Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

FRANKIE

"So let me get this straight . . . this entire theme park is a cover-up?"

Seamus grinned and looked up at me as he scooped dark-gray dirt into mason jars. "Yep. The Gap in Salem caused other Gaps to open up, but this was the largest of those. Once the humans moved into the area, they had to build something to explain some of the shit that happens here, and I guess a theme park to rival Disney world and Busch gardens was what they thought blended into Floridian culture the most."

I nodded. "Ya know, I can't say I blame that thought process."

"Gotta love Florida, right?"

"For better or for worse." I glanced around. "I cannot believe y'all haven't brought me here yet."

He stood up and loaded the six mason jars of soil onto his rolling cart. "Old habits die hard."

"What do you mean?" We walked down a pathway through the shadows of what they called fantasy forest until we got to an opening between two oak trees where we took our walk off trail. "Y'all don't come here?"

"We do, and we don't." He stepped out into the moonlight at the edge of the forest along a black iron fence that bordered a huge lake. The theme park stood as dark shadows all around us. "The Gap here used to allow demons and spirits in from other realms, like there were a bunch of Seelie fae spirits that used to march around the park at night. The Gap just attracted a lot of activity. If either of us had the ability to see spirits, we'd probably see them around us right now."

That made me glance around. "Creepy."

He chuckled. "You get used to creepy things once you're in our world long enough. The spirits here are just stuck for one reason or another and can't pass on. Paulina used to come here almost daily to try and help them move on. I used to help sometimes. The spirits find my aura calming . . . and Rootbeer's."

"That's quite flattering."

His cheeks flushed, even in the moonlight it was obvious. "Thank you."

"Wait, who's Paulina? I think I forgot who that is."

"Paulina Putnam. She used to be the Death Card in The Coven, but she was nearly killed and lost her Mark in the process. The Death Card can see spirits and talk to them like we're talking right now." His face fell. "After Paulina was Saffie, but the Goddess took her Mark because immortals aren't allowed to be in The Coven permanently."

"Is there some newsletter that goes out to civilians to update everyone on their roster?"

He grinned then reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a dog bone. Rootbeer perked up instantly. She licked her lips and watched until he tossed it three feet away, then she pounced. He looked back to me. "I don't know about the rest of the civilians, but we have Atley and Peabo to actively keep us updated. We also have the family members of the Cards, so they also keep us in the loop."

"That makes sense. Don't let me hold up the job. I'm watching and learning." I gestured around us because I wasn't sure what we were doing. When he knelt down, I cleared my throat. "Wait, did you say this Saffie is immortal? There are immortal people?"

" People might not be the right word for them, but yes. There are species that are immortal. Vampires, the royals of Seelie fae, and angels, of course. Saffie is a half-breed. Half-witch, half-Seelie. But her father is Prince Thorne, so she's actually Seelie royalty."

I opened my mouth, then shut it. That was a lot to unpack. I thought about asking more questions, then decided better of it. There were some things I just didn't need to know yet. "Right, so Saffie is out. Who is the new spirit speaker?"

"Spirit speaker. That's cute. Um, I don't know her. She's not from here. Her name is Savannah Grace. Can you push the cart over here?" He waited for me to push it over, then he smiled and opened the drawer on the bottom that was full of bags of seeds. He reached in and grabbed one of the bags and tossed it to me. Then he pulled another for himself. "Savannah is originally from Eden, apparently, but lived most of her life in Salem. So, we're just gonna bury these seeds anywhere in here. Dig, place, bury. ‘K?"

"Got it." I dug a hole and placed a few seeds spread out in a line, then buried them again. "Good?"

"Good. So, yeah, Savannah only became Death at the end of last month, I think. Not sure the specific date because they were in a war with the Seelie King, and from what I hear it was awful." He was focused on planting the seeds but kept glancing over to Rootbeer to make sure she was good. "Anyway, things are a bit hectic and scary for them these days, but as soon as I get the chance, I'm going to ask Savannah to come down and put these spirits at rest."

I smiled, but he was too busy working to notice. "So, you don't come here because of the spirits?"

"Demons." He shuddered and grabbed a new bag of seeds. "If you were a witch here at night, you encountered a demon. The Coven did nightly rotations to kill them, and they didn't want us here after hours because then they had to worry we'd get hurt, and they needed to focus on the kill. Which is fair. So most of us didn't wanna be anywhere near here close to nightfall, and during the school year it's hard to come during the day. In the summer no one wants to here during the day. You're a Floridian. I don't have to explain that."

