The Blue Woods (31 page)

My grandparents lived on a narrow side street that wound up a hillside. Their house was at the very end of the lane, two tall willow trees marking their driveway. I stared up as we drove beneath the bending boughs. Was it coincidence that made my mother move from a house with two willow trees to a town named Twin Willows? Or was it destiny?

Nonna and Papa stood on the front step outside the house. I burst out of the car and ran to them. “Ah,
cara mia
, my beautiful Alessia, at last,” Nonna cried as I flung my arms around her. She smelled of fresh-baked bread and Chanel No. 5. I remembered that scent, too, as clearly as I'd remembered the church.

“Welcome home,” Papa said as I gave him a hug too. “Come in, come in.”

Introductions were made as they ushered us inside. Conversation flew in a mixture of Italian and English. The house was bigger than I remembered—what I did remember of it—with two levels and lots of sunlit rooms filled with tastefully old furniture and lots of books. Maybe it was here that my love of writing had been born.

They showed Nerina to a room upstairs. “You and Bree will have to share,” Nonna said to me. “
Bene?
”

“
Bene
.” We followed them back downstairs and across the living room. Nonna opened the door to a large, light-filled room with two daybeds against opposite walls. A thick medallion-patterned rug covered most of the terra-cotta floor, and a little table with two chairs sat beneath the huge half-moon window. “This room has its own bathroom,” Nonna said. “I thought you girls would like that.”

“It's beautiful,” I said. “Have a bed preference, Bree?”

She shrugged and plunked her bag onto the bed nearest her. I moved to the window and looked out. The countryside spread out before us, rolling hills covered in green and brown.

Nonna came next to me and slid her arm around my waist. “You know, this is the room you were born in.”

“It is?” I turned and surveyed the room with fresh attention.

Bree jumped up from the daybed. “Oh, gross,” she said, her lip curling.

Nonna laughed. “Don't worry. We've gotten new furniture since then.”

“Thank
God.
” Bree sat back down and started to pull her boots off. “Do you mind if I take a shower before we meet the
Concilio
?”

“Be my guest,” I said with a glance at Nonna, hoping she'd missed this exchange or at least not thought anything of it.

Bree padded into the bathroom and shut the door.

Nonna, her arm still around my waist, steered me back out through the living room and into the kitchen.

I could tell the instant we walked in that, just like at my home, this room was the heart of the household. Sauce bubbled on the stove, and the long wooden table in the center of the room was covered with food in various states of preparation. Papa sat at the head, drinking a Peroni.

Nonna laid out a plate of antipasto. “Sit. Eat.”

When an Italian grandmother tells you to sit and eat, you obey. I picked up a slice of cheese and a slice of pepperoni from the antipasto plate. They were a thousand times fresher and more delicious than anything we got in Twin Willows, except for what we made on our own farm. Nonna sat at the table next to me, a pile of vegetables waiting to be chopped in front of her. “Your mother told us why you were coming,” Nonna said.

My eyes widened. I looked from her to Papa and back again. “She did? She told you about . . . about . . .”

“The Benandanti?
Sí.
” Nonna put her hand over mine, but that didn't stop the skittering of my heart. “We all know about the Benandanti here in Cividale. It is the fabric of our town.”

Seriously? After all the secrecy I'd been sworn to? It should be the fabric of Twin Willows, but no, we weren't allowed to speak of it there. “That's just . . .” I clenched my jaw. “That's very different from how things are done in my town.”

Nonna laughed. “Your town did not have the Inquisition pounding on its doors. When that happens, everyone—” She bit her lip. “What is the saying about the wagons?”

“Circling the wagons?”

“Ah,
sí
. When the Inquisition came, Cividale circled the wagons.”

“They say the townspeople changed the signs on the road to head the Inquisitors away from the Olive Grove,” Papa said.

“Do you know where it is?”

Nonna shook her head. “We mere mortals do not have access to such things.” She smiled and sliced neatly through a red pepper. “Who needs eternal life? Whatever years God chooses to give me are good enough for me.”

