“Mawmaw, what does that mean?” Iris says, asking the question for me.
The older woman sighs, rising from her seat she heads toward her bookshelf. Even without her sight, she knows what she wants as a small box flies through the air and lands in her hand. She comes back to the table and opens it.
“There’s only so much I can say,” she says, and Iris and I glance at each other.
A vow of secrecy. It’s why no one in the coven ever talked about my mother, why each and every one of them had the same story to tell.
“Iris, take the purple one out,” Delphine says to her granddaughter, which she does.
It’s a small pearl. I don’t understand what it is, but Iris does with a gasp.
“A prophecy?” Iris says and Delphine nods.
“I should have kept it to myself. But we were all worried when Atticus Collins became Alpha. He was unlike the ones before him. He had initiative. We were already scared. I’m sorry Violet. You have my support in this. You and your wolf, you’re on the right side,” she says, standing up from the worn wooden chair and walking away without a word.
I look over to Iris, who inspects the small pearl between her fingers. She hands it to me and it seems inconspicuous enough.
“Crush it between your fingers,” Iris says in a whisper. “You’ll be able to see what she saw thirty years ago.”
I look at the pearl and back up at my best friend, who gives me a small smile.
“It’s alright. Go ahead,” she says, grabbing my hand so that we can do this together.
I crush the pearl in between my fingers as a vision plays before me. It’s lightning fast, almost hard to keep up with. The vision starts with a baby wrapped up in a lilac colored blanket, its small fist clutching a rose gold chain as it coos. A moment later, my grand-mère, or a younger version of her, is picking up the child. Right before her eyes, the baby morphs into a large wolf, so quickly I can hardly make out the details. My grand-mère yelps, but before the sound is even clear, the wolf bites down sharply into her jugular, sending her bleeding to the ground. The wolf quickly transforms back into a baby that cries endlessly, no one is around to pick it up and soothe the poor child covered in blood.
My vision comes back to normal as I breathe heavily.
“She thought I was going to kill her?” I gasp as the reality of what we both witness hits me.
“See what I said about visions being confusing? That could mean anything, not literal death, but it’s clear she took it that way,” Iris says.
“I don’t want to kill her,” I whisper and Iris squeezes my hand.
“I know you don’t. But Aster isn’t the kind of witch you just let go, Violet,” Iris says, and I know she’s right. I know that we can’t just rip her coven away from her, expose the truth, and let her go. There have to be consequences. Steep ones.
I toss and turn in my bed. It feels too big, too empty without Silas here.
“Take a sleeping potion, you’re being annoying,”Walter hisses.
“You’re being annoying,” I tell him with a huff, shoving my face into my pillow.
He chirps, jumping off my bed to go sleep in the guest room. He’s been in a mood since he learned the whole truth. He’s having a hard time dealing with the fact that the High Priestess isn’t the witch we thought she was. I also think he’s wrapping his small little cat brain around the idea that Silas will be a permanent fixture in this house once everything is resolved.
I can’t sleep. There’s this endless ache for Silas I can’t curb. It’s heavy in my chest among all the other aches plaguing me as of late. There’s so much to do, so much pressure on my shoulders. All I want to do is forget. Just a moment where I’m not me and the weight of the world isn’t on my shoulders.
I glance over at my nightstand. The necklace feels like it’s beckoning me. While I know that now isn’t the time to be messing around with this other side of me, it would almost feel like a relief to not be for a few moments.
My hand grips the brass handle, tugging the drawer open as I grab the nearly glowing necklace.
I should put it back, take a sleeping potion like Walter suggested. But there’s also this nagging feeling of wanting to get to know Azure, to let her out and get to know this part of me that’s been repressed, that’s been hidden from me.
Haven’t I given enough? Hasn’t Azure?
I take a deep breath and stop arguing with myself as I place the necklace around my neck. The metal is cool and I hope that Azure doesn’t rip out of me right away.
So I talk to her out loud, just like I do with Walter.
“Azure?” I ask.
