Katrina was torn. Did she leave or did she stay and risk getting caught? She wasn’t sure which was worse, Coal catching her alone again or her mother knowing she’d been here. Oh who was she kidding? There was no way she was missing this conversation. She spun around and then inched as near as she dared to the full length windows bordering the door. Coal’s voice came floating out through it.

“To what do I owe the pleasure? And have you heard of knocking?”

Katrina heard her mother answer.

“The door was unlocked. That seemed invitation enough.” Amanda wasted only a little time on the banter. “What’s your plan with the house? You said you had people?”

“They’ll be here tomorrow morning.”

“At the house?”

There was a moment of silence in which Coal must have answered with a nod or something similar, for Amanda soon continued, “Do they know what they’re getting into?”

“I have explained the matter.”

Amanda repeated her question again but with more emphasis. “Do they know what they’re getting into?”

“They’re an experienced group.”

Another beat of silence. Katrina could imagine the look her mother might be giving him. She was sure she was right too for a moment later, preceded by a sigh, Coal elaborated.

“They’re a group from Myst. Not sorcerers. A freelance crew. They get called in to assess and catalog magical items of unknown providence. It’s not what you’re thinking. They’re more archeologists than anything close to thieves. They keep a portion of what they catalog but it gets sold to libraries and museums at a heavily discounted price, enough to cover their ongoing costs. This isn’t their first dreamweaver. They did mention it might be the largest Witch’s Weep in existence, but they have a plan to handle it.”

“And the rest of the stuff?”

“Goes to me.”

“It wasn’t yours to begin with.”

“Yes well, given the lack of a will, and the family’s disinterest with handling such matters beyond a simple payout, and the potential danger posed, the council has agreed to grant ownership of the contents of the house to me, in exchange for not having to deal with the problem and the potential fallout. They simply lack the experience and contacts required to ensure this is handled safely.”

“They haven’t even located all of the family yet.”

“The council considers this a time sensitive matter. It’s in the best interest of public safety that it is handled quickly. The family still get the proceeds from the house should that go to sale. The legal office has had plenty of time to locate any remaining inheritents and a valid will.”

“The council agrees,” Amanda repeated the statement, her voice laden with doubt.

Katrina wondered if it was true what they said about Coal owning the council. She was old enough now to know that it didn’t mean he actually owned them. They were voted in after all, but the rumours said that any councillor who found favor with Coal soon found his pockets generously lined. There were no laws against corruption here and the truth was that most people simply didn’t care. Even if one ignored the fact that a good portion of Little Rock’s inhabitants were transients or sailors, the influence of Coal’s hand tended to help the people as much as it hindered them. He could get things going and fix problems swiftly in cases where the council floundered and for the most part Coal didn’t do a heavy amount of influencing that they could see. So long as it didn’t look like he was making their lives much worse and things occasionally got better people simply didn’t care who was really running things.

Katrina had been paying closer attention than most and she was quickly learning. She understood that to really wield power one didn’t do it too openly. The best players in this game pulled the strings from the shadows.

The rest of Katrina’s family did not understand why she idolised Coal so much. They called him evil, devious, tricksy, a dark horse to be wary of. No matter how she tried Katrina could never quite explain to them that it didn’t matter what they wanted. Because whatever it was you wanted, be it world peace or cream on your caviar, to squash you enemies or to protect your family. The most efficient way to get what you wanted was to accumulate whatever power you could. So Katrina had decided that was a good thing to focus on first and she could figure out what she wanted to use it for later.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Her mother was talking again.

“You’re not worried they’re not going to take the best stuff?” Amanda asked. There was a note of glee or something like it in her voice. Katrina wasn’t quite sure of the emotion. It was almost as if she was hoping they would take the best stuff.

“They provide a record and allow oversight. Anything that turns out to be worth more later would damage their reputation. They’d pay one way or another.”

Katrina shivered. She didn’t like the way he’d said that last word.

“I want to be there. When they go into the house.”

“Fine.”

“I had another question. Why were you in the house yesterday?”

“Does it matter?”

