, her tone frosty. “I’d like to give consent before being teleported or whatever the heck you call what we just did.”

She shook her shoulders and I gave an apologetic nod. “Got it.”

Still scowling, she yanked the backdoor open and went to find her car keys.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, we were all gathered around the wayward teen in the manor’s formal sitting room. She was bundled in a thick blanket and her teeth had finally stopped chattering. The strange light that had appeared to come from under her skin had also disappeared.

“Okay. So, not to be rude, but … um … what are you?” I asked her after assuring her she was safe.

She flicked a nervous glance at all of us before answering, “I’m a selkie.”

I didn’t mean to, but I gawked. Full on double take.

“Whoa, cool. A seal-person!”

“Adam,” I growled. My eyelids pinched closed for a moment before opening into thin slits to shoot a dark look at my other—and far less eloquent—half.

“What? It’s been a minute since my academy days, but that’s what we’re talking about here, right?” He shifted his attention to the lavender-haired girl. “You turn into a seal?”

If the girl was ruffled, she didn’t show it. “Technically, I’m a sea lion that turns into a human.”

Her matter-of-fact manner startled me and I dropped the evil eye. “It was you!”

“Excuse me?”

“Last night, on the beach, I saw a sea lion. It was you, wasn’t it?”

I waited, leaning forward slightly.

She held my gaze for a long moment and then dipped her chin. “Yes,” she said. “My—uh, friend—was having a party and wanted me to come and meet his friends.”

“Friend, huh?” Adam flashed a knowing grin at me.

I elbowed him in the ribs. Stars help them, if he ever had teenage daughters in the future.

On the outside, he looked somewhere between a GQ model and a motorcycle enthusiast. His dark brown hair was freshly cut, but still long enough to run my fingers through, and he had a tousled, bed-head look that most women—myself included—found irresistible. He wore well-worn jeans low on his hips, paired with a black tee and his signature leather jacket that he found in a vintage shop in downtown Seattle years before.

His smile is always touched with a whisper of mischief and trouble, another trait I like to call lady catnip. Standing somewhat at odds with his good looks and effortless cool guy persona was his corny sense of humor and his monster appetite for all things junk food, including some really off-the-wall combinations that made me theorize his tastebuds were wrongly calibrated and his shifter stomach was lined with cast iron.

“Listen,” I said to the girl, ignoring Adam’s needling attempts. “It’s none of our business why you’re here. But when I saw you at the coffee shop earlier, you seemed a little … anxious. Then the next thing I hear, you’re swiping stuff from the market. If you’re in trouble, we can help. This very house is a refuge for supernaturals.”

The girl stared at me for a long moment, her violet eyes unblinking. “I don’t need your help. I’m fine.” She threw off the blanket and moved to stand. No one stepped in her way but we all scrambled up to follow her to the door.

“Please,” I said, resisting the urge to reach out and grab her by the arm. “At least let us feed you a proper meal before you go.”

“I’m not hungry,” she insisted, flinging open the front door.

Adam placed a hand on my shoulder, silently telling me to let her go.

I released a heavy sigh but didn’t chase after the girl as she stalked down the front walk.

Chapter 4

Two days passed without a sighting of the girl. Adam and Evangeline tried to reassure me that she was fine, but I couldn’t push her out of my mind. I’d gone down to the beach the next two nights looking for her, but returned empty-handed and more frustrated than before.

“I just hope she’s all right,” I said over a scattered mass of Chinese take-out boxes. “She was trying pretty hard to convince us that she could take care of herself, but I don’t know that I bought it.”

“I don’t really know much about selkies,” Evangeline said, using her chopsticks to dunk half an egg roll into a sticky-sweet chili sauce. “What’s the difference between a selkie and a regular shifter? I mean, aren’t there seal-shifters?”

We both looked to Adam.

He shrugged. “Probably. Though, I’ve never met any personally.”

I filled my plate with fried rice and considered the question. “I’d think the main difference is that shifters spent the majority of their time in their human form. With selkies, it’s the opposite. They spend their time as sea lions and rarely come to shore to transform into humans.”

Evangeline nodded, one cheek rounded as she chewed thoughtfully.

