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“I can travel to Atlantis and see what the merfolk know,” Onyx offered. “If the Wands ended up with other magical societies, we have to cover them all.”
Verla nodded in agreement. “Then I’ll see what I can learn from the vampires.”
“I’ll go to Celestial City,” Professor Warren suggested. “The angels know a lot about historical relics. They may know something about the Oaken Wands.”
Nadine bit her lower lip. “Are you guys sure you should be going off alone?”
“Merfolk are allies to the Miriamic Coven,” Onyx said. “I’ll be all right.”
“Jonathan and I can handle ourselves,” Verla added.
Helena was obviously staying. She’d been over the top with Nadine’s recovery lately. I could tell she was really worried. She wasn’t letting her granddaughter out of her sight anytime soon.
That only left one person. I turned to Professor Warbright. “You can join us, if you’d like.”
Warbright nearly trembled at the suggestion. He reached for his pocket watch, but it wasn’t there anymore. I noticed he did that a lot, like he was searching for comfort.
“I would love to help, but I… I can’t,” Warbright admitted. “After everything I’ve done, I owe it to the coven to leave.”
“Professor, it wasn’t your fault,” I told him.
“I wish I could agree with you,” he said sadly. “After what I’ve done, the coven will never take me back. It doesn’t matter that I was possessed. The priestesses will convince everyone that I killed those people, and I’ll hang. I must seek asylum and never return to Octavia Falls. There’s an island in the Pacific Ocean owned by the United Supernatural Union. It’s neutral territory, and there’s an opening for a Miriamic teacher at the Darke Institute for Supernatural Offenders. That’s where I’ll be going for… a while.”
The way he said a while told me he was more or less planning to stay there forever. He was wrecked by guilt, and no matter how much we told him he wasn’t responsible, he didn’t believe us.
I’d heard of the Darke Institute, and to put it shortly, it wasn’t a nice place. It was more or less a prison school where the supernatural world sent all the kids they wanted nothing to do with. I couldn’t help but think Warbright was choosing to go to this island as a way to punish himself, teaching magical delinquents how to use their magic. I didn’t think he’d be able to survive a place where the very students he was supposed to be teaching were dangerous inmates.
Either way, the man had a lot to work through. I wasn’t sure how much of the last few months he remembered. It was clear he needed help, and I hoped he found that someday.
I turned toward the map of the supernatural world and surveyed it, spreading my hands across its span. Everything was on the line. If we didn’t find the rest of the Oaken Wands, there was no point in continuing to fight any longer, because we couldn’t unite the coven without them.
We had one job, and no more distractions. Find the Oaken Wands. Save the coven. There simply was no other option. No matter what we had to go through to face it.
“So… to the Abyss we go?” Grant asked.
Chloe gave a dramatic sigh. “I’m not sure we’ll ever be ready for it.”
I gave a dark laugh. “We might not be ready to face hell. But I know one thing.”
“What’s that?” Nadine tilted her head to the side.
I grasped her hand, then ran my thumb over her engagement ring and smirked. “It damn sure isn’t ready for us.”
