by Terah Edun
Cecily dropped her hands. “They? They who?”
Katherine flipped a hand in the air in irritation. “Someone. I don’t know.”
“Your mother?” Cecily asked softly.
“Yes!” Katherine blurted out before retracting just as quickly. “No! I don’t know. I just know it can’t be right.”
“All right,” Cecily said calmly. “Fine. Let’s do what we can, then. There’s no sense in speculating.”
This time it was Katherine who crossed her arms defensively. “Speculating?”
“Would you prefer ‘accusing your sworn queen and mother of keeping secrets’?”
The emphasis on the word “queen” was unmistakable.
Katherine grimaced. “No. But then again, that’s why I come to you. You always make sense.”
Cecily cracked a smile. “Of course I do.”
Katherine sniffed. “So are you with me?”
“I’d hate to be against you,” Cecily said wryly.
An indignant expression crossed Katherine’s face before she saw the teasing smile on Cecily’s.
“So first things first,” Katherine’s younger cousin said. “What’s our first step?”
Chapter 8
Katherine took a deep breath and fished something out of her pocket.
Handing it over to her cousin was hard, and even though it didn’t even break the top ten lists of today’s pretty awful deeds, it still hurt.
“The scarf is Rose’s...was Rose’s.”
Her voice halted. Cecily looked on in compassion.
Katherine cleared her throat as she fought not to let emotion overtake her. “This was her favorite. She wore it all the time. Think you can make it work?”
“I’ll do my best,” whispered Cecily as she leaned over to give her cousin a hug and took the trailing fabric. Or at least she attempted to. Cecily soon found herself locked in Katherine’s trembling arms, unable to see her cousin’s face but feeling her body shake through their clothes.
When she put a hand on Katherine’s back to soothe her, in the process letting her emphatic gifts venture out, Katherine was uneasy. Along the back of her head and up her spine Katherine could feel Cecily’s emotional magic rising like a soothing blue mist from her hands that made soothing circles. If she let it go on, just relaxed into it, then she knew her cousin’s witches’ gift would make her at ease. But she didn’t want to be at ease, not to the mention the fact that she didn’t like to get too close to anyone. And someone else touching her emotions, even if it was Cecily, was too close. So Katherine cleared her throat uncomfortably and stepped back.
Ashamed at her reticent but unwilling to explain herself or her actions, Katherine kept her face turned away with a sniff and a suspicious wipe of her eyes. The tear that she wouldn’t acknowledge was her pain over Rose’s death. The shame that lined the hunch of her shoulders was on her own burden to bear. On top of the pain and the shame was anger. She was angry with Rose. She was angry with herself. The anger she could handle but she didn’t want to explore the other emotions. Not yet. Not now. She had a job to do, and exploration of her feelings wasn’t a part of that.
Crying won’t help Rose. Actions will.
When Katherine turned back to look at Cecily her face was clear, her eyes determined, and her voice held just a hint of husky sadness as she said, “Let’s get to work, then.”
They turned and went back into the storefront without another word. Cecily was unwilling to bring up the dark cloud that had hung over them like a forgotten ghoul since long before Rose’s death. She and Katherine both knew that it would be ignored until the last possible moment. That was Katherine’s de facto stance about most things that troubled her. From her homework to getting up at the crack of dawn to tend to Gestap’s needs. Unfortunately, this dark and ominous cloud just seemed to grow and grow above her head. And like the appearance of her protectors earlier today, Katherine feared it would come to end in an explosive way.
“At least no one died today,” she whispered to herself as she exited the basement storage room.
Or at least no one by her hand.
Katherine expected to walk into an airy room filled with sunlight and empty of customers. Only half of her expectation was accurate though. It was filled with sunlight and also filled with the presence of someone else. The thorn in her side stood right where they had ended their conversation minutes before and Katherine gritted her teeth as her fury returned.
