Page 43 of Wateredge

Seren sure didn’t want it, and yet her aunt’s angst tugged at her. She wanted to shield. To protect. It was the thing she was good at. The thing they all asked of her time and again. The thing Victoria seemed to be asking of her now wasn’t she? Do what you can. Seren nodded, then patted Victoria’s shoulder awkwardly. The conversation had taken a weird turn, and she needed to spin it back around.

“Okay, okay. I mean, I promise. Are we good?”

The smile she received was sly, if a little tremulous around the edges.

“Unlike your sisters, you and I have always been good.”

“Good enough for you to explain why you told Lark about the magic?” Seren was pleased to see her aunt’s gaze lower with what looked like embarrassment. “Was it really necessary?”

Though when the eyes met hers, there was no trace of anything except concern in them. Seren sat up straighter.

“She’s all alone, darling girl. And she is one of us, she’s ours, in ways I cannot yet explain. And in ways I cannot see.”

Seren felt a shiver travel up her spine.

“Did someone walk over your grave just now?” Victoria asked too nonchalantly.

“I never liked that expression. And I feel like I’m having a déjà vu.” Seren pushed the nearly full plate away from herself, regretting the waste. Maybe she would ask her aunt to pack this piece, too. It was delicious, but her stomach was in knots. For Victoria, for herself, for Lark. “And she’s not a witch, I know that for a fact, so what do you mean she’s one of us?”

“Ah, know that for a fact, do you? And how did you manage to accomplish that, dear second-to-last niece of mine?”

Seren blushed. And then felt ridiculous for blushing and blushed all the harder for it. She hoped that in the low, amber light of the kitchen, her aunt would not —

“I don’t think I’ve seen you blush in ages! Rennie, this is wonderful! Did you…” Victoria wiggled her eyebrows.

“I did not sleep with her. Jesus H, Auntie!”

“Too bad for you, both you and her could use some… sexual healing.”

“Oh my god!” Seren knew her tone was scandalized as she dropped her face in her palms, her cheeks flaming.

“Also, do you ever wonder what the H in Jesus’s name stands for? Is it Howard? Because—and bear with me, I am not a biblical scholar—doesn’t it go something along the lines of ‘Howard be thy name’?”

Seren lifted her face slowly, disbelievingly. No way had her aunt just said what she thought she’d heard.

“But also maybe it is Honda, since he never spoke of his own Accord.”

“Oh my god!” Seren said again and all but howled with laughter. “Trust you to talk about someone walking over my grave, about me playing fast and loose with other people’s lives, and then this? His own accord? These are such old, old, overused internet memes! Where do you even find them?”

“Well, I just don’t see him driving a CRV—too much for the son of a carpenter. Though maybe he’d need a truck? For his tools?” Victoria rolled her eyes. “As for memes? Child, jokes used to be shared between people before the machines took over. Socializing, experiencing folks face-to-face, if you will, is the way. At least that’s what some of us old people do. Or will again once your sister plants the damn hydrangeas.”

She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and Seren nearly choked on her breath, then gave in to the merriment. They both laughed till Victoria was wiping tears from her eyes, and Seren’s abs ached. Then she lay down her face on the cool table, spent and pleasantly tired, and asked again.

“So why did you tell Lark about the magic?”

Victoria hiccuped and then shook her head, sobering instantly.

“You really are relentless. It’s a good quality; she will need it. She will need you. Perhaps all four of you. She carries too much pain, Seren. Too much hurt, and while she might not be a witch, she has lived as good as one. Hunted.”

Seren pushed herself back from the table, but her aunt just shook her head.

“Some things you need to ask to get answers to. And others you need to wait to be shared with you. In any case, you’re barking up the wrong tree. She’s helping Ceridwen at the hothouse tonight. Maybe you fancy a trip to the Sky Blue Cliff this evening? Seems like a clear night for stargazing.”

12

LARK, FLOWER CONFESSIONS & GAINING A SISTER

ASTRONOMY RESORT DRIVING NEW BUSINESS INFLUX!