Page 10 of Calling Quarters

Anyway, it was the Counters. Each year that they lived took power from us and put the entire coven at risk. None of us were any closer to finding them and time seemed to be running out. If we weren't able to eliminate them as a threat, we'd lose everything.

They were wrong about the girl, though. I knew the instant our eyes met that something was different about her. It was like my body was set on fire and my veins ran icy.

The elders warned us there would be a reaction when we came into contact with our Counters. They'd never experienced it themselves since their Counters had always been eliminated before they became a real problem. But I couldn't hunt the girl based on a whim or a guess. We thought that if one Quarter felt it, the others would, too. Apparently, that could not be the case.

I'd have to get closer to her to find out if she needed to be taken care of. That didn't seem like it would be an easy task when she looked at me like a serial killer. And if she were a Counter, I was sure there was someone protecting her. I couldn’t be as obvious about my interest in her as I have been.

Quarters don’t typically interact with the rest of the coven, let alone the town. They’d know I was on to her before I ever had a chance to eliminate her as a threat.

“We need access to the Quarter Book of Shadows,” Enzo complained, his eyes narrowing in on Rhyse.

Rhyse's father was the last known Quarter in possession of the sacred text, and Rhyse was the only one with access to his chambers. As the current High Priest, his father was impossibly hard to get close to.

“I told you, I've looked. It's not there.”

“How do we know we can trust you? Forbes men have been known to betray the Quarters in the past,” Enzo growled, his ashy blond hair falling over moss eyes as he lunged toward Rhyse.

“This is bullshit. We should've been given the book when they handed over power,” Lux intervened, placing a calming hand on Enzo's chest to back him away. “We shouldn't be turning on each other over this. Our fathers are the ones who can't be trusted.”

“None of it matters if we don't have access to the book,” I added, offering a reassuring nod toward Rhyse. We all knew how much he despised his father, and it was a low blow for Enzo to accuse him of doing anything the same way he did.

“We can't allow them to step in on Mabon. It'll be the beginning of the end for us. They're already gunning to take back their Quarter roles and send us into the flames. I wouldn't doubt if it were them keeping our Counters from us to snuff us out completely.” Enzo shook his head in frustration, pacing behind Lux to release some of his built-up tension.

As the Quarter that drew power from the earth, he was the most hard-headed and stuck in his ways. It had always been difficult for the Eastons to release their grudge on the Forbes after Rhyse's grandfather betrayed the Quarters in an attempt to retain his power. They were big on keeping promises and maintaining honor, and once that trust was broken, it was next to impossible to earn back.

But Rhyse didn't deserve to be punished for his family's mistakes. Not when he strived so hard to be nothing like them. His grandfather betrayed him as well in his attempt to hold on to power.

Our fathers weren't any better.

“We can find a way around it until we get our hands on the book,” Lux assured.

We walked up the dirt path leading to Lux's sprawling mansion, the summer sun beating down on our necks.

Beacon Grove's Quarter families were treated like royalty. Our properties were carefully placed at each corresponding directional corner of the town, so we could protect and watch from the comfort of our own home. It was a horrendous waste if you asked me.

Though, no one ever did.

After generations of Quarters taking advantage of the coven’s monetary resources, we didn't even have to work normal jobs anymore. We'd become lazy and entitled over time with a desperate need to get back to why we started this town and coven in the first place.

Lux's property was on the east end and farthest from mine, which sat exactly six miles away in the west, beside the ocean. Rhyse’s sat three miles to the south and Enzo’s was three miles to the north, in the mountains. The town was stationed directly in the middle.

At any given point, our families have always held the title of High Priests and Priestesses of the coven. It was usually cycled through the four families every three years when elections were held. They were more of a formality than anything else. Rewarding us with the title was part of their way of repaying us for our services and ensuring the rest of the coven could practice magic without worrying about negative or harmful energies interfering.

Rhyse's parents were our current High Priest and Priestess, which only fed our distrust toward them. No one ever ran against us. At least, not yet.

Our fathers have become reckless, taking advantage of their status and acting as if they're invincible because of it. When the four of us aged into our roles as Quarters, they tried to fight it, gripping onto the last shreds of power they had as if their lives depended on it. They managed to piss a lot of the coven off and isolated us from the rest of the town.

With no need to work or interact with our community, Quarters have become detached outcasts, completely out of touch with the needs of the people we're supposed to be helping. Lux was the only one out of the four of us willing to step into the High Priest role, and that wouldn’t happen until all of our fathers died off.

He led us through his home and into his library to share whatever new information he found about us in the past week. Since our gifts began weakening, he has dedicated all his time to pouring over random texts and town records to find some shred of a clue about what was happening. So far, none of it has been of any use but we had no other option at this point.

Rhyse and Enzo sat on opposite ends of the room, and we listened to Lux drone on in tense silence. My mind kept wandering back to Mystery Girl, slowly forming a plan to stop whatever threat she posed.

Chapter 7

Remy

It had been a week since my first encounter with the mystery girl and I hadn't been able to get her out of my head since. I had to get near her to find out how big of a threat she was to me and my brothers. It'd been a week since I first saw her, and my curiosity had only festered into an unhealthy obsession in that time. I knew she got her coffee from The Grind every day because I overheard our maid, Marta pestering her daughter about befriending the newcomer before she was ostracized with the rest of the Grangers she kept getting seen around town with.

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