Chapter 40
FORTY
And So It Begins…
Faith laughed at Mom’s trash talking and took a book out of her bag.
“You can read in a car?” I asked.
She nodded, grinning. “It drives Mom and Frank nuts. Dad can do it too.”
When she settled in to read, Mom glanced back at me and we shared a look. Without a word, we both knew that no matter what, Faith would be protected.
“Shall I put on some music?” Bracken asked.
Mom said yes and the car filled with classical music. I took out my sketchbook and started to plan what I would paint on the walls of the nursery and playroom.
It seemed like no time at all until Bracken pulled off the freeway and headed down a narrow road that hugged the coast. Pacifica was a small seaside town south of San Francisco. Being so close to the ocean made me feel like I was on steadier ground going into this meeting.
We saw the sign for the restaurant and Bracken slowed, preparing for a sharp turn down a narrow road between two walls of bushes. Unfortunately, he had to stop short because there was a gate barring entrance to the road and a man standing in front of it.
Bracken rolled down his window. “Hello there.”
The man stepped forward, studying the four of us. “We’re closed for a private party.”
Mom leaned toward Bracken’s window. “I’m Sybil Corey. We’re expected.”
His eyebrows went up as he considered that information. “And who else do you have with you?”
“I’m Bracken Corey. The ladies in the back seat are Arwyn Corey and Faith Bishop. As my niece said, we’re expected.” He checked the time on the dashboard. “Though we are fifteen minutes early. We’d be happy to park and wait by the water until they’re ready for us.”
The man, who appeared to be in his fifties, held up a finger, asking us to wait. He tapped his phone as he stepped away from our car.
I whispered to Mom, “Do you know who that is?”
She shook her head, still watching him. “Darling, can you tell? Is this an ambush?”
I rolled down my window and focused on the man. I pulled the pearl out to roll between my fingers while I used that one hole Dad had left in my mental walls. After a moment, I tucked the pearl into my sweater.
“No. They’re still finishing their lunch and clearing away plates. They weren’t sure what to expect, but given what they’ve heard about us, I think they thought we’d be showing up looking like vampires in a black stretch limo.”
Bracken murmured, “He’s telling them we want to wait by the water and they’re trying to decide if they can trust us that far.”
Huh. I guess Bracken’s hearing was almost as good as Declan’s.
“They’ve decided to let us in, but we’ll be watched,” he added as the man pocketed his phone and opened the gate for us.
“Go straight down the road,” he directed. “You can park to the left and wait on the deck until someone comes to get you.”
“That’s fine,” Bracken said. “We appreciate your help.”
Once the gate was open, Bracken nodded to the man as he drove past. “We make them quite nervous. I hadn’t realized how bad our reputation was. My goodness.”
“If the Swans have been bad-mouthing us for decades,” Faith said, “it’s no wonder they think we’re evil incarnate.”
Mom nodded. “New plan. Everyone be unfailingly polite. We need to jolt them enough that they begin to rethink their opinions of us.”
I laughed. “I think that plan is for you and me, Mom. Bracken and Faith are already unfailingly polite. You and I are the problem children.”
Mom turned in her seat to look at me. “We are, aren’t we? All right then. You and I need to be on our best behavior.”
Bracken parked and we got out. I shouldered my backpack and walked to the rocks at the edge of the water. I felt something drawing me toward the deck, something below it. The tide was rising, though high tide was probably still an hour or so away.
I walked over, flicking my fingers and cleaning off the deck. I lay down, my head and arms dangling over the edge.
“Oh, Arwyn, please.” Mom’s voice had a hint of a whine in it. “They’re watching us and you’re going to get all dirty.”
“I cleaned the deck,” I told her. “Besides, there’s someone down here who wants to say hello.
” An octopus surfaced, one of his tentacles reaching up for my hand.
“Hello, you.” The tip of his tentacle wrapped around my finger.
When he tried to tug me into the water with him, I laughed and stroked his skin.
“Maybe another time. I have to go to a meeting in a minute. It was lovely to meet you, though.”
I unwound my finger and stood. Mom was there, straightening my sweater and flicking her fingers to clean off any slivers of wood sticking to me.
“Look,” Faith squeaked.
When I did, I saw two orcas swimming toward us.
“How come you guys never visit me when I’m at home?” I called.
They crisscrossed in front of the deck.
“I can’t go swimming right now,” I told them. “I have to go in this building in a few minutes. Come visit in Monterey and I’ll swim with you.”
They spouted, then swam away from the coast.
“I believe they’re ready for us,” Bracken said.
I turned to see a crowd of wicches on the upper deck, watching us.
I held up both hands and called, “Sorry. Just making new friends.”
One of the women in the front of the group wore a black linen dress, very like something Mom would wear. She was a lovely Asian woman, who wore her hair in a chignon. When she smiled at me, I knew she was Lydia Wong.
“Why were you lying on the deck?” she asked.
“Oh.” I pointed down at the water. “There’s an octopus who lives under this deck. I was saying hi.”
