Mom smiled.“Me too.I didn’t want to freak you out, darling, but I felt her energy too.”
Decidedly disgruntled, I took another bite and swallowed.“That’s so not fair.How come you guys can feel her and I can’t?”I waved away the question.“Never mind.I’ll call Uncle John and ask him to come check on her.We don’t know if it’ll be a normal nine-month pregnancy or a shorter one, since her dad is a werewolf.And we’re not even sure about theshepart.Dad said he thought she was, but she was barely a clump of cells busy dividing at that point.”
Mom and Faith shared a look again.“She’s a girl,” Faith confirmed, and Mom nodded.
Faith finished her sandwich, then reached for another.“Why did we have a vision about Mackenzie?”
I took a sip of tea.“Who’s Mackenzie?”
“Frank’s friend Jacob?That was his older sister in the bar,” she explained.“They’re not wicches.I don’t understand why we saw her.”
I glanced at Mom, then turned to Faith.“Did you recognize the man who approached her?”
She shook her head.“It felt like I was floating behind him.I never saw his face.”
“That,” I told her, “was our cousin Colin, who is apparently back to his old tricks.”I spoke to Mom again.“It didn’t occur to me that when Gran stripped his magic, she was holding it.When she was killed, it must have returned to him.”
Mom’s expression was hard and angry.“Your Uncle Joe will be furious, but I’m done.The three of us need to permanently strip him of his gifts.”
“What?”Faith looked like she was tipping into panic.“We can do that?”
“Remember that vow you made to the Goddess?”I asked her.“This is our job.He’s using the gifts he’s been given to magically roofie women and rape them.At Aunt Sylvia’s wake, I read people, trying to find the sorcerer.I discovered what Colin had been doing.Gran stripped his magic, but when Calliope killed Gran, Colin must have regained his magic and is using it to victimize women again.”
Faith put her plate down on the coffee table.“He does that?”she whispered, horrified.
“He does,” I assured her.
Mom took out her phone and dialed.“Joe, I want you and your son here in under an hour.”She paused listening.“I don’t think you heard me.”
I knew that voice.It made my blood run cold.
“The Three have summoned you.You do not argue with us.”Her voice was like a dagger through the phone line.“You and your son will do as I say and be here in under an hour.”She disconnected and looked up, her expression one of stone.
SIX
The Festering Boil
Faith looked like she was going to be sick.
“When they arrive,” I told her, “Mom will do all the talking.She’s the high priestess of this coven?—”
“I don’t use that term, darling,” Mom said.
I shrugged a shoulder.“Whether you use it or not, that’s what you are.They’ve been seeing you in Gran’s shadow for too long.”I shook my head.“Some of these people seem to think of you as Gran’s secretary, rather than the magical powerhouse that you are.You need to start showing them or they will try to steamroll over you.You may not enjoy being the queen bitch, but that’s the only thing a lot of our relatives respect.Or fear.It all amounts to the same.We are, as a family, too powerful not to be held in check.If you ever doubt it’s what’s needed, remember what Colin has been doing while we were focused on a sorcerer.”
Mom drummed her fingers on her knee.“Unfortunately, I know you’re right.The destruction of the black grimoire will—Goddess help us—keep another sorcerer from emerging in the family.It will not, however, keep some of us from scheming for more—more power, more money, more influence.”She blew out a breath.“It’s always more.”
Mom looked at Faith.“I wanted to give you time to get used to this new role, but it doesn’t look as though we’ll have that time.Are you okay with the family knowing about your gifts?”
Faith looked nervous, but she straightened her shoulders.“Mom, Dad, Frank, and I discussed this before I accepted.It was scary, but Frank and I really enjoyed helping you hunt for Calliope.We were using our gifts for good.”She shook her head like she was trying to dislodge a dark thought.“Dad was almost killed, but he doesn’t regret going with you into that evil house.If we don’t stand up, evil reigns, and we can’t allow that.”Her fists were balled in her lap.“So, yes, I’m ready for people to know.”
“That’s exactly right,” Mom said.“Our work is not easy, but itisnecessary.As Arwyn told you, you don’t need to say anything when they arrive.I’m the head of this family.I’ll tell them what the Council has decided.”
I took a bite of the salmon sandwich.“They’re going to drag their feet and probably arrive at fifty-nine minutes from the end of that call, so we might as well talk about the last two sections of the vision.”
“That was a straight-up horror movie.”Faith shivered.“They were doing black magic, weren’t they?Do we have black wicches in the family too?”
Mom leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, murmuring, “I don’t think that was us.”
