Chapter 28

Despite my firm belief that there was no chance I would be able to sleep, I woke up refreshed and forever grateful that I did not end up back in that cell explaining to Isobel why her curse had failed so spectacularly. After the paramedics and Sheriff Tolan had left, Tilda and I had organized a medical examination of Flora and someone to care for her for the next several weeks, which is how long Doctor Collias believed it would take before Flora was fully recovered. By the time we got back to Tilda's house it was the early hours of the morning, and I'd fallen asleep the second my head hit the pillow. Only a few hours later, in what seemed to be a habit I wanted desperately to break, I found myself wide awake and heading down to the bay. Since coming to this town, I seemed to need this early morning ritual to give me a form of peace, and to deal with the surreal situation I had found myself in. As I sat on the bench, I let myself absorb the peace of the quiet morning and feel rejuvenated to face the day again.

"I thought I'd find you here."

"You know, I would have liked one morning when I wasn't interrupted while enjoying the sunrise," I grumbled as Maude took a seat next to me.

"I'm sure you'd get one if you decided to stay."

I looked back out over the bay. "I'm not sure yet. This has all happened so fast. I just want to take a step back before making such a leap and throwing away the life I have."

Maude snorted. "You forget, Margot and I watched you before we brought you here. We saw you spend your day at work and your evenings at home. Your coworkers would go out, but you never joined them. You seemed to deliberately keep yourself apart from people."

"What are you talking about? You're making it sound as if I was some crazy cat lady with no social life."

"Let's be honest. Socially speaking, crazy cat lady would have been a step up for you." She smiled sadly at me. "And the worst part is that you were kidnapped almost a week ago and nobody has reported you missing yet."

"Nobody?"

Maude shook her head. "I checked before I came out here." She put her hand gently over mine. "I know you lost your mother recently and grief has a way of messing with you, but you've locked yourself away. I'm betting that isn't what she would have wanted for you."

"It isn't," I agreed, remembering the way my mother loved life. "But I don't know whether she would have wanted me involved in this world either."

Maude settled back on the bench. "Look at it as an adventure." She paused as if contemplating what to say next. "I'm sorry I was angry with you last night."

"I understand," I murmured.

"No, I couldn't believe that Isobel would betray us like that, and I didn't believe you. I shouldn't have done that. I spent a long time speaking to Flora. We need to work out what happened. Isobel was the best of us. For her to turn like that has to serve as a wakeup call."

"Do you really think there could be others?"

"I'm sure there is. If Isobel could be turned, anybody could be."

I tipped my head back and enjoyed the slight breeze on my face. "If I was to stay, I'd need a job."

"Then you're lucky that an opening just came up in the coven library."

I grimaced. I understood gallows humor, but I would think that was a bit too soon.

Maude obviously caught my look. "That wasn't an appropriate way to put it, but we are going to need a replacement for Isobel. If she has been hoarding books on dark magic, we need to find them fast, before someone else does. The library has been her domain for the last few decades. The coven needs to know what has been going on, especially as the Conclave will want answers.

I nodded in understanding. I had to admit that despite the circumstances, the opportunity to take control of the coven library was one that tempted me in a way that nothing had in what seemed like a very long time. Maude was right. Since my mother died, I had been pulling further away from life. Maybe this was a chance for me to rejoin the rest of the world.

"So, are you coming back?"

I looked out over the bay and knew that I felt a kind of peace that I had never felt before. "Yeah, I'll be returning once I've packed up everything back home. It shouldn't take long."

"That's good. After talking to Flora, I spent the rest of the night doing some more research on that curse that trapped her." Maude paused but she kept her eyes out on the bay. "To work as well as it did on a coven leader, it would have required a family member to have a hand in it."

I glanced sharply at Maude. "Does she know?"

"I haven't told her yet, but she's going to find out soon. Even though she hasn't had any family for most of her life, the knowledge that one or more of them deliberately cursed her is going to hurt badly." Maude paused and I could feel her eyes appraising me. "You're going to become very important to her."

"Is that something you've seen in the tea leaves, or are you hoping?"

"A bit of both."

"In that case, I need to get home and start packing." I glanced over at Maude who was trying to hide a small smile. "And since you ladies kidnapped me without stopping to grab my purse, I have no identification. That means I can't get on a plane. One of you is going to be driving me home for the next twenty-four hours."

"I'm sure Tilda will be fine with that."

I grinned. "That hardly seems fair considering she's the one who had no part in the kidnapping."

"It won't be the first time she had to clean up one of my messes," Maude said.

"And I'm sure it won't be the last," I murmured.

Maude's expression sobered. "Your future was always destined to be here, Sadie. I knew that from the first moment I saw you."

I looked back out at the bay that had so quickly become the one place in this world that I found peace, and I had a feeling that she was right.