“It’s okay. Let’s just go.”
Heather shut the glass door and blinked at the bright morning. She stared at Wolf with an open mouth. “How are you not burning up?”
“It has something to do with our bond.” Loti took Wolf’s hand and he held the other out to Heather. “Come on.”
They held hands and Wolf flew straight up into the sunlight.
They landed in the middle of the clearing by the pink lotus shrine. Heather gawked at it while Loti got her bearings. Squeezing Wolf and Heather’s hands, she closed her eyes, but they flew open immediately and she dropped their hands in frustration.
“Where the hell am I going, Wolf?” How could she take them there if she didn’t know the feeling of the place? She had never been to the AWA headquarters.
Wolf frowned. “I didn’t think of that.” He blew out a breath and ran his hands through his hair. “I haven’t been to the new headquarters before.”
“What’s the problem?” Heather wrinkled her nose.
“I need to know the feeling of the place to go there.” Loti gnawed her lip.
Heather stared at Loti. “I’ve been there. Will that work?”
Loti sighed with relief and half laughed at herself. “Yes, yes. Of course.” She screwed up her face. “So stupid. Okay, okay. Close your eyes.” They all did. “Now, get a mental picture of the place and then the feel of it.”
“Huh?” Heather opened one eye.
Loti tugged on Heather’s hand. “What’s it feel like when you’re there?”
Heather frowned, but closed her eyes, attempting to picture the building with its manicured holly bushes out front and the cool, shadowed hallways. The place was sterile in an office building kind of way, like it was unlived in, stark, echoing of empty bureaucracy. It was an aloof place.
“Got it.” Loti concentrated and they were in the nadi, the sensation of racing through the tube of light as disorienting as ever.
No time passed, but it felt like forever until they stood in the lobby of the American Witches Association headquarters. Wolf glanced around, and then dropped the women’s hands and strode towards the heavy, wooden doors of the main meeting hall.
A loud commotion greeted them as Wolf threw open the double doors. All the members were on their feet milling about, some on cell phones jabbering away. In the middle at the front of the room, a ring of familiar figures held hands and chanted. Loti broke into a run and Wolf was there in a heartbeat.
“Katie,” he yelled and pushed his way between the coven members.
Loti wriggled between the irate witches and dropped to her knees next to Rachel and Katie. Katie was scary still. Wolf gathered her in his arms and whispered in her ear. He put his head to her chest, but Loti didn’t need to touch her to know. The woman’s aura was almost gone, streaming out of her head in a silvery mist, a torrent of life energy pooling in her stomach.
“She’s bleeding out,” Loti shouldered Rachel out of the way. “She’s bleeding out.”
Loti closed her eyes and put her hands on Katie’s grey head. Wolf lowered her back to the floor and gripped Loti’s waist. They merged at once, lighting up from the inside out, and a hush fell as everyone in the room held their breath.
A cosmic stillness grew inside Loti and Wolf as she tried to stop the bleeding and the flow of prana, but it was too late. Silence rang in her ears and she felt the pulse of life slow, slow until it stopped. Katie’s life force slipped from her with a silent puff that dissipated into the ether. The moment was utterly calm, quiet, still.
Then, a white light filled the meeting hall and Loti blinked at its brightness. She winced. Instead of fading like she had seen happen with Dayalananda, the light grew to a blinding radiance. Loti’s head swam in an empty whiteness and then faint shadows shuffled down a long corridor. Loti rose as two figures floated towards her. She felt Wolf’s hand on her leg and looked down. His mouth loosened in recognition and Loti quickly looked back up.
Patrick! He was smiling as approached Loti and hugged her a good long time.
“Oh, that’s a good girl. Oh, good girl.” He soothed her as she cried on his shoulder. “Shhhh, it’s okay, sweetheart.”
“No it’s not, Patrick. I couldn’t save her.” Loti looked up at her surrogate grandfather with tortured eyes.
“It’s not your purpose to save everyone.” He patted her cheek and let her go.
The other man Loti had only seen in old photographs, but Wolf knew him.
