Chapter Twenty-Five

Our new beginning started with a sunrise the following morning. It was the most beautiful sunrise, with shades of pink and purple illuminating the sky. It reminded me of a rainbow, a signal of hope shining down on us after a devastating storm.

I woke in a guest room at the Olson estate. Nadine lay beside me, and Marcus was safely curled in her arms. Neither of us wanted to let him go, so we'd taken turns sleeping.

I expected to feel strange being in Lilian's house, but it didn't feel like the house of a priestess. If anything, it seemed more like Chloe's home than her grandmother's, and I felt welcome here.

It'd been a long night. The Executors I'd sucked through my portals had been discovered hiding in a warehouse across town. Ryan, James, Leroy, and Cody were among them. I'd hoped they'd perished with most of the others, but they had survived. We'd locked them up in jail, and they would stand trial for the part they played in the Miriamic Conflict at a later date.

We didn't know where the priestesses had gone. They had enough power now to create ironclad protection spells, so we couldn't track them even if we wanted to.

We all managed to make it back to the estate safely. We'd stopped by the hospital on our way and were able to bring our friends home to rest. The doctors had given Verla a clean bill of health, and Professor Warren had to get a cast on his leg. Mandy was shaken up, but she was able to get her first decent meal in a long time. We'd filled Onyx, Miles, and the others in on everything that happened once we arrived at the estate.

My eyes landed upon Nadine, and I pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll be all right," she replied.

She said so much in so few words, and I felt it deep in my core. Things were okay for now, and we were safe for the time being, but there was so much to face before our family was safe for good.

I heard footsteps across the house. "It sounds like the others are waking up. We should join them soon. There's a lot to do today."

Nadine and I were staying in a corner of the house that I could only assume was meant to house staff. We had a bedroom, a private bath, kitchen, and sitting area all to ourselves.

I'd gotten some of my strength back, so I portaled to the safe house after I woke up to gather a fresh change of clothes and bring the cats back to the estate. They circled around my feet and meowed happily when they saw me. They must've been so worried.

I hurried back to the estate and got dressed while Nadine fed Marcus, then held him while she got ready. He slept in my arms peacefully. I still couldn't get over how perfect he was. Isa purred happily on the bed while she nursed Rishi. The other cats hurried to find their respective owners.

Nadine and I wandered to the other side of the house. A huge kitchen was connected to a large dining room. Everyone else was already awake and sat around a long table eating breakfast. Pancakes, sausage, and eggs were laid out across the table.

"Nadine, Lucas," Verla greeted as she finished her food. "It's good to see you up and about. Here, let me hold Marcus while you eat."

I hesitated, because the last time we let someone care for him, he'd been taken from us. But my hesitation only lasted a split second. We trusted Verla with our lives, as well as our son's. I gently set Marcus into Verla's outstretched arms, then sat beside Nadine.

"Now that everyone's here, it's time to get to work," Verla said. "First things first. Nadine needs to decide on her council members."

Nadine poured syrup over her pancakes. "The coven voted us all in."

"Technically, they voted for you and whoever was going to support you best," Chloe pointed out. "There are other seats on the council that need to be filled, and several of us to fill them. It's up to you to decide who's going to serve best alongside you."

"I want us all on the council," Nadine decided. "We all have ideas and insight we can provide. I want us working together."

"We will," Verla promised. "But the coven is going to want a singular figure to look up to from each Cast. We need to be clear with them about who their council members are."

Nadine nodded. "All right. I want Lucas to be the Mortana priest."

I furrowed my brow. "The role typically goes to a woman. Are you sure?"

"Yes," Nadine stated without hesitation. "My grandfather served as a priest on the council. Why not you? I trust you completely, and you're a great leader."

"You have my vote," Professor Warren said. He sat at the head of the table, with his broken leg propped up on another chair.

I eyed him. "You're Mortana, too, and you have more experience than me. Why don't we make you a priest?"

"Because you showed last night how powerful your voice can be," Professor Warren pointed out. "You know how to rally the people, and a large portion of them want to follow you. Don't forget that you were found not guilty by Mother Miriam, too, and that's earned you quite a bit of respect. Besides, my place isn't on the council. If we're going to work together, we need people in specialized areas reporting back to the council. I'm better suited to helping get the school up and running again."

