Page 27 of Monsters of Mayhem

“Who do you pray to?” I asked.

“To the goddess, to the powers that be, to the energy of the universe, to all things,” Eunice said. “Witches aren’t some evil things worshipping the devil. not at all. We respect all living things and find beauty and the power of the universe in the energetics forces move around. They create chaos and they create beauty. They create sensibility.”

“I like the sound of that,” I pondered.

“Don’t get too attached to it,” Eunice said. “You’re a banshee, which means you’re fae. Which means you’ve got a whole separate set of rules and regulations impacting you.”

“Don’t tell me I have to report to somebody.”

“You’re in New Attica, so you’re responsible to report to the DGC,” she said. “That’s how it works. They’re in charge of all things here and they’ll have you in their books before you even know it.”

“You know I was thinking last night,” I said. “If I am a supernatural then maybe I should find out more about this world I live in.”

“You’ve done a couple of days now,” Eunice said. “You can’t deny the fact you’re a banshee. That’s been proven through Tukkutok’s death. Everybody witnessed it.”

“Why do I have powers of being able to tell when someone’s going to die?” I asked

“Who knows?” Eunice said. “You’re fae. You should be able to do all sorts of crazy things.”

“If I’m fae and you’re a witch, how do witches get their power?” I asked.

“A witch’s power comes from the blood. Long ago we were fae, but we got cross-bred with humans. A few drops of fae blood remain in our system that gives us the power to wield magic. We form covens because we’re able to join together the power of the witch’s blood and do more magic.”

“So, you have a coven?” I asked.

“Indeed, I do,” Eunice said. “Whenever I use magic, it connects with their magic also and gives it more power.”

“Were you using the magic of a coven when you turned me into wood and when you made me invisible?” I asked.

“Well, yeah, that’s the thing,” Eunice said. “Nobody can do magic alone. You have to do it with a group of people to have the greatest results.”

“Do they know you used magic?” I asked.

“Of course, they do,” she said. “It’s a Coven. We have no secrets.”

“So, they know about me?” I was curious.

“Oh yes,” she said. “Not in the way you may think. They know I’m using magic to do something I need done. It’s making all of them a little bit weaker for the moment, but what the specifics are, they would have to come to me and ask me about it to find out.”

“Is that going to happen?”

“Yep,” she said with a grin, not even mildly worried I was going to be exposed to a coven of witches. “In fact, they’ll be knocking on the door right about…“ There was a knock on the door and she looked at me and grinned. “Now.”

“You just predicted that?” I asked.

“Be prepared to be inspected,” she smiled “The coven has arrived.”

Chapter 17

We stood on the beach in Alameda, staring out across the still murky waters of San Francisco Bay. San Francisco was shrouded in clouds just like my heart and my head. Where the fuck was she? I’d never felt so lost in all my life. She had always been able to be found. Caroline was the rocksteady one who lived in a house in Boston and went only to work. Even in all the times I’d been absent, I had known exactly where she was. Now, not knowing where she was, it was driving me crazy. She was basically missing.

Her.

A banshee on the loose. Missing on my turf.

“Is there any sign from the cell phone?” I asked

Ratchet was walking along the beach, holding his phone up as if trying to get a signal. I rolled my eyes. Did we not have enough magic in the universe to make cell phones redundant? I knew they weren’t, I mean, I had one as well, but surely our magic could get some cell phone signal.

---