by Jayne Faith
The collective knowledge of my coven should be able to help. Deb had said to wait for her to call back, but I was antsy. I dialed her number, but she didn’t pick up. I disconnected when her voice mail recording began to play.
I still had the phone in my hand when it rang.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” came Deb’s voice. “I bought one of those throw-away phones. I figured it would be safer.”
“Good idea,” I said. “Hey, I need you and the other witches. I can’t believe I’m requesting this, but could you possibly do an emergency meeting of the coven? If you can gather everyone, I’ll use the in-between to get there.”
“Already got you covered,” she said. “We’re meeting in an hour, but not at Lynnette’s. That’s too likely a place for the authorities to come looking for you, especially if they see the rest of us gathering.”
“Awesome,” I said, already feeling uplifted. “Where are we going?”
“Becky’s parents have a loft downtown,” she said. “They’re out of the country right now, so the place is free. It’s really secure. There’s a desk with a security guard and everything. So even if someone spots us going in and makes the connection to you, the police won’t be able to get past the lobby without a warrant.”
“Nice,” I said appreciatively. “You’ll just have to give me a good visual so I can picture it.”
“I’ll send you the address, and Becky said she’s got some pics from Christmas that show the living room. Will that be enough?”
“Should be,” I said. “Only one way to find out.”
“Okay, she’s going over there soon, and the rest of us will follow in a bit. I’ll ask her to set up a glass of water in a corner and send you a pic. You can go whenever you want.”
My attention perked up. A chance to talk to Becky alone before the others showed up? Yes, please. Taking down Lynnette was secondary to the bigger problem of saving my brother, but I hadn’t forgotten.
Unexpectedly, I felt a small grin creep over my face. “Thank you, Deb. I can’t tell you how much this means.”
“What? Are you saying you’re grateful for the coven?” she asked with exaggerated shock.
“I am,” I admitted. “But mostly for you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Ditto,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.
We hung up, and a moment later Rogan’s phone pinged with a couple of incoming text messages—the address and pictures Deb had promised.
I studied the pictures as well as the location of Becky’s parents’ building for a couple of minutes. Then I ran water in my empty coffee mug and set it on the counter.
It was a relief to leave the living behind and fade to the in-between, where I could roam without worrying I’d be recognized. Hell, I didn’t even have to worry about conversing with anyone, let alone running into trouble with the authorities. I stood there in Rogan’s kitchen for a moment, just savoring the peace of limbo land. When Loki appeared next to me, I knew I shouldn’t linger any more. I needed to take advantage of a few minutes alone with Becky.
Deb sent me a picture of a vase full of water in the corner of Becky’s parents’ living room.
Recalling the images I’d just memorized, I used the bit of water in the mug to transport us. Belatedly, I realized I should have had Deb warn Becky that I would be appearing out of nowhere momentarily. I hesitated as I stood next to the vase in the room filled with gray mist but then decided to trust that my best friend had given Becky the proper heads up.
I allowed the tug of the living realm to pull me back.
I squinted and shaded my eyes against the sudden brightness of the overhead lights.
Becky was at the kitchen island on the far side of the open space. We both jumped when we saw each other. I was startled because I hadn’t been expecting that entire end of the room, as it hadn’t been visible in the photos. She was startled, well, presumably because a woman and a hellhound doodle had just materialized in front of her.
She pressed a hand to her chest. “I knew to expect it, and you still scared me,” she said with a self-conscious laugh.
“Sorry,” I said. I walked around the big sectional to join her in the kitchen area. “I hope you don’t mind I’m early.”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I’m glad, actually.”
Becky had always been one of the more aloof members of the coven, as much as any of us could get away with being so, which was probably why I’d never sensed she might be an ally against Lynnette. She’d never seemed to display the rapt devotion of some of the women, nor did she ever appear to have any issues with our coven leader.
She appeared put-together, with a stylishly tousled long blond bob, tailored clothes, and subtle but tasteful makeup. Lynnette had hand-picked the members of the coven, most of them for the unique magical talents they offered, but I wasn’t aware of anything Becky could do that was much out of the ordinary.
I leaned a hip against the counter and stuffed my fists in my jacket pockets. Loki was busily sniffing everything in the expansive space.
“I feel a little strange that you and I have never talked much in the four or five months I’ve been with the coven,” I said.
Becky wiped her hands on a floral kitchen towel and then folded it and placed it neatly on the granite counter. Then she placed both hands on the countertop and leaned on it, giving me a shrewd look.
“It’s always the quiet ones who are secretly subversive,” she said, her lips widening into a conspiratorial smile. Her gray-green eyes sparked, and I couldn’t help grinning back.
It suddenly struck me that perhaps her tasteful but bland appearance lulled people into thinking exactly what I’d always assumed—she was nice and attractive, but nothing about her particularly raised your interest. I knew she had some family money and a college degree, but beyond those facts and her accounting background, I couldn’t say much else about her.
“So, how did your, uh, current train of thought about Lynnette begin?” I asked carefully.