"As am I," Verla added. "The school is a cornerstone of the coven, where young witches and warlocks come to learn their power. They need the best education they can get—not just magical instruction. We need to restructure the entire curriculum with a holistic approach, or we're bound to repeat these mistakes in the future. I am not done with being headmistress yet."

"You're one of the most powerful Alchemists we know," Nadine argued. "You've always had respect from the people. You'd be a huge asset to the council."

"I understand that, but I do not desire to be in a place of such power. I need to be leading the school, not the whole coven," Verla insisted. "I will be here every step of the way to consult with you, but nobody else in the coven understands Miriam College of Witchcraft the way I do. Professor Warren and I have the experience and expertise to get the school up and running again, and so that's where our focus needs to be."

"I think Grant should serve as the Alchemy priest," Onyx suggested. "If it's not Verla, it's between him or me, and I think it should be him."

"That's kind of you, but I know you'd make a great leader, too," Grant said.

"Maybe someday I will," Onyx agreed. "But my place right now is in healthcare, helping as much as I can. You didn't see what it was like in the ER last night. People were being turned away. They didn't have enough help. The priestesses screwed up our healthcare system, and the coven needs nurses and doctors who really care about their patients to provide healthcare while we work on fixing it."

"Onyx is right," Nadine agreed. "She needs to be working in the medical field so that she can help us restructure the healthcare system. Having a strong ally in the medical field will help facilitate communication between the council, medical providers, and patients. She's a great nurse, and Grant will make a wonderful priest."

Grant smiled, looking proud to be a part of the council. "I'm honored, and I'm glad to help. We need Chloe on the council, too. She knows how to speak to people who oppose us, and we need a strong voice like hers. She trained for this since she was a kid. She knows what the fuck she's doing."

"Absolutely," Mandy agreed. "I'm the only other Mentalist in the room, and there's no way I'm sitting on any council. After everything the priestesses put me through, I'm not sure I'm going to stay in Octavia Falls at all. The position is all yours."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Chloe admitted. "The last thing I want is to turn out like my grandmother."

"You won't," Nadine promised. "You've already made the choice not to be anything like her. Sitting on the council won't change that. It will only give you a chance to make an impact for good, the way your grandmother failed to do."

"I'm not sure the coven will want me on the council, though," Chloe added. "They won't believe I'm nothing like my grandmother. If they want her off the council, they certainly want someone who isn't her family to take her place."

"That's actually one of the reasons you need to be on the council," I said. "We received support from the coven last night, but there are many who will still oppose us. Lilian gained a lot of respect during her time on the council, and it's going to be hard to earn her followers' trust after we drove her out of town. You'll be able to win them over because you remind them of your grandma."

"You make a good point. All right, I'll take the position." Chloe glanced between Miles and Talia. "That just leaves the Seer position then."

"It should be Talia," Miles insisted. "She handled the Seer Wand well, and I could hardly take its visions. If it's a powerful Seer you want, she's it."

"Miles…" Talia sighed softly. "You're a powerful Seer, too."

"In a different way," he agreed. "I spent time undercover with the Executors. I know how they were taught to think. Let me work with law enforcement and come up with solutions on how to reverse the damage the Executors did."

"Law enforcement was all on the priestesses' side," I pointed out. "We're going to have to replace the entire police force."

"Then you need me there," Miles said. "Technically I'm a rookie, but I still completed my training course. There aren't a lot of people left who are qualified to serve as police officers, so I need to be on the force with the few who remain."

"Then we all have our jobs," I stated. "Nadine, Chloe, Grant, Talia, and I will serve on the Imperium Council for one year, while Verla and Warren restore the school, Onyx can restructure the healthcare system, and Miles can get our law enforcement back up and running. And Mandy…"

I turned to her. "I can't apologize enough for leaving you with the priestesses."

Mandy shook her head. "It's not your fault. Magnus played you all. I'm sure it was hard for any of you to trust me after your trial. I don't blame you for not seeing the truth."

"We should've known it wasn't you," I insisted.

"You don't have to apologize," Mandy pressed. "I broke your trust. I did what I thought was right for the coven, and it was a mistake. I should be the one apologizing. I never meant to hurt any of you, and even if you don't trust me anymore, I hope you can trust that I truly mean that."

"Of course," Nadine said. "I've always believed that. All we ever wanted was to mend our friendship. Bad things happened, but we know you always cared."

