Chapter Thirty-Three
Blair and Luke’s hug was cut short by an unexpected round of applause.
Blair looked down from the stage. It seemed they had attracted a large audience during their summoning ritual.
Hundreds of people were clapping, and Agatha was front and centre, cheering the loudest. And next to her was the mayor, Hazel Fairwood.
The five witches on the stage quickly stood. Belinda picked up Kass while Bianca blew out the candles.
Agatha and Hazel climbed the stairs and stood on the stage in front of the circle.
Agatha took the microphone from the sound system at the side of the stage.
‘Wasn’t that an amazing performance?’ Agatha said.
Which made everyone cheer. ‘When the Briarwood sisters proposed this unorthodox dramatic presentation on Halloween to commemorate the Moonbeam Hollow Fall Harvest Festival’s one hundredth year, I was sceptical.
But I think this was such a clever and thoughtful way to start a much-needed dialogue about Moonbeam Hollow’s complicated history. ’
Mayor Fairwood smiled, then took the mic to address the audience.
‘I think they’ve illustrated that despite its shameful past actions, Moonbeam Hollow is now a place of love, acceptance and a hint of magic!
In the coming weeks, we will have more information available about what happened here one hundred years ago.
As a town, our first step will be to amend the town charter, reiterating that all are welcome here.
And we will open a task force to find ways to make reparations for the false accusations of witchcraft carried out by the founders of Moonbeam Hollow as well as remember and honour the victims. Please, let’s have another round of applause to the Briarwoods and the Caldwells for that amazing performance! ’
Everyone cheered. Did this mean the mayor’s memories were back? And . . . everyone thought that summoning circle was a performance?
‘Can you believe the special effects?’ Agatha exclaimed to the audience. ‘Imagine! Holograms! Here in Moonbeam Hollow! Beat that, Pine Falls Landing! Please take a bow, Blair, Belinda, Bianca, Calista, Luke and the cat . . . What’s the cat’s name?’
‘Kass!’ Belinda called out quickly, probably so Kass himself wouldn’t say it. He loved an admiring audience.
‘Now take a bow, witches!’ Agatha exclaimed.
Blair tried really hard not to laugh as she held Luke’s hand on one side and Bianca’s on the other and stepped forward to the front of the stage.
They all took a deep bow while the audience clapped.
Had everyone really believed that was an act?
The windstorm? Lightning bolts literally destroying furniture?
Hecate appearing in the middle of the circle?
Blair could clearly see that Bianca and Belinda were holding in laughter.
Luke looked like he had no idea what was happening.
After their bow, the mayor made a little impromptu speech thanking everyone for coming to the one hundredth Moonbeam Hollow Fall Harvest Festival.
While she was speaking, Agatha turned to the five of them on the stage, a huge smile on her face, and winked.
She then pushed up the sleeves of the festival sweatshirt she had on over her costume, showing them clear skin with no rash in sight.
Clearly Agatha, and maybe even Raj and the mayor, knew exactly what had really happened on the stage.
They might have always known that the Briarwoods were witches.
But to the rest of the town, the Briarwoods could continue to be the slightly eccentric sisters who still belonged here in Moonbeam Hollow.
Hecate was gone. Hopefully released from the pain of losing everyone she loved here in Moonbeam Hollow. And hopefully, she and the other witches who died here would not be hidden away as the town’s shameful secret anymore.
When the applause finally died down, Blair and her sisters, and Luke and his mother finally climbed down the stairs and off the stage. The mayor immediately pulled them aside to thank them privately.
‘Are you . . . okay now?’ Belinda asked Mayor Hazel.
The mayor was smiling widely.
‘Right as rain!’ Mayor Hazel said. ‘It was the strangest thing; everything came back the moment that witch appeared on the stage. I had been afraid something like that could happen to me – not long before she stole my memories, I had been doing research for a retrospective exhibit honouring the town’s one hundredth birthday.
I unearthed a very troubling account of a fire in Moonbeam Hollow one hundred years ago.
I always knew that the town hadn’t been kind to the people in the Stormvale settlement because I’d seen the complete charter, but I didn’t know the extent of it until I saw the report.
