Chapter Four
Senán
I manage to wait until I’m outside to breathe a massive sigh of relief.
As irritating as it is to be suspected of ill intent merely on account of existing as a Witch, it’s the sort of treatment I’ve come to expect from the Bureau, and the interaction made it clear that the Agent doesn’t actually know anything.
He’s just a bumbling, unsupervised idiot, and will likely leave on his own in a few days.
Still, there’s always a chance of even the most inept Witchfinder stumbling upon actual evidence of unsanctioned activity—a broken sundial tends to be right twice a day, after all.
I take a few moments to center myself and allow the cool evening air to ease my mind.
A small movement in the corner of my eye catches my attention—just a rustling of leaves in the well-kempt shrubbery nearby.
Anyone else might have ignored it, but I know what to look for.
I step closer and yes, there, nearly hidden at the base of a Ficus hedge, sits a fat, orange-striped salamander staring up at me. I smile at him.
“Hello, there, Malachi.”
Malachi flicks his tongue in reply.
I bend down and hold out my hand in invitation, and he responds by slithering over my fingers and up my arm, curling up comfortably on my shoulder to settle in for our journey.
Still on edge, I take one surreptitious look around and, finding no one else in sight, set off across the manicured lawn, through the hedges marking the edge of the property, and continue into the dense redwoods surrounding the resort.
Shrouded in mist with only a waxing moon and unpolluted starlight to illuminate my path, it’s exactly the sort of image any Quotidian might expect as the setting for a Coven.
The term “Coven” is one which, like so many other words and ideas relating to Witches, has been twisted into something cartoonishly macabre.
A Coven has no minimum attendance or blood oath requirement—a Coven is, by definition, any planned meeting of two or more Witches.
A wedding could be a Coven. Brunch could be a Coven.
A bloody Zoom call could be a Coven. It is a collective noun, nothing more and nothing less.
Of course, to a Quotidian, any meeting of Witches is assumed to have some kind of sinister intent behind it.
Hecaterina is waiting for me at our usual rendezvous point, about a quarter mile past the tree line.
She’s as easy to spot as ever: a pastel dress contrasted against her dark skin, and a cloud of silvery-white hair which belies her young features.
She’s always insisted the unusual hair colour isn’t a glamour spell, and it looks so fitting on her that I don’t particularly care whether or not she’s lying.
Malachi squirms, and I pluck the newt off of my shoulder as we approach. “He’s getting better at hiding,” I tell Hecaterina, holding her amphibious familiar in my outstretched hand.
Malachi hops off of my fingers and his Witch catches him in the air. “He’s getting better at everything!” she says proudly.
Much as I adore Cat—although technically inexperienced as a Witch, she’s a quick study and a kind and loyal friend—I have little patience for small talk, and she knows as much. “So?” I prompt her. “Why am I here?”
An anxious expression flashes over her round features. “We found another one,” she says tensely.
I keep my voice and expression calm. Cat is naturally high-strung, constantly overworked, and under considerably more stress than most Witches her age. I don’t want to make her visibly apparent (and generally justified) unease any worse. “How bad?” I ask.
“Better than the last,” she replies. “He’s immobile.”
I nod and begin untangling one of the many chains that hangs from my neck—they’re not just an aesthetic choice, after all.
“Immobile does make it a bit easier…” I free a rose quartz pendant, hollow and hiding a potion inside, and hold it out to her.
“I’ll start setting up a visibility perimeter.
This tincture will be the same as the last, use three drops—”
“We might need something stronger,” she interrupts, looking at the vial nervously. “I mean… This one is, um. A little different.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “Different how?”
Cat winces. “It’s… a child.”
“A child? ” I repeat, aghast. “Bloody hell, are we to be going after babies next?”
“Don’t yell at me, I’m just the messenger!”
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. A child.
“All’s fair in love and big game hunting, I suppose,” I mutter, then place the necklace in Cat’s hand.
“This will have to do for now. It’ll help, at least. I can make you a more potent one, but it will take a few days.
” I look up at the moon, hanging high overhead. “Five, at least.”
Hecaterina nods and turns to leave. I quickly take a step after her.
“Before you go—” I say. She turns back towards me, and I find myself hesitating.
Hecaterina is as smart and trustworthy as they come, but I have an inclination not to tell her about the Agent.
Why is that, I have to wonder? She’s prone to worry, but she needs to know these things.
“There’s a Bureau Agent staying at the resort,” I tell her, keeping my voice level.
Cat’s eyes widen, and she goes so tense that Malachi races up her neck to hide in her thick hair. “The Bureau is here?”
“He doesn’t know anything,” I say before she has time to spiral into a panic. “Apparently he’s here on vacation. He hassled me a bit, but it was only the typical ‘you’re a Witch, therefore you must be up to something’ sort of tripe.”
“I mean, he’s not wrong…”
“Well, I made sure he thinks he is,” I assure her. “He’s nothing to worry about, just something to be aware of. I’m doing my best to keep you lot hidden out here, but I can’t be everywhere at once, so be extra quiet, and extra careful. Understood?”
Hecaterina gives a tight nod, as if to say, “yes, captain,” and turns to leave again.
I let out a deep breath for the second time this evening as I watch her disappear into the forest mist, trying to sort out my next steps.
I can cast more invisibility spells in the area, and some binding charms will help temporarily.
But what we really need is a new potion, one that requires a long list of ingredients and precise timing, and I don’t exactly have a cauldron set up in my hotel room.
Damn it. Being inconspicuous at the resort is about to get a lot more difficult.