Kitabı oxu: «Raintree: Oracle»

Chapter 1

One year later

Ireland. Echo had always wanted to visit, it was on her short bucket list, and now here she was. This trip was hardly a vacation, though. She was on a mission. She needed help, the kind of help her cousins had tried—and failed—to give her.

The village of Cloughban was well off the beaten path. She’d gotten turned around three times trying to find her way here. The GPS on her phone seemed to think the place didn’t exist, but she had a map. An actual paper map that was so old she handled it carefully so as not to tear it along the folds. Still, she’d taken more wrong turns than she cared to admit to. She’d almost given up once, but at this point she couldn’t afford surrender.

Echo parked her rental car in a small space beside the village pub—the Drunken Stone, a name which made no sense at all—exited the vehicle with purpose and walked toward the center of town. It felt good to stretch her legs, as she tried to decide how to proceed from here.

In spite of her troubles, she was instantly charmed. She’d left behind the stifling humidity of a North Carolina autumn heat wave for a cool breeze and...this.

The village might’ve come right off a postcard. The road was narrow, barely wide enough for two small cars. There wasn’t a single building in town taller than two stories high. They were all very old, that was evident in the weathered stone-and-brick walls. The buildings were dull grays and browns, but the doors had been painted bright colors—red, purple, blue and green—and there were flowers everywhere. In window boxes and large tubs along the sidewalk. Hanging near shop entrances, stems loaded with blooms flowing from earthenware pots to the ground. She slowed her step, momentarily caught up in the simple beauty of the place.

The windows of the shops along the main road were all enticing, their offerings tempting. Candy, colorful scarves, hats and jackets, cheeses and wines. Ice cream and coffee. If she stayed here for a while, if she found what she was looking for, that might become her favorite establishment.

The sun was shining, but thanks to an increasingly stiff breeze it was cooler than Echo had expected. She hugged her arms to herself, wishing she’d grabbed her lightweight jacket out of her duffel bag. She didn’t want to go back to the car to get it. The walk back would hardly be a long one, but if all went well she might be here for a while, and she needed to be properly equipped for the weather. This trip was not much more than a whim, and in a fit of frustration she’d just thrown a few clothes into her red duffel without giving much thought to the weather. She stopped in front of a boutique with her eye on a dark blue sweater in the window.

How did a store like this survive in a town so small? She supposed the locals had to have a place to shop other than the next town over, but still, through the window the boutique looked to be stuffed to the gills with really nice, upscale merchandise.

Echo stepped into the shop, which was smaller than she’d thought it would be as she’d peeked through the window. Small, but crammed with shelves and racks of colorful clothing. And hats! There was a very interesting collection of hats on a rack at the back of the store. The clerk behind the counter, a middle-aged woman with reddish-blond hair and an easy, wide smile, said, “Hello. Can I help you?” Her accent was lovely, lilting and almost musical. Echo realized she was the one with the accent here.

“I saw a beautiful blue sweater in the window.”

The woman waved her hand dismissively as she stepped around the counter. “Ah, you don’t want that sweater. It’s far too expensive and the color is all wrong for you. It’s too dark. You’ll look best in pastels or jewel tones. Definitely jewel tones.” She crossed the small space between the counter and the rack near where Echo stood and grabbed a green sweater. “This one will suit you much better.” She lifted the price tag. “And it’s on sale. What luck.”

The green was a better color for her, she supposed, and who could pass up a sale? Half price. It was meant to be. Echo bought the sweater, which was folded neatly and with great care before being placed in a brown paper bag. Already she was eyeing a raincoat and a matching hat, but she supposed she should wait and see how long she’d be here before she made any more investment.

The cashier cleared her throat and asked, her tone a bit too carefree, “I don’t believe we’ve met. Are you new to Cloughban? Are you visiting a relative or a friend?”

“Just visiting,” Echo said simply as she counted out the euros.

“My name is Brigid,” the saleslady said. “I hope you’ll come back while you’re here and look around some more. Do you expect to be here for a while or will yours be a short visit?”

“I don’t know yet,” Echo said honestly.

“Well, do come again.”

“Thank you, Brigid. I’m Echo Raintree, by the way. It’s very nice to meet you.” She didn’t have any idea how long she’d be here, or if she’d need more clothes, but it was a good sign that she’d made a friend right off the bat. She offered her hand for a handshake. Was that the protocol here? It seemed like the right thing to do, and since Brigid took the offered hand for a shake, she figured she wasn’t too out of line.

The handshake didn’t last long. It was, in fact, oddly brief. Brigid’s smile faded.

Echo left the pleasantries behind and got down to business. “Maybe you can help me. I’m looking for a man named Ryder Duncan. Do you by any chance know where I might find him?” Cloughban was a small enough town. Maybe it was one of those places where everyone knew everyone else.

