Chapter 8 #2
“Thanks for explaining,” the witch who defended me said easily.
“But my point is sometimes we have to stand up for what’s right and not just who it happens to, whether we like them or not, or our position as witches will never get better.
It pisses me off that more don’t. I was able to do it anonymously, and even if it didn’t do more, it did something. And Coach is gone.”
I flinched when people cheered. Glad I wasn’t the only one who hated him.
“‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’” Mrs. Reid said firmly.
“A wonderful man—a human man—that you all should have heard of said that. Dr. Martian Luthor King, Jr. was a civil rights pioneer and advocate for equality.” She focused on the witch who had helped me.
“And someone we should learn from because we are in a fight for our rights as well.
“Clearly, you have taken the message to heart and good on you for it. I only heard of Bevin’s friends and after she saved one of them in the attack.
Even after she saved eight witches in the werewolf attack on the school, some of you still giggled at her misfortune and spread rumors about her. Now you know more of the truth.”
Mrs. Oliveria walked out from offstage with Mrs. Moon and Mrs. Cook. She glanced around the auditorium. “And our question for you is—why did you not want to prevent this injustice? Why did you not do something small like this young freshman witch did?”
“Be honest with yourselves if you won’t be here or you will learn nothing and never better yourselves which is the point of school and education,” Mrs. Moon added. “And before you think this is us looking down at you or lecturing you on your behavior—it’s not.”
Mrs. Cook snorted. “You would be the last one to lecture about gossiping. You always know the juicy details of everything.”
Mrs. Moon nodded and stared out at us. “And I have hurt people as you did. We could debate all day why I am like that, but part of it is information—staying ahead of information protects my family. But sometimes I get caught up in the petty. We all do. We like juicy gossip.” She let out a slow breath.
“But we have to start being better than that or all we do is hurt each other.”
Mrs. Oliveria gestured to me. “How many of you weren’t there for her when she needed the women of this campus to stand up?
Yes, I know several of you came to her administration hearing and stood with her.
Good. But did you still whisper that she slept with a professor?
Did you care it could have lost him his job?
You’re not children anymore and your words carry weight.
“They can carry joy or pain.” She glanced around at all of us.
“You didn’t do something to help or step in because you didn’t see it as your problem.
It didn’t affect you, right?” She gave us a moment with that.
“Except it does and you simply haven’t been seeing the big picture.
” She pointed out at the crowd. “Each time you don’t help, you add to the problem.
“Each time you tear down a witch, you add fuel to the fire raging against us instead of throwing buckets of water on it as this young witch did. The choice of inaction is a choice, and most of you didn’t choose that.
You chose to laugh at her. Throw fuel on the fire of the lies hurting her—exclude her and ridicule her. ”
“And what will happen when you are the one in the hot seat?” Mrs. Cook took over.
“You will only care then and… It will be too late, right?” She shook her head.
“There are too many of you here who have been hurt by the sexism of our society to be that ignorant and dismissive. I hope people stand up for the next one of us to be hurt instead of part of the problem again.”
Mrs. Oliveria moved closer to Mrs. Cook when she got choked up.
“Janet’s younger sister was in a situation much like Bevin’s.
Whispers she was too powerful to be a normal witch.
Gods forbid we’re powerful and not just here to birth more warlocks.
” Mrs. Oliveria looked haunted. “But no one stood up for her when she was at school.
“People laughing at the attention or jealous that she was praised, ignoring the way she was treated. The comments about who would get the magic of her purity. Families starting to bid on it like she was a mare because no one checked the bad behavior.” She blinked back tears as she met my gaze.
“Five men declared themselves the points to her star.
“Just decided it like she was property they were claiming and had the right to. They raped her. Together. Bragged about it and who got the power of the goddess witch—except she wasn’t one. They thought that justified their crimes somehow.”
I swallowed loudly. “What happened to her?”
