Page 16 of Sweeter than Honey
“Graceful, Good Hecate,” intones Lavinia loudly, trying to drown out the distracted whispers from the other magical groups. “Bless these proceedings. Give us the strength and wisdom to…tolerate those who may not understand our ways.”
Amara sighs, but joins her in the final chant, along with the other witches. “I close the circle.”
The candles in the large hall flicker brightly. Lavinia lowers her arms, and surveys the hall like a stern schoolteacher.
“Blessed be and good evening to you all,” she says. “I now call this meeting of the Triple Council to order. Thank you for joining us. Although we are meeting at an…unusualtime of day.”
She stares pointedly at us.
I scowl, and hiss to my sister. “This is a waste of time. She doesn’t even want us here.”
“She’s being dramatic,” Celine replies. “They always meet at night. Amrita Vyas is the Morgan coven High Priestess, for god’s sake.”
Amrita, as though summoned by her name, ascends the dais beside Lavinia. Amrita is well-known in the magical community for being something of an anomaly - a vampire who’s also a witch. She ignores Lavinia’s disgruntled expression and overtakes her on the dais.
“It’s so lovely to see everyone together!” she declares, her owl familiar settling down upon her shoulder. She has large eyes and light brown skin that has the tell-tale pallor of a vampire. It’s odd to see a vampire with a witch’s familiar, but Amrita wears her contradictions proudly. She’s a natural leader and addresses the crowd grandly. “Although the past six months have been…trying to say the least, I find it inspiring that we’re all gathered here, as one magical community, dedicated to preserving the peace between our clans.”
Lavinia scowls, the stern lines of her face deepening. “A magical community that is deeplyfracturedat this time, Rita. While I, too, long for a peaceful coexistence - and have worked tirelessly for it! - I find it difficult to believe that we all share that same goal, given recent developments.”
“If you’re referring to the uprising of the Satanic witches,” drawls the evil witch with a pentagram on her forehead. “That was the doing of their power-hungry High Priest, who was swiftly deposed, leaving no lingering threat.”
“And if you’re referring to the attack on Elmwood Academy,” Celine adds. “That was entirely the work of Tudor Thornblade and the wolf shifters, and as he is safely locked up in the Cave, that concern has been managed as well.”
“Don’t you see, Lavinia,” Amara says, optimistically. “Our foes have been vanquished. All of us here represent the magical groups of the northern region, united. There’s no reason to continue to distrust each other.”
“I haveeveryreason to be wary, Amara,” Lavinia responds. The other good witches around the dais mutter in agreement. “Tudor Thornblade proclaimed himself an ally of the Triple Council. It was an incredible shock and betrayal when he attacked Elmwood Academy…”
“Well, youwerespying on him,” Xia mutters loudly. “It couldn’t have been much of a surprise.”
Lavinia ignores her. “And the Satanic witches were quiet fordecadesbefore suddenly rising up in an unprecedented attempt to steal a significant magical artifact. What’s to say that won’t occur again?”
“Oh! I know!” Amrita clasps her hands together. “We need todosomething. Something to bring together all of the magical communities again.”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing with Elmwood Inclusive Magic Academy?” asks Damien.
“Yes, yes.” Amrita waves her hand impatiently. “But that’s done for the summer. I - I mean,we -need something else to focus on!”
“This isn’t a forum for another one of your ridiculous schemes, Amrita,” Lavinia says.
My smart watch buzzes. Grateful for something to distract me, I look down at the screen. It’s too long to read on my watch face, so I pull my phone out of my pocket. I’m glad to see it’s from Lily.
So sorry to bother you,it reads.The Khan wedding was hoping that they could extend their party’s stay for an additional night, but they have the entire left wing booked, and the Women in Engineering conference checks in on that same day-
“Renata,” Celine hisses. “What are you doing? This is important!”
“Thisis important!” I whisper back, typing a quick response to Lily. “The Women in Engineering conference is one of our largest of the entire summer.”
“That’sit!” Amrita says, her sharp ears picking up on our conversation. “Great idea, Renata!”
“What?” I ask, not looking up from my phone screen.
“A conference!” says the vampire-witch, a dreamy look in her eyes. “We should host a conference of all of the witches. The school is great, of course, but it only brings together young magical people. This is a great opportunity to get everyone together to discuss politics and share traditional knowledge!”
The witches look at each other skeptically. None of them want to contradict Amrita, but they don’t appear very eager to work together. Well, except for…
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Amara says, encouragingly. She joins Amrita on the dais, elbowing Lavinia out of the way. “We could schedule it over a weekend, and host a variety of sessions on different magical topics.”
“I’ll do the keynote!” Amrita offers. “And we can have a party!”