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Tabitha
stalked towards the woman as Cora assessed the situation. The woman
didn’t appear to be aggressive, but things could change very
quickly. It was the men enjoying the free show they had to worry
about.

“
The man, the
naked one, he did a spell.” One man shouted whilst pointing at the
woman, as if they didn’t see what was happening. “He has to be some
sort of witch!”

“
Don’t be
bloody daft, witches don’t exit!” Another man teased as he wobbled
on his feet, throwing the contents of his pint all over his friend
who didn’t bat an eyelid.

“
Gentleman, it
was a trick,” Tabitha assured them.

“
What kind of
trick?”the man, now holding the empty pint glass, asked
sceptically.

“
A trick to
see... whether any of you men would be respectful enough to cover
the lady,” Cora told them. “You all failed,
so...congratulations!”

Tabitha had
neared the woman now. She put her hand on the woman’s shoulder,
Cora realised that they didn’t even know the woman’s
name.

“
Now, come on,
the trick didn’t work. No one helped you.” Tabitha took the woman’s
arm. In the same second that Tabitha made to move the woman, she
opened her mouth to scream.

Cora blinked
and saw Tabitha blow white dust into her face. The scream was
silenced.

As Tabitha led
the woman to the door, Cora turned and smiled at the faces watching
them leave. “Thank you for your help today, and I hope if this
happens again, you can show a little more respect.”

They led the
woman onto the street towards Ciaran who was waiting with a robe.
He wrapped it around the woman before passing her to Ember. “Take
her to the same place.”

Ember nodded
and they walked behind the pub.

“
Well, now that
is dealt with, we can go to the meeting.”

“
Is that the
famous Ben that you’ve had problems with before?” Clay asked as
Cora remembered the problem that was brought up at the meeting in
Edinburgh.

“
Aye, the
same.”

“
Does he always
prefer to do things naked?”

“
Aye,” Ciaran
said with a shake of his head. “It makes things rather
messy.”

Ciaran led
them past the bustle of the pubs, along the cobbles and oddly
shaped buildings that rested against the other. Cora thought it
nice and quaint, it didn’t look like it belonged in a city like
this.

They continued
up the street until they approached the main road. Cora felt the
longing for London. She missed the noise sometimes.

“
This here, it
used to be the castle,” Ciaran explained as they walked across a
car park.

From what Cora
could see, only a tower remained of this castle. The grey stone
tower was connected, or rather sandwiched, between two very
different buildings. One of them looked like a church. The church
building, with its high arched window, was less bespeckled than the
tower. A red bricked building sat cushioned against the other half
of the tower. This was the part they faced.

“
The front of
the castle is located, quite obviously, at the front, with a grass
square to look out on. The grass is a nice area for picnics and
such things in summer.”

“
What is this
now?” Ayden asked, gesturing towards the building.

“
It is the
Garda museum, the police museum to the likes of you,” Ciaran said
with a wry smile.

“
Okay, so how
do we enter?” Ember asked.

Cora knew
where Ember’s train of thought was going. The entrance to the
Edinburgh coven had been rather strange. Cora expected no less now.
It would seem covens went over the top to hide their meeting rooms.
Their coven room was visible from the shop, who had stairs like
that anyway? However, even if someone tried, they would never be
able to make it into their room. The door was hard to get past.
Even Cora struggled with the language sometimes, the foreign words
twisted on her tongue.

“
We walk
through the door, o’course,” Ciaran replied bluntly.

So bluntly
that Cora thought he was joking, until he headed towards the door.
This had to be some sort of trick.

“
What’s the
catch?” Jack asked, as he edged from the door.

“
No catch,” A
woman said as she opened the door. “Welcome to Dublin! I’m Evelyn
Connelly.” Her short blonde hair fluttered in the wind as wide
amber eyes smiled at them. Cora noticed on the right side of
Evelyn’s head that her hair was shaved close to her head. In that
short section, she saw a pattern running through it, it suited
her.

“
We just go
through a door?” Clay asked, just to be clear.

“
Aye, just a
normal door.”

“
But won’t the
Commoners wander in?” Ember looked at Evelyn as they made their way
past a waist high barrier.

“
That won’t be
a problem,” Evelyn told them. “That barrier holds the Commoners at
bay. Only witches can pass.”

Tabitha nodded
her head, satisfied with the answer.

“
Also, certain
Commoners know about us, the important ones anyway,” Evelyn
informed them.

“
What?” Tabitha
barked.

Evelyn
laughed. “Come inside, you have much to learn.”

They followed
Evelyn inside as Ciaran shut the door, leaving them to walk up the
circular steps of the tower.

4

Garda Museum

As they
reached the peak of the stone steps, Evelyn pushed open a door, a
door to what looked like the past. Cora, Tabitha and Ember actually
sighed in envy. Now this was a coven room. The room was
rectangular, impossible Cora knew, because the tower wasn’t.
Windows spanned the entire wall, and stretched from floor to
ceiling, allowing a lovely view of Dublin. The wooden floorboards
were polished so that the majority of the room was reflected back
at them.

A beautiful
floral rug covered the middle of the room, making it appear longer.
Seats were positioned to face one another as the champagne walls
complimented sparkling chandeliers. As Cora inspected the walls,
she had to ask, “Is that real gold?”

Evelyn looked
up. The tips of the columns at the other side of the room were
tipped with what looked like gold swirls. The ceiling also held
patterns that were engraved there.

“
Aye, it’s
pretty, isn’t it?” Evelyn nodded.

Cora nodded
her response. She wouldn’t ask what trickery it took to create such
a room in this kind of building.

“
Please, take a
seat,” Evelyn said, gesturing to the regal blue seating that looked
as soft as pillows. “The others will be here shortly. May I offer
you a drink?”

