"We still have to be careful," Amelda cautioned. "Whatever she is, it's something we haven't dealt with before."
"But we have," I offered. "She’s the one that killed Brody's fiancée. She was here building my garage and pretending to be Gray. Annika, Brody and I ran her off."
"That was before," Brody said. "She's more powerful now."
"And what exactly is he doing here?" Gunner interrupted. "You guys, I have to call it in. He's responsible for the fire right? I've got to arrest him."
"Annika, darling, could you put a muzzle on your husband," Amelda said sternly.
I stepped in before they could start a real row. "Hey, Gunner. I get it. Brody is fine with it if you need to take him to jail, but for the time being, can it wait? He won't leave your sight, right, Brody?"
"Yep," Brody responded.
Gunner took a deep breath. "Somebody please tell me what the heck is going on."
We took the opportunity to fill Gunner in on everything that had happened and why Brody and Remy had shown up while Amelda called the Aunties. They were coming over right then to do the ritual to restore Remy's powers. Amelda wouldn't hear of it waiting. She wanted to take advantage of the moon and draw from its powers.
I wanted to talk to Brody, but Amelda and Annika kept him away from me. I suppose it made sense, and it was dangerous. He said he had no powers, but we had no way of knowing for sure if that was the truth. Remy really didn't have his, but there was always the chance that Brody had set another trap.
Meri stuck right by me the entire time. He kept himself between me and anyone else in the room. If I laid Kinsley down to change her diaper, he jumped up on the table and stood guard.
It wasn't long before the Aunties arrived. When Amelda called, they came running. It was especially so when they heard that Remy had lost all of his powers.
Each Auntie showed up with her arms, and car, full of supplies. There were so many baskets of flowers and herbs that the house smelled incredible. There were also jars of powders and potions. Everyone was directed to the backyard where the Aunties built a massive pentagram out of branches from a rowan tree. Remy had to go upstairs and take a ritual bath.
He came down when he was done, wrapped in a white sheet that looked like a toga. When the Aunties were done setting everything up, I escorted him outside. I'd thought that I was going to be watching from the sidelines, but I was invited into the circle with Kinsley as well.
"I hope this works here," Amelda said before we began. "It would probably be better to do it on the ley line, but can you imagine this setup in the middle of town square?"
"I'd probably have to arrest you again," Gunner said from the sidelines.
Amelda just shot him a look, but I could have sworn there was a slight smile on her face. She would forgive him, and Gunner putting Remy's ritual first helped the situation greatly. I had a feeling that she would forever refer to him as "blockhead", though.
I noticed a look on Brody's face as we began the ritual. It was as if he regretted having to stand outside the circle, but he hadn't once mentioned getting his own powers back.
That was what made me different from the other witches in the Tuttlesmith family. They were all too ready to give up and walk away from their magic. It withered and died as they moved away from Coventry and lived normal lives. Brody had taken it a step further. He'd given up his magic entirely, and while there looked to be a tinge of longing in his expression, what I mostly saw was relief.
I looked down to check on Kinsley, and she was watching Amelda and the Aunties intently. They say that newborns can't see anything past their mother's faces when they are holding them, but I could swear she was observing. There was a recognition in her eyes that probably shouldn't have been there.
Well, not for a regular baby. It was obvious that Kinsley was no regular baby. She had powers that I'd never even dreamed of, and she was so young. I was glad that Amelda could protect her because I couldn't imagine what her toddler years would have been like with such unbridled abilities. I tried not to think about her teenage years when she would have more control and probably a rebellious streak as well. That was a long way off, wasn't it?
The Aunties were signing a hymn to the Goddess in the witch language. Before I moved to Coventry, I would have had no idea what they were saying. I understood it then because of the spell Remy had whispered in my ear. He had given me the power to understand. At that moment, I hoped that our family could give him his magic back. Not that I wouldn't have loved him anyway, but unlike Brody, Remy wanted to be a witch.
