The Hidden Legacy

slapped me out of the sexy vision quicker than anything else could have. I came back to the here and now. Flat on my back, panting and churned up, I yanked the ring off my finger immediately, dropping it to the tangled sheets.
“Bad timing, Grandma,” I grumbled, sitting up. “Really bad...and I still didn’t see his face!” Frustrated and churned up I scrubbed my hands over my own face. My skin was overheated, hyper sensitive and I felt like I had an overabundance of caffeine in my system.
Using the sheet so I wouldn’t make skin contact with the ring, I gingerly picked it up. “By the goddess, I’ve had about enough of this.” I dropped it back in the box and put it in my drawer. I was stomping off to take a cold shower when a part of the vision flashed back through my mind.
I stopped and grabbed for the doorframe to steady myself. “He told me that he loved me.” I realized. Well okay, technically, he’d said ‘Damn it, I love you’.
“And I responded with ‘I love you, too’.” I rubbed the heel of my hand over my heart. How could a vision tap into my emotions? I caught my reflection in the mirror over my dresser. My hair was sticking up, all tousled—almost as if someone had had their hands in it. I gulped as a sudden fear rolled over me.
Had that been a vision, or a visit from some phantom lover? “I might have to ward the apartment from ghosts if this keeps up,” I told myself.
And why hadn’t I seen his face? I knew his body, how it felt, how it tasted...and now I knew he had a tattoo. A pirate flag tattoo. My mind raced with possibilities: past life memories, a haunting, or maybe the ring was possessed. I broke into a nervous sweat thinking about it.
Wide awake and more than a little concerned, I went to the bathroom and stripped off. With a yank I had water pouring out of the shower, and I stepped under the spray, bracing my hands on the tile as the water sluiced over my head. Maybe a nice cool shower would help.
It really didn’t help.
***
I had a very long, completely sleepless night. But I’d put the time to good use and hit the internet. I’d researched the Jolly Roger, pirate flags in general, also clairvoyant visions, past life memories, and spirit possession. Good news? I had ruled out possession. Neither I nor the ring were possessed. Call it Witch’s intuition, but I was absolutely certain that my grandmother would never leave me anything remotely dangerous or harmful.
More than likely the emerald was simply doing what it was rumored to...giving me a glimpse of my future lover. And ‘glimpse’ was accurate. As I still hadn’t seen the man’s face, only a pirate tattoo. As I dressed for the day I decided to take my grandmother’s advice to heart—and keep watch. I slipped on the sky blue summer dress again, and a pair of espadrille wedges, in tan.
In defiance, I pulled a favorite silver pendant out of my jewelry box. The pendant featured an open butterfly design with a small pentacle at its center. On top of the pentacle an amethyst was centered. It was subtle, and difficult to see the pentacle design unless you were very close to the pendant.
I attached it to a long chain, slipped it on, and checked to make sure that only the top of the butterfly wings were visible. Still, the magickal pendant made me feel better, and empowered. I’d need that today. I still had to face down Henry Walker, and the vision the night before had totally distracted me from worrying over that embarrassing scenario yesterday afternoon.
If Henry Walker thought I’d be easily susceptible to that good looking, bad boy routine...he was sadly mistaken. I’d show him. This Witch could more than hold her own against some slow-talking mundane. No matter how charming he tried to be.
Not that he was charming. Not in any way.
I checked my reflection. My hair waved around my face, and the blue dress made my eyes brighten up, or maybe that was simply righteous indignation. I deliberately deepened my eye shadow, added a touch more eyeliner, and sprayed on some lilac body spray.
I could handle Henry Walker. I nodded to myself. Besides, I had a mystery to solve. I needed to figure out who the man was from the visions. Strangely I was starting to develop feelings for that mystery lover… whoever he was. Because great goddess if he was half as talented between the sheets in real life, as he was in the visions, the man was a keeper.
I slid some mauve lipstick on. “Now all I have to do,” I said to my reflection, “is conjure up a way to casually ask every nicely built man in town between the ages of twenty-five and forty, to strip off their shirts and show me their tattoos.”
Sure, Hannah. I mentally rolled my eyes at that.
A nasty thunderstorm had begun to brew. The clouds rolled heavy from the west, and the air was thick and dense. Thunder rumbled, and when I dropped Eli off at daycare the sky had a slightly green cast to it. While the guy on the radio warned of severe thunderstorms within the hour, I glanced at the sky and tossed my head. Bring it on, I thought.
I loved a good summer storm, and today the weather seemed to match my mood perfectly: Frustrated, on edge, with a touch of mean. I slammed my car door and marched to the office. My cell phone buzzed and I discovered a text from Edmund. Apparently he’d gotten lucky last night and was spending the morning with his boyfriend. He’d be in after noon.
“Perfect,” I said through gritted teeth. “That way when I zap that egotistical Henry Walker to a crisp, they’ll be no one around to witness me disposing of his body.” A crack of