“
Hot water
would be lovely,” Cora said.

Evelyn didn’t
question such a strange request. Cora nodded at Tabitha who was
already rummaging around in her coat. Cora still felt the shock
whenever Tabitha appeared in Commoner clothing.

Jack sat down
beside her, his hand in hers as the others sat down. They were here
for a reason. They knew that Ciaran would side with them, but to
have the backing of his whole coven was something they would really
appreciate in the long run. Numbers. They needed
numbers.

As Evelyn
rejoined them with the hot water, Ciaran stood to help her. Cora
had become accustomed to Ciaran’s equal standing in her coven, she
sometimes forgot that Evelyn was the leader of the Irish
Coven.

“
Did you hear
of Ben Patrick?” Ciaran asked Evelyn as he helped her.

“
Aye, I heard.
Tabitha and Cora had to bring down the woman he
spelled.”

“
It added
entertainment to a rather normal morning,” Tabitha said as she put
the contents of the chocolate in the hot water.

Ciaran rubbed
his hands together. “I do love your hot chocolate, Tab. I’m afraid
tea and coffee no longer do it for me.”

Tabitha
chuckled as she passed him a cup. The door opened and a man and a
young girl entered. The man was tall, his frame was all muscle. He
carried himself well, broad shoulders, toned arms. The square jaw
added a ruggish charm to an already handsome face. The striking
green of his eyes studied them as he pushed his hand through his
dark mane of hair. His eyes rested longer than necessary on Ember,
before moving to Evelyn. He received a nod from his leader and
smiled.

“
Hello, ma
names Flynn Green, nice to meet you all.”

Flynn’s large
hand filled hers, he shook it firm and steady, making the tips of
his dark hair more around his ears.

“
Hello, Flynn,
I’m Cora and this is my coven. This is Jack, my fiancé.” It still
felt weird saying that.

“
Aye, I heard,
congratulations,” Flynn said with a grin as he shook Jack’s hand
and made his way around the coven.

Cora saw the
look Flynn gave Ember when he was introduced. It was one of a
puppy’s admiration for its owner. Ember had a new admirer and Cora
already felt sorry for Flynn.

“
Lovely to meet
you, Cora, ma name is Kayla Dockery.”

“
Hi,” Cora said
with a smile as she faced the young woman who could have only been
nudging at her thirteenth birthday.

Kayla’s rich
cornflower eyes glimmered beneath a thick curtain of lashes. Full
lips naturally pouted as high defined cheeks bones brought
interesting angles to her face. This was finished off with a mop of
fiery orange hair that curled outrageously around her face. This
was no girl stood in front of them. Kayla’s eyes projected wisdom
only few had.

“
So, what is it
you wanted to discuss today?” Evelyn asked as she sat
down.

Cora took a
deep breath, holding her cup between both her hands for something
to do with them. She began and she explained everything in a clear
voice. Three sets of eyes shot to her stomach area once Cora
explained that part.

“
So, you aren’t
pregnant?” Evelyn interrupted, as shocked amber eyes remained fixed
on her belly.

“
No.”

“
How did you do
it?”

“
I consider
myself to be rather good with potions so that part was okay,”
Tabitha told them.

“
From what I
hear, you are the best potion maker of our kind, Tabitha,” Evelyn
praised.

Tabitha
inclined her head, accepting the compliment graciously. “This
pushed me somewhat, and I really enjoyed the challenge. The potion
is simple, it mimics Cora’s heart beat and escalates it for that of
a foetus. So far, we haven’t needed to up the potions. Cathella has
only viewed the child once, it would not show anything more than a
blurry image of something the size of a thumb nail.”

“
Then I take
over with the appearance,” Ember informed them. “My element is
projection and recently I’ve found I’ve been able to expand on my
powers, so much so, that I’m able to project a baby bump. Cora will
feel the weight as the pregnancy progresses.”

The members of
the Irish coven stared at Cora like she was some sort of
freak.

“
Fascinating.
May we look?” Kayla asked.

Cora looked at
Tabitha.
Do I seriously have to reveal a
stomach I didn’t want in the first place to these
strangers?

Tabitha nodded
so Cora stood and lifted up her top to reveal the small bump. Cora
felt fat, and that was without actually being fat. It was the worst
kind of fat in her opinion.

“
Can I touch
it?” Evelyn asked.

“
Okay, but it
isn’t real,” Cora mumbled.

Evelyn gently
touched her bump. Cora felt it, but it did feel strange. It was
like her stomach was wrapped in cotton wool so she didn’t really
feel it fully.

“
That is
brilliant work,” Flynn whistled.

Cora pulled
her top back into place and sat down.

“
So, you hope
to overthrow Alastair with your plan. What happens if he finds
out?” Flynn asked.

“
He won’t find
out,” Jack stated.

“
It can’t be as
simple as that. You see who Alastair surrounds himself with. The
power in that coven is something else,” Flynn
challenged.

“
The Scottish
coven is nothing in comparison to the Corenthio Coven,” Jack
disputed.

“
What are your
powers?” Eli asked. “You weren’t at the meeting Flynn, neither was
Kayla.”

“
That was ma
decision,” Evelyn said. “I don’t want Alastair to have some sort of
rule over them.”

“
My elemental
power is suggestion. I can plant a thought into a person’s mind,
making them believe they have come up with it,” Flynn told
them.

“
That is one
powerful gift,” Tabitha said.

“
It is, and it
isn’t. I can’t plant large thoughts, and it depends on the person,
how susceptible they are, and what the thought is...”

“
My gift is
geokinesis,” Kayla informed them, “I can control earth based
materials.”