Power, reflection, a menacing presence in the diggings, Jin’s revenge… Who was Hazel Burke to him? Holly looked at the witches sitting before her, then at Patrick, who remained frozen in place by the hearth. She knew what they were telling her was only the tip of the iceberg. What lay beneath?

  It was crazy. All of this was utterly preposterous.

  “This isn’t an episode of Charmed,” Holly blurted. “We’re not fighting demons!” She hesitated, wondering if they existed, too. “Right?”

  “Vampires, sweetie,” Samantha murmured. “Vampires.”

  “What about him?” She jabbed a finger at Patrick. “He’s a vampire.” She felt stupid saying it and glanced over her shoulder, just in case someone was filming her on their mobile phone, but nobody was.

  Patrick moved, angling his body to face her. “I never intended to stay in Dunloe for as long as I have, but I forged an alliance with the coven. I have remained here in one way or another. I have a connection to this place now, and I doubt I could leave even if I wanted to.”

  “Why?”

  “Supernaturals usually like to stick to their own kind,” he explained. “But there’s always an exception to the rule. We were human once, after all.” She realised Dunloe was his home, more than any other place had been. That’s why he remained.

  And her place in it all? The three bloodlines obviously didn’t include the Burkes, and she had less than a drop of magic anyway, so why should she matter?

  “Who was Hazel Burke in all this?” she asked.

  Patrick lowered his eyes and turned his back on her, facing the fireplace.

  “She was simply a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Samantha told her. “Caught in the crossfire of something that was neither her fault nor her fight.”

  Holly looked to Patrick, his reaction to her question raised more doubts. Maybe Samantha was right, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something they weren’t telling her. Right now, she wasn’t in a position to push for answers. Those weren’t the questions she was supposed to be asking, but maybe there was a path to them.

  She nodded her acceptance. “Jin just woke up.”

  “To him, it must seem like yesterday,” Kate murmured. “Any explanation, any closure, is lost.”

  Holly frowned. So Hazel Burke was an innocent victim in a war for territory, and Jin…

  Patrick glanced over his shoulder, catching Holly’s gaze. His look warned her not to say any more, so she decided to leave the past where it was…for now.

  “And the diggings? What’s so bad about them?” she asked. “Everyone says they’re not a good place, that I shouldn’t go walking there, but everyone stops short of explaining why.” She looked at the Trine, but their expressions gave nothing away. “Is it because of that person who attacked me last night? I’ve heard the gossip.”

  “Devil worshippers?” Samantha scoffed. “Nonsense.”

  “Then who was it?”

  “There are more than witches and vampires in the world,” Miranda said kindly. “There are dark things, spirits, who roam places of great suffering. The diggings were a site of great fortune, but many souls died in search of gold. Some places gather darkness and cling to it.” The witch smiled as if she was trying to soften the horror story. “The diggings are a dark place, Holly. As witches, we feel it much more deeply than humans ever will.”

  “So, the thing that attacked me…?”

  “Was the manifestation of that power,” Kate replied. “You were attacked because of your magic, because that power believes it can use you it to free itself.”

  “You mustn’t go back there,” Patrick said, his eyes narrowing. “You are safe beyond the boundary of Moonlight Creek.”

  “The creek?” Holly asked, her voice coming out as a terrified squeak.

  “They can’t cross running water,” Samantha said with a wave of her hand. “Enough of this talk. While you’re in town, you have nothing to be afraid of.”

  “I don’t?”

  “Well…except for Jin, I suppose, but Patrick will keep an eye out for you.” She glared at the vampire. “Won’t you, Patrick?”

  “Of course.”

  “We don’t mean to scare you, dear,” Miranda said to Holly. “But it’s important for you to know now that you understand who you are.”

  “Who I am…” she murmured. “I thought I knew, but…”

  “Hannah never told you?” Samantha asked. “Never hinted?”

