“You’ll set the boat on fire!” Shiv shouted across the deck.

  Sirius tried to snuff out the flames he’d created but found he couldn’t and the more magic he tried to feed into the infusement to turn them off, the larger they grew.

  But, with barely the lift of a finger, Amanda did it for him. “Don’t worry, old man,” she shouted back at Shiv. “As long as I’m here, the fire won’t get out of control.” To Sirius she added, “That was better. At least you didn’t burn yourself that time.”

  They’d been practicing with the infusements ever since lunch. Fallon had given Amanda the idea when he’d asked if he could infuse some of her fire magic into an item. She had agreed as long as he made some Sirius could practice with.

  “What did you call me?” Shiv shouted.

  “I called you an old man,” she shouted back.

  “You want to come see how fast this old man moves with a sword?” he challenged.

  “Can’t, I’m busy right now,” she replied.

  He laughed and walked away.

  “I think you’ve grown on him,” remarked Sirius.

  Amanda laughed. “I doubt that.”

  “You don’t know Shiv like I do. Speaking of swords-”

  “Oh no,” Amanda groaned.

  “-it’s time for our daily lesson.”

  The next couple of days sailing flew by in a blur of relaxed afternoons and sunshine. Everyone was in a good mood. And with the chores shared among them, they each had plenty of time for whatever took their fancy, whether it be an extra flight on Ghost, a sword-fighting lesson, which Amanda found more of a workout than relaxing, a guitar jam session with Neko, or some magic practice. Once or twice they sat in the library and read, although not for very long since Amanda was really more of a learn by doing sort of a person. Sirius didn’t mind if she played a bit of guitar while he read though.

  Sometimes she’d tire of that and try to distract him in other ways. As it turned out, the library happened to be a favorite place of Sable and Fallon as well and after one particular incident, it was agreed that a sock would be placed on the door handle if the room were being used for anything other than reading.

  There was still plenty of work to get done of course, but Amanda found taking care of the horses they’d picked up in Scarlett, or helping out Bruce in the galley didn’t really feel very much like work at all. Although, for some reason pots and pans kept getting moved about and Bruce kept blaming it on the last chef, except he was dead.

  Then one day at lunch she overheard a conversation between two of the crew.

  “Bruce still thinks the galley’s haunted?”

  “Yeah, last night I put all the knives in the fridge.” The man chuckled.

  Amanda brought it up with Sirius, who was just ending his shift at the wheel of the ship.

  “Does Bruce seem stressed about it?” he asked.

  “No but he does seem to legitimately think the galley is haunted.”

  “Hmm. I’ve got an idea, but leave that for now, can you get Ghost ready and up on the deck for a flight in the next ten minutes?”

  “Sure?”

  “We’re almost at our next port but I thought just you and I could take a little detour. There’s something I want to show you up on the hill.”

  She’d have asked him more but his smile suggested that he wanted to keep it a secret for now, so she did as asked and ten minutes later she had Ghost ready to go.

  Sirius gave her a foot up and then he got on behind her. She never got tired of feeling his hands on her hips or his breath against her cheek.

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  He reached an arm past her and pointed to a tall cliff that jutted out slightly further than the others. “Over there. See that point. Can you land us on top of it?”

  She nodded and directed Ghost to fly toward it. As they got closer she noticed that there was a smooth white structure on top of the cliff. It was a lighthouse.

  She landed Ghost on the rough shingle path that led to the red front door of the lighthouse. It looked like it had been newly painted, but it was obvious that the lighthouse had been here awhile. The white stone was yellowed in need of a good wash, perhaps whoever had painted the door was planning on cleaning the stones next. There wasn’t much growing on top of the hill, only a few shrubs off to the side, down out of the direct wind. Even the light breeze that blew today could be easily felt where they stood. She wouldn’t have wanted to have been up here in bad weather.

  “It’s a lighthouse,” she remarked, wondering why it was Sirius had brought her here. It was a very pretty view, but she got the sense there was more to it than just that.

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  “It’s the lighthouse,” Sirius told her. “The one from the story I gave you.”

  “You said no one was certain which lighthouse that was,” she said as she gave it a closer look and walked around it.

  “I did, but I’m pretty certain it’s this one.”

  It was smaller than she’d imagined, but still at least three or maybe four stories tall. It was hard to tell. There were little windows, but not many, and they didn’t line up evenly with floors. It was circular the whole way around except for what looked to be one extra room sticking out at the bottom. It had a window at one end and she gave a jump to see what was inside. It looked like a small kitchen.

  Sirius followed her around the outside. “What if there had been someone living in there?” he asked after she’d done her nosy jump.

  “Well, then we probably would have knocked on the door already,” Amanda replied. While the place seemed cared for, it didn’t look lived in.

  “How do you know it’s this one?” she asked.

  “Just a feeling.”

  She looked out at the sea. They weren’t too far from a sheer drop of at least a hundred metres. “Is it weird, that when I read that story I imagined that the lighthouse was closer to the sea?”

  “What do you mean? We are by the sea.”

  She laughed because she knew that tone all too well. “I mean closer to sea level.”

  “I knew what you meant.” He came up behind her and he draped his arms around her in a warm hug.

  Despite being a sunny day, even the mild breeze across the exposed peak was starting to chill her skin and she was glad for the warmth Sirius provided.

