I couldn’t look away. The way she said it just made the hairs all over my body stand on end. It was such an eerie feeling sweeping through me.

Ruby cleared her throat. “Jade? Are you okay?”

Jade seemed to come back to her senses and shook her head. “Yes. I’m fine.”

Ruby looked from her to me, and back again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Ruby was still frowning and I wondered what just happened. Did Jade have some kind of episode? I’d seen some of the patients at Mirrabooka stare at a person or off into space for a bit, then act like it didn’t happen.

Ruby cleared her throat again. “Was there anything else you wanted today?”

Jade looked down at the amethyst crystals and it seemed like she was either counting them or trying to remember if there was anything else she wanted. Maybe both.

She looked back up at Ruby. “Oh, hi, Ruby. How are you today? Just these thanks.”

Ruby acted like there was nothing out of the ordinary. “Hi, Jade. How have you been?”

“Fine. Yes. Fine. The kids are fine. I’m fine.”

Ruby smiled and told her the price and Jade gave her a card to pay. She looked up at me again and smiled. “Oh, are you new?”

Tears stung my eyes. “Yes. I’m Maddie.”

Her smile grew. “Hello, Maddie. Nice to meet you.”

She grabbed the crystals that Ruby had put into a bag and said goodbye as she left.

Why was I reacting like this? Was it because there was a baby involved? Maybe that was it. Anything to do with babies or young kids and it made me more emotional.

I wondered who Adelina was. Maybe I looked like her or something. I pushed it all back down into a corner of my heart and locked it away. I couldn’t let myself get emotional like this.

“I’m sorry about that. I’m not sure what she was talking about.”

I tried to smile. “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t fine.

It was strange that I’d had such a strong reaction to a stranger, but I brushed it off. The day wasn’t over yet.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

The shop closed at one on Saturdays, so once Ruby had shown me how to lock up, I grabbed a burger from Herbie’s before jumping on the bus. It wasn’t a bad first day, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Jade and the poor man from yesterday.

It was a long walk up the driveway and I took my time and admired the countryside. I was surprised that the bus driver had dropped me right out the front when it wasn’t actually a bus stop. I wasn’t going to complain.

Anna-Marie came out of the kitchen when she heard me coming in the front door and asked me how it went.

“It was pretty good. Ruby is really nice.”

“Yes. She’s the best — and a really great teacher.”

“I think I’m going to like it there.”

“That’s fantastic. You’ll fit right in here, you’ll see.”

I tensed. I didn’t want to fit right in. I was planning on leaving as soon as I was allowed to go home. Maybe I could still work at the shop and commute from Katoomba.

As I was about to go up to my room, Anna-Marie put a hand on my arm. “I wanted to invite you to come with us to church tomorrow.”

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I frowned. “I’m… not really with any church.”

“Everyone is going—”

“Even Justina?”

I couldn’t imagine that. None of them seemed the church-going type — except maybe Anna-Marie and Ms Grant.

“Yes.”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t worry. It’s not like any other church. It’s actually not a religion at all. We don’t pray or anything. It’s for the Descendants. We use the church as a meeting place for all things related to our little magical community. It’s the best front — the best reason for us to gather in a large group. The Normals don’t suspect anything.”

That made sense. But I still wasn’t keen on the idea.

“It’s called The Descendants of the Faith Church. It’s kind of a play on words. Descendants of the Fae…th. Get it?”

“Oh. Yeah. Clever.”

So Jericho was the leader of this fake church? It seemed like something from a movie.

“So, are you coming?”

I hesitated. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

“It’s a great place to meet other Descendants in the town and learn about all the happenings that relate to magic. It’s really quite interesting.”

What a great way to find out who in the town is actually a Descendant.

“Okay.”

She smiled widely. “That’s great! We’ll be leaving at around half nine.”

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

As we piled into Waratah Estate’s minibus, I was amused to see Justina looking tired and Kellie bouncing around happily like they didn’t get home at 1 am this morning.

Kellie gave me a big smile. “I’m glad you’re coming. It’s a great way to catch up on everything that’s happening in the magical community both here and around the world.”

That made me pause. I’d never stopped to think about that. There were obviously more Descendants out there than our little area of the Blue Mountains in Australia.

“How many portals were there?”

“We think there was five of them throughout the world. The one here in Australia isn’t actually in Sydney. It’s not far from here, in North Richmond. There’s also portals in California, Newcastle in the UK, Germany, and South Africa. And, of course, those people have travelled around over the last few centuries. So there are a lot of Descendants spread out world-wide.”

I thought about that for a while as we drove past paddocks full of sheep or cows. And trees. Lots of trees.

When Tracy parked the minibus, I felt the flutter of nerves in my stomach. I wasn’t sure why I was nervous.

It was strange walking toward a church to attend a meeting that had nothing to do with religion. Everyone was just walking in, so I wondered how the security worked to keep them safe.

I kept my voice low. “How do they stop a Normal coming in here and seeing something they shouldn’t?”

Kaydan walked a bit closer to me. “They’ve secured the building with enchantments that block sound and only allow Descendants to enter. That way, they won’t have a Normal just walk in and hear what we’re talking about or witness any magic being performed.”

“Oh. Okay.”

There was so much I had to learn about all of this stuff.

Kaydan pointed to a woman waiting by the entrance. “You’ll need to see Nancy. She will make it so you are allowed in.”

“How?”

He nudged my arm. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt.”

“What?”

He laughed. “It’s okay. I was just messin’ with ya.” He winked and guided me over to Nancy. “Hi, Nancy. We have a newcomer. This is Maddie. She’s a resident at Waratah.”

She nodded. “Hi, Maddie. Pleased to meet you.” She pulled an expensive-looking pen from her pocket. “Can you give me your left hand?”

I looked to Kaydan and he nodded. “It’s okay. Go ahead.”

I put out my hand and she held it between her cold hands. The symbols she drew on the back of my hand glowed for a few seconds, then faded away. My hand tingled, but looked perfectly normal.

“There you go, dear. Now you can enter the church whenever to need to. Welcome to The Descendants of the Faith Church.”

I returned her smile and thanked her and we walked through the large wooden doors together.

Kaydan bumped my shoulder. “Told you it wouldn’t hurt.”

I bumped him back harder. “Yeah, but when you said that, it made me think it would.”

He chuckled to himself.

“You’re a rat.”

My eyes were drawn to the high ceiling and the artwork that spanned the whole surface, then to the stained-glass windows. It was beautiful. They’d spared no expense.

We found some seats fairly close to the front and as we sat down, Jericho approached the podium. He’d even gone to the trouble of wearing a priest’s garb. It was such a contrast to the casual clothes he was wearing when I met him.

He straightened his robes and fixed his cuffs and cleared his throat before addressing the crowd. All talking immediately stopped and anyone who was still standing quickly found somewhere to sit.

“Welcome to our Sunday meeting. I hope you are all doing well. I’d like to say a special welcome to our newcomers.”

He looked directly at me as he spoke and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.