  Holly shook her head. “We weren’t close. I mean, apart from the odd Christmas spent together, we never saw her.”

  “And since you’ve been in Dunloe, have you found anything in her home?”

  “There’s plenty of books, crystals, and jars of herbs…” She shrugged. “Is there supposed to be something else?”

  “Yes. Hannah would have had a grimoire,” Samantha told her.

  “A…grimoire? What’s that?”

  “It’s a journal that acts as a book of spells,” Kate explained. “It’s often handed down through the generations, but witches can have one of their own, too. There would’ve been a Burke family grimoire. You’ve never seen anything like that amongst your aunt’s things?”

  Holly recalled the week before, when she’d gone through Hannah’s belongings—the books in the lounge room, the personal stuff in the bedroom—but she hadn’t seen anything that looked like a journal. “No, nothing.”

  “Never mind.” Samantha shrugged. “I’m sure it’ll turn up when it’s ready. Magical things often do. Now…I’d like to try a little spell, if that’s okay with you.”

  Holly squirmed, her gaze flickering to Patrick. “What kind of spell?”

  “To see if you have magic, of course!”

  “Will it…hurt?”

  “Not at all!” Samantha chuckled. “It’s the simplest of test, really. You won’t feel a thing. We’ll just link hands,” she gestured to Kate, who held out her palm, “in one big circle, and you just have to sit there.”

  “Then what?”

  “Our magic will call to yours,” Miranda replied. “If there is any, it’ll answer. Easy peasy.”

  “Okay.” It sounded simple enough, so Holly joined hands with Kate and Samantha, and they linked with Miranda.

  Holly watched the witches as they closed their eyes. They breathed deeply, each sitting up with the straightest posture she’d ever seen. Heads up, shoulders back, knees together, ankles crossed—exactly like a picture from a 1950s deportment book.

  She waited as they cast their ’spell’ but felt nothing—no warmth, no zap of electricity…nothing. Starting to feel a little silly, she glanced at Patrick, but all he did was shrug.

  After a few minutes, Samantha opened her eyes and let go of Holly’s hand.

  “There is a trace,” she declared. “The smallest of glimmers.” She smiled and took Holly’s hands. “There’s no doubt about it, Holly; you are a witch.”

  “An inconsequential one, by the sounds of it,” Holly muttered.

  “While I doubt you’ll be able to cast a spell any time soon, in time, you may be able to develop your skill.”

  Develop it into what? Lighting candles? Holly sighed, not knowing how she felt about it. Finding out she was ’special,’ only to have it snatched away again felt like a cruel joke. At least she had an explanation for her glimpses, but in reality, nothing had changed except for her knowledge of the supernatural.

  Witches, vampires, and ghosts in the diggings…and then there was Jin, whose story had not been fully explained.

  Holly smiled at the Trine, trying her best to pretend she was happy with their revelations. “I think,” she said, drawing in a deep breath. “I think I better go home.”

  “Oh!” Samantha exclaimed. “We’ve given you a lot to think about. You must be exhausted by it all.”

  “I hear the kids call it an info dump,” Miranda stated.

  Holly forced out a laugh. “Yep. That’s the one.”

  Samantha stood. “If you have any questions or worries, you can come to us at any time…especially if Jin gives you any trouble.” She glanced at Patrick. “I assume you’ve told her what she needs to know about vampires?”

  “Yes,” he replied.

  Holly rose, her head swimming. “Thank you for welcoming me,” she told the Trine. “I’m sure I’ll take you up on the offer.”

  Patrick crossed the room. “I’ll come with you.”

  “Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” Samantha murmured as they left the house.

  Outside, Holly didn’t look back as she pushed through the garden gate and stepped out onto the footpath. She waited until she was at least three houses away before she took a breath.

  If Patrick noticed her anxiety, he didn’t say anything. He walked beside her, silent and stoic.

  She wasn’t sure she liked how the Trine had spoken to her. It felt…sugary-sweet like the gingerbread house in the fairy tale, Hazel and Gretel.

