Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
“So, you believe you were pulled into another dimension?” Margaux asked.
Even though I knew Ida was right, I still waited twenty-four hours before I went to see the witches.
Bronwyn had closed Wicked an hour ago, and we were in her secret office behind the counter.
The only way in was through magic, so it was as secure as possible.
We wouldn’t need to worry about eavesdroppers.
My bodyguard for the night, Fennel, was inside the store, but outside the office. He’d melted into the dusty shadows of the shop the moment we were inside, preferring to keep watch from an outside perspective.
“Not a dimension, per se,” Bronwyn said. “A pocket of one of the major otherworlds.”
“Ida compared it to a city suburb,” I said.
Bronwyn nodded. “About as accurate a description as I’ve heard.”
“You did this to a ghoul?” Margaux appeared horrified. “Did you … touch him?”
I hadn’t given her any gory details, only glazing over the event to get to what had happened to Ronan and me in front of the coffee shop. Using the slimiest, ickiest of descriptors, I explained how the worm had squirmed up my neck.
“And you held still the entire time?” The look of horror on Margaux’s face was almost comical.
“It was either hold still or let Dominic see my fear. What would you have done?”
“Run screaming from the graveyard,” Bronwyn said. “We’re not all operating at your level of badassery.”
“Oh please. I’ve seen how you and Margaux dig your heels in when your backs are against the wall. You’d have done the same thing.”
Margaux drew a slender, ruby-tipped finger down her own throat and shivered. Her upper lip curled, and she slowly shook her head.
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” Bronwyn shuddered. “Ghouls are some of the scariest creatures out there. The Org doesn’t even take them on anymore. They have a live-and-let-live, please-don’t-kill-us sort of arrangement with the beings. Cemetery demons, too.”
“That doesn’t appear to extend to the descendants of cemetery demons,” I mumbled.
Margaux dropped her hands in her lap, sat up taller in her chair, and let out a disdainful huff. “A rather toothless demon fighting organization, if you ask me.”
“They definitely pick their battles.” Bronwyn flipped through one of her magic tomes.
She had stacks of them on the shelves of the bookcases lining every wall in her small office.
“If they were smart, they’d stop trying to banish Betty.
But, as with all authoritarian organizations, they learn things the hard way. ”
“Those women you mentioned. The ones who stood outside the truck,” Margaux said. “Where did they disappear to?”
“I don’t know if they were even really there,” I said.
“They were there.” She turned to Bronwyn. “Could these women have been from The Org?”
“If they are who I suspect they are, then yes,” she replied.
“From Betty’s description, I believe it was Geraldine and Grisette Gibson, aka, the Gibson twins.
They’re half-sisters but might as well be full, since they practically share a brain.
World-class necromancers, skilled in witchcraft, powerful.
I’m not surprised they got the jump on you. ”
On the one hand, it heartened me that the witches believed my story about the two women when even I wasn’t sure. On the other, shouldn’t I have been made aware that being cornered by necromancers was a possibility?
“Did you know there was a chance The Org might send them?” I stared suspiciously at Bronwyn. “Exactly how many types of paranormals do they employ?”
“A truthseeker, some shifters, several magicals, a trancer, an empath, a healer, the necromancers—those are the ones Mason and I are aware of.” Her gaze tracked her finger as it swept down one page and then another.
“Honestly, I’m shocked they sent the necromancers so soon.
They only break out the Gibson twins when they feel a situation is dire. You’ve got them spooked.”
“I thought the same thing when I realized how powerful your boyfriend is,” I said. “I mean, why would they send someone like Mason to infiltrate the local pack just to keep an eye on me?”
“Not my boyfriend.” Bronwyn turned the page a little harder than necessary but didn’t look up. “We work together.”
Margaux and I rolled our eyes.
“Sure. Whatever you say. My point is, why send such a powerful wolf shifter? Seems a waste of resources. I don’t have superhuman strength. I’m an earth witch who spends time in the soil, grows herbs and crafts charms to help people. How big a threat to the world could I be?”
“Enormous, according to them.” Bronwyn looked up. “But they miscalculated. I mean, they sent me here because they thought you’d end up joining the coven. That was obviously a mistake.”
“A big one,” Margaux muttered.
“They could’ve killed me ages ago without using magic.
I hate to say it, but my own curse-talker, murder-cousin used a pretty mundane method of getting to me.
