by Cahoon, Lynn
“You sure put a lot of faith in The Council. Why were they ignorant of Coven X? When someone doesn’t want to see something, they usually don’t.” Parris knew people. Owning a bar had taught her to watch for the secrets people kept, especially the ones from themselves. She’d held a woman’s hair as the girl puked after drinking one too many shots after finding out her fiancé had not only been cheating on her, he’d stolen money out of their joint honeymoon account to hit the casino boat. The man loved black jack, not any of the women he slept with, even the one he’d promised to marry. Parris had known the fairy tale relationship had problems months earlier than the betrayed woman. She’d seen it in his aura when he came into the bar. She’d seen it in the woman’s fear when she came alone.
“You’re not as bright and shiny in the morning, you know? Kind of a downer.” Ty pulled a mushroom off her plate, and popped the stolen treat into his mouth, his smile celebrating his victory.
Parris slapped his hand. “Stay out of my food. Let’s say I’m a realist and split the difference.”
“Says the woman who stole my bacon.”
“You didn’t order me any,” she protested.
Ty stood, pulling a black tee shirt from his overnight bag. “Come on, princess. Finish your breakfast and get ready. Wear some walking shoes. We’re going on a quest.”
“You never answered my question on why we’re doing this,” Parris called after him as he walked back into the bathroom.
“Just get ready.”
Ty felt the stubble on his cheeks. He’d have to shave. He glanced in the mirror. Why was finding Robert so damn important? He felt an urgency to keep looking. But he’d missed something. The old man always knew the truth, even when The Council hid evidence. Finding a rogue history professor masquerading as a homeless person shouldn’t be difficult. What, Cincinnati had a million residents?
He thought about Parris sitting in the next room. Soul mate. All he had to do was save her from The Council and then make her fall in love with him. No worries. He spread shaving foam on his face, banishing the thoughts to another time.
Thirty minutes later, they walked to the elevator. When they reached the first floor, Ty stepped over to the desk. A woman with a too bright smile stood to greet him.
“Mr. Wallace, a message came in for you.” She handed Ty a folder. Ty took the pages then returned the empty folder.
“Thanks. Do you have a street map of the city?”
The woman scurried away, reappearing a few minutes later. “Here. If you’d like, I could spell it for road construction.”
“That’s fine, we’ll be walking.” The two exited the cool marble lobby right onto a busy sidewalk. Ty handed Parris the map, pointing to a café table at the right of the door. “Let’s plot these stops.”
Parris pulled two pens from her purse, blue and red. “Call out the address then I’ll mark them. Afterwards we can plan our attack.” She giggled. “This is like playing Risk or War. Too bad my history teacher didn’t teach strategic theory. I might have paid attention in class.”
They sat on metal chairs, going through the list Derek made. Derek might be a screw up on matters of the heart–or, more accurately, a slut, on matters of the body–but his research skills were top notch. The guy had a talent for finding things. His own superpower.
Ten minutes later, the two strolled down the empty sidewalks to the first church. To the casual eye, they looked like any other tourist couple, visiting the sights of Cincinnati. What would the humans do if they knew the pair weren’t two people in love, rather two witches seeking a third?
He chuckled and Parris shot him a glance. The woman looked exquisite with her raven hair pulled up into a flirty pony tail, making her look younger than her thirty years. Her high cheekbones went even higher when she smiled. God, he loved it when her smile turned on him. He needed to find Robert and get Parris out of The Council’s line of sight. If he could. They probably had researchers seeking out her linage. It would only be a matter of time before they came to the same conclusion he had. Parris was the product of two First Borns. The Council would be forced to take action.
The first church was locked but they walked around the wooden building anyway. Ty knew Parris waited for him to make a decision. Was this the place where angels played?
Ty focused for a second, finding nothing. No power, no angel, no woman of stone waiting for him. He opened his eyes and shook his head. Parris scratched off the address and pointed to the sidewalk.
“That way.” Parris smiled. “Only five hundred more.”
