CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
JEREMY GOT UP and went downstairs to make coffee. Claire heard him and joined him in the kitchen.
“Hey," she said.
“Hey.”
She walked over and put her hand on his back. “How are you doing this morning?” she asked.
“Pretty shitty,” he said. He turned around to face her. “I can’t believe he’s gone, but I don’t even feel like I can actually grieve. I am too freaked out about the idea that someone is out there killing people.”
“I know. That thought sucked me out of my grieving a bit too," she said. “Snapped me out of the rut I have been in though. I know I can’t just sit around and let this happen to us.”
“Yeah," he said.
“It sounds bad, but it has actually given me something to focus on. Isn't that horrible?” she asked.
“It isn't horrible," he said. “I know what you mean.” He looked over at the clock. “We only have a little bit before everyone is here. What exactly is your game-plan?”
“Well, we can do some good old fashioned stuff today.” She smiled. “Nothing fancy. No scripts. Just using good old elements and our intentions. We need to shield the house too, but we can’t do that today.”
“I hope we have enough of what we need to cover the cottage and all of our houses," he said.
“We should have done some of this last night," she said.
“I know. We were kind of out of it though.” He started walking out of the kitchen. “I need to go get dressed. We can take care of our place tonight.”
“Okay," Claire said. “Hey Jer?”
He stopped and turned to look at her. “Yeah?”
“Can I do anything for you? Are you going to be okay at the shop today?”
“I'll be okay. I have stuff I need to focus on and I will be too busy to be sad about any of this right now. Plus Olivia will be coming by to keep an eye on me.”
“Are you going to get the camera’s fixed?” she asked.
He sighed. “Yeah I’ll try to call the company today.”
“I really can’t lose you Jeremy," she said.
“I know," he said and smirked at her. “You know cameras won’t save me Claire.”
“No. But they’d help the cops find the killers," she said.
“Hopefully they will be found before we have to worry about that anyway," he said. He walked up the stairs and she heard him knocking around in his dresser drawers.
She poured herself some coffee and remembered the new girl was coming along today. That was going to be interesting. The coven didn’t usually do things involving too much magic when the uninitiated were around. Not with them knowing it at least. Then again they had never met anyone who had dreams about being in their coven. And Jeremy was right, she did feel familiar. That part was fairly normal, though. She found that she felt more comfortable than usual around people that were witches, or people that would end up being witches at some point. But she had noticed a bit of a spark when they hugged last night. Thinking of that made her remember that she sensed sexual tension from Emily the night before, but was unsure who it was about. Was she gay? she wondered. Was it her she had feelings for?
“Hey Jeremy!” she yelled up the stairs.
“What!?” he replied.
“Do you know if Emily is gay?” she asked.
He popped his head out of his room and looked down the stairs at Claire. “Uh, yeah she is actually. Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering," she said.
He walked down the stairs and looked at her curiously. “Why were you wondering?” he asked. “Are you interested in her?”
Claire hadn’t usually expressed interest in women. She had some relationships with women in the past, but she wasn’t the kind of person that checked out women and went seeking them out. She didn't seek out anyone really. People came to her and she either accepted their advances or she didn’t.
“Me?” she said, surprised. “No. I just got a vibe off of her last night, and I was wondering who she has a thing for.”
“Well it isn’t me," Jeremy said.
“It doesn't matter anyway," Claire said. “She can’t be in a relationship with any of us. We should probably try to find a way to tactfully bring that up with her before she gets too attached to the idea.”
“What do you mean she can’t be in a relationship with any of us?” he asked.
“You know what happens. It just invites drama, and then the couple breaks up, and then you end up losing one of the people if not both of them," she said.
“We don’t have like, a rule though," he said. “I know a lot of couples who are in covens and it works great. Sex magic works wonders you know," he said and poked her with his elbow.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah they’re fine now until they break up and it all goes to shit," she said. “I swear we have talked about this.” She knew they had talked about this because Jeremy had a crush on Olivia when she first joined the group. He got over it because it was inappropriate for his position in the coven, but Claire argued that any relationship at all would be inappropriate, no matter the power structure.
“No, we haven’t," he said. “Because if we had, I would have told you that I don’t have a problem with it as long as there are clear boundaries in place. And an exit plan.”
“Okay. We don’t have time to talk about this right now," Claire said, annoyed. He always did this. He was too lenient and easygoing with the coven sometimes, and it bugged the daylights out of her. “We do need to discuss it later, though. And we need to think of some way to bring it up to her. Like I said, I don’t want her getting too attached.”
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to bring up. Unless we need to talk about relationship rules in the coven.” He smiled and jumped up the stairs before she could respond.
