“Well, it makes sense it would take some time to figure it out, but it means you’re extremely powerful,” my father said with finality. “It took me fifty years to figure out all my strengths and weaknesses. I don’t want you to feel any pressure. I just wanted to try and get a gauge on what we’re dealing with here.”
“Jessica,” James interjected. “Your new power gives you one thing for sure. It ensures that you can defend yourself, and that will be your biggest asset.”
My father nodded. “James is right. That’s the most important piece in all of this, and it’s what will keep you alive.”
“There’s one more thing,” I said. “It concerns Tally and the witches. I told you the witches disappeared, that the circle was dead in the Underworld. But I’m going to let Marcy share what she found out from a witch in Europe. Things might be brewing in Italy.”
My father turned to Marcy. She was perched on the edge of James’s leg. She straightened under his intense gaze. “Jessica’s right. According to the witch I spoke with, there’s been a convergence of supernatural activity in Italy. Florence, to be precise. She told me supes were flocking there by the hundreds. I feel, because of that, it’s a good indication of where my aunt may have gone—either by choice or against her will—but her leaving without sending word, whatever the circumstances, is highly unusual. We are the only true family we have. My feeling is she was taken, kidnapped or worse, and her witches went after her.”
I nodded along. “Tally wouldn’t have broken her word and left us stranded in the Underworld unless something extreme had happened. She’s proven herself loyal.” I glanced around the table. “And I also believe the event of her leaving or being taken coincided with me killing Ardat Lili.”
“You can’t know that for sure,” my father said. “It could be an internal power struggle, witches fighting witches. But, I agree, there is some merit to it. From my understanding, if there’s an open seat on the Coalition to be filled by a particular Sect, the power shift is felt by all in that Sect. I haven’t felt anything yet, but that doesn’t mean we won’t. I suspect, across the board, there will be skirmishes to gain power before the final five supernaturals take their permanent positions. It could be all-out civil war inside each Sect until that final day comes.”
“What do you mean? I thought we were fated to our seat on the Coalition?” I asked, my wolf echoing my sentiments in my mind.
“Fate has something to do with it, and in your case particularly—as there are no other female wolves to fight you. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be powerful female supes vying for a place on the Coalition. No supernatural will step aside willingly if they think it’s their right. Fate can shift, as you’ve now seen firsthand.” He raised his eyebrows. “It’s not infallible. Choices are made, paths shift, and supernaturals will die. Sitting on the Coalition is the ultimate station in our world. Now we know all five will share power, making the entity of the Coalition the strongest supernatural group on earth. We believed they were in stasis all this time—at least I did—but they were clever. A rebirth means all five seats will be filled at once.”
Marcy gasped, slapping her hands on the table. “That’s true! That might be it—the reason my old biddy of an aunt has disappeared.”
“What?” Tyler asked.
“Your father hit on something. My aunt is indisputably the most powerful witch in the world. The power of our Sect lies insider her, so logically, if the seat was open, it would go to her. But there’s bad blood between her and a witch who ascended to godhood. When the previous Mistress of the Covens, our leader, died around four hundred years ago, this witch figured the mantle of our Sect would shift to her, because she was both a witch and a goddess. When it didn’t—and it went to my aunt instead—she lashed out. Tally defeated her, three times to be exact, but she’s always carried a grudge. I can assure you she thinks that seat belongs to her.”
“Who is it?” Danny asked. “Which goddess?”
“Ceres,” Marcy answered.
“Angie the Awful’s sister? The Goddess of Fertility?” I gasped. Angie was the irritating witch who gave us a scooter to escape the sorcerers, knowing it would leave us open and exposed. “I don’t really get it, though. Doesn’t being a goddess trump being a regular witch? Why didn’t the power of the Sect transfer to Ceres?”
“The short answer is the witches never do anything the easy way,” Marcy said. “The long is godhood doesn’t equal total power when it comes to ruling a Sect. Godhood is about immortality, and think about it, once you attain it, you don’t really need a Sect any longer. Sects by definition are formed to make a species strong. Strength in numbers and all that.”