He inclined his head toward me, a small smile on his face.“Thank you, my dear.I had the same thought, though.How did she know to go after Elizabeth’s family?The family goes by Bishop, not Corey.The children work here, but you’ve only been open a few weeks and no Swans have been in the gallery since Milo was here with the shipping crew.The kids weren’t even working that day.”
He scratched his jaw.“Faith was inducted into the Corey Council earlier this week, but Sybil hasn’t announced it to the family yet.How did the Swans know to go after Elizabeth’s family?”
I considered that for a moment.“Uncle John knows, but he would never do or say anything to harm you.As an aside, I think everyone here knows this except for you and Frank,” I said to Aunt Elizabeth.“Declan and I are having a baby.”
Frank nodded and gave his sister a sly grin.“I told you.”
“Yeah,” she replied, “but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to say anything.Aunt Sybil said what happened in Council meetings was confidential.”
“Two things,” I began.“First, everyone here is trustworthy.You can tell your family anything you want.If Mom were here, I’m sure she’d agree.Second, the other person who knew Faith had joined the Council?—”
“Was Colin,” Faith finished for me.Her hand went to her mouth.“Do you think he’s working with the Swans to get back at us?”
“I doubt it,” I said, “but it’s a possibility.We need to consider it.Of course, that means Uncle Joe or Aunt Sarah might have said something.We might have a leak.”
Bracken held up a finger.“Don’t forget.Your mother contacted the Wicches’ Council about you three attending the general meeting.She probably gave them the names of the Corey Council, so any number of wicches might have passed that on to Catherine Swan.”
I slumped against the back of the bench.“Damn, that’s right.I bet that was how they got Faith’s name.I’ll call my mom and see who she spoke with.”
“Good,” Elizabeth said.“Meanwhile, we know the kids are safe here and at home.”
“And in the car between the two,” Frank added.“Hopefully, we can figure this out before school starts again.”
“Oh, speaking of which.”I unzipped my backpack and took out my sketchbook.“Does someone named Neil throw big parties?”
Faith nodded but Frank’s brow furrowed.
“Neil?”he asked.“He’s not a wicche.He’s rich and throws pool parties when his parents are out of town, but he’s actually a pretty chill guy.”
“I had a dream last night,” I told him.“Two guys were trying to convince you to go to Neil’s party.You seemed hesitant, telling them you had to work here the following day.They said you’d be an idiot to miss one of Neil’s parties, especially this one since it was the start of senior year.”
“Has that happened?”Robert asked his son.
Frank shook his head.“It’s too early.His parties are usually the weekend before school starts.”
I took out the sketches of the two teens I saw in my dream.“Do you know these two?”
Frank’s whole demeanor drooped.“Yeah.I thought they were friends of mine.”
“They might be,” I said.“I saw them working together to talk you into going to Neil’s party.You went to your mom’s car to talk to her.I couldn’t tell if you actually wanted to go or if you were pretending to ask her to save face.”I tapped his knee.“What I do know was there was someone else in their car, someone who didn’t want to be seen.It’s very possible she’d spelled them to get at you.”
Faith sat on the bench opposite ours.“I don’t understand.Why are they focusing on Frank?He didn’t do anything.I’m the one on the Council.Why would she spell his friends?”
Robert sat beside his daughter, wrapping an arm around her.“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“Overly complicated,” Declan murmured.
I looked up at him and nodded.“Our friend Orla, an owl shifter, made the same observation.”I tapped my gloved finger to my lips.“I don’t think I’m allowed to discuss that case.”I turned to Bracken.“Let me ask you this.Would it seem out of character for Catherine Swan—who seems to be the mastermind behind all of this—to create overly complicated schemes in order to—I don’t even know why.”
Bracken stared down at the boards of the deck for a moment.“She hasn’t changed.No.It’s not out of character.She needs to prove she’s smarter than everyone else by creating—as you say—overly complicated plans that rarely work.Mary mocked her for it once.Catherine was visiting.She was bragging about a spell she’d created.I didn’t understand at first why she was speaking so loudly, but Mary overheard, as Catherine intended, and asked her what kind of spell.Catherine explained.Mary stared at her a moment then laughed, shaking her head as she walked out of the room, muttering about Catherine being an idiot.Catherine was so angry, she cussed at me and stormed out of the house.”
“Interesting,” I said.“Orla says that makes her more dangerous because her schemes aren’t logical.”
Bracken nodded.“Orla is again correct.”
Declan pointed to the gate and waved Bracken out of the way.A moment later, Carter pushed through and stopped, confused by the crowd.
I checked the time on my phone.“Oh, shit.We need to get moving.”
