Chapter 14
“Did… did you hear what I said?” Jess asked.
It was a fair question, considering the fact that Nova and I were just staring at her as though both of our brains had stopped functioning simultaneously. I turned my gaze on Nova, and saw the same panic staring back out at me from her eyes that I could feel pumping through my veins.
“You… want us to take you under the Playhouse?” Nova repeated.
“Yeah,” Jess said. “I can’t very well know what we’re dealing with if I can’t even get in there to see it.”
“I… don’t really think that’s going to be possible,” I said.
“I’ll do you one better. I know for a fact it’s not going to be possible,” Nova added.
Jess narrowed her eyes. “Why not?”
“It’s… complicated,” Nova hedged.
“I can keep up,” Jess replied.
Nova looked at me again, silently asking me to jump in.
“See, the thing is, Jess… that place, under the Playhouse? It’s sort of… off limits.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I kind of sorted that out from all the security and the magical protections? Hence why I even tried something as extreme as Walking to get in there.”
“Yeah, well that security is constant. We’re talking twenty-four seven. And we’re definitely not allowed in there,” I said.
Jess raised one eyebrow. “I am speaking to the girls who just broke into a morgue and stole a body at the behest of a spirit, right? Or did those girls get impatient and fuck off while I was in the shower?”
“No, we’re… it’s not that we don’t want to help you,” I said quickly. “It’s just, I don’t think we can.”
“We definitely can’t,” Nova added.
“Why?” Jess asked.
Nova and I traded anxious looks again.
“What happened there? What’s with all the security? It doesn’t seem like you knew anything about Gateways before I explained it, so what’s with all the interest in that particular part of town?”
“Do you know how you said that there’s like, a code of secrecy with your sisterhood, the Du—the Du-ruh… sorry, what was it?”
“The Durupinen,” Jess repeated.
“Right. You have stuff you’re not allowed to tell people because it protects you. We’re in a similar situation here in Sedgwick Cove,” I explained.
“It’s been that way since the town was founded,” Nova added.
“I probably don’t need to tell you that witches have been persecuted for centuries, because it sounds like some of you were even persecuted on our behalf.
But when this town was founded, the covens that settled here agreed that the true nature of the town would stay a secret, for everyone’s protection. And we take that seriously.”
Jess was smirking, like she was expecting us to say that this was all a joke. “You do realize that your entire town is like… witch themed, right? I couldn’t walk ten feet without tripping over a broomstick or a cauldron since I got here.”
“Right, but that’s why the protection is so clever.
We project this image of fake, commercialized witchcraft to hide the real magic of the place.
And it works. Visitors have no idea about the deep and abiding magical community that actually hides in plain sight here.
They think it’s all a show, like an amusement park. ”
Jess nodded. “Okay, yeah, I guess that makes sense. It’s definitely clever. But then… you’re saying that whatever is under the Playhouse is part of the secret?”
“It’s not just part of the secret. It’s the heart of it,” Nova said. “You’re asking us to show you the one thing we have to protect the most.”
“Why? What is it?” Jess asked, and then caught herself. “Okay. Okay, right. You probably can’t even say, can you?”
Nova shook her head. Jess closed her eyes for a second, clearly deep in thought.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. We can… we can figure this out.”
Nova and I waited. I was pretty sure we weren’t even breathing.
“Look, I’m not trying to get the two of you in trouble.
You saved my life tonight, and that’s not an exaggeration.
But the fact remains that I need to get in to see what we’re dealing with under that Playhouse; and, if the events of tonight have taught me anything, it’s that I can’t do it by myself.
So, here’s my proposal,” Jess said, pressing her hands together, and choosing her words carefully.
“I know what I’m looking for, and I’ll be able to tell within moments if I’ve found it.
If it’s not a Geatgrima, I’ll head out of town, no questions asked, and you’ll never see me again.
But if it is… well, I guess we’ll have to have another conversation. ”
I looked at Nova, who was waggling her eyebrows and shaking her head in a way I absolutely could not interpret.
