Chapter Fifteen: Tamsin

"A prophecy." Colton was very alert now, his pale eyes as sharp as a man half his age. "I have read just about every prophecy ever written, so perhaps I could be of help."

"There you go," Stan said, nodding toward Colton. "Fate brought us here so that Colton can help you. And perhaps afterward we can pick your brain about one or two we've been looking at."

"No, Burt bought us here," Harry reminded Stan.

"Does it matter?" Mason asked sharply. "Tamsin, tell Colton the prophecy."

The color rose in Tamsin's cheeks as the people gathered around the table all looked at her even though she'd recited this prophecy that had been the secret of her coven so many times. But after her time in the tavern with Mason, she felt suddenly embarrassed. Exposed even.

"When finned stars dost tumble through the scorching firmament, and Venus doth waltz moonward high, a night of devastation shall descend. Cauldrons shall boil over, howls become wails, brooms shatter, and wolves flee in terror. This fateful night shall be foretold by a witch born beneath a troubled sign, chosen by a rooster's crow and the coven leader's spilled tea leaves. But should the witch's beating heart stop and her mate get the chop, if this is the way fate is paved, the coven and pack will be saved..."

As she took a breath, footsteps came along the hallway toward the kitchen, accompanied by humming, but then a voice, breathy and eerie, continued to recite the prophecy…

"Heed the signs, let guide thy hearts, for doom approaches when love is apart."

"What?" Tamsin's head snapped toward the corridor. "Was that Maughna?"

"Maughna," Colton said. "Do you know this prophecy?"

"She must be thinking of a different prophecy," Stan said. "That last line wasn't quite right."

"It was very close, though," Mason said quietly.

Maughna entered the kitchen and danced around, her tattered clothes giving her a ghostlike quality as she swayed and hummed a different tune.

"Maughna, the prophecy," Merri said and caught hold of the vampire's hand as Maughna passed by, swaying from side to side.

"Naughty wolf pack!" Maughna giggled in an almost childlike way. "I'll teach them."

"You'll teach them?" Mason asked. "Teach them what?"

"Who will teach them?" Maughna tilted her head as she looked at Mason. "Fated mates, bring the prophecy's end." Then her head swiveled and her gaze fixed on Tamsin. "Haughty taughty coven, we'll show them!"

"What are you talking about? Who will?" Tamsin asked.

"Morwenna." Maughna's attention snapped to the other people in the room. "Where is Morwenna? Where did she go?"

"That is a question I would not mind learning the answer to," Mason muttered under his breath. "Is she not still here, Merri? We would like to have a word."

"Gone, gone, Morwenna is gone. Under the bed, under the chair, where is Morwenna with her curly hair!"

"Morwenna left?" Merri asked Maughna.

"Or is she talking about something more profound?" Stan mused.

"Witch, wolf, mates, fates," Maughna said as she patted Mason and Tamsin on the head. "Coven, pack, must attack."

"Maughna." Colton stood up stiffly and approached the vampire.

Tamsin had heard about Maughna but never had a run-in with her. She had a reputation for being often nonsensical, albeit harmless enough.

"Mates, fate, make them hate." She pulled away from Merri and continued around the kitchen, twirling as she went. "Glass, smash, you'll pay for that!"

"Glass smash? Didn't we hear something about that in the hallway with the whispers?" Mason muttered to Tamsin.

"I think so." She frowned into her plate of cake. They had definitely heard Morwenna's voice say something about a broken glass.

"A whispering hallway, eh?" Stan asked, leaning toward them.

"Do you know this prophecy?" Mason asked Colton, obviously deciding to ignore Stan's fishing for information.

"I read it some time ago," Colton admitted. "I was doing some research for Clancy about the local wolf packs, and the situation with the DuskWood Pack and the DawnLight Coven having not gotten along for centuries came up. But the prophecy you recited is of an unknown origin and so often they are not to be taken seriously."

"Seriously?" Tamsin asked, shooting a sharp look at Mason.

"Yes." Colton shrugged. "I mean, anyone can write a prophecy. Often it is the belief in the prophecy that causes more problems than the prophecy itself."

"Really?" Tamsin shook her head. "Who writes these things?"

She shot Maughna a look. If they could get a straight answer out of her, then they might just have their answer. Morwenna.

But Maughna continued humming the other tune, as she stopped before a closed cupboard and simply stared at it as if it were the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.

"More cake?" Merri asked lightly.

"More cake sounds positively wonderful!" A shrill voice filled the tall room, and everyone turned to the hallway, where the sound of jingling approached from.

"Oh…oh my," Harry said in a reverent whisper. "She really can leave the tavern."

"So I can." Morwenna stepped into the dining room. "It would appear that wherever you go, nowhere is safe from my influence."

Burt gulped, and Tamsin wondered if Morwenna really was scarier than a vampire.

"Though it seems I am safe nowhere from you lot, either."

"Hey, we left the tavern first." Harry pointed his teaspoon at Morwenna, who fixed him with one of her trademark glares.

"Then perhaps you need a better mode of transportation. Walking will only get you so far." Morwenna approached the table. "Now, I heard that there was lemon drizzle cake."

"Of course, Morwenna, take a seat." Merri cut another slice of cake as a chair slid out on its own, which Morwenna perched on, a smug expression on her angular features as she looked across the table at everyone else.

"If everything is all right?" Stan ventured.

"Why, of course," Morwenna said. "Do I not look all right?"

"Well, that's the thing." Burt pursed his lips. "You look like you're almost in a good mood."

