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“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.
