Page 96 of Funerals and Familiars
We held the funeral and wake for my aunt at theBlue Moona week later. My cousins had both traveled to Willowmere and gazed at me with awe.
"I'm so glad that cat picked you," Brian said. "I don't think I would have wanted to tussle with a killer."
"You're so brave," his sister said. "I'd hug you if you weren't injured. How much longer do you have to wear the sling?"
"Hopefully not too much longer. It’s slightly uncomfortable, and it’s frustrating to try to do everything with one hand."
"You have to get rid of it soon. You can't do the Book Lantern Walk one-handed," Ange said.
"Are you still doing it?" I asked.
"Are you kidding?" Harper gaped at me. "It's what this town has done for 150 years. And your aunt would be shocked to hear youthink that we would give it up, especially now that everything is peachy again. It is, isn't it?" She peered at me.
"Absolutely. I mean, lightning doesn't strike twice, right? I am absolutely sure that all is right again."
A hot flash soared through me.
"What's up?" Harper asked. "You're pale as a ghost."
"It's nothing," I said. "Only the menopause striking again."
"Welcome to the club. I'm using HRT patches," Ange said. "You need some too."
"I do.”
Except they wouldn’t cure what had just hit me. It hadn’t been an ordinary flash. The witchfire wave, as I’d decided to call it, had struck again. Somehow, somewhere, trouble was brewing.
It had to wait, though. Tonight, we celebrated my aunt’s life, old friends, and new beginnings. My midlife was shaping up to be magic.
***
