Chapter 1

The sun was down and Reg was feeling energized as she looked through the appointment book on her kitchen island. It felt good to have some business coming in again. Her bank account had almost dwindled away to nothing and she had been feeling the pinch.

But she had come back from her most recent adventure determined to get things running again, and her efforts were definitely paying off. There was at least one appointment scheduled every night for the next couple of weeks, and in some cases a couple of readings and a seance.

She had been worried that she wouldn’t be able to get any work. There had been quite a reaction in the paranormal community when they discovered that her mother was a siren, and the backlash had not been pleasant. But her landlord, Sarah, had been correct when she had said that it would settle down and people would forget all about it in a few weeks when it was no longer big news. The work was coming back in, and Sarah’s wards and charms kept the more militant witches away from the yard and cottage so that they didn’t have to keep cleaning raw egg off Reg’s front door and the remnants of spells and curses that had been left behind in the yard. All in all, things had been pretty peaceful the last couple of weeks, letting Reg get back into the swing of things.

There was a tap on the door and Sarah let herself in. The older woman was dressed for a night out. A green sequined dress clung to her curves and, despite her more mature figure and a bit of extra padding around the middle, she looked very fetching. Reg was sure that she would have a fun night with whatever group of friends she was hanging out with.

“Just thought I would check in before we go,” Sarah announced, smiling. Starlight came running in from the bedroom and jumped up on the island counter, yowling at Sarah in a pleading, plaintive voice that clearly announced that Reg had been neglecting him and no one ever fed him when Sarah was not around.

“Don’t believe him!” Reg warned.

“Oh, I know he exaggerates,” Sarah agreed. She petted Starlight. “But I don’t think it would hurt for me to give him a little treat, do you?”

“For a beast who is starving, he’s getting pretty fat,” Reg observed. “You’d better not give him too much. I’m going to have to start giving him that special food for overweight cats.” She looked Starlight in the eyes, one of them blue and one of them green. “That low calorie, high fiber kibble.”

Starlight made a cross meow and turned to look at Sarah and to rub lovingly against her hand.

“You’re all ready for your readings tonight.” Sarah looked Reg over and gave an approving nod.

Reg didn’t know how Sarah could get up so early in the morning when she stayed out half the night with her friends. Weren’t old people supposed to need more sleep than younger folks? Even if Sarah only looked to be in her sixties, Reg knew—or at least had been told—that she was actually centuries old. So she should need a lot of sleep, shouldn’t she?

But Sarah was always up before Reg was and tsked and shook her head over the fact that Reg didn’t usually manage to get dressed for the day before noon. Young people these days.

“Good to go,” Reg agreed. “I’m just going to grab a bite to eat before my first appointment arrives.” She looked down at the book. “Eugene Franklin.”

“Eugenia,” Sarah corrected. “You’d best get that right!”

“Oh.” Reg looked at it again. The letters were carefully printed, but Reg had only glanced at the first few letters and assumed the rest. She was not the best reader and used a lot of shortcuts. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn’t. “So… Eugenia. That must be a woman.”

“Yes.”

“Got it.”

There was another tap on the door, and Reg looked over to see Letticia, the older witch who led Sarah’s coven. While Letticia’s lined face always looked serious and foreboding, Reg had learned not to make assumptions from her looks. Letticia had helped Reg out in the past and was not quick to prejudge her as others had. She was a lot more compassionate than she looked.

“Are we ready?”

“Just one moment. I need to get the cat something to eat.”

Reg rolled her eyes.

Letticia tilted her head and looked amused. “I don’t think that cat is going to starve. For someone who claims not to like the creatures, you do tend to put a lot of time into this one.”

“Well, somebody should keep an eye on things.”

Letticia shook her head slightly, but didn’t point out that Reg was standing right there and the cat was clearly not starving to death as he claimed. She waited patiently while Sarah found some tuna and put a spoonful in Starlight’s dish. Starlight jumped down from the counter and started to wolf it down.

“What are you guys doing tonight?” Reg asked.

It was probably not a coven night, since Sarah usually dressed in formal black for those. But Reg supposed some of the witches from the coven might go out together for a social activity. It wasn’t all chants and spells.

“There is a new club in the city that we are going to check out.”

