The Trinity Sisters

by Kristin Coley

  “Actually, she came to hers.” He shook his head. “Magically appeared in my bathroom while I was taking a shower.” He cupped his hand around his mouth and tilted his head toward her. “I think she just wanted to get a peek at all this.” He gestured over his obviously built body and wiggled his eyebrows. To which Gloria and I replied by whacking him in the stomach and rolling our eyes.

  “Have you heard from Margaret?” I asked, too anxious to hold back any longer.

  Gloria shook her head. “She called me yesterday morning, telling me she’d heard from you two and that she was sending Tori off to her sister’s.” She shook her head in obvious disagreement over this. “I argued with her, but she insisted. She told me what you said about the trinity and Mitchell. The man killing your parents.” She stroked my face, her eyes gentle. “I’m sorry, Quinn.” I nodded, swallowing back the tears that seemed to appear every time there was mention of them. She gave a firm nod, pulling her hand away and changing the subject. “I’ve been preparing ever since. If it’s what we think, you’re both in grave danger.”

  “What do you think it is?” Dane asked the question we were both thinking, but it was the worried expression on her face that had us reaching for each other’s hands.

  “It’s been twenty years since I’ve heard anyone mention the prophecy. Twenty years I hoped it wouldn’t happen in my lifetime. That hope was in vain. Not if the word trinity is being thrown around. And Mitchell.” She seemed to shrink in on herself as she said his name and I reached over to clasp her hand. Dane did the same and as all of our hands linked together I felt warmth flow through me, a sense of connection. Gloria’s head came up and she stared at us in shock.

  “We’re here for you. No one fights alone.” I told her, not understanding what was wrong, but knowing I would fight with them, especially since it seemed I was the one who’d brought danger to them.

  “We formed a connection.” She muttered, her hands tightening on both of ours.

  “Grandma, what do you mean?” We glanced at each other in confusion and her expression was a mixture of elation and despair.

  “You’re witches, both of you.” She told us, shaking our hands in agitation.

  “Yeah, I told Mom Quinn was a witch.” Dane replied slowly.

  “But you didn’t tell her you were one too, foolish boy!” She looked like she could ring his neck so I asked the next obvious question since we were both ignorant.

  “What do you mean we formed a connection?”

  “Oh, there is so much you both don’t know.” She made an exasperated sound, muttering to herself. “I can’t really blame anyone but myself for that. I had no idea, but how could I miss Dane’s power?”

  “Um, Grandma?”

  “Oh, right. Witches form kinship bonds. As in those with similar gifts or strong emotional bonds can connect to one another. That’s what just happened with us. The warmth you felt.”

  “So, not a bad thing?” I asked, making sure I was understanding it.

  “No, not a bad thing. A very good thing actually.” She answered, smiling for the first time.

  “Quinn,” Dane looked at me, and gestured to his eyes. “Maybe you should show her.”

  My hand went slowly toward my face as she gazed at us in puzzlement. I’d forgotten I had Dane’s sunglasses on. I’d slipped them on when the rising sun had hurt my eyes. In my rush to see Gloria, I must not have taken them off. I pushed them on top of my head, but kept my eyes firmly closed. I didn’t want to see her expression change to one of disgust when she saw my eyes. What if it meant something bad? Or evil?

  “Quinn, it’s okay. You can open your eyes. She won’t think of you any differently.”

  Gloria took both of my hands then and I felt her face me.

  “Open your eyes. I want to see them.”

  I opened them slowly, taking in her shock as she saw the brilliant glowing blue for the first time. She didn’t look upset, but she swayed on her feet at the full force of them and I held her hands tightly to keep her from falling.

  “Oh, my. You didn’t mention this to your mother either.”

  “No, I forgot.”

  “You forgot?” She cut him a disbelieving gaze and shook her head in disgust. “That’s a man for you. Always forgetting to mention the important stuff.” Dane threw up his hands and I giggled. They ragged each other constantly and the familiar banter put me at ease faster than anything.

