Part 49 (1/2)

”The door that squeaks loudest deserves the most attention,” he said

”What does that evenI just etyour advice, I'm older than you, by about two years, so why you think you can give me it Are you even allowed to drive yet? Trust oes full evil I' on”

We continued down the e was an unusual choice I supposed it had so to do with Trastevere's connection to the mysterious drama of otherkin cultures) ”Tell me,” he said, ”have you ever heard of the Benandanti?”

”Aren't they olves? Lia told rimaced

”She shouldn't have said that The benandanti are indeed olvesbut froe Your friend Asher is one of them, and he was an ailuranthrope His mother was a Benandantus Gaven told me He also told but then you and I weren't speaking It's not iue fro north of here Several tea it The hunter

”But he's clever, whoever he is Always es to elude us Which is why I closed the border Ravenseal othis hen Gaven was Head Wolf He turned them back Didn't knohat to think Apparently, they were co about that?”

”Who was it? Who was it from Ravenseal?” I said

”So down here to Italy, the , okay? Honestly, I was going to anyway There just hasn't been a s settle doe can doany research?”

But it was too late We were at the ca Ro was about to begin I didn't like this new regiht sky, rockets of cypresses overhanging thee pavilion, under which sat a multitude of chairs and tables, and what looked to be a dance floor Great I thinkbutterflies were back I had been so busy haranguing Ballard to tell ht was to address the attendants during a wedding toast Public speaking was not my forte Ballard however seemed entirely at ease He stuck by h the swarms of people and wizards and werebeasts to whisper into his earsso on Gaven's every word

Ballard had transcended His burgeoning self-confidence tee of his own self-worth I envied it is of inadequacy, within er on my level

Wiccans went their separate ways, when theyeach other down their respective rotas It was down in the book After the passage on karether We had to Hive Break up Split apart I hoped I wasn't losing Ballard If he had to stay, after all

He was supposed to go with ue, which was supposedly the Mecca of all Magic, call to o there It here Magic was from, after all

Perhaps my Virtue was I had no choice After all, I was Marked (I al that fact

Regardless that it writhed and twisted up my arm, my Wiccan Mark was set, was it not? I was the last and final Rookmaakerso Risky had said Well, apart from Selwyn Him I needed to rescue I suddenly understood what Ballard had said about being so preoccupied with things My head felt more full than normal

Meanwhile, the Ravenseals were afterinto e that the Ravenseals had co Why had they co away And Gaven had shut them out Why? Did he think they were in cahoots with the Hunter? Ballard had also instinctively called it that

But then I realized who the Ravenseals were in cahoots with The Master House It was said they were recruiting Veruschka Ravenseal, The Master House Although, I couldn't think why I shi+vered

Halsey Ravenseal

Even in my head it sounded like an evasion Know thyself

But as I?

Pachelbel's Canon in D Major startedBallard and I had to hurry to our seats Lia was in one of the tents waiting to corass to the rows of seating, hundreds of figures taking their places, seated before a beautiful hand carved gazebowith intricate figures representing trees, carved into it, dripping Italian yellow jas, even in this ertips tingled with it What I guessed was the proxies

As was customary, the witches and wizards had dressed in various-colored robes, with bright silver sy on them, and had outlandish hair This is what sonized them from the website I had seen But I had questions, and no ansere forthco, all of us Soether

Ballard and I were seated several rows back and to the side of Ballard's mom, as across the aisle fronize but could only be Mr and Mrs Overstreet, Gaven's parents

Mrs Overstreet had her handkerchief ready, while Mr Overstreet (who had endowed Gaven with his incredible good looks) s for his bride-to-be I was pleased to note Gaven was in a tux So a olf

All too soon, theinto The Bridal Chorus, and we all looked back as one A collective gasp as the onlookers beheld Lia for the first ti escorted down the aisle by her father, who placed her hand into Gaven'sher wedding dress was a trail of flowers and gems

Gaven simply radiated triumph

Lia's father took his seat next to Cyno and the nuptials began

I was expecting the same old, sa before Instead of traditional wedding vows, however, Lia had prepared Wiccan ones

When it came time to speak up, or forever hold our peace, Ballard cleared his throat, but whatever it was, he let it pass, and as no ex-flames for either party stepped forward, that was that The minister announced that Gaven could kiss the bride Which he did

There were quite a fehistlesand then just applause, glorious and prolonged, because Gaven and Lia were now husband and wife ”Let no man put asundernor olf neither!” said the et out of hand, as Mistress Genevieve would have said A band had been called in There were a lot of ju children and adults Gaven pulled off Lia's garter and she threw the bouquet They weren't leaving yet, were they? I wanted to have a talk with theo to Tuscany, or the Caribbeanand not to worry about Rome But I knew they wouldn't I had never met two people so fastidious about responsibility

Ballard shook off his shoes, and I watched him, to various whoops, moonwalk his way across the hot coals; they had built a firepit, I Gatti, outside the pomerium, the ancient protective border, which encircled the city, like a protective enchants while the olves were away from Rome?

I had entrusted my motorcycle to the security of Trastevere But it didn't look like there were any olves that could be there They were all here! Volt and Pouch, two younger-looking ones were doing a raucous dance with several teenage girls, who cheered the in with the, yet, any of theed off; and the fireworks started Tarlocks, who had helped build the Gathering, let loose with a barrage of showstoppers The guests all ooh'd and ahh'd The warlocks were showing theot quickly out of hand It was only then that I sa afraid everyone was The tizards were dueling each other for whoever could produce the best pyrotechnical explosion The rockets were being let off by their hands Literally Fireworks erupted from their W's like Wiccan bombardments One Wiccan did this two-handed one which caused the sky to erupt in a blaze of violet stars and his hair to go all white There was a chain reaction of explosions, culiant, ruby-encrusted heart, which floated above our heads, with a golden G & L written into it, for Gaven and Lia, that started burning in the center, like ey into it; and then, with a deafening explosion, which could be heard all around, dinner was served

The guests were seated according to their proclivitieswhich ot put with several werepeoplebut also, a witch, a wizard, andGemma Moonflower She was the first Initiate who had been Chosen at the Gathering Harcort had taken her They were a British coven of witches and wizards; a kord, as was more proper, of ros an buccans I looked, before I could help myself, at Gemma Moonflower's Mark, only to find it covered over When would this io away? I wondered

I hadn't had a decentseveral foreign dishes, with exotic-sounding naled and leaped I assumed were must-haves for certain of Lia's and Gaven'swas hirsute I wondered if this was a olf thinglike Wiccans with their Marks? Was it written on a person what they would beco who he really was?

I settled on a snow pea and arugula salad

Determined to have my share of la dolce vita, I ordered also a rosso, red wine; and for the main courseI looked down the handwritten Italian u, and antipasto ju ses, with a side of porcinisauce ”Very eclectic,” co a face I was too busy ad in the pavilion, at a raised table I recognized Cyno, of course, and her husband, Ji with the Overstreets Ballard was nowhere to be found

Jim and Cyno had known Risky

Soh I knew that Risky was dead; that Risky and the Rookmaakers was a linked phrase, and I should learn itevery in and out, and subtle intricacy of their existences, which had been connected

I took a sip of red wine and plopped a mushroo ress; like when I used to dreaotten to do my homework, at school, and Mistress Genevieve would whack me My appetite was nil Instead I had ed to cross the border into Italy, how had the Hunter been denied? With charms and spells?

Maybe Lia had helped