The Witches of Merribay (The Seaforth Chronicles) by B.J. Smash Read Free Book Online Page B

only question he answered , and it was only a partial answer.
    “Izadora and Magella —what a complicated question. I will tell you what I know. Yes, why not?  After all, you deserve to know now, don't you?” He wheeled on, avoiding every rut and sinkhole of the path, until we reached the cherry tree lane and I took over for appearance’s sake. Although I knew Mrs. Pumbleton wouldn't be in the garden, we couldn't take the chance of her thinking I was slacking on the job.
    “I have known of Izadora and Magella my whole life . It is our job, the McCallisters, to know of them. You see, Izadora is the guardian of those woods. All ten thousand acres. I own them—well, on paper, anyways—but she has guarded them for quite some time.”
    Cherry blossoms continued to fall and sweep by my face with the ever -present scent of roses. The ground was covered with blossoms, and yet the trees never seemed to go bare.
    “And …?” I urged him to continue.
    “And she has been there for a long , long time.”
    “And who does she guard the forest from?” I asked.
    “The woods can be dangerous, that's all.”
    “I don't understand.”
    “That's not important right now. Anyway, the government claims to own the land, and call it a wildlife preservation. But only for appearance’s sake—only to the public eye. My father and I are the ones who own the bloody mess. The government tells people they own it, only to keep people from coming here. It's off limits. Off limits to the rest of the world. And there are good reasons why no one should wander into those woods. Except of course for you, Miss Seaforth. You can go in,” he said as though I were privileged.
    We'd arrived at the house , and Ian shushed me. “No further questions for now. I don't want Mrs. Pumbleton to hear.”
    “One more question . Who is Drumm?”
    “A damn good kid.” That's the only answer I received.
    I would find out about Drumm on my own. There appeared to be no sense in asking Ian too many questions. Figuring out who he was and why he lived in the forest and how he had healed my leg may not be an easy task, but I would do it.
    We ate finger sandwiches and scones with our tea, in the glorious sunroom. I could barely eat, which Mrs. Pumbleton disapproved of. Then Ian dismissed me.
    “See you on Monday , Miss Seaforth. And be the bearer of good news."

Chapter Seven
     
    Aunt Cora didn't like confrontation, and she didn't deal with it well. “Peace and don't bother me” was her motto. When Zinnia and Aunt Cora arrived back at the house, all had been forgotten about the morning-time argument between Zinnia and me. Zinnia may not have forgotten, given that she never forgot anything and held a grudge for weeks. She stuck her nose up in the air and ignored me. However, Aunt Cora blew it off.
    She was in a splendid mood for the fact that her doctor's appointment had gone perfectly . There had been no waiting, and Aunt Cora disliked waiting. The pain in her back had just been a sore muscle, nothing two Advil couldn't handle. The sore toe had been caused from wearing running shoes for too long, and the sniffles meant that it was time to take allergy medication.
    After going over all of this with us, like it was the greatest news ever, she finally settled down and poured herself a glass of red wine . The recorder that she carried around with her to document any illnesses sat on the kitchen counter. I knew she used it often.
    We had been in the grocery store last week . We had just walked through the door, and she pulled out germ-killer cloths to wipe the handles of our baskets. I realize that many people do that; it's a good thing. No one wants to get sickly germs on them. However, Aunt Cora takes it to the next level. She applies plastic gloves.
    We walked around , filling our baskets with steak and chicken, each going into two plastic bags of their own. When shopping for can goods, we had to take the second or third can on the shelf because the first one