Ancient Ways

by Patti Larsen

  He sounded almost sane.

  “Who?” But I knew who.

  Demetrius stood up. “Mia. She's weak. Always has been. The perfect test, she was, you betcha.” He slid back into crazy as if his moment of lucidity never happened. “Now they know, don't they? Now they can do it and no one can stop them.” He cackled, a sad, tragic sound as he bent in half and choked. “No one.”

  We'd just see about that.

  ***

  Chapter Nineteen

  Charlotte had a firm hold on Demetrius the entire trip to Harvard. Not that I didn't trust him to stay with us in the veil, but one just never knew.

  Would be just my luck to lose his ass in the transfer.

  Gram and Shenka I left with firm instructions. We already knew the only way to combat the attack of the Brotherhood was by weakening our defenses and not giving them magic to feed their sorcery. We'd learned that lesson the hard way, when Liander Belaisle and his pack of bullies attacked the vampire mansion. But my heart still fought me, my logic, too. It felt so wrong to tell the family to let their shielding go. Not only because those shields kept us safe day to day, a natural part of who we were. But because I now had no idea if such a defense would even work against the sorcerer’s new tactics.

  Without the chance to have a look at this machine Demetrius mentioned, for all I knew, lowering the family's shielding signed my family’s death warrants.

  I tightened my link with the coven as we stepped out of the veil and into Harvard Yard. Gram's power reached back, Shenka's too, each of the witches in my family grasping hold.

  The Brotherhood had a hell of a lot to answer for.

  I could tell the second I arrived Mom wasn't in her office. I spun toward University Hall and found her easily. She was with the Council, in session.

  Perfect.

  I didn't ask permission. Didn't care how they'd react. Fear for my family and for all covens racing through my veins, I pushed my way past the front doors and into the magicked doorway leading to Council chambers. A pair of Enforcers tried to stop me.

  Tried.

  I don't think I hurt them too badly.

  I used just enough magic to shove them aside, honest. And burst through the huge wooden portals to thunder to a furious halt before the gaping stares of the Council.

  Mom's face flashed to immediate rage, her power crackling around her, but I had no time for her temper. Not while all of witchdom was at risk. My heart went out to the families we'd lost as I faced the Council in a flare of my own magic.

  “How dare you interrupt a closed meeting.” Huan Wong, the member for the Santos family, sat back in her seat, hands fluttering in front of her as her anger showed in a cascade of sparks from her fingertips. She'd never liked me, partly in thanks to the Santos's loyalties to the Dumont coven.

  Tough cookies. She could hate me all she wanted, as long as she listened.

  “Syd.” Erica Plower, my own member on Council, clamped her jaw shut, anger flashing. She’d been Mom’s second before I assigned her to Council. Old loyalties, old judgments, died hard. “What are you doing here?”

  “We demand to know why you've intruded.” Phylis Gaines, the tiny representative of the Bradford family glowered at me as though I were a bug she wished to squash.

  “This is outrageous.” That from Willa Rhodes, Rhodes coven. And similar sharp remarks from Lauren Noble of Hensley. Their individual voices were lost in the now constant, angry chatter of the Council as they talked over each other, glaring at me, aiming their unhappiness my way.

  I let them shift and bubble and gather their petulant complaints. Let Mom stare me down, or try to, with her burning blue eyes. Let them seethe while I allowed my disgust and disappointment to sink into my soul and show on my face.

  Children. Whiners. These were our representatives, those who had our best interest? I didn't hear them, didn't answer them. Their complaints fell away as I narrowed my field of focus on the one person in the room who didn't say a word.

  “You knew.” My voice cut through their angry talk, silencing them as I shot those words like weapons at my mother. Mom didn't move, didn't respond. Didn't have to. The twitch of guilt in her face told me everything I needed to know.

  “I demand to know—”

  Yeah. Like I cared what Huan demanded. I guided Demetrius forward, heard them all gasp, watched him slink ahead, hunched to the side, a lopsided smile under his tears as he clung to me, a frightened but eager child whipped one too many times.