  “You are one of the trinity. No doubt about it now.” She shook her head. “Glad I went with the strongest protection spells I had. We’re going to need them. Explains why Mitchell wants you dead too.” She said over her shoulder as she headed back inside the house. Dane and I exchanged glances and hurried to follow her.

  “Who is Mitchell?” I asked, somehow knowing it was important. The man wanted me dead after all, if for no other reason than to steal the power in my blood.

  “Your father.” She answered bluntly, not even pausing on her way to the kitchen. I stumbled over my feet at her words, and Dane caught me, his arm coming around my waist to support me. I hurried forward, needing to know more. When we came into the kitchen she was getting the gin out from under the sink. The gin she only drank when she made Tom Collins at New Years.

  “Grandma?”

  “Don’t give me that look, Dane. I’m going need a shot to absorb the shocks.”

  “How long have you known he was my father?” I demanded as she poured a generous amount into a coffee cup.

  “About five minutes, Quinn. Since you took your sunglasses off.” She told me, the tart note in her voice telling me she didn’t appreciate my accusing tone.

  “I’m sorry.” She waved away my apology and took a gulp of straight gin. I winced in sympathy at the shudder she gave.

  “I suspected you were adopted. Didn’t know for sure, but you don’t look like your parents if you know what I mean.” She told us, tapping her fingers on the table and shaking her head. Some part of her stayed in motion as if she kept moving then everything would be okay. I sat down at the table, Dane next to me.

  “I figured out I was adopted a long time ago. It never bothered me.” I told her, not wanting her to feel like she’d just upended my entire life.

  “You always were a smart girl, Quinn Montgomery. Or I should probably say, Quinn Davis.” The words rolled around in my head, Quinn Davis, a name I didn’t recognize but from Gloria’s words it should have been the name I grew up with. She reached over and clutched my hand. “I had no idea you were a witch. The spell your mother used to protect you must have been a powerful one indeed.” She paused and muttered under her breath, “It would have had to have been to keep you safe.”

  “Safe from my father?” My question drew her gaze back to mine and she gave me a pained smile.

  “Yes, child. Your father is the evilest warlock to ever walk the earth.”

  What do you say to that? Finding out your parent wanted you dead was one thing, but to know he was evil? That he was the baddest of the bad?

  Dane pulled me to him, his arm tight around me as he kissed my forehead. He kept me anchored when my mind begged for escape.

  “I’m sorry to tell you like this, but you must understand. He is the stuff of nightmares, and you must be careful, Quinn. And Dane, you as well. You’re linked to her. Which should have tipped me off years ago that there was more to your relationship than the obvious. I blame myself for not seeing it sooner.”

  “If my father is so bad, why hasn’t someone killed him?” The answer seemed so obvious to me. Kill the bad guy.

  “Many have tried. None have succeeded. Your father grew to what he is almost silently. He was careful, staying under the radar as he recruited witches and warlocks of various power levels, and inviting them into his coven. Even his own wife didn’t know what he planned until it was almost too late to save you.”

  “How do you know so much about my family?”

  “Eighteen years ago, my best friend died under suspicious circumstances. She wa
s part of the Council and a car accident took her life and that of her daughter in law.” She paused, pain flickering across her face quickly. “A car accident doesn’t seem suspicious, but it was what she told me the night before she died that made me think it was no accident. Her son, Patrick, called on me weeks later, his two children in tow as he raved about the Davis girls.” She shook her head and took another swallow of gin, and this time it went down without a shudder. “Much of what I knew was secondhand and some of its speculation, but the gist of it was your mother had gone to my friend, begging for help to hide you and your sisters from Mitchell. She’d discovered that he had planned your births to try and form a trinity.”

  “Trinity? What does that mean?”