“Thirty-two. Don’t exaggerate.” Ty put an arm around her waist. “Besides, what else do you have to do today other than play tourist with a ruggedly handsome man?”
“There you go again, thinking you’re all that.” She laughed.
“There will not be an alien ship arriving today, right?” Ty looked up, faking distress.
“I loved Will Smith in the movie.” Parris continued talking about movie trivia until they reached the next church, then stopped, leaving Ty to focus, trying to sense his old mentor.
Nearing the end, their conversation had dwindled to telling each other stories on college professors when Ty saw the stone woman from his vision. She stood in a flower garden in front of a stone cathedral. A sign stood next to her.
“St. Peter’s In Chains?” Parris read the sign. “Who thinks up these names?”
“Someone who’s not around now.” Ty stared. “I think this is the place.”
Parris lowered her sunglasses to look at him. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, that’s the statue I saw in my vision.” He started walking toward the church.
“Wait, you had a vision? Why didn’t you say something?” Parris hurried to catch up.
“And let you question my sanity? You already think I’m not a normal boy.” Ty held his hand out trying to feel a touch of Robert, even just a hint. “Someday I’ll tell you more of my secrets.”
“Everything’s strange, don’t let that stop you. I’m getting used to strange.” Parris stared up at the building. “You think it’s open?”
“Usually, churches stay open, giving the homeless somewhere to rest. Or their parishioners an opportunity to pray.” Ty pulled on the heavy wooden door. Parris put her hand on his arm, stopping him.
“Wait, how does this religious thing tie into what, or who we are?” Parris’ words came out a whisper.
Ty turned to look at her. Fear showed on her face, her eyes wide, looking like she would bolt at any noise. “What is wrong with you? It’s just a church.”
“But are we,” she paused, seemingly considering her word. She squared her shoulders, asking, “Are we evil?”
Ty frowned. “Because you’re a witch? Do you feel evil? Being a witch is who you are. What you were born to be. Just like those who are born human. People aren’t born good or bad, they choose their path. Witches have the same free choice.”
Ty could see Parris processing the idea. Finally, she blurted, “So I’m not going to hell?”
Ty pulled her into a hug. “Relax. You are still the same person, the same child of God as last month. What you believed then is still who you are. Being a witch doesn’t make you evil–being cruel, thoughtless and mean, those qualities make up an evil person. You’re none of those things.”
He nodded to the door. “Can we go in now?”
Parris smiled and followed him through the door. Ty saw her cringe as she walked inside the vestibule, as if waiting for a lightning bolt he guessed. She was so behind the eight ball on this transition. Most witches knew their place on the world from their first steps. Witchcraft seemed like breathing air. Parris questioned everything and everyone she’d ever known and their role in her new life.
A few seconds later, she relaxed as they walked through the hallway to the chapel. Although, the chapel wasn’t empty, close to a hundred people sat in the pews. Not the quiet morning Ty expected. Near the altar, a priest stood, giving sacrament. Most of
the people sat quietly, watching and waiting for mass to continue.
Ty and Parris slipped into the back pew, waiting. They couldn’t slip out without drawing attention. Besides, maybe Robert sat here, in the crowd. Ty scanned the pews, looking for a back that could be his old professor and friend.
Parris’s hand tightened on his arm. Glancing at her, he saw her gaze frozen on a man a few pews forward. When the man saw Ty, he nodded and turned back, facing the altar again.
“Who is that,” Parris whispered, fear cloaking her voice.
“He’s head of the local coven. The Council’s Cincinnati representative, so to speak.” Ty whispered back, hoping he sounded reassuring.
“But he’s Catholic?”
“Did you not hear what I told you? Being a witch doesn’t mean you don’t or can’t believe in God.” Ty slipped an arm around her. She shook. “Look, we can talk theology on the drive back to St. Louis. Relax, okay? You look like a rabbit watching a hawk circle.”