Ethan just didn’t get it, did he? She didn’t want to see her ex-boyfriend, hear of him, or talk to him at all, but especially not today. It didn’t help that Cecily and Ethan had a separate relationship that Katherine did her best to ignore. It wasn’t Cecily’s fault that Ethan was her foster brother but sometimes Katherine resented that he would show up at the most random times and there wasn’t a damn thing she could say about it. He had the right to see his foster sister.
She held back a terse comment along the lines of, “What in the hell are you doing back here?”
Instead she settled for a polite but snarky, “What? Back to ruin my life some more?”
Ethan flinched. “Back to apologize.”
“Apologize for what?” Cecily said absentmindedly as she focused her attention on the scarf running between her fingers.
She’s probably checking for remnants of Rose’s aura, Katherine thought as she glanced over at Cecily and back at Ethan. Apparently her cousin hadn’t heard the shouting match between Katherine and her ex-boyfriend. Which suited Katherine just fine. She needed Cecily focused on one thing right now and that was on finding out everything she could about Rose’s last day alive.
Meanwhile Ethan flicked his gaze from Rose to Katherine. He seemed to be asking Katherine a question with his eyes. Even though she hadn’t spoken to him in months, she could tell that it was still there. That connection, that spark, whatever it was between them that had first brought them together was still there. Even if she didn’t want it to be. That didn’t mean she had to acknowledge it or make him feel better by giving him a sign of acknowledgement. She wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. Besides, Katherine didn’t care what he said as long as he left. The sooner the better.
“Well?” Cecily said as she looked up and finally noticed the awkward silence.
Ethan blinked as if rising from a daze. Staring at Cecily, he said, “Well, what?”
Cecily gave an exasperated huff as she put her hands on her hips, scarf clenched in her right fist. “What are you here to apologize about?”
Her tone was miffed. As she had every right to be. She knew he hadn’t done anything to offend her, and as far as Cecily was concerned Katherine hadn’t spoken to Ethan in months. Up until a few minutes ago, that had been true.
Katherine watched Ethan carefully. She was tense, but the stiffness in her back and almost-clenched fists could have been a sign of anything. Really. Katherine would rather face something head-on than cry about it, and Cecily knew that. So the fact that she sometimes channel her pain into anger was nothing new. But Ethan would know the difference. He’d already proved that. So she watched him as his troubled gaze turned back to her.
A tense few seconds passed.
Then Ethan murmured without taking his eyes off Katherine, “For a lot of things. But mostly for acting like an ass today.”
Katherine’s mouth twitched but she said nothing.
Cecily noticed the awkward silence. Katherine could tell by the way her hand slipped from her hips to cross in front of her breasts in a defensive stance. Cecily’s ‘I’m on to you’ look marched full-force into view with pursed lips, a tapping left foot, narrowed eyes, and crossed arms.
Fortunately, this time it was Katherine to the rescue. “He didn’t know about Rose. Just like you didn’t. And I kind of went off on him before.”
“Oh?” Cecily said, blinking while relaxing her tense shoulders slowly.
Ethan took Katherine’s words as what they were—a reprieve. Then he said, “Right. And I’m s
orry about that, but there’s something I came to do. I’ll get it done and I’ll leave. Good?”
Katherine threw up her hands in frustration. “Whatever. Get it done.”
Her cousin looked between Ethan and Katherine with confusion on her face. Katherine could understand why. It wasn’t like Cecily knew why they had broken up, she just knew Katherine avoided Ethan like the dickens usually and he gave her the same courtesy. Which was harder than you’d think living in the same small town.
“What’s going on?” Cecily said slowly. “Ethan, did you hear about Rose?”
He nodded in the affirmative while his frown moved into a thin, grim line.
He didn’t look happy.
Well, he can take a number in the unhappy line today, Katherine thought, because this sucks.
She rubbed her brow in irritation and walked away to the other side of the room with her arms crossed. Anything to get away from Ethan. But she made sure to stay within hearing distance. Behind her, she heard Cecily say, “We were about to—”
Then Katherine got very interested in high-tailing her bum back toward them. She didn’t want Cecily sharing anything with Ethan about her plans regarding Rose. Now or ever.
