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A handful of nays echo around me, but the winner is clear.
“And the ayes have it,” she says, picking up the gavel on the table in front of her and banging it against the wooden surface.
Relief rushes through me, but a prickly sensation on the back of my neck sweeps the feeling away. My gaze darts around the room, but I can’t find the cause for the negative sensation. A few witches are grumbling quietly, but they look resigned at being outvoted. I can’t sense outright hostility from any of them, but the prickly feeling remains, shooting across my skin, down my back to settle into a twisting in my gut.
“Eden Walsh, please come forward. We’re ready to swear you in as the last of the Grundelier line.”
My feet move, but the rest of my body remains frozen as Steph’s words send another streak of panic zooming through me.
I don’t know what it is, but something here isn’t right.
38
A FAMILIAR SCENT
My initiation into the council is short and sweet, with not nearly the amount of pomp and circumstance I’d imagined. Steph spoke a few words about loyalty, dedication, and fair judgment, I repeated them, and that was it. The feeling of something being wrong persists, but I tried to ignore it during the ritual.
Now, I’m sitting in my newly appointed chair with all eyes in the room on me, waiting for me to speak. Steph gave me the floor to ask any questions I might have––one question about the prophecy, in particular––and the words refuse to pass my lips.
I open and close my mouth several times, but nothing but a choking sound comes out. I can’t physically ask the question. What the fuck?
I inhale deeply, ready to let out a groan of frustration, then freeze.
Is that…decaying flowers?
I recognize the scent immediately. It’s the same thing I smelled the first time we entered the old Grundelier village, that sickly sweet scent of decomposing flowers that only I could smell. The one that led me to the building where I had my first vision, the one of Bethany Grundelier giving birth to her secret child.
Why am I smelling it now? Erik said it was the scent of old magic the first time I described it, so why would it suddenly fill this room where modern-day witches are staring at me like I’m an idiot they’re quickly losing patience with?
I shake my head, then go still, centering myself. Opening my mouth to finally ask the question, I cough as the scent grows even stronger, choking me.
The few seconds that pass feel like an eternity, then Steph seems to realize something is off. She quickly makes the excuse that I’m overwhelmed with emotion over being included on the council, then asks for any additional business before adjourning the meeting. I stand when everyone else does, and a few people nod before exiting the room.
Some of the others don’t acknowledge me, at all, but a couple come forward to officially meet me and welcome me to the council. I’m finally able to speak, and I do my best to appear normal while my mind is whirling like a tornado.
I’m honestly freaking the fuck out.
What was that?
And why did no one else seem to notice anything was off?
As soon as the room empties out, Steph turns toward me and clasps both of my hands in hers. “What just happened?”
“You didn’t smell it?” I ask.
“Smell what?”
Before I can answer, the door opens and Jesse, Erik, and Leif stride in. Steph releases me as Jesse approaches, pulling me into his arms. Holding me tightly against him, he kisses the top of my head and murmurs into my hair.
“Are you okay? What happened? Why didn’t you ask them about the prophecy?”
Giving him a squeeze, I pull out of his arms and face the four of them. Shaking my head, I cross my arms over my chest and rub my palms up and down my biceps.
“I don’t know what happened. When I tried to ask the question, I just…couldn’t. I got a really bad feeling that made me pause, then when I tried to push past it, it’s like my vocal chords completely froze up. I literally couldn’t speak. And that’s when I smelled it.”
“Smelled what?” Steph asks in a gentle, comforting voice.
I meet her gaze. “Decaying flowers. It was the same scent I smelled the first time we went to the village, and I had that first vision.”