Mandy dropped her gaze. "I really did, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret turning you in. I didn't understand the depth of the threat the priestesses posed, and I see now that you were doing the right thing. I hate that the priestesses used my powers to lure you to Octavia Falls, and I let them. I want to use my powers for good now. Maybe when I've recovered from all of this, I can study dream therapy. I don't want to keep making mistakes. I screwed up, and I can never change that, but I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me."

"Mandy, you're already forgiven," Nadine said softly.

Mandy sniffled. Nadine stood and rounded the table to give her a hug.

"Thank you so much," Mandy sobbed. "It means everything to hear you say that."

She wiped her eyes and drew away. "Thank you all for taking me in after what I did. I can't thank you enough, but I also can't stay here."

"There's a refugee city in California called Hok'evale," I told her. "Tate's there. I can portal you there as soon as you're ready."

Mandy stood. "I'm ready now."

"Is there no one you'd like to say goodbye to first?" I asked.

Mandy shook her head. "My family fled the coven over a year ago. You're the only people I have left to say goodbye to."

Talia stood, and the two exchanged a tearful farewell. I opened a portal to Hok'evale, and Mandy waved before stepping through. The portal closed behind her.

Moments later, the doorbell rang.

"Are we expecting someone?" Professor Warren asked.

"It's Hattie," I told him. "There's something Nadine and I need to do before we begin our work, and we asked her for help."

I went to answer the door. Hattie stood behind it, holding a polished square stone in her hands—a plaque with words carved on it.

"Are you ready?" Hattie asked.

"Yes," I told her. "Let me ask the others who'd like to join us."

I returned to the dining room and explained our idea. Verla said she wished she could come along, but she had to get to the school right away to begin her work. Onyx decided to stay at home in case Professor Warren needed anything, since he wasn't going to be up and about for a while. Miles must've not wanted to intrude, because he offered to clean up breakfast so we could leave right away.

Talia, Grant, and Chloe agreed to come, so I portaled us across town to the cemetery. Nadine held Marcus in her arms, and he slept soundlessly.

A small group of people gathered on the other side of the cemetery. I could swear they were shooting daggers our way the moment they noticed us.

"Pay them no attention," Hattie said. "They're family members of Executors who died last night. They're searching for their graves."

My stomach sank. It was easy to kill the people threatening my family, but harder to remember they had families of their own. Even though the coven voted us onto council, it was clear we weren't completely trusted. I'd reduced over a hundred Executors to ash, and none of their families had bodies to bury or graves to visit. After what I'd done, I didn't blame them, and I didn't know if I could ever make it better.

"Are they going to hurt us?" Talia asked warily.

"No," Hattie assured us. "The coven put you on the council. Hurting you would only make them a target. You're safe for now."

The group left the cemetery shortly after we arrived. We were alone.

Hattie guided us over to an empty corner of the graveyard. "This is where we will honor them."

She handed me the plaque, then reached into her pocket and placed an acorn in Nadine's hand. Hattie lifted her palms, and the dirt moved to her command, opening to create a small hole in the earth.

Nadine sniffled. "Thank you all for coming. Lucas and I wanted to put together an area of remembrance for Grammy and Dean. They deserve a proper resting place here with the coven, but we didn't want to move their bodies, so we decided to plant a tree in their honor. We know that to go forward with our work and start anew, we need Grammy and Dean here with us. So today, we plant this oak tree in their honor, to keep their spirits with us so they can continue to inspire us with their kindness, innocence, and love."

"Helena and Dean will be greatly missed." I tried to steady my tone, but my voice cracked.

Nadine knelt beside the hole and placed the acorn inside of it. I gently set the plaque next to it, then stepped back to read it.

In loving memory of Helena Tucker and Dean Taylor.

Grief and death are ephemeral, but love lasts forever.

Hattie waved her hands, and the dirt came together to close the hole. The plaque sank several inches into the ground, secured now in the earth. With her power of Earth magic, a sprout began to grow from the ground.

Nadine leaned into me, and tears streamed down her face. She reached for Talia. "I need you guys," Nadine sobbed.

For so long, she'd been trying to handle her grief alone. Now, we could all grieve together. We gathered close, until we were all circled in a group hug.

Tiny oak leaves grew bigger and bigger as the tree grew from the coaxing of Hattie's magic, reaching toward the sun. Twigs turned to branches, and the trunk thickened until it was as wide as my arm. A young oak tree filled with luscious green leaves stood before us.

I glanced down at my son's name, and it was like a dagger to the heart all over again. I'd wanted to protect my sons from all harm, but it was clear to me now that I couldn't shield them from everything. The world was going to hurt them. All I could do was teach them how to keep fighting.