’ She paused, looking at Calista. ‘The report mentioned an infant being rescued from the blaze . . . Your grandmother was the only survivor.’ She exhaled.
‘As I was considering how to move forward with the knowledge, all memories of the festival and town were taken from me! I am so grateful to the five of you for helping bring back my memories, and for saving the festival.’
‘I’m so happy you’re recovered!’ Blair said.
‘And . . . I really appreciate all you said there about the town acknowledging Moonbeam Hollow’s past.’ Blair had always liked and trusted Mayor Hazel – she had no doubt that the mayor would do everything she could to make sure the past wasn’t hidden anymore.
‘Of course.’ The mayor smiled. ‘And I would be honoured if any or all of you were on that task force. No one better to help make amends to the witches banished or killed a century ago than you five. Please trust that I want to do this right, but I understand if it would be too painful for you. And your secret is safe with me. Now please, go enjoy the festival!’
Blair exhaled, before they all thanked the mayor. That was a lot to take in, and Blair was grateful that the mayor was being sensitive about how to move forward. And also, how long had the mayor known that the Briarwoods were witches? How many people in town knew, and apparently didn’t care at all?
They made their way through the crowd around the stage.
People stopped them, telling them how much they enjoyed the show, and some even asked if Moonbeam Hollow had really killed witches one hundred years ago.
When they were finally able to wade through the crowd, Belinda took Kass straight to her car, saying she was going to take the cat home because crowds made him cranky, and then come back to help Gladys at the book truck.
Bianca went with Raj to see if the pumpkins had been cured when the rest of Hecate’s curses were reversed.
Which left Blair alone with Calista and Luke. Luke was still holding Blair’s hand, and he still looked completely shell-shocked after everything that happened today. ‘I can leave you,’ Blair said. ‘You probably want to talk to your mom alone. I’m starving. I’ll go find food—’
Calista put her hand on Blair’s arm. ‘No. Luke and I can talk later. I think it’s more important for you two to talk now. I’m going to check out the festival, see if I can find any old Moonbeam Hollow co-workers.’
Calista gave Blair a quick hug then, which kind of surprised Blair.
‘I promise, I was going to tell him,’ Calista said.
‘When he told me you two were back together, I was going to tell him the truth when I got here. But . . . well you told him first. This feels right now. I’m so happy to have a community again. ’
Blair didn’t know what to say, so she smiled. She was no soothsayer, but she had a feeling that her days of feeling alone in Moonbeam Hollow were over.
After Calista left, Luke took Blair’s hand again.
The sun had fully set now, but the festival was still bright with lit paths and string lights on the booths and vendor stalls.
The damage to the festival wasn’t nearly as bad as it had seemed from the stage.
Yes, a few vendor stalls were ruined, and there was debris everywhere, but everyone was pitching in to clean up, and since the windstorm was gone, the festival was continuing.
It was Halloween, and there were people laughing, children in costumes chasing each other, and a festive buzz in the air.
Blair pulled Luke straight to the food area.
Summoning spirits apparently made her hungry.
‘So . . . that was a lot,’ Luke said as they walked on the lit path toward the food trucks.
Blair giggled. ‘Are you going to need therapy after today?’
He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I don’t know. Maybe. Or maybe talking to you and Mom will be enough.’
They reached the food vendors, and Blair noticed the apple fritter truck from the flea market.
She ordered herself a half-dozen apple fritters with a scoop of Kawartha Dairy ice cream and salted caramel sauce.
Luke got a burger and fries from another truck.
They found a secluded table lit with a little candle in the middle.
‘Oh, this is heaven,’ Blair said after her first bite. ‘I’m glad we saved the festival so I could eat apple fritters.’
Luke nodded, taking a bite of his burger.
‘I have to ask . . . did you really have no idea that your mother was a witch?’
Luke shook his head. ‘None at all. I knew Mom had secrets from before she adopted me, but I always figured she’d been a wild child or something. Not that she came from a family of practising witches.’
‘But Shirley . . . your great-grandmother. She taught you a literal spell, and you didn’t know? How did that even happen? Didn’t your mom say something about what Shirley was teaching you?’