“Cecily,” Katherine said hurriedly, “I’m sure we can handle it.”
“Handle what?” Ethan said, looking back and forth between them.
Cecily raised an eyebrow and made a gesture to Katherine as if to say, Be my guest.
Katherine grimaced. “Does it matter what? It’s not like you and Rose got along.”
“And it’s not if I’m some heartless bastard, either,” Ethan said with narrowed eyes. “If you need something, I’ll do it.”
“We don’t,” Katherine practically snarled.
“Whatever,” Ethan said with a hurt note in his voice. “When you get around to the arrangements...I’ll try to be there.”
“Funeral arrangements?” said Katherine with a strange laugh. “Isn’t it kind of early? Her body isn’t even cold yet. We don’t even know if they’ve recovered her remains. Fuck, it’s not like you care anyway.”
She was rambling. She knew it. They knew it. Rambling wasn’t apart of Katherine’s normal mindset.
Everyone stilled.
Cecily said, “That’s not—”
“What he meant?” Katherine said stiffly.
Cecily squared her shoulders as she finished, “—necessarily true.”
Katherine glared at her. Cecily continued on unflinching, “You know it and I know it.”
“Maybe so,” Katherine said stiffly. “But I stand by what I said. I don’t, we don’t, need him.”
Cecily frowned and turned to Ethan with a look. “Maybe it really is time for you to go.”
“Fair enough. I can see I’m not wanted here,” he said, looking at Cecily. “So if you don’t need me, Cecily...”
Cecily looked over at him in confusion. “For what?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You called me. Before Katherine got here. Remember?”
Meanwhile, Katherine was fuming and she was pretty sure if she didn’t unclench her hands soon she’d be leaving marks on her arms. She was the type to bottle in her emotions and keep going—she wasn’t going to collapse in a puddle, not Katherine Thompson. Unfortunately, that meant she was also one minute away from doing something she’d regret. Namely, calling down a few wind demons on her ex-boyfriend’s ass.
Instead, she turned toward Cecily, keeping her back to Ethan, and made a ‘get on with it’ motion with her finger.
Cecily rolled her eyes as Katherine whispered, “Please”.
Katherine would love to kick him out...again. But it hadn’t worked so well once, and Ethan was the thickheaded type that wouldn’t do her bidding just because she asked. There had to be a reason. Well, what better reason to get the hell out of her family’s shop than ‘oh, my sister died today and I hate your guts anyway’?
Out of the corner of her eye, a frustrated Katherine watched as Cecily rushed over to a side table and pushed a few of the dusty contents to the floor. One hit the old wood floors with a loud crash, but fortunately not the sound of shattering glass.
“Later,” Cecily quickly said to Ethan over her shoulder while grabbing a brown paper bag and stuffing the contents of the jar inside. “It wasn’t that important. Just remember to stop by and give Mr. Johnson this and tell him it’s for his tea.”
Ethan nodded, took the bag, turned away, and then turned back. Katherine waited with impatience sticking in her throat like a ball of gum threatening to choke her. She turned around fully to see what it was that was keeping him from leaving this time.
The guy’s as stubborn and ornery as a goat, that’s the only reason, she thought to herself. But when she got a look at his face, she felt her heart give a weird flip. Not romantically. Maybe anxiously? Yes, that was it.
Ethan’s direct gaze was pinned on hers, but his mouth was in a bitter frown and he looked sad as he said, “I’m really, really sorry about Rose, Katerina. Let me know if there’s anything you need.”
Katherine nodded stiffly as Cecily walked back over to her and turned to face Ethan next to her as a good best friend should. She almost put a hand on Katherine’s shoulder. Either to keep her friend from lunging at him or slapping him. Cecily probably wasn’t sure which. Neither was Katherine.
‘Katerina’ had been his nickname for her when they were dating.
It was a nickname that still made butterflies flutter in her stomach and gave her the insane desire to stab him thirty times with a knife for ruining her life.