  “Show them,” I said. “Like you showed me.” My hand went into my pocket as I reached for the magic in the room, felt the Council's power reject me at first, Mom's touch trying to keep me from what came next.

  Felt her fail.

  Withdrew the bone.

  Lived the deaths of the coven it belonged to again. And again. And again. I didn't stop, not this time, forced them to see what I'd seen, past where Demetrius took me in my kitchen, kept my own eyes, heart, soul open even as the goodness in me withered and dried up until there was nothing left but hate.

  He finally released them when I drew my arm back and threw the fragment of bone across the room. It bounced against the bottom of the Council podium, spinning like a top. I registered the sounds of the Council's sobs, their cries of horror, their magic flashing and ebbing as they struggled for control in a moment of terror, struggling with what to do next, to think.

  I didn't have that problem. I had never had such clarity in my life.

  And I never took my eyes from Mom's.

  Instead of shock—I'd really hoped I'd see shock, wished for it like a silly child wishes with all her heart for something she knows will never happen—there was only cold rage.

  Not at the Brotherhood for what they'd done. Not for the deaths of so many, for no reason, deaths that could have been prevented, covens lost that could have been saved.

  No, her anger was aimed locally.

  At me.

  Me.

  “This can't be true.” Erica rose half to her feet, gripping the edge of the table for support, grief pouring out of her like the tears that ran endlessly down her pale face. “Miriam, it can't be. We would know, wouldn't we?”

  Mom sat back, hands folded on the table in front of her. “I did know,” she said.

  Silence. Utter, deathly, overwhelming silence that tore a gaping hole in my chest. I’d assumed the entire Council was complicit. Only to discover I was wrong.

  Mom had lied to all of us.

  Their wailing began, rose in tempo and volume.

  Because now they knew what I’d show them was true.

  They ran from the room, the gathered Councilors, only Erica remaining behind. I knew where they were going, didn't have to ask. Had the same instinctual response to the news I’d uncovered. Even though they didn't officially belong to their covens anymore, gave up their family magicks to serve on the Council, I had absolutely no doubt each and every one of them ran to contact their relatives.

  To make sure they were okay.

  But not everyone was, were they? No, not by a long shot. How easy it was to forget there were many more families, without the power and influence necessary to demand a seat on Council. Families now diminished.

  How many were gone? And did they care, these representatives of the witch world?

  Doubtful. They were as selfish as I was. Focused on the ones they loved, fled to warn them, to fill them with the fear they now felt.

  And Mom just sat there and glared at me like it was my fault the Brotherhood succeeded.

  Erica came to my side, shaking hands taking mine. “I had no idea,” she whispered. “I swear it.”

  I nodded, still focused on my mother. “I know,” I said. “This has nothing to do with you.”

  “Or you.” Mom's earlier attack in her office felt like nothing as she lashed out at me vocally, a walk in the park. This Mom's rage grew like a monster around her as she stood, a vortex of magic forming at her feet as the Council power answered her need to crush me.
I had no doubt, from the fury in her face, she would hurt me if she could. “And now you've ruined everything.”

  For the briefest of moments, I died inside as I reached for Mom and felt the same emptiness I'd encountered earlier. My mother... was my mother one of them?

  Had she been taken by the Brotherhood?

  But no, no, I could feel her now. She'd shielded against me, locked me out, shoved me aside like a bully on a playground unhappy her target stood up to her. I could only guess she no longer felt the need to pretend she cared anymore. Mom stalked toward me, body shaking violently as she visibly struggled to control her temper.

  “Do you have any idea,” she snarled, Charlotte immediately snarling back in answer, “what kind of a mess you've just unleashed?”

  Even Erica gaped at her. “Miriam,” she said, face paling further, her tan a dull wash over her whitened cheeks.

  Mom cut her off with a sharp chop of one hand. “I had everything under control,” Mom grated out through teeth clenched so tight it was hard to make her out. “And you've created mass panic. For no reason.”