I hoped that he hadn't sacrificed everything to get out of that witch trap. Maybe he had to, though. Perhaps he would have died if he hadn't.
No one had really asked him what the alternative was. Had Baelora showed up and threatened death? If so, how did they get away? Was it Brody who had told them what they had to do? Had he been telling the truth?
I tried to think back. Had anyone checked Brody's head for the fox tattoo?
A beam of moonlight began to descend from above. Amelda and the Aunties were literally drawing down the moon into Remy. His powers were being restored directly from the Goddess herself. The coven's plea for intersession was being answered. And of course, I felt the need to interrupt it.
As unassumingly as I could, I inched my way over to the edge of the circle. Gunner saw me and took a step closer.
"Hey," I said and then looked back. I'd managed to get over to the edge of the pentagram and get Gunner's attention without completely disrupting the ritual. Thank goodness they'd cast a huge circle.
"What is it?" Gunner whispered to me.
"No one checked Brody's head," I said. "For the tattoo."
Brody looked at me, and I tried to read his expression. It was completely neutral. He didn't look mad or scared.
"Let me see your head, boy," Gunner said firmly but quietly. "What am I looking for again?" he whispered to me.
"A fox tattoo above his hairline," I responded.
Brody submitted to the examination, and I felt the knot that had formed in my chest relax a little. He wasn't fighting, and I hoped that meant he had nothing to hide.
Gunner checked his hair using his flashlight. I looked back again, and we hadn't interrupted the ritual. The Aunties were still singing their ancient song, and the moonlight was drawing down to where Remy stood in the middle.
"How do we know the tattoo is really what we should be looking for?" Gunner asked. "You're taking his word for it?"
I heard something rustling in the bushes on the other side of the circle. It was loud like something big was trying to make its way out. When I turned back to look at Gunner, he was smiling.
My stomach clenched, and I felt a line of cold sweat run down my spine. The look on Gunner’s face was not natural.
Because it wasn’t Gunner.
Never mind my stomach, my heart felt like it sank completely out of my body. The whole thing had been a setup to get right to the moment we were in. I hadn’t let them deal with Brody, and now my whole family was in danger.
I looked over at the bushes, and what was rustling and trying to pull its way out was Gunner. He was ghostly white and bleeding from his head. My guess was that he was probably supposed to be dead, but he’d held on. He’d defied death to warn us and protect his wife and her family.
Annika must have seen him first because she let out a strangled cry that sounded feral. It was a sound like something a wounded animal would make, and it broke my heart instantly. As soon as he saw that she knew, Gunner collapsed to the ground. The life left his eyes.
Annika screamed “No.”
The chanting stopped, and Amelda saw Annika going for the edge of the circle. “No, Annika. You cannot break the circle. We have to complete the ritual.”
“Remy is still alive,” Annika said. “I’m sorry. I have to.”
One of the Aunties tried to stop her, but they were a second too late. Annika went to her husband’s side and broke the circle. She must
not have seen what was going on on the other side because she’d left me and Kinsley vulnerable while we stood right next to Baelora.
“You’ve served your purpose,” she said to Brody.
And then she struck him dead. I stood their gaping for a split second. I almost went to him, but Remy was in the middle of the pentagram.
He had no magic to protect himself or fight. I looked up and the moonlight was slowly beginning to recede. I had to make a choice.
I had to choose the love of my life and the father of my child. Brody was my brother, but he’d proven that he was that in name only.
I pivoted on my heels and sprinted for the middle of the circle, and away from Baelora. “Six come with me,” I shouted as I took Remy’s hand. “The rest stay and help Gunner.”
Six plus me was seven. That was enough to complete the ritual at the ley line. It had to be. I knew that Kinsley was what Baelora wanted, so if we ran, she would follow.
I could draw her away from Gunner and get Remy to the ley line. I didn’t know how we would fight her once we got to the ley line, but my instincts told me to just get there.
