in the wee hours of these nights, perhaps you'll believe it too."
She'd done plenty of late nights. "I was coding at 3 a.m. Trying to make sure we don't fetch anyone else." Via coding mistakes or anything else. And why or how Beth had been grabbed didn't really change the facts. "We did damage to that poor woman. I hate knowing that."
"It's not the first time." Lauren's quiet words reached every corner of the room.
Adam's whiffling snores were the only sound in the cottage.
"I picked up snippets from their minds. And I remembered some things in the middle of the night. When Jamie and I visited their coven last year, we left a mess behind." Lauren looked around the room, eyes full of regret. "From what I picked up, it sounds like the aftermath was pretty intense. Beth was the circle leader, and we left her with a big plate of upheaval to manage." Her spoon hit the table in frustration. "Not that we realized it then."
Nell wasn't sure she'd ever heard the whole story. It suddenly seemed awfully relevant. "Tell us about your visit."
Lauren sighed. "Honestly - I still don't remember it all that well. I was suffering new-witch angst and Jamie was trying to wrap his arms around life outside of Witch Central. We were pretty self-absorbed." Her regret was clear. "But there aren't many ways to tell people they're magically incompetent and have them like it."
Ouch. Nell had lots of familiarity with Jamie's occasional elephant shoes. "What exactly happened?"
"Maybe his memory is better than mine." The sigh that drifted through the cottage came tinged with mind-witch guilt. "But here's what I do remember. Other than Beth, they're very weak - just whiffs of power. There were people handling the wrong elements, and a couple who weren't even witches, I think."
Oh, crap.
"Jamie fixed it, led them through a simple circle. And then we patted ourselves on the back and walked out and left Beth to clean up the mess." Lauren's hands clenched her mangled pint. "That's twice we've treated her badly."
"You were a two-month-old witch." The picture was starting to form, and Nell didn't like it one bit. "And Jamie was going quietly nuts in Chicago." He didn't belong outside of Witch Central any more than she did. "So my clumsy brother marched in there, turned Beth's life upside down, impressed them all with fancy magic, and then we've ignored her for almost two years."
Lauren nodded. "Yup. That about covers it. Until we kidnapped her."
Yikes. They had some serious atoning to do. And Nell had no idea where to start.
"She'll be coming to us, then." Moira bounced Adam gently as he stirred.
Sophie reached for her son. "Here, I'll feed him and you can explain how you know such things."
Moira transferred the sleeping baby with skill decades in the making. "This is a time of seeking, of journeys underway. A time of moving toward the light. She'll come."
Lauren nodded. "Liri thinks she will."
Well, that beat Irish mysticism as a reliable source. Nell contemplated what she knew of their strange witch. Fire witches hated the cold and the dark - and winter solstice in Chicago probably had plenty of both.
"She'll be wanting training if she comes." Moira segued easily into an Irish lullaby as Adam fussed again.
Something practical she could do. Finally. "Jamie's busy with Kenna right now. If she comes, I can train her."
"I'd like to help." Lauren looked surprisingly determined.
Nell frowned. She had no objections to assistance, but it was an odd request. "You're not a fire witch."
"I know." Lauren looked at her hands. "But she feels like mine."
Nell nodded in assent - she knew the weight of witchy guilt all too well.
The sound of Devin's motorcycle outside brightened the room considerably. Linguine to the rescue. Moira popped off the couch, eyes twinkling. "You sit still, my dears. I'll fetch some plates and a wee handful of forks."
Lauren eyed Nell, one last thing on her mind. "Someone needs to fill Jamie in."
Sigh. "Someone" had been her name far too often lately. "I'll do it."
Soon. She was darned well eating some noodles first.