Secrets of a Midlife Witch (The Bearsden Witch #1)

by J.C. Yeamans

“The altar is still set up for Lammas, also called Lughnasadh,”

“Your eyes have a unique coloring.”

“Eldritch eyes.”

“Aye, it means eerie, odd.” Archie leans back and sets up the checkers on the board. “Historically, it comes from the Middle English word elfriche meaning fairyland.”

I’m paralyzed by the picture on my screen. It resembles the image I saw on the tree trunk in my backyard.

The frightening Sluagh uses the raven shadow as a host fairy, and some folklore calls it the Host of the Unforgiven Dead.

“Amethyst crystals aid in psychic abilities, and this yellow citrine quartz helps in the remembrance of dreams. We use the rose quartz for healing in the home or when suffering a significant loss in your life.”

“Oh, the clear crystal!” Shane exclaims with a clap. “This is the most important one you can own. It boosts the powers of everything else you’re using.

It’s great for protection spells. The malachite provides protection, too. Carry

it

with you to help sense danger. The white one is Moonstone. You can use it in place of some others, but it aids in recallin...

I share the phenomena surrounding the hawthorn tree—the growling, the foul smell, and the arm-like movement of the branches.

“It happened the night I fell at the Old Men oak trees. There was a putrid smell that night and right before I fell, I imagined the limb of a tree swiping

my legs. But now, it seems very real to me. And the next day, they found the dead body there.”

Now, I’m inclined to believe it’s an Unseelie, trying to cross over. Specifically, I think it’s a Sluagh, known to use trees and other objects as a host.

“Most know it by the name Host of the Unforgiven Dead. It would require

the invitation of an ancestral witch working alone. A coven would never call on a Sluagh.”

“The damn thing was terrifying,” Skye says. “An enormous shadow of a raven with a gnarled face!”

know of no time an Unseelie has crossed over in my lifetime, and it’s disconcerting the Sluagh is trying now.”

If the Host of the Unforgiven Dead crosses over, it will be difficult to obscure. We may need the help of witches from other covens in the county.”

The threat of the Sluagh brings seriousness to our witch training at Leslie’s house.

“How the hell can you be so relaxed about the murders? Archie told me I shook all night in my sleep.”

“So sorry you had to view the body. I didn’t even hear about it until we got back last night.

“It was horrible. I looked at that man’s missing eye and nearly threw up. A memory replayed in my head

of Richard’s body after the crash.

It’s Archie. Their research at the Old Men oaks has shown no evidence of its use as a host by the Sluagh.

we now have evidence the Host of the Unforgiven Dead has crossed over into our world,”

“We must discern two things. How did the Sluagh cross over? And how can we find it and send it back, or kill it?”

“Stories of the Sluagh passed down through my family for hundreds of years,”

We know the Sluagh can reach into our world through a host tree but cannot pass through in that fashion, and it can hide in a host tree to safeguard itself once it’s here.

It needed a portal to cro...

had to be summoned by...

“With the Celestial Gardens having some sort of portal, we have more important reasons to keep Mitchell Hall from becoming a parking lot.

need your help. We’ve done a good job keeping tabs on the shelter residents except for one—Sebastian. He hasn’t shown this week, and I’m worried.”

With this Sluagh flying around and hiding wherever the hell it is, I’ve got a bad feeling.”

Where is the Sluagh? How big is it? How does it lift a human body when it takes the form of a shadow? And why in the hell does it caw AND growl? Dog envy?

live according to The Ethics of Happiness. It’s Aristotle. Happiness is what we strive for, but it’s not a means to an end. To get there, we must be rational, smart, and good people and become creatures of habit, doing these things rationally and of our own free

will.

we got bigger problems than the city council’s corruption right now. The Bearsden Police found a fourth body in a back alley behind

one of the campus buildings.”

“Elijah identified the body, crushed and both eyes missing. It’s Sebastian.”

“I may know something about the Sluagh. I think I know where it’s hiding.”

“I have something to share. I think I may know where the Sluagh is hiding.”

“It’s using the hawthorn tree in the Celestial Gardens.”

“Trinity, she’s certain because she’s been there since you examined the area. I’m correct, am I not?”

couldn’t allow her to be alone in case the Sluagh returned. It was the night I found

out there may be a presence in the tree.”

Without Gwyn’s return to the gardens, we could have searched for weeks trying to discover the Sluagh’s host while more community members lost their lives.”

“The Sluagh’s choice of the hawthorn tree as a permanent host aligns with the lore,”

“But it still doesn’t explain how it ...