Chapter 17
Snow came early this season, making the walk to school so much longer. Ben wanted to stop and play and enjoy every snowflake. And of course, he wouldn’t let go of my hand the entire time, which meant dragging me from one end of the sidewalk to the other.
“Think we’ll get any over break?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
His winter break was still a few weeks out.
Honestly, given how reserved he was over Thanksgiving, I figured the next holiday would be fairly the same.
The only part of his break he seemed to enjoy was hanging out with Diego and Delia.
That in itself was short-lived since Diaz took his family back to Texas for the holiday to celebrate with their extended family.
“I’ve never had snow on Christmas,” he said, recalling his holidays in California. “That’d be cool.”
“It’d be cold,” I replied.
Ben scrunched his face and shot me a look. Apparently, my sense of humor was unacceptable.
Once I dropped him off at school, I made my way to the Global Guild facility with the intention of completing my debrief on Winston Cobalt.
It’d taken weeks of preparation and precision work, but I’d finally pieced together all the necessary memories I needed and removed every lingering trap in his head.
Now, I just needed to go through Winston’s mind, retrieve vital intel, and pass it off to the Global Guild.
When I got to the facility, passed through the several clearance checkpoints, and reached the cell holding Winston Cobalt, Chanelle was standing outside with a big plastic bag.
“What are you doing here?”
“Lunch.” Chanelle lifted the bag. “I figured we could catch up.”
“This is a highly secured area,” I replied, looking at the posted guards who kept their attention trained elsewhere. “How’d you even get in here?”
“Oh, please.” Chanelle gestured dismissively. “Come on? It’s me. Find a list I can’t get my name on.”
“Wow.” I ushered her to the nearby breakroom I’d occasionally use when I needed to rest away from Winston’s headache of a mind.
“I haven’t seen you in ages,” Chanelle said, bringing in a large bag filled to the brim with plastic trays of sushi.
And not the grocery store stuff. She’d stopped at one of the nicest restaurants in town and gotten a little bite of everything to go.
“What is this?”
“I thought we could catch up.” She handed me a tray made for two. “Got your favorite.”
Whoa. She had too. I was never a fan of the fancy rolls with the crunchy bits or a ton of things smashed together with only a thin layer of seaweed to hold them. I much preferred the classic rolls. Give me the squishy octopus, the tangy eel, the chewy clam, or the super salty roe.
“Did you ask Milo about this?”
“About what?” She stared, confused.
“About my favorite sushi.”
“No. You told me.”
“I did?” I couldn’t quite recall, but there were many instances where Chanelle badgered me incessantly until I disclosed whatever the hell she demanded I share with her. “Surprised you remember.”
“I’m a good friend, unlike some people.”
“Oh.” I popped the tray open and grabbed a piece of eel, savoring the smoky teriyaki tang. “This is guilt sushi.”
“Damn straight—minus the hetero bullshit.” Chanelle pursed her lips, pouting, then grabbed a piece of her crunchy tempura roll.
“How am I a bad friend?”
“You’ve been having double dates without me,” Chanelle said. “I’d like to join your new friend group.”
“What friend group?” I dipped the wasabi in the soy sauce, stirring it until the spicy green paste mixed with the salty sauce.
“Diaz and his wife. Milo mentioned you guys have been hanging out.”
“Like two or three times,” I answered, dipping a piece of the octopus into my sauce concoction before taking a bite.
“Well, what makes them so great?” Chanelle asked. “If you’re looking to play, you should be hanging with me and Kyle.”
I choked on the sushi, coughing and wheezing when the spicy sauce caught in my throat.
“What?” Chanelle made a face. “We are killers at any board game. And card games, it’s over. Hand us the gold.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
In my mind, when she said ‘play,’ I immediately envisioned the wrong type of play. Recalling how I’d spent a good portion of one night playing with Diaz’s balls, gargling them at his request.
“Your game nights,” Chanelle answered. “Didn’t you just have one with the kids?”
“Ooooooh.” I nodded in agreement. “Yes, we did. Duh.”
Considering we’d only fucked the couple on one outing, the memory still rose to the surface of my thoughts more often than it did the other three.
At least, Milo didn’t dwell on it much, and when we spent time with the couple, they didn’t seem to think about it either.
Not in the same manner as I did. Maybe it was because I didn’t hook up much, but I did enjoy the gathering.
Still, it made our regular playdates a little awkward for me—and suddenly grateful I was the only telepath in the room.
“Is it cause we don’t have kids?” Chanelle asked quite bluntly.
“No,” I answered. “It’s because I don’t plan anything. Milo does it all. I just get dragged places.”
“I see.” She nodded. “I’m harassing the wrong guy. I’ll go pester him soon enough.”
“Thank you.” I half-smiled. “For the sushi and the annoying friendship.”
“You’re stuck with me, bitch.” Chanelle pinched her chopsticks in the air like she was trapping me.
“I couldn’t be any luckier.”
We spent the better part of the hour catching up.
I asked her how the Cerberus-Gemini merger was holding up.
She divulged the difficulties guild members had when they lacked basic comprehension of educational necessities.
We discussed the student internships. Yes, I made it clear that I telepathically eavesdropped on my students, ensuring their progress over the last few months was going well.
She shared the many check-in benchmarks she required to make sure none of the nearly six hundred third-year students at Gemini Academy slipped through the cracks.
All in all, it was a nice chat. Even listening to her ramble on about random gossip between staff members I couldn’t give a fuck about was fun. It was just nice catching up.