We stood there a long time, taking in the memorial. My eyes scanned nearby graves, and my breath caught when I saw a fresh grave with a name I recognized. Nadine looked up at me in concern, then followed her gaze to the gravestone.

"Willa Poppy," I read aloud.

Professor Poppy had taught Crystal Studies and Astral Travel. She was one of the older professors, but couldn't have hit seventy yet. I was surprised to see her name here.

I turned to Hattie. "Do you know what happened to her?"

"It was a horrible viral respiratory infection," Hattie said sadly. "It's been going around human populations for years now, but it swept through the coven a few months back. Nora got it worse than others. She should've been put on a ventilator, but she died waiting for care."

My stomach twisted. "That's not right. The priestesses had plenty of money. If they were low on medical resources, they could've brought in more supplies. They could've set up a temporary clinic. They chose not to."

Hattie dropped her gaze. "There's more you should see. I shared what news I could with you while you were gone, but it's one thing to hear about it and another to see it first-hand. Follow me."

Hattie instructed me to portal us to the center of town, near the main shopping district. When I opened the portal, I didn't recognize where I was standing. The mom-and-pop shops were gone, completely bulldozed to the ground. Heavy machinery stood in their place, along with piles of rubble from what remained of the buildings.

"The priestesses bought up all these businesses," Hattie explained. "They tore them down to build a shopping complex. They were selling franchise licenses, so that small business owners had to operate under the priestesses' trademarks, earning them money for every sale."

Talia's features paled. "That's horrible. Not only would it earn the priestesses profit, but they'd get to decide what was sold in every store. They could control the whole flow of commerce."

Hattie nodded. "That was their intention, but there's more. We should visit the Catwalk."

I opened a portal to the Catwalk. At first, I thought that I'd portaled to the wrong place. Then I noticed the ruins of Pinewood Manor in the distance across Lake Santos, and I realized the location was right. Everything else was wrong.

The Catwalk was an iconic shopping area in town, the site of the original settlement. The original cabins had once been preserved and turned into shops. There used to be a trail twisting through the trees, but now it was all gone—the buildings, the trail, the trees… Everything had been completely cleared, until there was nothing but dirt that remained. All of our historical buildings, and everything that had lasted through the years since the 1600s, was no longer here. My heart ached for the neighborhood we'd lost.

Chloe's voice became hollow. "Why would they do this?"

"They claimed it was the best view on the lake," Hattie said. "They were going to build a luxury lakefront apartment complex."

"So they could control people's living situations, too!" Grant raged.

"They've wiped out our history," Nadine said in a horrified tone. "Those buildings stood for centuries, and now, they're gone."

I shook my head, unable to believe what I was seeing. "The coven is worse off than I thought, and it's been going on longer than I realized. All the dying thoughts I hear are so depressing. We shouldn"t be treating our people like this. None of this should've happened."

The priestesses had gone too far. They obviously didn't care who they fucked over to gain power. It was clear that to them, anything out of their control had to go, but their quest for power had completely devastated the town. Now we had to rebuild from the ground up.

Grant looked around at the devastation. "This is horrific. We tried to save the coven and defeated the priestesses, but what if we came too late? We might not be able to save the coven now, because the priestesses destroyed so much of our world. We have a lot of work to do. Just because the priestesses are gone doesn't mean this is over. We got elected to this council, but we don't know if we're actually able to help the coven. What if we can't fix this?"

Chloe sighed hopelessly. "Grant's right. We made a lot of promises—promises I don't know if we'll be able to keep. It's not just buildings we need to rebuild; it's the whole town's infrastructure, economy, and healthcare system. Plus, we need to get the school back up and running, all while providing for our people. We have to completely rebuild from scratch. There's so much to do, and I don't know how we're going to do it all. We're going to have to pick and choose who we help, because we only have so many resources. We can't fix every problem as badly as we want to, so someone's going to be let down."

"We're not going to let that happen," Nadine insisted. "We can't."

"I don't know if you understand what this is going to take," Chloe said gently. "We're in a position of power now, but no matter how powerful we are, it doesn't fix these societal problems, because to do so takes everyone's cooperation. We're young and inexperienced, and there's enough people who aren't willing to work with us as it is. Besides that, we need power to go up against the priestesses. Having Santos on our side isn't enough, because gods don't like to meddle in human affairs. The fact that he showed up to save Marcus is a miracle. We can't count on him to show up every time."

