Chapter 23

Once upon a time, when the world was young, animals walked the earth in peace and felt no fear. Species lived beside species, and all was calm. One of these species was called Man, and, called by Man's mind, a Consciousness arrived. This Consciousness was a Goddess, and a God, and Nothing. It was the One, the Many, the All.

One group called Her Sappho.

And as the years passed, and Man evolved, the world lost its innocence and animals lost their calm. Today came about, and Yesterday was gone, but never forgotten. Sappho's daughters remembered, and went about their lives in what peace they could…

Until…

California

"How long?"

"A week."

"She's been missing a week and we hear of it only now?"

"She's smart, Mother, and talented. She left a glamour on a nurse she knocked out. It took them a while to realize it wasn't really her. After leaving the asylum, she went straight to the Conclaves. Once she got out of the bindings we put her under, her power was too strong for the novices on guard that night."

"What did she take?"

"A Grace. Materials for a Binding. And…"

"And what, Daughter?"

"And the Transfer scroll."

"What would she want with a power transferring spell?"

"Remember when she… when she first..."

"Yes. Of course. Goddess, even months after, I still shiver when I think of that poor girl…"

"Well, when we found her, she was muttering a few names. Incoherently, so we thought it was nonsense, remember?"

"Yes."

"I ran the names through our search database. They came up as a quartet of warlocks living in Massachusetts."

"What?!"

"They call themselves the Sons of Ipswich. Descendants of the Salem witches, those who survived the tragedy. Apparently, the power's been diluted until it only passes to males, and they arrive at their full potential upon their eighteenth birthday. Mother, they're only children, really! Seventeen, eighteen, no older."

"So that's what she's after. And that explains why she went after that werewolf child. So she's in Ipswich, then?"

"She must be. One of the boys, Reid Garwin, ascends at 2:32 this morning, Eastern Standard Time."

"That's in- that's in six hours! Very well, gather the Sisters. We're going to Massachusetts."

Ipswich

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?"

"I need the police. My daughter's in trouble."

"Can you be more specific, sir? Is it an immediate issue, or-"

"Just get me the cops, lady."

"May I have your name?"

"Teague. Daniel Teague."

"One moment, Mr. Teague."

"This is Detective Waters, can I help you?"

"Yes. Hello. My name is Daniel Teague. My daughter-"

"You're Kitty Teague's father, right? The girl that went missing? I'm not covering that case, but I can get you in touch with-"

"Well, that's not- That's not exactly the problem."

"What is the problem, Mr. Teague?"

"I just had a phone call from my daughter, from Kat. She said that she was with friends, but that there was something she had to do, and she couldn't tell my anything else. Then she hung up. She sounded… she sounded bad, Mr. Waters. Detective, I mean. I know my girl, and she was scared on that phone. Something's wrong, really wrong."

"You don't think it's just a teenager running away? I've dealt with this kind of thing before, Mr. Teague. I don't think-"

"She said she wasn't hurt, but there was this pause before that makes me think she was lying. She was almost crying at the end, and then she just hung up without any warning. It was like someone wouldn't let her talk any more, or something."

"All right. When did you get this call?"

"About three minutes ago."

"Do you have caller ID?"

"No. We just moved here, and I hadn't gotten around to it."

"Does Kat have a cell phone? Could she have been calling from that?"

"She doesn't have one. Neither of us do."

"How about her friends? You say she told you that she was 'with friends'. Do you know who she hangs out with, who she might go to?"

"I called the people I know that she pals around with when she first went missing. They didn't know anything."

"But they might know something now. Can I have their names, Mr. Teague?"

"Ok, um… Caleb Danvers is one of them, and Sarah… I can't remember her last name. I talked to Caleb, mostly."

"Danvers, eh? All right. Why don't you give him a call, see if he knows anything, and I'll call you back in five?"

"Thank you. Thank you so much, Detective."

"That's fine, Mr. Teague. Go ahead and make that call."

"Ok."

……………

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Caleb, right? Caleb Danvers?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"This is Daniel Teague. Kat's father."

"Oh, shit."

"What?"

"Uh, just a cough. Allergies. What's the news?"

"Well, I was hoping you'd know. Kat just called me."

"She called you? Really? Is she okay?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. She didn't call you, then? You don't know anything about where she is, who she's with?"

"I haven't heard anything, Mr. Teague. None of us have. I'm sorry. Tyler, turn here! No, you missed it! Knight Street, man! Sorry about that, Mr. Teague. What did Kat tell you?"

"Just that she was all right, and that she was with friends. But… she was hiding something, and she said she couldn't come home yet."

"Hmm. I- hang on. Give me that, Ka-Karen. Yeah, 2:32, just like it said back at the house. Well, I didn't want you to rip it up! Ok, Mr. Teague, I'm back. Sorry, again. I don't mean to trivialize this. We're all really worried."

"So am I, son, so am I. I just wanted… I wanted to make sure she wasn't with you guys."

"I wish she were, sir, I really do. Do you want us to do anything for you? Ask around some more, or something?"

"No, that's all right. I talked to the police, and so they might be giving you a call. I'd better go."

"All right. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"…shit."