  “Do you want to go home?” the vampire asked as Holly stopped at the corner.

  She checked for traffic—not that there was ever any—and shrugged. “I don’t know what I want to do.”

  “We can walk for a while, if you like. Have you seen the botanical gardens yet?”

  “No, I…”

  “They’re only a block that way.” He nodded to the left.

  “I’m not sure I should go into an isolated garden with you,” she blurted. As soon as the words escaped her mouth, her cheeks heated. “Sorry, I—”

  “I get it.” Patrick smiled.

  “It’s just…” She looked over her shoulder towards Samantha Dunne’s house. “That was a lot. I mean, last night was too, but that…?” she scoffed. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

  She had a latent ability, a spark barely detectable by the most powerful witches in Dunloe. Her glimpses were the result of it, but they were unpredictable and never showed up when she needed them—a warning about last night would’ve been handy.

  “The point is understanding who you are,” Patrick replied. “And that is a rare thing.”

  What was the point of knowing if it didn’t mean anything?

  Holly sighed. “Ghosts in the diggings?” She wanted to say that the hooded figure had felt too real to be a tormented spirit, but she stopped herself short. What did she know about magic? Nothing. “Vampires? Witches?” Then there was Jin, who she’d inadvertently brought back to life when she was apparently possessed by the aforementioned ghosts. “And what does Jin want with me if I don’t have enough magic to matter?”

  Patrick shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Maybe he feels attracted to you because it was your blood that woke him, or maybe it’s something more.”

  She thought of the photograph in the museum again. “I look like her, don’t I?”

  Patrick lowered his gaze.

  “He’s manifesting his past torment onto me, is that it?”

  “Perhaps…”

  “Perhaps?” She let out a heavy breath. “Why was he in the mine in the first place?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Patrick strode off and she had to jog to catch up.

  “It matters to me!” When he didn’t stop, she grabbed his arm. “Patrick.”

  He turned, and she almost faltered when she saw his eyes darken, just like Jin’s had the night before.

  “You’re talking about something that happened one hundred and seventy years ago, Holly. It’s in the past.”

  “Not to Jin,” she argued.

  “Jin needs to understand the same thing.”

  “To him, three weeks ago, it was 1850-whatever,” Holly said. “Have you thought about putting aside whatever disagreement you had back then and help him see the truth?”

  “Jin is beyond help,” Patrick hissed, his anger triggering a web of veins around his eyes to pulse. “You need to forget about him and worry about yourself.”

  Holly backed away, her heart racing.

  “I’m sorry, I—” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. When he looked at her again, his face had returned to normal. “Jin is dangerous; he is unpredictable. He is hurt and lashing out. I tried to help him then, and he turned his back on me. I won’t make the same mistake again, Holly. I won’t. Please take my advice when I tell you to stay away from him. The last thing anyone wants is for you to become another innocent caught in the crossfire.”

  Holly wrapped her arms around her middle and worried her bottom lip. There was something he wasn’t saying. Bloody hell, there was something everyone wasn’t saying. She knew she wouldn’t get any answers, but did it really matter to her what happened one hundred and seventy years ago? She had nothing to do with any of it, apart from having a striking resemblance to Hazel Burke—which was a thing when people were blood-related—and had foolishly gone into the haunted diggings and woken up a vampire. Anyone could’ve made that mistake.

  She rolled her eyes and turned away from Patrick. The whole thing was absurd, and she didn’t want anything to do with it, especially not if her life was at risk. They could all go away. Patrick, Jin, Samantha Dunne and the rest of the Trine, and the alleged tormented ghosts. All of them.

  Ironically, Holly missed her boring, uncomplicated life back in Sydney.

  “I don’t want anything to do with it,” she stated. “I don’t care.”

  “Holly—”

  “I mean it.”

  Patrick frowned. “At least let me walk you home.”

