The Awakening

She looked at him and nodded slowly. "Happy hunting," she told him, and turned her attention back to the manuscript before her.



Finn managed to find a space to park on the side of the common.



"Where are we going?" Megan asked him. "Do you know where your friends are?"



He shrugged. "Morwenna's," he said.



Megan didn't particularly want to go back to Morwenna's shop.



"What makes you think that they're there?"



He shrugged. "I know they were going to go there. So we'll give it a try." He frowned. "What's the matter?"



"Nothing."



She didn't intend to tell him that Morwenna seemed convinced he was the cause of all ills. She reminded herself that she was going to be a fighter. She wasn't going to lose her husband—or her mind.



"Let's go to Morwenna's."



The shop was crazier than ever. Jamie, though, immediately escorted them in, then resumed his post as door guard.



There were so many people in the shop that neither Morwenna, Joseph, Sara, or the other two young people they had working that day could do more than glance up at them. Oddly enough, Finn, however, seemed to know exactly where he was going. He headed toward the rear of the front area, near a rack with capes and cloaks. Of course, it wasn't difficult to see Lucian DeVeau. He was, if anything, taller than Finn. Very dark, and good-looking. He drew attention immediately. He greeted Finn as he saw him weaving his way through the crowd, and offered a quick smile as Finn brought Megan forward.



"Megan, great to see you again," he told her.



"And you, of course. You and your wife have done incredible things for us, with your reviews," Megan said.



"You'll have to tell Jade that; I don't write the reviews," Lucian said. "But I'm glad." He had an armful of the little herb packets that were sold at the store. Each offered instructions such as, "Place in the pocket for wealth," or "Burn for True Love," or "Protection from Evil." They seemed rather silly, but then, Megan realized that she did cross herself with holy water every time she went into church.



"Let me just pay for these; we'll get out of the shop and talk," Lucian said.



She nodded.



"We'll be outside," Finn said.



He started to take Megan's hand, but a heavyset woman jostled between them and Megan waved him on out, indicating that she was following. She had almost maneuvered her way to the door when cool fingers landed on her arm.



She turned around. Morwenna was staring at her. Her eyes looked wild.



"Who the hell is that?" she demanded.



Megan frowned. She hadn't realized that Morwenna had noted them talking to Lucian.



"A friend from New Orleans," she said cautiously. "Why?"



Morwenna shook her head strenuously. "He's evil. Really evil."



"Morwenna!" she protested. Then she laughed, looking back. "Evil? He's just wicked good-looking, as they say around here. Sure he hasn't jangled your chains a little?"



"I'm married."



"So am I. And I can still tell you, he's damned good-looking. A bit exotic. Seductive, don't you agree?"



"Don't laugh at me. I mean it—he's evil. I can tell. Megan, you've got to be careful. I really feel that you're in danger now. Why is this guy here? I'll bet Finn brought him up."



"He and his wife are reviewers—"



"Oh, that's bullshit!"



"Morwenna," Megan said patiently, pulling her arm free. "He's a friend!"



She forced her way the rest of the distance to the front door, aware that she had somewhat rudely jostled a number of customers. She didn't care. She was already hating the little doubts that were trickling into her bloodstream again.



Finn waited for her just outside.



"It's a zoo in there, huh?"



"It's almost a zoo out here, too," she said. The streets were crowded. Little Salem was beginning to look like New York—highly decorated—at rush hour.



Before Finn could reply, Lucian came down the steps from the entry. She wondered if he had decided to forego his purchases, thinking that he couldn't possibly have gotten through the line at the cash register so quickly. But he was carrying a bag with the shop's insignia, so he had managed to make his purchases.



Maybe Sara, at the cash register, had thought that he was evil as well, and somehow managed to add up his items without causing a stampede among the other customers.



"It is crazy out here," Lucian said.



"There must be somewhere to go that's quiet, where we can talk," Finn said.



"Actually, Finn, if you don't mind, would you go and get Jade? She's still at the bookshop. I'd like a few words with Megan. Meet us at…" He paused, looking down the street toward the mall. "The second coffee shop."



"We'll never get in," Megan warned.



Lucian smiled. "Sure we will."