“Could we, uh… have a second to talk about this?” I asked.
Jess hesitated only a moment. “Of course,” she said.
“It’s like three o’clock in the morning.
I don’t think we’re going to solve this tonight, and I don’t want either of you to get in trouble if you can avoid it.
Why don’t you go home, talk it over, and get in touch with me tomorrow.
This is my cell phone, okay?” She dug around for a moment in the drawer of her bedside table, extracted a business card, and handed it to me.
I looked at Nova, but she was just staring blankly at Jess, so I pocketed the card and stood up, making the decision for the two of us. “Okay. But what about you? What are you going to do?”
Jess chuckled. “Well, given that multiple people in this town have only ever seen me as a corpse, I’m going to lay low and wait to hear from you.”
“Don’t you think they’re going to come and search your room when they figure out where you’ve been staying? We might be a town full of witches, but our police officers can still do their jobs, and they’re going to track you down.”
“I won’t be staying here,” Jess assured me. “I’ll find somewhere else to keep a low profile for the moment, but I won’t be too far. Just let me know what you decide.”
“What if we decide not to help you?” Nova asked, finding her voice at last. She was looking at Jess with a level, assessing sort of gaze.
“Then that’s your choice, and I’ll respect it,” Jess said with an unconcerned shrug.
“I respect that you need to protect your secrets, but I’ve got to protect mine too; and if I fail, the repercussions could be catastrophic.
I respect you and your town, but that doesn’t mean I’ll just give up.
” Then she turned and looked directly at me.
“I think your grandmother brought us together for a reason, Wren, and it’s bigger than simply handing over a book.
So think about it, and get home before the two of you get busted. I’ve got some packing to do.”
Nodding, I grabbed Nova by the arm and pulled her out of the room. As the door swung closed behind us, I caught a last glimpse of Jess’ face. She was gazing after us, a little wrinkle of worry creasing her otherwise smooth forehead.
“No.”
“Nova, come on.”
“No. No, Wren. Absolutely not. I can’t even believe we’re having this conversation. It’s a non-starter!”
We were sitting in Nova’s car, still parked outside the bed and breakfast. Well, I was sitting. Nova was, apparently, having a nervous breakdown.
“Nova can you just—”
“No! No, I cannot just,” she replied, each word as sharp as a knife. “There is no just in this situation, Wren.”
I sighed, which only seemed to infuriate her more. I turned to look out the window.
“I know what you’re doing,” Nova said, after a tense but silent minute. “You’re waiting for me to calm down because you think I’m being hysterical, but the truth is that you should be hysterical, Wren! You should be freaking out right now!”
“Yes, because freaking out always solves things,” I muttered.
“When it is a proportional response, it sure does!” Nova shouted, and then pressed her lips together, taking a sharp inhalation through her nose, and then blowing it out through her mouth.
“First of all, I’m not sure if I believed a single word that came out of that woman’s mouth.
I mean, seriously? Gateways? Duru…whatever the hell she called them? It all sounds like bullshit.”
I turned to look at her, amused despite my simmering aggravation. “Seriously, Nova? We live in a town populated by witches, and this is the hill you want to die on? That her magical community isn’t believable?”
Nova rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It sounds fake.”
“Well, so does our entire existence to anyone who doesn’t live here, so maybe let’s just assume that she’s telling the truth.”
“Why though? Why should we assume that?”
“Well, in the first place, we watched her re-enter her own purportedly dead body and come back to life, and somehow I think that’s probably more than just some party trick or illusion. She’s got magic of some kind, even if we don’t fully understand it.”
“Well—”
“And secondly, Asteria found her. She spoke to her, specifically. Everyone in this town has been drilling it into my head from day one that our covens are sacred, that our history is important, that our traditions are who we are. Hell, less than twelve hours ago, we were all standing around the Shadow Tree to honor exactly all of those things. And I’m sorry, but I don’t believe that Asteria would just lead a fox into the henhouse and tell us to trust her. Do you?”
Nova chewed the inside of her cheek, but said nothing.
