Mathilda, SuperWitch (Mathilda's Book of Shadows #1)(14)

“How is the boy, my dear?” she asked me as she handed me a plate of sandwiches.

“He’s okay, sleeping in the Trunk Room.”

She picked up her wand from the tray and drew a circle in the air, lilac and powder blue pixie dust sprang out, hovering in the air for a moment before Paulina Babcock’s (another member of our coven) face filled it.

“I was just cleaning up, Mavis,” Paulina told her.

“Before you go, Babs, please check on the boy if you don’t mind. He’s in the Trunk Room.”

“Will do.”

Then, poof, the pixie dust and Paulina were gone.

Magic is so cool sometimes.

“Pleased to say that Ms. McShane is safe in her hospital bed for tonight. A very strong but short-lived spell will keep her from harm. How long is she supposed to stay there?”

“Who knows, probably a few days so they can –” I started to answer.

“Pish posh.” Yes, Mavis talks like this, she’s a scream. “We’ll have none of that. I know someone…”

At this point I felt something weird in my stomach, something that was creeping downwards with pinpoint accuracy, something that was warm and melty and a little scary. I looked over at Sebastian and he was not looking out the window anymore but staring at me and…

“Matty, darling, can I please have your attention?”

I jumped when Mavis said my name.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” she said shaking her head at me. “Will you be able to keep your mind on your first Spellbound, I wonder?”

In answer to that, I asked, “What’s The Mathilda Register?”

Mm. Her reaction was intriguing. Her head jerked around toward Sebastian who simply shrugged his shoulders and returned to staring out the window.

We went through the whole rigmarole about who told me what and when.

“Well, it would seem we have to have a conversation earlier than I thought,” she declared.

Then she settled into one of the couches with the chocolate biscuits in her lap.

* * * * *

If getting my first Spellbound then making out with Sebastian wasn’t enough to make it a big night, what Mavis was about to tell me was going to put the frosting on the cake.

* * * * *

Mavis then began.

“You see, nearly a millennia ago, there was a coven of thirteen very powerful witches.” She turned to Sebastian who had moved around to sit on the desk. “Norman times, yes?”

He nodded.

“I think it was 1069, 1070, something like that,” Mavis went on.

“1070,” Sebastian clarified.

It was like watching a tennis match.

Mavis continued, “This coven made a lot of waves, it had significant power and influence. They made so many waves that they attracted attention. Unwanted attention.” This she said in a dire voice. “The coven needed protection.” She stopped, watched me closely then started again, “To protect it, a secret society was born.” Another pause for effect. “Le Société de Mathilde.”

Oh sweet goddess, why me?

Mavis shook her head. “No, my dear, it wasn’t named after you but instead after Mathilde de Flambert. A very, very powerful witch and the high priestess of the coven. She was not even a relative of ours although there were two Honeycutts in that coven.”

Humph.

Mavis kept going. “At first, Le Société was formed only to watch over Mathilde and her circle. But over the years, especially through the dark days, it began to work to guard all witches. It grew, expanded and became strong, powerful and even wealthy. The witches it protected worked and still work, I might add, to return the favor of protection. We’ve managed to be able to transfer bits and pieces of power to our guardians…”

I looked at Sebastian and remembered that night I was out with BecBec and he used the Batman’s Cape Invisibility Glamour.

“But it never lasts long,” she continued. “These men, and women of course, of Le Société often were forced to lay down their homes, their fortunes, their legacies and their very lives to see that we witches were safe.”

“Why on earth would they do that?” I asked.

“Why?” Mavis smiled a private, sad smile and took a moment to answer. “Because you protect the ones you love, my darling.”

I looked at her, I looked at Sebastian, I looked back at her.

“Hunh?”

“The first of Le Société were the husbands of the witches of Mathilde’s coven. It grew and built on the sons and lovers of the witches…”

Holy Spousal Unit, Batman!

“No,” I breathed.

Oh my, oh my.

“Really?” I asked.

“Oh yes, my dear. Where do you think my Otto is?”

Oh my, oh my.

That means…

“Dad?”

My voice cracked, I couldn’t believe it but there she was nodding her head.

“Granddad?”

More nodding.

Fuckity, f**k, f**k.

“Ash?”

“Who’s Ash, darling?”

I pointed at Sebastian and Mavis chuckled.

“But of course. His mother was Isabella Jacobs-Wilding, my dear. A long time family friend.” Mavis smiled somberly at Sebastian and then she said quietly, “I still miss her.”