Quinn Manner

Homecoming to Quinn manner was anything but joyous. Aunt Rihanna stood on the porch with her arms on her hips as if she was ready to berate me into the five hells and then sacrifice me to Morrigan the chooser. The white pillars of the manor porch were a stark contrast to her black dress and furs.

“About time you returned. I see your boy has brought you back, though I don’t suppose you managed to keep yourself in one piece.”

“And what is that suppose to imply?” I snapped, climbing off the sled and unpacking my gear.

“It means that suiters are not going to want a girl like you, if they suspect you have lost your virtue,” a slight lilt slipping into her accent with her anger.

I glanced at Makya, mortification likely burning up my cheeks. “Aunt Rihanna, What suiters could you possibly be worried about out here?”

“The Coven expects you to carry on the bloodline. The Quinn family has been respected for many generations and I will not have you sully the name. your mother tried hard enough to accomplish that by having you on a fateless night.”

I ducked my head and pushed past her, not wanting to make eye contact with her after a comment like that. Makya grunted under his breath but I heard him say before I started up the stairs, “You are wrong about her. She is more than you realize. Or more likely she is more than you care to admit.”

The dogs yipped as they started back for home. I prayed to the mother they would be back for me tomorrow. I wasn’t sure how long I would survive my family before their behavior drove me to murder them in their sleep, or their nagging simply drove me to the woods alone.

The next day, I was surprised to find Agnus, our covens historian and unofficial matchmaker sitting at the breakfast table.

“Ah, come in dear. It is good you are back in one piece. There is someone who will be glad to see you.”

“Me?”

“Yes, we may just have found an auspicious match for you after all.”

“I don’t need a match, thanks.”

“Come now, dear. It is each of our responsibility to make sure the bloodlines of our coven are as strong as they can be.”

“And just how is that suppose to be accomplished? We live in the middle of frozen hell.”

“Yes, dear. We live here to protect you.”

“Me?”

“Your mother moved us here some twenty-five years ago. The world was a dark place then to fulfill an old oath. But after years of fighting, that evil was contained thanks to your parents. I will not deny them that honor. But your mother’s dying breath was more a curse on our coven than anything. We followed her here to battle an evil we all knew must be defeated for the sake of the three-faced mother. Brigit herself commanded it be so and we all accepted that task. But once it was done, your mother insisted on staying here, and birthing you in this place. It was her curse for us to defend you here that has trapped us since, afraid to venture out until you are passed to another’s care.”

“Another’s care? What are you talking about?”

“Arvin Bodolf seeks a bride, and you fit his needs well. After your eighteenth birthday, so long as you continue to be your mortal self, there is no reason to procrastinate any longer. It's not like you have ever shone an aptitude for the craft, unlike your cousins. They at least inherited their mother’s skills.”

“I don’t need to be protected. I get that it was my mother’s wish, and I appreciate what the coven has done for me, but after I turn 18, I am not your problem anymore. You all can leave, and not be burdened by me.”

“It is not that easy missy. Your mother’s magic runs far deeper than that.”

I wondered what my mother may have done that had the whole coven so tangled up over this.

“Make sure you are presentable for dinner, Eileen. Mr. Bodolf will be joining us for supper at 5 p.m. sharp.”

“I suppose that means you will be joining as well?”

“Of course. As will Cassandra, Selene, and Endora.”

Great, so the three coven matrons from hell were coming to dinner. I stuck out my tongue at Agnus and grabbed a handful of jerky before heading outside. It would likely be best to spend the day away from the house if the matrons would be descending on us soon.

Of the three, Selene was my favorite. She was the most connected to the natural order from what I could tell and had always treated me well. She and my mother had been close, as she had been my mother’s right hand. Cassandra was old as sin itself and from what I understood had tried to claim power when my mother had died. Endora, Endora was an odd one of the coven leaders. She seemed to be consumed with finding new potions for everything. I learned early in life to never trust her so-called cures for sickness. One was more likely to end up poisoned than healed when Endora was involved.

I found the large bell we had in the yard and yanked the cord three times, letting out low, peeling tones. If Makya was free, he would come around. Sure enough, about forty minutes later, the sled came into sight with four of the pups pulling it.

“Where are blitz and Aldo?”

“Eris has them in town today.”

“The matrons are coming tonight, so, mind helping me stay out of sight for a while?”

“I have to be back by dusk, but I think we can at least make a loop of the trap lines if you want.”

It was boring work for some, simply checking the close in trap lines for small game like hare and squirrel but we tried to check them often before other preditors got to them.

As the team took off down the well-worn trail, I noticed green light emanating from a tree. I held up a hand and Makya brought the sled to a stop. I hopped off and wandered over to the tree. Carved into the bark was a glyph of the triskele triple spiral overlaid with a triquetra.

“Makya, have you seen this before?”

“My people only have seen them since the coven moved in.  Selene explained to my father that she would mark common trails with glyphs of warding and protection. I assume this is one. Do you see something beyond the carving?”

“Would you believe me if I did?”

“Perhaps. You also saw Stella. Those who see Stella often also see beyond the mortal realm. Besides, your family are witches after all. Even if I cannot see it, I believe that you believe there is something to it.”

“Comforting, I suppose. There is a green glow that I could see from the path. It was faint but any glow in the forest stands out.”

“Eileen, we have traveled this path many times since we were children… you have never noticed such a thing before. Why now?”

“Perhaps because my eighteenth birthday is only a week away now. It’s a witch thing.” I added the last because I could almost feel his skepticism from across the path.

“That’s right! The 21^st falls on the solstice this year! Eileen, it’s the new moon then right?”

“For once, yea. I don’t have to be locked away this year.” There wasn’t much more I could learn from this glyph so I wandered back to the sled. “You said Selene told your father about them?”

“Yes. Many hunters had asked about them. So my father confronted the coven about them. At first, no one wanted to admit anything. But about ten years ago, tension was a bit high. Selene must have decided there was little harm in telling us that these glyphs were not from the devil spirits but were wards against evil. This is something my people can understand and even respect.”

As the day went on and we checked traps, I thought about what my coven might have been telling the tribe over the years. All along the trail, there were indeed signs for protection, but they were weak, and spaced too far apart to offer any real defense against anything. The more I thought about it, the more it looked like some charlatan had gotten lucky in selling real talismans but never knew how they worked, so those who received them just hung them haphazardly around. It would be like locking your front door and putting cameras and motion censors there but then never even closing the back door or bothering to have an alarm or sensor there. Anyone who could actually see the power from these could easily avoid them.

As we came back to the village I looked closer at the street where our coven lived. That purple shield covered the area, but only just. I wondered what it actually did. This might be the only real defense we had against something from the supernatural.

I had to shake myself at that. Was I really now believing everything so easily?