I laughed. "Fucking fair."

"But there were always certain occasions when we did come at night, like tonight and tomorrow night." He reached in the drawer to find it was empty. He brushed his hands off and pushed to his feet. "Or any night Tennessee is on rotation."

I buried my last seeds, then jumped up, brushing my hands off. "Why his night?"

"Because that dude can kill anything and everything all by himself." He closed the drawer, then waved for me to follow him about twenty feet away to a section of flowers sprouting beneath a canopy of oak trees. "Tennessee is the only one who wasn't distracted by us being here. He knew where we were even if he was on the other side of the park. He'd just sit in a tree like Spiderman waiting for the creepy crawlies to show, then he'd kill ‘em."

"I can't wait to meet this dude so I can finally see why everyone worships him."

Seamus stopped and stared at the ground. "He's the grandchild of the Archangel Michael."

I gasped. "What? Like the angel?"

"The one and only. We only learned that back in December, but it gave us the explanation for why he is the way he is. He's basically an angel walking the streets of Earth. Like no matter what's happening around him or how people act, he's just . . . good."

"That's really something. Angels. That's wild." I gestured to the flowers in front of us. "We just staring at them?"

He chuckled. "Shut up."

"So, tonight you come here and collect ingredients for the ritual on the equinox, right?" I waited until he nodded, then I nodded. "So why tomorrow?"

"But we always come the night before the equinox ritual. It's tradition. It's like the night we get to just have fun and connect with the humans here. It's important to go into the equinox with that balance." He crouched down and plucked some flowers but said a prayer to the goddess before he ripped them from the ground and thanked the flowers for the help they'd provide. "We have to honor what we use. Go ahead, you can pick them now. I made our tribute for both of us."

I smiled and nodded then dropped to my knees to help pick flowers. "What's the deal with the equinox ritual?"

His face paled. "No one told you?"

"They did but it was a lot of you'll love it, it's so fun, don't stress about it ." I shrugged."I volunteered at the infirmary on Saturday, helping them make potions to soak all the flowers in, but I didn't get much more info than that. Got a lot of trust your gut and don't think about it there too."

"That doesn't help someone with anxiety." He shook his head. "Everyone in our community gathers at the park in our neighborhood. Monica usually puts a spell up that makes humans not want to be there so we can be comfortable. There's always a ton of food and stuff, like any good cookout."

"And?"

He scowled. "You know, I think I know why everyone has been vague with you. It's so common knowledge for us, since we've been doing it our whole lives, that I'm somehow struggling to think of specifics."

I laughed. "Yeah, that's fair."

"But there is a ceremonial part of the ritual where we all go into the lake—no, don't make that face. There are no gators in that lake." I must've made another face because he shook his head and shrugged. "I know, every Floridian knows that if there's water, there's a gator . . . but this lake has magic. "

"If you say so."

"There are lots of ducks though. Chutney's ducks are always eager to help in the water."

I cocked my head to the side. "Chutney's ducks? Is that code for something?"

He snickered. "All right, that's enough flowers. And no, Chutney is the Fool Card?—"

"The animal whisperer!" I threw my hands up. "I still say that's the best power out of them all."

"I one-hundred-percent agree."

"The stuff we're collecting right now we'll use in the ritual like I did with the flowers?"

"Yeah, everyone arrives at the equinox ritual with their part. Since we're Cups, this is us prepping our part. What you did at the infirmary is their part. They create amulets for healing that we give back to the Earth. It's similar but different."

"That's cool." I pointed to the cart. "What else do we have to get? And also, why are we getting all this from here?"

"Because the Gap was here, this area has been infused with magic, so the stuff we collect has already been charged with the energy we need to help us." He rocked back on his heels and started counting with his fingers. "Well, we got leaves, tree roots, soil, and flowers. And we replanted flower seeds to replace what we've taken. By the way, we come back the day after the equinox to plant more. The only thing we need now is moon water."

I jumped to my feet. "Okay. Moon water. Lead the way and maybe explain what that is?"

He chuckled, then turned to Rootbeer and whistled. She grabbed her bone and raced over to us. When Seamus held his palm out, she dropped her bone into it without hesitation. He put it back in his cargo pocket, then rubbed her ears. "Good girl. Tell Frankie not to look at me like that. I always give your bone back when we get home."

I laughed. "I seem to have lost my ability to not show my thoughts on my face."

