Every single woman was amazing, with incredible potential. But who would lead them? And who would she choose now to be the last one? Should she choose from the list given by the Vedea? Or her contest? And how in the hell was she going to get ready to go in time?
The water boiled. Autumn poured her cup almost full to steep and thumbed through the essays. The trouble was there was a good reason each candidate, no matter how wonderful, would not be suitable for High Sister. Ellie Penhaligan, obviously, was no leader—talented though she was, her skill lay in not being seen. Sylvie Shigeru would develop into a fantastic medium, but the High Sister needed to be more rooted with the living than the dead. Her youth aside, Maggie Moreau’s magic, similarly, was too much about leaving this world and not enough about developing and helping it. Siobhan Shigeru was too much of a firecracker. She certainly wouldn’t lack for charisma as she matured, but Autumn needed someone a little more level-headed and neutral.
Nina Bruno was too selfish, too magnetic; the Book would be nearly dangerous in her hands. Eve Pruitt, on the other hand, was the least selfish person Autumn had ever met, and so equally unsuited; the High Sister had to be able to turn away some cases without any guilt, or she would never survive her job. Mave Moreau, who might have been a good fit, despite her lack of training, had done well to confess in her letter that her family would always be her first priority, and Autumn couldn’t ask her to make them secondary for such a demanding position as High Sister. Ana, despite her natural talent and her willingness to cultivate it, was simply not quite powerful enough. And while Ginny Emmerling couldn’t have known Ana was a rival of sorts, her personality and her variety of magic were simply too aggressive; she wasn’t nearly diplomatic enough.
Dottie Davis was a natural follower, not a natural leader. And however holy she had decided her interest in the Book of Shadows was, Autumn knew she would have a lot of negotiating with her Christian spirituality as the years unfolded. Stella Darling, if she could tone down her rage, would have been perfect, if only she hadn’t had her intense affinity for earth. Stella had a natural-born specialization, and to ask her to give that up in order to become a less specialized High Sister would be to deprive the world of a consummate healer. Charlie Solomon, too, was a future specialist, and too much of a gypsy. Settling in Avening and never being able to leave would drive her nuts. Besides, it would never do to have a High Sister who was too psychic. A High Sister had to be able to listen to other things besides people’s secret thoughts.
And now, with only hours to go before she had to finalize her decision, Autumn didn’t have a candidate she felt comfortable selecting, never mind the thirteenth to complete the group. She got up, hearing her knees crack. She muttered a low curse to herself when the phone rang, but she picked up without thinking or remembering the genius of voice mail.
“Hello?”
“Autumn, it’s Sylvie.”
“Oh hello, my dear!” Autumn stretched this way and that before settling in an old wing-backed chair near the fire.
“I hope I haven’t bothered you.” Sylvie was nearly breathless. “I know it’s your day off and everything.”
“Not at all, Sylvie. I was just . . . puttering around.”
“Oh good, because I have a small favor to ask. It’s about a friend of mine.”
Autumn laughed. “A friend, is it?”
“No, really. I’m not giving you the old ‘friend’ line, I promise. I really do have a friend who needs your help. I’ve been trying to get her over to you for ages, and she finally actually said yes. I realize it’s Halloween, but I’m afraid I’ll lose this momentum if I don’t bring her over there. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t totally important. Could you just give us twenty minutes or so?”
Autumn sighed, but she tried to make it shallow enough for her young friend not to notice. The last thing she wanted to do was see anyone today. She really wasn’t up for it emotionally, and she still had a lot to get done. If it were anyone else she would have said no, but it was Sylvie. When she considered what had happened with Piper, Autumn knew, with a little bit of dread, that Sylvie might be the one person she should say good-bye to in person.
“All right, hon. Bring over your mystery friend. But I’m right in the middle of something now, so can you give me a couple of hours? That will give me enough time to get everything finished.”
“Absolutely. Thank you so much, Autumn. See you later.”
