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the mainland.”
    Kevin whistled softly. “So we’re talking a thousand years ago?”
    “Yes. There was blood everywhere. I couldn’t tell if it was real or part of the vision. And there was a man. I-I think he saw me. He reached out and then I was gone.” I shuddered, thinking about it again. It would be a while before I forgot that vision.
    Someone knocked at the front door. My real life came rushing back to me. How long had I been out? We needed to go on to the next party.
    Gramps and Mary Catherine were at the door.
    “Are you okay, honey?” Gramps hurried into the room to sit beside me.
    “I’m fine.” I tried to smile and hoped he’d believe it. He knew almost as much as Kevin in how to deal with the problem after living with two women who had similar gifts for so many years.
    He hugged me. “What was Jake thinking doing something like that? I knew something was wrong with him when I saw him earlier. He’s losing it. You can’t see him anymore, Dae.”
    It was so reminiscent of my childhood that I laughed. “You know I’m too old for you to decide who I can and can’t see, right?”
    “You’re not that old. You’ll never be that old.” He kissed my forehead. “What a night. What does a man have to do to get a drink around here?”
    “Come into my bar,” Kevin joked. “I think I can help with that. I could use one too. Mary Catherine?”
    “No thanks,” she said.
    “What about the next party?” I asked. “We’re going to be late.”
    Gramps patted my hand as he got up to follow Kevin. “I’m sorry, honey. You missed it all. I told everyone you had too much to drink and passed out. They understood.”
    “What?”
    He laughed. “I just told them you weren’t feeling well. Everyone knows you’ve been through a lot the last few weeks. They understood. You just get some rest and then we’ll go home.”
    When they were in the old bar, Mary Catherine sat close to me. “What happened, Dae?”
    I told her everything I’d seen and understood from the vision.
    “No wonder the animals are so upset.” She shook her head. “Excavating this site is going to bring out these demon horses. Now I understand.”
    “I don’t know.” I searched my memory. “I think so. It seems impossible. At some point, everything was destroyed or buried to prevent it from happening again. I can only guess that the energy surrounding the site is still enough to bring them back.”
    “That doesn’t sound good. What can we do to stop it?”
    I thought about the man who’d reached out to me. He was involved in what had happened all those centuries ago, but I wasn’t sure how. “I think there’s a ritual of some kind that has to be performed. It’s not enough just to dig them up again. We might be safe as long as no one performs the ritual. If they do—”
    “Put it behind you,” Mary Catherine said. “It won’t help to dwell on it. You know the truth now. We just have to figure out what to do.”
    “We have to stop the excavation.” That part was very clear to me. “I don’t know how we’ll do it. If it was happening in Duck, we could just change the zoning or rescind their permit. With it being in Corolla, I’m not sure.”
    “I don’t think you should worry about it tonight,” she said. “You need to clear your mind.”
    I took a deep breath. “I guess the animals didn’t understand what was wrong, but they knew it was something bad.”
    “Are you channeling animals now?” Kevin asked as he and Gramps returned to the lobby.
    “No. That’s my thing.” Mary Catherine smiled. “I talk to animals. That’s why I’m here. All the wild horses are concerned. I’m sure it’s a race memory. They’ve carried the terrible secret of the horse cult, fearful that it could happen again.”
    Kevin sat down. “That’s right. You’re the pet psychic.”
    “Yes. But I find that wild animals are just as chatty. Am I stretching your comfort zone?”
    “No. The government has been working on