“I wonder if there is a pod in the area,” I said to no one in particular.

Posy, our landlady ghost and original lady of the Beechwood Manor, floated into the room and immediately crinkled her nose. “I swear, it’s a wonder any of you are still breathing, with the amount of deep-fried foods you consume. Don’t any of you eat vegetables?”

I frowned at my fried rice and my cheeks warmed as I realized I’d absently pushed all the peas to one side. Glancing up, I jutted my chin toward three unopened containers. “One of those boxes has steamed broccoli,” I said, moving my arm to block her view of my plate. “Does that count?”

“I had lettuce on my burger today,” Adam piped up.

Posy didn’t look impressed.

Evangeline reached for the second half of her egg roll.

“Posy, have you ever seen a pod of selkies around the harbor?” I asked. She’d lived in the manor in life, having been the one to help plan and orchestrate every nook and cranny from the ground up. After her death, she’d remained anchored to the home as a spirit.

Several families came and went in the years following her death, though the occupancies grew shorter and shorter as time went on. Rumors that the place was haunted spread like wildfire through the small community and surrounding towns, and after a couple decades, the manor sat empty. I imagine if it weren’t such a historic home, some developer would have swooped in to bulldoze the place and put up a series of condos in its stead. The unobstructed view of the harbor would no doubt fetch the builder a sizable profit.

However, Posy and her husband, Earl, had been the founders of the beachside town and had it written into the bylaws that their mansion was not to be touched. Of course, with enough money, someone could probably hire a swift-talking lawyer to find a way around the small-town code, but the chamber of commerce and other officials were old stodgy fellows who hated city-slicker lawyers only slightly less than they hated fancy high-rise buildings.

I’m not sure how the original conversation occurred, but someone from the Supernatural Protection Agent (SPA for short) approached Posy and suggested the manor be used as a halfway home for displaced supernaturals. In exchange for hosting tenants, Posy was assured that the manor would be cared for and that an agent of the supernatural law enforcement organization would keep the manor free from land-grabbing lawyers or other threats. They also handled things that a ghost like Posy would find hard to do—set appointments for landscapers, annual repairs, and other maintenance issues.

At the time, it was only the three of us in residence: Adam, myself, and Evangeline. However, I imagined it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Posy relied on the rental income to pay for the repairs and upkeep of the home. I hadn’t asked her recently, but it was likely only a matter of weeks before some newbie would show up on the welcome mat with a suitcase, business card, and—in all likelihood, a complicated backstory that would eventually get us all into trouble.

But, why borrow trouble?

As it was, we had a rogue teenage selkie roaming around town.

“Selkies?” Posy said, answering my question. “Oh, yes, I see people doing those all over town. On the beach, at the gazebo in town square, out at the lighthouse. It’s quite vain if you ask me. How many photographs of oneself are required in this day and age?”

Adam choked on a laugh and sputtered a cough against his fisted hand. Evangeline stuffed another egg roll into her mouth, though her eyes danced with humor.

“I think you’re talking about selfies, Posy. That’s where people take a picture of themselves on their phones.”

She bristled. “That’s what you said! Although, what it has to do with a pod, I’m sure I don’t know. I can barely keep up with the chores around here, let alone trying to keep up with every iPod or shiny, overpriced thing-a-ma-jig.”

“A selkie is a magical creature,” I said, still biting back my own smile. “They live in pods, as sea lions. But when they come to shore, they can shed their sea lion skins and transform into humans. We met one today, a teenaged girl, and wondered if the rest of her family might be somewhere nearby.”

Posy stared at me as if she wasn’t sure whether or not I was being serious. “I don’t know about seal-people, but I came to tell you that there’s a peculiar looking girl wandering the neighborhood. I’ve been watching her from the attic window. She’s passed the manor exactly four times, once coming all the way to the front door before going back to circling again. I think one of you needs to go and see what she wants.”

We all exchanged a quick glance and jumped up from the table. “I’ll go.”

Posy followed me to the door, but remained a few feet behind when I opened it. I jolted when I found the selkie on the front steps. She froze in place for a moment and then scrambled back down to the front walk.