I gazed over her head at the painting of the Virgin Mary that hung on the wall, looking down at the kitchen in benevolent beauty. Her blue robes—celestial blue, the blue of the Benandanti—shone in the lamplight, her tempera crown bright as the sun.
Whatever years God chooses to give me are good enough for me.
Did I have the wisdom to hold such a belief? The serenity to be content with whatever life handed me?

“Your mother also said that she is seeing someone,” Nonna said. I turned my attention back to her. “A man.” She winked at me.

I curled my lip.

“What? You do not like him?”

“No, it's not that.” I sighed. “He's great. We've known him forever. Maybe that's what makes it so weird.”

“Perhaps it would be weird with anyone,” Papa said, “besides your father.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know, I know.”

“Alessia, no one blames you for being upset,” Nonna said. “But be patient with your mother. Being a widow is lonely.”

As angry as I'd been at Lidia, the instant I'd seen her holding that gun at Pratt, I'd known just exactly how far she'd go to protect me. How far her love for me expanded—into infinity. Mr. Salter wasn't going to steal her away from me, and he wasn't going to replace my dad. No one could. “Okay,” I said. “I'll try.”

Nerina strode into the kitchen, her high heels heavy on the terra-cotta floor. “It's time to go.”

I got to my feet and bent over to hug Nonna. “Thank you,” I whispered in her ear. “For having us here, for everything.”

“Nonsense.” Nonna planted a kiss just above my ear. “This is your home.”

Tears stung my eyes as I pulled away from her. She was right. I may not have been here in fifteen years, but this house, this town, felt as much my home as Twin Willows. And more than that, it felt like a refuge. As I moved to leave, Nonna called after me. “Be safe,
cara. In bocca al lupo.
”

I smiled at her and Papa, sitting so calmly at the kitchen table, their hands entwined as if they were teenage lovers. “
Grazie. In bocca al lupo.
” May the wolf hold you in its mouth.

“
Crepi il lupo,
” Nonna said.

I froze. My blood went cold in my veins. I turned. “What did you say?”

“
Crepi il lupo
,” Nonna repeated. “It's the traditional response when someone says
in bocca al lupo
. Didn't you know?”

No, I had never known that. I had never heard the entire exchange; my mother had never taught it to me. Finding my feet again, I followed Nerina out into the chilly night. I mouthed the phrase as we passed under dim streetlights.
Crepi il lupo
.

May the wolf die.

Did Anyone Order an Abbess?

Bree

I barely had time to get out of the shower when Nerina poked her head into the room. “Are you ready to go?”

“Do I look ready?” I spread my arms wide, showing off my towel-wrapped body. “Give me five minutes.”

“Meet us outside.”

The night was pitch-black, no moon, just a smattering of stars, and no city lights to soften the darkness. It was like Twin Willows, but the air here was warmer and gentler. Spring would arrive here a hell of a lot sooner than it would be in Maine.

Nerina and Alessia were already transformed, their auras lighting up the dark like lanterns. I followed them over the hill behind the house. We crested a small ridge, and my breath left my body.

The five members of the Benandanti Clan fanned out in the shallow valley below, and the six other members of the
Concilio Celeste
surrounded them. Nerina lifted into the air and flew down to join them. Alessia kept pace with me, hovering just above my head
. This is a little nerve-racking,
she said.
Meeting them for the first time
.

They won't bite
, I said.
They're probably pretty happy you're here to help
.

Or mad I had to come because I got found out.

That would be a little hypocritical of them, considering everyone in this town knows about the Benandanti.

I know, right?
Alessia did a fancy loop-the-loop.
It's just like the Italians to make up rules for everyone else that they themselves break.

We reached the valley basin. Adamo the Phoenix and Cecilia the Pegasus circled in the air with Nerina. On the land were Magdalena the She-Wolf and two huge White Tigers that Nerina introduced as the brothers Gio and Sal. And there, hovering over them all, was . . .

“Jesus,” I breathed.