  “In layman terms, a group of three, the state of being three. Christianity declares the trinity to be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. In our instance, it’s the prophesied ones.” She flipped my wrist over to reveal a symbol tattooed on my skin. “This is the symbol of the trinity.” I traced the mark, vaguely remembering a burning pain on the inside of my wrist, but so much had happened I’d never even noticed it. “Witches everywhere felt the moment you came into your power thereby completing the trinity.” She paused and corrected herself. “Or at least forming the trinity and unleashing magic back into the world. The trinity isn’t complete until you physically bond with the other two.”

  “The women.” I murmured remembering them in the blue bubble, their eyes reflecting the same blue that surrounded us.

  “Women?” Dane questioned, reminding me I’d never told him about them.

  “I saw them the night I appeared in your bathroom. Two women in a room, we were surrounded by blue threads of light, they were everywhere. One was brunette and she tried to tell me something but I didn’t understand, the other was a tiny blond woman. They both looked surprised to see me. Their eyes…. they looked like mine.”

  Gloria nodded tiredly. “They would be your sisters. Both older than you and its more than possible they remembered you. The blue threads….” She paused before admitting, “I’m not sure what that is.”

  “Magic.” I answered her, knowing it was the truth. The threads that surrounded us were magic. The blue in my eyes was magic. Magic that could no longer be contained by a broken spell.

  “My dear, you are special. Valuable as well, and if you were taken by the wrong people…. horrible things would happen.”

  “You mean like if my father used my blood to strengthen his coven?”

  “Exactly.”

  “So, back to him.”

  “Mitchell had dreams of grandeur. He actually had more power than most, but it wasn’t enough.” She paused and then added, “Magic has been fading from witches for a long time and becoming increasingly erratic over the past decades. Many felt this was because we were becoming more modern, forgetting the old ways, but a few of us have always suspected it was the prophecy.”

  “Prophecy.” Dane stated, glancing between his grandmother and me.

  “It truly all comes back to the prophecy. Supposedly it was made by the last trinity over five hundred years ago. Your father thought he could manipulate the prophecy by creating the trinity and controlling it.”

  “His daughters.” I realized, the thought horrifying me.

  “Yes, he planned your births carefully, pinpointing certain moon cycles and the peaks of power that came with them and he succeeded. Three powerfully magical daughters in one family is unheard of. At most we have two and generally both don’t have magical abilities. We’re lucky if one has an affinity for magic. It’s why I never thought twice about Dane not being a witch, well, warlock.”

  “But he didn’t get what he wanted. Right?”

  “Right. Your mother figured it out and was adamant you wouldn’t be raised and controlled by his lust for power.” She had a soft smile as she said, “She was brave.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “I suspect she died saving you. I’m not entirely sure what happened to her after she left my friend’s house.”

  “Why didn’t your friend help her?” I tried to keep the accusation from my voice but wasn’t sure I was entirely successful.

  “I’m not sure. Fear for her own family, perhaps. Her son wanted to help you, but…” Gloria shook her head, lost in the memories from the past. “After his wife was killed, he felt the only way to stop the trinity was to destroy it.”

  “Destroy it?” My heart beat faster at what that meant and as Gloria met my eyes I knew it to be true.

  “The death of you and your sisters would ensure the trinity could never be used for evil.”

  “But they’re alive. At least I think they are.”

  Gloria nodded, “I don’t think Patrick ever succeeded in finding any of you, but I’m not sure his heart was ever in it. He was in a great deal of pain after his wife and mother died. Part of him wanted to make sure no other family felt that way, but I never thought he was capable of killing children.”

  “But what happened to my…” I didn’t know what to call them. It didn’t feel like they were my family, my sisters because I’d never met them. “The other girls.”

  “I suspect your mother bound your magic and then separated you so Mitchell couldn’t find you and use you.”

  “But you think she died.” It wasn’t a question, I knew Gloria was right about that. Our mother died to keep us safe otherwise she would have found a way back to us.

  Gloria sighed deeply.

