As if she were the one who could read thoughts, she adamantly shook her head, her eyes pleading. For the first time ever, I intentionally opened up the path between our minds.
I would never, she insisted mentally.
There was a conversation happening in the background, but I wasn’t paying attention to it anymore.
I only told them about the spirits. We need to figure out why they can’t remember, she reminded me.
I considered her for a moment, hoping she was telling the truth, and then nodded to let her know I had heard.
“...Sheriff Abbot has been making sure to notify the proper authorities. If they thought it was more than some silly game, he would have told me,” Mayor Douglas was saying, turning their attention toward me.
“With all due respect, Mayor, I’ve taken these incidents very seriously. I’m certain they’re more than just silly games at this point.”
He squinted those round, bulging eyes at me, surprised I wasn’t willing to take the fall for him.
“What do you think you’re going to do that’s so different from your worthless fathers?” Matilda Kent asked the Quarters, diverting their attention.
I was surprised to see her standing there in the thick of it. She was nearly Ma’s age.
The Quarters each looked to Lux to explain. “We’re going to hold elections, like we usually do. But we think it’s time we took a step back from being High Priests of the coven and allow one of you to take on the role. Our lives are still dedicated to Watchtower, and as such, we’ll all have a say in any coven matters. But it’s time we consider your voices when making decisions for the whole, don’t you think?”
“You want to make Watchtower a democracy?” Matilda asked, her lip curled in distaste.
Lux nodded.
“What’s so bad about that? It’s about damn time,” Ben argued, noting Matilda’s look of disagreement.
“It’s not how this is meant to be. The gods blessed you for a reason. They wanted the Quarters to run the coven.
She crossed her arms stubbornly and one of her curls fell out of her loose bun as she nodded her head, agreeing with her own words.
She would be in for a rude awakening when she discovered everything she thought she knew about the Quarters was a lie. That there were five of them and only two held any real power.
“That’s not entirely true,” Lux gently retorted. “The Quarters were given our gifts to protect the coven, but there’s nothing in Watchtower’s bylaws that states we’re meant to run it. In fact, the very existence of the elections suggests otherwise.”
They volleyed ideas back and forth, not quite reaching any decision. They often brought the attention back to Mayor Douglas, who maintained the stance that he didn't think Rayner was a real threat. An hour later, the Quarters called the end of the covenstead and promised there would be another in the near future to iron out the details.
If Mayor Douglas thought he could slither away unnoticed and that they had forgotten about what he did, he was badly mistaken. As soon as the meeting was ended, nearly half of them rushed forward to speak to him personally. Stewart had his work cut out for him, keeping them at a far enough distance to step in if he had to. I took my time walking over to them, making sure he knew he made a mistake by trying to take me down with him.
There would be a shift in Beacon Grove after this. A clear line had been drawn between those who stood with Rayner and those who remained loyal to the Quarters—to Watchtower. Movement Members would no longer be able to hide in plain sight the way they have been, not if Quarter Supporters wanted to move beyond this.
Which is exactly why Douglas didn’t want them to know. It was easy to keep the discontentment stifled when the majority were ignorant to the threat that loomed. He gave them a false sense of security for nearly six months, and the Quarters just ripped that away from them. But now that they were given a reason to fear—to defend what was theirs—there wasn’t going to be anywhere for the Movement to hide.
And when they were forced to step out of the shadows, we’d be there to make them pay.