Saving The Spryte Child

Clayr Gilcove has quite enough to deal with at the moment. Her animal grooming business is BOOMING, thanks in no small part to skunks, her niece who is BRILLIANT, but way too smart for her own good, and her sister who is AMAZING but flaky. Really, really flaky.

Welcome to the world of the Gilcove family. The Gilcove women are Stellas, humans who possess more than five senses. They are mind readers, intention readers, and empaths who care for their fellow Stellas—and the Quints (people with only five senses) in their community who appreciate their gifts. The Gilcoves do their best to help people who come to them for animal or human healing, and try to stay out of the way of the few Quints who really want to drive the Stellas, if not out of existence at least out of town.

Clayr likes animals, especially because they’re not people. Her gift of intention reading makes dealing with humans really difficult—they plan one thing and do another, and generally are impossible to trust. Her powers as a reader give her access to the intention of all living creatures around her, whether she wants it or not.

Then Peter Cohen stops by her shop.