Letticia was not dressed in a slinky, sequined dress like Sarah. Letticia didn’t have Sarah’s curves and wouldn’t look comfortable in something like that. She wore black slacks and a satiny blouse that came up high on her neck. She wouldn’t have looked out of place in church or a courtroom, but Reg wondered what kind of club Letticia would feel at home in. Maybe they had a seniors’ night.

“Well, you girls have fun and don’t stay out too late,” Reg told them with a smile.

Sarah gave Starlight one final pet and nodded. “I hope your evening goes well. You really should come out with us one night and relax. Too much work will just burn you out. You need to regenerate too.”

“Yeah. Maybe some night,” Reg agreed, though she had no intention of going out partying with the older ladies.

“Marian is coming too,” Letticia said. “It isn’t all witches.”

Marian was a psychic like Reg. Her competition. In the beginning, Reg hadn’t gotten along with her. Marian had been adversarial toward Reg. Jealous of the work that she was picking up, maybe, or the reputation she was getting for being one of the better psychics in town. In Black Sands, there was no lack of psychics and other practitioners to compete with.

But they had reached a tentative truce. Marian had even sent a couple of referrals over to Reg recently and Reg was watching for the opportunity to send some business back Marian’s way. It was better if they cooperated, or at least didn’t openly compete with each other.

The two older witches were soon on their way, and Reg looked in the fridge for something that would be good for a quick bite to eat before Eugene showed up.

Chapter 2

Even after meeting the thin blonde, Reg kept thinking of her as Eugene, which didn’t help the reading go particularly well. She tried not to be distracted by the woman’s unusual name, but she kept worrying that she would slip out with “Eugene” during the reading.

Despite her distraction, Reg was able to give the woman a few tidbits that she thought were worth her money, so Eugenia went away satisfied with the session. At least, as far as Reg could tell. Maybe the woman thought she was just an idiot or a charlatan, but if she did, she didn’t announce the fact or think it obviously enough for Reg to read. Hopefully, she would tell her friends that Reg was the real thing and get them to sign up. Reg had started to offer referral discounts so that if Eugenia got her friends to sign up for sessions, Eugenia could get a lower rate at her next reading. That encouraged repeat business and referrals, both of which were helpful to Reg in rebuilding her business.

Her next appointment was a seance for a group of friends, one of whom had received the session as a birthday gift. Oddly enough, seances were an increasingly popular birthday gift, at least around Black Sands. Reg was happy to take advantage of the trend. She enjoyed doing seances. The energy of the group was a boost, and in the odd event that there were not enough spirits around to provide commentary—and Reg rarely lacked for extra voices in her head—it was easy to ad lib and keep the clients happy.

“This is Sharon,” one of the women pointed to a dark-haired Latino girl. “She turns thirty today! At midnight! And this is Rachel, Sunny, Deb, and I’m April.”

Reg blinked at the quick succession of names. “You might need to remind me if I get the names wrong,” she apologized in advance. It might be a good idea for her to start supplying groups with stick-on name tags so that she didn’t have to remember them all. It just wasn’t a good idea to call people by the wrong name in the middle of a seance. It could be brushed off as the mistake of a confused spirit or perhaps the name from a past life, but it was always best to get them right in the first place.

“We’ll let you know!” April laughed. “We’re always confusing people. Should we sit down here?” She gestured to the dining room table, eager to get right to it.

“Sure,” Reg agreed. “Make yourselves comfortable. Does anyone want tea? Drinks?”

“Drinks!” one of the women, perhaps Deb, echoed excitedly.

“You’ve already had enough margaritas,” Sharon told her. “If you keep it up, you won’t remember anything about tonight. How about tea?”

“No, drinks,” the others protested as a group.

Sharon shook her head at Reg and rolled her eyes. “I guess it’s drinks,” she sighed.

“Shall I make you a tea? I can…”

“No, no point in going to the extra work. I’ll have the same as everyone else.”

Beverages were arranged and, in a few minutes, everyone was sitting at the table, drinks in hand, giggling nervously about the upcoming seance. With them so well-lubricated, Reg didn’t foresee any problems. They would all be very suggestible. The only question would be whether they would remember it in the morning. If they didn’t remember the seance, they couldn’t exactly recommend her to others.

“Okay, if you are all ready, we’ll get started. Is there someone in particular that you are trying to reach? Or a question that you would like answered?”

They all looked at each other, reluctant to speak up first.

“Birthday girl?” Reg suggested, looking at Sharon.

