Page 94 of Bewicched

And then people were blinking, rubbing their foreheads, looking around.

“We had an incident,” Gran proclaimed, her voice strong. “Hear me now,” she said, and every gaze not already pinned to her found her. “We have a sorcerer in our midst again.”

There were a few mumbles of denial but mostly what I was seeing was pained expressions of acceptance. Not again.

“Arwyn.” Gran held out a hand but people misunderstood, gasping, thinking I was the killer. “Don’t be idiots,” she continued just as a spell hit me in the shoulder. It was weak, like I’d been hit with a rubber band, but still. Rude. I took Gran’s hand, standing on her other side.

“Arwyn and her young man saved me. This sorcerer attempted to kill me, poisoning my tea. We will not allow that evil in our family. Is that understood? I don’t care if you love her, if you believe this must be a mistake. Know that it is not.”

She stared down everyone in the room. She put Declan and me at her side for a reason. She was telling the family that we were with her and to be believed. She was sheltering us under her umbrella of fearsome power and respect.

“The sorcerer is Calliope.”

Eyes wide, they looked around the room and didn’t find her. Serena clapped a hand to her mouth and shook her head, tears running down her face. Uncle John bowed his head, his shoulders slumped. He’d lost his wife and now his daughter.

“We will find her and we will deal with her. As of now, she is dead to you. You will not meet with her. You will not offer her aid. Sorcery will not be overlooked because you want to believe her to be who you always thought she was. The mask has dropped. This is who she is, a woman who killed her mother, who attempted to kill her grandmother. For power.

“Comfort one another if you must, but then go home. The Council must decide on next steps.” She turned to go and then stopped. “And Colin, you’ve been stripped of your magic and are summoned to appear before the Council when we have time for you. Until then, the women of Monterey County will hopefully be safer around you.”

Declan and I walked with Gran to her bedroom.

“I really do need to rest,” she said in a hushed tone. “Could you stay to make sure everyone leaves?”

“Of course,” Declan responded, making me smile. She already had him wrapped around her little finger.

When we returned, quite a few people had already left. Mom tried to move past us, but I held her up.

“Gran needs to rest. She’ll talk with us afterward.”

Her head lifted as she pulled herself up, preparing to unleash her wrath on me for barring her from her own mother. Instead, though, she whispered, “Is it true?”

When I nodded, she sagged. “How?”

I understood. She’d been there Calliope’s whole life and had never seen it. And now a niece she loved had killed a sister she adored. It was all too much.

“Why don’t you lie down in Gran’s guestroom,” I suggested.

Mom nodded listlessly and went down the hall.

When I turned, Frank and Faith were there with Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Robert. Elizabeth was the quiet one of the family. She had the black Corey hair and dark green eyes, though hers were far kinder than most. There were five girls and two boys in my mom’s generation. She and Elizabeth had now lost three of their sisters.

Elizabeth leaned in and gave me an air kiss close to my cheek, knowing not to touch me. “Thank you for saving my mother. If there’s anything we can do to help in your investigation, you only need to ask.”We have unique abilities you might be able to use, she said directly to my mind.

Her husband, Uncle Robert, was from a prominent East Coast wicche family. Like Uncle John, he was a healer, though he chose to help the mundane world as a pediatrician. He was a handsome Black man, just beginning to gray at the temples.Whatever you need from us.

Holy crap, they could both do it. How had I never known this? “I’m sure I could think of something I’d like to learn,” I said, making them both smile.

I didn’t know Frank or Faith well. They were much younger, perhaps late teens, but I’d always gotten a good feeling from them. “Perhaps you all can come to dinner and we can discuss some things. Catch up.”

“Yes,” Robert agreed. “I think that would be a good idea.”

Frank shook my hand, which seemed oddly formal until I felt something fluttering through my glove. I looked into my palm and saw a tiny, fire-breathing dragon pacing across the black knit of my gloves. I barely had a moment to appreciate his shiny, ruby-colored eyes before he disappeared with a soft pop.

When I looked up at Frank, he was grinning, and Faith looked to be holding in a laugh. “I’ll show you what I can do later,” she whispered.

Nodding, I waved goodbye, excited for that dinner and to learn what Faith’s gift was.

Once we finally got everyone out—and that was a chore—Declan led me to the kitchen. “Do you smell it?” he asked.

---