Glimmerbrook Watch, Present Day
"So... oh wow, is that the time?" Cassie laughed.
"Possibly," Gwen replied with a slight smile.
"We've been talking all morning," Cassie said. "I'm sure you didn't expect such a long story, Mariah."
"Really, I don't mind," Mariah answered. "It's fine... I want to hear everything. If you don't mind, that is."
"Yeah, I only ever got the short version before," Miranda said.
"You were much younger the last time we told you this story," Cassie said.
"Well, I definitely want to hear the rest," Miranda smiled.
"Alright, but right now I need to go to Elixers," Cassie smiled. "I'm supposed to be meeting someone from your mother's production company," she added, nodding at Mariah. "She wants me to look over some new scripts."
"That's cool," Mariah chuckled. "We'll just wait in breathless suspense."
"Not for long," Cassie said. "We'll pick this up after lunch."
"How much are you planning to tell them?" Gwen asked with deceptive mildness as she stepped out onto the porch with Cassie.
"Well, I thought I'd leave off some of the more salacious details," Cassie chuckled, "for the sake of Miranda's delicate sensibilities."
"As if that would bother me," Gwen smiled. "I'm the one who talked to her about sex, remember."
"I remember," Cassie rolled her eyes.
Gwen sobered. "Are you going to tell them about Bella?"
"I think I have to," Cassie said. "The things they've gotten involved in. The things that are coming... they need to know."
"Dangerous secrets," Gwen mused.
"We're witches," Cassie sighed. "Dangerous secrets are our business. You taught me that."
"I need to go," Cassie added with a sigh. "I shouldn't keep whatever poor kid Londyn sent out here waiting at Elixers. It's hard enough bringing these studio people all the way out here. Leave them sitting too long in a place with no Wi-Fi and no cell coverage... they just can't cope."
"Go," Gwen smiled. "We'll be here when you get back."
"I won't be long," Cassie said. "Please... don't turn Mariah into anything while I'm gone."
"I like Mariah," Gwen insisted.
"So, it should be easy for you to not turn her into a pumpkin," Cassie said seriously.
"Go," Gwen laughed.
Sobering, Gwen focused for a moment on the flow of the air, the sound of the nearby brook, the harmonies of the world around her. She felt the clean, warm breath of spring, the distant metallic bite of a car and beyond that...
"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes," Gwenivar Silveroak, Elder Guardian of Glimmerbrook, whispered.
