Chapter 573: Coven Complete
Sashenka Hensley tossed her heavy suitcase, the last of her belongings, onto the bed and spun in a circle, hugging herself and grinning. I grinned right back, as weird as it felt to have her living in Meira's room.
"This is perfect." My second ran her fingers over the pink walls, her magic sparkling out, tinting the paint as it traveled. A glittering wash converted the shade to a more demure taupe. "Well," she said with a wink, "now it's perfect."
I laughed as her magic completed its course with a final flare, job complete. "I never knew I could do that," I said, possibilities running through my mind. The house could use a spruce up.
Shenka unzipped her bag, tossing the top back. Charlotte's "she" ran one hand over the carefully arranged interior. I shook my head at how neat and orderly Shenka's stuff was, all folded and sorted by color and item. I sprawled on the bed and tried not to think of my little sister's absence as Shenka began removing her clothes from the case.
"Tallah was never happy with how the house looked," she said with an eye roll. Her sister, the leader of the Hensley coven, still wasn't very happy with me. Shenka had been her second, after all. And though I hadn't poached Shenka or anything, my best friend was looking for an out from her family and I was in desperate need of a second of my own.
She'd spent the last several weeks appeasing her sister with one final bout of family time. Though Shenka didn't have the Hensley power anymore, already tied to my coven, Tallah's need to spend time with her sister was one thing I understood completely.
Hurt my heart, knowing my own sister wanted nothing to do with me.
It was nice to have Shenka with us at last. A perfect fit. It still amazed me how easily Shenka integrated into the Hayle family. Everyone loved her. And she really was an excellent second. The way she handled every single person in the coven, with kindness and a personability I lacked, made Tallah's continuing coldness worth it.
"We'll have some fun," Shenka went on, a neat stack of folded t-shirts sliding into her drawer. With another gentle nudge of energy, she transformed the pale pink dresser into a lovely shade of apple green. "You won't recognize the place."
I never really thought about my surroundings all that much. We'd lived here for a long time, years, way longer than we'd ever stayed in one place before. Usually some kind of magical accident would arise to force the family to uproot in the middle of the night and move. But thanks to the dulled interest of the local townsfolk due to the presence of a Sidhe Gate, and the fact the Wild Hunt of the Sidhe slept under the back yard, we were settled in rather permanently.
A change of décor might be just the thing to shake the gloom I'd been feeling about Meira's absence in my life.
"It was lovely of Meira to let me use her room." Shenka kept her tone light, but we both knew "let" had nothing to do with it. After the disaster on Demonicon left Meira aged and addicted to a custom-designed brand of nectar, my sister's whole personality changed. I still worried she blamed me, even though she assured me it wasn't my fault, but hers. Our relationship remained strained and I'd only seen her once since our demon grandmother, Ahbi Sanghamitra, was interred in the Seat volcano after her state funeral.
Christmas. Awkward. She spent the entire time avoiding me. I knew she was under a lot of pressure, now that Dad named her heir to the Ruler throne, but it was a lot more than her new position keeping Meira from connecting with me again. She looked so different, her trips to Demonicon aging her as much as the nectar. Meira might have been eleven, eight years younger than me, but she looked twenty.
Spooky.
I gave her the space she wanted over the holidays and hadn't seen her since. Mom's suggestion Meira attend a European school seemed like a bad idea now. The girl I'd known and loved was gone, disappeared inside an intense young woman who kept her head down and refused to even talk to our demon cat, Sassafras.
Speak of the devil, he hopped his fat cat body onto the bed and sat, curling his fluffy tail around his paws as he observed Shenka's unpacking.
"How tidy," he said. "Syd, take notes."
Smartass cat.
Shenka smiled. "My mother was a neat freak," she said, using magic to float three sweaters on hangers to the walk-in closet, the metal hooks tinkling softly on the bar as they settled. "I guess I take after her."
"Perhaps you could assist Sydlynn with her room." Sassy's tail thrashed. "She's made a mess."
Things had shifted around quite a bit since Shenka signed on. Charlotte, my blonde-again bodywere, once camped in Meira's room as a temporary measure, now had my old room. So odd to walk up the stairs and not turn left, but right. Into Mom's room. Mine, now. Still. As much as I loved the ensuite bathroom, knowing I no longer had to share with anyone, it creeped me out using Mom's old space for my own. But Shenka argued it was the most logical choice of living arrangements and I knew she was right.
"I haven't finished unpacking yet," I said, swiping at Sass who swiped back with one silver paw.
"Ah," he said, amber eyes locked on me. "So that tornado that blew through earlier wasn't your fault?"
Okay, I was a slob. Big freaking deal.
Honestly? I struggled to spend much time in there. The large walk-in still smelled like lilacs, Mom's signature perfume. And so did the bathroom, a constant reminder of the ups and downs Mom and I endured over the years. Made me feel like she watched over my shoulder.
But the worst? She left me a little present, a small bottle of lilac essence with a note:
The Hayle family is in excellent hands.
Love, Mom.
And while I appreciated the sentiment, the bottle went right into the back of a drawer.
Gram burst through the open door, breaking my train of thought, giggling like a mad woman. Well, considering she hadn't completely recovered from her seventeen years in looney land, she really was still kind of crazy.
"Welcome home!" Gram lunged, not for me, but for Shenka, hugging her tight, dancing the laughing second around in a circle before stepping back with a twinkle in her eye. Gram fished in the pocket of her sweater and pulled out-surprise, surprise-two pairs of fuzzy socks. One green, the other deep purple.
I had no idea what Gram's obsession was with fuzzy socks, but I had about a dozen pairs myself courtesy of her. Her own fluffy foot coverings today were bright blue with yellow stripes. Maybe it had to do with the fact they kept her in stealth mode, allowing her to sneak up on people. Her favorite.
Whatever the reason, Shenka smiled with real delight-how did she do that?-and accepted the offered socks.
"Thank you so much, Ethpeal." She sat instantly and slid her own crisp white socks from her feet, choosing the green ones, standing and wiggling her toes when she was done. "They're perfect."
Gram hugged her again while I grinned at the two of them. Shenka and I spent every weekend since she joined the family eight months ago traveling back and forth to Wilding Springs from Harvard, and the effort had really paid off. The coven adored her and, even better, were happy and content with me for once.
Imagine.
The subtle touch of someone entering the back yard triggered an old yearning I thought I'd erased. And though I knew it wasn't Quaid who waited for me there, a sad, pining part of me wished it was.
Always would.
I left Shenka and Gram to visit and unpack, Sassafras staring at me with those penetrating amber eyes of his, as though he knew exactly what I was thinking as I walked downstairs to talk to my visitor.
***