“I should be getting back to Cerberus.” Chanelle grabbed her purse. “Lots and lots of paperwork. Ugh, why did no one tell me being in charge would suck the life out of my soul?”
“I thought you liked sucking.”
“Yeah, when I’m doing it.” Chanelle playfully shoved me. “Lunch was nice.”
“Thank you for the treat.”
“Of course. And when this whole Celestial Coven nonsense is behind us”—Chanelle gestured to the unconscious Winston tied down in the nearby room—“we’ll have to do a couple’s date night.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, minus the kids. You’ll need a babysitter.” Chanelle chuckled. “I can work with them, but I don’t care to entertain small minds in off hours.”
“Ben’s smarter than most of Cerberus’ clients.”
“Careful,” Chanelle said with a sultry smirk. “You sound like a protective papa bear.”
“I’m literally just stating a fact.” I scoffed. “Benjiman’s test scores are—”
“Yes, mommy dearest. Your angel is the best and brightest little one in all the heavens.” Chanelle swaggered out of the room, waving a dramatic goodbye. “Ta-ta, love.”
I went back to work, scouring Winston’s memories and taking notes on the members of the Celestial Coven.
Having finally unlocked full access to his memories and organized them enough to make use of them made this work much easier.
As suspected, the Celestial Coven kept a member for each branch.
However, they only ever kept one witch per branch at a time, which meant they’d never have more than twelve members in their coven.
A good sign for us. Since I’d removed The Sisters Three—and they hadn’t replaced the psychic branch according to Winston—and two other pillars of the Celestial Coven were detained, Grim and Lazarus, that knocked their ranks down.
Plus, we held Winston Cobalt in custody, too, leaving the Celestial Coven at eight witches in total.
Excluding Theodore Whitlock, who they forced to do their bidding.
And honestly, that made him the biggest threat.
They’d fill their ranks with demons—vampires in particular, which would leave Chicago vulnerable.
I took meticulous notes on the names and branches of the other Celestial Coven members, intending to relay all Winston had on them to the Global Guild.
It would make bringing them down much easier if we knew what to expect from their magic.
Their powers were rarities, and it was no wonder The True Witch recruited them.
I recalled the bone staff she wielded, filled with enchanted gems housing the branch magics of all their former fallen coven members.
A powerful weapon that possessed so many rare magics before I destroyed it.
In the distance, something glimmered. I turned to find an antique mirror floating through the abyss of Winston’s memories. Strange. Nothing had remained intact. Everything from his treasured thoughts to his most fleeting fantasies required my restoration.
“Hello, Dorian Frost.” The True Witch materialized in the mirror, dressed the same as the last time I’d seen her, in a low-cut black dress that revealed her many enchantment tattoos. She tipped her witch’s hat just enough to reveal her haunting green eyes.
“Finally showing yourself.” I approached the mirror. “Afraid I’ll learn something about you?”
“You assume this puppet knows anything about me.” The True Witch sprang forward, hands pressed against the mirror, and spoke in her phony French accent—a delicate dialect she’d mastered centuries ago to hide her real origins. “You won’t learn my story rooting through this mind.”
“I’ve already heard pieces from your dead psychics,” I replied. “Lies, I’m sure.”
“They were never one to distort my tale.”
“Yes, but I’m sure you spoon-fed them fabrications for centuries.” My nostrils flared, holding back the fury I held for Amara.
“I’m many things, a liar is not one.”
“Said every single liar in the history of time.” I stepped toward the mirror. “I’m going to end you. Just as easily as I have your coven members who’ve crossed me.”
Amara stared, lost in astonishment, then burst into laughter.
“Did you honestly believe I allowed one of mine to be captured?” She spoke as if we hadn’t rightfully taken Grim and Lazarus from her already.
As if I hadn’t slain The Sisters Three. “Winston was a pawn. Vital in some respects, but mostly just a sacrificial lamb to help clear the board of a tricky knight.”
“Meaning?”
“Your telepathy is profound, I’ll grant you that.” Amara smirked. “But with you occupied, I can cleanse this city and retrieve the goddess.”
“Your daughter.” I glared. “You think Tara would want you to harm her home? Her city?”
“A goddess must not be distracted by mortal connections. And quite frankly, the Global Guild and your pest of a clairvoyant need to learn that when you cross the Celestial Coven, we leave nothing but ashes in our wake.”
“Enough of this.” I reached out psychically, preparing to drag as much of her mind through this mirror trap of hers as I could. I’d shatter her mind and this trap into a thousand pieces.
“Break the glass,” she whispered. “It was my plan all along, darling.”
With that, she blew a kiss. The smooch cracked the glass, each sliver spread like a lake of ice, and suddenly, I found myself plummeting. As I fell deeper into Winston’s mind, the glass exploded above, shards glowing with sigils containing psychic traps.
“Don’t worry. I know not to underestimate you like before,” Amara called out, unleashing a dozen black chains to pin me down and hold me in place.
I fought against them, only to find myself more tangled than I’d started.
They clung to me like sticky webs, dragging me deeper into the recesses of Winston’s broken subconscious.
When I reached out with telepathy, the shards of glass thrummed, triggering psychic traps that knocked me back.
There was nothing I could do until I broke these chains, until I disarmed these traps.
The True Witch had arrived with her Celestial Coven and locked me away before making their first move on the city.
I roared, raging against the bindings. Dammit. I had to do something. Anything.