“Wait!” I cried out before she scrambled back any further. Holding out both hands, I took a small step forward. “Please, don’t run away again. You’re obviously here for a reason.”

The girl shifted on the spot, nervously glancing over her shoulder at the quiet street behind her. The ocean roared in the background and a smattering of birds squawked as they settled into their rock-face nests for the night.

When she turned back around to face me, she tucked her chin and smoothed a strand of her silver hair behind one ear. Still not meeting my gaze, she said, “If the offer still stands, I need your help.”

“Of course.” I stepped back and beckoned her forward. She peeked up and then took tentative steps back onto the porch and over the threshold. “Let’s start with your name this time.”

“It’s Clarice,” she said, bringing her gaze level with mine.

“Okay, Clarice.” I smiled. “How can we help?”

“Someone stole my pelt. I can’t turn back into my true form without it, and if I don’t get it back, I’ll be stuck as a human forever.”

Chapter 5

“Forever?” I repeated before glancing at Adam. He looked taken aback too. Apparently, we’d both missed that part of the history when we’d been in magic training as kids. “I wasn’t aware that was part of the deal,” I said, looking back to Clarice.

“Well, technically, I’ll always have the ability to transform between a land-walker and a sea lion,” Clarice said. “But, if I’m not back by the Summer Solstice, I won’t be welcome to rejoin my pod.”

“Why not?” Adam asked.

“They will say that I made my choice to remain on land. In their eyes, anyone who would rather stay a human than return to the sea is not a true selkie.”

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Wow.”

Adam studied the girl for a moment before asking, “How old are you? Seems like a pretty big decision for someone so young.”

“I just turned sixteen,” Clarice replied. “Between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice of our sixteenth year, the selkies in our pod are free to live on the land, with humans. It’s called a Tide Dance. The elders say that the Tide Dance is supposed to satiate the curiosity of the young so they can fully commit themselves to the pod. They think that anyone who spends a significant portion of time among humans, in their world, will all but race back to the sea and stay there.”

Adam snorted. “Can’t say I’d blame them.”

I quirked my lips to one side and lifted my brows. No arguments here. Life as a sea lion had to be infinitely more pleasant than dealing with the complications of the humans. The selkies had their own harbors and secret retreats where they enjoyed simple lives. As far as I knew, they communicated mainly through an almost telepathic medium that allowed for volumes of information to be passed back and forth without speaking with their human tongues. Their knowledge and experiences went back for centuries. A selkie could be highly intelligent and every bit as educated as a human, without ever stepping into a traditional classroom or studying under an Ivy League professor.

“During this Tide Dance, do you stay here on land?” I asked, thinking to the flash of light I’d seen on the beach. “You said you’d come ashore last night.”

“I spent the first few weeks of spring in Long Beach. There’s a large group of Tide Dancers there and we were … just having fun.” A pink twinge graced her cheeks and she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I met someone. A human.”

Adam glanced at me from the corner of his eye.

“I’m guessing that’s not exactly … encouraged?” I ventured.

Clarice shook her head. “Before we leave for our dance, the elders gather us around and share all kinds of horror stories, cataloging all of the terrible things humans have done to our kind—and to our brothers, the sea lions, as a whole. “But, I thought this one was different. I thought he really liked me.” Abruptly, she broke off and gave a frustrated toss of her head, huffing like an agitated horse.

“What happened?” I asked, already afraid to hear her reply.

“It started out fun and light. He played in a band. They were awful. But it was fun watching him. I could feel how much he loved what he was doing. Most of the time, we’d go to different bars and listen to live music, but one night, he took me to a fancy restaurant. Although, looking back, it’s obvious he was just using me.” She scoffed. “We got the bill and he told me he’d forgotten his wallet and that he’d pay me back. But the next morning, I woke up and he was gone. And so was my purse.”

I winced. “I’m so sorry, Clarice. That’s horrible. Did you call the police?”

She shook her head. “No point. It’s not like I can fill out a police report. Half of the boxes on the form would be left blank. It’s not like I have a driver’s license or any other kind of ID.”