“There are a few of us in the coven who’ve recently suspected she wasn’t exactly being honest about certain aspects of the finances,” she said. “It was the supposed angel benefactor that really got us going. I mean, it was pretty ridiculous.”
I raised my hands skyward in a hallelujah gesture. “Thank you! Finally, someone else who sees that crap for what it is. Who else have you been talking to?”
She bit her bottom lip for a second. “I can’t say. Not yet.”
“I get it.” A brief frown passed over my face. “I wish I’d known earlier, though. I thought I was the only one in the coven who wasn’t buying into her antics. It made me slightly crazy at times.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Becky said. “You and I are in the minority. Lynnette has several very solid supporters in the coven. We assumed Deb was one of them.”
She paused as if expecting me to respond, even though it wasn’t exactly phrased as a question.
I pushed my fingers into my hair. “Yeah, I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but . . . it didn’t go well.”
Those discussions had nearly driven a huge, ugly wedge between me and Deb, so I’d had to back off.
Becky nodded. “We couldn’t approach you, even though we figured you’d probably align with us, because we weren’t certain about Deb, and everyone knows how close the two of you are. We have to be very careful.”
I sighed. “Understandable. So, how can I help? What’s your plan with the coven elections?”
She spread her hands. “Basically, we just need you to back out of your nomination. It’s imperative I get that position, so I can dig into Lynnette’s records. I’ve even got a friend who specializes in forensic accounting, if needed.”
“I’m glad to withdraw, but that’s easy. I really want to help.”
She scrunched her mouth to one side, and I thought she’d decline my offer, but then she grinned again. “We might need you to use your reaper
trick . . . to spy on her.”
“Now we’re talking,” I said. “Just let me know when and where.”
Her expression turned serious. “Ella, about the reports on the news. I know it’s not true. The rest of the women do, too. Deb explained about your brother and how your old partner kidnapped him for the mages. She said they somehow faked his interview, and—”
I held up a hand and cut her off with a groan. “God, please stop. It sounds absolutely insane when you say it all out loud. I wouldn’t believe Deb if I were you, to be honest. It makes me feel guilty that you’re all . . . just so . . .” I shrugged helplessly, not knowing exactly what I was trying to say.
She waited patiently for a second or two to see if I was going to pull my shit together and finish the sentence. When I didn’t, she folded her hands on the counter and tilted her head.
“Well, we did a little research of our own, and we as a coven are satisfied that Deb is telling the truth.”
“Even Lynnette?” I didn’t bother trying to hide my incredulity.
She rolled her eyes. “Who knows. But she’s acting the part, anyway. I’m fairly certain the rest of the women are on your side. I am.”
I passed a hand over my eyes, which were annoyingly tingly with the threat of misting up. “I seriously don’t even know what to say. Except thank you.”
A pleasant trill of chimes sounded, and Loki took off in what I assumed was the direction of the front door. I pulled myself together as Becky went to answer it.
I watched carefully as Becky greeted each of the four witches who came in, trying to discern whether any of them were her allies. But soon I was pulled into conversations and couldn’t keep a close eye on how our hostess was interacting with everyone. Most of them arrived with laptops, books, and even the odd file folder or rolled-up papers. Deb had told them the nature of my need—figuring out when and where to intercept the mages to save my brother from certain death.
The women all seemed genuinely relieved to see me and sympathetic to my situation. Or they did a good job of acting that way. I didn’t believe for a second that Lynnette wanted to deal with my problems. She was interested in power and money, and my current notoriety probably wouldn’t bring either. If anything, she was probably trying to figure out a way to get rid of me. Or maybe even turn me in, if there was something in it for her. Regardless, she gave me a hug and clucked over me along with everyone else.
Once all the members had arrived and most were caught up in various conversations, I pulled Deb away from the group.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I should be asking you that, not the other way around,” she said.
“I’m not the one who’s pregnant,” I said.
She shook her head and gave an exasperated look. “Gretchen and I are fine. You’re the target of a national manhunt.”
I pulled a horrified face. “Is that what they’re calling it?”
She grimaced. “Yeah, and guess who was the first to throw the term out there? The Order of Mages. It’s so obvious they’re pulling the strings behind all the media stuff.”
I blew out a slow breath, trying to calm the churning in my stomach. “It’s obvious to you only because you know the truth.”
My gaze slid back to the group. Lynnette was gathering everyone in the seating area. She probably had a speech prepared. Well, I had some things to say, too.
I stood at the edge of the group, and before Lynnette could open her mouth, I started talking.
“I’d like to say a few things, if you don’t mind.” I paused to glance at Lynnette but didn’t wait for her permission. “First of all, I know you’ve taken a risk just to be here in the same room with me. You probably have family members and friends who know I’m part of your coven and are wondering what the hell is going on. They’re probably worried about you and how my problems will blowback on you. I don’t blame anyone for those reactions. But your loyalty, your being here right now, means the world to me.”