No, just Dario,
he answered.

Well, hey . . . the head of the
Concilio
had a sense of humor. I had thought the Malandante Dragon was impressive (and scary as all hell), but Dario blew him out of the water. His scales shimmered red and gold in the darkness, so that he looked like he was on fire. His wings stretched out at least fifteen feet across. He turned his massive head and breathed out a lick of fire. It burst into a ball as bright as the sun, spun for a moment, then extinguished.

Yeah. Good luck to the Malandanti who came up against
that.

There will be no element of surprise tonight,
Dario said.
I am sure they know we are coming. We can only hope that you
—he flicked his tail in my direction—
are all the surprise we need.

Watch where you point that thing,
I said.

I am itching for the
Concilio Argento
to be on the other end of it,
he retorted.

I grinned. A Benandante who wasn't afraid to show a little bloodlust. I think I liked him.

Welcome to our visiting Falcon from Twin Willows.
Dario dropped lower.
We are honored to have you join us
. He swished his tale, leaving a stream of blue light in its wake.
Let us delay no longer. In bocca al lupo!
In his voice, the words were a battle cry instead of a blessing.

As one unit, we flooded the valley. I was dying to see this Olive Grove that was the “source of all things,” as Nerina was so fond of calling it. Dario circled back and hovered over me as I ran alongside the Clan.

Now that I was so close to the site, I could feel my magic opening inside me, and I could feel the Rabbit was there. I could feel that little weasel's presence. My skin itched to meet him in battle again. He was going to pay for what he'd done to my father. I wasn't going to lower myself to his level, but somehow, in some horrible, unspeakable way, he'd pay.

Don't. You are better than that.

I jerked my head up. Dario pumped his wings to climb the air. I was pretty sure I'd had my mind closed . . . but maybe Dario was so anciently powerful that there weren't any barriers he couldn't get through.

I will tell you a secret, Bree, maybe something that Nerina
has never told you during your training. What brought down all the previous mages—what proved to be their ruin—was revenge.
Dario swished his tail.
Their need for that became greater than their need to protect the seven sites. Do not fall
into the same trap.
He flew ahead, catching up with Nerina, their two brilliant halos meshing together as one.

He was right, Nerina hadn't told me that in my training. And it might've been handy to know. Yet another thing to put on the list of Things Nerina Should've Shared.

The Benandanti auras in front of me brightened as the night deepened around us. It was like the freaking circus coming to town. There was no way the Malandanti wouldn't see us coming. I jogged to keep up, my breath coming in little white puffs just beyond my nose. Dario's words swam in my head. I could see his point, but it was also really hard to not want revenge on the asshole who made me kill my dad.

Silver lightning fractured the sky, searing the ground in front of us. The Malandanti burst into view, surrounding us. Up close, their
Concilio
was a scary-ass army of demonic creatures, a mix of Hellhounds that was like a comic book nerd's worst nightmare. I pulled myself out of time and space, popped from inside the circle of Malandanti to outside, and found myself in the shadow of olive trees. These weren't the sacred ones—that site was deeper into the grove—but these at least provided some cover while I assessed what to do.

Dario and the Malandante Dragon screamed at each other, their fire meeting in the air like swords. I whirled out of the way just before a jet of flames blew past me. My eyes watered. I dodged behind a tree, trying to get a good vantage point. There were twelve of them plus the Rabbit, wherever he was, and there were fourteen of us. Plus me. No way were we losing this today. Not on my watch.

As the Benandanti fanned out on the offensive, the Malandanti broke ranks and their circle collapsed. The Harpy tore through the air, heading straight for Nerina. I raised my hands to blast her away, but out of thin air, with the faintest pop, Alessia appeared right in her path.
Ha!
I congratulated myself on finally teaching Alessia that trick.

Before the Harpy could even turn, Alessia latched onto her haunches with her talons. The Harpy yelled, trying to pull away, but Alessia held fast. The Harpy snapped her long beak at Alessia, so close I thought she'd get bitten in half.