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“Don’t rise to it,”she replied quickly and squeezed my thigh.
With a forced smile and fake cheer, I said, “Great. Forward me the email Elizabeth sent with the information on the family.”
“Now?” Joseph asked.
“Now.” I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and opened up my desktop on it. “I guarantee I’ll have at least one local location for your team to check out by the end of this meeting instead of them just looking up at the sky for a dragon.”
“Watch the attitude.” Alex growled at me, but I wasn’t paying him any attention. The email came through, and I got to work.
“We are all on the same team. Let’s try to remember that,” Elizabeth commented pointlessly.
“Exactly, Elizabeth.” Marianne’s voice brightened. “Thank you for your information. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision to give up your family. But you have decided to join us here, and we’d like to know why.”
I listened to the conversation with one ear as I did what I did best. Tapped and typed and found things.
“I heard you are currently missing your head of witches.” Elizabeth began her pitch. “While Deborah Delaney is a strong witch, her power and, of course, her knowledge comes in second place in comparison to me and my family. I’m offering to support you in your efforts as the head of witches, with the knowledge I have, in order to defeat Fafnir.”
When I lectured her in our last meeting, I hadn’t imagined she’d actually take any of what I said to heart. I definitely didn’t think come here to try to lead the witches.
Joseph cleared his throat before he began, “You are welcome at this table to help us if you have knowledge and power to share. However, the issue of the head of witches is one we won’t be dealing with until Deborah can have a trial and face punishment.”
“Respectfully, I disagree,” Elizabeth replied. My eyebrows rose at the balls of the woman, but my eyes didn’t move from my screen. “Without a leader, witches will be more likely to be swayed and taken to support the wrong side. They need a leader who can forgive them for being misled and encourage them to rejoin the right side and write the wrongs they’ve committed.”
Marianne replied, “We have a substitute leader here in the form of Ingrid Holm. Her family is also very knowledgeable, and their ward currently keeps us safe. The witches are looking to her for guidance at the moment.”
“Which is fantastic. However, no official appointment has come from the council. You are leaving them open to be purchased by extremists, offering them the community and safety you do not.”
“They are safe,” Alex growled.
“Not all of them. There are witches beyond these wards, fearful and looking for help. Someone needs to be on the podium, in the spotlight, guiding them back to us.”
“Why d’you wanna be a council member anyway?” Samuel asked, nothing but curiosity in his voice. But he was the lie detector.
“My family has been in hiding for a very long time. In hiding, we’ve allowed the witch community to be without our knowledge and therefore make mistakes that have cost us all.” She sighed. “I don’t particularly relish the thought of being a council member, but I know it must be done to ensure that the education, history, and rituals of our community aren’t lost or twisted to suit the gain of others.”
“How very cryptic,” Joseph muttered.
“You’ll be required to share a more detailed monthly update on issues within the communities so we can pool resources for resolutions,” Marianne informed her.
“That won’t be a problem. I intend to do a deep dive into the covens and families.”
As the room fell silent and a page took forever to load on my phone, I looked up to see the council exchanging glances, having silent conversations as they deliberated Elizabeth’s request. Finally, they turned back to my birth mother just as my page loaded and I continued my quest.
“Thank you for thinking of the good of the witches. We’ll appoint you as the temporary new leader, but be prepared for pushback,” Marianne told her.
“While Fafnir is out there, pushback from the witches is the least of my worries.”
Isn’t that the truth.I frowned.
Joseph asked, “Do you have any other information you could give us about him? His aim? His powers?”
In my peripheral vision I saw her shake her head. “Although, I have bought diaries from my great-grandmother. She may have written down something that could help us. I started the first one on the flight over.”
“Excellent. Keep us updated. After this is over, stay while we draft your announcement.”
The tension in the room seemed to deflate as I put my phone face down on the table and sat back in my chair. Victorious.
“Mission accomplished,”I told Clawdia, the smugness only in my tone, not on my face.