Granted, he had an assist from Meredith the insufferable mandrake, but he could’ve used the same method on my car while I was driving, or even got me while I was walking in town. ”
“That’s right, he blew up your Airstream with a magic fireball,” Margaux said.
Ugh. That one still hurt. I’d loved that trailer. “My point is, he could’ve accomplished the same thing with an explosive or even a well-placed Molotov cocktail. Why circle around me so much? Why have Mason infiltrate the pack and you the coven just to banish someone like me?”
“The Org doesn’t just banish,” Bronwyn said, “they keep historical records. They learn everything they can about how a demon operates. If one’s harming a noticeable amount of people, they’ll move faster, but the mission isn’t only to destroy or banish, it’s also to study them.
And you weren’t harming anyone they cared enough about to act. ”
“So, even The Org doesn’t care Floyd Pallás is dead,” Margaux said.
“True.” Bronwyn shrugged. “You’ve thwarted them at every opportunity, Betty. Look at it from their perspective. You convinced Mason, Miles, and me to back you then took on the role of alpha of the local wolf pack.”
“You did that on your own. I didn’t try to convince you.”
She breezed past my remark. “The fools really have no idea who they’re dealing with. They think you’re a threat and are treating you as such, when if they stopped for a second and actually communicated with you, they’d realize you could be an asset.”
“That’s corporations for you,” Margaux said, and we all nodded in agreement.
Bronwyn returned to flipping the pages of her book.
“What are you looking for in there?” I asked.
“A spell to keep you tethered to this realm so you don’t disappear again,” she said. “Something we can use to fight the necromancer twins, lots of things.”
“Your spells would be stronger with our magic pooled together. As would all our magic,” Margaux said pointedly.
“She’s right.” Bronwyn gave the tome in front of her a few quick page flicks.
“Even if we only formed a coven to temporarily protect you, it’s still a smart thing to do.
You may hate the idea, but there’s no denying it’s the right choice.
Doing so would also help keep the Siete Saguaros safe, if I can’t find a spell to tether you here and you wind up in another dimension again. ”
“Imagine how strong the protection spell would be with all our magic backing it?” Margaux asked.
“A four-witch coven,” Bronwyn said. “Small but efficient. I like it.”
“Three, not four.” Margaux made a sour face. It was hard to tell the difference from her usual one, but I was attuned to her by now.
I looked from one witch to the other. “Did something happen to Billy Lopez? Is he okay?”
“The young man is fine. He called a few days ago to inform me that he’s moving—somewhere cold. Minnesota, I believe. He’s got an uncle there. He believes it will be safer than living here.”
“Guess Desmond trying to murder you all really got to him,” I said.
“Oh, please. Was this his first coven? I’ve been nearly murdered by at least two others.” Margaux sniffed. “One before I was fifteen.”
“Really not selling the coven thing,” I muttered.
“Better for him to go if his heart isn’t in it,” Bronwyn said without taking her eyes off her book.
“Yeah. It’s not like things are getting less lethal around here.” I picked up one of the crystals Bronwyn kept in a small dish on her desk. It had to be infused with some sort of calming spell, because I instantly felt warm and soft inside, like when I hugged Ronan.
“Can I buy this from you?” I held up the pale pink crystal.
“Keep it,” she said. “I have more.”
“On the subject of that awful Desmond Mace, how’s Maya doing?” Margaux asked. Her words were gentle and not unkind, but Bronwyn bristled.
“Fine. She’s fine.”
Margaux and I looked at each other.
Bronwyn sighed. “Maya’s staying with her sister. The one she’d intended to move in with before the ordeal with Desmond. She’s selling the house in La Paloma.”
“Not the worst idea, even if she decides to stay,” I said. “There can’t be many good memories there.”
“She’s not staying in town.” Bronwyn’s hand shook as she flipped through her book. “Not after what I did.”
“Personally, I think she needs to get over it,” Margaux said.
“Betty did, and she has more reason to be angry about your perfidy. You only lied about your identity to Maya. You lied to Betty about everything, including your work with the organization hunting her down. Plus, you were reporting her whereabouts and actions to your higher-ups in the full knowledge that they would end up banishing her to Hell. No contest.”
“Perfidy? You couldn’t just say deceitfulness?” I shook my head when one of her perfect thin brows arched up. “You’re so extra.”
“Maya’s best friend betrayed her trust right after her husband had done the same thing.” Bronwyn’s attention was on the book again, and she didn’t look at either of us. “She should hate me. Can we drop it?”