I took each of the cauldrons off the flame and placed them on the counter when I felt my phone vibrate again. I pulled it back out. It was from Clive saying he would be there with takeout.
I went back to my timer and noticed I only had a few more minutes until the protection potion was done.
I grabbed a few of the empty bottles off the shelves and placed them next to the topical burn potions.
"Trasferire," I whispered feeling my necklace heat up. I waved my hand over the potion and directed it to the bottles. I turned back to the protection spell just as my timer went off. I moved the cauldrons off the flames and whispered "Trasferire" again and moved the potions to the empty bottles.
I loaded the full bottles up into a small basket and left them upstairs on the back counter.
I went back downstairs and looked at the last cauldron, with the remaining protection potion. I took off my necklace and dipped it in the potion and put it back on. I picked the caldron up and walked over to the wall.
"Sigutra," I whispered as I dipped my free hand in the potions and placed it on the wall. The stones absorbed the potion and glowed slightly before it faded. I took the caldron upstairs and repeated the process on every wall and door of the shop. Then I made a second and third trip until I used up all of the potion. I needed to be sure there was no way anyone could break through it.
With Andrew Easton and Arte Abbas coming around, I needed to protect myself.
Once I was finished, I walked back to the basement and cleaned up before heading up to the apartment to get ready for tonight.
I didn't know what was happening, but I had a feeling that it was going to change more lives than just my own.
TWELVE
I finished up at the shop and headed up to the apartment. I needed to make a few updates, and make it feel more like home to me. I hadn’t planned on getting everything done in one night, but I had to start.
I took a breath and pushed open the door. I was prepared to fall apart at the sight of her place. I never made it up there the day of her attack, and I never asked Clive if they searched the apartment. I was pleasantly surprised to see it intact.
Mrs. Coe always redecorated her apartment every five years; I’m guessing to keep up with the time. Thankfully that meant she had more modern furniture that would sell for more than my 20-year-old secondhand furniture.
I walked into her... no, my kitchen and looked over everything that was left there. To be honest, everything Mrs. Coe owned was of a better quality of anything I owned. I was going to have to decide what to keep and what to sell, between both apartments. Would I sell her items for more money and have to replace mine in the near future or keep hers and sell mine for a fraction of the cost? It was a decision I would have to make; I just wouldn’t be making it today.
Granted, I didn’t need the money as much anymore. My ill given severance was going to cover any unexpected cost.
As horrible as it was to think, this was a move up for me. I could now make the changes and improvements I wanted. I had more space to grow, to really start building a life for myself. I moved to her closet in the master bedroom, it was still full of her clothes.
I checked the time. I had about 30 minutes before Clive and Dessen arrived, so I decided to move her clothes out and my clothes in. I would take her clothes to a consignment shop another day. We had the same size bed but hers was a better brand – with the mattress that came in a box. I walked over to the door and grabbed the handled and created a portal to my apartment. For the moment, I would keep her items at my apartment and move mine over.
With a wave of my hand I lifted her hangers and they floated through the doorway, I followed. I opened my closet door and waved my other hand, lifting all my clothes off the handle as Mrs. Coe’s clothes replaced them. I repeated the process and moved my clothes into the closet, dresser, and bathroom as well. The last thing I did was change the bedding on the beds when there was a knock on the front door.
I grabbed my phone and saw I had a missed text from Dessen, she was at the door. She must have come up the back stairs. The main way to get to the apartment was through the back room of the store, but there was a back door that could be used to come to the apartment only.
Twenty minutes later she and I were sipping wine while Clive unpacked dinner.
"So, what’s going on that you couldn’t tell us over the phone?" Dessen asked, then took a sip from her glass.
I grabbed my wine glass off the counter and brought it to my lips and drank some; I needed it for the conversation. I thought about the potion I had in my pocket and tried to think of how I would use it. I figured the best way was to be straight forward with them. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the vial. “I need you both to take a sip of this.”
Clive’s eyes harden when he saw what was in my hand, I knew from his time in the SPF they were trained to spot illegal potions from sight. “Olivia, why do you have that? It’s illegal.”
“What is it?” Dessen asked looking between us.
“A truth potion.” I answered. “I have a good reason for it, but I need you both to take this before I can tell you.”
“You don’t trust us?” Dessen placed her glass down giving me a hard stare, I could see how my actions were making her feel but I needed to be 100 percent sure.
“Let me explain.” I placed the potion down. “I allowed myself to trust Mrs. Coe more than anyone in this world, and I’ve recently found out she betrayed that trust. She kept important facts to herself.”
“Olivia, if this is about what was revealed at SPF today, she didn’t betray anything by not telling you about her past. It was her past and you don’t have a right to know about it if she didn’t want you to.”
“I’m not talking about that.” I argued.
“Then what?” He growled, and I could tell he was starting to lose his patience. “We’ve been your friends for years and now you need us to take a truth potion?”
"Andrew Easton and Arte Abbas stopped by here today." I said, dropping the bomb I knew would get their attention.