  No reason.

  No—

  “If you really believe that,” I whispered, her words punching me in the gut, “if you really think you have to keep the covens from protecting themselves out of your misguided fear, you've lost your damned mind.” I drew myself up to my full height, not caring that my hands shook, or my voice for that matter.

  “You fool,” she snarled. “I can't protect them if they know the truth.”

  Erica gasped, backed away, shaking her head. “What are you saying?”

  Mom's rage emerged in a sharp bark of laughter. “Really, Erica,” she said, snapping blue eyes fixed on her oldest friend. “How naive. This Council would crumble if you knew a fraction of what threatens us.”

  Erica's shoulders sagged. “How do you know,” she whispered, “if you don't give us the chance to find out?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest as Mom looked away from Erica and met my eyes.

  “I have no idea who you are,” I said. “But you're not my mother.”

  ***

  Chapter Twenty

  Erica stepped away, a sob lifting her shoulders. Mom glanced at her, breaking the hold we'd both held on each other. When Mom's eyes met mine again, she calmed enough the Council magic fell away, though I could still feel it bubbling around her edges.

  “Damn you, Syd,” Mom said, spinning away from me, feet thudding on the floor as she paced toward the table. “You had to disobey me, didn't you?”

  “I don't believe you,” I said as my own anger faded, now numb, my body dull and heavy as shock set in. Almost as if she'd physically injured me. “You let those covens be destroyed. You let Mia's magic be stolen. All to keep this quiet.”

  Mom's rage returned, though she had a firm hold on her power this time. She spun back, voice an unrecognizable shriek.

  “I already told you, I was protecting them!” Her voice echoed in the large chamber, bouncing from wall to ceiling to floor, pummeling me with sound. “Now they are out there, stirring up their families, alerting the Brotherhood we know what they are doing. Just begging for another attack.” Her hands shook as she held them out to me. “When they were clueless, they at least had their defenses up. But now? They will scatter, go to ground. Retreat further, like they always do. Cut themselves off while I’ve been trying to bind them together, to keep them safe through numbers.” She pulled on two fists full of her long hair, manic rage in her eyes. “How am I supposed to protect them now?”

  Um. Wow. Deluded much? How could she possibly think she was protecting anyone when all those witches were lost on her watch because she refused to act? Worse, where was the delusion coming from? No amount of reaching for her gave me the information I needed and I was now seriously concerned Mom had lost her crackers.

  “We should have hit them first,” I said, snapped, actually. “Instead of waiting for them to chip away at us a bit at a time.”

  Mom seemed to waver before she shook her head.

  “They barely agree to work together on simple things.” Mom sagged, hands dropping to her sides, desperation radiating from her. I knew how hard Mom worked to destroy old territorial lines when it came to cooperation between covens, but this was insane. “I had to keep it from them,” she whispered, more to herself than me. “I had no choice. They couldn’t handle what was happening.” She looked up at me. “I thought I could work around the sorcerers, uncover what they were up to.” Mom tried to take on the Brotherhood? Okay, I’d give her points for that. “But then the Dumont magic was taken and I had no choice.”

  A cover up.

  She sobbed once, clutching at herself, face twisting in grief and anger. “I had it under control.”

  My sympathy vanished with her last words. “Your way is clearly working so very well, Mother,” I said. “I say let there be panic.”

  Mom growled, an animal ready to attack. Charlotte tried to step in front of me, but I held her back with one hand while Mom jabbed a finger at my bodywere.

  “Be careful who you threaten this time,” Mom said.

  “And you, Council Leader,” Charlotte answered in a crisp, clear voice. “And you.”

  “Miriam, this is...” Erica struggled to define her feelings even as a list of words ran through my head. Horrible. Unbelievable. Disastrous.

