A Celtic Witch - By Debora Geary Page 0,78

opened her eyes at the gentle splashing as Sophie entered the pool. "Good morning. I figured I'd have company soon. I have no idea why there aren't twenty people in here every hour of the day."

Sometimes there were. And it told Sophie what she wanted to know - Cass hadn't really been seeking solitude. She took a deep breath and prepared to give a friend a push off a cliff. Guilt be damned. "Adam slept through the night last night."

Cass smiled, a bit perplexed. "That's good."

"He fell asleep in his own bed, listening to Aaron's recording of those lullabies you played in his kitchen."

Green eyes widened. "That worked?"

"It didn't at first. Whatever happens when you play, whatever Mike and Adam feel, it isn't there in the recording."

"Maybe they just like live music."

Sophie hid a grin - apparently Marcus's grumpy face was contagious. "Maybe. But I have a different theory."

Cass raised an eyebrow. "You're sure you're not Irish?"

All witches were, a little bit. Sophie settled deeper in the waters. She'd had a lot of hours to think, watching her son calmly sleeping in the night. "When babies are first born, it's a bit of a shock. They live in this nice, warm, dark, regulated world, and then suddenly it all changes."

Green eyes on the other side of the pool squinted, less wary now. "You think Adam had trouble with the change?"

She'd always thought so. "For most babies, we wear them on our chests, let them listen to our hearts, and they slowly learn to regulate themselves. To adapt to this new world."

"To breathe, and sleep, and be happy." Cass nodded. "Nan's big on wearing babies. She said I wouldn't sleep at all unless I was curled up against someone's heart."

The answer shimmered in the light mist of the pool hanging between them. Sophie hoped her friend was ready. "When we talked about listening to the rocks before - you told me they were like a heartbeat."

It took a moment. But then she saw rightness bloom in Cass's eyes. Recognition. A witch finally understanding what moved in her veins.

And then she saw fear.

Sophie willed her fists to relax. Healing was a hard road to walk - the witch had to be willing. "I think your music is like a baby carrier. It helped Adam hear the rocks. Hear the heartbeat."

Shock bloomed on their Irish witch's face. However much she felt their truth, hearing the words shook her. Hard.

Sophie pressed on, needing to get to the part that mattered most. That might make it easier for all of them. "I think he's learning to hear it himself. And maybe Aaron's recording helps him to remember how a little. It didn't at first, but now it does, because he's getting better at listening." She breathed, letting the pure joy of that sit for a moment. "You're healing him."

"I'm just a fiddler."

A mother's love kept pushing the guilt away. "And I'm a gardener and someone who enjoys making pretty yarn in a pot. But that's not all of who I am." Which had probably been a lot easier to accept at eight years old. She'd grown up knowing what lived inside her.

Cass wrapped her arms around her knees under the water, a woman curling away from truth. "Nan would know if I was a healer."

Maybe the language was wrong. Sophie dug for something that might sit better. "That's my word. What do you call the person who can help others find the center of the music? Its meaning?"

"A genius." Amusement flitted across Cass's face. And then understanding. "Ah. A good performer can do that. And the best teachers."

Now they were getting somewhere. Sophie cursed herself for not starting there in the first place. "Exactly. Like you did for Kevin, showing him how to feel that ballad from the inside." Aaron's recording had babies now - every house in Fisher's Cove had one, much to Kevin's enduring embarrassment.

"He's got nice talent." Cass's face was easier now. "I was only unlocking what was already inside him."

"Exactly." Sophie spoke quietly, waiting for Cass to hear her own words.

Green eyes were still wary - but they saw now. "You think I did that for Adam. Helped him learn to hear the rocks."

"Yes." Him and so many others. But that much was only a feeling. An inkling. Sometimes a witch had to think things out for herself. Even if she might have the power to help her audiences feel the planet's very heartbeat.

Cass sat motionless on the other side of