“Joe.” Wolf rose to his feet, embracing the man in silence, both of them squeezing their eyes shut.
Loti rubbed her hands over her face. “If I’m not supposed to save everyone, then what the hell am I supposed to be doing?” Her voice turned shrill. “What’s the point of being a Light Walker, then?”
She wanted to hit something, somebody. She hadn’t been able to stop Modore from killing David or Merle. She hadn’t been able to save her father and the one time she did save someone, it could cost her the man she loved. And now Katie was gone.
“What the hell is the point?”
Katie lay on the floor where Wolf had placed her and the crowd around them was frozen in various shocked stances. Not a soul moved and all eyes were riveted on the spectacle at center stage.
Heather collapsed to the ground beside Katie, sobbing. Rachel knelt on the floor next to her grandmother without an expression on her face. It was as if she didn’t see or hear anything going on around her.
“What’s the point, then?” Loti whispered, sinking to the ground next to Rachel and Heather. Wolf turned abruptly from Joe Brown to his Loti. Kneeling down, he lifted her chin.
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. He was wide open and Loti sobbed at the pure empathy. A torrent of memories rained down on her: fighting for life; losing the fight— over and over again. What was the point of all this strength? What was the point of enduring the regret?
What was the point of being this strong and this vulnerable? What was the point of the battles won, only to end up watching the ones you fought so hard to save go away, anyway? To even kill the ones you loved?
“I don’t know, darling.” He whispered in her ear. “We have to trust.” She cradled his face in her hands, pressed her forehead to his.
“I hate that.”
“I know.”
“It’s not your place, either of you, to save everyone.” Every head jerked at Katie Brown’s voice.
Her indulgent tone came from everywhere at once. She stood between Joe and Patrick, one moment not there, there the next. She radiated peace and calm and neither Joe nor Patrick registered surprise at her appearance. The three of them glowed together, warm and right, both men holding Katie’s hands.
“I’m sorry, Katie,” Wolf murmured.
“Shhh, no more of that. I was quite the brat, wasn’t I?”
Katie rippled like the surface of a pond, her grey hair morphing to a golden blonde. The wrinkles and wear eased away until her skin was smooth and creamy. Wolf’s eyes widened, then settled into a sad smile.
“Take care of her, Wolf and Loti. She’s going to need you more than she will admit.”
In a flash, the three of them were gone. The room was back to normal and the crowd stood mesmerized for another second. Wolf and Loti had a moment of silence to wonder who Katie was talking about. Rachel, maybe? Bit by bit, they twitched and cleared their throats, coughed, shuffled their feet.
Eva Magruder let out a wail that reverberated off the ceiling and around the hall. It pierced Loti’s eardrums, head and heart. Rachel, who hadn’t moved the entire time, reached down to take Katie’s hand. She paused, her pixy face contorting, and then she lifted a toile bag tied with satin ribbon. Inside were a little piece of rolled up paper and a set of platinum-looking wedding bands tied with a matching ribbon.
Wolf stiffened as his eyes locked on the Anderson’s wedding rings dangling from the white ribbon in Rachel’s hand. Loti reached out and Rachel’s wide eyes met Loti’s.
“Your
Nan’s wedding rings?”
Rachel shook her head and lifted Katie’s left hand. The wedding set was still on her finger. Rachel bit her bottom lip and fished out the paper, unrolling the tiny scroll. Her eyes roamed back and forth until she shook head, her mouth screwed up in confusion.
“It’s for you.” Her voice rasped as she gripped the rings and held out the scroll to Heather.
Heather’s face was blank with surprise. “Me?”
Heather’s hands trembled as she took the items. Glancing briefly at the rings, she set them aside. Fumbling with the little scroll that kept rolling back up, she dropped it on the floor, holding the curled ends flat with both hands. Through dripping tears, her eyes scanned back and forth. Jerking her head up, she stared at the still wailing Eva.
“Katie wrote that these belonged to my great-grandparents.” She held the rings by the ribbon, but Eva’s face was hidden in her hands. “Eva, she says my great-grandparents were Carter Bowie Magruder and Isodore Anderson Magruder, and my great-great-grandparents were Lars and Isabelle Anderson.”
