Chapter 20
The next morning felt like waking up in a world made of glass.
Everyone moved quietly and slowly, afraid to shatter something…
or someone. Rhi stood at the stove, the phone pressed to her ear, talking in hushed tones while she cooked feverishly.
Jess excused herself out into the garden as soon as she woke, not wanting to bother anyone while she made phone calls of her own.
My mother tried to take a tray up to Persi’s room around nine o’clock, but returned with it still in her hands, along with Persi’s undrunk cup of tea from the night before.
“She isn’t in her room,” she said, setting down the tray on the counter, and heading straight for the kitchen window.
“But if I had to guess… yes, there’s smoke coming from her workshop chimney.
” She turned to me and smiled sadly. “She’s always been a solitary creature, pushing away anything that feels like help.
She resents it. Always has, from the time she was a little girl. ”
Rhi turned and looked over her shoulder, the phone still jammed against her ear. “Do you think I should take the tray out to the workshop?” she asked, her tone skeptical.
“Not unless you want her to throw it at you,” my mom replied. “Let’s give her a bit of space, for now. Where’s Jess? Has she eaten?”
I pointed toward the French doors, through which we could see Jess pacing the garden as she talked on her cell phone.
“She’s been out there for a little while,” I said.
“Well, I guess that makes sense,” my mom said.
“After all, this trip is obviously turning out to be more complicated than she expected.” She took the plate off the tray and placed it in front of me instead.
“Here, honey. Hungry or not, you’ve got to eat a little something. I’ll make a plate for Jess, too.”
At first, I put a bite of food in my mouth just to placate my mother, but the tastes that hit my tongue were so satisfying that, before I knew it, I’d cleared my plate.
I looked over at Rhi, who winked. Either she’d bewitched my food, or she really was just that good.
I decided I didn’t care which one was the truth.
Jess came in then, pocketing her phone and smiling sheepishly. “Sorry about that,” she said. “I had to make some arrangements. I thought I would be back home by now.”
“I’m sorry you—” I started to say, but she waved me off.
“Don’t apologize, Wren. None of this is your doing. I just have some very… overprotective people in my life who like to micromanage my risk exposure.” Jess’ lips curved into a smirk as she said it.
“Is it your sister? I remember you mentioned a sister,” I said.
“Hannah? Yes, she wants me to stay safe, but she also usually trusts me enough to take care of myself. My partner, on the other hand, is another story entirely. If I successfully keep him from boarding a plane and storming the town of Sedgwick Cove, I will be lucky.”
My face must have betrayed something, because Jess laughed. “It’s not really his fault. His job is to protect Durupinen, and he was assigned as my guardian. You can see why, on several levels, he might be a bit concerned about the situation here.”
I nodded. “I get it. My mom literally took me and fled.”
“Exactly. I didn’t exactly mention the whole ‘Darkness’ situation to him. That would have made his head explode.”
“Won’t he be mad that you didn’t tell him?”
“Oh, definitely,” Jess said unconcernedly, as my mom placed a plate of food in front of her. “But as long as I come home unscathed, he’ll forgive me.” She speared a bite of frittata and put it in her mouth. I watched as her expression shifted in real time from indifference to bliss.
“Oh my GOD,” she mumbled, her mouth still full.
I grinned at her. “I know, right? Once a kitchen witch cooks for you, you’ll never go back.”
My mom sat down and slid a mug of coffee across to Jess, who took a sip and then moaned.
“Would you consider adopting me?” she asked weakly.
“I think if you help us figure out the problem with the Source, you’ll have your pick of any coven to adopt you,” my mom said, smiling.
“So, um… about that… the Source, I mean, not the adoption thing,” Jess said, cradling her coffee mug. “Where do you think we’re at with that? I don’t want to be insensitive, with everything that happened last night, but…”
“No, I understand,” my mom said. “We’ll still help you, but…
yes, we need to regroup and figure everything out.
You don’t know Persi very well, but I do.
I don’t want to underestimate what we’ve undertaken to do, but at this point, I fear our biggest challenge will be to keep her from storming off in the equivalent of an emotional tornado, and trying to set it all right herself. ”
Jess nodded. “Honestly, I relate. I’m the chaotic sister in my family as well.”