"Perhaps the people are enough," Talia suggested. "Surely the whole power of the coven can rival the Master Wand."

I shook my head. "We can't ask these people to fight for us, and even if we did, we can't guarantee that these people will do that. They don't want to fight or be made into soldiers, and it isn't right to make them. The Waning is happening because we're fighting, and the more we ask them to fight, the worse it will get. We promised we'd fix it, and that means working together."

"Technically, yes, we have more power together," Nadine added. "But we'd have to get all these people to agree to fight, and we can hardly get ten people to agree on one thing at the same time. They voted us in, but we still have to earn their trust. We all know the Law of Love, one of the three laws of Miriamic magic. Through love, our magic is stronger, so our duty on this council is not to rule, but to guide through love. We need to support these people in healing first and foremost. The individual comes first, because there can be no community without each one of us working together."

"Where do we start?" Talia asked.

"We need to get this town working again, or no one's going to fight for our cause," Nadine said. "The coven needs access to education, medicine, and housing, and we must restore their sense of purpose. If we're going to change the coven and undo what the priestesses did, we need to care for these people's emotional and spiritual well-being first, because turning them into soldiers is going to take away their individuality and purpose."

Nadine took a breath and looked over the remnants of the Catwalk. "The coven's job needs to be rebuilding the town, because this is going to take a huge group effort, and that's something they'll be motivated to help with. Rebuilding these structures and implementing new programs are things we can delegate to the people, but we promised to go up against the priestesses for them. We need to follow through on our promises, all while giving them back the lives they deserve, and that starts now."

"The Oaken Wands pull power from the coven. All we can ask our people for is their cooperation, to use the Oaken Wands, and hope that it's enough," I said.

"The Oaken Wands don't work anymore," Grant pointed out.

"Perhaps we can restore their power," I replied. "Lilian said she cursed the Wands we were holding—four of them. She didn't curse the Curse Breaker Wand, because she doesn't know where it is, and therefore, can't focus her power on it. Nadine isn't strong enough to break a curse cast by the Master Wand on her own, but the Curse Breaker Wand may be enough to do it. If we find it, we can break this curse on the Oaken Wands, and gain enough power to stand against the priestesses one last time. We don't know if the Oaken Wands are as powerful as the Master Wand, but they're more powerful than anything else we've got, so they give us a fighting chance. It might just be enough to stop them."

"It doesn't matter if the cards are stacked against us," Nadine decided. "We have to beat the priestesses regardless."

"So, what do we do?" Grant asked.

Silence filled the air. It was obvious none of us had an easy answer.

"We just have to keep going, no matter what happens," I finally said. "You're right—we don't know if we can save the coven, because it might be too far gone, but we're going to try anyway."

"We can't keep existing with the priestesses around," Nadine added. "Either they have to die, or we're going to die fighting them. We can't let Marcus grow up in a society like this. If we die, then so be it, but we aren't going to give up until the coven heals or we're dead."

"It's our only choice, and the coven's only chance," I agreed. "The priestesses will be back. They'll use the Master Wand to try and regain control of the coven, but we have to fight until our last breath to prevent that. The priestesses are going to stay away for a while because they're afraid Santos will come back, but eventually they'll find a way in. We're going to find the Curse Breaker Wand, to break the curse on the rest of the Oaken Wands, so that when the priestesses come back we have the power to defeat them. When they're finally gone, we'll destroy the Master Wand, along with the Oaken Wands."

"Destroy them?" Grant asked. "But they were created to protect us against the fae. If we destroy them, we destroy the coven's greatest weapon."

"The Oaken Wands may be our greatest weapon, but they've become our greatest threat," I said. "These Wands were created out of fear. The coven made these Wands to take on our greatest enemy, but we became our own greatest enemy, because these Wands are a bigger threat to our people than the fae ever could be. The coven has proven they can't handle this kind of magic, and therefore, we need to get rid of it. If we don't get rid of it, this is just going to happen again. Magic shouldn't be in the hands of one person. This magic belongs to everybody."

Only one choice remained. We were going to use the Oaken Wands one last time—and then we were going to send them straight to the Abyss, right alongside the priestesses.

Nadine took my hand. "Then let's save the coven. Even if there isn't anything left to save."

END OF BOOK FIVE

Continue on to read a special excerpt from book six: The Witch's Fate.