Wolf settled into that eerie stillness Loti had become uncomfortably familiar with. Her chest turned cold. Lars and Isabelle. The dybbuk. Hannah. The scene played out in Loti’s mind and she covered her mouth with a hand. Eva didn’t hear Heather, as she rocked and sobbed.
Heather whispered, “She says you can explain.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Eva?” Rachel pushed herself up from the floor with obvious effort. The woman continued to cry, her face hidden in her hands. Rachel touched her shoulder and the middle-aged woman recoiled. “Evalina.”
Eva struggled to compose herself. When she lifted her head, her face was a wreck of dribbling mascara and red blotches. “The rings, Eva. What do you know about the rings?”
“Rings?” Eva’s eyes lacked focus.
“These.” Heather held the rings up higher. While some of the AWA representatives had retreated to far corners, enough lingered around the podium that Loti was beginning to feel on display.
She whispered into Wolf’s ear, “We need to either move somewhere, or get these people out.” Wolf was hunkered down in a motionless stance. He was lifeless—like a statue.
“Wolf,” Loti whispered. When he blinked and turned his eyes to Loti, she sighed. Better. “We need to get these people out of here.”
She shivered, a cold sensation biting at her bones she only got when Wolf had retreated deep inside himself. She knew it was about the rings and the Andersons, because he only ran and hid like that when it was something painful—something left unresolved in his heart. Without speaking, he rose up in that fluid way of his.
“If you would all give us some privacy. We need a moment.” His words flowed like cool, deep water through the room and everyone stopped their murmuring.
A few heads nodded, and no one protested. Belongings were gathered and the witches and wizards streamed out the main doors, as well as the side exits. Only the council members stayed behind.
“We have to call the powers that be.” Augustus Sheirling stood with his hands clasped in front of him.
The dark circles under his hollow eyes spoke to his state of mind. Loti doubted the council had rushed to Katie’s judgment and sentence, but for the life of her, she couldn’t comprehend their decision. Degaussing? How barbaric. Take away an elderly witch’s powers after she had recently gone through such a trying ordeal?
The council spokesman lowered his eyes under Wolf’s cold stare.
“Go do it, then.” If Wolf’s voice had been cold water before, it was ice now.
Augustus nodded without looking up and turned to the remaining council. They whispered among themselves, and then he turned back. “We will be in the council offices on this floor. Down the hallway—”
“We’ll find you when we need you.” Wolf’s jaw flexed.
Augustus followed the rest of the council. Eva was the only member left and all eyes were on her.
“I didn’t know she gave them to Professor Brown.” She spoke without warning. “I had no idea. I thought she took them.” Rocking, rocking. “I thought Lena took them with her.”
Heather fell back, her eyes wide. Loti’s chest suddenly ached, and she glanced from Heather to Wolf until she understood it came from both of them. Wolf ached with regret. Heather ached with fear.
It had taken a day or so and love-making before she could feel Wolf’s emotions. How’d it happen so fast with Heather? And the image of a dark room flashed in her mind—Wolf’s memory. A water-color painting of an Antebellum home—Heather’s.
The girl with braids Loti recognized as Hanna—that was Wolf. A woman with long, red hair and a constant frown—Heather, again. Dizzy, Loti wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead. The swirl of thoughts and emotions was too much.
“Lena?” Heather let Wolf pull her into his side, “That was my mother’s name.” She sucked in a breath. “Evelena MacGregor.”
Eva shook her head. “Magruder. She must have changed it when she left. She ran away. She ran away and I had to cope.” Tears splatted on her clasped hands, “She ran away. She ran away. She ran away.”
Her voice rose in a panic until Rachel knelt to put her arm around the woman. She sagged into Rachel’s arms, whimpering out her words. “I wondered and I looked, but she was gone.” She sobbed into Rachel’s shoulder, and Rachel looked up at Heather with mystified eyes.
“Who left?” She spoke to Eva but kept her eyes on Heather.
