The Trouble With Witches by Shirley Damsgaard

tension I didn't know I carried seemed to release knot by knot.
    God, I'd forgotten how much I loved being out on the water.
    All too soon I neared the opposite side of the lake. Cutting the motor and raising the prop, I allowed the small boat to glide into shore. Barefoot, and with my pant legs rolled up, I jumped out. Soft sand squished around my feet while cool water lapped against my ankles as I waded to the shore, tugging the boat with me. I secured it to the nearest tree with the rope attached to the bow. Satisfied the boat would stay put, I slipped on my shoes and clambered up the hill, away from the lake and into the pines. All the time praying I didn't run into any poison ivy.
    The hill leveled off and I headed east toward the area where I had seen the ghost light. As I walked, sunlight filtered through the braches of the pine trees, and their soft needles littering the ground muted my steps. The only sound I heard was the rattling of the birch leaves.
    I stopped, closed my eyes, and turned on my radar.
    I probably look like a dog sniffing the air, I thought. A dog
?
    Once, I'd used the analogy of a dog's heightened sense of smell to describe my psychic talent to Henry. My lips tightened in a frown. I hadn't thought of Henry since he stormed out of my house. So much had happened that I'd blanked him from my mind. Why had Henry suddenly popped into my head now?
    I shoved the question away and continued walking. Out of the corner of my eye, light glinting off metal caught my attention. I took off toward it.
    A high woven-wire fence stretched between metal poles wound its way through the trees. It must have been the fence Rick mentioned, the one that created the boundary of the old Butler estate. I thought it was much farther down the lake. Had I walked that far? Looking over my shoulder, I tried to judge my distance from the lake, but the trees blocked any glimpse of water. Turning back, I noticed a section of the woven wire had been pulled back away from one of the poles, leaving a hole.
    A hole big enough for someone to wiggle through. Someone about my size. I took a step forward.
    Don't do it ,
said my common sense.
    Hey, it's not like I haven't trespassed before
, I argued back.
    Right
—
and got shot in the process
, the little voice pointed out.
    Oh, yeah. Maybe I should listen this time.
    I turned away from the fence and began to retrace my steps, when a chattering squirrel drew my attention.
    He sat high in the tree, watching me and prattling, as if scolding me for contemplating trespassing.
    "Enough already," I said aloud, stopping under the tree. "I'm leaving."
    The squirrel paused as if he were out of breath from his prattling.
    And when he did, I heard it—a whimper. Or thought I'd heard a whimper. I cocked my head, straining to hear a sound. Nothing. Looking back up at the tree, I saw the squirrel had disappeared, and on the same bough, a hawk now sat.
    Motionless, the hawk stared down at me. A second later, with unbelievable grace, he launched himself airborne. He circled twice above my head and then flew in the direction of the fence. The hawk circled again. This time directly over the hole in the fence.
    I couldn't shake the impression he wanted me to follow—through the fence. Without a second thought, I did—I squirmed right through the break. So much for common sense
.
    I walked deeper into the woods, occasionally glancing up at the hawk flying in the sky above me. The trees grew thicker together in this section of the forest, blocking more and more of the sun the farther I walked. The air seemed to thicken, too, and the birch trees no longer rattled. Again I glanced up, looking for the hawk, but he'd vanished.
    Thanks a lot. You lead me here, and then you disappear, I thought while my eyes scanned the branches above me for a sign of the hawk.
    Head tilted back, I walked along, still searching the branches for the bird. A shock, as if I'd touched an electric fence, stopped me. Jerking around, I