"It's probably more about your aura. Humans can't feel it, but we can." He waved for me to follow him as he pushed the cart back through the forest and onto that walkway. "Moon water is water that has been charged by the moon's energy overnight. The moon's effect on tides creates this energy connection between the moon and water. It's like a purifying and amplifying force. It's used for a lot of stuff like spells, rituals, intuition, enhancing intentions . . . all kinds of stuff. I love to use moon water in all my potions, makes me feel grounded and humble"

"I love that. I want moon water for myself. How do we make it?"

"Oh, it's super easy. You just take a jar—we tend to use mason jars—and sit them outside at night in direct moonlight. You sit there and have a little chat with the moon about what you need help with and then you leave it out all night." He reached down and pet Rootbeer's head as she trotted beside us. "You can put stuff in the water too, like crystals, talismans, amulets, jewelry—anything you want."

"Can you drink it?"

He grimaced. "They say you can . . . but when I was a kid, I found mosquito larva In a cup of water I'd left outside for a weekend, and there are just some things you can't forget."

I snort-laughed so hard it echoed around the trees. "That's the most Floridian thing I've ever heard. Mosquitos are the true evil in the world."

"I bet they're from Lilith. They gotta be."

I pushed him playfully. "What about the other Suits? What are they doing for the ritual?"

"They're doing what we are, just catered to their brand of magic." He leaned closer and whispered, "And I have no idea what that is."

We both laughed. Seamus was so easy to be around, I was actually kind of glad there weren't other Cups here. But it also made me sad to think he usually did this alone. He was in a good mood, so I didn't want to ask and rain on his parade. These thoughts led me to think about Aaron and Jacob. I hadn't seen them at the dance after Esther's underwear prank, and the Dean had already pulled them aside after the fight. But I did wonder what would come of this.

I cleared my throat. "So what happened with Aaron and Jacob?"

He grunted. "Bunch of dicks. They've been expelled from Gulf Shores High School. Right now they've been put on house arrest inside their homes until The Coven can be called to let the Coven Leaders decide how to handle it. The Leaders are in charge of everything and everyone. Even the shifters and fae report to Coven Leaders."

"And the Leaders are Tennessee and his soulmate, Tegan Bishop?"

"Very good, yes. They're both fair people, but this is bad. These guys need real discipline now before they become a threat to humans. Or worse, a threat to exposing us to the humans." He shook his head. "I don't know what Tenn will do, but I guess we'll see."

"Have they been called yet?"

"I don't know. We're not quite used to them not being here, so I'm not sure who's been appointed as the liaison. Maybe one of their parents who live here?" He shrugged. "We'll find out."

"True that." I cleared my throat. I'd tanked the mood a bit talking about them. "So where are we getting our moon water from? Or are we sitting jars out?"

He pointed straight ahead to where an orange glow lit up the end of the tunnel. "I do this a little differently than other people. You'll see."

I opened my mouth to ask more questions when we walked into that orange glow and I saw something that made my heart stop. My breath caught in my throat. Up ahead, there was a quaint little village that looked straight out of Europe. In the center of the courtyard sat a massive fountain.

I recognized it in an instant.

From my dream.

Seamus was talking beside me, telling me all about how he uses the fountain's pool as his moon water and why . . . but I couldn't hear his words over the pounding of my pulse in my ears. It was my dream. My vision. It didn't make sense. That whole time I'd assumed I'd taken an adventure into the Europe, not down the damn street.

The closer we got to the fountain, the clearer my memory of that vision became. I needed to tell someone about this. I needed to tell Everest about this. Of all my so-called visions so far, this was the first one that happened in a setting from real life. By the time we stopped in front of the fountain, my hands were trembling. It was identical to my vision.

I glanced over my shoulder, waiting for those spirits with the pointed ears and swords—the ones I'd seen in my blue in a previous dream that were yellow in the second. But they didn't show. The courtyard was quiet. Eerily quiet. The wind rustled through the leaves of the trees, bringing a sharpness to the air that I was trying to pretend was just me psyching myself out.

They are coming, that voice had warned me. It had been right. They had come.

I knew that vision wasn't happening in real time, but my mind was too overwhelmed by being here that it had to replay it in my head. I remembered every detail. I'd been holding my rune stones, and the spirits had touched them and then those people appeared, the really pretty ones with gardens as clothing and they had nature-themed names. Thorne and Sage. Surely I wouldn't have made that up myself. They felt oddly familiar though but I'd learned so much information since arriving in Tampa that I kept forgetting things they told me only to learn it again like it was brand-new information. Like the other names in my vision, there had been far too many. The only other one I remembered was the wolf made of shadow and smoke named Spot.