“Right.” I should have figured that out myself. The SPA was there to protect supernatural creatures, but they rarely got involved in cases that had anything to do with humans—beyond the occasional self-proclaimed vampire hunters—and they definitely didn’t have time to find a wayward selkie’s metaphorical piggy bank.

“So, what happened after you found out you’d been robbed?” Adam asked. “How’d you end up in Beechwood?”

“I wanted to be alone. I changed back into my true form and swam and swam. When I got tired, I found this harbor and decided to stop and sleep. I found a cave and was trying to sleep, but there was music coming down from up on the hill somewhere. I couldn’t sleep through it, so I decided to go and check it out for myself. I found a couple other Tide Dancers, and we had a good time together. After everything that happened with that jerk, Alan, I just wanted to be with my own kind.”

I gave her a soft smile. “Makes sense.”

Clarice nodded but then her expression wilted. “When I got back to the cave, it was probably three, maybe four, in the morning. I was going to transform back into a sea lion. You know, in case some early-morning beachcombers stumbled across me sleeping in. People won’t bother a sleeping animal on the beach, but if you’re a sleeping person, you’re somehow instantly a vagabond!”

“Tell me about it,” Adam bemoaned.

Clarice shot him a puzzled look.

“He’s a dog-shifter,” I filled in, hooking a thumb in his direction.

She blinked. “Oh.”

Adam grinned. “Don’t even get me started on those new guards they put on the trash cans outside the bakery. It makes it next to impossible to get any good scraps.”

“Right.” Clarice looked at me.

I shrugged, helpless.

“Anyway, when I got back to the cave, I couldn’t find my pelt. I know right where I left it. It was just gone. Someone obviously took it and now I’m stuck on land. If I can’t find it before the solstice, I’ll be shunned and never get back to my pod.”

For the first time, emotion broke through her voice as it pitched up an octave. Her violet eyes shimmered with a layer of unshed tears.

“It’s okay, Clarice,” I said, reaching for her arm. “There’s still a few weeks before the solstice. We’ll find that pelt and get you back to your pod.”

“How?” she choked out.

I looked at Adam, hoping he’d swoop in with something reassuring, but his expression was just as blank as mine. After all, it wasn’t like the beach was wired up with security cameras.

The tears squeezed past Clarice’s lashes and she hung her head. “I don’t even have any money to get a place to stay.”

“You’ll stay with us,” I said, giving her arm a gentle squeeze.

“Holly’s right. We’ve got plenty of room and food.”

“I don’t need food,” Clarice said, suddenly sounding as though she’d gone a week without sleep. Which, for all I knew, she had. “All I want is to get my skin back and to go back to my pod. I’ve seen all I want to see of the human world. My mother was right; I should have stayed home from the start.”

“We’re going to help you get home again. I promise,” I told her, keeping my voice soft. “Now, let’s start at the beginning. Take us to that cave.”

Chapter 6

“I told you,” Clarice said. “It’s not here.”

Adam and I exchanged a look. She was right. We’d searched every nook, cranny, and crack of the cave Clarice led us to. The pelt wasn’t there.

“You’re sure this is the right cave?” Adam asked, a slight cringe on his face.

Clarice leveled him with a glare.

His hands went out, palms facing her. “Right. Right. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said, stepping between them. “Where did you go after you shifted? You said something about meeting a friend’s, uh, friends? Is that right?”

Adam frowned. “I thought it was that you went to listen to music because you couldn’t sleep.”

Clarice folded her arms over her chest. “It was a little of both.”

“Okay…” I said, drawing out the word.

Clarice gave a sigh that assured me that sass and exasperation were the universal language of teenagers. “Zeke is a friend. He’s a selkie too. He’s on his Tide Dance too, and he’s been hanging out here for the last few weeks. That’s why I really came to this harbor. He works at that ice cream cart down by the lighthouse.”

Adam straightened. “The one that has the caramel apple flavor?”

My nose wrinkled. “That sounds disgusting.”

“I don’t know what flavors they have!” Clarice said, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Tell us more about Zeke,” I prompted, hurrying the conversation forward before Adam spouted off more ice-cream-related questions. “Are you two in the same pod, then?”

