At Henry’s suggestion, we all vacated the General’s small study and convened in the kitchen, where Henry and Eleanor set about making everyone a hot drink.
As I slipped the pack off my shoulders, I heard a tiny whimper. Poor Scar. She’d had quite a night. I approached the General.
“Sorry to bother you, but I don’t suppose you have any leftover food in the fridge, like chicken? For my familiar. She’s hungry.”
He stared at me for a long second, and I didn’t know how he was going to respond, but then a hint of a smile touched his lips. “I’m sure we can find something for such an industrious familiar.”
He found a metal bowl in a cupboard and opened the fridge door. He reached inside and picked at something, and when he turned to me, there were indeed scraps of chicken in the bowl. But when he put the bowl down, Scar backed away from him, the memory of his attack still fresh in her mind. And in mine too. But at the first sniff of chicken, all sins were forgotten, and now she wolfed her reward down. Satisfied that he was forgiven, the General held his hands sheepishly to his torso, then decided to be brave, and bent down to pet her. Scar growled through her teeth, though she didn’t stop eating. Once zapped, twice shy. The General wisely withdrew his hand and backed away to a safe distance. I smothered the impulse to whisper, “Good girl.”
Sylvia gave me a warm hug and kissed both my cheeks in her usual style. “Forgive me,” she said. “Now that everything’s settled, I need to get these old bones off to bed. I haven’t got the energy I used to have you know. You don’t mind, do you, Cat?”
“Not in the least,” I said, but since she had more energy than any other witch I knew, I suspected she had other reasons for making good her escape.
“I’ll see you back at the apartment.” Sylvia glanced over at Henry and then smiled at me meaningfully. “Don’t you be late, now.”
I grinned. “I promise, I won’t. And thank you.”
After hugging Henry, she bid a cordial good-bye to everyone else.
“Let me help you get a Magic Cab,” the General said.
Sylvia shook her head. “Thank you, but no.” She looked around to where Eleanor poured hot water into several mugs. “You belong here with your children. I’ll be fine.”
“Well, if you’re quite sure?”
“I’m a big girl.” She laughed. “And I know my way around.”
Nevertheless, the General gallantly escorted her out of the kitchen and to the Abbey entrance.
Henry slid a mug of warm cocoa my way.
“Thanks.” I smiled at him and pulled the drink toward me, but I didn’t have the strength to bring it to my lips. The night’s excitement had left me fit for nothing but my bed and a long lie-in in the morning. Actually, it was already morning. Oh well.
While the General, Henry, and Victor indulged in genial man-talk, Eleanor sat on the corner of the island and sipped at her drink. I was glad of the opportunity to speak with her alone. At first, she refused to look at me, and I began to wonder if I’d get the chance to say anything. In the end, I decided to just go for it.
“I’m really glad you came, if only so I didn’t have to sing that blessed song again.”
Eleanor stared at me over the rim of her mug, and I could see the thoughts churning away behind her eyes. There was a brief pause, and I began to think she wasn’t going to say anything, but then she put her drink down, and with her usual directness, she came straight to the point.
“I’ll be honest with you, Cat. I thought you were someone I could trust. I don’t mind admitting it hurt to find out I was wrong.”
“I don’t understand?”
She looked around, and apparently satisfied the others weren’t listening, she lowered her voice. “I told you about Victor in confidence. I never expected you to go blabbing about him to Pops.”
The penny dropped. No wonder she’d refused to answer my texts. She thought I’d broken my promise and told the General about Victor. “But I didn’t,” I said. “The first thing I knew about anything was when you and your dad were shouting at each other, and then you ran out of the house and left us. I didn’t tell your dad anything. I have no idea how he heard about Victor, but I swear before Gaia, he never heard it from me.”
Eleanor sat back, dubious, shaking her head.
“It’s the truth,” the General said. It appeared he’d been listening to us after all. “Cat didn’t tell me anything.”
“Then who did?”
“Nobody told me. But it wasn’t hard to figure out. I could smell werewolf in the Abbey. You think a few breath mints and a spray of perfume would fool me? The whole place reeked of him. No offense,” he said to Victor, who had just joined us at the table.
“None taken,” Victor said good-naturedly.
Thank Gaia for that.
“I knew the second I came home he’d been here. I might be old, but that doesn’t make me an idiot.”
Eleanor examined her hands while she thought. After a moment, she nodded and looked up at me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It seemed the most plausible reason. Forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” I said, as a wave of relief gushed through me. “At least now I know what you were thinking. I thought I’d gone mad. Well, mad-er.”
