Union Bound

Twenty-Four Years Ago If this was any other summer day, Sybil would be tending to her garden, ensuring she has plenty of every herb required to keep her stock levels high. Similarly, her six-year-old grandson, Jasper, would be practicing his spells or playing on that damn video game console he insists on using all the time. It certainly looks like a normal summer day. The sun shines brightly and the nearby trees lie dormant with the stagnant heat. But it’s not. Amidst the heat, a dreary emotional cloud covers any hope of a pleasant, typical day. It’s heavy and hangs over the cemetery, cloaking it in despair and making it difficult to breathe. Instead, today marks the start of a new future. One neither Sybil nor Jasper ever saw coming. Neither could predict the gas fire that consumed Jasper’s home the other week, taking his parents—Sybil’s son and daughter-in-law—with it. Tears prick Sybil’s eyes, but she blinks them away, swallowing through her own emotions to revert back to the compassionless woman the coven knows her to be. It’s a guise she perfected many years ago, in a moment similar to this one. When Sybil lost her beloved husband, Dave, she realized how her own mother’s lessons about emotions had been correct. Since she was a young girl, Sybil had often been told emotions could be a witch’s downfall, that feelings of love and adoration for another person ruin a coven. Sybil chose not to heed her mother’s words and fell in love with her husband, after their arranged union, only to lose him much too early. After Dave’s passing, she thought she had also died—at least that’s what it felt like without him. The weeks that followed, nothing, not even the coven, mattered. It was sometime after losing Dave when Sybil realized lying in bed, depressed, is no way to properly manage a coven. Not if she could ensure its prosperity by keeping the coven powerful and pure. Centuries ago, a descendant mated with a shifter, and the child from their union became the first known shifter-witch. Since then, Sybil’s family has forever been plagued with impurity; a fragment of shifter residing within their genes. Throughout her time as leader, all unions will only occur with other witches, to one day, hopefully, purify the bloodline once more. In order to accomplish this though, she needed to ensure that after her husband’s passing, no one else would make her feel as miserable or as helpless that it drove her to neglect her role as coven leader. Which is why in the middle of the cemetery, she puts aside her own grief. Compartmentalizing is a useful tool in handling one’s pain, and in order for Jasper to be the great witch he’s already showing promise to be, he should not see her cry. Amidst her thoughts, Jasper’s voice, low and despondent, speaks, “Why t-them?” His throat moves with his swallow and when he speaks again, his voice is clearer. “Why couldn’t they stop the fire?” “I don’t know,” Sybil murmurs, scanning the caskets in front of her. “I don’t know.” It’s the Goddess’s honest truth. She raised her son to be strong and ensured a union to a formidable woman from another coven, so why were they unable to stop the fire? The humans nearby claimed the fire had gone up so quickly, but still, with their combined magic, they should have been able to stop it. Perhaps they were not as strong as she believed them to be. Why, Goddess, why take them from us? Glancing down at her grandson, she allows one emotion to break through her cold exterior—relief. It eases her tired muscles with the knowledge Jasper is still alive and well, and that he was on his way home from school when the fire had started. According to the humans, he arrived on the scene seconds after the initial blaze. A few minutes earlier and he— Jasper’s shoulders shake as a fresh round of tears fall. “I-I should have b-been able to s-s-s-save them. I tried… I tried to use water magic—the spell Mom had taught me—but it wouldn’t work. It… I failed them.” Her hand drifts to his back and rubs it up and down in a way meant to be soothing and affectionate. “It’s not your fault.” It’s her own, for not raising her son to be stronger—to be quicker with his spells. A strong witch never allows fear to choke their magic. “My magic wouldn’t work,” Jasper continues, his hand lifting to swipe at his face. “It’s like… I don’t know. It just wouldn’t work.” A repetitive thought comes to mind: a strong witch never allows fear to choke their magic. But given Jasper’s age, it makes sense it did. “Grandma?” Jasper blinks, twisting away from the caskets to look up at her. “Help me to never feel like that again. I want to be strong, in case something like this were to happen again. Help me.” It’s as if the Goddess herself shone a light down on the scene, indicating who She wants to assume responsibility of the coven after Sybil. Like her, his emotions are driving him to want to be better, and she would be a horrendous coven leader if she didn’t encourage this strength and see its potential. While a granddaughter had just been born from her other child, Melissa, and she should be who takes over next, given most often it’s females who rule, fate seems to be changing. If Jasper wants to be strong, she’ll allow him to be the strongest—to be a leader amongst his own kind. “Of course,” she says, fighting to keep a smile off her face. “I’ll teach you everything.” “Thank you.” Through clear eyes, Jasper no longer appears a child. It’s as if she can see what he’ll grow up to be—strong, determined, and focused. Jasper not only has promise; he has a plan, and Sybil will ensure his scheme lines up with her own newly-formed ideas. A movement in the distance catches her gaze and she glances up in time to see a few humans beginning