The once-friendly woman’s smile faded; the change in her mood was instantaneous and complete. “No, sorry. I can’t help you.” Brigid’s speech was clipped, the crisp words passing through pursed lips. Gone was the wide smile. Her eyes narrowed. “You’d best be on your way. I’m about to close for lunch.”

Echo was ushered from the store, all but thrown out as if she were a bum and Brigid a brawny bouncer. In seconds she found herself on the sidewalk, shopping bag in hand and her head spinning from the rejection. All she’d done was mention Ryder Duncan’s name!

Duncan was, if her research was correct, a powerful and rare teacher. A professor of magic. A wizard, a sorcerer, a shaman. He was a stray, unaffiliated with the Raintree or the Rainsara or the now-defunct Ansara clan. It wasn’t as if you could use Google to search his name and come up with “wizard” but if you knew where to look, and she did, a small amount of information did exist. Not enough to paint an accurate picture, but enough for her to know that she had to at least try to find him. His last known place of residence was here in Cloughban. White Stone.

Being keeper of the Sanctuary had put her in control of a vast number of proprietary computer records. After she’d announced her resignation, she’d started her research.

In the past year, her cousins had tried to help her control her abilities so she could live a somewhat normal life. With books, charmed amulets and a number of meditation techniques, they had tried. A couple of times she’d actually thought it was working, but the results eventually faded away. Maybe they were too close to her. Maybe she needed to work with someone who was not family.

She hoped.

Echo stopped on the sidewalk and pulled her new sweater from the brown bag. Brigid had been nice enough to cut off all the tags, so all she had to do was pull it on and toss the bag in a nearby trash bin. That done, she glanced around again. Either everyone in this village took lunch at the same time, or there was an impressively fast phone tree and she was being shunned. Closed for Lunch signs were posted on doors and windows. As she walked around the small town square she heard locks being thrown, one after another. Why would an ice cream shop close for lunch? She couldn’t be the only person who occasionally opted for an ice cream sundae.

Just as alarming, where were the pedestrians who’d been on the square when she’d walked into the clothing shop? They were all gone. All.

Frustrated, she turned about, around and around, looking for a sign of life. Any sign. She saw no one. She could almost swear a gray pall had fallen over the entire town in a matter of seconds. Even the once-bright colors seemed dimmer, though she knew that was impossible. The square no longer resembled the picture on an inviting postcard. Instead, it looked like a place wide-eyed pale children with axes and an appetite for brains might live. Great, just what she needed. She turned toward the rental car, trying to decide what to do. If the very mention of Duncan’s name caused this kind of reaction...

No. It was coincidence. Nothing more. With the sale done there was no more reason for the clerk to be friendly. It was lunchtime. Maybe Brigid was hungry. Maybe everyone was hungry! The weather had simply taken a turn. Everything that had happened in the past few minutes was explainable. She’d just have to wait out lunchtime and ask again. Someone else, this time. Someone not so sharp.

She’d almost reached the car when the first drop fell.

If you could call it a drop. Soft Irish rain, more mist than true rain, was cool on her face. It felt good, she had to admit, though she had no desire to be soaked to the skin. Not in this cool weather. She should’ve bought the raincoat instead of the sweater.

Echo’s stomach growled. With the time difference she didn’t know what meal her body was asking for, but it was definitely time to eat. Given the way the town square had suddenly become deserted, it would be a waste of time to head back that way. Instead of getting behind the wheel of the rental car she turned left and ducked into the pub with the weird name. The stone building, which didn’t have a single first-story window, wasn’t exactly what she’d call inviting, but surely the pub served food of some kind. At this point anything would do. Maybe her head would clear once she’d had something to eat.

The Drunken Stone was dimly lit, all dark wood and dark leather and beer advertisements. One table in the far corner was occupied by three older, gray-haired men. Was Ryder Duncan sitting there? Not that any one of them looked like a powerful wizard. She didn’t look much like a prophet, so what did appearances mean? Nothing, really.

While she had found mention of Duncan in the Raintree records, there weren’t many details. There definitely hadn’t been a photo. All she really knew was that he was a teacher, and he lived in—or at least had once lived in—Cloughban.

One of the men actually looked like a garden gnome come to life, with a squished face and a tremendous nose, but he was a bit taller than any gnome she’d ever seen—just a bit—and he didn’t wear a pointed hat. The other two were thinnish and looked enough alike to be brothers, or maybe cousins. The similarity was in the nose and the slant of the eyes.

The man behind the bar was not older, gray-haired or gnomelike. He was good-looking, tall and lean with wide shoulders in a snug gray Henley. She’d guess he was in his mid-thirties, just a few years older than she. He had a nice head of thick, dark hair that hung just a little too long. There was a bit of wave in that hair that looked as if it was begging for a woman’s fingers to straighten a few misbehaving strands. Adding to the mystery was a leather cord just barely peeking out from the collar of his shirt, and a leather cuff on his right wrist.

