Tegan, and Koth. The three of them stood in a line, and I pitied the fool who came across them.
Saffie took a deep breath and then licked her lips. She pressed her palms to the ground again and golden glitter swirled through the pentagram. “Louise Bryant. Come to me.”
The fairyflies swirled around again and then that same blue light shot up in a pillar to the sky. The blue haze morphed into another woman wearing a dress similar enough to Elizabeth’s. Her hair was pulled up in a tight bun on top of her head and her eyes turned up slightly at the edges.
“Louise Bryant?”
She blinked, then looked to Saffie. “Yes?”
Saffie held her left hand out, revealing her XIII Mark. “I’m Saraphina Proctor, the —”
“Death Card. I know.” Louise smiled and shook her hand and I spotted a faded V Mark. “How may I help you?”
Saffie took a deep breath. “We’re looking for a note left inside the Hierophant’s locket by Althea Putnam with instructions on how to enter the Seelie Realm. Did you see the note? And did you read it?”
Louise’s eyes widened. “I saw it. I most certainly did not read it. Althea was—”
“Innocent.” Tegan materialized beside Saffie.
“Innocent?” Louise hissed. “Who are you and why do you say such things?”
“I am Tegan Bishop. High Priestess.” She snapped her fingers and Em appeared on the other side of Saffie. “This is my twin sister, Emersyn Bishop. Empress.”
Louise gasped and put her hands to her chest and I just imagined her clutching her pearls. “Twins? You are the second set? Of Salem’s Prophecy?”
“Yes, we are. We fulfilled it and saved everyone, don’t worry.” Tegan smiled and winked. “But Althea and Aurelia were innocent. They were framed by Lilith. They tied themselves to the Gap and let The Coven use their magic to place the temporary seal and hide it. Without them we never would have won. I tell you this so that when you see them in the afterlife…be nice.”
I never thought I’d see a ghost pale…but I did.
Louise nodded her head rapidly. “Of-of course. Thank you for telling me. I…I saw them but I did not engage. I should have. Thank you.”
Tegan smiled. “Now, the note from Althea that we need?”
Louise grimaced. “I am truly sorry. I saw Althea and Seelie and thought that was information best left sealed. But I was the Hierophant immediately after their time, after Elizabeth. The wounds of Salem and The Gathering still haunted us—”
“We set those spirits free,” Tegan whispered, her gaze darting over to Tennessee then Bettina. “Those poor souls are at peace now.”
Louise, the blue ghost who was probably a bit of a mean girl, sighed. “I wish I could be of more service to you, as you have done for me.”
Saffie’s face fell. “It’s okay, Louise. Thank you. Be at peace now.”
Louise vanished.
“Are we gonna have to do that every time?” Emersyn grumbled. “I mean, I will, but damn.”
Tegan opened up the Book of Shadows. “Next Hierophant was Thomas Jacob.”
Oh, a dude. Cool. Obviously Bentley was a male Hierophant but I’d always gathered they weren’t as common. Not that I knew why.
I must have zoned out longer than I realized because all of a sudden there was a glowing blue dude with a pimp cane and a pirate hat standing in front of us. He spun in a circle, eyeing everything around him.
“Oh, hell, is that a dragon?” Thomas hollered and that right there told me this was a southern boy. No yankee could holler like that. This was an East Tennessean and that was the hill I was gon’ die on. “Look at that. Wings and scales and everything. Beautiful.”
Saffie arched one eyebrow. “Thomas Jacob?”
He spun around with a wide grin. “My apologies, ma’am. This is the first time I’ve been summoned. What year is it?”
Saffie blinked. “Umm…”
“2019,” Tegan answered.
Thomas hollered again and it kind of made me homesick. “Fantastic. Did Salem’s Prophecy get fulfilled yet? Because y’all two looking like twins.”
“We are,” Emersyn grumbled.
“We did.” Tegan grinned.
Thomas clapped and whistled. “Wait ‘til I tell my lady. Which reminds me, she won’t take well to me being gone long so how may I be of assistance to The Coven of 2019?”
Saffie narrowed her eyes at him. “There was a note left inside the Hierophant’s locket with instructions on how to get to the Seelie realm.”
“Althea’s note?”
Saffie’s eyes lit up. “YES. Did you see it?”
“Oh, I saw it.” He adjusted his blue glowing cravat. “But I did not read it.”