“Does that mean you’re not coming?” I asked.
Eva raised her eyebrows at me. “Does that mean you are?”
“Well,” I began, fumbling around for the words. “Nova… it’s not like we’re friends, but she put herself on the line for me last week on the beach. I mean, you all did. And so, when she showed up in my room and begged for my help…”
“You agreed because you felt guilty,” Zale finished.
“Well, partly, yes. I’m also probably just an idiot, because let’s be honest, I don’t actually know what I’m getting myself into. I don’t even know what the Keep is.”
Zale and Eva looked at each other. “It’s down in a cavern near the beach,” Eva said. “It’s sort of our version of jail around here.”
“We also have, like, normal jail,” Zale added. “We’ve got a tiny police station with a couple of holding cells for when the tourists get feisty. But when a witch needs to be contained, we bring her to the Keep.”
“That sounds… ominous,” I said. “And a bit dramatic.”
“It’s almost never used,” Zale said as Eva nodded. “There’ve only been two witches held in there since we’ve been alive. And the other one hadn’t done anything terrible, like Bernadette. She’d just been experimenting with love potions and went off the deep end. It was only temporary, but they had to leave her in there until the effects wore off, because they thought she’d do something crazy.”
“You’d have to be an absolute fool to mess with love magic, even if you do know what you’re doing,” Eva said, shaking her head.
“But the point is, sometimes when magic gets out of control, we need a place to contain it,” Zale said. “And Bernadette was definitely out of control. A danger to herself, and others.”
“But what kind of place is it?” I asked. I kept picturing a Rapunzel-type situation, a tall windowless stone structure that can only be entered if the trapped princess lets down her hair.
“I know, it sounds all Alcatraz, but it’s not that impressive. It’s basically just a structure built into the underside of the seawall. A lot of the kids like to brag that they’ve been out to it, and even broken into it, but they’re all full of shit. The truth is, hardly anyone knows what it’s like inside, because only the members of the Conclave are allowed to go in and out.”
“So, how does Nova expect to pull this off?” I asked, incredulous now. “She made it sound like this was a place we could just walk into!”
“I have no idea, but if she thinks we’re just going to go in there without a plan, she’s lost her damn mind,” Eva said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Have either of your grandmothers mentioned anything about all this?” I asked, looking between them. “About Ostara refusing to perform the Cleansing?”
Zale frowned. “Hm. She has been grumbling about Ostara more than usual, but she’s kept quiet about the details.”
“Xiomara and Ostara have never really gotten along, but yeah, things seem especially tense right now. I assumed it had to do with the Darkness; but as usual, the Conclave keeps all its cards very close to the chest,” Eva said.
“Can’t the other members overrule her or something?” I asked. “I mean, it doesn’t seem fair that one member can prevent all the others from making the right decision.”
“Ostara’s been the High Witch of the Conclave for more than a decade,” Zale said. “If they want to overrule her, they would have to call for a meeting of the covens to have her voted out of her position. They’ll do it if they absolutely have to, but I’m sure they’re trying to avoid it at all costs. The Claires are a powerful coven with a lot of allies, and the fallout from an ousting—whether it was successful or not—would be really nasty.”
“So while everyone plays politics, Bernadette could still be connected to this spirit that wants to destroy us all and feed us to the Darkness? Excellent. What could go wrong?” I said, and there was a definite note of hysteria in my voice now.
“I think your family is one of the only ones who could challenge her seriously,” Eva said. “After all, Asteria was High Witch before Ostara. But I don’t get the impression that either your aunts or your mom want that kind of responsibility.”
“Definitely not,” I said, biting anxiously at a fingernail. “I had to drag my mom back here. There’s no way she wants to run the place. Rhi just wants to be in her kitchen, and Persi… well, I don’t think she…”
My voice trailed away as I remembered the conversation I had overheard that morning between Rhi and Persi. Persi hadgone to the Keep to visit Bernadette. That meant she knew how to get inside. Was it possible that she could help us? It was a fleeting thought at best, and my brain dismissed it almost immediately. Persi’s attitude toward me was mostly resentment—I couldn’t imagine gathering the courage to ask for her help any more than I could imagine her offering it.
“Wren?”
“Huh?”
Zale and Eva were both looking at me expectantly.
“You were saying something about Persi?” Zale prompted.
“Oh. Yeah, sorry. My mind is spinning with all of this. I was just going to say that I can’t imagine her being responsible enough to be in a position like that. I haven’t known her that long, but she doesn’t seem very interested in things like rules.”
“I think Sedgwick Cove at large would agree with that assessment,” Eva said, nodding. “No offense, but she’s always been a bit of a loose cannon.”
