The Witching Hour

Chapter 40 - Catharsis

Days passed since the Council meeting, and Ivy was far from figuring out the truth. She couldn't get a hold of her mother, which wasn't uncommon. Occasionally, Gale disappeared and sought refuge in remote places. She and Ivy had done that while growing up in between moving from place to place. Ivy just wished she hadn't chosen now to do it.

"Almost ready?" Marina called from the living room. "Aura and Ella will be waiting on us."

"When are they not?" Ivy poked her head out of the bedroom and shot Marina a mischievous grin.

"Okay, yeah, you're right." Marina giggled, running a hand over her braid. She took a sip of her water and leaned back into the armchair.

Ivy went back to picking out an outfit for the town-wide memorial service. The mayor had caught wind of what had recently transpired, aka Calliope's death, and wanted to honor her – even though it wasn't related to the other murders. He wanted to use her death as a way to mourn everyone who had already passed.

"I always forget about the humans in Malachi," Ivy thought aloud. She slipped on black slacks and pulled a light gray sweater overhead. Her curls popped out of the neckline with a poof, some still getting caught under the edge of it. "It's so easy to sometimes."

"We're all so involved into our own little worlds." Marina's boots padded against the floor. She leaned in the doorway of the bedroom, crossing her arms. "Calliope did a lot for this town, even beyond the magical community."

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked. She spun around to give Marina one last look. She gave Ivy a thumbs up and rolled out of the doorway to let Ivy pass. "I thought most witches stay under wraps."

"No, no, they do." Marina pushed off the wall and grabbed the purse from a side table to sling it over her chest. "Calliope was an art teacher at Malachi Peak High School. She touched a lot of hearts there."

Swiping her black duster from its hanger, Ivy opened the front door to usher them out. "Weird. I never pictured her as an arts teacher. I knew she taught in the coven, but I thought that was it."

"Gotta make a living somehow," Marina said, walking a few steps ahead of Ivy down the hall.

Nodding in agreement, Ivy locked the front door and caught up to Marina. Ivy sent a jolt of power to the hallway's plants in passing. They perked up as she swept by and arched their stems in her direction.

"Someone's getting her powers back," Marina sang. They pulled up to the elevator, and she pushed the ground floor button.

"Slowly but surely." Ivy glowed, her smile beaming. She smoothed down the front of her outfit and played with the corner of her purse. A quiet ding signaled the arrival of the elevator, and the two stepped into it. "It started the day after the Council meeting. My vines started answering me again."

"Have you been drinking the tea?" Marina jolted back as the elevator came to an abrupt stop and steadied herself on the inner railing.

The doors slipped open to the building's small lobby. A few chairs and tables dotted the window lines, but other than that, the entryway was bland and blasé, complete with off-white paint. Ivy rarely hung out down here unless she was killing time to meet one of her sisters. More often than not, she was the one running late so they'd be the ones down there.

"Yes, the tea has been helping, even if it doesn't taste the best." Ivy rolled her eyes and grinned at Marina's motherly smothering. "I drink it twice daily per your instructions."

"It's not going to taste good. Trust me, I tried many variations." Marina opened the lobby's glass door that led to a small set of steps before they arrived at an iron gate. Marina ran her hands down the metal for half a second longer than necessary and tilted her head at Ivy. "How'd Hunter get past these bad boys?"