“She killed herself,” Mrs. Cook answered, her voice cracking. “She couldn’t take the shame of letting herself be—I saw the same shame in your aura that you were drugged. Too many saying it was your fault to be so stupid or not protecting yourself better.”
She walked off the stage and came closer to me, reaching out and cupping my cheek.
“You did nothing wrong, my sweet girl. You were the victim. If he didn’t do it then, he would have done it later. Bribed someone—monsters are monsters. Never you. Never listen to anyone who shames you for the actions of others.”
“I’m trying,” I rasped.
“You do better than you think and I know we’ve all told you that. I didn’t know Henry well, but I know he would be blissfully proud of you, Bevin. Hold onto that through the storms and hang on to the times the sea is calm. You are not alone in this. I swear it.”
“Which is why the four of us made it clear that if the council doesn’t punish Conrad Hanson the way they should, we will publicly denounce it,” Mrs. Reid said loudly, nodding when we all stared at her with wide eyes.
“I made it clear my mate do his duty especially on something this important or he sleeps outside the rest of his damn life.”
Mrs. Moon snorted. “Mine will sleep in the stables with horse shit.”
“Mine knows that I could not survive another witch I care for being hurt as my sister was and I won’t risk it,” Mrs. Cook rasped before going back to the others.
I sat, not needing to stand for this anymore.
And my knees a bit weak to hear they all threw down for me like that.
Wow. Just… Wow.
“Do better by each other, ladies,” Mrs. Reid said quietly. “I admit we should have done more too, but life is tiring. Raising children and constantly—” She wiped under her eyes. “Your mate constantly under threat and doing what you can to help keep him alive takes so much of our time.”
“But it’s time to do better. All of us,” Mrs. Oliveria said firmly before looking at Gloria. “You did well immediately jumping in. We all trip and make mistakes, but you were the hero Bevin was when she saved you.”
“Sometimes all you have in this world is each other,” Mrs. Cook warned.
“The attitude you’ve had has marked you to the gods for not being better.
It has me as well. The question is who do we want to stare back at us in the mirror?
I’m here to say that I’m committed to making sure justice is realized this time so none of you experience this type of injustice again. ”
“And we hope you will join us,” Mrs. Reid took back over. “Yes, you are the minority here, but you are powerful together. You could be a force to be reckoned with.”
“For some of you, it starts with an apology,” Mrs. Oliveria said gently.
“Even if she never heard you or knew what you were doing, you made the situation worse for one of your own. I think many of you should be sorry for that as the first step to making this campus and our society better for witches.”
Mrs. Reid opened the floor to answer questions in her new role of Morrigan’s Women’s Rights Advocate. Apparently, there were a lot more issues than the women could have guessed because all of them looked shocked several times at what was happening to the witches of Morrigan.
Everything from theses being intentionally tanked to projects being graded lower than male counterparts who worked on the same project.
“We’re going to need an assistant to make order of all of this,” Mrs. Oliveria worried while sitting and writing out concerns to follow up on and with whom. “Seriously, does Morrigan have any competent faculty?”
Mrs. Reid snorted. “Yes, Professor Wyatt, and people almost got him fired because they were jealous and petty. I remember that issue well when I taught here.”
When the meeting was over, those of us in physical training were excused from class instead of changing for less than half of the time. So I was done for the day and said goodbye to my friends. There was something I needed to know, and even if it was rude to ask… I had to.
Mrs. Cook didn’t make me say it, waiting until most of the auditorium was cleared out and moving me away from the others to a corner. I felt magic and assumed she put up a privacy barrier around us. “Yes, my sister was a goddess witch.”
The accusation in my eyes probably spoke volumes.
She sighed, shaking her head. “I don’t tell people for obvious reasons, Bevin.
Just as you didn’t. But more than that, I don’t know anything helpful.
Yes, the mark of Hecate is bullshit, but you already know that.
My sister didn’t have it either. Marking you would be the stupidest way to get you all caught and even Hecate knew that.
