Madeleine’s heart thumped unpleasantly. Hæra was supernaturally strong, but she wasn’t proof against a lightning bolt. She hadn’t said where she was going or how long it would take for her to return. She’d left on the Gator, which could easily get stuck. Or, given how Hæra drove, it could turn right over.

Madeleine pulled out her phone. She’d call. Cell reception on Jorsay wasn’t the best, but she had to try.

No bars. Madeleine stared at the display. No reception? The storm must have taken out a tower somewhere.

“Shoot,” she muttered as she hurried to the kitchen. The landline phone was mounted to the wall by the back door. She couldn’t reach Hæra’s cell, but she could at least call the house, where Hæra might be taking shelter instead. If not, Jonathan would pick up, and he might at least know where she’d gone.

Then, as Madeleine was only a few feet away from the phone, the power went out.

The cottage darkened. The rattling radiator quieted. The only sound came from the wind, rain, and thunder. Madeleine didn’t have the fire going yet, and there was no light source.

If this was what the trow’s protection brought during a storm, Madeleine hated to think how bad things would be without it. She used her phone’s flashlight to make her way to the landline without stubbing her toe on anything.

It’s only the dark, she told herself. Nothing’s here that wasn’t here before. You just can’t see it as well.

Her parents had always warned her and David that talking on the phone during a thunderstorm could get you electrocuted. She’d take the risk, she thought, as she fumbled the receiver from the cradle and held it to her ear.

As her finger hovered over the buttons, she froze. No dial tone.

That shouldn’t be. Landlines were supposed to work even during power outages. At least, they did in the US. Was it different out here? Something to do with being on an island?

Regardless, neither of her phones worked. She was stuck here alone in the dark, and she’d be an idiot to go outside in this weather just to get some company, as if she were a frightened child.

Lightning flashed. The sudden brilliance summoned her gaze to the nearest window, the one over the kitchen sink.

A gigantic horse looked back at her.

The shriek was barely out of her mouth when the lightning faded, and it was dark outside the window once more. Her heart jumped into overdrive nevertheless. She stared at the panes. Had she imagined that?

Had it been Hæra?