A lonesome howl called from somewhere toward the woods. It sounded far off, but still, it made them turn away just as the cottage door opened.

“Don’t be afraid,” said a woman’s voice from the doorway behind them. “They never come this far into town.”

“Never?” Bobby repeated before he’d even fully turned to see who had spoken.

In the doorway of the cottage stood Seraphina’s stepmother. She was not what they had expected at all. Her features were soft and some of her pastel coloured clothing looked hand-knitted. Her hair was fair and wispy and she gave off a comfy sort of aura.

“Why don’t you come in, I was just making lunch.” She stepped away from the door and into the kitchen, leaving the front door open. They could see where the floorboards became tiles just around the corner to the right.

They looked at one another, unsure what to do at first. Then Gemma shrugged and went on in.

They joined the woman in the kitchen where she gestured to some seats around a small circular wooden table. Sunlight poured in from two windows, as well as from a door to their left, that opened into a lounge decorated with lots of floral patterns.

The inside of the kitchen was painted yellow, just like the outside. Seraphina’s stepmum reached for a cupboard and got down six teacups. Then she brought a recently boiled teapot and the cups to the table, along with a loaf of fresh bread, some butter, cured meats, and cheese.

She eyed their cautious faces and then took a seat. “I know what they say about me in the town but it isn’t true.” She reached for a knife, and cut the bread into slices. She poured them all a cup of tea. Then she poured one for herself, all from the same teapot. “I’m Daisy. Please, eat, drink.” She gestured at the food.

Gemma waited until Daisy took a sip from her own cup before she lifted hers, gave it a sniff and then took a drink. The taste of lemon and ginger filled her mouth.

As Gemma put her cup down, the others reached for theirs. Salem, who had suddenly found himself very hungry, reached for the food on the table with little thought for any potential malfeasance.

There was silence as they ate and drank for a few minutes. Then Daisy spoke.

“You’re looking for Seraphina? I’m afraid I haven’t seen her since she went to bed last night, but she’s often up and out before me. I tend to sleep late, and she’s been avoiding me since I moved in. She misses her mother and, well, I’m not her.” The rhythm in which Daisy spoke was slow and careful, and it carried in it a touch of sadness.

The kids were quiet, unsure what to say. They each glanced at one another warily.

Daisy spoke again. “I’m not sure how much help I can be, maybe if you tell me where you’ve looked, I can offer some suggestions.”

“But can’t you read our minds?” Salem blurted out.

The woman cast her eyes downward and gave and almost indiscernible nod. “I can. I could. I did, a little. I’m sorry. It’s not polite. Usually I just read the surface thoughts of why someone is visiting. Sometimes I hear more, not intentionally. It’s hard to control, especially when there are lots of people. It gets so loud that I can’t bear it. It’s like, how you’re a healer,” she pointed at Bobby then cut herself off, “Oh forgive me, I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just, well you know how sometimes you get a cut and your skin heals without thinking about it, and sometimes,” she pointed at Gemma, “You get mad and things just catch on fire right?”

Gemma blushed and scowled.

The woman fiddled with pink and yellow knitted sleeves that were obviously very worn from repeated fiddling. “Well sometimes I hear things I shouldn’t, and then I forget what I’m supposed to know. It can upset people, so I, I mostly keep to myself these days, especially given the things they think of me, and of my family...” Daisy eyed the front door warily. “I’d come out and help you look. I should even, but I... I...”

“It’s alright,” Gemma interrupted, noticing the obvious fear in the woman’s eyes. “We’ll look. I’m sure she’s around somewhere. We haven’t seen the other kids yet today either so... well, apart from Tolly, on the path to the hot springs.”

Bobby stared into his half empty teacup. Gemma was being optimistic. The other kids weren’t the ones who had promised to meet him this morning in front of the inn. Suddenly he had a horrible fear that she had gone there after all, but they had just left too early. Except, her stepmum had just said that she liked to get up early so that wasn’t likely was it? Different thoughts and worries chased themselves around his head as Gemma told Daisy all the places they had looked so far.

“Well,” Daisy replied. “You could try the old lighthouse. I know she likes to go there sometimes. Or the techno’s shack. Maybe the candy shop?”

“Where’s the lighthouse?” Gemma asked.

“It’s further down the beach, toward the south-east. It doesn’t go anymore but there’s a ladder and it gives a nice view of the sea.”

“It’s near our ship,” Sasha volunteered. She’d caught sight of it, just over a hill, when she’d gone back for her father’s book yesterday.