Eva sniffled and lifted her head. “My sister.” She stared at Rachel then pulled away, turning to the threesome standing over them. “Lena was my sister. I think…here.” She struggled to her feet, and Rachel stood up to help her. “Here.” She held her hand out to Heather. Heather glanced from Wolf to Loti, who closed ranks, pulling in tighter around her. Eva hesitated. “I think the rings can show us.”
“What?” Loti, Rachel and Heather said in unison.
Wolf came to life then. “Fae metal. It keeps memories.”
Eva nodded. “It’s the nature of the metal. It keeps memories, among other things.”
She reached for the rings in Heather’s grasp. When Heather flinched, Eva smiled through the black smears of mascara. “Please? I won’t keep them. Katie seemed to think that they were meant for you.”
Heather hesitated another second, then relinquished them to the trembling woman. Her auburn hair was coming lose from the French twist, frazzled strands stuck to her sweaty forehead. Eva untied the ribbon with a kind of reverence and held the smaller one out to Heather.
“Give me your hand,” she whispered.
Heather extended her hand and Eva awkwardly worked the ring over her knuckles. Heather gasped as it settled on her pinky finger, adjusting to fit it perfectly.
“I don’t have the words. I don’t know that I could do the story justice. Let’s see what the rings think we should know about each other.”
Her uncertain fingers slid the too-large ring onto her pinky. “You have to wear it on the right hand pinky finger. That’s where the last points of the heart meridian reside.”
She might have been instructing a novice in proper witchcraft etiquette. The ring shrank to fit her finger and both women jerked at the same time. Loti and Wolf tensed as the room blinked out and they followed Heather down the rabbit hole.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“I don’t think this is such a good idea.” A much younger Eva whispered as she scurried after her older sister.
Lena’s vibrant red hair was pulled back in a simple braid and she laughed as she trotted across the backyard. She twirled around and flashed an impish smile at nineteen year-old Eva.
“You afraid, baby sister?” She continued to twirl, puffing up her nightgown so it bloused around her like a bell.
“Yes, and if you were thinking straight, you would be, too.” Eva wrapped her slender arms around herself. “Momma said those rings were special and we should put them right back where you got them.” She licked her l
ips. “Where’d you get them?”
Lena’s laugh tinkled. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” She skipped sideways in her bare feet, the dew clinging to her toes.
Eva furrowed her brow and scowled at her audacious womb mate. What was she thinking? They were just days away from returning to college after summer break and she didn’t want any more drama. There had been more than enough wailing and gnashing of teeth by their mother with Lena’s insistence on seeing that boy.
“You know Professor Brown would be horrified by this.”
Lena paused in her midnight dance under the full moon. She fingered the toile bag hanging around her neck on a satin ribbon, a worry crease above her nose.
“Well, maybe.” Her voice wavered, then the smile wiped away the doubt. “But this is harmless. We’re just going to peek.” And she lifted the ribbon over her head and tugged open the little bag.
“You don’t know that. It’s someone else’s belongings and we don’t know enough about fae metal to know what will happen when we put them on.”
Lena rolled her eyes. “You’re such a worrywart. This is just memory metal. It’s not going to hurt us.”
“You don’t know that, Evelena Causton Magruder.” Eva stomped over to her sister and held out her hand. “Give me the bag and the rings and we’ll put them back.”
“Oh no, we’re not. We’re going to put them on. I want to know what happened to Grandmother Isodore’s mother. She never told us—”
“Lena, no!” Eva snatched at the rings in her sister’s hand and they went flying into the night.
“Oh, no! What have you done?” Lena searched the grass frantic for the tell-tale gleam. A car thumping base crunched over the gravel and dirt of the long drive to the Glenmore family plantation. Well, it had been a plantation at one time—a very long time ago. Eva gasped.
“You invited him?”
She ran over to where her sister stood scanning the east paddock, only the chirping of crickets behind the warbling of the car speakers. The speakers cut off, leaving the crickets calling out for help. Eva’s heart thumped in place of the base and her head swam with panic.
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