Claire looked at the clock and it was 7:48am. “Fuck," she said. She choked down the rest of her coffee and gagged. She then ran upstairs to get dressed and brush her teeth before the group arrived.
Jeremy looked at the house, and he couldn’t pin down exactly what he was feeling. He felt a raw sadness at the thought of never seeing Sheff walk through the doors again. He felt pressure knowing that it was very likely that this would all end up as his responsibility. That also gave him pride, which made him feel guilty. He shouldn’t feel any kind of positive feelings right now, and no matter how much pride was regarded as a sin, he personally believed it was a positive feeling. He had been waiting for this day with a kind of dread, and he had no idea that this was how it was going to come. He also wasn’t very sure he had any idea what he was supposed to do. Maybe the new owner would edge him out and it wouldn’t matter anyway. Maybe he’d even be out of a job.
He unlocked the door and led them all inside. He stopped before closing the door behind him, and turned around to look at the street. He felt like they were being watched, which was hard to pick up since he had the kind of personality that sucked people in and asked for attention. But that moment was just silent enough in his mind that it slid though. Someone is watching me. He took a good look up and down the block, searching for anyone suspicious. He closed the door and locked it.
“Maybe the shop should be closed today," Jeremy said.
“Can you do that?” Claire asked.
“I think so. I would need to call Louise and see what the plan is. I don’t know if I am supposed to run the business like usual, or what," he said. “I think it would make sense to close out of respect for Sheff. To mourn him. But I think it would be a good idea for the safety of the community.”
“The safety of the community?” Tanner asked. “What do you mean?”
“Sheff was killed because he owned this place," he said. “I mean, that’s what we’re assuming, right?”
“Yes," Claire said.
“I had the feeling we were being watched when we got here. I'm worried that anyone who comes here might be a target.”
“That would make sense,
" Tanner said. “Anybody who has been here could be in danger.”
Allison walked over to the front window and looked outside. “I don’t see anyone," she said.
“This was Sheff’s place," Jeremy said. “I’m sure it's a safe bet that the killer was scouting here.”
“Come back from the window," Claire said. “Just because you don’t see anyone doesn't mean there isn’t someone there.” She looked at Jeremy. “So what do you want to do?”
“Even if you close up for the day, people still have to come here and see that it is closed. If it’s being watched the customers will be seen then. And they probably have a good roster of customers already if they have watched the store for any amount of time," Tanner said.
“Safety aside, should the store be closed for Sheff?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know," Jeremy said. He sat down at the counter and looked around at the dark store. He felt like he was going to cry, and he held back the tears. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You said his sister called you?” Emily chimed in. “If she didn’t have immediate instructions for you, maybe you should just try to run everything like usual until you’re told otherwise.” She suddenly felt very awkward for speaking up. Even more so when nobody replied. She continued. “I think when you’re grieving someone it might make things easier if you have less to think about. Maybe just doing what you always do will help, and it’s one less thing to think about right now.”
“She’s right," Claire said.
Emily felt a smile coming on and she stopped it. She didn’t want to appear happy in any way right now.
“You don’t need to add anything to your plate,” Emily told Jeremy. “Why don’t you just do your thing, and we will do ours.”
“Okay," he said.
“Oh, and make that call about the cameras.”
He put his thumb up at her, but didn’t look up.
“Thanks," Claire told Emily. She put her hand on Emily’s shoulder and felt a charge of energy.
Emily felt a warm feeling rush through her body from the inside of her stomach out. She inhaled sharply. Claire pulled her hand away and looked Emily in the eyes.
“Hmm," Claire said.
“What?” Emily asked, nervously.
“Did you feel that?” Claire asked.
“I’m not sure," Emily said. “What did you feel?”
“Can we get started?” Allison said, giving Claire a curious look.
“Okay. Allison, you grab some salt, hyssop, wolf’s bane, carob, and lady’s slipper,” Claire said.
“On it,” Allison said.
“Tanner, can you grab some chalk and put this above every door and window?” Claire handed Tanner a piece of paper with three sigils drawn on it.
“Yes.” He looked around the room. “Where’s the chalk?” Tanner asked.
“Here.” Jeremy handed him a piece of chalk from behind the counter.
“Can I ask why this isn’t already done here, at the shop?” Emily said. The group turned to her questioningly. Again she felt like she was overstepping her bounds and tried to clarify. “Sorry, that’s probably a stupid question. I'm just wondering why you don’t do this protection stuff all the time. For anywhere you go.”
“The thing about magic,” Tanner said. “Is that it needs a specific purpose. You can do regular run of the mill protection magic for generic purposes, but even then it needs to be refreshed every so often.”
“Okay, I see," Emily said.
“What we are doing today is going to be as specific as we can get," Claire said. “We don’t know who we are protecting ourselves from exactly , but we feel that we have an active threat. That changes things.”
