May curses and growls as she scrubs scarlet hair dye from the downstairs sink in Owen’s unwanted house. She’d volunteered to stay in Ferenbrooke to arrange selling the house, though that was proving to be harder than she’d thought. Every estate agent that had looked at the house had met with some sort of accident within a few days, prospective buyers would invariably meet some circumstance that prevented a viewing. It was as though the house didn’t want to be sold.
Curiously, May felt relieved by this, in a way. Something about staying in this town made her feel…not more alive, but certainly more awake, more focused. She’d been reading a blog called Freaky Ferenbrooke which she discovered while researching more into the weirdness of the town. Though it’s impossible to say how much of the blog’s content was accurate, and of that how much involved the secret society that Owen’s father had been a member of, May can’t put it down. There’s something bigger going on, and she wants to know more.
Her phone buzzes. Owen.
‘Hey, how are things? Still slipping into Welsh?’
‘Weithiau,’ Owen says, chuckling. ‘Not too bad, though. Any bites on the house?’
‘Nothing concrete, unfortunately.’
‘Do you think maybe you should take a break? Get out of that town? I don’t like the thought of you being there without anyone you know.’’
‘Actually,’ May takes a breath. She’s been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now, it’s time to raise it. ‘This feels like exactly where I’m supposed to be. I was wondering actually, since this place is proving impossible to shift, maybe you’d consider renting it to me? I’m between places anyway, and between jobs for that matter.’
Owen pauses. Slowly, he says, ‘If you’re sure that’s what you want. But you don’t have to worry about paying rent. Not like there’s a mortgage to pay or anything.’
‘No, I’ll pay you. Uh…just give me a chance to find a job, first.’
‘Okay, no problem. I guess we’ll take it off the market, then.’
‘Thanks, Owen. I’ll take care of the place.’
‘I really don’t give a shit if it burns to the ground.’
May grunts, nodding to herself. Of course Owen feels that way, that’s perfectly natural. In fact, it’s a little strange that he isn’t raising more of a fuss.
‘Do me a favour though,’ Owen says, ‘and let me know if you come across anything strange. Don’t get yourself in trouble, call me if things get…’
May cuts him off. ‘Yeah, yeah, any cults or experiments or anything like that and I’ll be on the first train back to sanity. Don’t worry. I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.’
‘I know. I love you.’
‘Love you too. Speak tomorrow?’
‘Yeah, call me after six.’
May hangs up and stares at her phone for a moment. She rifles through her mental Rolodex of acquaintances back home. She can’t think of anyone that would miss her greatly, anyone who would need a goodbye call.
So that’s that. She lives in Ferenbrooke now. With a secret society of black magicians on the loose.
She pulls up the blog she’d found earlier, thumbs her way to the contacts page. Perhaps this person could tell her more about the Society. Perhaps she’d like to know a little about what May, Owen, and Martin had experienced in that doctor’s office.