I paused for a breath. I don’t think I’d ever said so many words at once in a coven meeting.
“You did save all our asses when the baelmen attacked,” Elena piped up. She pulled her thick, chestnut hair over her shoulder and gave me her signature sassy look. “So, you know, we owe you our firstborns and all that.”
A few of the women smiled or laughed softly.
I shook my head. “You really don’t, but thank you for that. Before I get into the reason we’re here, I want to formally withdraw my candidacy for Keeper of Means. Obviously, I’ve got a little too much on my plate to take on such an important position in the coven right now.”
I glanced at Lynnette, and she acknowledged my withdrawal by inclining her head. I thought she might try to take the floor, but she just folded her arms, seemingly content to let me continue.
“Okay,” I said. “This is where I could really use your help. The mages are going to sacrifice my brother, but they’re going to wait until the right moment and choose the right location that will be optimal for what they intend. I need you to help me figure out when and where that’s going to be. All I know is that we’re only days away from the event, so we’re talking near future. That’s our starting point.”
Lynnette stepped forward. “All right, ladies, let’s divide into two groups. One will work on figuring out the intended time of the sacrifice, and the other will work on figuring out the place. Time group works here around the coffee table, and the location group can work at the kitchen island.”
Chapter 18
THERE WAS A flurry of movement as the women shuffled themselves around to divide into two working groups and then began powering up their laptops, opening worn leather-bound tomes and sifting through the notebooks and stacks of papers.
I went over to the location group and stood next to Jen. She bumped me with her hip.
“Hey, girl,” she said. “We’re going to nail this, you know that, right?”
“You’d better,” I said, cracking a grim smile. “You guys are my best shot.”
The witches quickly got down to work. I’d assumed that figuring out the location would be the more difficult of the two tasks because the possibilities were practically infinite whereas the timing was somewhat bound already, and I expected factors such as celestial events would help narrow it down considerably. As I listened to the women toss out possible locations, I realized I was probably right.
They formed a list of about thirty locations around the world with known heightened magical capacity or features that could be used to power up spells.
“Okay, but wait,” Jen said. “Do the mages have to use one of the major rips for this? Because that would mean Manhattan, Boise, or the couple of other places with large, permanent interdimensional tears.”
She looked at me, and I shook my head. “I don’t know. We have to assume they have the power to open their own very large rip if they want to.”
My eyes involuntarily flicked to Lynnette. For a while, she’d been creating small interdimensional tears herself in order to collect the rip magic that formed around them. It was very dangerous, not to mention illegal. But if a Level II like Lynnette could do it, there was no doubt the mages could also do it, and on a much bigger scale if they wanted to.
“But what would be the advantage of doing that?” Elena asked. “Why open a new one if there are plenty of big ones already existing?”
“Maybe none of the existing ones are in the right locations,” suggested one of the women. “Or maybe they need it to be fresh or have some other custom-made characteristic we don’t know about.”
The group was silent for a long moment.
“If that’s the case, then we’re back to square one,” Jen said. “It could be just about anywhere.”
“Let’s go down our list and try to rate the likelihood of each location,” Elena said.
For the next forty-five minutes, we did just that. But the exercise didn’t seem to get us any closer to an answer. The mood of the group h
ad turned decidedly gloomy.
“Anybody have any other ideas?” Jen asked. After a few seconds, she suggested we take a short break.
A few of the others and I wandered over to edge of the timing group. As expected, they seemed to be making a lot more progress. They’d identified two dates within the next two weeks that were most advantageous for carrying out magical activities, as well as a handful of dates that were weaker candidates but still carried enough significance to be considered.
Elena stood next to me. Without looking at me, she began speaking softly.
“My grandmother was born in Mexico, in a town with strong magic and even stronger witches,” she said. “She always told me the gut knows. Listen to the gut first for the answer. Then check the heart and then the head.” Her hand moved up from her lower belly to her chest to her temple as she spoke. “What does your gut say about the location they’ll pick?”
I chewed my lip for a moment, letting my awareness drift away from my churning mind and settle in my stomach.
“I think it’ll be here.” The words just popped out. Up to that second, I hadn’t felt any certainty about it. But once I said it out loud, it made sense. “I think it will be done at the Boise Rip.”
“How come?” Jen asked. She was standing on my other side and had been listening to Elena.
I thought for a minute. “It’s one of the largest rips besides the Manhattan one, but unlike the original rip, the Boise Rip is in a more isolated area and not as heavily guarded, so it’ll be much simpler for them to access it,” I said. I kept my voice low, so I wouldn’t disrupt the other group’s flow. “But that’s not the most important part. In terms of magically active places, there’s really nothing special about Manhattan. That rip formed there because that’s where Gregori Industries was located, and that’s where their experiments went wrong. But this area is a magical hotbed. That’s presumably why we ended up with our own permanent rip.”
I paused for a couple of seconds, and a small sigh escaped my lips. “And, I know for a fact the local magical activity is what drew Damien here,” I finished.
