LITMIR.BIZ

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on her panic, squeeze it into something manageable.

      ‘Woke up with an idea,’ Gwen said, pulling the door to the hall shut. ‘Cam’s still asleep.’

      Katie winced. ‘Sorry.’

      ‘It’s fine,’ Gwen said. Then, ‘What’s wrong? You look pale.’

      Katie laughed but the sound turned into a kind of hiccup. ‘I had a really bad dream. About the man who died.’

      ‘A man died?’ Gwen said, her face draining of colour. ‘Who?’

      ‘At the hotel. Just a guest.’ Katie shook her head, realising that she hadn’t told Gwen. She’d planned to and then had heard her and Cam arguing and the weirdness of that had shoved it right out of her mind. ‘I found him.’

      ‘Oh, sweetheart.’ Gwen put down the rocking horse, her face softened in sympathy. ‘No wonder you had a nightmare.’

      ‘And something weird just happened. A bird spoke to me. With a man’s voice.’

      Gwen put a hand on Katie’s forehead. ‘Do you feel sick?’

      ‘I’m not ill. I think it was Mr Cole’s voice. The guest. He had a heart attack.’

      ‘Sit down,’ Gwen said. ‘I’ll make some tea.’

      Katie sat at the kitchen table, feeling comforted by the familiarity. Gwen’s kitchen. A mug of tea. In a moment, Gwen would explain it all. Maybe the Harper powers always began with a chat with a magpie. ‘Have you ever heard a magpie talk?’ Katie said, over the sound of the kettle boiling.

      Gwen was getting milk out of the fridge and the bottle slipped from her hand. Smashed on the floor.

      Katie got up to help but Gwen stepped through the spreading milk and grabbed her hands. ‘Are you sure it was a magpie?’

      ‘Yes.’ Katie would’ve felt insulted, they’d covered bird identification when she’d been fifteen, but Gwen sounded too freaked out. ‘It said something about a watch. I think Mr Cole wants me to find his watch. Or do something with his watch. Or watch something, perhaps—’

      Gwen’s complexion had gone grey and her mouth was turned down. She suddenly looked much older than usual. ‘A man who recently died spoke to you through a crow?’

      ‘A magpie.’

      Gwen shook her head as if she could erase Katie’s words. ‘No, no, no.’

      Katie felt the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Gwen was usually so calm. This had to be bad.

      ‘Gwen?’

      She was staring to the left of Katie, her expression grim. ‘I knew there would be consequences,’ Gwen said, her voice bleak. ‘This is my fault.’

      ‘What are you talking about?’

      ‘Blood magic.’ Gwen seemed to be forcing the words out. ‘I used blood magic. It’s serious stuff. Dark. I knew there’d be a price.’

      Katie frowned. Why did Gwen have to be so negative? And when was she going to be able to stop paying for that one little mistake? ‘You don’t think this is my Harper family thing? Maybe—’

      Gwen shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I don’t—’ She broke off and reached for the nearest notebook, began leafing through it. ‘I mean, I think there was something like this a long time ago, but—’

      ‘That’s it, then. I just inherited the crappest power. That’s it.’

      ‘None of them are simple,’ Gwen said, still looking as if she was about to throw up. ‘Lost things don’t always want to be found.’

      ‘I know that.’

      ‘And giving people what they need isn’t always fun.’ Gwen looked angry now. ‘Did you even read Iris’s journals?’

      ‘Of course,’ Katie said.

      ‘What about the stuff I wrote down for you? Did you read it? Did you take it in?’

      ‘Yes! Of course I did. You know I did. I’ve been training with you every week for the last seven years. You know.’

      ‘Well, it’s a shame you didn’t pay more attention.’ Gwen snapped the notebook shut and frowned at Katie. ‘Talking to a magpie? What were you thinking?’

      ‘Charming,’ Katie said, her anger matching Gwen’s. ‘What else was I supposed to do?’

      ‘You need to be more careful.’

      ‘I’m always careful,’ Katie said.

      ‘I’ll look into it.’ Gwen passed a hand over her eyes. ‘There might be someone who’ll know.’

      ‘Not Gloria.’

      Gwen shook her head. ‘I won’t tell her, yet. I need to figure this out, first. Figure out what this means.’ She grabbed Katie’s hand. ‘Don’t tell anybody else.’

      ‘So, do I look for his watch? I feel like he’s asking for my help.’

      ‘No. Don’t do anything.’

      ‘But—’

      ‘It’s probably not him. It’s probably a curse or a hex or a rebalancing. This is not your power,’ Gwen said. ‘It can’t be.’

      Katie felt the disappointment. She was a victim again. Cursed. Or whatever. She was so careful, she trained hard, she’d read Culpeper’s Herbal and The Modern Herbalist and everything else Gwen told her to read. She took notes in an A4 binder and never tried any magic unsupervised. She followed every rule Gwen gave her and now, when something had finally happened, Gwen was telling her to ignore it.

      ‘Sit tight and don’t do anything. I’ll sort it out.’ Gwen pulled her in for a quick hug. ‘And if you see a magpie, put your fingers in your ears.’

      ‘Are you being serious?’ Katie’s disappointment was rapidly growing into irritation. Gwen was dismissing her. It was like talking to her mother all over again.

      ‘I’m completely serious. If this is a side effect of some kind, you’ve got to resist it.’

      ‘Fine,’ Katie said. ‘I’ve got to go to work. I’m late.’ She headed for the back door.

      ‘I think you should stay away from that place. Just until things settle down.’

      ‘It’s where I work,’ Katie said. She kissed Gwen’s cheek and headed for the back door. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t do anything stupid.’

      *

      Katie crept along the upstairs passageway. She knew there weren’t any guests in the rooms and she’d checked the time sheet for housekeeping and they should’ve completed the rooms on this floor. She flipped all the lights on and headed straight for The Yellow Room. The yellow police tape had been removed as per Patrick’s instructions. Not letting herself hesitate, or think about what she was doing too much, she unlocked the door and slipped inside.

      The room had been thoroughly cleaned since the incident. Housekeeping had done a bang-up job and the room looked just as it had on the day before Oliver Cole checked in, although someone had obviously knocked the thermostat as the room was freezing. She checked the en suite, not really sure of what she was doing, what she expected to find. The toiletries had been replaced, the loo roll was folded to a point, and the sink sparkled. Katie caught sight of herself in the over-sink mirror and grimaced. Pale skin, dark circles around her eyes and cracked lips. A frightening sight.

      A sound from the bedroom made Katie’s heart rate kick up. The door had been pushed open and there were footsteps, muffled on the carpet. Katie looked around wildly. She picked up the only portable item that wasn’t a travel-size bottle of shampoo and edged to the doorway. A slice of the room was visible and she saw a male shape.

      ‘Argh!’

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