  “The power behind a spell like that, to last as long as it did, would have needed a strong source. The life force of someone who loved you, for example.”

  “You’re saying she sacrificed her life to keep us safe.” I managed to say, leaning into Dane as I considered what she’d done. A woman I had no memory of, but who had given everything so I could live safely.

  “Yes, a mother’s love is the greatest power on earth.” I nodded in agreement, having for a brief moment glimpsed motherhood, I understood what I would have given to keep my child safe. “We need to find your sisters, Quinn. Only together can you defeat Mitchell.”

  “I thought you said no one has been able to defeat him.” I said, startled by the thought that it would be me who would have to bring him down.

  “Yes, he was powerful when your mother ran from him and hid you, but since then his power has grown. He started to sacrifice witches to increase the power of his coven, finding those like himself who only wish for more strength and don’t care how they get it. There have been attempts to stop him, but they’ve slowed him only a little. The only thing he truly fears is the trinity now. It’s why he came after you. With you dead, there would have been no trinity and your blood would have still been powerful, bringing incredible strength to his coven.”

  “But I escaped.”

  “Yes, how did you escape? Margaret told me she felt traces of light magic but it was surrounded by the darkest magic she’d ever felt.”

  “I’m not sure how I got away. He had me by the throat, ready to crush the life from me and I felt something break loose inside of me.” Feelings and the memory of the moment trickled through me as I spoke. “Then it felt like pins and needles, but they were everywhere until my body felt like it couldn’t take anymore and I was in the blue room with the women, and then they were gone and I was standing in a bathroom. I had no idea where I was until I saw Dane.”

  “Even then she didn’t know where she was. She had no idea she’d traveled over two thousand miles to get to me.” Dane added, rubbing my shoulder.

  “Your bond.” Gloria shook her head. “I need to read up on a couple of things. I suspect…” She waved her hands. “Never mind, I need to make sure. Have you disappeared and reappeared since then?”

  I exchanged a glance with Dane and nodded slowly.

  “The night before last. A man tried to hurt me and I disappeared.”

  “She found me again, several yards away from where she was, reappeared right behind me.” Dane added, his own memo
ries of that night clouding his face.

  “The man, he saw you do this?” Gloria asked urgently and I nodded. He’d seen me.

  “He’s not talking.” Dane stated matter of factly and Gloria studied him, nodding as she saw the answer in his eyes.

  “Good. Do you think you can do it again?”

  “I don’t know how I did it to start with.” I exclaimed, having thought about this already on the long trip. I had no idea how to though. I’d figured out danger triggered it, and I went to the safest place I knew which was Dane, but to just move myself…. I didn’t have a clue. Plus, I didn’t know if Dane was like a homing beacon for me and that I could only go to him.

  “We need to figure this out. You two work on it while we wait for your mother to arrive. I’m going to make some calls. Hopefully, someone knows where your sisters are and even more importantly let’s hope they’re together.”

  Gloria stood up then, her back hunched as if the weight of the world was on them, but she slowly straightened up until her back was ramrod straight and I saw in her the strength I’d always instinctively recognized. She would protect us, teach us, and make sure we survived what was ahead.

  Dane stood too, his strength easy to spot in the strong muscles and controlled movements, but it was his steady gaze that told the truth. He wouldn’t waver in his protection. Nothing would stop him from keeping me safe from whatever was out there whether it was a would-be rapist or my psycho father.

  “I’m going to get the stuff from the truck. Meet you upstairs?” I nodded and they left. I sat for a moment longer before getting up from the table, the weight of everything I’d learned pulling at my shoulders. I glimpsed my reflection in the refrigerator door and the first thing I saw was the blue of my eyes, the next the slope of my shoulders pointing down. I took a deep breath and forced my shoulders up and back and held my head up.

  Like Gloria always said, “The best way to fight one’s enemies was with a straight back so you could look them in the eye while you drove the knife in.”