A Finder's Fee Read Free Page B

seen magic like this all of her life. If Gram said a witch was possessing Dae but she could find her, Shayla believed it, and she didn’t care what anyone else thought.
    The group was startled as the front door blew open, the ice fog creeping into the warmth of the inn. A hooded figure wearing dirty, torn clothing appeared in the opening. Trudy moved quickly to Tim’s lap, a fact he didn’t mind at all.
    Kevin had started toward the open door when the figure threw back its hood.
    “I hope those are chocolate chip cookies I smell baking,” Dae said with a cheeky smile. “I’m starving.”

Chapter 1

    I was back! It was warm and all my friends were gathered in one place. There had been times in the last few days that I’d been worried about how everything that had happened was going to work out.
    The older woman on the floor let out a screech and got to her feet much faster than seemed possible. She ran forward, cannonballing right into me. I was knocked to the floor and trapped by her weight on my chest while my friends came to stare at me. I felt like a bug in a jar.
    “Do you think it’s really Dae?” Trudy had tears running down her face. “How will we know?”
    “I’ll know.” Ann pushed forward through the others and pressed her hands on either side of my head. She pulled back after a moment of closing her eyes and frowning. “I can’t tell for sure. The entity is powerful. It could be a trick.”
    “What could be a trick?” I found Kevin’s familiar gray blue eyes in my line of sight and focused on him. “What’s going on?”
    “They think you’re possessed.” He said it as normally as if he’d said I had a cold. “That’s as close an explanation as I can give you. How do you feel?”
    “Hungry. Dirty. Tired. Will you get her off of me, please?”
    I wasn’t expecting this kind of reception. I’d only come by the Blue Whale to ask Kevin for his help. Everyone seemed to be upset that I was gone. It wasn’t like I hadn’t left a note.
    “Not yet.” Shayla’s face replaced Kevin’s. “How do we know you aren’t the witch?”
    “You mean Maggie Madison?” I laughed. “Those are old wives’ tales about her. She wasn’t a witch—just someone gifted like us. I was never her. She was never me either. I put on her necklace and I could see the world through her eyes. It was breathtaking—I can’t even explain what it was like. But it was also very sad. I’ve been working to help her for the last few days.”
    “Working to help
her
? A dead witch?” Shayla sputtered. “That
has
to be Dae. I don’t know anyone else who’d talk that way. Let her up, Gram.”
    I looked into the wrinkled, dark face close to mine and smiled. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Dae O’Donnell. Shayla talks about you all the time.”
    “Flourine Lily.” She grinned from ear to ear. “I still smell that old witch on you, honey.”
    I was a little embarrassed. It never occurred to me that a crowd of people would be waiting for me. “I could use a shower. I’ve been digging over at the geothermal site for the new town hall. You won’t believe what I found.”
    Kevin and Shayla helped Flourine to her feet. I wasn’t sure she was very happy to see me there. She kept throwing feathers at me and mumbling words I couldn’t understand.
    I wanted to go right in and take a shower. No one else liked that idea. They didn’t think I should be alone. I thought longingly about the clean jeans and shirt I always kept there at the Inn. I finally decided that if they could stand it, so could I.
    I’d never seen a group of people act so weird. When we all sat down at the big table in the bar area, everyone crowded in around me. Shayla and her grandmother were behind me, as though I might try to escape. What was wrong with them?
    Kevin had leftovers from lunch that day, and warm cookies. I completely forgot about changing clothes and showering as I realized how hungry I was. I wasn’t sure I’d eaten in