Finn looked hesitant for a moment, as if he were unsure as to what he should do. Then he squared his shoulders. "Look out for my wife, huh?" he said lightly. "I'd die for her… or kill for her, for that matter."



He turned and started down the street.



Lucian looked after him for a long moment. "He really loves you."



She didn't know what to respond; he really was a total stranger. She felt something odd around him as well, though not a terrible premonition of any kind of evil, as Morwenna claimed to sense.



She just felt… odd. And wary, of course, but that could certainly be said to be natural.



"Shall we?"



They started down the street.



"So… things have been odd here?"



"Things… yes."



"It started off with the nightmare?"



Megan paused, and then shrugged. Apparently, he knew everything. "The nightmare… the feeling that Finn was trying to kill me. Yes, all the odd things." She glanced at him. "What I guess you don't know is the latest. There's an old fellow here who tells ghost stories, and… well, I've had a chance to talk with him a few times. He warned me about this demon. Bac-Dal. And he keeps telling me that Bac-Dal wants me. Crazy." She waved a hand in the air. "But last night, he was apparently struck by a hit and run driver.



He's in the hospital in critical condition."



"Someone warning you… hm." They had reached the coffee shop. He opened the door for her. The place was packed. Lucian DeVeau went to the harried host. He pointed to a table in the back, which was occupied. It appeared that they had just been served. One of the women at the table looked up and noted them at the host's stand. She smiled vaguely, then nervously looked back at her cup.



Lucian stepped back by Megan.



"We'll have a table in just a minute."



She arched a brow, but to her surprise, the group drank their hot coffees, teas, or cocoas with remarkable speed.



"Mr. DeVeau?" the host said politely.



There had certainly been others in the line ahead of them, but no one seemed to notice that they were being seated out of line. In fact, people smiled at them as they walked by to take a seat at the table for five.



"That was rather remarkable," Megan commented.



He shrugged. "Mind over matter," he said lightly. "What will you have?"



"Straight coffee. It's going to be a long night."



He gave their order to the waitress who seemed to materialize at their table, then leaned forward. "So this old man has been warning you about Bac-Dal?"



Megan actually tried to hesitate. It was very strange. He didn't seem evil at all to her. Nor did he seem like a stranger, which meant she should be all the more wary. It didn't work. She immediately found herself saying tilings that she shouldn't have.



"Finn doesn't even know this, but… I went to meet him one morning and he told me the tale about Bac-Dal, and this man named Cabal Thorne who had come here long ago. Apparently the townspeople



—with help maybe from some other religious group—managed to kill Thorne. They weren't going to have him arrested, not after the witch debacle. So they killed him. And then… later, one night when after we played… he was there again. This morning, when I heard what happened to him, I was… wow, strange, I was overcome by this terrible guilt. As if he were in the hospital because of me. Because he's tried so hard to warn me."



Lucian nodded. The coffee arrived. He pleasantly thanked the waitress, but didn't speak again until she was gone.



"You don't believe it was an accident that landed Andy in the hospital."



She stared at him. "No."



"And you and Finn went to the hospital, and they let you see him?"



Megan smiled at that. "I ran into my aunt—Martha, with whom I'm staying right now. She's been in Salem forever, knew the nurse on duty, and managed to get us in."



"And what happened then?"



Unease filled her. The way that he was looking at her… he knew. More than Finn had known, that something had indeed happened.



"He's supposed to be in a deep coma. But I could swear that he came to and… and talked."



"Exactly what happened?"



"He told me again that Bac-Dal wanted me. And it was very strange, because he wasn't really looking at me, it was more as if he were looking through me… and Finn was looking in at us through the glass windows all the time—oh, jeez!" she broke off with a gasp, amazed and dismayed at what she had just said.



He smiled slowly, a dangerous smile. "It's all right. You two are in trouble here. And you do need help."



"My husband isn't… Finn isn't cruel, or a killer, or evil," she said. Great She was explaining all this to a man she didn't know. A man Morwenna had termed "evil" himself. "Of course, neither of us believes in demons or tilings that go bump in the night," she tried to add lightly. "It's all the power of suggestion," she went on quickly.