“I would never correct the council on that. I never told my mate that when he’s pressed me for information.” She gave me a hard look. “I don’t even talk about it with my mate.” She waited until I nodded. “My parents also kept it from me. They…”
“They abused her,” I mumbled.
She sighed. Heavily. “Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking.
They didn’t try to manipulate her or use her power to their advantage.
They wanted to ignore it.” She sighed again when my eyes went wide.
“I try hard to understand them, thinking how terrified I’d be if it was my child.
Really, I do, but… Some things you cannot pretend away. ”
I snorted but then filled in some of the pieces. “She was betrayed.”
Pain—deep and visceral pain filled her eyes.
“Yes. She met a boy and…” She wiped under her eyes and turned away from me.
“And he was a monster who wore a good mask. He told other monsters and…” She let out a shaky breath and wiped under her eyes again, careful of her makeup before turning to me.
“I know mistakes were made, but you are lucky it was Wyatt, Bevin.”
I swallowed loudly and nodded, accepting that and trying to heal from the missteps—move on from them even.
I reached out and rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what you went through and if helping me brings back the pain for you.”
She gave me a watery smile and patted my hand. “I’m not a child myself anymore, and this time I can throw my weight and power around to help save the goddess witch in my life. I made it clear that my mate does what he should or he won’t be my mate anymore.”
“I ca-can’t be—” I stuttered.
She shook her head. “He’s not the man I fell in love with if he doesn’t see this isn’t the time to give an inch no matter the consequences.
This is the line of morality we can’t allow, and if he isn’t that man anymore, then he isn’t someone I can be with.
And I’ve accepted a lot in the name of our survival and putting the council first. Too much. ”
“Thank you.”
She patted my hand again. “Do good with the faith people are putting in you, Bevin. Help us become better so we can have the strength to keep fighting because most days I struggle.”
She walked away before I could think of what to respond.
Was there something appropriate to say to that?
I wasn’t sure, but Mrs. Oliveria was waiting for me offering a hug. It was hard to accept, but I wanted the comfort too. I knew she would never hurt me, but—I wasn’t sure. My head was a mess.
Like always?
“If you agree, I think my three-season room with the retractable wall is where you start holding your sessions. The ones you’ll still have,” she offered.
“That way people will behave because it’s Mark’s house.
” She reached out and booped my nose when I opened my mouth.
“Have faith, poppet. You’ve touched a lot of hearts and it’s not just seven councilmen on your side. ”
“I don’t understand,” I hedged.
“About seventy percent of the council guards threatened to quit,” Mrs. Reid said under her breath, nodding when I did a double take.
“Link threw his weight around and you’ve made a lot of friends being…
You. Slipping them treats for their familiars and bumping several up the list at Familiar Treasures.
You’re important to a lot of us and not because of what you are. ”
“Thanks. Really.” I blinked back tears. “Why are some men so horrible? Why can they only see us as property and to be owned. Why did he have to terrorize me in my room like Alex did?”
I gasped as I moved away from them, staring at their hands as they reached for me. I shoved Mrs. Oliveria’s away and luckily Mrs. Reid figured it out, holding her back.
“Focus on something good and even, Bevin,” Mrs. Reid guided.
“Cheese. Cheese is doing better and loves his blanket. You’re going to make one for Quinn, right?
I heard you were picking out colors and patterns?
I bet Bubba would love one but won’t admit it.
Maybe you could figure out his favorite color somehow? ”
She kept rambling on about the familiars I cared for and the blankets.
“Thank you,” I panted when the panic passed, rubbing over my sore chest. I blinked at them. “I need people not to put their hands on me even in comfort—seeing the hands reaching for me is the problem.”
Mrs. Oliveria swallowed loudly. “And your room. You need a new room.”
“It’s the middle of the semester and—” I argued.
“Bevin, we will get you another damn room,” Mrs. Reid said firmly. “A better protected one by your friends and locked down with magic no one can break into. Let us.”
Okay, yeah, sure. Sounded good.