Page 24 of Solstice

Dori said, “Nah.”

Kate laughed. Alice Redmond tore her check out of the book and slapped it down on the counter. The cashier was still grinning when she dropped it into the register and handed back a receipt. Alice snatched up her bags and walked out of the store without another word.

Dori set her bottles of nail-polish remover on the counter and pulled a wad of tips from her handbag.

“What’s this about?” the woman asked, holding up a bottle.

“Someone decided my car would be nicer with a splash of blood-red nail polish.”

Kate went still, all traces of humor evaporating. “Because of the article?”

“I can only assume so.”

“Well, I’ll be...that’s not like Crescent Cove, Dori. Not at all.” She shook her head. “I wish I’d known sooner that you were into...witchy stuff.”

“Why?”

“Well, my daughter’s been poking around it. She’s got a couple of books in her room, has a little stand set up with candles and such.” She shrugged. “I’d like to talk to her about it, but I don’t have a clue, you know? And she’s at that touchy age.”

“Sixteen?”

“Almost.” She accepted Dori’s cash and started counting out change.

“Do you get a lunch break here?” Dori asked.

“Sure, half hour right at noon.”

“Why don’t you come over to the diner tomorrow? I’ll take my break at the same time, and you can pick my brain all you want.”

“Really? That would be great.” Then she smiled. “You’re just what you’ve always seemed like, aren’t you?”

“What’s that?”

“An ordinary person. And a nice one, too.” She dropped the bottles into a bag and handed it to Dori. “You have a nice night, Dori.”

“You, too, Kate.”

Sighing, Dori went outside. She took a deep breath of the crisp cold air and gazed up at the darkening sky. Solstice Night.

The timing was no accident, was it? How many times had she noticed how she never had any darkness to work through over the winter months? Well, this year, she did. And it was time to get busy doing it. It was time for her to come back home—to stop fighting and start accepting. To stop working for change and start trying to see the lesson in what was.

She walked to her car and spent the next few minutes wiping away the nail polish. It washed off more easily than she would have expected. Then she went home and began packing a picnic basket full of ritual supplies. Tonight, she would observe the solstice outside, at midnight, under the stars. No matter how cold it might get, she was determined to do this up right.

Tonight, she intended to bid her darkness farewell and welcome the return of the light, no matter what it might bring.

* * *

Midnight. Who the hell could be calling at midnight?

Jason rolled over in bed and reached blindly for the phone. Vaguely he heard the moan of the wind. Not too promising, that sound. Familiar, though. They’d already had the first killer storm of the season—just a couple of weeks ago. It was too soon for another.

Right. And he’d lived here long enough to know better. That wind might be a passing front, but he doubted it. It sounded like it meant business.

He pulled the telephone to his ear. “Yeah?”

“Jason, thank God. My son is gone. I’m afraid he’s—”

“Hold on, slow down.” He reached out and snapped on the light. “Who is this?”

---