A week after the white stone, Mike O'Donnel finds a second offering tied to the middle willow with a length of red thread: a sprig of rowan — the mountain ash, his late mother's charm against ill will and the wandering dead. He hasn't seen one since the year she died. Someone has carried it a long way to leave it here. Chapter 2 of The Three Weeping Willows of Little Gap — "The Sprig of the Mountain Ash." Ruthie comes over with the Thursday groceries and the kind of love that won't let a man hide; the willows keep their counsel; and Mike picks up the phone to call the one person who'll know how to look. A serialized gothic mystery by Wallace Thorne. New chapters released regularly — subscribe to follow the story from the beginning.