Page 43 of Midlife Witch Unexpected

“So, there’s Fae here working for the DGC?” I asked. “Kind of seems against the whole 'massive battle between the Demigods and the Fae and the split their world in half' story.”

“Just because you are something, doesn’t mean you support what everybody else from your side is doing,” Branson growled.

“The Fae here are very free-spirited. They wanted a lot less structure and formality,” Hilda said. “There aren’t a ton of them, but they do exist here in New Attica as immigrants. You just don’t ever, whatever you do, call them Fae.”

“Okay, so we've got the tomb of the unknown maybe-dead person and we’ve got a group of elementals here.” I motioned my hand over the model as I described the areas.

“The rest of the cemetery is better to be seen in person,” Hilda said. “There are some sculptures around here. This one is supposed to be a lion.” She pointed at some clay lumps.

“Looks more like a baboon,” I said.

“That’s exactly what it looks like in real life too,” Drake said with a shrug. “I know it’s supposed to be a lion, but it looks like a baboon.”

The members of the coven moved around the clay map, so they were all standing at a point.

I glanced around at the witches and warlock feeling a strong bond with each of them. Even Trina, who I knew didn’t approve of me being High Priestess, but there was still something of a bond between us. We were bound together by the ritual we had done the other night, which had officially given me the position of High Priestess of the coven and the title of The Hayes.

Loyalty.

I felt it from each of them. They were loyal not specifically to me, but they were loyal to The Hayes and because I was The Hayes, they would be long-term loyal to me. I hadn't felt so strongly since Sabrina was little and Tim was able to make me think we were a happy solid family. It never occurred to me one of us was completely lying about who they were and what we were. I looked around briefly at each of the faces in the circle of this Coven. I couldn’t stop the seed of doubt that was planted in my head.

I had promised myself I wouldn’t be caught unawares again in my life. But how do you tell if someone’s a traitor or not? If someone’s lying or not? Is it by the movement of their eyes as they speak? Or the way their fingers twitched when they were talking to you? I didn’t know the answer and I didn’t see anything that would tell me if the members of the coven were lying or not. What I did know is they had a choice if they wanted to be here or not. They did not have to be here. They could easily turn around and walk right out the door.

My mom had.

“Focus on the map.” I drew everyone’s attention to the cemetery model in front of us.

I waved my hands over the map and a strange green, gold, and purple aura began to radiate from the cemetery.

“What are you doing?” Drake asked.

“It’s showing the wards,” Hilda said.

I began chanting the spell. “Take a peek. Where is it weak? Take a peek. Where is it weak?”

The other witches in the coven held out their hands, channeling light and energy into the cemetery to strengthen it. “Light of mine, let it shine, show me space to make unsafe this place.”

“Is that the best you could come up with?” Trina looked down her long, thin nose at me.

“It works,” I said. “I just need your help.”

All the witches began to repeat the incantation with me as energy flowed from their hands and strengthened the aura that was now floating over the cemetery.

“What are we looking for?” Anita asked.

“Holes in the aura. Gaps. Places where it’s weak. The vampire is getting way too close. You can see here where he stood the other day there’s actually a gap and a hole,” I pointed at the hole.

“How do we strengthen it?” Drake asked.

“That’s what she’s here for,” Trina said, watching the power come out of our hands and building the aura around the cemetery.

“Focus, people,” I said. The cemetery model was now radiating a bright purple and green aura.

“Take a peek. Where is it weak? Take a peek. Where is it weak?” I could sense the mesh of magic was not impressed with my rhyming skills, but I had never offered to be a rap star. All I was trying to do was solve the problem at hand.

I tapped on the magic aura near the edge of the model. It snapped once and snapped again as if it wasn’t going to hold tight but then it bounced back.

“It looks strong,” Hilda said.

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