Clarice nodded. “For now.”

“What does that mean?” Adam asked.

“He’s probably going to leave the pod at the end of spring. He told me he’s planning to stay in the human world.”

I glanced at Adam and he raised an eyebrow. He’d seen it too. A flicker of something more than annoyance behind Clarice’s eyes. This Zeke fellow wasn’t rejecting the pod, at least, not in her eyes. He was rejecting her.

“So, he wanted you to come and listen to music with him and his human friends?” I asked.

Clarice nodded, still not looking up at us. She buried the tips of her shoes in the moist sand the covered the cave’s floor. “One of them had a party at their house while their parents were out of town. I wasn’t going to go, but after the whole wallet-stealing thing, I figured I could at least get a free meal, and I hoped that Zeke would have some money to lend me or a place I could stay until I could get back to the pod.”

“So, you told him you were going back to the pod?”

Clarice glanced up and nodded. “He wasn’t very happy about it. We argued, actually.”

Adam shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “You think maybe this Zeke might have had something to do with the missing pelt?”

Horror crossed Clarice’s face. “He would never do that! The elder’s would skin him alive for pulling that kind of stunt!”

I held up a hand to stifle Adam’s counterpoint—though, the sinking pit in my stomach told me he was on the right track—and reasoned with Clarice. “Let’s go and ask Zeke about the pelt. Have you told him it’s missing yet?”

“No.” She hung her head again. “It’s a disgrace to lose your pelt. If Zeke ever told anyone …”

“Did he know where you were staying?” I asked gently. “Whoever took the pelt had to know it was here. I can’t imagine that some random stranger stumbled upon it in a cave like this. It’s possible, but not really likely.”

Clarice chewed on the corner of her lip. “I told him where I was staying so he knew where to find me in case he wanted to apologize.”

“Okay.” I winced and looked at Adam.

“Where did you go after that?” he asked.

“I went for a long walk to clear my head. I was still screwed up about my money getting stolen and then Zeke yelling at me for wanting to go home … it was too much. I needed some air.”

“And, when you got back to the cave, that’s when you noticed the pelt was gone?”

She gave a miserable bob of her head.

Adam frowned. “Hate to break it to you, kid, but there’s really only one possibility here.”

I glanced at my watch and sighed. “Guess it’s time to go see a man about a caramel-apple sundae.”

* * *

We followed the signs for ice cream and wound up at a bright yellow food cart that was plastered in signs for about a hundred different ice cream varieties. A long line stretched down the beach. Apparently, everyone had collectively decided that weird-tasting ice cream combos were the best way to beat the heat.

“I see him,” Clarice said, turning her face away when boy with the platinum blonde hair at the window looked our way.

“That’s—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Adam plowed through the line of people, stalking to the cart.

“Oh, bat wings,” I muttered. “And he calls me impatient.”

“What’s he doing?” Clarice demanded.

I grabbed her arm and pulled her along in Adam’s wake. “Let’s just say diplomacy isn’t really one of Adam’s stone suits,” I told her.

“—can’t just cut through the line!” Zeke was protesting when we got within earshot.

“Listen, punk, you can take a ten-minute break and come chat with us, or we can have it out right here, in front of all these fine people.”

The boy paled and looked to Clarice, clearly hoping for a bailout.

She crossed her arms and stared down her pert nose at him. “Well?”

Zeke cursed under his breath, then pulled his apron off over his head and tossed it aside. He said something to the other teen working beside him and then stepped out the door at the back of the cart. “Fine, you win, Clarice. What do you want? You stormed off last night and embarrassed me in front of all my friends. Now this?”

Adam inserted himself between the teens, his broad shoulder a barricade in case Clarice decided to follow through on whatever plan was brewing behind the murderous look in her eye.

“We know you took her pelt,” Adam said. “Just tell us where it is and we’ll leave you alone. This thing doesn’t have to go sideways.”

I wasn’t sure what Zeke thought we were confronting him about, but his face registered surprise and confusion as he gave Adam and me a second look. “Who are these people?” he asked Clarice.

“My friends,” she replied, her tone cool.

