We have a plan, Genie thought with no small amount of trepidation.
The whole Alto ledger business a month ago had taught her a couple of things about plans. The first, and perhaps most important, was that Jenny Poole should never be allowed to make The Plan. The second was something an ex-boyfriend had said a lot: no plan survives contact with the enemy. It was true. Macho and pretentious - like Carlos - but true.
Still, they did have a plan and they had all decided not to wait around to get started. So rather than finding a hotel, Genie and Jenny, accompanied by Etta and Miranda, had caught the last train of the day back to Windenburg.
As the night-shrouded countryside sped by, Genie had wanted to talk to Miranda. To ask her about her months in hiding. About what she was feeling right now. About whether she really imagined a black ball cap and dark glasses concealed her identity.
However, the day was catching up with her, and Genie found herself dozing off instead. The last thing she remembered before sleep claimed her was Etta and Miranda, still awake, silently not meeting each other's eyes.
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"You know, I'm starting to think seriously about getting one of those rail passes," Genie said.
It had been morning when the train finally arrived in Windenburg. Genie felt rested, but stiff and grimy from a night sleeping on the train. No one had objected when she suggested they take the ferry across the bay, go to her house and get cleaned up. Although really, no one had said much at all. The night had done nothing to ease the tension between her companions.
"Yeah, I really think I will," Genie continued brightly, trying to fill the silence. "I mean, with all the traveling I've been doing lately, it just seems like a good idea. Who knows, my editor might even let me expense it."
"Sounds like a good idea," Miranda said, breaking her silence at last. "Genie, if you don't mind, I'm going to take a walk around the grounds. Clear my head."
"Yeah, sure," Genie said. "My family's sprawling estate is your sprawling estate."
"I 'm going to take a walk too... this way," Etta said suddenly, moving in the opposite direction. "I need to call my contact again."
"Oh, OK," Genie nodded.
"Don't fall off a cliff or anything," Jenny muttered darkly at Etta's back.
"OK, I get that they've got issues," Genie said. "But do you have to make it harder?"
"Hey, issues of my own here," Jenny grumbled. "Everyone remembers how Claudette and Max V kidnapped Miranda... but in case you've forgotten they used me to lure her into their little trap and kidnapped me along with her. Something about giving me to the vampires... as a snack! So, yeah, I don't trust her! Why do you?"
"Because she knows it was wrong," Genie said softly. "She knows she screwed up and she's spent the last few years trying to help and protect people. Risking her life to do it. I know that doesn't make up for what she did, but she's trying to be a better person. If we're all only judged by the worst thing we ever did in our lives, if we don't even get a chance to change, we're all screwed."
After a moment, Jenny smiled. "You took a philosophy class at university, didn't you?"
"I might have sat in on one of Mariah's Ethics courses," Genie muttered as she started toward the guest house.
"So, I've got to ask," Jenny said with exaggerated innocence. "Exactly how long have you had this crush on Miranda's wife?"
"I am not having this conversation," Genie groaned. "At least not until I have a clean shirt."
"You do know all your shirts look the same, right?" Jenny pointed out.
"Yes, but the new one will be clean," Genie sighed.
"Dibs on the first shower," Jenny grinned.
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Etta sat alone in the little folly she'd found hidden away behind a small hedge maze. It was nice, she thought. Quiet and pretty and probably very romantic in twilight. She silently thanked whatever gods might listen to a damned soul like hers that it wasn't twilight. She felt confused and conflicted enough as it was.
"You should just tell her," Demarco had said.
Etta had pretended not to know what she was talking about. "Tell her what?"
"Just tell her," Demarco had insisted.
I don't even know what I would say, Etta thought as she looked around the folly. I don't even know what I want to say... to either of you.
"Hey." Miranda's voice, soft and gentle and a little sad, interrupted her thoughts like a thunderbolt.
"Oh, hi," Etta breathed, looking away. "I... I can go somewhere else."
"Don't." Miranda shook her head. "Just... you don't have to..."
There was an uncomfortable silence that lasted the thousand years it took Miranda to cross the open space and sit on the bench beside her. Etta kept herself still and quiet, refusing to react to the proximity of this woman she'd once imagined to be her enemy. Refusing to be aware of how close she was, of the heat of her, almost touching...
"I've been thinking," Miranda said. "Remembering things from back at the Academy. Remembering Shannon."
"I've been thinking about the Academy too," Etta said carefully.
"Do you remember your first day? " Miranda said, warming to the subject. "Meeting Shannon and Elena?"
"I remember," Etta smiled. "They were both from Old Families, with magic going back centuries, and there I was, the first Blackwood witch in generations."
