Page 21 of Calling Quarters

Typically, Mayor Douglas didn't take the lead on coven business, but the damage to the town and the danger it posed to the tourists gave him some authority over the situation. Still, Silas' silence throughout the whole conversation was suspicious.

We didn't have time to dwell on it. As the coven filtered out of the balmy room from the back, we were ushered off the stage and guided through a side entrance.

“It's just not worth the risk,” Mayor Douglas explained, gesturing toward the crowd he had failed to control.

Chapter 13

Remy

Our fathers’ silence at the Watchtower meeting was a false indication of their true feelings toward how the night went. While the nightmare was over for the rest of the coven and they were free to head back to their homes to rest and recover, they had a different agenda planned for us.

Rhyse, Enzo, Lux, and I were immediately taken from the community center to a black Suburban and driven to the Forbes estate.

“What the hell just happened?” Rhyse hissed once the back door was closed on us, his voice breaking the thick tension that coated the darkness surrounding us.

“They're going to come for us,” Enzo's suspicious voice added.

“We don't know that,” Lux defended, ever the optimist.

“Wake up, Lux. If these bastards aren't successful ripping our power away from us, The Movement will finish the job. We're fucked. Did you see my dad's face?” Rhyse's panic was growing with each mile that took us closer to his home.

“Who do we think is responsible for what happened?” I asked in an attempt to redirect the conversation.

“Who knows? It could be anyone.” Enzo breathed, glancing at the driver in distrust. He was right. This conversation couldn't happen until we were sure we couldn't be heard.

“We almost got trapped in the underworld. Do you think they knew we were there?” Lux whispered.

“I don't know anything anymore,” I answered honestly.

Three grunts of agreement sounded in the dark, then the conversation was cut off by the car shifting to park and the doors whipping open, revealing my father's disappointed face.

“Come with me, boys.”

Boys.I hated how smug he looked saying that. As if we weren't all fully grown men who'd taken over our Quarter roles years ago and managed to get along just fine.

I despised how much our fathers loved to see us fail. How they salivated at the possibility of us having less power than they did. At the thought that they were still needed as Quarters for the coven.

We followed him in silence, each of us refusing to give in to the fatigue we were feeling from the past twelve hours and show any weakness. I already knew we would be meeting in Silas' study. It was where all private Quarter business was handled. We'd walked these halls hundreds of times, but never with such looming dread.

Silas was the first to speak once the door was tightly closed. He was perched behind his large, black marble desk, looking completely relaxed. The rest of the elders took their seats in the plush, red leather chairs pushed against the wall behind the uncomfortable wood ones we were guided into.

“You know why we've called you here.”

“Someone is obviously trying to make us look incapable to the rest of the–” Rhyse began. He was cut off by Silas' raised finger.

“You were warned. If you couldn't handle the magic of Mabon, you should have come to us.”

“It's not that we couldn't handle it. Someone was practicing black magic within the shield,” Rhyse defended.

“That's beside the point,” my father dismissed, waving his hand in the air.

“How? Even the most skilled Quarter would struggle with being blindsided by their own coven.” This time, it was Lux's soft voice that piped in.

“Your sole purpose as a Quarter is to provide protection to the members of your coven. To offer your own element as a magic source for them to strengthen their spellcasting.”

“And that's what we did. Until the darkness took over and pushed us out,” Enzo finally spoke. His usual deep tone was heightened with emotion.

“Mind your manners, Lorenzo,” his father reprimanded from the side of the room, and Enzo shriveled into his seat.

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