  “I can walk myself.” She began striding towards the centre of town.

  “Holly!” His voice carried down the street.

  “I’m done!” she shouted. “I’m done with all of it!”

  CHAPTER 13

  By the time Patrick returned to Samantha’s house, the other members of the Trine had already left.

  He flew into the lounge room, his anger almost simmering over into full-blown rage.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve,” Patrick drawled. “What was that?”

  Samantha set down the empty teapot and turned to face him, unafraid of the predator standing before her. After all, she was a powerful witch, and one wrong move would have Patrick on the floor in agony, begging her to end him.

  “That,” she replied calmly, “was the Trine bringing a new witch into the fold.”

  He snorted and rolled his eyes. “She didn’t buy it.”

  “Holly has been through a traumatic experience—”

  “Yeah, I wonder whose fault that was?”

  The matriarch sighed, looking thoroughly bored. “I did what was necessary to move things forward…in our favour.”

  “By attacking an innocent woman?” he demanded. “She has no magic, so why?”

  “Oh, she has magic. She only needs a microscopic amount to be considered a witch.”

  “Why?”

  “My actions triggered Jin into action. Now we know his threats about using the girl were empty. He wants to save her.” She laughed like she’d just told the most hilarious joke in the world. “Holly Burke will not only join us, but she will help us destroy Jin before he comes for us all. Then she will be so grateful to us for saving her that she will help us. It’ll make life easier for all of us.”

  “I don’t think she’ll take kindly to being manipulated,” Patrick replied.

  “It won’t matter. We have a chance our ancestors didn’t. We’d be fools not to take it.”

  Patrick shook his head. “She already suspects we’ve kept things from her.”

  “It’s her blood,” Samantha reminded him. “She may not have any magic of consequence, but Burke blood always remembers. It’s a curse, if you ask me.”

  It was definitely a curse, but how could Patrick get Holly out of this? How could he make sure she’d survive?

  “So what?” he asked. “What do we do differently this time?”

  “We’ll give her the truth.”

  He scowled. “The truth? I don’t—”

  “The truth as we make it,” Samantha snapped. “Age has not made you any smarter, has it?”

  They wanted to lie to her? “What about Jin?”

  “There’s nothing he could say to change her mind,” Samantha drawled. “She believes he’s a cold-blooded killer, and what better truth to play to than the actual truth.” Her face filled with anger and she curled her lip. “He killed my husband.”

  “Ex-husband,” he snapped.

  Samantha snorted. “Marty was a lot of things, but he’s still the father of my child. My sole heir.”

  Patrick nodded. Things were getting messy, and the path the Trine was taking felt all too familiar.

  “Holly will want to leave town after what you told her today,” he murmured. “She’s not handling it well.”

  “And it’s your job to make sure she stays.” She moved over to him and placed a hand on his chest. “We need a Burke witch…no matter how inconsequential her magic may be.”

  Doubts crept into the back of Patrick’s mind, and he narrowed his eyes.

  “Our suspicions may have merit,” she whispered.

  His blood chilled. Could it be? Was Sarah right about Hannah Burke binding Holly’s magic?

  “Make her stay,” the matriarch said, curling her fingers around the open collar of his shirt, “by any means necessary.”

  He blinked as his thoughts fogged and he nodded. Holly had to stay, if only to discover what’d been denied to her.

  Samantha smoothed her palms over his chest once more before pushing him towards the door. “Off you go. You’ve got a lot of work to do. Better get to it.”

  By the time Holly made it to Moonlight Reef Road, she wished she’d driven instead of walked. Sweat trickled down her back, her hair stuck to her flustered face, and her feet ached.

  Her mood had continued to sour, the trek across Dunloe doing nothing to clear her head. Thankfully, she hadn’t run into any more vampires, witches, or ghosts…and especially not ‘Detective’ Jin Xu. For all she knew, he was probably busy mind-controlling the entire police force to get him all the donuts in town.