Mom led the way up the steep wooden stairs to the upper deck where the Council had assembled to watch my shenanigans. I should probably have been embarrassed, but I wasn’t. My new sea friends had come to see me. What was I supposed to do? Ignore them?
When we got to the top, Lydia was standing in front, holding out her hand.
She shook Mom’s. “It’s lovely to meet you in person.
” She shook Bracken’s. “And it’s very good to see you again.
” When she turned to Faith, she gave her the sweetest smile, which made me like this woman even more.
“It’s very good to meet you. Faith, is it? ”
Faith nodded, looking like she might pass out from all the wicches crowded around, staring at us with varying expressions of distrust and disgust.
Mom wrapped her arm around Faith. Dark clouds came in quickly and rain started to fall. Faith winced. Most of the wicches went back in. Only a few stayed on the deck, under the overhang. Lydia stared up at the sudden clouds, then at Faith.
She reached out and took my cousin’s hand again. “Nothing to fear,” she whispered. “We won’t let anything happen to you.” Lightning shot through the sky. Lydia smiled and gestured to the door into the restaurant, whispering, “Impressive,” to Faith.
When we stepped in, we saw most everyone had taken their seats again. I didn’t see any empty tables, but there was a line of four chairs against the window. They were apparently making sure we understood that we were not a part of their group. Ah, well.
Mom sat in the first chair, closest to the long table where the Panel of Five sat. Faith was next to Mom, then me, with Bracken in the last seat. Most of the thirty or so people in the room made a point of not looking in our direction. Others openly stared.
Although no one was making any noise, Lydia tapped on the table where she was sitting and said, “We’ll now move to new business.”
The Panel of Five was made up of four women and one man, who I assumed was the Howe man Mom had spoken with to secure the invitation.
He sat at the far end, away from us. Catherine Swan sat beside him.
A very old woman sat beside her. Lydia was next, and sitting closest to us was another Asian woman who looked to be Mom’s age.
Catherine stood. “Bracken Corey was summoned here to answer for the black magic he used against me.”
There were a few gasps of shock in the room, but most were silently disdainful of us.
Lydia glanced over at Catherine. “Yes. Thank you for reminding us.” She waited a moment. “You can have a seat, Catherine. Mr. Corey must have his say as well.”
Catherine gave Lydia a look that made me concerned for Lydia’s safety, though she did sit down.
Lydia gestured to an open space in the room, near where Mom was sitting. “If you could address these charges, please.”
Bracken stood and moved to the spot she’d indicated.
“Of course.” He tapped his pockets, then rubbed his forehead.
“Let me see. Where should I begin? I suppose I should explain who I am, as I’m afraid I’m new to this group.
My name is Bracken Corey. I’m a historian of both human and supernatural history.
I grew up in Monterey, which is where Catherine and I met. ”
He shook his head and gave a quick, humorless laugh. “I’m afraid I’ve always been a bit odd, far more interested in books than normal childhood things.”
“Is that when you learned to practice black magic?” Catherine sneered.
“No,” he said, sounding more disappointed than defensive. “I did sometimes study grimoires, like the Corey family grimoire that you took from us when you were a child,” he responded.
“I never!” she shouted.
He waved his hand and winced, as though her shouting hurt his ears.
“The time for that lie is long past. My sister Margaret finally confessed that she was the one who conspired with you, though both you and she told my mother it was me. I suppose a young and admittedly odd boy being shunned by his family for something you did probably didn’t seem terribly important.
Speaking as that boy, it was quite devastating to have my entire family turn their backs on me because of something you and my sister cooked up.
Still, that was a very, very long time ago. ”
“You’re lying,” Catherine shouted. “You have no proof.”
In Bracken’s soft-spoken way, he was changing minds. They may not have trusted him yet, but there were more than a few who were looking at Catherine in a way that said they wouldn’t put it past her.
“I left town when I went to college,” he continued.
“Because my family had no use for someone who would give away our centuries-old grimoire. Of course, I didn’t know then that was why my mother and grandmother had no use for me.
I didn’t learn that until recently. I came home because my sister Mary called and asked me to help her with a problem. ”
“Yet another Corey sorcerer!” Catherine cut in. The ugly hatred on her face was frightening to see.
Bracken nodded solemnly, patting his pockets. “That’s quite true, I’m afraid.”
Judging by the looks on some faces in the room, they’d thought Bracken was going to lie to cover it up.
“There is a troubling history of sorcery within the Corey coven.” Glancing at me, he said, “My great-niece and I were discussing this recently. I think because we are, for the most part, a powerful wicche family, those who have little magic resort to practices that are an affront to the gifts the Goddess has endowed us with in order to claim magic that isn’t their own.
It’s vile and something that should go against our nature. ”
A few of the wicches in the room nodded as Bracken continued in his thoughtful, measured speech. “It shames and horrifies us that we have family members who have chosen a path away from the light.”
“Like you,” Catherine said, though she’d lost her momentum. Even she seemed to have noticed that the people looking at Bracken were no longer doing so with disgust.