“How did you know we were there?”

“What makes you assume I did?”

There was silence. Katrina longed to peer around the corner and see what was happening.

Finally her mother spoke. “You weren’t just there by coincidence.”

“No.” That was all he said and Katrina could hear the smile in his voice. He gave no more than that. Even Katrina felt frustrated by it but she also admired it. Coal didn’t bend for anybody, not even her mother.

“So why were you there?”

“Why else?” Not an answer. Katrina couldn’t believe his nerve. Nobody talked to her mother like that. The audacity of it was impressive and the way he made it sound like it was a perfectly acceptable reply.

She could hear the uncertainty in her mother’s reply and a dash of tiredness. “You wanted the items, something from the house?”

There was silence and then Coal replied. “I like to keep abreast of the comings and goings in this town. Whenever property such as this one changes hands it’s always worth a look. What told me you were there was the cars parked outside. Lucky for you I turned up when I did it seems.” There was a growl in his voice. An unsettling note that came across just a little thretening, like a dog barring it’s teeth. One that dared further questioning at the risk of some peril.

Katrina could not have walked away from that spot for anything. Listening to that conversation was more exciting than watching her older siblings sword fight. There may not be any physical steel here but there were plenty of blades. Unfortunately it seemed like her mother was loosing.

Coal drew to make another strike. “I have another task for the group, or perhaps just a couple of you.”

“No. No more jobs. I did the three jobs I owed you long ago and I swore that last job would be the last one.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be you. I’m sure the others will be fine on their own...”

A firm hit.

He continued after a moment to let his last statement sink in. “And it’s not technically a new job, although it is an unforeseen task that needs to be tidied up and as for such, shall be reimbursed fully.”

A fatal blow.

“What it it?”

“That last job, the explosion,”—he let that word hang in the air a moment too—“Seems someone crawled out of the rubble. He’s in Witchaven. I want you to go and have a chat with him.”

“A human? What do you mean have a chat?”

“Have a chat, then we’ll go from there? Find out what he knows and who he’s told.”

“Not until I’m sure the stuff with this house is tidied up. That it’s safe.” There was a pause as if she was leaving something unsaid and Katrina thought she knew who. “If he’s in Witchaven, he’s not going anywhere.”

“You don’t know that.”

“He won’t leave. They’ll make him too scared to. They hate witches there. They won’t care for what he has to say either. And the HPL won’t be too happy if we go there.”

“It’s not forbidden but perhaps better to keep it stealthy and short,” Coal agreed. “It’s not urgent I suppose but no payment until it’s done.” There was a finality to his tone like that was the end of the conversation.

For a moment Katrina thought her mother was going to leave things like that.

Then Amanda asked in a change of subject, "Why is there a tree on your table?"

"I'm doing some landscaping." Coal's reply was quick, as if he needed no time to think up an answer.

Katrina couldn't help herself. She wanted to see what her mother made of that statement. She crept closer to the window. To her it was an obvious lie but that was because she knew... what did she know? She knew he'd been doing something else with it. Something more than landscaping. Why had he hidden the vase before her mother arrived? Her mother was good at picking out a lie. Did she catch this one? But poking her head around the corner was risky and she know longer had her invisibility. She briefly wondered if using it earlier other than in the spell would have made any difference. Given the way Coal had seemed to know her mother was coming before she had entered the house, Katrina doubted it. She had probably made the right choice earlier but it seemed it had made not a lick of difference.

Just as she was about to poke her head around the corner Coal spoke.

“I know about the girl by the way.”

Katrina froze and pulled back, thinking he was referring to her for one terrifying moment before she realised he was actually talking about Lily.

“I hope you have a plan to deal with it. Because if you don’t, I will.”

“We have it under control.” The fire in her mother’s tone could have melted steel.

Attack blocked.

“Good.”

Draw.

Katrina didn’t want to risk being caught anymore. She suspected Coal knew she was still outside. Although she had no way to be sure she didn’t want to be there once he was alone again. As Amanda left Coal’s house out the front door, Katrina slipped back into the forest and headed for home.