Nieve by Terry Griggs

weird enough without this, aren’t they?”
    â€œAnd will get weirder,” said Lias.
    â€œWhy do you think you’ve gone unharmed so far, dear?”
    â€œBecause of Artichoke, and because I can run, like Lias said.” This was the first time she’d referred to him by name, and in doing so she noticed that he was watching her very closely.
    â€œAye, pet, you can run, and it’s a good thing. But you have other . . . abilities, as they well know. Whatever followed you the night you came to see me, the night I was away, I doubt it was Artichoke.”
    â€œOkay, what abilities?”
    â€œThat remains to be seen. Outside of your fierce-eye, that is.”
    â€œRight.” The last thing Nieve wanted to do was hurt Gran’s feelings, but she was starting to get annoyed.
    â€œGrandmother, does she not know that you’re a Cunning Woman?”
    Enough of this! “She’s not cunning and she’s not your grandmother.”
    â€œNieve, anyone may call me ‘grandmother,’ it’s a custom in the Old Country.” She sipped her tea. “Cunning Folk are simply healers. Like Dr. Morys, only dabbling in different cures and wares.”
    â€œThey do more than that,” said Lias.
    â€œTrue, but I’m not much of one. Your great-grandmother Nievy, was a great one though, and your mother could be if she weren’t so busy getting herself into trouble, serious trouble by the sounds of it.” Gran set her teacup in its saucer with deliberate care. She and Sophie had never gotten along particularly well. “Nieve, you have to help her. Your father, too, and Mayor Mary–” she stopped and reached over to take Nieve’s hand. “I know it’s too much, too much to take in altogether, but we need to decide what to do.”
    Nieve responded by nodding dumbly. Of course she’d help, she’d do everything she could, but she still didn’t understand what Gran was getting at.
    â€œAre you telling me that I’ve inherited some kind of, I don’t know . . . witch gene?”
    Gran smiled, and squeezed her hand before letting go. “This isn’t a fairy story, hen. It’s real.”
    â€œBut no less dark,” added Lias.
    Nieve certainly felt as though she were fumbling around in the dark. “Dunstan Warlock, it has something to do with him, right?”
    â€œFat nuisance.” Gran snorted. “Which doesn’t make him any less dangerous. Meddling where he shouldn’t be. ”
    â€œThat woman who tried to catch me?” If anyone was a witch, it was her.
    â€œA nightborn thing,” said Lias, scowling.
    â€œIt’s true,” said Gran. “These creatures, they arrive with the darkness of night and soon there’s nothing but darkness and night.”
    â€œCold, too.” Lias shifted closer to the fire.
    â€œAye, no sun, no life.”
    â€œBut where do they come from ?” said Nieve.
    â€œSome might say the Old Country. That Gowl you saw tonight sounds very like a Bloody Bones to me. Very like, but they can take different forms and are just as much a part of this world. The order of nature is upset and they creep in through the cracks.”
    â€œHow? I don’t see how that can happen.”
    â€œGreed, cruelty, stupidity . . .”
    Nieve tried not to look as skeptical as she felt. Those were bad things, sure, but unfortunately always present. She did read the newspaper, she knew what went on in the world. Given the amount of stupidity she’d witnessed in the schoolyard alone, the town should have been crawling with supernatural vermin long before now.
    â€œSingular acts spring open dark doors. Like Mortimer Twisden doing away with his wife so that he could marry that young woman from the city.”
    Nieve caught her breath.
    â€œIt’s an ongoing struggle, pet. James and I have worked together for years, as have others, to keep them in