She laughed. “Well then, friends again?”
“Friends,” I echoed. “Is this when we’re supposed to hug?” I didn’t wait for an answer, but leaving my chocolate untouched, I jumped up and squeezed her tight. Eleanor laughed again and hugged me back. I caught a faint whiff of werewolf in her hair. I decided now wasn’t the best time to mention it.
When I sat down again, I stared at my drink. Beyond exhausted, not even the delicious aroma of chocolate could tempt me now. Henry must have noticed my head drooping or something because he crossed the kitchen and picked Scar up off the floor.
“Come on, sleepyhead,” he said to me. “Let’s get you home.”
I rose, grateful, and slipped my pack over my shoulders. Henry planted Scar safely inside, and once she was settled, it was time to say good-bye.
I hugged Eleanor again, and Victor also, though I wasn’t quite ready to be so friendly with the General, not yet. I cordially shook his hand instead. Going by his expression, he preferred this.
“Let me walk you out, son,” the General said to Henry. He raised his palm, ushering Henry and I out ahead of him.
As we reached outside, the cold wind pinched my cheeks, and I pulled my poncho close about me. The sudden gush of air made me feel even more tired than I’d felt before. I longed for my bed.
The General didn’t turn back at the door, but instead he walked out with us as passed the willow and into the cemetery. I didn’t have to be told where we were going. I knew it in my heart.
There was no moon in the sky, but somewhere in the east, a new sun was rising, casting a dull monochrome light around the stone graves. It illuminated the frost on the ground and the delicate spider webs that decorated the graveyard. Everywhere was strangely peaceful.
We stopped at Eleanor Tilney’s grave, and after staring at it thoughtfully for a moment, the General waved a hand over the sod, and the wilting lilies in the pot curled up and bloomed again.
“If only it were so easy to rouse your mother,” the General said to Henry.
My heart was breaking to see him so forlorn. I thought about myself, Eleanor, and Matt. We had each found a love, and in that moment, it seemed so unfair only the General remained alone. Whatever his misgivings, I prayed with all my heart he could find peace.
A light mist swirled around the grave, and then a silvery form rose up from the earth and took shape. Eleanor drifted to her late husband, hovering mere inches from his face. I glanced at Henry, wondering if perhaps he’d broken his own rule just this once and summoned his mother, but he shook his head. I thought about the prayer I’d just uttered. Had I summoned her without realizing it? It was possible. If I had, I hoped the General would forgive me.
“Nell,” the General said. I caught the sob in his voice as years of unshed tears filled his eyes.
Eleanor lifted her spectral finger to his lips, quieting him. She drew close, her eyes dilating. “I love you,” she whispered to the General. Then she floated alongside him, and taking her husband by the hand, the two meandered silently among the quiet graves. Neither gave us a backward glance, but I didn’t expect one. This was their time; they needed no other company. Both seemed at peace.
They disappeared behind the willow, and I turned back to her grave and reread the inscription on the headstone.
“What does it mean, Gaia will atone?” I asked.
At first, Henry didn’t answer, and I didn’t press while he conquered his own emotions. Then he straightened and let out a big sigh, his breath fogging in the chill air. He took my hand. “I never asked him, but I think it means Gaia will atone for taking her from him so soon. At least, that’s what I like to think it means. He’s not as bad as you think. You’ll like him more as you get to know him better.”
Maybe. I didn’t dare answer. Not yet anyway. And then another thought occurred to me. “I wonder why your mother chose me and not you to deliver her song?”
Henry thought for a moment and shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe Dad’s first charm would have prevented me sharing it with the others.” He smiled and pulled me close. “Or maybe she just wanted you in my life. Mothers have their own kind of magic, don’t they? She must have had her reasons.”
“I guess.” I stared across to the willow tree and thought about everything the two had done in the name of love. “I never realized he loved her so much,” I said. “To be honest, I didn’t think he had it in him.”
As Henry gazed down into my face, he brushed the backs of his fingers over my cheek and spoke to me softly. His forehead connected with mine, and our lips were so close I could almost taste him. “He’s a Tilney. When we love a woman, we love them forever. No half measures. It’s ‘til death us do part. Always.”
“I bet you say that to all the witches,” I said.
“No, just this one.”
He leaned down and kissed me, and my heart swelled with joy, thankful to Gaia that my Henry had come back to me. I had never felt so alive among the living or the dead. I was blessed.
***
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