When Katherine took a step forward, even she wasn’t sure what she had planned. But Cecily quickly grabbed her hand as if to restrain her from going through with whatever urge it was. Cecily wasn’t a mind-reader like Connor. She just knew her cousin really well. And she knew Katherine wasn’t above stabbing someone. After she had called in a knife from thin air and put a blade straight through the heart of a man twenty years her senior in sixth grade, there probably wasn’t anything Cecily would put past her. To be fair he had it coming. He wasn’t a man, he was a demon. And it was a queen’s charge to kill demons. Katherine had a feeling that was the major reason humans hadn’t decided to overthrow their queenly overlords, as numerous as they were compared to their witch brethren.
After all, the humans couldn’t kill what they couldn’t see and demons as well as all sorts of other nasty fae, higher and lower, were invisible to humans and their technology.
Ethan exited the shop unharmed. Cecily turned to her and leaned against the table in the center. They heard Ethan’s motorcycle rev up in the parking lot before he rode off.
“You get the candles and chalk, I’ll get the ingredients,” Cecily said in the stretching silence.
“Still under the register?” said Katherine as she fought to get a hold of herself.
“Yeah,” said Cecily. She knew better than to comment on the topic of Ethan in Katherine’s hearing distance. Add Rose’s death on top of that, and it was turning out to be a very difficult morning.
An hour later they had the incantation circle inscribed into the wooden floors in white chalk with candles set up on the pentagram points. It was an old-fashioned way to call up a vision, but currently the only way either Katherine or Cecily knew how to go about it without tapping into enough power to be visible for miles to another person searching through the power ley lines for a person with magic using their gifts. Whether they intended harm that person or help them, Katherine wanted no part of another person with enough magic to seek and out find another miles away.
And right now, Katherine didn’t want anyone knowing she was looking for Rose. Least of all her mother.
Cecily lit the candles one by one while leaning over from the center of the pentagram. “What exactly are we looking for?”
Katherine sat opposite her outside the circle. “First, for where Rose crashed. Tracing her aura from here shouldn’t be a problem. Second, for whatever or whoever killed my sister.”
“We suspect she was pretty far outside of town boundaries,” said Cecily flatly. “That could be a tall order. But I’ll try. Sourcing the location should be easy. Should. As long as there isn’t something bigger or tougher hiding it.”
Katherine nodded then teased, “Bigger or tougher? You’re the toughest high school sophomore I know.”
Cecily gave a strained chuckle.
As she blew out the match, Cecily continued, “Then let’s focus on what we do know: the guardian has disappeared, Derrick is on life support, and Rose is dead, but up until the moment she died, they were all together.”
“Yes.”
“Those auras together would have a distinct signature.”
“Right,” said Katherine, slow to catch on. “But how does that help? Oh! You can find the place they were last together and from there perhaps an imprint of their last moments?”
“Exactly,” said Cecily.
Settling down with her legs crossed under her knees, Cecily opened up to her witches’ gift —divination. She would try to see what had happened to Rose.
For Katherine, it was the most boring part of the ritual. Cecily had to into a trance whenever she worked with her divination power and it was like watching a yoga master meditate. Katherine waited anxiously for twenty minutes as Cecily meditated and then Katherine got up and paced. When thirty minutes passed she closed up the shop and started chopping up herbs. Anything to get rid of the boredom. Fortunately, it only took Cecily twenty minutes more to arise from the trance.
As she opened her eyes, Katherine walked over from where she was straightening the shelves with a hopeful expression on her face.
“Did you find anything?” she asked.
Unfortunately, the minute she asked the question Cecily went into a seizure.
Katherine dropped the glass jar full of sea anemones she’d been playing with and rushed to Cecily’s side. Quickly she grabbed her from behind and turned her on her side with a firm push of her hands to keep any vomit from closing off her airway.
Soon the fits stopped and Cecily opened tired eyes.
Katherine helped her sit up with gentle hands.