"What!" Dessen gasped. “Why?”
“I need you both to take the potion please.” I begged. “You guys don’t understand how hard this is. I trusted her, with everything, more than anyone else and she betrayed that trust. Ten years guys, I need -, I just-,” I paused trying to collect my thoughts, but I couldn’t think of anything more than. “Please.”
Clive and Dessen glanced at each other. They had to know I would only ask them to do this if my trust was truly shaken.
“Ok,” Clive relented. “But we will only take one drop, enough for one question, only.”
“Thank you,” I pushed the bottle over to him. He opened it and pulled out the dropper and dropped one drop of the potion on his tongue and then handed it to Dessen, who repeated his actions. “Ok, so the question is,” I paused, I only had one chance to get the answer I truly needed. One question that I could ask both of them to know who I could truly trust and never doubt them again. “Can I trust you both? Can I trust that anything I’ve ever said or will say stays between us? That these conversations are not being reported back?” I know I actually asked three questions, but they were all connected.
To their credit, they both looked surprised. “Yes, always.” Dessen reached forward and grasped my hand.
“You can always trust me, trust us.” Clive replied. “Why did we need to prove it?” I could hear the hurt in his voice, and I hoped that after my explanation that they both would understand I didn’t do this to hurt them.
“Like I said, Arte Abbas and Andrew Easton stopped by the shop today…to talk about Mrs. Coe." I brought the glass back to my lips and took another sip of wine. I needed some liquid courage to finish the rest of this story.
"How did they know her?" Clive asked.
I took a breath. "Okay, I have a lot to tell you guys and I don't fully understand it all myself so I need you just to let me finish the story and then you can ask questions when I�
�m done. Okay?" I took another sip of wine and they both nodded. "They came to see me because Mrs. Coe sent them a letter regarding my safety, during her weekly meetings with them. Apparently, she has known them since they were teenagers. Turns out, Mrs. Coe was having weekly meetings with the leaders of the Easton and the Abbas Covens, and the vampire and halfling community leaders. It seems that the search into her past the detectives did was correct, she was a member of the Children of the Chosen. When she arrived in DC, she went to the leaders of the different communities here to basically beg for their forgiveness. They granted her the ability to live here as long as she subjected herself to weekly meetings to ensure there was nothing in her life that was still connected to the cult. In the past couple of months, well year, since the killings started up again, she told them she believed they were all related to the Children of the Chosen." I held up my hand as Clive opened his mouth to speak. I know the detective in him had more questions, but I needed to get all of it out while it was all fresh in my head. Thankfully he closed his mouth, and I kept going. "She had a theory that involved me, and she didn't want to tell them while she was living, so I guess she had a contingency plan set up in the case of her death."
"What theory?" Dessen asked, interrupting me, but I kept going.
I took a breath. " I have something I need to tell you. Something that I never told anyone about before. And while Mrs. Coe knew about it, I technically never told her. She saw me do it. She was the one who told me to keep it a secret, but then she turned around and told Andrew and Arte about it…and where she thought it came from."
"What is it?" Dessen asked.
"I can make portals," I said and downed the rest of my wine. I looked over at the table and down at my empty glass. We were going to have to eat soon or I would be too tipsy to continue on.
"You can do what?" Clive asked, his brows furrowed.
I waved my fingers, and the bottle of wine came over and poured me a small glass. Dessen was the one who spoke next. "If you can make portals, then that means..." Dessen trailed off with a far-off look before shaking her head. "I mean if the rumors are true…but no one would know. But if they were?” She shook her head. “But the real question is, how? They all died before you were born."
"Who's dead?" Clive asked.
"The Romars," Dessen answered.
"What do they have to do with anything?" Clive asked.
"It’s not a known fact but rumored, I’m pretty sure the SPF would have a file on it somewhere. But it was said that the Romars were the only family in history who were able to make portals. It would have been their family power, only someone of their blood could make portals. The problem is they all died in the early 1970s-"
"-when they destroyed the cult." Clive cut me off, and I could see the pieces falling into place behind his eyes. "And if you can make a portal-"
"-I can be a hindrance for the reemergence of this cult. In their mind, at least, I have no concrete idea about any of this. Or they could just want revenge. Who knows," I finished.
Clive stood up and started pacing the length of the small kitchen. "You said she told the Easton Coven and the Abbas Coven.” He stopped pacing and turned to me. “You were worried that we were told to confirm it, for our leaders?"
I nodded. "I only know for a fact that Andrew and Arte know."
"But, you also said she met with the members of the vampire and halfling leadership as well?" Dessen said, and I nodded. "So, that means they could know."
"She didn’t tell Andrew or Arte during their weekly meeting. She sent them a letter before she was murdered. Whether the vampire and halfling leaders know, depends if she trusted them. I thought there was a time she would have told me, trusted me, but I was wrong."
"We can’t think like that,” Dessen said. “She might have wanted to wait to make sure she was correct before getting your hopes up.”
