Summary
First there was Chaos….Long before the earth was born, before the world of faerie, before even Light and Day, Chaos ruled over the formless confusion of unbroken darkness. From its bosom two children were born, Night and Erebus, and Night drew followers to its parent Chaos once the world was bornHarbor City suffers from magic that is throwing everything in the town into confusion as a new set of magicians seek to bring followers to their god, Chaos. The Cauldron Coven once again rises to stand in the gap; that is, until the community is thrown into a black emptiness, swallowed by a night that seems endless.
Chapter 1
Tansy Paxton slid out of her car, the sound of Laci and Jayden Valentine pulling in behind her. She glanced up at the front of the small, dilapidated house, feeling sorry for Sherri Rockford’s hard existence. However, that part of the blonde’s life was over, now firmly settled in the past. Today, they would make sure the rest of her moved forward in her life, as well.
Shutting the door, Tansy turned to face the Valentine sisters, both of them pulling cardboard boxes out of the backseat of Jayden’s car. The crew to help Sherri move out of her house and in with Tansy was small, but Sherri said she didn’t want too many of her new friends to see where she lived, ashamed of how far she allowed herself to fall before fate stepped in and turned her around. The others wouldn’t have judged Sherri, of course, but that didn’t mean the young woman didn’t judge herself. Sometimes, when a person looks back on their life, they don’t realize how they behaved in the heat of the moment, the poor decisions they made, and it brings shame as they move forward with their lives, choosing a different course. Tansy didn’t care about mistakes in one’s past. What mattered is how they lived their lives now, and Sherri turned hers around in a drastic way over the past month.
The front door opened, and Sherri stepped out, tucking a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. She gave the others a sheepish wave. “Hey, thanks for helping with this. I could have done it in small loads, though. I know everyone is busy.”
Tansy waved off the statement. “Never too busy to help one of our own.”
“We brought boxes,” Jayden said as a couple of the cardboard containers slipped from her hands. She growled as she bent over to pick them up and another one fell from her fingers. Blowing out a frustrated breath, she stood there, rolling her eyes. “Laci!”
The eldest Valentine chuckled as she walked around the car to pick up one of the cardboard boxes. “No one told you to grab them all at once,” she said, shaking her head. “Stop trying to show off, O Mighty Jayden.” Laci bent down and picked up the box, grinning over at her sister. “Do you want me to take some of those now, or do you want to prove you can carry them all?”
Jayden glared at her sister and started toward the door. “Just pick up whatever falls,” she snapped, making Laci laugh even harder.
Tansy shook her head, shutting her car door as she turned back toward the house. “I thought I brought help,” she said, laughing. “I guess we’ll have to wait to see if that’s the case or not.”
“I don’t have anything breakable, really, so it’s all good,” Sherri said. “I actually don’t have much at all, to be honest. You may have brought too many boxes.” She shrugged. “Seems I spent most of my money on the wrong things rather than on material possessions.”
Laci stopped before passing into the blonde’s house, the others already walking past. Tansy turned to say something to Sherri, but Laci had a hand on the woman’s upper arm, smiling at her. “I know what you mean,” she said. “Trust me, I get it. For me, it was seeing my things destroyed by Jerome just so he could get even with me for something he thought I did wrong, proving he controlled everything in my life. It made me stop buying stuff, not that he allowed me to buy that much stuff, anyway.” She shrugged, letting go of Sherri and moving inside. “You learn quickly not to get attached to things on the streets.”
Tansy watched Sherri nod, her lips pressed into a thin line as she shut the front door. “Well, those days are past,” Tansy said. “It’s time for a new phase of your life.” She stood in the middle of Sherri’s bare living room, glancing around. “Where would you like us to start?”
Sherri stood there, wearing a pair of tight shorts and a loose tank top, her hands stuffed into her pockets as she slowly swiveled her head, glancing around the place. “I guess we could start here,” she said, her shoulders dropping. “It’s really just a few knickknacks, some clothes, my toiletries. I guess I don’t need the furniture or dishes, although I’ll take a couple of my favorite mugs.”
Tansy stared at the furniture. Most had rips in the cushions or arms. All of it seemed faded or stained, and a chair had lost one of those small leg pieces that kept it from tilting. The curtains were drooping, one of the rods almost out of the wall, and the carpet was a coffee stained, grungy brown. Small figurines and picture frames sat around on tables and shelves, a couple of coasters she never used, by the look of the rings stained into the furniture, perched on a coffee table, and some candles Tansy wanted to light right then sat ignored on a small wooden shelf along the wall. The place appeared dismal, and Tansy was glad she talked Sherri into moving in with her. The girl needed to make a clean break from her past now that she had come clean of drugs.
