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and a trust fund and supposedly wicked magical powers. Sounds good, right?”
    It sounded great. “What’s the catch?” Lilith knew there had to be one.
    “Well, there’s a curse involved, isn’t there?” Sharon looked at Marion in triumph.
    “I knew it was too good to be true.” Lilith laughed and clinked champagne glasses with Sharon.
    “Yes, there is a curse,” Marion said. “And the new wyrding woman’s only task will be to find a way to break it.”
    “What’s the curse?”
    “No one knows.”
    “You did not just say that.”
    “Makes it difficult to break,” Sharon said.
    Marion didn’t laugh. “It must have to do with the interference in the county atmosphere. We can’t get wireless internet or a mobile signal. Aircraft with high-tech circuitry fly over at their peril.”
    That explained the steam locomotive.
    “Atmospheric conditions are screwed,” Sharon said, “but by metallurgy, not magic. Everywhere in Dumnos the iron ore gives off an intense kind of static. That’s what disrupts the wireless. It makes great steel, though. You’ve heard of Dumnos Clad?”
    “Best cookware in the world,” Lilith said, “though too expensive for mere mortals. Well, too expensive for me. But I do possess an old stock pot I inherited from my mother. She called it her cauldron.” She sighed at the strange looks from Marion and Sharon. This was her mother’s legacy, a homemade necklace and a fantastic pot. “Is the Dumnos Clad factory near the inn?”
    “No longer,” Sharon said. “They moved to Christminster. They needed to be online to manage the supply chain and order fulfillment. Even payroll is done on the internet now.”
    “Sharon works at the factory,” Marion said. “Dumnos lost a lot of people when the Clad left.”
    One of the laptop ladies asked loudly for another bottle of champagne. They were in a holiday mood. That was it, Lilith realized. There was no mystery here, no curse. The Handover was a gimmick to draw tourists. Like picking a child out of the crowd at Disneyland to pull the sword from the stone. The “wyrding woman” would choose a local actor for the honor—or the mayor’s daughter—with none the wiser. Very clever.
    “Elyse has had Moo bamboozled forever,” Sharon said. “She takes advantage. Gets her to run errands and play along with her schemes.”
    “I know what I know,” Marion said. “And this Handover has been good for the village. Cade was right about that.”
    “Cade is always right about everything,” Sharon said as she looked out the window. “Oh, goody. We’re out of Dumnos.” She moved across the aisle again and pulled her cell phone out of her backpack. She talked with Jimmy until the train stopped.
    “This is me.” She threw her backpack over her shoulder and winked at Lilith. “Don’t let Elyse choose you. You wouldn’t fancy a snogless life battling ghosts in a damp old cottage at the edge of nowhere.” She kissed Marion’s cheek. “Tell Dad hi for me, Moo. We’ll see you Saturday.”
    She fairly skipped up the aisle to the exit and reappeared outside on the platform, her face alight with joy. She leapt into the arms of a young man, wrapping her legs around his waist. The two locked in a passionate kiss as the train pulled away.
    “My husband’s daughter,” Marion said. “Tintagos Village isn’t smart enough for her. She loves her broadband and her mobile.”
    And loves Jimmy too, Lilith thought. She’d seen the movie Wimbledon . She knew what snogging was. Sharon was right; Lilith didn’t fancy a snogless life in a damp cottage. She didn’t fancy the snogless life she already had in the dry desert.
    Marion picked up her knitting, and Lilith leaned back to watch the world go by. Soon they were back in Dumnos County—at least, that’s what she assumed when the laptop ladies uttered frustrated sighs and put away their computers. Again farms and flocks of sheep alternated with postcard villages. The repeating view and the