to approach. She scowls. Since the deaths were very public, they are unable to perform a witches’ burial out in the woods, and now she’s stuck following human practices. She bends her aging knees until reaching his height. “Jasper, the men need to lower the caskets now. We should go home.” The rest of the coven departed a while ago, leaving Jasper to his grief. Jasper doesn’t move, or even blink, showing no signs of having heard her. “We can return every day if you would like.” After a few seconds, Jasper’s feet move, bringing him a step farther away and he nods once, a seriousness erasing his vacant stare and slack limbs. “Okay.” As they march away, Jasper mumbles, “I will gain enough power one day to ensure I’m never weak again.” Fourteen Years Ago With the impact of the front door being slammed shut, Sybil flinches, nearly stabbing herself with the fork in her hand. She quickly looks up from the dinner roast she’s preparing in time to catch Jasper racing by. He ignores her and instead stomps up the stairs. By the time she trails to the kitchen’s entrance, the sound of his bedroom door slamming ricochets down to her. Before following, her eyes dart to the calendar she has pinned to the wall nearby. Ah, it’s the day. For appearances sake, she pretends to be the caring grandmother he needs her to be, and rushes after him, calling up the stairs, “What is the matter?” She makes it to the top landing and leans in close to his shut door. “Jasper?” Sybil knows exactly what’s wrong though. She weaved the spell herself only a month ago. “The matter is that Sarah sucks. I see why you tell me to stay away from anyone not a witch.” Modernity means living amongst humans, and for Jasper to successfully lead the coven one day, he’ll benefit from a human education—as much as Sybil despises admitting that fact. But being in their lives is one thing, Jasper deciding to bring one into his life meant something had to be done. He’s shown amazing progress since his parents’ death, making it the only benefit of losing them. Jasper has learned the ceremonies, the spells, and what it means to be a witch, but now he needs to learn how to control an entire coven’s worth of power and everything that can be done with it. Two years ago, when Jasper began this human fling—a “relationship,” as he prefers to refer to it—she let him have his fun. Since there’s no witches his age nearby, he needed someone to be a part of all of his first-times. But then, he stopped coming home in the evenings, preferring to spend his time with the human and her friends. Sarah is a distraction, so rather than forbidding him from being with her, a spell seemed more effective. “What did she do now?” Sybil softens her voice, aiming to keep a compassionate tone, not conveying the enthusiasm she actually feels. “Ch-cheated on me.” Humans are selfish creatures, so it was too easy to weave a spell on the poor girl. One that would find her in bed with another boy at the same time Jasper planned on visiting. “I’m sorry, Jasper,” she says, ensuring her voice drips with sympathy. “Maybe this is for the best.” When you love something, losing it makes the whole situation seem worse, but the importance is to use the situations and rebuild from the ashes of heartbreak. Jasper is injured today, but he’ll come out on top, stronger than before. He’ll come out being the leader she needs him to be. “It hurts,” he mutters through the door, scarcely loud enough for her to hear it. “Emotions hurt.” Once again, it’s as if the Goddess is indicating exactly what Her intentions are, for Jasper’s next words have her feeling pleased. “Love hurts,” he says. “Why does it feel like everyone I love goes away? Mom, Dad… Sarah.” He sighs, a sound so desolate, for a second it awakens something inside her. “If I never loved her, this wouldn’t hurt.” He’s correct, and behind the shield of his closed door, she smiles. It’s more beneficial for Jasper to come to these beliefs on his own. “I almost blasted both of them across the world,” he continues, “but I resisted. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe if I did it, I’d feel better right now.” He pauses. “You’ve always helped me, Grandmother.” “Of course.” “Does this pain eventually go away?” “It does, unless you allow it to stick with you,” she tells him truthfully, leaning closer to the door. “Jasper, what Sarah did to you is horrible, but now do you understand what I’ve always told you?” There’s only silence for a few heartbeats, then finally, in a small voice, he recites, “To always place myself first. No one comes before me.” “That’s right,” she affirms. “No one—not even me—should come before you, Jasper.” “Yes, Grandmother,” he responds instantly. Sybil backs away, smiling to herself. One way or another, Sarah would have hurt him anyway. At least now, it’ll be at a time he can use the outcome to better himself. These are merely moments in time that’ll ensure he’s formidable against what his future will hold. Present After staring at Ryder and Carina’s camp for a while, Mary transports herself to the front of the Fortuna mansion. Soon, it’ll be where the Goddess’s plans come together in either harmony or destruction. Three couples. Harlow and Alec’s mating returned Sinclair magic to this world. Carina and Ryder united two warring species. Adalyn and Jasper will be the ones to end it all. There are two conclusions to the Goddess’s plan and it’ll be their relationship ultimately deciding the outcome. It’ll be an interesting couple of months, no matter the result, but what Mary most looks forward to is informing Adalyn, Jasper, and their covens, of the union that will be taking place sooner than either believe, but it’ll be only one of them to fight the inescapable fact.