everything…would either of you two care to finally tell us what happened back in Salem?”
“I thought she just did?” Gigi scowled.
“Ma’am,” Savannah hissed and elbowed her. “What is wrong with you?”
I chuckled. “Mom, these are my friends. They saved my life in Salem when I had no memory. Savannah and Gigi.”
She started to put Olli down but he grumbled and whined. She laughed. “Nice to meet you, girls. I will hug you once he lets me put him down.”
Tennessee cleared his throat. “And no, she means when Keltie showed Leyka whatever he needed to see that prompted him to sacrifice himself for us to go with Cronos.”
Mom’s cheeks flushed. She knows.
Uncle Leyka opened his mouth, then shut it. He turned to Keltie.
She smiled and shook her head. “I am the daughter of Cronos—”
“WHAT?” Everyone in The Coven shouted.
“—the demon of time…and therefore the laws of time do not apply quite the same way to me, especially as I am a goddess of the sea of this realm.” Keltie reached up and ran her fingers through Uncle Leyka’s curly hair and my jaw dropped. Her cheeks flushed. “I knew what was coming…when Tegan summoned me, I knew there was only way and that was through Leyka. So, I showed him what he needed to know in order to be willing to sacrifice himself.”
“What was that?”
She tapped her fingers on his chest and a golden yellow crystal heart appeared. Dark red lines spread across his shoulder and down his right arm at the same time as they appeared on Keltie. “I showed him that he is my soulmate…and that if he sacrificed himself then, he would gain an eternity with me. As an angel.”
I gasped. “That’s what you showed him?”
“That’s all it took.” Uncle Leyka grinned. “She also showed me what was going to happen to Saffie and Myrtle, so I knew we’d be together again soon…and we had to save the world.”
I shook my head and leaned into Riah. My mind was blown.
Riah chuckled. “Though your reputation is mysterious among arcana. I suspect that is intentional?”
Uncle Leyka wagged his eyebrows. “Hey, us immortals gotta have a little fun, eh?”
“Speaking of stories…” Henley pursed her red lips. “How was that, with Cronos?”
Uncle Leyka’s eyes darkened and his smile sharpened. “Story for another day, my friends.”
Cooper raised his hand. “Um…speaking of stories, both of you made Tegan and Tenn make oaths to you….so are those oaths fulfilled now?”
I frowned back at them. “What oaths?”
Tegan shrugged. “I promised Keltie back in August that when I found the Book of Shadows I’d find a spell to break her and her sister’s curse.”
“Ah, yes.” Keltie smiled. “I had to fib a little, you know the rules and how that works, Tegan. Saffie is not my sister, but my soulmate’s niece. Sister was merely a figure of speech and since we look similar enough I figured it would get the point across enough for you without me having to say it.”
Tegan nodded. “I figured as much.”
Keltie winked. “And yes, your oath has been fulfilled.”
Cooper pointed to Tennessee. “And his?”
Uncle Leyka held two thumbs up and grinned at Tenn. “Sorry, handsome. You still owe me a favor.”
“But—"
“No but, Cooper,” Tenn said with a sigh. “He is right. I do.”
Bettina cleared her throat and stepped up to stand beside her brother. “If I may, there’s one thing I’m still unsure of…how exactly are we related?”
Mom’s eyes widened. She looked back and forth between Bettina and Tennessee…and then her eyes watered. She stepped forward and cupped Bettina’s cheek with one hand, while still holding Olli. “Hope.”
There was no denying the relation, she looked practically identical to Tennessee. They both had long wavy black hair. They both had an emerald green right eye and a royal blue left one. They both were taller than average and had beautiful tan skin.
Bettina nodded. “Yeah, I’m Hope. But you didn’t remember me when I was here before? When you helped me get my magic out.”
“Angel magic is strong, little one,” Uncle Leyka drawled.
“He’s right. Your mother was not an angel but the magic she wielded may as well have been. I have a lot of magic as Lead Crone, but even that was no match for Ruth —” she gasped. “Wait, I thought I saw Timothy just now—”
“I’m here,” he said in that gravelly rough voice of his.
“I did see you.” Mom grinned so wide her jaw cracked. She sat Olli down and then hurried over to Timothy and hugged him. “I was so