“I feel more like the sacrificial lamb. Or like the women in Salem must have felt. I keep envisioning the crowd turning and pointing at me.” Parris took a deep breath.
“Describe what you’re seeing.” He couldn’t let her brush him off. If Parris had a vision, he needed to know.
“It’s like I’m watching a movie. The same people are here, but it’s not here, you know? I don’t know how to describe it, it’s freaking me out.”
Just then, organ music filled the chapel, people stood, and Parris screamed.
Chapter 8
When something is lost, it may just be hidden. Think why the object would want to hide from your vision, and once you know that, you’ll know where to look. Trust your instincts. Give in to your higher power. It will lead you to the truth. Or over a cliff. If it’s the cliff, it wasn’t the right voice. –The Academy of Witchcraft Manual, Volume 3, page 769.
Heads closest to them turned. Parris pointed down, “Charley horse,” she explained reaching down, massaging her calf. “Sorry, it just came out.”
One woman handed her a bottle of water from her oversized purse. “It’s the heat, dear. You’re dehydrated. I bet you’ve been walking this morning.” She glanced at Parris’ shorts and tennis shoes. “Long services can affect you. Father Mike’s the worst at keeping us late. You sit down while the benediction is sung. God’s not going to be upset at you for taking care of yourself.”
Parris took the water, sinking back into the seat. Screwing off the cap, she took a long drink of the water. Ty leaned closer and massaged her leg with a practiced hand. The man did have good hands.
“So you want to fill me in? Why the histrionics?” Ty whispered.
“When we’re out of here. Any chance that will be soon?” Parris didn’t want to explain what she’d seen when the music started. She didn’t have visions. She’d never had visions. Seeing things was Ty’s super power, not hers.
“He’s not in the chapel. I’ve checked. I guess we can safely leave now. People will think I’m escorting the crazy lady from their church.” Ty grinned. “Now who’s not a normal girl?”
“Thanks, I’m happy your weirdness is rubbing off on me.” She placed the cap on the bottle. “Let’s go before the service ends and everyone comes to save the screamer.”
Parris headed toward the door. She didn’t wait for Ty’s answer, she felt him following her. How that was even possible, she didn’t want to know. The more time she spent with the man, the more in tune to his reactions and location she became. Of course it was normal right? Normal, humans felt the same way about people they slept with, or dated. She didn’t know what bound them together, besides The Council mission to find the secret coven and destroy its power source. A mission she’d fulfill to keep her and her grandmother safe from The Council’s punishment for hiding in plain sight all these years. Parris thought of Prudence and her banishment. Who knew what they’d do to them. Parris and Ty left the church through a side door. A crumpled blanket blocked the top of the stairs leading to street level. No, not a blanket, a sleeping bag with a large human-sized bump in the middle.
Ty pushed her behind him as he leaned down, folding back the edge of the bag. “Dude, you need to sleep somewhere else. The church is filled with people. You’re going to get arrested.”
“Son, unless they’ve changed the schedule, most of those people you’re worried about are part of the local coven. Paranormal creatures like having their own service, without humans around, so the Vatican has issued a decree for the larger cities where we have a gathering.” The man sat up, kicking off the sleeping bag. “Why would the coven turn me into the police? I’m safer here with the angels than in my rented condo.”
Ty hugged the man. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Why are you hiding? What’s got you spooked?”
“Hold on, one question at a time.” Robert Nelson glanced at Parris. “Mind if I have some water?”
Parris handed him the bottle. “You can have the rest.”
Robert downed it in one gulp. He threw the plastic bottle off the stairs where it landed in an open recycling container on the street. “You’ve got the right one this time Ty. I told you the other one wasn’t a soul mate.”
Parris stared at the elderly man. Sleep had matted hair to his head that looked like he hadn’t washed for days. A strong odor wafted from his body. Sweat and sulfur? He blabbered on about soul mates? Parris couldn’t believe they’d come all this way to meet with this.
“Him,” the man corrected.
“What?”
