“I’m glad to hear it,” said Sister Madeleine. Couldn’t she tell the girl was lying? “But if you ever need to talk, sometimes an adult can lend a different perspective than someone your own age, even a good friend.” She paused. “Like Emma.”

Ava went as red as an anemone and wrung her hands—a sign of agitation. Even though Sister Madeleine’s words and tone were kind, they seemed to upset the girl. There were so many human codes and quirks Hæra would never understand.

“Yes, Sister,” Ava whispered. “Are you…” Her voice dropped so low that Hæra couldn’t hear the end of the sentence.

Sister Madeleine shook her head. “I don’t think Sister Agnes needs to know about this conversation unless you want to tell her. Do you?”

“No! That is, no, Sister, I don’t want to. Um. Thanks for listening to me. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Just put your trust in God, and all will be well.” Sister Madeleine patted Ava’s shoulder. “Now let’s get back to the others. This sea breeze isn’t exactly keeping us warm, even with the sun coming out.”

Oh no. They were leaving? Hæra should have foreseen it. Of course they wouldn’t stay on the beach until nightfall, when it would be easier to lure someone into the water without being seen.

Not that Hæra knew for sure if she wanted to lure anyone. Not that she had decided⁠—

Sister Madeleine looked out again toward the sea. At that moment, the wind changed and carried her scent in Hæra’s direction. Hæra couldn’t help herself: she lifted her nose out of the water just enough to sniff.

Then she nearly poked out her entire head. She must be imagining things. Nothing could smell that good, that pure, that…intoxicating, as if Hæra had just chewed on a stalk of the special seaweed reserved for the Sire’s grotto.

Did all humans smell like this? No, they couldn’t. Otherwise, they’d be the regular prey of the Each-uisge, for who could resist such a mouthwatering scent? As it was, within the last two generations, the herd had been forbidden from eating humans except for the Stormhorse trial. They’d been too careless before, and besides, there was much tastier food out there.

But at the moment, Hæra couldn’t imagine any more toothsome fare than this.

“Build your soul’s foundation on rock, like Scripture tells us to.” Sister Madeleine looked down at the beach. “If you build it on sand, all will be washed away. Rock endures forever, like the standing stones we’ve just been looking at.”