Nodding, Tansy said, “All right, I’ll start in here. Jayden, why don’t you and Laci take the kitchen, and Sherri, you take your bedroom.”
The other three nodded, grabbed a cardboard box, and headed in their designated directions. Tansy picked up a box, folding the bottom together before sitting it down on the coffee table. She picked up a sheet of newspaper from a stack in a faded easy chair and walked over to the shelf, picking up a small figurine of a butterfly Tansy remembered Sherri buying from The Murky Cauldron when she first came into their lives. Tansy smiled, staring at the ceramic figurine for a moment, thinking how much Sherri’s story matched that of the butterfly. From the cocoon of her former life, the blonde busted free into a beautiful individual, flitting from new experience to new experience, growing with each one. Tansy looked forward to seeing where Sherri’s new journey took her as well as being a part of it.
It only took a couple of hours to have Sherri’s house packed up and loaded into the three cars. It could have actually fit into two vehicles, but Tansy stretched the boxes out to make it seem like the girl owned more possessions, hoping to keep her from feeling too bad. For their part, Laci and Jayden just bickered between each other, ignoring the minuscule amount of belongings, and did their part not to draw attention to the lack in Sherri’s life.
The only thing that Laci said that drew attention to the situation was when she closed the last box, sealing it with duct tape. Standing there with her hands on her hips, she glanced at the stack of boxes, shaking her head. “You know, when I moved out of Rhychard’s place and back into my mom’s house, I carried everything in two boxes, and that was only because Jayden wanted to stretch it out, so I didn’t feel so depressed. You’ve got way more stuff than I did, and you’ll accumulate more.”
Jayden laughed. “It didn’t take her long to fill every drawer in her dresser, as well as stuff her closet and shelves with junk. I think she’s addicted to buying crap now.”
“I am not,” Laci said, shaking her head. “And don’t forget who the one is needing a new pair of shoes every weekend. That’s not me.”
“Are you kidding me?” Jayden asked, giving her sister a shocked look. “Who’s the one with…?”
“All right, all right, we get it,” Tansy said, breaking in and silencing the other two. “You both buy too much stuff. Let’s get the last of these boxes loaded, shall we? We’ve left Wanda alone at the store with Famallumi, and I’m not sure how great of an idea that was.”
“Why?” Laci asked. “Wanda’s handled the store by herself before.”
Sherri laughed for the first time since the others arrived. “Yeah, but if Tansy isn’t there when Melli makes an impromptu visit, Wanda may just go all elderly psycho on the woman.” She shook her head. “The more Melli offers Famallumi her special lemon tarts, the angrier Wanda becomes, shoving another glass of some special tea in the poor elf’s hand. There’s definitely a rivalry happening there.”
Both Valentine sisters laughed, reaching out and grabbing a box apiece. “I think Wanda can take her,” Jayden said, chuckling.
“Oh, so do I,” Laci added. “And it would be fun to watch.”
“I don’t want to see anyone getting anyone,” Tansy said, picking up a box and sighing. “Can’t we all just get along?”
Jayden laughed harder. “Not if Melli keeps making passes at Famallumi.”
Tansy rolled her eyes as the others walked out the front door, each carrying a box to the cars. She had to admit, if a rivalry between Wanda and Melli was the worst thing she had to face, it would please Tansy to no end. Last month had been a whirlwind of supernatural catastrophes. Luckily they survived each one, but Tansy would really love to enjoy some peace and quiet for a while. They deserved a little tranquility in their lives.
“That’s the last of it,” Sherri said, standing next to Tansy, as the Valentine sisters slid into Jayden’s car. “Last chance to change your mind.”
Tansy reached out, wrapping an arm around Sherri’s shoulders and squeezing her tightly. “There’s no changing minds. This is the right step. The next step.”
Sherri nodded. “Thank you for taking a chance on me.”
“You, sweetheart, are worth taking a chance on,” Tansy assured her. “You’ve been amazing to watch over the past month. You just needed a chance. You’ve got one. Now, it’s up to you what you make of it. I kind of think you’ll make something exceptional out of it.”
Sherri smiled over at the older woman. “I definitely intend to try.”
Tansy squeezed her again. “You’ll succeed. I know it.” She stepped away from Sherri, gesturing to the cars. “Now, let’s go get you all settled.”
Sherri nodded, and Tansy watched as the young blonde made her way to her car and on to the next chapter of her life.