By Familiar Means Read Online Free PDF

still new and it was a little scary.Before I got to Portsmouth, I’d spent a lot of time and effort keeping my Vibe a secret, because when people found out about it they had two reactions:
    1) They wanted me to be their psychic friend and tell them all about what they should do with their lives.
    2) They just thought Annabelle Britton, the crazy artist girl, was, well, crazy.
    Jake cleared his throat. “Anyway, a place that’s haunted—I mean, that’s just far out, when it’s not yours. But we can’t bring our customers into a scene where we don’t know what’s going to happen to them. No way. So I told Miranda we were backing out of this move unless you could . . . clear it.”
    See what I mean? Reaction Number One, right there.
    â€œThere is
nothing
to clear,” said Miranda.
    â€œThen she won’t find anything.”
    They were both looking at me anxiously. I took a deep breath and pushed down my irritation. I liked these people. Plus, I was going through one of those times all freelancers dread. My usual sources of income had kind of all gone dormant at once. I needed this mural project.
    â€œAre you sure it couldn’t just be a squatter?” I asked. “I mean, the building was standing empty for a while.”
    Jake glanced at Miranda and shook his head. “We really did have to clean out the whole place top to bottom when we got in. We found a lot of stuff, but no squatters, at least not recent ones.” He sighed. “I’m sorry about dropping you in the middle of this, Anna. But, do you think you could . . . you know, have a look with the third eye or whatever it is you got?”
    I could say no. In fact, I should say no. I was only an apprentice witch. I’d been formally initiated into the coven with a lovely moonlight ceremony, but before I got my first lessons from Julia, I’d been required to take an oath (on my own wand, no less) that I would not actively practice or castany magical working without my teacher or another senior witch present. I’d gotten a pass on my shield spell, since that was for personal protection, but other than that, I was not supposed to so much as try to conjure spare change out from under the sofa cushions.
    And naturally, I didn’t want to pretend to be looking for something that couldn’t possibly be there. I knew it couldn’t be there, because there was no such thing as ghosts.
    Uh-huh.
I looked at my empty latte cup again.
You keep telling yourself that, A.B.
    On the other hand, one of the things I was supposed to do even as an apprentice witch was follow the threefold law. That is: Whatever you send out into the world comes back to you threefold. I didn’t want to be sending out more fear and uncertainty to create anger and strife between Jake and Miranda.
    And I really needed this commission.
    â€œI couldn’t promise anything,” I told them. “Not every impression I can pick up has a clear meaning or source.”
    â€œOf course, we understand, Anna,” said Miranda soothingly. “You just do your best.”
    I admit, there was something in the way she said it that stung a little. When you’re carrying around something like my Vibe, you expect disbelief, but not from someone who’s on the magic bus herself.
    I could, at this point, do one of two things. The smart thing would be to stall Jake and Miranda until I could get Julia and maybe one or two of the others here to provide magical backup and expertise.
    I did the other.
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Here goes.”
    I put my back to the door and faced the room. I reminded myself that by soaking in the Vibe I knew was filling this room, I wasn’t actually casting a spell or even performing a ceremony. The vibrations were really going on outside me. I was just a receiver station. So, no harm, no foul. Right?
    Right.
    I let out a long breath and I pictured that shimmering,