  “This is not how I wanted things to unfold.” Mom turned from me, toward Erica. “Tell me honestly, if the Council knew, would this have turned out any differently?” She took a step toward her friend, Erica shaking her head as her blonde hair tossed around her face, not to say no, but in clear denial of the truth Mom shoved down her throat. “Or would they have debated and wailed and formed a committee before declaring it was a fraud until the next event.” Mom was almost to Erica's side, her former second's weeping started up again as she clutched her fisted hands to her mouth. “And the next. And the next. Until it was too late. Tell me, Erica. Would you have acted?”

  She turned from Mom with a sob, met my eyes.

  And in hers I saw reality. Mom was right.

  The Council, so tied down by law, so afraid of taking action, would have ended up in this place anyway.

  “You're welcome,” I said to Mom. “I think I finally managed to make them respond, wouldn't you say?”

  She didn't take that very well, oh no, not even a little bit. Her power crackled again, but she didn't strike out at me. Not this time. Charlotte twitched next to me as Mom's hands clenched repeatedly as she spoke.

  “You've done nothing of the sort,” she said, disdain slamming into me like a hammer blow. “You've only stirred the nest. Once they've accepted what's happened, they'll go right back to their old ways.”

  What the bloody hell was wrong with my mother? “Then act now,” I said. Almost shouted. “While you have their attention.” I just wanted to shake her and shake her and not ever stop. A sick feeling preceded my next words. “Have you even told them how to defend themselves from the Brotherhood?” Surely she'd passed out that information.

  Mom's face crumpled so fast I went from rage and shock to fear for her as she backpedaled, finally collapsing against the table. Anger rushed from her, the power of the Council flaring once before it dissipated. A deep, wrenching sob ripped through her, shook her to the soles of her feet, as though her body was no longer able to maintain such rage. “Syd,” she cried, “I tried.” Mom pressed her shaking hands to her face, crumbling in half, falling to the floor. I rushed to her side, supported her. Mom's blue eyes, bloodshot with weeping, locked on mine. “I didn't know it was this bad,” she whispered. “I swear it. And I was doing my best to keep them safe. You have to believe me.”

  Erica gaped at Mom, mouth opening and closing before she managed to speak. “Tell me you have a plan.”

  Silence.

  “Mom,” I said, grief rising like a tide, threatening to take over and sweep me away, “you must have known after the Dumont power was taken they wouldn't
stop there.” She had to have understood that.

  Mom shuddered. “I didn't have proof,” she said. “The Enforcers found nothing, no bones, no ash. The vision Demetrius showed us is the first real evidence we have.” Her hand slid out, lifted the shard of bone resting by her foot. “And this.” Her hand fisted around it as she rose, rejecting my help, using the table to balance herself as she stood, turning her back on me.

  I trembled as I stood there, staring at my mother's bowed shoulders, begging her silently to act, to do something.

  “Let me reach out to the other covens,” I said. “I can warn them, prepare them for—”

  Mom spun, face eerily composed considering she’d just been a sobbing mess, wiping tears away with the cuff of her robe. Such huge mood swings made me worry for her sanity, for all of us. “You've done enough, Coven Leader,” she said, voice cold and quiet. “I now have panicked families to deal with. Thanks to you.”

  We were back here again, were we? “Are you kidding me?”

  Mom's mouth turned down, though she refused to meet my eyes. “If you had only shown me your evidence in private,” she whispered. “Syd, we're done. Go home.”

  I laughed. I couldn't help it. There was nothing else to do, except maybe explode. And I just didn't have the energy.

  “You need my help,” I said.

  Mom looked up, eyes empty. “You will go home right now,” she said, “or I will have you arrested.”

  Charlotte's snarl, her hands on my arm as she tried to tug me away told me the feeling I had from Mom wasn't imaginary. I wasn't making it up.

  She was dead serious.

  “This is High Council business,” Mom said.

  Erica's choked cry snapped us both out of our focus again. “It's High Council business,” she said, “now that we know there's business needing our attention.” Her eyes settled on me, shoulders squaring. “And because of Syd, we do.” The angry look Erica fixed on Mom was the first time I'd ever seen her stand up to my mother. “No thanks to you, Miriam.”