Amelda and five other Aunties began to run after us as I pulled Remy along. There was no time to figure out the car situation. Everyone was packed in and my car was blocked in the driveway. We had to run.
The quickest way to the center of town was through the old cemetery across the street. I wanted to look back and see how close Baelora was to us, but I knew I shouldn’t. I had to keep my eyes forward and continue moving.
There were no lights in the old cemetery, but the moon was so bright that it had chased away all of the darkness. I could see clearly and didn't need to worry about tripping over any headstones.
I held fast to Remy's hand and had Kinsley in the other. We were only a few steps into the cemetery when something began to stir. The ground vibrated, but it did not shake enough to impede our progress.
Suddenly, the spirits of the long-dead witches buried in that cemetery began to rise. Their ethereal forms came up from the dirt and filled the night air with a power that thrummed through me. It gave me strength.
They were not there to hurt or stop us. Those ancient witches had used their bones to cross back over from the other side in order to protect us as we ran. In fact, I could hear Baelora making a pained sound somewhere off in the distance. The ghosts of those witches were hurting her, and it meant that we were going to make it.
"They're helping us," Remy barely panted out.
"I guess they are happy with the work we did restoring their cemetery," I said and squeezed his hand.
We ran and ran, and even through the newer parts of the old cemetery, the ghosts stayed with us. I expected them to stay behind when we broke through the tree line on the other side of the graveyard into the residential area between it and the town square. They did not leave us.
I wasn't sure how far they could go, but for the time being, they had encircled us. I didn't know how long they could hold Baelora off, but for the time being, they were still slowing her down. Her shrieks of pain rang out in the night every couple of minutes. She'd start to catch up with us, the ghosts would hurt her, and she'd have to fall back for a while. I wondered if she'd started to regret killing Brody yet. She hadn't anticipated the ancient witch ghosts helping us and probably needed my brother more than she expected. Allegedly, he'd given up his powers, but I figured that was a ruse. I didn't know if I'd ever know for sure, but I suspected he'd only pretended to give them up so that Remy would as well. Either way, he was gone. Dead because he'd betrayed his family.
The rest of the run felt like it took an eternity, but it was actually over in a few minutes. Still, when we reached the town square, my lungs burned and my legs were shaky. I'd only made it as far as I had because of adrenaline and my instincts to protect my daughter.
Without even asking what to do next, the Aunties surrounded us as we stood on the ley line. They began chanting again as the ghosts held Baelora off. I'd picked up enough of the chant that I began to sing along as well. My lungs screamed with fire from the run, but I belted out that chant as loud as I could. Through it all, I could feel Kinsley nuzzled against my chest. Her heart beat in time with mine. I hadn't even seen him running with me, but I could feel Meri rubbing against my legs as he put everything he had into augmenting my powers.
Eventually, Baelora did make it to us, but by the time she reached us, it didn't matter. Even being close to the ley line didn't help her. The moon had drawn down and fill Remy with magic. So much so that it spilled over and ran along the ground like a river. That river snaked along the ground and ripped Baelora's soul and the demon right out of her body. I watched as the force of the moon's magic swept her completely away.
And just like that, it was over. My husband was restored, and the great threat that had been hanging over our head for so long was gone. For a while, all I could do was just stand there in stunned silence as all that had happened came down on me like a heavy, wet blanket.
And then I remembered Gunner. When we'd run off, Annika's husband was dead. We had to get back to Hangman's House and find out if they'd been able to save him.
Chapter Six
Three days later, we held the funeral. We were hoping that by having it in the afternoon, we could take advantage of the warmest part of the day. The weather had taken a turn for the cold.
It was a gloomy, overcast day, and it fit my mood. I wasn't devastated, but a low-level misery had seeped into my bones. I hoped that by saying goodbye, I could let it go.
