Page 14 of Calling Quarters

The Graves played a huge part in Beacon Grove’s history, but their personal history wasn’t documented very reliably. Every news article and book raved about James Graves' acts of kindness and charity as the town was being built. They all felt off to me, though.

Hefelt off to me.

A few early issues of The Beacon were missing from the stack and when I asked Esther about them, she'd just shrugged and claimed they had every single issue documented and preserved.

I followed my family's journey through time, taking note of each menial piece of news they were involved in to reference later. There was a trend of only positive stories published where the Graves name was concerned, which was odd considering it seemed as if the editors of The Beacon were always after exposing a juicy story. No other family had been given the same respect, including the Quarter families, which were mentioned regularly.

It wasn't until I got to the more recent issues that things took a turn for the worst. Two years before my father was born, my grandfather was involved in an affair with Betty Castle, one of the women who worked at the tavern downtown. Betty fell pregnant and he refused to acknowledge the baby as his own, claiming her to be a loose woman whom he'd never had contact with outside serving his drinks. He accused her of making false claims to get her hands on his family's estate. In response, she agreed to do a tell-all with The Beacon on the entire Graves family.

I could tell by the tone of the article that the reporter, Marvin Winkle, was excited for the story and wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity to expose my family's secrets. There was a particularly curious line where he wrote: "Despite the Graves gag order that The Beacon has been under since its inception over one hundred years ago, we've been offered a unique opportunity to dive into the dark, sordid history of the founding family and expose these twisted minds for the bullies what they are."

The front page of the following issue read: BETTY LIED in large, black lettering. About a month later, buried deep into the third page of the paper, was a story written by a different reporter glumly stating that Marvin Winkle had been found dead in his home after an apparent suicide. A separate search on Betty revealed that three months later, she was involved in a fatal car crash on the road leading outside of town. There were no surviving witnesses.

The Graves facade continued after that. Not a single negative thing was published in The Beacon or anywhere else. When my father was fifteen and Aunt Ash was thirteen, my grandfather suffered a heart attack and passed away. He left behind his wife and two children, all of whom denied any interviews with the paper.

Upon review of the town’s death records, I found that my grandfather had three brothers who passed away within five years of his death. Only one of them had been married and none of them left behind any kids. My dad and Aunt Ash were the last known descendants of the Graves line. Their dates of death were scribbled in the town’s history with no true explanation documented.

There was a trend of indisputable accidental deaths in the Graves bloodline. Like a genetic disease that was passed down, members were plucked off one by one until there was no one left but me. By the time I ran out of public records to search, exhausting every option the library had to offer, I was able to conclude one thing: someone had been targeting the Graves family line.

The only question was, who?

We're just days away from Beacon Grove's annual Mabon festival, and locals can't wait to see what this year has in store for them.

For those who have been living under a rock, Mabon is the hallmark Autumnal Equinox harvest festival where Beacon Grove residents take the time to reflect on the past year and give thanks for the abundance of blessings they've been granted by Mother Earth.

Local shops set up tents in the town's center, a carnival is held in the community center parking lot, and guests come from all over the country to kick off the eight-day celebration.

This year is rumored to be the biggest one yet as the mayor has allegedly allotted nearly twice the usual budget toward outside marketing. This means more tourists, more business, and more fun.

There's a little bit of everything for the whole family to enjoy.

Mayor Douglas says his favorite part of the festival is the opening and closing ceremonies, where the town gathers together as one to revel in their hard work.

“Everyone deserves some sunshine and fun. This year will be our best one yet.”

Check out the Mabon Festival guide below for more information about the lineup of events.

Chapter 10

Storie

In the few weeks since I drove into Beacon Grove, the entire town had been transformed into an Autumn-themed wonderland. Tree vines with leaves of yellow, red, and orange were strung along the white gazebo and dried, pale corn stalks were tied to every pillar. The blackened storefronts provided a contrasting background to the varying sizes and colors of pumpkins and haystacks that sat against them.

I'd seen Fall depicted in movies this way—with Mother Nature's seasonal color palette tastefully splashed across every surface. Though, I'd never seen it replicated in real life. Where I came from, Fall always fell short with its muddy grounds, cold transitional weather, and overly spiced palette.

According to the banners hung all around town, the festival responsible for the town's face-lift started tomorrow.

“Mabon is a big deal around here,” Blaire explained as we weaved our way around tents that were littered across the grass to get to The Grind.

“The town holds a big festival every year to kick off the week. Mom makes me man the pharmacy's booth.”

“Your mom runs the pharmacy?”

I still haven't met her mom. Her absence seemed to be a normal thing in Blaire's life. I spent most nights this week eating dinner with her and Tabitha—too spooked by the moaning and screaming I often heard from my hotel room to stand being alone for too long. It never bothered them that her chair was always empty.

“Oh, yeah. Well, she's the town's herbalist. Mr. Bradbury is the pharmacist. They run the shop together.” She opened the door and gestured for me to go first. “Ooh, they've finally got the pumpkin spiced cappuccino back!”

As always, anyone within earshot glared at Blaire and her outburst. I pulled her attention back to me while we waited in line before she caught their eyes. For some reason, I was growing protective over her.

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