Page 58 of Nineteen Eighty

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WINTER 1980

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

VACHERIE, LOUISIANA

CHAPTER 16

As It Always Was

“Repeat after me,” Colleen commanded. “In power, obligation.”

Elizabeth swallowed. “In power, obligation.”

“In obligation, commitment.”

“In obligation, commitment.”

“In commitment, solidarity.”

“In commitment, solidarity.”

“In solidarity,” Colleen finished, “enlightenment.”

Elizabeth pressed her sweaty hands under the table. “In solidarity, enlightenment.”

“You know those vows as the ones all members of the Collective say upon swearing in, and at the start of every meeting. But I have one more for you, Elizabeth. One just for the Council, and while the words are simple, they are weighted with hundreds of years of gravity.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I’m ready.”

“Then repeat, with me, these final words. That, as a member of this esteemed Council, you vow to achieve the gravity of this governance as an extension of your enlightenment. ‘Governance, through enlightenment.”

“Governance,” Elizabeth said, wondering when the chambers had grown so warm. “through enlightenment.”

Colleen smiled. “Very good. Now, we are again whole.” She smiled at the other five who’d been watching the swearing-in. “I trust you’ll all make Elizabeth most welcome. This Council has seen a complete transformation in these past five years. All young blood now, and no old guard. Pansy, Kitty, and I are the oldest ones here, and not a one of us is thirty.”

Pansy laughed. “God help us all.”

“I appreciate everyone’s vote of confidence,” Elizabeth said as she let her eyes fall on her fellow Council members. Three sisters, and the rest, cousins she hardly knew. Pansy, Kitty, Luther, Jasper. She had no qualms with any of them, but it seemed odd to her that she would now be joined with them in the most sacred responsibility the family had. She had so many questions for Colleen, but had been so afraid her older sister would change her mind that she let them all die unasked. But still… did they get along? Did they all share a vision? How often did they vote on things, and how often did the voting lead to a stalemate?

“Now, we’re more balanced,” Kitty said. “I know Colleen was feeling awful lonely up there until Evangeline came along, and it only seemed right to bring in another from the heir’s line. But don’t be thinking this is some kind of party.”

Evangeline rolled her eyes.

“No, that wasn’t my expectation,” Elizabeth assured her.

“Good, because it isn’t like Congress or nothing,” Pansy said.

“If it was Congress, I would’ve run the opposite direction,” Elizabeth said, smiling. “Anyway, I didn’t come here for fun and games. I’m a wife now, and I know I’ll be a mother when it’s time. I want to serve this family, like I told Colleen. Isn’t there some expression about service to others being its own reward or something?” She shook her head. She was rambling. Time to refocus. “I know that, other than some hard losses, we’ve been lucky. I know about the Curse, and as a seer, I can’t stop it, but perhaps I can help better prepare us for it.”

“Our first seer on the Council,” Luther said. “Of course, other than Ophelia.”

“How did she use her gifts here?” Elizabeth asked.

Pansy shrugged. “She didn’t. She’d act like she didn’t have ’em, for the most part. You know, sometimes she’d prepare us for some vague, obscure thing, but she ain’t never come out and say, one of y’all gonna die, or nothing like that.”

Elizabeth turned to Colleen. “Maybe there are rules about it, for the Council. Did she ever say?”

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