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“My daughter was picking up her girlfriend after her shift there, and Lenora realized the wards were gone. She set up new ones immediately and checked all the rooms. She couldn’t find anything amiss, so the wards probably hadn’t been down for long. I went by later to reinforce them.” Patricia frowned. “Did you not feel anything wrong?”
Kristen shook her head, her face pale, while murmurs rose among the other Elders.
Hazel sucked in a breath.
Warding was a useful tool to keep supernatural predators out, and the witch community had long practiced setting up wards around certain buildings to protect the people inside from those who would prey upon them in the dark of the night. It would be impossible to ward every single home in the Portland area, as wards required an active connection to the witch who laid them, and it would take too much power to ward off so much space, even for an entire witch community.
But they could ward those buildings without a natural threshold like hospitals or nursing homes, and at least protect the most vulnerable among the human population. Without those wards, a single demon could wreak havoc on a hospital floor—like killing all newborn babies in a maternity ward. Some species had a taste for young flesh.
It was sheer dumb luck that Lenora had noticed the failed wards, and even more luck still that no otherworldly predator had beaten her to it.
“Kristen,” Shobha said, “you might want to check all your other wards as well.”
The head of the Frost family swallowed. “I will.”
Hazel regarded the other witch with a frown, a tendril of foreboding slithering through her. “Kristen,” she said. “Have you noticed anything wrong with your magic recently?”
Some of the murmurs faded, the Elders all looking at Kristen.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you try any spells last night, or someone from your family?”
“No. We were home, and I was preparing some herbs. Why?”
Hazel exchanged a look with Merle, whom she’d told about the Callahan incident. The younger witch gave a small nod.
“Wards,” Hazel said gently, “aren’t in the habit of failing so suddenly on their own.”
There was some quiet assent from other Elders.
“What are you saying?” Kristen’s voice had a brittle quality.
Hazel took a deep breath. “I think it might be the weakening of the Powers That Be. Like what happened with the Callahans last night.”
“That is not what happened,” Beth hissed.
“That’s preposterous.” Kristen glared at Hazel.
Other Elders chimed in, their voices rising in the room. Most of their body language looked like the picture book definition on denial—there was vigorous head shaking, crossed arms, hands raised as if to ward off the truth. A few, though, displayed quieter signs of doubt and crumbling disbelief, namely Sarai, Elaine, and Shobha. They sat with pensive expressions, Sarai chewing on her lip, frown lines marring Shobha’s forehead, Elaine staring ahead with an unfocused gaze.
“Will you please stop with your conspiracy theories,” Susanne threw at Hazel.
“It’s the truth,” Hazel shot back. “And if you don’t accept it and start taking countermeasures, you won’t live long enough for me to say I told you so!”
“You go, girl,” Merle muttered out of the corner of her mouth. Out loud she said, “Witch communities in other parts of the world are already dying because of this. What’s it going to take for you guys to admit this is real?”
“Certainly not some mouthpiece of Arawn giving us a recruitment speech.” Tanya bared her teeth. “Tell me, does he provide you with a paper with talking points? A manual on how to spread his lies?”
Merle shot up from her chair with violence crackling in her aura, but Hazel grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.
“Easy,” she murmured, just as Sonia struck a large gong.
The deep, metallic sound of the instrument reverberated in the room, effectively silencing the furor among the Elders. With the notes of the gong still lingering, Sonia cast an annoyed look at the assembled witches.
“Maybe we can remember to have some decorum.” She sat on her chair again and crossed her legs. “I suggest we all check the wards we’re responsible for after we adjourn. Meanwhile, let’s move on to the reason this meeting was called for.”
Hazel sat up straight. “But we need to come to terms with—”
