Page 90 of Counting Quarters

The most terrifying part about Rayner getting away was that now he knew all of our secrets and would most likely use them against us. We no longer had an element of surprise against him.

Blaire was angry with herself for losing him. In those moments after I was brought back, once the ecstatic relief over bringing me back settled, she quickly realized the mistake she had made in loosening her grip on him. She and the other Quarters screamed their frustrations into the empty forest, and I'll never forget the sound of their despair echoing off the trees all around us as Tabitha, Callista, Storie, and I watched helplessly. The image of the five of them covered in the blood of the people they were tasked by the gods with protecting would be burned into memory as well.

They were angry at the choice to bring me back instead of sending Rayner through the veil right behind me.

And while I know I would have made the same choice for Blaire—for my Quarter—I wanted to scream right along with them. Because we were so close to ending this suffering, and we let it slip right through our fingers.

Where Blaire's anger was quiet and self-deprecating in the days following, Rhyse and Enzo's fury were palpable, living things, roaring to life as more time went on without any sign of him. When Tabitha came to check in on me the next day while Blaire was caught up in a Quarter meeting, she explained that they scoured every inch of Beacon Grove, to no avail. It was as if he disappeared into thin air.

Along with the girls whose souls he was drawing his power from.

I hadn't told Blaire yet, but I saw them. When I was stuck in the veil between life and death, they were all there. Not quite on either side, but somehow woven into the veil itself, floating in some in-between place, just as I suspected. Their souls were crushed, and their energy was depleted, but none of them were fully dead.

Though, they were dangerously close.

It only raised more questions about what magic Rayner was working with and I didn’t want to add that to her already-full plate.

Things looked different for me after being on the other side. As if the lens I once looked through was warped or scratched. The world was more grim and a lot less appealing. Problems that held so much weight before seemed so miniscule.

I was happy to be back with Blaire, but it was like a part of me had stayed behind. Like I'd forgotten something and couldn't figure out what it was.

And while we all had reason to be joyous over our victory in the small war that broke out in our town, none of Beacon Grove was feeling very celebratory. They were left to clean up a mess and rebuild from the ground up. To clean the remains of our friends and neighbors who fought both beside us and against us and honor their lives, regardless.

It was a celebration of life for the deceased on both sides. Of course, there was discord about whether the Movement Members should have been included in the service. It was the first issue that all five Quarters had to make a final decision on. In the end, it was decided that they were once our friends and neighbors. They still had surviving family members who fought as Quarter Supporters and deserved to have closure.

Given that Watchtower was still without a High Priest and Priestess, the Quarters led the funeral ceremonies together as a unit.

All five of them.

Blaire was terrified.

“You don't get it,” she had said the night before when I tried to assure her it would be fine. It had been two days since our standoff in my room over me leaving my house to help around town. She still hadn't left my side unless absolutely necessary, too afraid that we might find this was all some sort of dream.

We were lying in her bed together and the only light filling the room came from the moon shining through her open window. She turned in my arms to face me as she further explained.

“Watchtower has never treated the Grangers like true members, especially after what Grammy did with the Counters when they were born. How are they going to react when the one family they ostracized and ignored for centuries ends up being filled with the most powerful women they've ever met?”

I laid my palm over her leg and gently squeezed. “You don't owe them anything, Blaire. Not an explanation, not an apology, and certainly not your peace. They saw what you did for them against the Movement, and they're grateful for it. If anyone has a problem, they can take it up with the gods.”

She didn't seem convinced, but still dropped it. She did a lot of that recently—letting go of issues that she would usually dig her heels in about. It worried me to see her feisty side disappear behind this meek facade. I tucked my concern into the back of my mind, making note to revisit it another day, when things were more settled.

I wished I could find a better way to assure her that she was worthy of every ounce of power she was given, of every gift the gods bestowed upon her. That maybe they always treated her so poorly because they could sense it vibrating beneath her skin, and they weren't sure what to make of it.

The next morning, she stood alongside the Quarters and owned the role that she was so certain no one would accept her in. Instead of being gawked at and ignored in the way she predicted, she was honored and praised.

The five of them recited ancient prayers to the goddess, asking her to guide the fallen souls from both sides back home. The bodies were wrapped in cloth and placed into the earth, and then the townspeople and coven members spoke. They shared stories and inside jokes. They laughed together and cried together. And when it was all said and done, the bond that held Beacon Grove together through such a tumultuous time was secured even stronger.

And they didn't only accept their new Quarter, they worshiped her.

There was a reception held in the community center following the funeral for the fallen members of Beacon Grove. It was the only public place that wasn't still littered with debris from the war that took place only days ago.

I beamed from a distance as they formed a procession before her to offer their thanks and blessings. It wasn't long before an anxiousness settled over me when I realized nothing would be the same. Suddenly, Blaire's protectiveness over me and her insistence on staying locked away in my home made a lot more sense. It wasn't about control or fear.

The small safe haven that we've shared the past few months was now infiltrated, and I'd have to share her with the rest of the town as they came to know the amazing woman who stole my heart. She must have felt the same way about being around all these people.

Blaire

I was convinced standing in front of what remained of Watchtower coven and Beacon Grove—of my past bullies and abusers—that they'd reject me as one of their leaders. The coven had four Quarters. That was how it had always been, and they weren't too keen on change, especially in the wake of such a traumatic event.

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