“I want to believe that. I want to believe that these last ten years haven’t been a waste. That I didn’t put my trust in her, only for her to do this.”
"Olivia, if what Mrs. Coe thought is true, you’ll need protection.” Clive said switching back to SPF mode. “I’ll have Jacob place some plainclothes officers outside.”
"Clive, that's not necessary." I tried to argue, but he shook his head not wanting to hear an argument.
“How are you going to justify it? You can’t tell them anything I said here.”
"You’re living here, where murder took place. It’s still unsolved. That’s reason enough. Plus, Olivia, I am not putting your safety at risk. If these killings are the work of the cult, this shouldn’t be taken lightly. What if Mrs. Coe was killed to get closer to you? If anyone knows about you, then you’re at risk.”
“I don’t want any more eyes on me than necessary, but I do need something from you,” I said. “When they were here, Arte mentioned to me something I never knew…about my parents.”
“What was it?” Clive asked.
“He said my parents didn’t die of a drug overdose,” I explained, as my stomach growled slightly.
Clive digested the information for a moment while Dessen set off to start fixing our plates.
“How would he have access to their records? You weren’t raised in the magical system.” He said.
“He said she sent him a copy, but they didn’t share that with me. Are you able to get the file?” I asked.
He shrugged his large shoulders. “I’m not sure, but I will look into it.” He reached into his pocket and grabbed his notebook and wrote a note for himself. Dessen came over and placed some plates of food in front of us. My mouth watered at the sight of the BBQ, and I was ready for the tough part of this conversation to be over.
“Thank you.” I smiled before I dug in.
THIRTEEN
I woke up Saturday morning, well more like Saturday afternoon. Dessen and Clive left late last night, and since the store wasn’t opening today, I was in no rush to get downstairs. Though I still needed to prep for reopening on Monday. I slowly got out of bed and got ready for the day.
I threw on a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans, grabbed my laptop from the kitchen counter, and headed down to the shop. I set my laptop down on the back counter and turned it on. My goal for the day was to start building the online shop. I wanted to have the website set up before Monday so I could let the regulars know about it. It was an ambitious goal, but I figured I could complete it.
I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures of the herbs and the potions I had on the shelves. I didn't want to start off too big, but I wanted to have enough diverse options to give my customers a reason to use the platform. I took a photo of 30 different items before I plugged my phone up to my laptop to download the photos. Eventually I would need to hire a photographer to take better quality photos, with all the good lighting and stuff. I liked what I took but I knew a professional could do it better, make my ingredients pop.
A small thud on the front door pulled my attention from my laptop. I walked over to the door and raised the blinds, but I didn’t see anyone there. I looked down and noticed a small newspaper laying there, which was weird because we didn’t have a paper subscription for the shop. Mrs. Coe didn't care much for the news of the nonmagical world and the magical world didn’t have a real news system outside of the Covens.
I opened the door and peered down the street to see if my neighbors received a paper as well, but they didn’t. I was the only one with a paper. I picked up the roll and noticed it wasn't a non-magical newspaper; it belonged to the Abbas Coven. It was their internal newsletter.
I checked up and down the street once more, but I didn't see anyone who looked out of place. I stepped back inside the shop and locked the door behind me.
I unrolled the paper and felt my stomach drop at the headline. In big, bold letters, the lead article was titled, “Avoid WICCA.” I walked back to the counter, laid the paper out, and quickly read the article as rage began to consume me with each word.
“Member
s of the Abbas Coven, we have received new information relating to the multiple magical deaths over the past two years. It appears that the recently deceased owner of WICCA, a Mrs. Norma Coe, was once part of the Children of the Chosen cult. According to the SPF’s investigation into Mrs. Coe’s death, it is speculated that her death may be related to her past membership in the cult. While the store will now be run by Ms. Olivia London (Unbound), we advise all Coven members to avoid not only WICCA, but also Ms. London.” I balled up the newsletter, not bothering to finish reading it and tossed it in the trash.
“That son of a bitch!” I seethed. He wanted me to trust him, to join his fucking Coven, but shares this to his members. I took a deep breath and tried to be calm. I wouldn’t let it get to me. While she kept a lot from me, I knew in my heart the truth about Mrs. Coe, it didn’t matter what was in her past. I knew she was a good person, and the people she really cared about, the Unbounds, knew that as well.
I walked back to my laptop and got back to work on the online store. I had a plan and I was going to stick to it. The first thing I did was secure my domain name. Why did so many people have a version of the name WICCA? My fingers paused on top of the keys as the weight of the article hit me. ‘Shit,’ I was going to have to tell Clive, and this was enough proof for him to get me protection he wanted. This also meant that one of the SPF officers was not keeping their mouth shut when it came to the case. I reached for my phone and pulled up Clive’s number.
This was so messed up. If the Abbas Coven knew then it was only a matter of time before the entire DMV magical community knew.
Right as I was about to call Clive, a loud banging sound on the front door pulled my attention.
Ahmentree's Magic Page 8
