Page 44 of Calling Quarters

Mayor Douglas slammed his gavel and demanded the room's silence. Tabitha and Blaire stayed quiet, observing the chaos with pure amusement. Slowly, the noise died down as friends and neighbors quieted their individual arguments.

“This is insane,” Blaire commented beside me.

“Now, that's enough!” Mayor Douglas shouted at the buzzing crowd before him. “We've gathered here to work together as a community and help bring these girls home. They are our neighbors. Their families are our friends. This isn't the time to point fingers and place blame. We have a full staff of police who are doing their jobs and investigating. Rayner, you cannot keep using these town meetings to push your political agenda on everyone. One more outburst, and you'll be banned from attending town meetings for the foreseeable future.”

Rayner blanched, placing his hand on his chest in a clearly theatrical attempt to look offended. “Do you see this? Now, we're being silenced for speaking against the almighty Quarters.”

The room went crazy again, and this time, Mayor Douglas didn't even attempt to calm it. He simply rolled his eyes and walked off the stage, leaving his constituents to fight it out. Officer Kyle followed closely behind, returning his eyes to the crowd every few seconds. Blaire grabbed my wrist and jerked her head toward the door, where Tabitha was already walking out.

“They can't seriously think the Quarters are behind all of those disappearances, can they?” I wondered aloud. But I realized that I had my own doubts about them, too.

I knew Remy was a Quarter and my first instinct upon finding out was that he wanted to kill me for possibly being a Counter. I still wasn't sure what his intentions were, or why he chose to open himself up to me, but I didn't think he was capable of kidnapping innocent girls.

“They'll grasp onto any theory that makes enough sense in their minds,” Tabitha said, still walking at least two steps ahead of us.

I glanced over at Blaire beside me, realizing she hadn't said anything yet. Sometime between our breakfast the other day and now, she'd completely changed her opinion about the girls’ disappearances and who was behind them. I assumed that Tabitha got into her head about it, but I was curious to know what she could have said to do so.

She kept her eyes to the ground, her brows pinched tightly together in a scowl. It was unlike her to not have anything to say. Did she think she could be considered next as a victim?

We paused at the entrance to the hotel, but Blaire walked past me and Tabitha, ripping open the office door and disappearing inside before we could say anything.

“What's wrong with her?” I mindlessly asked, not expecting an answer.

“She's afraid. You should be too,” the old woman grumbled.

“Why should we be afraid? Are you saying itisthe Quarters?”

My thoughts fell to Remy and how none of this made any sense. He wasn't capable of hurting anyone. He didn't even want his powers. In fact, he should be warned that the town was turning against him.

As always, Tabitha didn't show any indication of what she truly felt, and I hadn't expected her to. I figured she'd offer a vague response and leave without an explanation.

Instead, she surprised me by waving her hand and saying, “Come. We need to talk.”

---

She led me into a study down the hall from Blaire's room that I hadn't seen before. When we passed Blaire's closed door, I could hear music blasting through her speakers. I've never seen her shut down like this, though I knew Tabitha wouldn't provide any more insight.

She took a seat in one of the two brown leather recliners placed on either side of the room. A small, empty coffee table separated them, and the walls were lined with bookshelves that nearly reached the ceiling. The leatherbound books that were nestled inside each shelf looked worn down and older than she did.

There weren't any decorations hung. Nothing to show Tabitha's personality or interests. Just the furniture and the books.

“Your family has been a part of Beacon Grove since the town was created,” she began.

I remembered Remy telling me the same thing, though I wasn't sure what that really meant in the grand scheme of things. All of my family was dead.

“Your bloodline has deep ties in this soil and many of us fought to keep it alive. That wasn't an easy task, though. People were hunting the original thirteen. They wanted those lines severed.”

“Why?”

“So they could make changes to the town and the coven without any consequences.”

She reached over to the shelf on her left and grabbed one of the thick, brown leather books. The cover had a layer of dust coating it and when she opened it up, the parchment looked brittle in her fingers.

“As I'm sure you've realized, our coven relies on our four Quarters to protect us while we practice our magic. Blaire has given you the modern version of their story, but it goes back hundreds of years. Since before our ancestors even stepped foot on American soil.”

She turned the book toward me, and an ancient-looking drawing covered the pages.

“It's said they were given their gifts from the gods themselves. That Hecate personally blessed them with the tools they required to protect their coven. But as with any gift that comes from the gods, there was a caveat.”

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