Chapter 36 Too Many Revelations. My Head Hurts
THIRTY-SIX
Too Many Revelations. My Head Hurts
“In the interest of transparency,” I said, “I’m here with my mother Sybil Corey, my cousin Faith Bishop, and my great-uncle Bracken Corey.”
“Bracken?” she repeated, even more interested in this conversation now.
He sat forward in his chair. “Lydia, it’s lovely to speak with you again. I didn’t realize Arwyn had a connection to you. This is a wonderful surprise.” He glanced at all of us and said, “I interviewed Lydia years ago. Hers is one of the great Chinese wicche families. Their history is fascinating.”
“I enjoyed our meeting very much,” Lydia said. “I gave everyone in the family a copy of the manuscript you sent me that year.”
Bracken smiled. “Good. It’s only right that we know our own histories.” He chuckled. “And that’s a good segue as to why we’re calling.” He gave her what we knew of the Corey history in the Wicches’ Council and asked if she could fill in the blanks for us.
“Let me think,” Lydia began. “It was so long ago. I must admit, the San Francisco families didn’t interact much with the Monterey families. Excuse me for saying this, but you seemed quite messy to us.”
I scoffed. “You weren’t wrong.”
Mom gave me a look, but I knew she agreed.
“I’d learned early on that there was bad blood between the Coreys and the Swans. We didn’t know the origin of it, and quite frankly, it never made sense to us. Coreys are far more powerful. Why were Swans trying them?”
“They must have something on you guys,” Owen cut in. “Look who’s on the panel now. A Swan. And the Coreys have left the playing field.”
“That’s the issue,” Mom said. “My mother, Mary Corey, has recently passed. I am now the head of this family, and I don’t like our being isolated from the rest of the wicching world.” She cut a look toward me. “Too much ill breeds in the dark.”
“Sybil, I believe we met once,” Lydia told her. “You were pregnant with your daughter. We shared a brief conversation in the bathroom at a Council meeting.”
Mom looked down at her lap for a moment, then smiled.
“I remember. You asked if you could touch my stomach. I have no idea why I agreed. I was so nervous about anything happening to her, but I sensed your kindness and wanted an outside opinion.” She laughed.
“Oh my goodness. I feel so much better about this conversation now. I remember you.”
“Mom is the best,” Owen put in.
“I believe that,” Mom replied.
“You’re all going to turn my head,” Lydia said. “Back to the point of the call. First, let me express my condolences on the loss of your mother.”
Owen murmured an echo of her sentiments.
“What I remember about Mary was that she was tough and powerful,” Lydia said. “Frighteningly so. She held people to account. Some didn’t like that. After years of Mary running the panel, rumors began, first about one daughter, then about another.”
The smile disappeared from Mom’s face. “What rumors?”
“I’m afraid I’m not going to be terribly helpful here. As I said, we really didn’t talk with the Monterey wicches other than at these meetings. Right now, I’m afraid I’m going to garble a rumor and end up saying something offensive about a loved one.”
Mom shook her head. “Please don’t concern yourself with that. You’re giving us the information we need.”
“All right.” Lydia let out a breath. “First there was something about a daughter who cheated on her husband and he left her.”
Mom and I stared at each other, brows furrowed.
“You’ve stumped us right off the bat,” I told her. “Aunt Sylvia and Uncle John were happily married for thirty-ish years. Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Robert have been happily married for twenty-something years. Their daughter Faith is with us now. She’s our third on the Corey Council. I don’t—”
“Bridget,” Mom said. “Oh, Goddess. She started a rumor about poor Bridget. Her husband was killed. He didn’t leave her.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lydia began, but Mom cut her off.
“None of this is your fault and we know that. Did they give a reason for the cheating lie? And it was a lie. My sister loved Michael Quinn, heart and soul.”
“Wait,” Owen cut in. “This is about Sam’s mom and dad?”
A new voice said, “What about my mom and dad?”
“Here,” Owen whispered. “You take your phone and listen to the call.” He told her who was on the phone and why before saying, “One of us needs to be out at the bar, so Sam is taking over the call and I’m out.”
“Hi,” Sam said. “So what about my mom and dad?”
“The rumor was that Bridget had cheated. That the baby had come much faster than she—you—should have, which was evidence of her infidelity. Because of that, her husband left her.”
“Wait, though,” I interrupted. “Sam’s dad was a Quinn, the origin line. She was giving birth to a werewolf. The pregnancy is shorter. I should know because I’m having a werewolf’s baby.”
Lydia and Sam expressed their happiness and well wishes, but I plowed on.
“Chances are, her full pregnancy was only about four months. Apparently, when I was three or so, I gave my first prophesy, telling Bridget and Michael that their daughter would be great and powerful, and that I would miss them both.”
“Oh, no,” Lydia breathed.
“That was right before they married,” Mom confirmed. “They said Bridget wasn’t pregnant and tried to laugh it off. When Samantha was born seven months later, we assumed they’d wanted to wait until after the ceremony to tell us.”
Mom let out a breath. “I should explain. Long before I got pregnant myself, the Goddess had told me in a dream that I’d have a Cassandra wicche daughter.
When Arwyn put her hand on Bridget’s cheek at that engagement party and told her about her future daughter and their own deaths, I knew what was happening.
My mother tried hard not to show it, but she was shaken.
Her granddaughter had given her first prophesy, but it was about her own daughter’s death. ”
“So, when these ugly rumors started circulating,” I guessed, “Gran was probably trying to figure out how to keep Bridget alive.”
