Part 37 (1/2)
”How about this place?” Jade said.
She had stopped in front of one of the area restaurants that offered back terrace seating, with heat.
”Looks like we can find a quiet corner,” Lucian said.
”Ah, sure,” Finn said. He paused again, though, before following the other two in.
Darren was still standing at the corner, staring. He hadn't moved. And once again, he didn't seem to notice when Finn raised a hand, and waved.
”Quite frankly, I don't even begin to know what I'm worried about,” Morwenna told Megan. ”I mean, were anything bad to happen, it should be at midnight, and you and Finn will be playing at midnight, so everything should be just fine. It worries me, however, that I can't be there, but you know that it's incredibly major to us, and I am the head of my coven, and actually, there will be dozens of Wiccans-maybe hundreds!-from across the country taking part in our rites, and I am actually part of the major ceremony here, so... still, I wish I could be there.”
”Morwenna,” Megan said firmly. ”You're right. Finn and I will both be playing at the hotel at midnight. We're not off until one, so there's no way we can be in any danger.”
Megan wished she had never spoken about her strange dream with her cousin. Morwenna had taken it far too seriously.
”Right,” Morwenna said. ”Hm.” She kept staring at Megan. ”Still...”
”Still what?”
Morwenna shook her head. ”I don't know. It's still all been just too strange. I can't forget what I felt when I did your reading the first day you and Finn were here. And Sara... she said the vibes coming off Finn were deadly.”
”I thought you liked Finn.”
”I do. He's gorgeous. s.e.xy. Talented. He seems to really love you.”
”Then...?” Megan said.
”He's dangerous.”
”To me. That's what you keep saying.”
”You pointed out to me that he went through a wild time in high school, and that he's taken all kinds of martial arts. Put together a streak of violence with some real training, and you've got a dangerous man. But it's not... any of that.” ”Then what is it?”
Morwenna hesitated. ”A streak of evil.”
”You think Finn has a streak of evil?”
Morwenna sighed. ”I don't want to think that. And maybe... maybe it's not really Finn with the streak of evil.”
They were in the back of Morwenna's shop. Joseph, Sara, Jamie, and another girl, Cindy, were manning the shop, and despite the insanity going on in the main part of the store-people suddenly determined that they had to have a ”real” witch's cape for Halloween night-Morwenna didn't seem in the least dismayed that she was taking time out.
”What on earth are you talking about?” Megan demanded.
”I don't know myself. Something creepy. Maybe not believable. But then again, we all know that there's good and evil. So, if we believe in magic at all-”
”Morwenna, make sense.”
”Okay, Miss Catholic,” Morwenna said. ”You believe in G.o.d, right?”
”Yes.”
”Then you must believe in the devil.”
”Morwenna, I'm one of those people who happens to like church. The music, the words, the sense of healing. I don't believe in every bit of doctrine, I think that many things taught are parables, and like many people believe, I think that, if there is a h.e.l.l, it's just the absence of G.o.d, or goodness, or peace, or whatever.”
Megan spoke with a.s.surance, fully aware that she was lying. She had seen the creature in the unhallowed graveyard, and she had seen it again, in her dreams. By day, all of it seemed silly. But when the darkness came...
”Finn has been wonderful,” she said firmly. ”Last night... I was nearly mugged in the parking lot, and he was there. He didn't insist on my coming back to Huntington House, he just followed me back to Martha's. And he was the one who insisted on leaving.”
Morwenna frowned. ”You were nearly mugged?”
”In the parking lot.”
”Did Finn catch the guy?”
”No... he disappeared.”
”Disappeared? Like-into thin air?”
”Almost. They fought... and the guy was gone.”
”You saw him? You could describe him? If so, you should call the police right away. They're afraid that the guy who murdered that poor girl in Boston might be a serial killer. One of those lunatics who kills by the full moon. Which is tomorrow night, you know.
Were you able to describe the guy?”
Megan shook her head, feeling more uncertain all the time. ”No, I didn't get to see him.”
”Could Finn describe him?””I doubt it. The fog was really heavy.”
Morwenna stared at her a long time.
”What?” Megan insisted.
”Are you sure someone was out there-other than Finn?”
Megan fought to keep from trembling. No, she wasn't sure! She'd had her own fears the night before. But there had to have been. She couldn't believe that Finn...
”Why would Finn need to mug me in the parking lot?”
”Maybe he was afraid that you were really through with him, that you would refuse to talk with him alone, be with him alone. Once he pretended to save you... well, you'd have to trust in him, right?”
”Morwenna, I am getting the most crossed vibes from you in history. You like Finn. You and Joseph are friendly with him, even when I'm not around. But you're suggesting that he's immorally devious, and might even have stopped by Boston on his way to reach me in Maine just to take a night out and commit a horrible murder!”
Morwenna looked distressed. ”That's just the point-I'm receiving the most mixed vibes myself-from Finn.”
”Morwenna, you're my cousin, and I love you. But I love Finn, too. So if you want to cast around unfounded suspicions, don't do it with me!”
”All right, all right, sorry... it's just that-”