Page 9 of Midlife Demigod Unexpected

I tried desperately to ignore the golden light glowing around both my hands. I had waited too long for this moment. There were too many hopes and dreams vested in this happening.

Me. Magic.

I squeezed my eyes tight shut.

“I completely disagree,” Jane said. “Look at your hand. If that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.”

Opening my eyes, I let out a gasping cry. “It’s real!”

“You have magic,” Hilda smiled.

I held up my hands to her, the light casting a warm glow on all of us. “You can’t remember who my father is?” I asked. “Because the sword belonged to my father and that’s where I got the magic from. I must be getting it from him.”

“Not only that, but if you’re part of the Pentacle of Time, he must be related to the original coven.” Kartika pointed out. “If it was your mother’s line, it would be her to light up the pentacle.”

“Which also means my father is dead,” I said with recognition. “If he was alive, he would be the next in line for the Pentacle of Time.”

Sheriff Tom waddled up to us. “I know you spoke to Chloe last night Helen, but I wanted to come by and offer you my condolences that your pub burnt down. We’re going to do everything in our power to find the no-good son of a bitch who did this. I want you to know, I sure feel bad that none of us will get to have your pub for a little while.”

“That’s sweet of you, Sheriff. Thank you so much,” I said, holding my arm behind my back so he wouldn’t pay attention to the sword glowing in my hand. Kartika slipped in behind me, removing the sword from my hand deftly while I carried on chatting with the Sheriff.

“I’m going to need you to come down to the police station and file a report and sign it with the ladies down there. If you wouldn’t mind coming with me, it’ll help you out. You can start getting your insurance rolling a lot faster. Chloe and Bianca will take good care of you.”

At the mention of their names, I glanced over at Mae. I knew she was the High Priestess of the coven, the leader of the group. She gave me a single nod to let me know she was fine with it.

The whole thing was strange. I didn’t know what had happened, but we were all connected now. I could feel our mutually bound energy. It was easy for me to take permission from Mae. I’d been such an independent person barely listening to my mother for most of my life, it felt strange how easily I slid into it now. It felt right felt like the normal thing to do.

“OK Sheriff, I’ll come with you.”

“I’m coming too,” Jag said.

“I’m sure that’s not necessary.” I shook my head, glaring at him.

“It may not be necessary to you,” Jag said, “but it is to me.”

“Stalker,” I threw the word over my shoulder at him as I walked with the Sheriff towards the police station.

Chapter 7

Jag slipped in front of us and held the door to the police station for both Sheriff Tom and me.

“I don’t need an escort,” I smirked at him.

“This is my penance,” he said. “It’s partially my fault.”

“Well, it’s a lot your fault,” I said. “If you knew what he was when you saw him, why did you even let him stay in the pub?”

“I don’t know. I thought you’d invited him in or something,” Jag said. “It wasn’t my jurisdiction to tell you what to do in your pub.”

“Well, you could offer suggestions when it seems pertinent,” I said testily.

The truth was, I didn’t want him to come with me because I was about to see the two other members of the Coven. Bianca, I knew pretty well. She was a local also. There had been a couple of grades between us in school, but when each class only had twenty people in it, you tended to know everybody within five years of your age in both directions.

I walked up to the counter and gave Bianca a small wave.

“Are you here to fill out the form?” she asked.

---