Rhi hung up the phone with a sigh, and joined us at the table with two more plates, setting one down for herself and for my mom, before sinking into her chair. “What a sad situation,” she said with a sigh.
“It’s been sad for a long time, Rhi,” my mom said pointedly.
“Oh yes, of course,” Rhi agreed. “I suppose I meant… what a sad ending.”
“I think we have to consider the possibility that we might have to do this without Persi,” I said.
I looked up from my plate to see both my mom and Rhi staring at me.
“I’m not trying to be insensitive. In fact, it’s the opposite.
Persi needs time to process this. She needs time to grieve.
If we throw her into a dangerous situation, don’t you worry she might…
I don’t know, do something reckless or dangerous? ”
Rhi and my mom traded a look that told me all I needed to know. This was exactly what they worried about.
I felt something brush against my ankle, and looked down to see that Diana and Freya had both entered the kitchen, probably lured in by the smell of food. Rhi crumbled some bacon up, and dropped it onto the floor for them.
“Look, let’s just talk things through a bit,” I suggested. “What needs to happen first? What did we decide before everything fell apart last night?”
“In order to move forward we need the grimoire back, which will be a feat in itself, because I don’t think we’ll be able to remove it by ourselves.
I think at least one Conclave member will need to help us undo the enchantments, and I’m just not sure who would be willing to do that.
Xiomara maybe, but we’d have to explain a whole hell of a lot,” Rhi said.
“And we need to get our hands on the Claire coven grimoire, if at all possible,” Jess reminded her.
“And that’s a big ‘if,’ especially now with… well, things just got very complicated for the Claires,” Rhi said.
“I think it became impossible, actually,” my mom said and, when Rhi began to argue, she cut her off.
“Oh come on, Rhi, be serious. How are we supposed to just turn up on their doorstep and demand a priceless family artifact with no explanation? ‘Oh, sorry for your loss, but can you please hand over the symbol of your family’s deepest power while navigating a terrible loss?’ It’s ludicrous. We can’t possibly.”
“I could talk to Nova,” I suggested again. “She might help us.”
My mom was shaking her head. “I don’t want to get Nova in trouble.”
“Mom, aren’t we past worrying about things like getting in trouble?” I asked incredulously. “Besides, she’s already involved! She helped me get Jess’ body back. She was basically the getaway driver.”
“I don’t know, Wren…” my mom hedged, but I could hear her weakening.
“Look, just let me try, okay? I think it might be the only chance we’ve got,” I said.
My mom raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. I don’t like it, but then, I don’t like any of this.”
“Can I help at all?” Jess asked. “Do you want me to come with you, and help explain, or…?”
“No!” I said quickly. “Sorry, no offense, but I don’t think you’d help our case. She’s already trying to distance herself from you, and I don’t think seeing you standing there will make her feel any better about helping us.”
Jess nodded good-naturedly. “Good point. I’ll stay here.”
Figuring I’d better not waste any more time, I excused myself from the table, and ran upstairs to shower and dress as quickly as I could.
By the time I trotted back down the stairs, my wet hair scraped hastily into a bun, my mother had gone out to the garden and pulled together a stunning assortment of flowers, which she arranged into a white ceramic pitcher and tied with a wide sage green ribbon.
“Take these with you,” she said, thrusting them at me. “I’ll feel better if you take something to acknowledge Bernadette.”
“Great idea,” I said, taking the pitcher into my arms and breathing in the heady aroma of my mother’s blooms. “They’re beautiful, Mom.”
“Good luck,” Jess said to me, smiling tightly.
“Thanks,” I said, returning the smile with a grimace of my own. “I think I’m going to need it.”
It took several minutes to figure out how to safely secure the flowers into the basket on my bike, but I managed it.
Downtown was as busy as ever, but I barely paid any attention to the crowds, except to make sure I didn’t ride right into someone—my mind was too busy trying to decide what the hell I was going to say.
I was suddenly struck with the awful notion that I might be confronted with the entire Claire coven when I arrived at the Manor—after all, that’s what families did in the wake of a tragedy.
They gathered together. The thought was enough to make me want to turn around, but I kept pedaling determinedly forward.
There were more important things at stake than weathering a bit of embarrassment.