"Step away from the fountain, lita toah."

"You need to keep better care of these, lita toah."

"You shouldn't be here, lita toah."

Their words echoed like pinballs in my mind.

"Try not to use those until you speak with Tegan," the one had said.

That couldn't have been a coincidence. Tegan Bishop was High Priestess and Coven Leader. I didn't know if I knew that before the vision though. If I did, then perhaps it was my subconscious trying to help me. Archie had also said I needed to contact The Coven about my rune stones, and that conversation happened before the vision.

" Francelina."

I gasped at the sound of Everest's voice and spun around to look for him, but he wasn't there. Because this was real life and not my vision. But dammit it felt real. I needed to talk to him about this. Soon. But in the meantime, I wondered what would happen if I took the stones out, so I reached into my crossbody bag and pulled the drawstring velvet pouch out, then dumped them into my palm. They immediately began to glow neon-blue, the color of my magic, but as I crouched down to lay them out on the pool's ledge, the gold runes vanished. I froze in a half-squat.

A new symbol took shape, but this time it glowed neon- red.

It had never turned red before. Hadn't turned a color other than pink. I frowned and started to ask Seamus if he knew the symbol when the wind carried a scent through the courtyard. I sniffed the air a few times. A cold chill slid down my spine that made me shiver.

Seamus was hard at work scooping water from the pool into empty jars. When I tapped on his shoulder, he looked up at me. "Yeah?"

"Do you smell that?" I pointed to the air and sniffed for show. "It smells like . . . like . . ."

" Maple syrup, " he whispered. His face fell. "Demons."

I looked up to the black night sky just as red eyes dusted the sky like twinkling stars from a horror film. Seamus cursed and dove for Rootbeer a split second before the demons dive-bombed us. Something slammed into my chest and sent me flying backwards and landing in the pool with a splash. My rune stones scattered across the pool floor, mixing in with the coins humans threw in to make wishes on. I knew they were important, but I couldn't care about that yet. I had to get to Seamus and Rootbeer who were surrounded by demons and trying to fight them off. But these demons were like seagulls hunting for food off beach goers' plates. There were dozens of them.

I scrambled to my feet just as the runes on my stones began to glow pink. What? But then I saw neon-blue flash in my peripheral vision. When I looked up, I found the ingredients on the cart Seamus and I just collected all glowing. It was a sign, and I wasn't going to ignore it. I dove out of the pool and raced for the cart. We didn't have time to be fancy, so I just started throwing everything into the water.

Moon, please hear me, I prayed silently to the moon sitting pretty with a waxing gibbous glow that made it nearly full. I'll learn how to fight demons, I promise, just help me get my friends to safety. Please.

I yanked the drawers open and tossed seeds and leaves into the water. As each one sank beneath the surface, blue mist billowed from the surface like steam. I looked up, then did a double take. The pool had turned into a cauldron. I grinned and threw my hands out toward the water, my neon-blue flames shooting like rivers from my palms to the pool. Moon and tide, give me death.

The water in the pool surged high into the air and then rolled out of the fountain like a tidal wave. It crashed into demon after demon, turning them to dust without slowing down. Poof, poof, poof. The demons were destroyed one by one until the night fell still and quiet.

I was panting. My chest was tight and my throat raw like I'd been screaming. Hot tears formed in the back of my eyes and a lump sat in my throat. But I looked to the sky and sank to my knees at the edge of the pool. I pressed my hands to my chest. The moon had answered my prayer. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. "

"Seamus, are you okay? Rootbeer?"

She barked so I looked over and almost cried. She looked perfectly fine and normal, not even wet from the water. She sat between Seamus's legs with him propped up against the pool.

Seamus nodded and rubbed her back. "I agree, Rootbeer. We're gonna have to start over with our ingredients."

I snorted and then burst into laughter. Seamus chuckled and shook his head.

I scrubbed my face with my hands, then held my palms out to start collecting my rune stones from beneath the surface when they shot into the air all at once. It was like a meteor shower to watch them float over to the pool ledge right in front of me. I pulled the navy-blue velvet bag out and held it open while I scooped them back where they belonged.

"Well . . . that was interesting."

" What the fuck just happened? " I whispered. "Where'd they come from? I thought the Gap was closed?

He looked over at me with incredulous blue eyes. "You're new here, but I assure you the demons were not the shocking or unsettling part of what just happened."