I wrap the scarf around the hazel switch I’ve had since I was twelve, when Gramma Serafina drove me to our grove and rubbed my palms with mistletoe juice and laid her silver sickle in my hand, while Mom stayed home with two bottles of wine and a stack of VHS movie tapes. My supple, sensitive hazel stick has led me to water, to magic, to things thought lost beyond finding. But it’s unresponsive in my hands now, when I need it most.
Despairing, I throw myself into my chair, a broken-bottomed charity-shop treasure of Harper’s, where I usually love to study the texts and spell charts that have come down to me through my family. Now, I spy the progress of the gridded shadow cast by the window frame upon the floorand turn my face against the threadbare velvet wing-back to stifle a sob. Maggie left a few hours ago, going to confront Theodorou about where Harper might be, but I don’t hold out much hope. If he was in deep enough with Ortiz’s plan to know such details, he’d be with her.
I’m all out of ideas. Hours have passed. Should I reach for an Old Sign –Command, and somehow force a revelation from Ortiz’s accessory? Would that even work? Can you Command inanimate objects?
Harper would know.
I don’t have a grimoire anymore.And where is our Starcross?My mind briefly picks up the question, inspects it and sets it back down, because I’ve no time for wondering where a book is when it’s my daughter I need to find. I remember Command’s shape, though, because I’ll never forget seeing its writhing, smoky form inked into my daughter’s skin.
When my wards flare, I’m grateful to be pulled back from even considering it. Magic chimes against my protections – nothing aggressive, the witching equivalent of a knock at the door – and I realise it’s Naomi.
‘I’m guessing that belongs to Sandra Ortiz,’ she says, spying my scarf-wrapped hazel switch where I’ve cast it to the floor. ‘And that you’ve not found a way to channel her location through it yet.’
My puffy, sticky face tells her all she needs to know.
‘I was about to curse it with an Old Sign,’ I say. ‘You turned up just in time to witness it and report me to your boss.’
‘I don’t have a boss. Not anymore. Not as of four hours ago.’
‘You’ve resigned?’
‘We’ve ousted Okoye, and Barr for good measure. That’s why I’m here. Those of us who’ve been unhappy with Charles for a while now, and felt Simeon was becoming a lawunto himself, have been digging deeper. Entirely improperly, of course. But – Sarah, what we found more than justifies it. They’ve both been co-operating with Ortiz, including a meeting with scientific researchers working on the suppression of magical ability.’
An old witching oath passes my lips. You can’t use it in front of mundanes, because it sounds so much like an actual curse.What sort of magical leader would do such a thing?
I realise I said that last part out loud, because Naomi answers.
‘One who thinks the research is being done anyway and we’re better off knowing about it. That’s the kindest interpretation you could put on Charles’s behaviour, and it’s the one several people chose at the emergency meeting I called this morning. Others reckon Okoye is convinced it’s better to co-operate, so even harsher measures won’t be rolled out against us. Or, that he believes Lachlan Frey and Redhaven want witch supremacy, and considers that even worse. The bottom line is that Charles had the blessing of Council to go a long way down the road of conciliation and appeasement. But approving this Executive Order, which makes simply being unregistered into a criminal offence? That crossed the line even for his staunchest defenders. As for Simeon …’ She grimaces. ‘One of my team found evidence he’s receiving irregular payments. Who knows for what, exactly? To keep Charles on this track of appeasement, is my guess. So we voted on emergency action of our own – to remove them both from office.’
Incredible – a witching revolution. But there’s only one reason why that matters to me right now.
‘So who’s the new Moot president?’ I ask. ‘Coz I really need their help.’
‘Why do you think I’m here, Sarah?’
Thank the goddess! At last, a scrap of good luck. With Naomi running the Moot, she’ll be able to throw its resources behind my search for Harper.
‘You’ll be brilliant,’ I tell her.
‘As the new head of security,’ she says. ‘Sarah, it’syou. We wantyouto be the new Moot president, if you’ll accept.’
I smile, despite everything, at her ridiculous joke. It takes longer than it really should for me to realise it’s perhaps … not a joke?
‘Sarah, your family helped knit the bones of witchcraft in this country. You’ve shown you’re prepared to stand up for our rights, and not appease those who fear us. The Moot is very serious about this – and would be deeply honoured. We would transfer authority and powers immediately.’
There would have been other, better candidates, I know. Those whose people were working our craft in America long before it was ever called ‘America’. Those with diplomatic skills, able to persuade and negotiate with authorities that fear us while never giving ground, as Okoye has done. Those – and here I think of Lachlan – with natural charisma, the ability to lead and inspire.
But if I’m to rescue Harper, I need the powers of the Moot at my back, and what better way to secure them?
‘I accept,’ I say. ‘But I must warn you: my first act as Moot president will be to cast a forbidden Old Sign. And my second will be to call a witch supremacist and tell him I need his help finding our daughter.’
‘I’ve an alternative to the first,’ Naomi says. ‘Our security team is able to get a visual fix on the president’s surroundings via his badge of office. It’s a high-level form of scrying, only ever used in emergencies for obvious privacy reasons. But if there’s any chance Okoye is working with Ortiz, then –fuckhis privacy, frankly. As for the second, I’d say that’s purelya family matter. Nothing for the Moot to concern itself with.’
‘Okay,’ I say, shakily. ‘I guess that’s it then. Moot President. Harper will fall over laughing.’
‘She’ll be teasing you about it over dinner in no time,’ says Naomi, with that blunt reassurance of hers. ‘I’ll tell the Council you’ve accepted – they want to get a statement out right away – and get Security onto locating Okoye.’
And as the gravity of the responsibility I’ve accepted settles on me, I realise that what I’ve got to do, what Harper wouldexpectme to do, is not simply announce to the world there’s a new leader at the Moot, but to take the fight to our enemies right away.