“You can’t believe you came all this way to meet with him. Use your language correctly girl, I’m not a this.” Robert Nelson stretched. “Let’s get going.”
“Where?” The word slipped out before Parris could stop it.
“To St. Louis of course. I can’t very well train you here on the street, now, can I?”
Parris glanced at Ty, not able to keep fear out of her voice. “He’s going to train me?”
“I’d hoped he’d say yes. You need an expert who knows your power.” Ty looked at his mentor. “You need any of this stuff?”
“No, leave it here. There’s a young man who’s been sleeping on the next stoop who doesn’t have anything. His folks kicked him out of the house for being gay. I wonder what they’d think if he told them he was also a witch?” Robert started down the stone steps toward the street. “Can we stop at Skyline Chili first? I’m a tad bit hungry.”
“Sure. We have to go by to see Prudence before we leave anyway.” Ty caught up with the man. Parris watched the two walk in front as she followed along. So this was the great wizard who’d trained Ty? He looked like some of the men who hung around the bar looking for odd jobs she paid for with a bottle or two of liquor and a bag of sandwiches.
“Looks are deceiving sometimes.” Ty called back.
“Stop reading my mind,” Parris answered. She thought about the vision she’d seen in the church. A group crowded around her, led by a tall, older man with eyes that reminded her of her father’s. Unlike her father’s smiling eyes she remembered from the pictures she’d hung in her living room, this man’s eyes shined with a dead cold. Hate seethed from him like blood pouring out of an open wound. The hate focused on at her.
When they’d gotten to the small restaurant, somehow, Robert looked cleaner, more like an eccentric professor. Parris knew she stared when he turned appraising her.
“You’ve done well my boy, getting her this far. I think she’s the key.” Robert stared at the menu board. “I want one with everything. Get her the chili on spaghetti. It has some cinnamon in the mix, she’ll like it.”
“I can order for myself,” Parris groused.
“I keep forgetting women aren’t docile as they were in my day.” Robert smiled, watching her. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
“And pigs fly,” Parris mumbled.
Ty gently pushed her toward the dining room. “Why don’t you grab us a booth and we’ll be right over. Tea?”
“That
would be nice.” Parris slid into a booth closest to the window, watching the people walk past. Docile my ass. He can shove training if he thinks he’s going to talk to me like I’m some fainting flower.
She saw the man again in her mind. She needed all the help she could get. “The devil you know,” she whispered against the glass. “The devil you know.”
Soon Ty and Robert returned with trays of food. The smell of tomato, meat, cinnamon and onions overwhelmed her. Her stomach growled in pleasure. The guy might be a chauvinist pig, but he knew food.
Robert shoveled food, head down like he hadn’t eaten in days. “Thanks, I think the place is great too.”
“How can you still read my mind? This block keeps Ty and Derek out.” Parris twirled spaghetti on her fork.
The old man raised his head, grinning at her, eyes sparkling like a teenage boy given his first muscle car. “I’m better than the boys.”
Parris laughed, in spite of herself. “Okay, then, stop it. It’s creepy.”
Robert patted her hand that rested on the table. “Dear, there are far more disturbing things in this world than you even know. I can’t believe the minds of some of those poor souls I shared food lines with down at the mission. What ever happened to the mental health system in this country? We should be ashamed of ourselves.”
“Preaching to the choir here. April, my bar manager, is training to work with kids on the streets. She’s an angel for wanting to help those kids.” Parris reached down, patting her shirt pocket for her phone. “Damn, I forgot to call her this morning to check in.”
“The bar is fine. She’ll call if she needs you.” Ty finished his lunch and leaned back, like a spectator at a prize fight, watching the banter between Parris and Robert. Parris would bet he’d put money on the old man, not her. He pointed to the chili. “You better get eating, we’re heading back tonight.”
Robert shook his head. “No, we’re staying another night. Get me a room at the hotel. I need to get caught up.” He pointed at Parris. “I need to talk to her.”