Page 94 of Which Witch is Willing?
“That’s right.” Martha nodded, scalding her with a withering glare. “Ever sinceyou allcame to Port Townsend and began opening the seals with your reckless use of magic, the powers of the Goddess retreats farther away from our reach, asyoubecome more powerful.”
Behind them in the entry way, Aerin could see several of the witches gathering. Drifting from other rooms and down the plush arabesque carpeted staircase. Some of their faces curious, others anxious, a few outright antagonistic.
“It’s as if you are stealing it from us,” Hattie Mae accused. “For what nefarious purposes, we can only imagine.”
Tierra took a step back as if she’d been physically struck. “We’dnever.”
“How do we know that?” Martha challenged.
“Because you know me!” Tierra cried, holding her arms out to present herself as if that should be answer enough. “I’ve been a part of your coven for my entire life. That’s garnered me some trust, hasn’t it? Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
Another woman stepped forward. Younger, pretty, with a wealth of hair streaked a vibrant purple and braided like a Valkyrie. “We thought it did, Tierra, but you sided withthem.”
Aerin recognized the woman as Melody, Gwen’s minion from the other day.
The devil’s minion, now.
Tierra shoved inside wards behind Aerin, standing against the two mavens with Q-tip haircuts and all the witches who had appointed them their mouth pieces. “You know, I didn’t just side with them because they were my family, I did it becauseyouallowed yourself to be infiltrated by the actual devil. You tried to kill my sisters! More than once! That’s just—well it’smean, and I’ll not stand for it.”
Aerin advanced further, partly to crowd the older women farther back into the building, and partly to make room for Claire and Moira to enter behind her. She heard their gasps as they, too, pushed through the stinging wards. But they could all do it.
Which meant Moira’s baby wasn’t evil. Of course, Aerin had believed that already, but it was nice to have it verified by anti-evil wards.
“Look you guys.” Claire stepped forward, attempting to level with them. “The problem here is Gwen—or the woman who is currently wearing Gwen’s skin—she attacked us. She tried to hurt Violet, who is innocent in all of this. She doesn’t care about anything but power and getting what she wants. Can’t you see that?”
Aerin chimed in. “Don’t you guyswantGwen back? I mean, I’d get it if you didn’t. She’s kind of a rank bitch, but aren’t you worried that Lucifer,the actual devil, was able to worm her way into your ranks in the first place?”
“We all know that the devil isn’t what the patriarchal scripture says it is,” Melody preached patiently, with the skill of a woman born to lead. “The devil is a construct of—”
“Whatever,” Aerin cut her off, not in the mood for a lesson in theology or magic, she got enough of that from Julian back home. “We can agree that the entity in Gwen is fucking dark and destructive, and we can provesheis the reason the seals are broken. She’s the architect of every magical mistake we’ve made. And we need to vanquish her so that balance can be regained. Don’t you feel the truth of that?”
Hattie Mae eyed them with—well it was hard to name the emotion blunted as it was with Botox. “How do we know you aren’t just trying to steal her dark powers?”
“Y’all don’t. Because we are.” Moira stepped forward, holding in her hand their one greatest hope. The one offering they could give that might bring them all together. “This here is the de Moray Grimoire. We call him Grim.”
Martha put her hand to her bosoms. “Lands, is that made out of human skin?”
“Irrelevant,” Aerin clipped. “Also, probably. But it contains every magic secret we know. Every origin of power and every answer to your questions. It’s all in there, and we’re here to offer it for coven use.”
“Why would you bring this here?” Melody asked, her eyes gleaming as she stepped forward and ran her finger over the book’s surface with reverence and no small amount of lust.
“Because we believe that magic belongs to everyone,” Tierra said clearly. “To all of us and all of you. We seek no dominion nor absolute power nor to hold all the secrets or answers. We plan to share it with every witch. With everywoman.”
“Exactly,” Claire stepped in. “We shouldn’t be fighting. We should be on the same side. The side of peace and power. We should stand together because we are all in this battle. We all, in our hearts, want the same things. Sisterhood, friendship, belonging, peace, prosperity, happiness, and love.”
Murmurings rumbled through the assembly maybe fifty or so strong… it was hard for Aerin, in such a tight space, to get an exact read on the crowd. But she felt a disturbance here. A ripple of something…
“Please,” She addressed them, identifying what she felt. “Fear and mistrust and anger, they aren’t part of the Goddess. They are the tools being used to steal your powers. And not by us. We’re here to help you reclaim what you have lost.”
“And so you have.”
An oily slick of disgust and darkness slithered down Aerin’s spine before Gwen glided beneath an archway that led to another room, trailing dark robes behind her like a slithering mist. She held out her hand in silent demand for Grim, and Melody relinquished it immediately.
“What the actual hell, you guys?” Tierra cried.
No one said a word until Gwen spoke.
“Thank you for bringing this to me.” She pushed newly colored black hair out of her eyes before she reached down to brush her fingers over the skin of the book. “I shall enjoy studying your secrets… but only after you are dead.”
