| |
Jade didn’t even see me walk into the room because she was so fixated on whatever was going on outside. I had heard bits of the conversation she and Miss B were having and I wasn’t in the slightest surprised about Jade’s reaction. I was never sure how Jade felt about her parents, but I didn’t think she was sure either. On one hand, they were her parents, but on the other hand... they left without saying goodbye.
Jade was always good at turning off her emotions. That was part of what made Jade such a good leader, but I still worried about her from time to time.
It was one thing to worry about how your actions affected others and worry about other people’s safety (even over your own), but it was an entirely different thing to put that above everything else, even your own well-being. At some point, your well-being had to come before others and I didn’t just mean your safety - your mental health and other things of that nature, too.
Jade obviously never learned how to do that. Or she just didn’t care to learn it.
I sat down beside her as I watched her looking outside.
There was nothing really going on outside - just the leaves changing colors as the world outside prepared to turn to autumn. Autumn was my favorite season and I wished I could go outside to enjoy it, but it was too dangerous to go outside too much, so I was stuck with staying inside and enjoying it from afar.
Jade looked up at me and sighed softly, “I’m not talking to you about reaching out to my parents, too, Nadia.”
“Good because I wasn’t going to even bring that up,” I pouted.
I jumped as Spencer trotted into the room. I knew the look on his face all too well: he had an idea. And probably a really good one. Spencer was usually pretty good at coming up with ideas.
“What do you want, Spencer?” Jade asked with a small yawn.
Spencer pouted a little, “Hey, rude! I just wanted to tell you two that I came up with an idea, but if that’s how you feel about, then...”
“What’s the idea?” I asked with a grin. I loved it when Spencer was in one of his moods like he was now. It was honestly kind of amusing and we all needed more of a reason to laugh these days.
Spencer continued to pout and began to walk away again, “No, I’m not telling you two now. Since I bore Miss Porter so much.”
Jade rolled her eyes, “Spencer. Just tell us.”
Spencer grinned at her as he turned back around to face us.
“We could try to get Serena taken down as High Priestess. I don’t know how it would work, but we could try.”
Jade and I raised an eyebrow at him.
Okay, I take that back. Spencer had a terrible idea this time.
“Spencer, you can’t just ‘take down’ a High Priestess - let alone one like Serena,” I argued, “She was born into the rank and the only way she can be taken down is if she dies, she decides to give her title to her successor, or there’s enough push-back from the coven that she’s forced to resign from being High Priestess. Neither of those will ever happen.”
“Don’t be so discouraged now,” Miss B mused as she walked in, holding two cups of tea. She handed one cup to Jade.
I swear that witch would drink her weight in tea if it was actually possible. She always told me that - if things were different- she would love to open up a cafe, but that, of course, wasn’t possible right now... and possibly never would be.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked Miss B as she sank down in one of the empty chairs.
“Well, while I don’t condone killing anyone, there is the possibility of the other things. Technically, any High Priestess is open for removal from their position if there is a suitable replacement - namely, a child.”
“But there’s not a-” I started.
“A child?” Miss B smiled, “Oh, but there is. Sweet, naive Nadia, surely you’ve come to learn by now that things don’t always go as planned? Especially in Wolf’s Hollow.”
I supposed Miss B was right. But regardless, the leader of the coven was traditionally a woman and I wasn’t sure how we were going to convince enough people to let Priamos (and I say Priamos because he was the oldest) take charge of the coven as High Priest.
Miss B watched the three of us briefly, “If you can talk Priamos into taking the position, I can try to do the rest and get people to vote to remove Serena from High Priestess.”
Spencer looked up at her, alarmed.
“But if you do that,” Spencer protest, “It could cost you your business... or even your life.”
Miss B smiled a little at us, “You’re sacrificing yourselves for this little town. The least I can do is sacrifice myself to help you at least the little bit that I know I can. I should be the least of your worries and you know that just as well as I do.”