LITMIR.BIZ

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“you can tell me why the people in town consider you to be a witch.”

      * * *

      A witch. If she hadn’t been so upset, Jade would have laughed. For as long as she could remember, people in town claimed to know that the Burnett who took care of the lake monster had magical powers. Jade has always laughed it off. Until she’d been assigned to be Libby’s Guardian, and realized quite suddenly she did have powers. The day she’d been given the necklace by her mother, she’d felt the sense of honor the heirloom conveyed. On that day, she’d come into her own powers. Each Guardian’s was different. Amber had never said what gifts she’d been given, but Jade didn’t doubt that her mother’s had been inconsequential just for that reason. Amber was the type to shout from the rooftop.

      As for herself, Jade considered her own powers minor, as well. She couldn’t do a whole lot, just a bit of telekinesis. Oh, and the occasional bit of prophetic ability. Not entirely reliable, most of it came to Jade in her dreams, usually as a jumbled mess, leaving her to puzzle out the meaning.

      No, the only one with actual magical abilities was Libby. A powerful seer and oracle, there were many written accounts of her being asked to help the Burnetts with something. Every single recorded time, her answers were correct.

      Still. If Rance wanted to believe Jade had really strong magic, well... Since she needed all the advantages she could take, she decided she wouldn’t disabuse him of the notion. Let him think she had true magical powers. Maybe if he focused on that, he’d let his determination to write about Libby fall to the wayside. Being called a witch was the least of her worries right now. Actually, she’d grown quite used to it.

      Why had Libby chosen that moment to rise out of the water? Jade didn’t know what to think. In all the years her family had been taking care of Libby, she couldn’t think of a single instance when the beast had revealed herself to an out-of-towner. Scratch that. The only ones in town Libby had let see her spectacularly beautiful scales were all shifters. Maybe because she knew they, unlike humans, would never betray her.

      Forestwood seemed pretty equally divided, as far as Jade could tell. Her entire family was part of the Pack, which meant they shifted into wolves, as did most all of the other shifters in town. There were a few large cats, but not many as they preferred a warmer climate.

      Shaking her head, she tried to clear her jumbled thoughts. Worry and uncertainty had her second-guessing herself. Would it have been better if she’d pretended she hadn’t seen Libby jumping out of the water? In her shock, she’d inadvertently revealed the truth of Libby’s existence.

      And she wasn’t even certain she could trust him with that knowledge. As her stomach roiled, she saw another family meeting in the near future.

      They rounded a corner and the picnic area sat directly ahead of them. Rance pulled into a parking spot and killed the engine. He glanced at her once with his hand on the door. She pretended not to notice, so he got out and walked down the path that weaved around the little pavilions and picnic tables.

      Heart hammering, she followed him all the way to the edge of the water. As she came up beside him, she half expected to find him staring out into the expanse of lake, searching for another sign of Libby. Instead, he looked down at the shallow pools where the gentle waves slapped against the rocks worn smooth.

      “It’s peaceful,” he murmured. “Not exactly the kind of place one would expect to find a monster.”

      Not a monster. She bit back the words, her automatic defense of Libby hovering on the edge of her lips. She’d already revealed too much. And warned him not to use that word. Anything else she said would only make the situation worse.

      “You can’t go back, you know.” A half smile curled his sensuous mouth. The combination of his deep, sensuous voice and Southern accent made her weak in the knees.

      “I don’t know what you mean,” she lied, aware she sounded more prim than dignified, even though she’d tried for the latter.

      His smile widened. “Pretending you didn’t tell me about Libby.”

      Though she should have known it was coming, she winced at the sound of the name on his lips. “I made a mistake.”

      “Maybe.” He shrugged, turning again to look out at the water. The wind whipped his dark hair, giving him an otherworldly look, and she found herself wondering exactly what kind of shifter he was. If he were wolf, she’d bet he’d be magnificent in his lupine form.

      If he were something else... She shook her head. No matter what form of beast Rance Sleighter changed into, he’d be golden and perfect.

      “Hey, Jade.” The familiar greeting made her turn, smiling. She often ran into Lucas Everett, one of the other sets of twins in town. Lucas and his brother, Monroe, were identical twins and made no effort to help anyone tell them apart. They both wore their dark hair long, brushing their shoulders, and the same blue eyes. The two had been pining after Pearl and Sapphire for as long as Jade could remember. They were one year ahead of Jade’s sisters in school and rumor had it that they’d actually considered failing so they could share the same classes. Both brothers loved hanging out at the lake and often one or the other could be found here, making sure the picnic area remained pristine.

      Lucas gave her his usual one-armed hug. “How’s everything?” he asked. By “everything,” she knew he meant her sisters.

      “Fine. They’re both fine.”

      He grinned. She grinned back.

      Rance coughed. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” he asked.

      “Sorry. Lucas, this is Rance. Rance, meet Lucas.”

      After she finished, she expected the usual handshakes. Instead, Lucas took a step back, his eyes wide.

      “Rance Sleighter?” The reverence in his tone was usually reserved for his favorite musicians.

      “That’s me.” Rance held out his hand.

      After vigorously shaking it, Lucas exhaled. “I’ve followed your work. In fact, I even did a report on you last year for journalism class. I dig photography, too, though my camera isn’t as nice as yours.” He glanced from Jade to Rance and back. “How do you two know each other?”

      Jade clamped her mouth shut, making a mental note to do a Google search once she got home.

      Rance glanced at her once, then shrugged. “I came here to do a pictorial report on your lake monster, er, creature. Ms. Jade here has been trying to convince me not to. Says Libby wouldn’t appreciate it.”

      All the color blanched from Lucas’s face. “Jade told you her name? Seriously?”

      Crap. Jade swallowed hard, hating the look of dismay and condemnation on Lucas’s face.

      She wasn’t sure how exactly to respond—in fact, she wasn’t certain she should. This was not the kind of thing she wanted the kids gossiping about in the hallways at school. She could only imagine Pearl’s and Sapphire’s reactions if they learned what she had done.

      When he realized Jade wasn’t going to answer, Lucas turned again to Rance. “Why are you bothering with stories about a hypothetical lake monster? I’d think you were famous enough without having to spend time on fluff like that.”

      Only because she was watching Rance closely did Jade see the kid had scored a direct hit. Though the wince seemed barely perceptible, she saw it.

      “Fame is a fleeting thing,” Rance responded, a trace of bitterness in his voice. He’d once been famous, but jobs had dried up when he’d started drinking. And then once Eve had became ill, he’d basically quit. “But if you’ve followed my work, you surely know I’ve always specialized in photographing offbeat, unusual stories.”

      “And put your own personal spin on them.” Lucas shook his head, clearly disappointed. “But this is different.”

      Rance’s gaze sharpened. “How so?”

      Jade

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