“No, of course you don’t. In fact, I think you do believe what Jess told us. I think you believed every word that came out of her mouth, until the moment she started talking about the one thing that scares the shit out of you, and that’s the Source.”
“I’m not scared of the Source,” Nova retorted.
“Yes, you are,” I said. “We all are, aren’t we? We don’t understand it. We can’t control it. And yet, somehow we have to protect it from the Darkness. It’s okay to admit we’re afraid of it. Of its power. Of what it can do. How it could tempt us.”
“That’s beside the—”
“And furthermore,” I shouted right over her, so that she snapped her mouth shut again and glared at me. “It’s okay to admit that that temptation has happened before. It’s okay to admit that that makes us feel vulnerable, because it should.”
“I don’t do vulnerable,” Nova muttered under her breath, as she stared icily out the window.
“Yes, you do. You just hide it better than most of us,” I said. “Fear and vulnerability can be a good thing, you know. It keeps us alert and on our toes. It forces us to self-reflect and probe our own motivations.”
“It’s turned my mother into a monster,” Nova said quietly.
“Not quite a monster,” I said. “But yeah, there is such a thing as letting the fear spiral out of control. Your mom is probably guilty of that.”
“My mom is definitely guilty of that.”
“And she’s not the only one. Look at my mom, fleeing this town and never looking back.
The point is that the adults in Sedgwick Cove have let fear be in charge for a long time now.
They let it take over. And I don’t think this is any way to live, just holding our breath and being thankful for another day of not facing what we know is out there. ”
I sat in silence, and watched Nova’s face as she processed everything we’d just said. She was less angry at least; the red was fading from her cheeks, and her jaw wasn’t clenched. Finally, her whole body seemed to sag.
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“Okay, you’re right. I’m scared about the Source. But that doesn’t change anything. I don’t think we should mess with it.”
“Neither do I. No one is talking about messing with it, we’re talking about identifying it.
But if Jess is right and the Source is one of those…
those Gate-whatevers… then we might actually understand the deep magic for the first time since the First and Second Daughters set foot in the Cove.
Don’t you think it’s better to have more information than less?
Don’t you think we should arm ourselves with whatever knowledge we can find, even if it comes from an unexpected source?
And Jess said that the Durupinen are protectors of the Gateways.
She might actually be able to help us keep the Darkness from it! ”
Nova let out a growl, making me jump.
“What?” I gasped.
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make it all sound so reasonable so that I can’t argue with you!” she yelled, slamming her palm into the steering wheel.
I pressed my lips together as a barrier to the laugh that was threatening to burst out. If I pissed her off now, she’d turn on me again out of pure spite, and I knew it. I watched her nostrils flare for several seconds like the gills of a fish, counting her breaths. Finally…
“Fine.”
“Fine… what?”
“Fine. I won’t say anything. But I’m staying out of it, Wren.
I’m not helping you. Whatever you’re doing, I don’t want to know, and if anyone asks, I am not taking any heat for you,” Nova said, glaring at me.
“And if this goes sideways and this Jess woman turns out to be a Kildare in disguise or some shit, that’s all on you.
Don’t you dare ever say I helped bring her back to life or whatever the fuck happened tonight. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” I would have preferred her help, but I wasn’t going to push it. If the best I could get was her silence, I would take it.
“Damn it, Wren,” she muttered under her breath as she started the car. We rode in silence all the way back to Lightkeep Cottage. She parked down the road from the house so no one would hear her engine. I took off my seatbelt and put my hand on the door handle.
“Do you want me to like… text you?” I asked.
“Not a word,” she said.
“Isn’t that gonna kill you, not knowing what’s going on?”
She glared at me. “You’re going to mess with the Source, and you think I’m the one who should be worried about dying?”
“Right. No text then,” I said. I hopped out of the car and leaned down to the open window.
“Nova?”
“What?” she snapped.
“You’re the only person I’d call to help me break into a morgue. Thanks.”
“Whatever,” she muttered, throwing the car into drive and speeding away—but not before I saw her lip twitch into the merest suggestion of a smile.