Sharon shrugged, blushing. “I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s just kind of a gag.”

Reg nodded, smiling, so that Sharon would know that she wasn’t offended. “A lot of people come just on a whim, to see what they get out of it. That’s okay. Nothing then? Nothing special?”

Sharon shrugged and shook her head. “No… just, whatever. I guess. Will you do that thing where you say there is a spirit whose name starts with G and does anyone know someone who died whose name started with the letter G?”

“No. I don’t do that. I can see who a spirit is attached to, if they are attached to someone. And sometimes, it’s just one of the spirits that I’m familiar with, who might have a message or insight to be passed on. It just depends on who speaks to me.”

“Does someone always speak do you?”

Reg shrugged. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“So you’re a real medium? This is real?”

Reg pointed to the placard on the table. For entertainment purposes only. That little disclaimer that kept her from getting charged for fraud by people who decided they didn’t like what she had to say or thought that she wasn’t a real medium. She preferred to keep the police out of her life, if she could.

“Oh.” Sharon nodded, looking disappointed.

“Let’s join hands,” Reg suggested. She sat down in her seat at the end of the table and held out a hand to each of the women sitting next to her. The girls quieted immediately, and everybody put down their drinks for the moment and grasped each other’s hands.

Reg rolled her eyes upward and listened to the voices, waiting for one of them to come to the forefront.

“We reach out to the spirit world,” she announced, “on behalf of this group of friends. Do any of the spirits have messages to be passed on?”

There were plenty of voices. A lot of them fought and bickered with each other like old married couples, they had been with her for so long.

“Perhaps someone here has recently lost a loved one?” Reg suggested. “Or maybe someone looking for love?”

There was a ripple of laughter around the circle, which seemed to be directed at April. Reg felt a surge in the energy level, and watched a rosy aura develop around April. A seeker. Reg could find one in most groups. The one person who was most likely to believe what they saw and heard. Not a dupe, exactly, but the one who really wanted to receive a message.

“April,” Reg intoned. She listened to the voices whispering around her. She closed her eyes most of the way but could still see the faux candles flickering in their jars around the room. Little twinkle lights, because it was too dangerous for her to have real candles in the house without an experienced firecaster around to make sure that Reg didn’t accidentally burn the whole house down around her. That would not impress Sarah. “April has come looking for love.”

I see, a voice whispered in her ear, let me tell you what I see.

“Do you have a message for April?” Reg asked, wanting to make sure that she didn’t give a message to the wrong person. It would be just like some impatient spirit to speak up and pass along a message intended for someone else. They needed a bit of managing.

Yes. A message for April, the spirit insisted.

“What message do you have?”

A stranger he is, but soon they will meet.

Reg spoke the words in her own voice and gave herself over to the spirit to give the rest of the message.

Handsome but dangerous. The man in black. He will come soon.

Handsome but dangerous. Reg gave a little shiver at the words, thinking of Corvin. She couldn’t think of who fit the description better. The warlock was one of the most attractive men Reg had ever seen. Maybe the most handsome she had ever met in person. And his magical charms made him even more desirable. And for an unsuspecting woman who didn’t know that he could steal magical gifts, he was very dangerous. He was very clever at getting his own way. Reg could not recall the morning she had woken up to silence in her head without a shudder and a sense of deep loneliness and loss. He had given her powers back to her, something that was never, ever done, but the circumstances had been unusual.

Reg never wanted to feel that emptiness again.

And she never wanted anyone else to experience it either.

“Be careful,” she warned April, opening her eyes and being sure to meet the other woman’s gaze. “Please beware.”

April nodded. But her eyes were shining with excitement. She wouldn’t be careful. She would be looking for this handsome stranger wherever she went now, eager to meet him and fulfill the prophecy.

Reg opened her mouth to inquire whether there were more messages for the group or whether there were other questions that the women hoped to have answered.

But something strange was happening in the living room. Reg blinked her eyes a few times and tried to focus on the dancing lights that had suddenly materialized. They swirled around like fireflies, or like moths around a light, but Reg couldn’t tell where the light originated.

The women started to ask questions. Most just wanted to know what Reg had seen, why she was so distracted. Or wondering whether it was some kind of show she was putting on. But April gasped, her eyes focused on the swirling lights.

“What is that? How are you doing that?”

“It’s not me,” Reg told her.

They both watched the space, mesmerized.