Zeke held up his hands. “I don’t have your pelt. Didn’t even know it was missing.”

“You’re lying,” Clarice snapped. “Where is it?”

He held her gaze for a long moment.

She bared her teeth. “Tell me now, Zeke, or I’ll get word back to the elders.”

That did it. He crumbled. “You wouldn’t.”

“My mother is coming to visit me on Sunday. We’ve had the visit in the works since I left. You know that. If I tell her what you’ve done, she’ll bring every last elder right to this ice cream shack if that’s what it takes,” Clarice replied, jutting her chin out as she set her jaw.

Zeke’s eyes went wide and he held out his hands. “Please, don’t. I’ll get it for you!”

Without warning, he ducked to one side and all but dove back into the ice cream cart. He came back half a second later with a blue JanSport backpack. With shaking fingers, he unzipped the front compartment and produced what looked like a fur-lined vest. “Here it is!”

Clarice pounced on it like a hungry tiger. She clutched the pelt to her chest and closed her eyes, overwhelmed with relief.

“Why did you steal it?” Adam demanded of the teen.

Zeke consulted his toes.

“Zeke!” Clarice snapped, still hugging the pelt. “Tell me now, or I’ll have this witch turn you into a toad!”

Zeke’s brown eyes bulged, filled with panic as he shrank away from me.

I sighed. “Relax, kid. I can’t actually do that. Although … it’s tempting. What were you thinking?”

“I didn’t want you to leave, Clarice. I thought if we had more time together, here, I could show you the kind of life we could have if we left the pod. Together.”

Clarice softened. “Why didn’t you just ask me to stay? Maybe if you’d actually talked to me about why I was trying to leave, you’d have been able to talk me into staying through the solstice.”

Zeke’s lips twisted to one side. He actually looked ready to cry and my heart went out to him.

Just a little.

“Can we try again?” he asked, his voice almost too quiet to hear over the waves and nearby patrons of the mobile ice cream shop.

Clarice shook her head. “I don’t think so. How could I ever trust you?”

Zeke gave a nod. “I’m really sorry, Clarice. Believe me, I wish I could take it back. Please know that I wouldn’t have ever stopped you from going back if that’s what you really wanted.”

He stared at her for another minute, and when she didn’t respond, he tucked his chin, went back into the cart, and shut the door.

Clarice sagged as soon as he was out of sight. A sob broke from her and she beamed up at us. “Thank you so much! I can’t believe we got it back.”

“Anytime, kiddo,” Adam said, smiling back at her.

She narrowed her eyes. “I’m sixteen, you know.”

I laughed at her teenage scorn and shook my head. “He’s just an old man, Clarice. You can’t take it personally.”

Adam snorted. “Gee, thanks, gorgeous. I know I can always count on you for a vote of confidence.”

Clarice smiled at us, happy tears still swimming in her violet eyes. “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome, Clarice. Is there anything else we can do?”

She shook her head. “All I want to do is go for a swim!”

We laughed and waved to her before she turned and hurried down the beach.

Adam looped an arm around my waist and pulled me in close. “Once again, gorgeous, we made a perfect team. And hey, this time, no one almost died. So, that’s a step in the right direction.”

I smiled and squeezed his hand. “For a man who likes caramel-apple ice cream, you sure like to keep your life as vanilla as possible.”

He laughed. “Does that make you the sprinkles? Cause, you add all kinds of color to my world.”

I smiled. “That’s insanely cheesy, but I’ll take it.”

“Good.” He kissed me. “Now, you know what I’m in the mood for?”

I groaned. “All right, all right, we’ll go get you a waffle cone.”

THE END

About Danielle Garrett

From a young age, Danielle Garrett was obsessed with fantastic places and the stories set in them. As a lifelong bookworm, she’s gone on hundreds of adventures through the eyes of wizards, princesses, elves, and some rather wonderful everyday people as well.

Danielle now lives in Oregon and while she travels as often as possible, she wouldn’t call anywhere else home. She shares her life with her husband and their house full of animals, and when not writing, spends her time being a house servant for three extremely spoiled cats and two wild-child pups.

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www.DanielleGarrettBooks.com

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