The STAR? OH MY GODDESS. He’s in The Coven. Holy SHIT. He’s a Card.
I scooped my jaw up off the ground then shook his hand. “H-hi. Um. I am Savannah Grace. Civilian extraordinaire.”
He chuckled and dropped my hand. “Nice to meet you, Savannah.”
“Um. Yea. Likewise. Wow. A Coven-member, right in front of me. Holy shit.”
He arched one eyebrow and crossed his muscular arms over his chest. “Sounded like you were trying to get one of us in front of you…”
“What? Oh. Right. Yes, I was. But I thought I’d have more time to mentally prepare myself and it’s been a long, long, long, freaky AF night.”
He blinked and nodded. “Okay, well, why don’t you tell me what’s going on that you need us for?”
“Right. About that…” I took a deep breath then exhaled. “It’s about my new friend…I think – I’m pretty positive after last night – that she’s a witch. One of us.”
“All right. And is there a problem? The Coven is happy to help but the tone in your voice when you came in here suggested something was wrong.”
“Saffie has—”
“Saffie?” His eyes widened. “Your friend is Saffie?”
My eyes widened. “You know her?”
“Saraphina Proctor? Red head about this tall,” he said while holding his hand up to show her height level. “That one?”
“YES.” My heart fluttered with excitement. “Holy shit, you know her! Oh my Goddess, she’s going to be so excited someone knows who she is. Is she a witch? One of us? She has a Roman numeral on her arm that matches yours – well, it’s number thirteen not seventeen—”
“Yes.” Cooper held his palms up to stop me from rambling on, but he was smiling. “Saffie is in The Coven—”
“Wait, you knew?” I half-shouted then regained composure. “How could you just leave her here with amnesia—”
“Savannah, please?” He arched one eyebrow. When I sighed and nodded, he continued. “I will explain, but before that, I’d like to know what happened that made you come here today. Can you fill me in?”
“Oh. Right. Okay, I mean, she’s fine, but…” I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to wait, I wanted him to answer my questions and explain how they just left her here. However, I was a civilian and he was in The Coven. His request came first and I needed to play nice. “Okay, so what had happened was…”
Then I told him everything. All of it. I filled him in on what happened to her before I met her, from what she’d told me, and then I told him everything since. I may have left out a few details about the readings because those felt private and I’d let her share those. It only took me a few minutes to tell him but he listened carefully and quietly.
When I was done, he chuckled and shook his head. Then scrubbed his face. “Hell. You did a séance with her. That was a horrible, horrible idea.”
“Why? What did we do?”
He arched one eyebrow at me again, a part of his personality no doubt. “Saffie is the Death Card. Her gift is communication with the dead.”
My jaw dropped. Oh…shit. I hadn’t even thought about that.
“Let me guess, you raised all of Salem’s dead at once?” When I nodded, Cooper cursed. “She was not ready for that. She just got Marked, she hasn’t even been initiated or trained.”
I frowned. “What do you mean she just got Marked?”
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Saffie was Marked the very day she showed up here, merely minutes beforehand. It’s a complicated story because Saffie has a complicated life.”
“I don’t understand, if you knew she’s been here this whole time then why are you just now here?” I licked my lips. “I mean no offense to The Coven, but —”
“But you care for her? I understand.” To my surprise, he smiled like he did know. “The Coven has been in the middle of a war. People were dying, and we had to do our job. Yes, we knew she was here but we also knew someone we trusted was nearby to keep an eye on her. Our war ended yesterday. My sole purpose for being here today was to check on Saffie. My little brother, our Hierophant, told me just moments ago that she lost her memory. He also told me we’re already working on helping her.”
“Oh.” I cursed under my breath. Insert foot in mouth, Savannah. “So can’t you take her back? With The Coven?”
Cooper shook his head, his eyes darkened. “No. The Hierophant has insisted that being with us could hinder her memories from naturally coming back, and I’ve been instructed to keep the truth from her.
“But she’s scared and confused.”
His face fell and I saw pain in those beautiful eyes. “The Coven live dangerous lives, Savannah. We fight demons and other monsters nearly every day, especially right now. Saffie coming with us while she has no memory would be a huge risk both for her and anyone around her.”
“But…but…” I groaned and tugged on my hair. “I don’t like that.”
“Listen, Saffie has been our friend for centuries—"
“Don’t you think that’s an exaggeration?”
Cooper smirked. “I’ll let you take that as you wish. Point is, we care about her deeply. She is very important to us. She’s family to us. We’re trying to help her but we just know a little more than you and we’re asking you to trust us.”
The kitchen door beside me swung open and Gigi rushed in. “Hey, Savannah—”
She gasped – and shifted into her penguin form.
Damn it. I smacked her little penguin shoulder. “All that work,” I whispered.
Gigi squawked then shifted back into her human form. She looked back and forth between us and blinked. “I penguined, didn’t I?”
We nodded.
She cursed. “Sorry, I just was not expecting Mr. Hottie here.”
Cooper’s eyebrows shot to the ceiling. He smirked like he was trying not to laugh.
I groaned and buried my face in my hand. “Gigi. Good Goddess, child.”
She chuckled nervously and waved to him. “Sorry. I’m working on that.”
He shook his head, grinning from ear-to-ear. “It’s perfectly okay.”
I sighed. “G, this is Cooper Bishop, also known as the Star Card in The Coven.”
Gigi gasped. “No shit.”
“Cooper, this is my best friend Gigi, just your household penguin. No big deal.” I shook my head and eyed him. “Cooper here is going to fill you in on the dealio…and then he is going in the living room to explain shit to Saffie. Right, Coop?”
He nodded. “I will tell her what she’s allowed to know, and you two are going to keep the truth to yourselves. For her sake.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Saffie
I sat on the edge of a sofa in front of a thriving fireplace with heat radiating out of it – yet I was frozen to my core. My whole body trembled. My legs bounced as I wrung my hands together. My stomach was tight and tingly. I was waiting for Savannah and Gigi to come back, and not so patiently.