Daisy nodded. “The techno shack is the other direction. Sometimes the kids watch movies there. They’re not supposed to, except for the monthly dedicated screenings, but they’re kids so most people overlook it.” She sighed. “She doesn’t tell me these things, I don’t know how to get her to talk to me. I thought if I helped her tidy some of her things... She’d been thinking about it, but I just made things worse.”

Bobby saw the same sadness in her eyes as he had seen in Seraphina’s the day before, when she’d been talking about her family, and he wondered if maybe he could help mend things. He needed to find Seraphina first though. “I’ll talk to her, when I find her,” he told Daisy reassuringly.

She smiled at him. “Thank you. You’re a good kid.”

“Do you know what the creatures are? The ones that howl at night?” Gemma asked.

Daisy shook her head and eyed her front door warily again. “I dare not go out there.”

“They took your family?” Gemma pressed for more answers.

Daisy just closed her eyes and a pained expression crossed her face. A moment of silence passed and then she opened them and stared directly across the table at Katrina with a frown.

Katrina had been sitting there, using her own powers to try and get a sense of Daisy’s. Much like Bobby, she needed physical contact in order to duplicate someone’s magic, but that did not stop her trying. A good infuser could sense and borrow the power of someone who stood across the room from them. Katrina just needed to get better.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

But now Daisy was looking directly at her. Katrina had the feeling that the woman knew exactly what she’d been trying to do. She removed her hand from the end of the flute she had been trying to imbue, not that she’d managed much. She could barely even sense the magic from here. There were spikes every now and again. A feeling that raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

Even a non-infuser, with practice, could sometimes sense when someone was using magic on them, but that was rare, and dependent on the quality of magic cast. A skilled mindwalker was subtle. Katrina did not think that was the case here, and yet, even though she could feel when Daisy tried to read her mind, it was not enough for her to get a proper sense of it’s shape, not in the way she needed if she wished to duplicate the magic into the flute. She knew that was more her own lack of power than it was Daisy’s skill.

Daisy sighed. “I know what you’re trying to do.” She shook her head. “You don’t want this. Mind magic is a delicate art. It’s hard to control. Please don’t try. You’ll just get yourself hurt. You hear voices all the time, and...” she sighed again, “The things they think about...”

Katrina scowled. How was she supposed to get better if no one trusted her to practice. But then her thoughts strayed back to the sorcerer and the bird. She’d had a chance though hadn’t she? And she’d turned it down? Her stomach felt like it was in knots, like she was the one pinned in place with no good options.

Bobby shot to his feet and then pulled Katrina to hers, much to her surprise. “We should keep looking for Seraphina.”

Daisy nodded as the other kids followed suit. “Please will you send her home when you do, and tell her I...”

She trailed off, but Bobby nodded, and in reading his mind, she saw that he understood what she wanted, and so she smiled and said no more.

“Thank you for the food,” Gemma said as they left the house.

Sasha and Salem mumbled a thanks on the way out as well.

Bobby didn’t let go of Katrina’s arm until they were outside the house.

She scowled at him as he tugged her through the door. His grip was starting to hurt.

Gemma shut the door to the cottage.

Bobby released and then rounded on Katrina. “She just gave us lunch and you’re trying to steal her magic?!” His voice was angry but he kept his volume low so no one in the cottage could hear.

“It’s not stealing,” Katrina replied.

“You were trying to borrow her magic without permission!”

“So what? It doesn’t hurt her. It makes no difference to her. And she was reading our minds.”

“She couldn’t help it. That’s the nature of mindwalking. Are you telling me you’re so inept at borrowing that you have no control over who’s powers you take? She was trying to help us.”

“It’s infusing. And I’m no more inept than you are when you can’t help but heal yourself.”

Sasha and Salem watched in amazement as Bobby’s expression darkened. They couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever looked quite so mad as this.

“That’s not how infusement control works. It’s not like Gemma’s magic,”

Bobby gestured to Gemma who bristled slightly at the outburst and lack of thought from the usually mild-tempered Bobby. But she understood that he was probably just worried because of Seraphina. She let him continue a little longer. Besides, Katrina probably deserved a little of what she was getting.

“I can’t accidentally heal another person. I have to focus on it and I know you do too,” Bobby continued.

Katrina scowled back, her face inches from Bobby’s. Her hands were clenched into fists. Her neatly shaped nails dug into her own palms. She didn’t like being chided by Bobby. Bobby never got upset at anyone. It made her feel horribly guilty, angry, and alone.

Salem wanted to tell Bobby that some healers did accidentally heal other people sometimes, and not in ways that were desired, at least from what he’d heard, but at the look on Bobby’s face he dared not interject. Besides, everyone’s magic was slightly different, even when powers were the same.

“How would you know?” Katrina shot back. “It’s not your magic.”