“The shop has some charms and things in place that we freshen up from time to time," Jeremy said. “But this is an extra level of security.”
“That makes sense," Emily said. “Like I said, it was a stupid question.”
“No, not at all," Tanner said. His voice was friendly even though his expression was blank. Emily was starting to see how serious his personality was.
“So, how can I help?” Emily asked.
Claire wasn’t sure how to answer. “Jeremy, what do you think?”
“Why don’t you just watch what the three of them are doing and see if you notice any changes.”
“Changes with what?” she asked.
“Changes in how you feel, what you see, how the building and space looks or feels. Anything really," he said.
Emily felt disappointed. “Okay," she said. She wasn’t sure why she came then. He said she could help, but now she was just going to be an observer.
Jeremy saw the look of disappointment on her face and he felt a little guilty that he told her she could help out, knowing all along she couldn’t.
“Maybe if you pick up on anything you can help at the next one.”
He did have a feeling that she was going to pick up a few things, and it would be a good gauge for how she was going to come along in the coven. He wanted her in the coven as soon as possible. He had seen it already, in her dream, and he felt like it was inevitable. What he had experienced with her led him to believe she had some abilities already, and it was just going to be a matter of teaching her how to harness them. He would also have to convince Claire to initiate her earlier than usual, if she was going to be of any help with the current situation.
“There isn’t much you can do right now without any knowledge of what we are actually doing," Claire said. “So I guess this is more of a tag along, internship kind of field trip.” She smiled at her and gave Jeremy an irritated glance. She knew he had an ulterior motive for having Emily come along. She knew there was nothing she could actually help with, and her coming here with them could just be putting her in danger. But Jeremy had just lost Sheff, and he had held it together for her when June was killed. She needed to give him the space to do what he wanted, just like he had for her. He had been giving her space for too long now, and she knew it. Her flings with strangers, and her lack of focus on anything of actual substance in her life. If he saw this woman in the coven, she needed to try and trust whatever his plan was. She wasn’t sure she could trust what she was feeling right now, however. She felt like Emily had feelings for her and to make matters worse, she felt the connection between them when they touched. This made Claire feel nervous and conflicted. And she had to focus on the coven right now. Not drama that hasn’t even happened yet.
Emily watched Allison and Claire divide up some of the materials that Allison had gathered, and mix them together in a stone bowl. They closed their eyes and whispered words while Claire mixed, and Emily couldn’t make out what they were saying. She turned her attention to Tanner, who was standing on a chair and drawing the symbols Claire gave him on the wall above the front door. Jeremy walked around the store performing various tasks that seemed to be his usual routine for opening the shop. Claire finished mixing, and she held a match up to a small black stone. It lit and sizzled, and Emily realized it was a piece of charcoal. She placed it in a metal dish with a handle, and poured some of the concoction she just mixed on top. Smoke rose and began to fill the room. Claire continued to mouth words and started to walk around the room. She held the incense up to each corner of every window and door, and walked through every part of the store. Allison took white powder and began to line the walls and doorways with it.
“Is that salt?” Emily asked. The women ignored her question and Jeremy answered her.
“Yes," he said. He was trying to get the shop ready to open, but he was paying close attention to Emily as well. All around her things were happening that were very obvious to him and the coven, and he was anxious to see if she could sense any of it.
The smell that filled the space was new to Emily, but hints of the scent reminded her of her dream. Some of the ingredients they used to make the incense must be what they use at their house. She was starting to try to put the pieces together and make sense out of the little bits of information she h
ad. If she wasn’t going to be initiated any time soon, she at least wanted to learn as much as possible until that time came. She watched them all work and tried to do what Jeremy told her to do. Tried to see if she noticed anything. She concentrated on Tanner, and watched the symbols take shape on the walls under his chalk. She squinted, trying to see more. She tried to look through him, like she would look at the old magic eye pictures that hid images inside of them. She could never see the hidden image, and right now she couldn’t see any more either. She looked over to Allison as she lined the doorways with salt. She was still mouthing unknown words. Emily watched the line of salt form, and for a moment she thought she saw a white glow rise above the salt. She blinked and looked again, focusing her eyes, thinking it must be the dust from the salt being poured. The glow was gone. She shifted her gaze to Claire, and for a moment she was lost in how beautiful she looked. Her hair hanging down, watching the smoke rise from the incense as she walked around the store. Emily took a deep breath and felt disappointed. Maybe she was distracted by Claire. Maybe she wasn’t a witch like they said she was. Maybe none of them were. Maybe she was just standing in a building with legitimately crazy people, and she needed to leave before she was killed by the crazy person who might be hunting them. But even if they weren’t what they said they were, what about her dreams? Were they just a coincidence?
When Witches Wake Page 11
