Emma found the white chalk underneath the sofa that she and Amelia had been sitting on earlier, and she wondered if it was a coincidence-If her mother had calculated that she would sit on this chair.
Emma sighed for her lame assumptions, and brought the white chalk to Prescott who was still on the floor, by the paper, muttering words that Emma couldn’t understand.
“Here.”
Prescott looked up then, and not stopping his incantations, collected the chalk from Emma and drew a circle on the bare wooden floor, with a question mark in the middle. Then, he dropped the paper inside the circle. His chanting became louder after that.
Emma took a step back, and knocked shoulders with Amelia who was watching Prescott with fascination.
“I really should have followed you to England…” Amelia muttered, with a pout.
Emma laughed, though subdued, so as not to disturb Prescott. “You can still come. After all, your roommate is back there.”
Amelia shrugged her shoulders. “You know when I had seen her the first time, I had known somehow that she had been related to you. I would have acted on that knowledge if the master had told me that you had a sibling. Thinking of it now, I am glad that he didn’t let me know. I would have tried to capture Freya…”
“And you wouldn’t have succeeded. Freya is strong, and so is her best friend, Yodah.”
“Yeah.” Amelia agreed without a fuss. “They are almost inseparable. I’m not sure how her lifemate would deal with that now.”
Amelia remembered the friends that she had eaten with more times she could count, over the past month. However, all of a sudden, Freya had taken a short leave over a family feud and had disappeared. Family feud really? Her friend was a good liar. But of course, seeing how things had turned out, she understood.
She watched as Prescott stopped his chanting, and raised the paper up, his eyes narrowed in concentration. He turned it sideways, and a smile of admiration blossomed on her lips when she saw the coordinates that were written on it.
“Wow, You did it Prescott! You are the best really.” Emma enthused, bending down to pick the paper.
Prescott did his prideful shrug, before using his short legs to wipe off the chalk on the floor.
“I don’t know what’s there though, at that location, but I am sure that your mother has your best interests in mind. So, what do you think? Should we head over there? Or do you want to return to the witches’ community? Queen Zipfarah would be happy to have you. And your training can commence there.”
Emma bit her lips, stuck between two choices. The witches community was familiar.. She had Lily whom she was sure missed her, and there were the other two twins. Even though she was annoyed with Daniel especially for being a spy, and then disappearing from her life without a trace, they were still familiar. These coordinates were unfamiliar, but they had come from her mother.
Her mother whom she hadn’t met, or the Queen that had warned her of the heartbreak that she would face in the pack?
A phone rang nearby, interrupting the indecision that was ringing in her head.
Quickly, still with the paper, Emma walked over to her backpack and retrieved her phone, relieved when she saw that Annabel was calling.
“Hey, I have been calling you for hours. Where did you keep your phone?” She asked, fiddling with the paper in her hand.
“I’m sorry. I have been sleeping.”
Emma snorted at Annabel’s response causing her friend to laugh.
“But why the many calls? Aren’t you home yet?”
Emma paused, not knowing how to tell her friend what is happening here. She shifted on her feet, looking at Amelia and Prescott, noting the confused expressions on their faces. They didn’t know Annabel. She hadn’t told either of them about the airplane experience. It would explain why they were looking at her with questions in their eyes.
“Where do you stay? Can I see you? It is very important.”
There was a significant pause on the other side. “Emma, are you sure that everything is okay?”
“Not really. I need your help with something. I also need a place to stay. You are good with reading coordinates, and locating places right?”
“Yes. But…”
“Please text me your address. I will be heading over immediately.”
***
“Margo,” Ketura began, pausing to ensure she had her companion’s full attention, “There is something you need to know before we reach the pack.”
Margo turned, her brows knitting together in curiosity. There was also fear in the little widening of her eyes. The note of caution in Keturah’s statement had bred that into existence.
“Sheila is alive. And she has returned to the pack.”
The weight of Keturah’s words hung in the air between them. Margo’s eyes widened, disbelief flashing across her face.
Sheila, long presumed dead, had been a pivotal figure in their past, her loss leaving a void that Margo was still filling. Sheila had been one of the few to understand her, and maybe the only person that wouldn’t judge her if she heard of her affair with Malone.
“Are you sure?” Margo’s voice was barely above a whisper, the shock evident. Keturah nodded solemnly.
“Yes, I saw her with my own eyes. She came with the ancients, and another daughter. Do you remember that kind? We had thought them extinct. But there’s more to it-her emotions are running high at the moment. You know how dangerous that can be.”
The ancients, with their inscrutable powers and ancient wisdom, had always been a double-edged sword. Margo couldn’t help but wonder how Sheila had come in contact with them again. Tempest had told her of Nathan. That was when she had started her research on the old as time beings. Was Nathan back too? How had she found the third daughter?
“Do you think we should still go to the pack?” Keturah’s question lingered, fraught with the implications of what it would mean for them. “We can go tomorrow, seeing that one of the triplets might shift tonight.”
Margo didn’t hesitate for long, her resolve hardening.
“We have to go. I need to know that Esther is alive. That she is hale and hearty. I’m sure Sheila will understand a mother’s concern.”
“Alright then. Let’s hurry up.” Ketura said, a furrow suddenly flaring past her forehead when she saw a figure, having a child’s height, staggering towards them.