“Bye, love,” Autumn answered before clicking off the phone. Two hours would be barely enough time, but at least she could try to finish packing. Autumn sighed and returned to her room. All around her were tasks half finished, things left waiting and relics of her life. How could she simply walk away with so little? Walk away from her life and her friends? She wanted to cry, but her resolve denied her that weakness. No, this was the way it had to be. This was the next part of her journey and she had to take it. Besides, wasn’t she always the adventurous one? Hadn’t she resented her sisters and their far-off escapades to the most magical and mysterious places on earth? No, it was time to go and see what else her life and gifts had to offer. Her work in Avening may not have been completely finished, but it was done.
Soon, her trunk was almost full. Her Sister uniform, which she knew would be the only thing she’d wear going forward, her favorite volumes of poetry, some old philosophical manuscripts, and a few pieces of fiction. She pulled the quilt that lay folded at the foot of her bed; she would certainly take the quilt. All her Sisters had one; they had made them together. Hers was beautiful, a simple Celtic design of richly lush fabrics. What a quilting bee they had had! She remembered how much fun it was to sit together at the frame, each of them sharing stories of their lives. The steady pulling of the needle, the sound of it piercing the delicate fabrics had them all entranced, opened them up and bonded them, even before any of them had attempted any magic. What a smart way to begin things. Yes, it would be good to be with her Sisters again.
Even before she heard the faint press of her doorbell, she knew Sylvie had arrived. Quickly, she unlocked and opened the old oak door. There was Sylvie, looking as beautiful and serene as ever. Beside her was the most magnificent red-haired creature Autumn had ever seen. Who was this electrifying girl? Why had she never seen her before? It seemed impossible. Her skin, how simply marvelous! Light olive, Autumn supposed it would be called, but really, it was the color of bronze and gold combined. And then it hit her. This had to be Molly Moralejo, Sylvie’s best friend, who had patently refused to meet Autumn for the last six months. But Autumn couldn’t imagine how the girl had avoided her her entire life unless this moment, this particular encounter, was some work of fate. She supposed the shock must have registered on her face, because Sylvie’s brow furrowed.
“Autumn? Are you okay? Are we too early or something? We can—”
“No no, come inside.” Autumn ushered them through the door. “You must be Molly, right?” The girl looked surprised, and slightly embarrassed. “Sylvie’s told me so much about you, you could hardly be anyone else. Come on, let’s go to the kitchen and I’ll make some tea.”
Autumn could tell that Molly was impressed with her home as they walked through it. “I love your house, Autumn,” Molly said, sure enough. “It’s amazing. It’s so much bigger than it looks from the street.”
“Yes, I know, I was very lucky to have . . . found it. Let’s have some caffeine, shall we? I’ve been drinking herbal all day, but I think I need a little boost.”
“Thanks, Autumn. Should we sit?” Sylvie asked.
“Please,” Autumn answered as she joined them. “So, Molly, Sylvie tells me you might need some advice. I know we don’t know each other, but I can promise you that whatever you tell me will not leave this room, nor will it be likely to shock me. Sylvie can attest to that, right, love?” Sylvie nodded.
Molly didn’t seem embarrassed, but she did look a little skeptical. “I’ve heard about you from Sylvie. She really likes you and trusts you.”
“Well, the feeling is more than mutual. But I am surprised I’ve never met you before. We always seem to just miss each other. Which is odd, isn’t it?” Autumn looked squarely at Molly, who, to her credit, did not back down from that look.
“Yeah, well. I don’t know. The truth is, I don’t really need any advice. And, well . . . I’ve kind of been avoiding you. I mean, that sounds harsh, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude.”
Sylvie looked at Molly with a rather disapproving head tilt, but Autumn was more than intrigued. “Well, that’s too bad. You seem like a very interesting young lady. I’m sure we would have found some common ground. But now you’re here, and I suppose I’d like to know why.”
Molly waited a beat or two. Autumn could tell the girl didn’t know how she was going to say what she felt compelled to. “I know who you are, Autumn,” she said finally. “I mean, who you are really. I never told Sylvie or anyone else. But I’ve dreamed about you.”
Autumn ran cold with her words. It dawned on her suddenly exactly what was going on, and she threw a silent string of curse words up to the Vedea for keeping this from her.