He was, in fact, quite nice to look at. Just what she needed.

No, just what she didn’t need! She had the worst tastes in men. Her romantic history was more tragedy than comedy, and in the past year she had not even dared to get involved with a man. After a lifetime of dealing with her own so-called gift, when it came to men she much preferred those who were unencumbered by magic. She didn’t even want them to believe that true magic existed. It would be easier that way. But what if she allowed herself to hook up with a serious boyfriend and had an episode in front of him? How would she explain it away?

“Can I help you?” the too-good-looking barkeep asked.

Considering the reception she’d gotten when she’d initially asked about Duncan, she decided not to go there just yet. She’d passed a lot of nothing on her way to Cloughban. If the bartender was no friendlier than Brigid, it would take her at least an hour to find her way to the next small town. And that was if she didn’t get turned around again.

“I’m starving. What do you recommend?”

“I recommend a very nice café in Killarney,” he said, his Irish accent not as pronounced as Brigid’s had been. And then he continued. “Are you lost, then?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“You’re American, and we are far off the beaten path. You won’t see a tour bus on the streets of Cloughban.”

No tour bus would be able to make it down the narrow, winding road she’d taken to get here, but that was beside the point.

She stepped to the bar and took a stool. No matter what, she was not going all the way to Killarney for lunch! This was a public place—a pub—and she was hungry. If the bartender tried to send her away, she’d plant her feet and insist on being served.

Well, it was never a good idea to piss off the people who were going to handle your food, but still...

“I’m looking for someone, but first I really want something to eat. A sandwich should be safe enough. Please,” she added as sweetly as she could manage.

He smiled at her, but the smile did not touch his dark eyes. Not Irish eyes, she knew in an instant. Not entirely. There was a bit of Romany in those eyes. Tinker, to those less kind. She shook off the empathic abilities that had been trying to come to the surface in the past several years. Dammit, she didn’t want them.

“Safe enough, I suppose,” the hunk and a half said in a voice of surrender. He didn’t try again to send her to Killarney. “Beer?”

“Tea,” she said. “Sugar, no milk.” She needed to be completely clearheaded for what was coming, judging by what she’d encountered so far.

* * *

Rye hadn’t known who the woman was, not when she’d first walked through the door, but it hadn’t taken long for his instincts to kick in and alert him to the trouble she was bringing his way. His instinctive reaction had been to suggest that she lunch far from his humble establishment. For all the good that was going to do. She was a stubborn one; he saw that right off.

She’d been well into the room before he’d realized more precisely who she was. What she was. Up close the eyes gave her away. Her brilliant green eyes and the voice that whispered in his head. Raintree princess.

Too bad. She was a pretty girl, petite and fair, with soft, pale blond hair cut to hang to her jawline. He didn’t normally care for short hair on a woman, but he had to admit, the neck revealed was nicely tempting. Long and pale and flawless. She had amazing eyes, a very nice ass and breasts high and firm and just the right size for his hand.

He’d feed her, but then she had to go. Killarney was likely not far enough away.

Doyle Mullen was working in the kitchen today, as he did six days a week. He cooked, swept and manned the bar when Rye had to step away for a few minutes. His was not a particularly demanding job, but it was one that had to be done. The pub menu was limited. The single laminated page offered ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, vegetable soup and brown bread. There was also fish and chips, but he could not in good conscience recommend them to anyone. Not even her.

After delivering the order to Doyle, Rye returned to the bar and made the tea himself. It gave him the opportunity to turn his back on the Raintree woman for a few minutes. Dammit, he could still feel her eyes on him.

She hadn’t said so, not yet, but she was here for him. He felt it as surely as he would feel rain on his face if he were to step outside. The question was, why? What did she want?

Even without the talismans he wore, Rye was not the most powerful psychic in the world, not by a long shot. He had learned as much or more as he’d been born with, learned at the knee of his Romany mother. Sometimes knowledge slammed into him and he knew it was truth. Other truths were muddy, or hidden from him entirely. He’d often thought it would be better to see nothing at all than to be given only the occasional glimpse. It would ease his frustration considerably.

He had other gifts, gifts he kept dampened, but his psychic ability had never been his strength. If he were honest, he’d admit it was often more annoying than helpful.

He delivered the Raintree woman’s tea, then went into the kitchen to check on her meal. It was not quite ready, so he waited there until it was. Doyle tried to make conversation but Rye was in no mood to participate. Eventually the cook went silent. No one else came into the pub; he knew without watching the door. No magic was involved in that knowledge. A bell sounded when the front door opened. Usually a shopkeeper or two stopped in for a bowl of stew or a sandwich about this time of day, but so far all was quiet. Because she was here.

They knew. Someone among them had realized who she was and the word had spread like wildfire. He wondered if the pretty girl realized that her family name had the power to strike fear into the hearts of others. They would hide from her if they could. If she wasn’t careful, someone might do more than hide.