"You and me both, daughters of Lost Families," Miranda smiled.
"I remember thinking Shannon was nice," Etta sighed.
"... but a bit stuck up," Miranda smiled.
Miranda laughed suddenly. "She couldn't even handle a basic cleaning spell, remember. She'd always had the family butler do them."
"I remember you getting me to sneak us into their room the night before the test," Etta smiled. "So you could help her practice that spell. We were up all night and Mr. Collette almost caught us. Twice."
"She passed the test," Miranda smiled proudly.
"Barely, but yes she did," Etta smiled.
"Was any of it real, Claudette? Any of it?" Miranda asked, suddenly sobering.
Etta sighed, closing her eyes. Her father had sent her to the Academy with specific orders. She was to do anything required to get close to the youngest of the Guardians of Glimmerbrook Watch - Miranda Goth. Befriend her, seduce her, confuse her emotions. Lure her away from the protection of the Academy, and finally do everything in her power to help Faust's hired goons kidnap her and hold her until he came for her.
She'd done everything she'd been asked to do.
Why wouldn't she? He father had taught her that the Guardians served the Old Families and the Witches' Council. The Old Families considered the children of the Lost Families, like her, and Ascended witches, like him, to be lesser beings because they couldn't trace their bloodlines back to the High Alfar of old. The Council were oppressive tyrants who used their magic and immortality to rule the mortal world from the shadows. They had to be stopped. That had been his Great Work. She had been so proud to finally be able to help him with it.
Until she'd met Shannon and Elena, and Ms. Anansi and Mr. Collette. And Miranda. Most of all, until she'd met Miranda.
"Yes," Etta whispered. "Some of it was."
----------------------
"Can I help you with anything, Ms. Poole," Stephens asked politely.
Jenny, freshly showered and changed into clean clothes, smiled back at him. "Just checking out the art, really... and you can call me Jenny."
"Of course, Ms. Poole," Stephens replied with a slight grin.
"So, this is Genie and her family," Jenny said, gesturing at the painting. "They're all so... little."
"A family portrait is something of a tradition," Stephens said. "I believe this one was commissioned five years ago."
"Over here, we have the previous generation," Stephens continued, leading Jenny across the room. "I believe this was painted around the beginning of the century."
"That's... my god, is that kid... Max?" Jenny said. It was impossible for her to imagine the vicious but charming gangster Max V as a small boy.
"That is indeed Mr. Maximillian," Stephens replied. "Along with a young Mr. Hugo Villareal on the left and of course Mrs. Elderberry, or Ms. Luna Villareal as she was then, in the center. Behind them is their father, Monsieur Jacques Villareal."
"He doesn't look like an underworld kingpin, does he?" Jenny mused.
"I couldn't comment on such things, Ms. Poole," Stephens said primly.
"And who are these charming fellows?" Jenny asked, moving over to a pair of portraits framing the music room doorway.
"The older gentleman is the late Baron Henry Von Windenburg," Stephens lectured, "and there we have his son, Lord Karl Von Windenburg."
"So, Genie's great-grandfather and..." Jenny pondered.
"Her great-uncle," Stephens supplied. "As I understand it, Lord Karl was lost during the Tomarang War."
"So, wait, is Genie like Lady Genie?" Jenny asked.
"The Von Windenburg title is currently vacant," Stephens explained. "I believe Mr. Hugo Villareal, as the eldest child of the dynasty, has the right to claim it but has chosen not to."
"So, if the Baron here and the cute Lord Karl are Genie's grand-grandfather and great-uncle, and if Jacques Villareal over there is her grandfather, we're missing someone," Jenny pointed out. "There's no portrait of Genie's grandmother anywhere."
"No," Stephens said. "Mrs. Elderberry does not wish to have her mother's portrait displayed."
"Sounds like there's some family drama there," Jenny said, interested.
"I couldn't comment on such things, Ms. Poole," Stephens repeated.
"There you are," Genie called to Jenny as she came into the hall. "And there you guys are..." she added, as Miranda and Etta entered through the main doors. "We all good?"
"I'm great," Jenny said with a wink. "Just ask Orange. He'd tell you, once he stopped blushing."
"We're good," Miranda said with a wry chuckle at Jenny's comment.
"Why wouldn't we be good?" Etta added. Tension still lingered between the two of them, but they seemed to be dealing with it.
"Right, well, let's put this plan into action," Genie said.
"I guess we're going to go charm the charming Baron Charm," Jenny said brightly.
"... and we're going to interview vampires," Genie chuckled. "This should be... interesting."
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