"I'm always in a good mood when I visit my dearest Maughna." Morwenna accepted the plate of cake from Merri without taking her eyes from Tamsin and Mason. "And it's, of course, made all the better with Colton's wonderful baking, Merri's company, and Silas's seemingly para-natural memory."

"Mine's just not as cluttered as yours, maybe."

Tamsin tensed at the sound of the voice. It was time to see if what the Regulars had said about Silas was true.

Silas swanned into the room, his footsteps silent as he crossed the hard floor, before leaning down and placing a kiss on Merri's head.

"Hello, my love. I didn't realize we were hosting visitors. It's quite the tea party."

"Neither did I." Merri smiled up at him.

Things really had changed around here.

"What can we do for all of you, hm?" Silas arched an eyebrow as he looked over them all.

Everyone except Burt shrank a little under his gaze.

"We want to see Valaky. He is here, isn't he?" Burt asked.

"I'm afraid that you have just missed him," Silas turned his full attention to Burt.

"You're kidding?" Mason asked.

"Not at all. He left not long after Morwenna arrived, strangely." He gave her a sideward glance. "Though, may I inquire as to why you seek him?"

"These two have got some questions for him, I believe, related to a certain prophecy." Burt nodded toward Tamsin and Mason.

"Now why would you want to be asking that old bat about prophecy?" Morwenna asked. "He wouldn't know a good prophecy if it spelled out his name in the stars and slapped him in the face."

"But you do?" It was Tamsin's turn to fix Morwenna with a glare.

The older witch met her eye. "Now, why would you think that?"

"Well, you seemed to have plenty of opinions on it back in the tavern," Tamsin said.

"I'm very opinionated about just about everything." Morwenna looked away.

There was a grumble of agreement from the Regulars.

"Okay, then why did you rush here to talk to Maughna when you seemed so busy with your ‘paperwork' just now?"

"Aren't I allowed a coffee break?" Morwenna gestured to the cake. "Besides, Flint can handle things while I'm away. Along with serving the customers, and stopping them from going upstairs, which they seem too insistent on since you two went up there."

"I thought you hated the thought of leaving the tavern?" Stan asked.

"And why did Valaky leave as soon as you arrived?" Burt pressed.

Morwenna shrugged. "He was quiet from the moment I arrived and left without saying much. Which, as we all know, is unnatural for Valaky since he likes the sound of his own voice so much. Perhaps he's terrified of me, as everyone should be."

Tamsin shook her head. "I just can't believe the timing of all of this was coincidental, especially when Maughna seems to already know this prophecy that has been guarded by generations of the DawnLight Coven and the DuskWood Pack."

"She does?" Morwenna squeaked before recovering her voice. "Did she say so?"

"She recited the last line on her own, so we thought it safe to assume." Mason watched as Maughna twirled around the kitchen, seemingly oblivious to the conversation.

"Though she got it slightly wrong, so I don't know where she could have heard it from," Tamsin said.

"Now, Maughna, you're not just making up prophecy-sounding phrases, are you?" Morwenna chided.

"Maughna's been around for an awfully long time." Merri smiled sadly as she watched the vampire. "She might have even been there when the prophecy was written."

Morwenna tutted. "Now don't be ridiculous. No one can just write a prophecy."

"Wait, didn't you say that anyone could write a prophecy just yesterday?" Harry asked.

"That doesn't sound like something I'd say," Morwenna mumbled.

"Silas?" Merri craned her neck to look up at him. "You don't know anything about this, do you?"

"Please, if you do, it's very important," Tamsin said. "This prophecy has had a terrible effect on both of our lives and finding anything about why it was written or who by could help us."

Tamsin could have sworn that for just the briefest of moments, Silas's eyes flicked over to Morwenna before he spoke. "I don't know if..."

"Under old moon and stars, two souls wove a tale so bizarre," Maughna brushed past Morwenna, trailing her fingers through the witch's messy hair as she went. "For revenge or just in jest? I don't know, but it was a giggle fest!"

The vampire began to giggle as Morwenna shot up. "Now listen here you bag of bones, don't go spoiling this for me."

"You do know something!" Tamsin stood up and pointed a finger. "You know who wrote it, don't you?"

Morwenna pursed her lips before she stomped her foot. "All right, fine. I might know a thing or two about this prophecy. But don't go asking me for all the answers. That was a long, long time ago, so I'm a bit hazy on the details." She put a finger on her chin. "Actually, the more I think about it, I'm very hazy on the details. And I imagine she is even more so." She hiked a finger at Maughna as she picked up a teacup and scrutinized it.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Mason asked.

"Because I've got a lot…" Morwenna mumbled the rest of the sentence into her hand.

"What?"

"Because I've got a lot riding on this, okay?" Morwenna hmphed. "I can't remember exactly what, but I'm invested in seeing this prophecy come to pass, and I can't interfere too much, or else I'll have to forfeit whatever it is I could win."

"What you could win?" Mason stood up, a sharpness to his voice. "I was nearly forced to kill Tamsin over this, remember?"

Morwenna held up a finger. "Okay, now that bit I know is not quite right. I can't remember exactly why it's wrong, but I'm certain it is.

Colton's eyes widened. "Oooh. That's why the prophecy is so important to you two. You're the wolf and the witch whose fates are entwined."

"Should have seen that coming, chaps." Harry brushed crumbs from his jacket.

"I..." Mason glanced sideways at Tamsin.

"Give me some credit," she told him bluntly. "I don't need a prophecy to tell me we are mates. I'm just not sure why you never told me."

"Maybe he is worried you might try to kill him," Stan said as he dug into a piece of lemon drizzle cake.

"Are you?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"We need to talk," was the only answer she got.

Which pretty much said it all.