“The thing is, see, I like my life, you know? I mean . . . um, okay. What do I mean?” She pursed her lips for a moment before continuing. “I’ve always known I was different. Like I would see things and dream things, and they would come true. And I knew that whatever this was was really big, you know? And I knew that it wasn’t normal.” Molly winced a little with these words. Autumn understood what saying them out loud meant. “I would dream about you,” she continued, “and your group from, like, the olden days, and all your magic. But other weird things too, about lightning and clocks and being invisible and about Piper and where she went. It was like I was standing on train tracks, and you were the train, and you were coming. I could have walked down to meet you, but I wanted to wait as long as I could because I knew what would happen. I knew eventually I had to get on that train.”
Sylvie was white, her breath rapidly moving her chest up and down. Molly was calm.
Autumn, more than anything, was relieved. “So, you know who I am. And you know what you will be a part of. I’m just not sure why you waited. I wouldn’t have forced you to do anything you weren’t ready to do.” Autumn could have been annoyed, surely. But she knew enough to know that this was the plan. It had been all along and there was a reason for it.
“Well, I waited because I just wanted to be normal for as long as I could. Go to parties and drink too much and hook up with random guys and be irresponsible. I wanted to have as much of ordinary as I could before I joined the dark side,” Molly said with a straight face.
“You don’t really think I’m part of the dark side?” Autumn felt her eyebrows raise.
“No, no. I was kidding. You know what I mean. It’s not just something you can stick a toe into. Right? I mean, once the curtain’s lifted, you can’t go back and pretend you never saw the wizard.” Molly’s face broke into a grin, which faded almost immediately. “In a few moments you’re going to make me an offer, right? And then my life won’t ever be the same. And it’s cool, and I’m looking forward to what will happen. I just didn’t want it to happen right away. I wasn’t ready. And I don’t think you were ready either. Or else why have this contest, right? I mean, if you’d been ready, you would have known all about me. You would have just come to get me.” Molly leaned back in her chair. “Although I admit that I did as much as I could to make sure you didn’t notice me. But it doesn’t matter, right, because here I am.”
“For fuck’s sake, Molly!” Sylvie suddenly chimed in with enough anxiety to startle the both of them. “You could have told me, at least!”
Autumn felt for her at that moment. For all Sylvie knew, here was yet another person who was going ahead without her to a place she couldn’t follow.
“No, I couldn’t,” Molly told her friend, her voice almost apologetic. “Because it would have gotten to you, and then Autumn would have picked up on it. I didn’t tell anyone. I’m sorry. Don’t be mad. Besides, you’re—”
Autumn stood, stopping Molly in mid-sentence. She had said quite enough, and Autumn needed to talk to her to find out exactly how much she did know before she spilled anything else.
“Molly, I’d like you to come with me. Sylvie, help yourself to some tea. And go ahead into the store and get whatever you like, as much as you want. It’s on me.”
Sylvie frowned, looking at Molly, knowing she needed to leave her friend and clearly not wanting to. “Really?” she asked uncertainly.
“Absolutely.”
Sylvie nodded and got up, and Autumn led Molly up the stairs and into her bedroom. Molly sat herself down on a chair in the corner of the room, but said nothing. Autumn sat on her bed, across from Molly, and closed her eyes, holding out both her palms. She felt a sudden slight breeze, and she felt Molly realizing it was she, Autumn, creating the breeze.
The whole world seemed to stop in that moment. Autumn imagined babies soothed and thirteen-year-old girls happy with their mothers and cars turning off and factory production lines slowing to a crawl. And then from the stillness, the sound of paper. Autumn’s journal was floating off the tall bookstand and through the air until it rested comfortably in Molly’s lap.
“Holy shit,” Molly said.
“Holy, indeed. So you know already I’m going to offer you my journal?”
“Yes. I mean, I saw an offer, but I didn’t see the book.” She shook her head and her red curls tumbled. “That was insane! You, like, make things, like, move? Through the air?”
“So,” Autumn said, feeling the need to invest the moment with some ceremony. “I give you this book. It goes through not only my life, but also the initiate lessons you will all need to master before moving on. By the time you are ready to begin, you will have a head start on the others, so don’t worry. You’ll be able to teach them.”