‘Go,’ I urged, wincing inside with every word. ‘You don’t want to let her down.’

He leaned towards me again and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me on the cheek. His face hovered near mine and his musky, male scent tickled my nostrils. I stared into the depths of his emerald-green eyes and licked my lips. ‘I’m sorry about the false accusations,’ he said. ‘And the … sleeping bags.’

‘Like I said,’ I told him, ‘we’re fine.’

He grinned, his gold hair flopping over his forehead, then he pulled back leaving me ridiculously disappointed. As I watched, he turned and jogged away.

I covered my eyes with my hand. ‘Oh no,’ I moaned.

‘Did you do it?’ Lexie asked. ‘Did you steal his Gift?’

My shoulders slumped. ‘I’m afraid to check.’

Brochan walked over and held out a leaf. He let it go and it fluttered to the ground. ‘Try.’

‘How are you feeling, Brochan? That Sidhe hit you with a hell of a wallop…’

‘I’m fine. Try to lift the leaf, Tegs.’

I sighed, looked down and concentrated. It didn’t take long: three or four heartbeats of focus and the leaf moved upwards.

‘Can you levitate at the same time?’

I tried. Sweat popped out across my brow but it was no use. ‘I think the levitation has gone.’

‘We’ll have to experiment with multi-tasking next time,’ Taylor said.

I drew in a sharp breath. ‘Don’t you get it? I just stole from Byron! I told him I wasn’t a thief and I wasn’t going to steal from anyone and he believed me! And then I did just that! Not only that, but I took his buggering Gift. What if he needs it? What if he notices?’ My shoulders slumped. ‘This is shite.’

‘You didn’t mean to take it,’ Lexie pointed out.

‘And,’ Speck added, ‘it’s a pretty cool Gift.’

Lexie glared at him. ‘I’m still not done with you yet.’

He threw up his arms. ‘That’s not fair! I saved you from being zapped like Brochan.’

‘At least I was trying to help Brochan, you geeky warlock. What were you doing?’

The merman interrupted them both. ‘Stop it. Aren’t we forgetting something? If that necklace isn’t in here, where is it and who took it?’

There was a rustle of leaves from across the path and the Wild Man appeared. Seeing our shocked faces, he grinned. ‘Really? Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you spying on me this morning?’

Uh oh. I tried to stay calm. ‘Why didn’t you say anything at the time?’

He gave an amiable shrug. ‘Tip would only get flustered. It’s easier this way.’ He reached into a pocket and pulled out Chieftain MacBain’s silver and pearl necklace.

‘Where did you get that from?’ I asked.

The Wild Man jerked his head towards the cabin. ‘In there. In a backpack’

‘I didn’t steal it!’ Speck babbled. ‘I promise! Sir…’

The Wild Man continued to smile. ‘Call me Candy.’ He nodded at me. ‘Nice to see you again.’