“It doesn’t have to be, I know how it works.”

“Alright.” Gemma stepped between then, pushing them both apart. “Are you guys just going to argue all afternoon or are we going to keep looking for Seraphina?”

Bobby took a deep breath and stepped away. He ran both hands through his hair to calm himself down.

“We could go check out the technopath,” Salem suggested. A small part of him wondered if maybe they would have some batteries he could buy. He was also glad that Bobby had chewed Katrina out about the sorcery stuff.

“We could go to the lighthouse,” Sasha suggested meekly. She’d been wanting to ever since she’d seen it from the beach but she also wanted to find Seraphina. Seeing Bobby looking so stressed out like this, made her feel sorry for being angry at him earlier. It also scared her a little.

Katrina hugged her spell book to her chest. Softly, she said, “We should probably go back to the inn. It’s on the way and Benny will be wondering where we are anyway. We said we’d be back for lunch and it’s well after lunch now.”

Gemma nodded. That made sense to her.

“We’ve had lunch,” Bobby mumbled, but he gave a resigned look and avoided everyone’s eyes.

“Just to check in,” Katrina replied quietly. “It’s already late afternoon.” Her anger had diffused a little but she still felt hurt.

They trooped in silence back through the town toward the inn. They paused one street over from the inn, as they heard the unmistakable sound of singing starting up just down the road. They looked at each other in confusion.

They walked on past what appeared to be a local tavern. There in front and making an awful racket was a drunken man. He held a bottle in one hand and he rocked back and forth as he sat and sang on the edge of the wooden front porch.

“Oh, there once lived a man, as fit as could be.

He flew like a banshee, he fought like three.

He was married to his mission so bold,

To sail in search of the 13th sea!

Of a cave full of treasure and gold.

Of a potion to so he’d never grow old.

Of a legacy so great he could boast.

Of a love that would keep out the cold.

And he found what he thought had been lost.

But the ghosts of the cave told of a cost.

Pick one, not all, and leave the rest.

Or fear for your soul. Ye are marked with a cross.

On his body, the tattoo was blessed.

X marks the spot, right over his chest.

So he made his choice,

And picked the best.

And in the loudest voice,

He declared-”

But the man never got to finish his song, for out from the tavern walked two strong men. They grabbed the drunken man, yanked him to his feet, and pushed him up against the tavern front wall.

“Oi Cal! What’d we say?” One of them asked.

“No fucking singing!” Growled the other.

The first man swung his fist right into Cal’s mouth, then dropped him to the floor. The two men walked back inside, leaving Cal spitting out blood onto the porch.

The five kids crowded closer together, glad that none of them had been singing. As they walked past Cal, he eyed them with a mad red grin while he snickered softly to himself.

Gemma frowned at him and then turned onto the connecting street.

Sasha glanced back one last time.

Cal put his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss.

Sasha nearly tripped over her feet as she hurried to catch up to her siblings.

They were almost back at the inn when the howling began once more.

Within the inn, Sirius peered out at the not yet dark sky. “They’re howling early today.”

“What do you think they want?” Amanda asked. They’d returned to the inn with no more ideas for raising the boat off the beach than what they had left with. They now sat at one of the tables running through different options.

“Maybe they want you to sing?” Sirius suggested.

She gave him a look.

“No, really. They stopped when I recited that poem last night.”

“I don’t think they could hear that, and they started up when Gemma sung her song the night before.”

“Yeah I know. I was thinking about that. What if it’s not the song? What if it’s what the song is about.”

She frowned at him.

“What was the difference between my song and Gemma’s?”

She shook her head.

“Her song was happy, upbeat,” he paused and added with a grin, “Revolutionary.”

Amanda chuckled. “And yours was sad.”

“Precisely, maybe they like sad music.”

Amanda thought about it, but Sirius could see she wasn’t convinced. He had no more arguments, nor enough data points. It was just a theory.

That was when the kids came pouring back into the inn.

“Grab your things, we’re heading back to the ship tonight.” Amanda told the group. She and Sirius had decided on that at least, and had already sorted their things. Benny was in the process of packing up his room at the moment.

“Did we get off the beach?” Gemma asked.

“Not yet, but we want to be back on board in just in case those fiends from further down the beach start heading our way,” Amanda replied. She turned back to Sirius to continue their discussion, satisfied the kids had their instructions.

Salem, Sasha, and Katrina started moving toward their room.

Gemma’s eyes widened as she remembered their surprise guests from last night and she grabbed Bobby before he could move. “The pirates,” she whispered.

He frowned at her in confusion.

She leaned in close, certainty in her eyes. “That’s where Seraphina is. That’s who has her!”