How did this square with anything? She’d thought the massive horse was a vengeful ghost. The coincidence of it standing there on the same beach from six years ago seemed too great to ignore. If it was a kelpie, why had it been trapped under a dock in the ocean instead of lurking in a loch? And why would it seem to hold a grudge against Madeleine for setting it free? Clearly, if it was a kelpie, it couldn’t have drowned, so it had nothing to accuse her of on that score.

But she’d encountered something supernatural, that was for sure.

A dark road lay ahead of her. If she walked it, she’d start thinking things like: You gave up your entire life, your community and calling, because a demon tricked you. This was all for nothing. Worse than nothing.

She wouldn’t walk it, then. Even if her time on Jorsay had wrecked her life, it had made her confront what needed confronting. She hadn’t belonged with the Daughters of Grace, and she’d known that for longer than she’d wanted to admit. Certainly before she’d visited Jorsay the first time. She just couldn’t face it until something extraordinary happened.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways” was a saying for a reason. Who was to say Madeleine wasn’t getting a divine lesson in unexpected form? The horse had listened to her and spared her life. That wouldn’t have happened if she wasn’t supposed to learn something from it and change herself for the better.

Whatever “better” looked like.

In her memory flashed Hæra’s face with its bright eyes and mysterious smile. Of course.

Maybe there was a reason for that too. Hæra had told her about a trow living under a mound in Ætlaquoy’s pastures. She hadn’t talked about it like it was nonsense. She knew the local folklore. And she was odd enough herself not to think Madeleine was crazy. Bizarrely, if Madeleine could talk to anyone about this, it would be the beautiful woman who haunted her dreams and dragged out feelings she’d repressed for decades.

You said you came here looking for answers, Hæra had told her yesterday. I’m one of them, even if we don’t know the question. Can’t you see that?

Madeleine was starting to see that, yes. For better or worse. Moreover, it seemed she wasn’t the only confused party here.

Hæra had said, “We don’t know the question.”

What a strange—and telling—way to put it. In the moment, Madeleine hadn’t exactly been focusing on pronouns. Now, Hæra’s words reverberated in her memory with astonishing clarity.