Raintree: Oracle. Linda Winstead Jones

she disliked sharing a bathroom.

      Maybe she was like those women who’d come into the pub simply to glare at the new woman in town. Maisy was very pretty, tall and dark-haired and definitely a D-cup, so Echo didn’t see how she could see one more female in the mix as a threat, but...they were definitely not becoming friends.

      There were several shelves of books in the downstairs parlor. As she passed by, Echo thought that maybe she’d grab one of those and read awhile. Then again, maybe she’d turn on the television in her room and see if it picked up more than one or two stations.

      But, oh, a nap sounded so good. She still hadn’t adjusted to the time change.

      Echo passed on the book, deciding to check first to see if there was anything on the television. She ran up the stairs, more energetic than she should be, all things considered, and threw open the door to her room. It wasn’t locked. What did she have to safeguard?

      The first thing she noticed was that her bed had been neatly made. The next thing she saw was a manila envelope propped on her pillow. Maybe Maeve had dropped off the recipe for her scones, which Echo had praised that very morning.

      She snatched the envelope off the bed, plopped down in the faded blue wing chair by the window and removed the contents.

      Her heart nearly stopped. The single sheet in the envelope was not a recipe.

      It was a recent photograph of her parents.

      Echo had accepted a long time ago—somewhere around the age of nine—that her mother and father were useless in a crisis. They were not great parents and never had been. A child had never been in their plans. They liked to travel, to party at any opportunity. Her father’s gifts had never been very strong. He could read minds, when he worked at it. Her mother had been a stray—an independent, Duncan called them—who had the occasional bit of insight into what was to come.

      Maybe it wasn’t fair to say they were useless. They did love her. Difficult as they were, she’d never doubted that. But they had never really known what to do with a daughter who had nightmares about disasters, a daughter who woke screaming in the night. A daughter who was much more powerful than they had ever been or could ever hope to be.

      She knew the photo was recent because her mother’s haircut—shared in an email a few weeks back—was new. It looked as if they were in Paris. Yes, that was definitely Paris.

      In the photo, the eyes of both her parents had been crossed out, messily and completely, with a ballpoint pen.

      Her hands began to shake, her breath would not come. This was a blatant threat to their lives, she understood that much, but why here and why now? Who even knew she was here?

      She’d just sent postcards to her cousins insisting that all was well. Postcards they wouldn’t receive for days. Maybe weeks, considering where they’d been mailed from. Now this.

      For a few long seconds she sat there, horrifying picture grasped in her hands, heart beating so hard she could feel it pounding against her chest as if it wanted to escape. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know who to turn to. One word came to mind, as she began to recover from the shock.

       Duncan.

      * * *

      Not only was Echo not late, she was more than an hour early. And she was not dressed for work. She was dressed as she had been that afternoon as she’d wandered about town with that easy smile on her face. For a moment Rye thought she’d shown up early to demand that they begin their lessons. That would be the time to tell her that he’d changed his mind.

      No, that wasn’t why she was here. Something was wrong. Her face was oddly pale; her hands shook. He wondered if she’d had another vision—or was about to—and then she shook a manila envelope in his direction and said, “I don’t know what to do.”

      She sat in the nearest chair, her legs giving out from under her, and held the envelope up for him to take.

      Rye walked slowly toward her. He’d spent the past hour trying to decide how to tell her that he’d made a mistake and she had to go. Now. Tonight. He couldn’t afford to care about her troubles, and he sure as hell didn’t want to be her knight in shining armor. He was the last man in the world to fill those shoes.

      He grabbed the envelope and removed the single sheet inside. It was easy enough to tell that the attractive older woman in the picture was Echo’s mother. They favored quite a bit.

      “It was on my bed,” she said. “Just...sitting there. I thought it was a recipe.” She took a couple of deep, too-fast breaths. He worried she was on the verge of hyperventilating. “It’s a threat to my parents, right? My cell phone is worthless here. I dug it out of my bag instinctively, then just stared at it for a moment. I can’t call anyone, can’t send an email or...or...” Her eyes widened. “Police. Are there police here? A constable? A...an inspector?”

      “Of course, but...”

      She stood, seemingly a bit stronger now that she had a plan. He didn’t dare to tell her that the single constable in Cloughban wouldn’t know what to do, wouldn’t care, wouldn’t help at all.

      “I have to go,” she said. “That’s all there is to it. When I get to the next town over I’ll call my mom’s cell, and I’ll call Dante, too. Maybe Gideon. Definitely Gideon.” Mercy? No, Mercy was too far away to get immediately involved, though it was possible one or both of her brothers would call her. “I’m not that far from Paris, I can get there in...”

      Rye placed his hands on her shoulders. A few hours ago he would’ve been relieved to hear those words. I have to go. He’d had the same thoughts all afternoon. Yes, Echo Raintree had to go. Out of his life, away from Cloughban. Away from Cassidy. Dammit.

      “You’re not going anywhere.” Against his new plans, against his better judgment.

      “But I...”

      “I have a phone, a landline. You can use it to call whoever you need to call.”

      “Okay, thank you.” She looked up at him, eyes wide, lips full and far too tempting. “I’ll do that, but then I have to go.”

      He knew that was a bad idea. With magic and without, he knew that no matter how unwise it was for her to stay, leaving would be worse. Dammit, she was going to turn his life upside down.

      “You’re going to stay here,” he insisted. “We’re not finished.”

      She shook her head.

      His temper got the best of him and he snapped, “You can’t tell me the entire Raintree clan can’t protect two of their own from whatever or whoever threatens them.”

      “Oh!” Echo’s green eyes shone. Her tense shoulders dropped a little as she relaxed. “If they’re on Sanctuary land they’ll be fine. Maybe they can take over my old job for a while.”

      “Your old job?”

      She grimaced. “I was keeper of the Raintree Sanctuary.”

      In his experience, she did not have the discipline to be the keeper of anything. She was a roamer, a butterfly. A princess, not a queen. “You were replaced?”

      She wrinkled her nose. “I quit last year and left a few months ago. Dante was very unhappy, but others have filled in since then. My parents can be next in line.”

      She relaxed; she smiled. “They won’t like it, but they’ll be safe there.” He could almost see her body unwinding. “Everyone else I care about can more than take care of themselves.”

      Of course they could. Raintree.

      On occasion Rye had to remind himself that Echo was no normal woman. No lost and mildly gifted stray looking for others like herself, no independent in need of his assistance.

      Doyle arrived early tonight, too. He sauntered through the front door, squinted as his eyes adjusted to the