Mom nodded. “She was very protective of Bridget after that engagement party and shattered when Bridget and Samantha disappeared.” She paused, remembering. “Lydia, you said two rumors.”
“Yes,” she replied. “Close on the heels of the first rumor, there was talk of you, Sybil. Since I’d met you, I knew who they were talking about, and I worried.
We heard your child, who was barely a toddler, had been born with some kind of physical scarring and that she had no magic.
They made it sound as though she was a shameful secret that was hidden.
There was talk of her being inbred and having many physical and mental impairments because of that. ”
“A shameful, inbred secret?” I echoed. “What the hell?”
Bracken sighed, his jaw tight. “It was me, wasn’t it? When I first met you, you were hostile toward me, which seemed odd.” He rubbed his forehead. “Was the talk that I had violated my niece?”
Lydia was quiet, then finally said, “Yes.”
Mom stood stiffly and moved to the open back door. Arms crossed over her chest, she stared out at the waves.
Faith looked between all of us, her expression heartbroken. “I’m so sorry.”
I did my best to give her a reassuring smile. “None of it’s true, but, Bracken, I’m horrified they spread this kind of filth about you.”
He, too, stood. Though he paced between the worktable and the kitchen, his hands absently tapping his pockets, as though looking for something.
“Sins of the father and all that, I’m afraid.
” He gave a humorless huff of laughter. “I’m an old man.
This shouldn’t surprise me. Lydia, perhaps it will shed some light if I explain I’m part fae.
Given how my mother and grandmother viewed me, I doubt my birth was the result of a consensual liaison. ”
“I’m sorry,” Lydia murmured.
“Gran was probably afraid,” Faith said. “Rumors started about Bridget, and they disappeared. When more started about you, Aunt Sybil, and Arwyn, she probably wanted to keep you all as far away from the other wicches as possible.”
Mom turned at that. Head tilted, she looked deep in thought.
“You might be right about that. I was worried about keeping Arwyn hidden away from the visions and the first of the obsessives. You’re right, though.
Your Gran worked every bit as hard to keep both of us separated from the rest of the family. ”
I shook my head. “And as a result, our family thinks we’re either weak and powerless or aloof and scary.”
“Or a strange combination of those things,” Mom agreed.
I rubbed my stomach, feeling funny bubbles. “Which is why Uncle Joe was shaking in his shoes, falling over himself to comply with his son’s banishment and Great-Aunt Margaret thinks she can push you around.”
Mom rubbed her forehead with both hands. “This family.”
“The Swans are servants,” a deep, grumbly voice said through the phone.
“What does that mean?” Sam asked.
There was an audible growl. “That sorcerer. Abigail. I read her thoughts when—before. She used Catherine to do her dirty work. I’m sure she taught the latest one…”
“Calliope,” I provided.
“Yeah, her,” he said, “to do the same. As long as there have been sorcerers in the Corey line, there have been servants in the Swan. They’re their own form of symbiots.
The sorcerer lends them power they don’t have on their own, and the Swan servant does whatever is asked of them.
Arwyn, your gallery was set on fire when we were at the hospital with your aunt.
It could have been her demon, but it was more likely a Swan. ”
“The latest group of Swans has taken up black magic,” I told him.
“Eh,” he responded. “They’ve probably always been doing that.”
Mom sat back down, listening intently. “Why don’t their souls show the black marks, then?” Wicches could see auras, including the dark spots that indicated evil doing.
“Calliope knew how to scrub hers,” I reminded Mom. “She probably taught them how to do it.”
“Yeah,” Dave grumbled. “It’s a very old spell created by a demon, the demon Abigail worked with.”
I sat up in my chair. “Wait. Does that mean you know a spell to reverse it?”
He hummed in thought. “Let me look into that. I don’t know of one, but I can ask around.”
“Thank you!” That would help our case so much.
“Lydia,” Mom began, “we’ll all be at the Council meeting on Friday.”
“I’ve been told,” Lydia said. “I wasn’t sure why you’d asked after so many years, but this conversation has been quite enlightening. I hope you decide to rejoin us. We’re stronger when we stick together.”
“Agreed,” Mom said. “Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. You’ve helped me understand my mother better, and I’m grateful.”
“My pleasure,” Lydia replied. “I’m looking forward to seeing you all in person.”
We said our goodbyes, thanking Sam and Dave as well, then hung up. In the ensuing silence, we stared at one another.
Mom stood and went to the window. “I’m going to need time to process this and to decide if anything we learned will actually help us on Friday.” She turned back, her arms crossed over her chest. “I’m not sure it did. Bracken’s defense is an easy one.”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry, darling,” Mom said. “I still think it needs to be you who presents the evidence we have and explains what the Swans have done.”
Faith was sitting with her arms around a pillow in her lap.
“Is it wrong that I’m more creeped out than I was before?
They have a history of working for sorcerers?
” She shook her head, her braids swinging.
“They tried to break into our house. What were they going to do?” She glanced between Mom and me.
“I’m definitely the weak link of this group. ”
I leaned forward and rubbed her knee. “This is supposed to scare you. It scares the hell out of me.”
“It does?” she asked.
I nodded. “I try to pretend I’m as kick-ass as my mother, but I’m not.
I don’t understand people for whom evil is not a deal-breaker.
How do you defend yourself and your loved ones from what to you is unthinkable?
” I glanced at Mom and Bracken. “All I know is I’m damn glad I have you all, that I’m not trying to do this alone. ”
Bracken nodded solemnly.
“Also, if Gran were here, she’d remind us that we’re stronger together. There’s a power in the Three, one we’ll use to protect our family.”