Page 56 of Of Potions and Honey
“…what?”
“The water!” Mira stared at him, wide-eyed, wondering how she had notbloodyseen this before. “I think I know what’s going on.”
Kayden pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mira, can we back up here for a moment? What does the water have to do with Yoni?”
“It doesn’t- I mean, it might? She was there, we both saw it at the spring.”
Mira got up, a sudden urge compelling her to pace around her kitchen. Poppy gave an upset huff at losing her pillow and rested her head on Mira’s chair.
“When we went walking together, we saw that the water level in the spring was low. And you? Remember when we met those tourists, not long after I got here? How they went to the spring so late? I don’t think they were tourists at all.” Mira gestured at the sink. “The water is messed up here, too. And I think it’s Golden River’s fault.”
Kayden looked like he had no appreciation at all for her logic, which was frankly rude. It made so much sense inside her head. “The tourists? Why were they not tourists? And why is this supposedly Golden River’s fault?”
“Because it’s the only thing that makes any sense.” Mira raked a hand through her hair. Her mother’s voice echoed in her head.They say it’s good for your health.Well, so was the spring water, wasn’t it. “So last time I visited home, I saw that they were selling water in bottles.”
Kayden nodded slowly. “Yes. And?”
“And when I went to the store here in town a little later – oh, don’t look at me like that! I needed bottles, and they haveverycheap bottles. Doesn’t matter. I saw those supposed tourists come out of the manager’s office. It didn’t sound like they were customers, more like employees, but I didn’t think too much about it. I did see them again later though, when Yoni and I…” Mira blew out a breath. “We saw them leave the spring. It sounded like they were carrying jars around. Glass in a bag. I’m almost certain they took water samples from the spring that day. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed all those deliveries they’ve been getting to the warehouse, which is very much too large to supply a store this small. I thought maybe it was for the region as a whole, but now I’m not so sure anymore.”
As she was talking, she watched Kayden’s expression change from confusion to annoyance to baffled understanding. He fell back in his chair.
“Are you saying they’re pumping our groundwater to bottle and sell it? And that is why we’re all having trouble with our wells and pumps?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, yes.”
They looked at each other for a minute. Eventually, Kayden ran a hand across his face.
“That’s a pretty substantial accusation,” he said. “Do you have any proof at all?”
“I don’t,” Mira admitted hesitantly. “But it does make sense. I don’t know why else they’d send people to the spring, or why somany waggons would go to that warehouse when nobody here is buying enough for that to make any sense.”
“They’re shipping in empty bottles,” Kayden suggested, “and shipping out bottled water?”
“Could be.”
“Or it could all be perfectly legitimate business, and our water problems have nothing to do with that.”
“Where else would they be coming from, though?”
He didn’t have a response to that.
“I can write home,” Mira said. “Ask someone to send me that water. I don’t think they’re selling it here, I’ve never seen it. And it makes sense, I don’t think people would take very kindly to that, never mind the water rights situation.”
Kayden huffed out a laugh. “Yes, that would be a problem. And you think they’d just do it anyway?”
“They’re not exactly known for perfectly ethical business practices,” Mira muttered. “What’s a little bit of breaking the law on top of that?” She moved Poppy’s head to sit back down, upon which she promptly received a lap full of gently slobbering dog. “Ew. Thanks, Poppy.” She tapped on the table. “Suppose someone sends me some of their water. Could we make sure it’s from the Sweetwater Spring?”
“The spring water is pretty unique. There should be some way to verify that. Honestly, just drinking it is probably enough.”
Mira nodded. “So I’ll do that. And once we know what it is…”
She trailed off when she realised that this was pretty much it. The realisation, the moment she’d put all the pieces together, had hit her like a sack of bricks. Now though? What would they do now, once they were sure that her hunch was right?
How did one go about proving something like this to the people who mattered?
“Maybe first, we should know that this is what is happening,” Kayden said cautiously. “You can’t just go around making claims like this.”
“Right.” Mira bounced her leg, which didn’t seem to bother Poppy at all. “Right. I’ll write home. Get my hands on some of that water. It’s spring water, I know it is. And once we know that, we’ll fix this.”
