The Graves of Saints by Christopher Golden Read Free Book Online

knew what Cat needed, and she would open her heart and her body to provide that solace.
    That plan, however, did not allow for unexpected visitors.
    It was strange, getting a knock on the door. Most of the employees had gone home by now, and the earthwitches who had arrived from out of town for the equinox had all pursued their own plans for
the evening. Several of them, those Cat and Tori knew best, had originally been invited to stay here at the orchard house, but as if by mutual agreement – and perhaps that was the case
– they had all retreated to hotels upon learning of Keomany’s death, giving their hosts time to mourn.
    Tori cocked her head, trying to see through the tempered glass panels in the front door. She flicked on the outside light, turned the lock, and pulled the door open.
    ‘Ed? What’s wrong?’
    The orchard foreman stood on the front steps, breathing hard and looking at her with wide eyes. Ed Rushton had been with them for three years, overseeing all of the harvesting at Summerfields.
Fifty-one years old, tall and powerfully built, he always wore a baseball cap to protect his balding pate from the sun. Night had fallen, and now he clutched his cap tightly in both hands.
    ‘Best you just see for yourself,’ he said, nodding, and he started down the steps. The ATV he used to motor around the orchard sat on the dirt road, fifty feet from the front
door.
    Tori moved out onto the stoop. A strong breeze blew past her, bringing the rich smells of earth and plants and apples.
    ‘Ed?’
    He shot her a look that spoke of fear and wonder in equal measure. ‘Tori, please. I’ve seen a lot of things since coming to work here, and I can’t complain. You and Cat gave me
the rundown before I started. Elemental magic, naked witchy rituals, loving the earth . . . to be honest, I like it. And not just the naked part. I don’t understand witchcraft –
earthcraft, or whatever – but I know you’re good people and that there’s only love in what you do. But this is . . . Hell, I don’t know what.’
    ‘
What
is going on?’
    Despite his farmer’s tan, the foreman looked pale.
    ‘You’ve gotta just come with me,’ he said. ‘If I try to explain, it’ll sound crazy or stupid or both.’
    ‘All right.’ She glanced back into the house, thought of Cat in the shower, and then pulled the door shut behind her. Whatever this was, she’d be back soon. And she had her
cell phone; Cat would call or text her if she was worried.
    Ed climbed onto the ATV and Tori got on behind him, holding tightly to him as she straddled the machine. Growing up, she’d always ridden like this on the back of her brother Johnny’s
dirtbike, and the memory rose up and lingered in her head as Ed drove her down the road and turned up into the orchard. Johnny had died when she was fifteen, and memories of him were always
bittersweet. She loved her life, loved Cat and what they’d built here at Summerfields, but she’d have given almost anything to have another day with Johnny. Unfortunately, there were
some things even magic could not do.
    The ATV jounced through a pothole in the path leading up into the orchard. They passed pumpkin beds and entered the thick of the orchard, with rows of apple trees stretching across the hill for
acres in either direction.
    When she realized where Ed must be taking her, she clutched him even tighter.
    ‘What the hell
is
this?’ she called over the guttural growl of the ATV’s motor.
    He turned his head and raised his voice to be heard. ‘You’re going to have to tell me.’
    Then they were pulling into the clearing where they had said their goodbyes to Keomany that morning, and where they would be conducting their equinox ceremony. In the center of the clearing
stood the new tree that Keomany had nurtured from seed to maturity in moments. It was the most robust tree in the orchard, now, with the finest apples.
    Something else had grown in the clearing.
    Ed killed the ATV’s engine,