Page 7 of Bright Soul

CRESS

Next morning, Bianca was sworn in as the seventh member of A Little Wicked Coven with the rest of us bearing witness over a cold breakfast. Wren hadn’t had it in her to argue when Roe and I had presented her strengths as a talented assassin who knew one of our main enemies, the vampire Garroway, with more familiarity than even Ben.

That didn’t mean she liked it. Not that I ever got the feeling she ever particularlylikedany of us, anyway. She stared off into the middle distance in the hospital’s cramped cafeteria and ate her ration of food without relish. If someone had told me I’d feel this much sympathy for Wren even a week ago, I’d have cackled like it was a bad joke. Yet here we were.

The meeting Hana had invited me to started right after breakfast, in a conference room on the hospital’s first floor. I attended with Ben, Geo, Roe, and Bianca and wondered why we were invited at all when I saw the faces that ringed the other half of the long table. Madigan and Orthus represented Ashbough Protective Services. Hana sat with the remnants of the CrownCoven, Kwan Graygazer and Daire Grimsbane. A few fae and verdant witch doctors, all carrying a tired, fearful gleam in their eyes, were here too as hospital leadership.

And sitting in one of the only unoccupied seats was a ghost only I could see, of my deceased birth mother, Eris Darkmore. Ever since Phaeron had called her spirit back on Samhain to talk to me, she’d remained on the mortal plane to haunt me on and off under the guise of helping.

She could be helpful, but it was awkward at the same time. We barely knew each other. She was endlessly judgmental about my decision to become a librarian witch, and I was sure there was an unpleasant day ahead when she popped in while I was having private time with my boyfriends. Just the thought gave me a full-body cringe.

“We’re gathered today to discuss what to do next,” Madigan said. She’d claimed the head of the table, fingers steepled as the room quieted down and faces turned her way. “The goddess that destroyed Soiluire is now here, locked inside the Cerris City pocket dimension with us. The majority of the city’s population received the emergency alert about the lockdown and fled, including many medical professionals. Thank you for staying to support and heal the sick and injured.” She nodded toward the doctors present.

I smiled their way briefly. I hadn’t realized the crew keeping the hospital running had had to make the conscious decision to stay. No wonder they’d thrown scrubs at my mom so readily when she’d volunteered to help.

“Unfortunately, there are many civilians still stranded here, and many of them are kids or young families. We have to act fast to bring them to safety and gather supplies,” Madigan continued.

Hana interjected, “Myuna will not sit idle for long. She has one loyal servant right now, but that will change as time passes. As a goddess, she is used to being served by a legion.”

Bianca raised her fingers as Hana spoke. Madigan gestured for her to speak. “The ‘loyal servant’ you mentioned is the vampire Garroway, who won’t be able to take anyone to her while it’s daylight outside,” she said, punching into her palm. “We should hunt him when the sun sets, to cripple her further.”

“She will then turn her attention to Phaeron to break his will early. This is a future we do not want,” Hana replied.

“Early?” I echoed in a pained whisper.

“Right now, she wants him aware and in pain. Last night, she sent Garroway out to hunt you,” Hana said, her gaze flashing to me. My ghostly mother gasped in surprise. “We might have one more night where he tries again. One thing is for certain…Myuna will remain in place and expect her every desire to come to her. That makes her predictable, and thus something we can outwit and kill.”

“So, she can be killed?” asked Crown Grimsbane. He was a tough-looking black man and the only blood witch in the Crown Coven. He still wore a bandolier lined with daggers but had replaced whatever expensive clothing he had been wearing for a plain t-shirt and jeans. It was probably the miraculous healing powers of his affinity that’d ensured his survival of yesterday’s attack.

“She can be,” Hana confirmed.

“Hell, why don’t we go do that now? We’ve been patched up. We know where she is and who her allies are. All of us versus the three of them,” he commented.

Hana drew breath to reply, but it was Crown Graygazer who spoke up next. “We would lose and feed ourselves to Myuna. And afterward, there would be no one to stop her from taking over the pocket dimension until it has to be collapsed.”

I wasn’t the only one paling at the implication of collapsing Cerris City. I’d only heard of it being done once, when the Fall Court’s Mother Tree was burned, but a collapsed pocket dimension simply ceased to exist, as did any living things within it at the time.

If that meant Myuna died, great. Except I wanted to live…as did the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other supernaturals still trapped here with us.

The elder Graygazer continued talking while we reeled from this revelation, “There are a few paths to victory we can take…but they must be selected with care. Hana and I will guide us in the right direction.”

I nodded to myself. Hana had gotten us into this mess with the idea that we were the right ones to fix it.

Geo cleared his throat, drawing attention even though it wasn’t the sound of clashing rocks like it would be in his gargoyle form. “I have a suggestion,” he stated, voice still flat with how recently he’d been in his stone form.

“Let’s hear it,” Madigan said with some of her usual enthusiasm.

“As you’ve said, once she gets her bearings, one of Myuna’s first goals will be to recruit allies. There is a library here?” He looked around, asking the room at large.

“Cerris City Library, yes,” one of the doctors confirmed.

“We need to secure it before she realizes it exists. Most of the unnatural creatures and artifacts stored by librarian witches can trace their corrupted origins back to Myuna,” Geo said.

“That’s true. She could gain a lot of dangerous servants, depending on what’s at the library,” I pitched in.

“Civilians can shelter in the lower levels,” Geo rumbled. “And I will activate the library’s gargoyle units to defend them.”

Madigan dropped her voice to whisper with Orthus for a brief conversation. “We can split our people up into three groups.One to rescue survivors; one to secure food, water, and other supplies; and one to head to Cerris City Library,” she said finally.

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