Page 20 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

Shit. I dipped my head. “And off the back of that, for a time, Varden was the only member of the council I trusted. None of you told me about Caves, if you recollect. Varden had been the only one who seemed to feel the subterfuge wasn’t right, even if he had his own agenda too.”

I couldn’t say if that was true or if Varden was upholding my grandmother’s wishes of removing me from the coven.

Ruby looked at me. “When you were told the truth, you found the gates again.”

“And they were much closer,” Huxley said.

“The four of you knew also,” Opal said, referring to the quad.

“Yes,” Wild said, and the answer was echoed by Huxley. Wild added, “Tempest convinced Varden that more coven members should be told—Rooke definitely, as she may be able to touch the blade, if anything happened to Tempest. And myself and my three friends due to our deeper knowledge about other supernaturals.”

We were managing to get through this conversation with our mix of truth and lies. Yet… I really had drawn close to the best people to figure all this out. Or been pushed toward them.

I said, “The gates were closer as Huxley says. I—and the others—agreed with Varden’s assessment. That telling the council and coven was as likely to hinder as help. The game was in the way.”

“And so you won the game,” Ruby said in awe.

“We intended to.”

Opal glanced at Varden and Wild. “We?”

“Our high esteemed had no help from Fertim,” Varden stated.

“I have a rather unusual outlet for my magic,” I told her. “One that the Vero team leaders are aware of. I call it a quipu. It’s a method of storing information. My magic shows me connections and pathways between the information in a way I don’t understand, but I used this to place Vero in a winning position on the gameboard. If I’d joined Fertim, I would have done the same for that team. I wasn’t interested in who won, just that Caves ended, so we could focus on the real threat.”

Opal looked to Winona, Delta, and Barrow, who nodded.

“I’d like to see this quipu sometime.”

“Of course,” I said. “As it turned out, the game was ended through other means. I gained a fourth affinity on the night of the battle against the demons. And while I’m still trying to understand how and why this happened, I am grateful for what it has given the coven.”

“An end to Caves?” Winona prompted.

“Yes, and protection from the demons we didn’t have.” I glanced at my robes. “The four relics proved more effective than any measure.”

“As did the blade you’d wielded prior,” she noted.

“And that’s another mystery to be solved.” Did Winona and the others believe me? Enough to keep quiet for now. “Now you have more information, we must decide upon a starting point.”

Opal slumped in her chair, looking frazzled. “Part of me doesn’t believe what I’ve been told, and yet—like Varden long ago—I can’t deny some things. Demons did attack. Caradoc and Fyre were lost in that room where Varden was attacked also. The army came out of nowhere one week ago. The relics seemed to choose you in a moment of peril—as though you were needed to save us.” She exhaled long and hard. “This will take time for me to fathom, but at the heart of the matter, I see that we have division fueling the demons’ strength. The answer is to work on unity. On giving the coven new direction. On healing old wounds.”

“We can’t leave the gates without defense,” Delta said. It was the first time she’d spoken since Varden’s confession. She was still pissed.

“We need to develop the best defenses before we can put them in place,” Wild said. “That should be an area of focus.”

Huxley said, “We already have a lot to go on.”

To me, the way had been clear. I’d just needed everyone on a similar page. “The answer seems to be both. I agree with Opal. There should be efforts with the coven itself. We are in a position to start this immediately while other information is gathered on defenses. Huxley, I’m placing you and Spyne in charge of that information process. Get together a team of grimoires and find everything you can on demons.”

Huxley nodded.

“Wild,” I said next. “You and Ruby are to organize the sentry schedule.”

Wild was a great teacher, and Ruby would do well under his wing.

“Of course,” he replied for show, having accepted the role yesterday.

“Delta,” I said next. “Once Huxley’s team has gathered information, we’ll begin training for demon-specific combat. You’ll be in charge of this. Barrow, Opal, and Winona, we need to assess our stores and external support from other covens. I have received a stack of letters that I will pass into your care. I’d like you to be our representatives with the covens who have voiced their support to see what they can offer against the demons. I’d like you to open dialogue with covens who don’t wish to support us too. We need all the help we can get. Support from others may include further knowledge on the demons, so make sure to press for this, too, and please loop in Huxley and Spyne with that side of the process.”

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