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Weof them

Bits of advice she’d parceled out to others over the years now haunted her own thoughts Her last drink from Ruth had made her wary She kneas her unusual aift" didn’t offer any solution

Mrs Connelly had set down a dark pint when Anne felt the first tremor of awareness at the back of her neck She looked up, scanning the corners of the pub for a sign of anything out of the ordinary

Nothing

She took a sip of beer "Thanks, Peg"

"No worries, Anne A song later?"

"Sure thing Anyone unusual around tonight?"

The older wo here and bathed unusual"

"Any bathed Kinney brother is suspicious," Anne said with a wry snize thehed "You’re not wrong"

The human left, and Anne watched the , a nized as an acoustic version of a rock song Not strictly traditional, but it fit the restless mood that wouldn’t leave her alone

"Anne!" The dru her over His wrinkled face broke into a s out the rhythm on the bodhran He nodded to the woht the dru for her to join in

She left her beer and book in the corner and went to sit next to the dru forward to sing the lyrics about a pair of brown eyes and a roving uitar and the drus The music, like the ocean, centered her, hter instead of blood Happiness and not hunger

Then Anne heard the flute dip low, and the pub quieted when they recognized theThey all kneas a favorite of hers After a few beats, the music died down and the old woman looked to Anne with a nod

She raised her voice and let the clear sound of "An Mhaighdean Mhara" fill the dark room The lonely tale of the fisherman’s mermaid bride who left hi, one hershe too could abandon the prison of her earthly life and run away to a home beyond the sea

In the end, Anne supposed she had

The unexpected ripped her throat, and a familiar curl of awareness in her blood forced her eyes to a shadowed corner of the pub

Patrick Murphy stood in the shadows, ar to life within her, Anneon

Were you born of woman