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Her smile evaporated. “Well, we know all about that, don’t we?”
My mind latched on to the idea. “What can you tell me about the crossroads?” Phaedra had to be one of the most knowledgeable supernaturals in Fairhaven. Her coven has been here for generations, and the Bridger farm stood here longer than the town itself. According toA Complete History of Fairhaven, farmland had been divided and sold off over the years. This farm was all that remained.
“I suspect the crossroads are what drew my coven here in the first place. They sensed the magical energy in Wild Acres. My family kept journals dating back to the first settlement. They chronicled everything, from the failure of the crops to the activity at the crossroads.”
“Activity?”
Phaedra looked at me. “They assigned witches to watch over it in order to learn more. Initially, they didn’t understand what it was, only that it had power.”
“Did you lose any witches to it?”
Her expression turned rueful. “More than one. They walked through never to return. The witches grew cautious and learned to observe from a safe distance.”
“Kane Sullivan says it’s a multi-realm crossroads. Does that match your family’s information?”
“Oh, definitely. For years, they left offerings to see what might come through to claim them.”
“What kind of offerings?”
“They’d vary it. Stones. Food. Plants. After an unfortunate incident involving an angry troll, they decided they’d rather not lure anything through the gateway, so the experiments stopped.”
The witches had acted as scientists.
“They harnessed its power to cast spells too. They’d perform rituals in the woods. Eventually, they realized there was enough energy to power a spell from the farm, so they started conjuring them at home instead.”
“Which was also safer for them, in case something nasty stumbled through the crossroads,” I said.
“Exactly.” She eyed me closely. “You seem very interested in the details.”
“Because it seems incredible to me that none of the supernaturals in this town think it’s wise to assign a guard there. The wolf pack patrols at night, but it isn’t the same as a dedicated schedule.” Responsibility for the crossroads also didn’t belong solely on the Arrowhead pack’s shoulders, but I didn’t want to stir up trouble between groups.
“The witches stopped posting guards after the troll incident. That was centuries ago. The crossroads also drove one of my ancestors mad,” Phaedra said. “She was on guard duty and claimed she could actually see all the roads converge at once.” She shook her head sadly. “It proved too much for her.”
“Was she psychic?”
Phaedra nodded. “Psychics are like left-handed people in my family. Each generation has at least one. As far as I know, that ancestor was the only one driven crazy by the crossroads though.”
“Which one was it in your family?” And why didn’t she glimpse her horrible fate before it happened?
“Me,” she said simply.
Her answer caught me off guard. “You?”
“I try to keep a lid on them. Don’t want to end up insane like my great-great-whoever she was.”
“What are your abilities?”
“Mostly premonitions. Visions.” She swirled her remaining tea around in the cup. “It’s one of the reasons I left Fairhaven. I knew something awful would happen if I was here, which wasn’t a shock given my family’s activities. I stayed away thinking I could prevent the vision from coming true.”
“But then you came back,” I prompted gently.
“I came back.” She lowered her gaze to the cup. “And they all died except me.” Her brow furrowed. “If I’d realized the outcome… I should’ve stayed away.”
The realization hit me. “You thought the vision meant you would be the one to die.”
Phaedra pressed her lips together. “I didn’t think they would kill me. I assumed one of their schemes would result in my death.” She squeezed her eyes closed, as though trying to block the painful memories. “I never expected them to turn on me. Not in a million years. I feel foolish for not seeing them clearly. They showed me who they were over and over, yet I still only saw a fraction of reality.”
“They were your family. That connection will inevitably distort reality.” I paused. “I’m sorry. I didn’t come here to stir up negative feelings.”
