A Wishing Moon Read Online Free Page B

property to see what they could find. After they had done what they could, then Arabella would be glad to go over and help out in any way Rachel would let her. She knew from experience, however, not many on the police force welcomed the type of help she could provide—so the longer she could stay in the background the better.
    Knowing she had done all she could, Arabella turned her attention to more pleasant things. The day had been eaten up by Rachel Townsend’s sadness and the rest of the time had been spent in Austin buying the supplies she would need for her cooking and baking. Last minute gifts were purchased and Arabella had also gone by the University Co-op to pick up some T-shirts and a backpack that sported the Longhorn emblem for her cousin Evangeline. Angelique, Nanette’s companion, would be coming, as well as Arabella’s mother Elizabeth.
    Arabella’s father, Thomas Landry, had been gone for over five years now—the victim of an offshore oil rig accident. Not a day passed that she did not recall her dad’s kind face and his loving smile. Elizabeth’s and her families’ powers had not scared Thomas. He had been confident enough in his own strength to view their unique abilities as something to cherish and protect instead of fear and avoid. Not all men were like her Thomas, Arabella knew this from experience. She missed her father.
    Arabella’s mother, Elizabeth, was still young, vital, and extremely attractive. Happily settled in Galveston, Texas, she spent every spare moment cleaning up and rebuilding her beautiful home, which Hurricane Ike had devastated. Storms had dealt harsh blows to their families, Ike had taken Elizabeth’s home, but Katrina had taken Arabella’s grandfather Alcee and Evangeline’s mother Aimee. The tragedy had been over five years ago, but the pain was still fresh enough to bring her grandmother to her knees.
    She had seen a great flood in the scrying waters on Winter Solstice of 2003 but after almost a year past with nothing bad happening, Nanette had let her guard down. Then Katrina came. Surprisingly, the great hurricane passed without completely devastating New Orleans, but then the levees had failed and the floods rose quickly with deadly results. All that year, Nanette had kept Alcee and Aimee away from Ponchatrain and away from the river, but the black waters had flowed down their own street and caught them by surprise.
    Fighting back unpleasant memories, Arabella turned her mind to the sweet prospect of reuniting with her dream lover. When it came time to go to bed, Arabella got ready for sleep as if she were preparing for a date, or more truthfully, a romantic interlude. She had bathed in scented water and pampered her body with lotions and creams. Pulling every trick she could think of out of her magical bag of tricks, she had constructed a dream pillow of purple cotton and stuffed the small square with lavender and mugwort. Mugwort, known as the witch’s herb, filled not only the dream pillow, but she also used the herb to make smudge sticks and walked about her bedroom letting the smoke fill every nook and cranny. Two bundles of lavender hung from the bedposts and she enjoyed a cup of tea made from the same two herbs. Angelique had taught her that if you don’t usually dream, mugwort will help you dream. If you can’t remember your dreams, the herb will allow you to recall more details than you normally would. People who usually remember their dreams can also use mugwort to dream consciously, in other words, to be able to control your actions while dreaming. The latter was Arabella’s intent; she wanted her dream to be as real as possible.
    Despite all the work she’d put into her dreamtime, sleep took forever to come. The events of the day had been unsettling. The disappearance of Kathy McLemore and her daughter had put a damper on Arabella’s spirits and the whole atmosphere of her usually happy home.
    Arabella lay restlessly, trying everything she could