Page 2 of A Silenced Midlife

"Groups of parrots are called pandemoniums. It’s a thing. You can Google it," he said with a chuckle. "We adopted the term many years ago."

"Phoenixes? As in, the birds that burst into flames?" Drew asked, skepticism lacing his voice.

"Something like that," Mayor Brown conceded. "We don’t die easily, and we don't age the way you do."

I studied Mayor Brown's face, the creases, and silver in his hair. "So, you always look like you’re in your sixties?"

With another chuckle, Mayor Brown closed his eyes, and his features began to shift. His skin smoothed out, wrinkles fading like mist, hair darkening. And just like that, he was young, a version of himself so strikingly handsome, it took me off guard.

"This is my true appearance," he revealed. "I do have to use magic to age myself. Once those who knew me pass away, I, as in my younger self, can 'move back to town' as a relative and start anew."

"Great," Drew muttered, "Now I've got to tell Pearl that nephilim exist. But still, what about the humans who saw everything?"

"Powerful as I am, the solution requires a spell," Mayor Brown replied. "The coven must devise one that prevents Shipton Harbor residents from revealing any magic to outsiders unaware of our world."

"Got it," I said, pushing down the questions bubbling inside. "We'll get on it."

“Good. Now if you don’t mind I have a busy day that is about to get busier once all the non-magical residents of Shipton Harbor wake up and start calling and showing up asking questions.” Mayor Brown stood and motioned to the door.

We muttered our goodbyes, and we left the office, the door clicking shut behind us.

When we were outside the Town Hall building, Olivia whirled around and yelled, "Dad!"

Lucifer materialized with a spatula in hand, wearing a three-piece suit and an apron emblazoned with 'Kiss the Cook' above a cartoonish devil.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking around as if ready for anything.

"Did you know our mayor is a nephilim?" Olivia asked, eyebrows raised.

Luci arched an eyebrow of his own while looking at each of us. "What, you didn't know?"

2

OLIVIA

The portal's edges fizzled in the air, a low hum vibrating against my eardrums as Drew, Ava, Sam, and I stepped through into Ava and Drew's living room.

The house was quieter than normal. It was usually a buzz of chaos with people coming and going. There weren’t as many people living with Ava and Drew anymore. Alfred and Winnie now lived in Faery. Ava’s parents, John and Beth lived at the Rune Academy, getting it ready to open in September.

Zoey and Larry were still in New Orleans with her tiger pride–the family she just discovered she had. Although they should be returning home soon.

Wallie sat on the sofa, bouncing Selby on his knee, while Michelle cooed softly to Imogene.

"Okay," Ava said, already typing furiously on her phone. "Melody's getting the coven together. We need every grimoire they've got."

"Good," I replied, brushing a stray lock of hair from my face. My fingers still tingled from the portal's energy.

Drew made a beeline for the laptop sitting on the kitchen table. “I’m going to search the hunter archives.”

I moved to the bookshelves along the wall opposite the fireplace where Ava had recently moved the grimoires and other magical reference books that used to be in the ritual room in the attic. I pulled several of the grimoires and brought them to the kitchen. Placing the books on the table, I divided them between Ava and me.

By that time, Ava was staring down the coffee pot as if she was willing it to brew faster. I wasn’t going to remind her that I could portal us to the coffee shop in town.

Just as the coffeemaker started gurgling, Ian came through the back door. He stopped short just inside the kitchen and glanced at each of us. “What’s up?”

Drew gave his brother a nod in greeting. “We’re researching nephilim and phoenixes. Apparently, they are real.”

Ava and Drew took turns catching Ian up on our meeting with the Mayor.

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