A Coven in Essex County | An Invitation to Tea

Below is Part 2 of 18 monthly installments for Visitant.

◄◄  Read the first installment  |  Prologue

AN INVITATION TO TEA

The weather over Innsmouth took a queer turn in the afternoon, as it was known to do. Out of the clear blue morning, clouds formed like a drop of blood in water. They rolled and bubbled from an invisible axis, striating the sky in gray. Lightning appeared before thunder, rumbling like some old, forgotten beast. Then rain dripped faster and faster in fat drops on the heads of those less dexterous citizens out on post lunch errands. The sluicing sky opened into flat slate and its slow drip became slicing sheets.

Birdie Dwyer tapped through the streets in her new Oxford heels. She was soaked to the core, and sorely wishing she had allowed time to stretch the shoes before wearing them out of doors. After a half-dozen sighs that filled…