  “Some lighthouses are down at sea level,” he told her.

  She didn’t reply. She just leaned back into him.

  For awhile they stood like that together, until the cold got to be just a bit too much. She held out as long as she could, not wanting to break free from his embrace.

  “I bet the sea level lighthouses are warmer,” she said finally.

  “Are you cold? You should have said.” He opened his coat wide and then wrapped as much of her as he could inside it and pulled her tight against him.

  She smiled. “I probably should have brought something longer sleeved. I knew better.”

  “It’s a good excuse for a hug. We will need to get going eventually though. I figured we could ride to the farm from here, the one where we’re shipping those horses to. We can meet the owner and then head down to the port together to unload the horses.”

  “It’s too bad we can’t just stay up here forever.” She could have watched the sea with Sirius’s arms wrapped around her for hours.

  “Mmm, there’s some nice walks in these hills too. Maybe we could stay an extra night.”

  “Who owns the lighthouse?” she asked.

  “Why? you want to stay in it?”

  She shook her head. “Just wondering.”

  “The farmer we’re going to see. He lives not far from here. That’s why I thought this would make a nice little detour. Anyway, shall we?”

  Sirius released her from his hug, much to Amanda’s disappointment.

  “Sure.” She nodded.

  “Do pegasi spend much time on the ground normally?” he asked as they walked along down the path beside Ghost.

  “Sure, that’s how they often graze, although part of the reason they like canyon territory is because they can reach the plants that grow in the cliffs. Their ability to glide lets them travel pretty far too and scan for food in places that are less hospitable to other species, but they’ll still run for fun and leap about, especially young pegasi. Some people say they can sleep while flying but that’s only half true really. They can doze while in the air but it’s not a proper sleep, kinda how horses can only dream when they’re lying down.”

  “Horses can only dream when they’re lying down?

  “Yeah. They only do about 20 minutes of it a day though.”

  “Explains why you never notice them lying down. Do the pegasi lie down too then?”

  Amanda nodded. She answered several more of his questions as they made their way down a winding shingle road, just wide enough for the three of them to walk side by side.

  They got a fair way down before Sirius suddenly stopped and turned to Amanda with a concerned expression. “Are you still cold? Do you want my coat?”

  She laughed. He’d gotten so distracted by the pegasi and horse talk that it was only now that he’d remembered that she’d been cold before. She shook her head. “It’s fine now we’ve been walking and are out of the wind.”

  They continued chatting. The path wound its way through some low-lying bush, and over the tops of the scrub. Amanda could make out a farmhouse not far away.

  Suddenly Ghost reared up in the air with a whinny. A moment later, he took to the sky, jerking the lead from Sirius’s loosely held grip.

  “Shit!” Sirius swore as he made a grab for it, but it was well out of his reach by the time he reacted.

  Both of them watched as Ghost flew up and away, off toward the direction of the farmhouse.

  “I’m sorry,” Sirius was already saying. “We’ll get him back.”

  But Amanda was watching Ghost. Instead of flying further out over the sea or down over the edge off the cliff like she thought he might, he landed in a paddock. And when she saw what else was in that paddock, all she could do was laugh.

  Sirius gave her a stunned look.

  She pointed. “It’s another pegasus. Your farmer has one in his field, just the one though. And a mare by the look of it.”

  Ghost had landed not far away from a white pegasus. He nickered softly, pawed at the ground, before springing into a fine dance.

  “How can you tell?” Sirius asked.

  “See how he’s posturing. That’s how they flirt.”

  He watched them awhile. “Strange creatures,” he mused.

  “We’re probably just as strange as them.”

  “Probably,” he agreed.

  “Come on.” She carried on down the hill toward a bend in the road that would lead them to the farm.

  “How come the white one doesn’t escape?” he asked as they walked, in no rush now they knew where Ghost was.

  “Pegasi are a more like cats than horses in some ways. If you provide them with food they like, then they tend to hang around a place. Some people clip the wings or put them in cages but there’s really no need most of the time.”

  “They clip the wings? Don’t they want them to fly at least some of the time?” His boots crunched stones as they walked.

  “Depending on which feathers you clip, they can still glide and even get some lift, just not as easily.” She sighed. “They do grow back too, if done right, which it isn’t always. But they like to fly, and if they’re young, it’s important they learn how.”

  “That book you gave me said it was standard practice for safety?”

  She glanced at him in surprise. “Damn!” she mumbled.

  “You didn’t read it did you?” He chuckled.

  She shook her head. “I’m not really a book reading person. Anyway, just because it’s commonly done doesn’t mean it should be,” she said in a huff. “Pegasi like to fly and you can train them to stay close. It’s nicer. If you really don’t want them flying there’s wing belts which are more temporary, and usually just while they get used to a new place.”

  He laughed.

  “What?” She frowned at him in confusion. His laughter had completely dismantled her annoyance.

  He gave her a fond look. “Nothing,” he said with a smile.

  “That’s the last time I buy you a book,” she grumbled, but she didn’t mean it and she could see from his smile that he knew that.

  They reached the farmhouse.

  “Damn, that was fast,” Amanda said, but she wasn’t talking about the walk. Ghost and his newfound mare friend were already nuzzling one another.