‘Thomas isn’t Susanna’s son,’ Naomi says. ‘I checked. He’s the son of one Deborah Jacobs, born Deborah Fenn. I guess, from her birthdate, that she was a sister or cousin of Susanna. If Susanna had no children, then the Gift must have moved sideways down a different branch.’
‘I didn’t know it could do that,’ I admit. ‘I’ve only ever heard of lineal descent. Are you sure?’
‘Do you know where Deborah, her husband, and Thomas lived? And then Maia, because her father was an only child, so he inherited the house? The Cobb, Sanctuary. They were that generation’s occupants of the house that’s been in your family for centuries.’
‘Sounds as though you know more about my family than I do.’
I laugh uneasily, and Naomi joins in. Two grown women shut in a photocopier closet, whispering.
‘Why do you care?’ I ask. ‘Why this interest in Redhaven’s past, and whether my family was part of it?’
‘You’re right.’ Naomi smooths her skirt, suddenly businesslike. ‘It’s a sideline given that what we’re interested in are the activities and goals of Lachlan Frey. But understanding what Redhavenwaswill give us clues to what he’s intendingnow. And as for the Fenn connection. Sarah, you must know how powerful your family’s name is in our community. Every witch in America has heard of you.’
I can’t help my scoff. ‘Maybe. But it didn’t do my daughter and I much good in our hour of need, did it?’
‘And that shows what’s been done to us, Sarah. Every witch in America made so fearful for their own skin no one stepped forward to help save yours. Many of us are still ashamed of that. We want to do better next time – and this registration?’ She looks me in the eye, and beneath the flickering strip light I see unwavering determination. ‘It feels to a lot of us that “next time” – isnow.’
27
HARPER
Dad got back two days after my arrival at Redhaven. He emerged through the orchard in slanting late afternoon sun, with a young couple and their kid in tow.
‘Emma, Marek, and their son Jakub,’ Lachlan says, with an expansive gesture. ‘Escaped registration in Cleveland and chose to come with me after Emma blew out the walls of the medical suite when they tried to sample Jak. Make them welcome!’
The man is holding their boy, and his eyes fill with tears as Redhaven’s residents applaud their arrival. My father disappears inside the farmhouse as the guy’s wife wraps an arm comfortingly around him and kisses their son’s head. Not half an hour later, two huge BBQ grills are going and ice tubs are overflowing with beer and juice. I’m reaching for one, when I’m bear-hugged from behind.
‘Someone isn’t old enough to be drinking beer. Ahaha, only kidding! Don’t glare like that at your old dad.’
Lachlan backs off, hands raised comically, as I spin with a bottle in my hand.
‘Dad?’ At his side, Yara gapes. I’m petty enough to smirk as Lachlan ruffles my hair like a goofball. ‘Guess that explains the absence of a token,’ she says. ‘Still, only one of us is old enough to drink.’
Yara tugs the beer from my hand and smirks right back, and I find I like her a lot more than I did.
As she waltzes off to greet the newcomers, Dad plucks two more cold-pebbled bottles for us and pops off the caps by magic, with a sound like champagne corks. We clink the glass necks together in a toast.
‘Drinking under parental supervision,’ Lachlan says with a wink, ‘is absolutely allowed. Now tell me everything.’
We sit on the porch stoop, knees pulled up, as I begin with the moose. But then my journey unspools, and as the sun’s setting and another couple bottles lie empty at our feet, I’m sobbing all over again about Pierre.
‘No shade,’ I hiccup through my tears, ‘but he was the closest thing I ever had to a father. So good I never even knew I needed you, until I met you. He was the best.’
Lachlan holds me tighter as my snot slimes his plaid shirt. ‘I hardly met Pierre,’ he murmurs, ‘but his love for your mom and for you shone out of him. I probably would have had to duel him for you both eventually.’
I sob-cry and beat my dad’s thigh with a fist. ‘Don’t! That’s so …patriarchal.’
‘He might have won. Even with all my magic.’
‘He would have,’ I huff. ‘I wish I could have had had you both.’
‘Me too.’ Lachlan rubs my back comfortingly. ‘Me too, Harper.’
Later, when I’ve pulled myself together, he takes me round the farmhouse and opens every one of the doors that have been closed to me. I see the computer room where a guy with blond curls and a baseball hat on backwards introduces himself as Bo. Lachlan cracks a cheesy grin and says, ‘Our residenttech wizard’, and my heart melts at his dreadful dad joke even as I cringe. Boismagical, but the work he doesat Redhaven is entirely mundane. He’s looking for backdoor routes into the databases and servers supporting the Witchcraft Registration Act.
‘Sure, it’s a federal programme,’ he says. ‘But it was a rush job. There’ll be some weaknesses somewhere. I’m not alone working on this, we’ve folks all over at other secure locations.’
Dad shows me the magical library. ‘Want to add your Starcross to the shelf?’ he asks, and my pulse does a little hop-and-skip of alarm until he guffaws again and shuts the door. ‘No, I sincerely hope that’s safe with your mom.’