Because what I wanted was to be celebrating my new daughter and the return of my husband's powers. I also didn't have to worry about going to jail anymore because Jeremy Dyer's murder had been tied back to Brody and Baelora. Okay, so to the humans, her name was Lynzy Cunningham. It even sounded fake to me, but she had a paper trail that led to an identity good enough to satisfy the human police. The medical examiner ruled that she'd dropped dead of a massive heart attack.
Remy came into the room as I was putting my hair up. He had Kinsley in his arms and she was quietly taking a bottle.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked.
"I am," I said. "I don't know what to think of the fact that he's gone, but we weren't super close or anything." I pushed the sadness I felt down. There were others who might mourn him far more than me. Or were there?
"It's okay to be sad about it," Remy offered. "He was your brother after all."
"I think I'm more sad about what could have been," I said. "But that was all a lie, wasn't it? Even when I thought we were reconnecting, he was pretending. There was never a chance."
"We don't have to do this," Remy said.
I'd insisted on the funeral. I wasn't sure anyone else but Remy and me would even show up. I doubted that they would. I'd only even held the funeral because at one time, Brody had been my baby brother. It felt like the right thing to do.
When I'd called my mother and grandmother to tell them, I'd gotten voicemail. I hadn't wanted to tell them over a message, but after a few unreturned calls, I eventually had to just leave a voicemail telling them Brody had passed. It felt gross, but I'd left several messages before that telling them they needed to call me and that it was urgent.
Neither one of them ever called me back. So, I had no idea if they would show up at the funeral or not. I had my doubts.
I didn't have a black dress for Kinsley, but Amelda showed up that morning with one she'd made. She was also dressed in black, but that didn't necessarily mean she was going to the funeral. We were witches after all.
"Thank you for the dress," I said. "Did you make it?"
"Yes. I had a pattern and some fabric lying around," Amelda said. "I figured you'd want to have her dressed for the occasion."
"Thank you again," I said. "Though I'm not sure if it matters. I doubt anyone but Remy and me will be there."
"Oh, Brighton," Amelda said. "That's where you're wrong. We'll all be there. The entire coven."
"
But why?" I asked and then felt bad. "I mean, I appreciate it, but nobody cared for my brother. He was a Tuttlesmith too. In the end, even I have to admit that he was despicable."
"We're not going for him, dear. We're going for you. Besides, it doesn't matter if he was a Tuttlesmith. The feud is over. It has to be. Kinsley is part Tuttlesmith. They are our family now too."
"They probably wouldn't agree with you on that, but I'm so glad that you feel that way."
"Brighton, your mother and grandmother are wrong to treat you the way they do, but when you came here, you were a Tuttlesmith. You still are. No matter what your last name, their magic is what is in you. You haven't turned away from it. I know there have to be others out there like you. They don't know what they are, but if they did, they would embrace it too."
"I didn't think of it that way," I said and chuckled. "I guess I'm not that special."
"Oh, dear. That's not what I meant. Of course you are special. Look at all you've done here. You coming here and staying through it all, embracing my grandson even through his darkest days, and giving me another chance after I spurned you; those are the things that healed this town and ended a centuries-long feud. You did that. Three days ago, you managed to save your own husband and Annika's too."
"The Aunties saved Gunner," I said.
"But you led the way. You came up with a plan before anyone else even had time to figure out what was going on. You led the danger away and gave them the chance to save him. That was you, Brighton. Not only that, but it was you that did all the work in the cemetery across the road. You honored those witches in such a way that they came back here from the other side to fight for you."
"You make it sound like I'm the one who fulfilled that prophesy," I said jokingly.
"Don't you see that you are?" she said.
"I thought it was supposed to be Kinsley," I responded.
"It's both of you, dear. You and Kinsley are not the same, but you are not separate either. You need to remember that. There will be trials ahead for you, but you must keep that in the back of your mind," Amelda said. "Now, let's go to your brother's funeral. We'll tell him goodbye, and then you can move forward with your life. I want you to be able to enjoy your new family."
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