Coven - Book I

☆ 34

☆ thirty-four

It was becoming a habit of everyone to meet at the Montgomery household, and Chloe didn't know if she liked that or not.
"I didn't know you had so many friends," her father exclaimed as he flipped pancakes so fast it almost looked violent. Half of the coven was lounging in the living room while the other watched Lyle cook in the kitchen. Pancakes and bacon was about the only dish, besides boxed Kraft Dinner, that he could manage without screwing up. So here he was, making everyone breakfast.
"Hey, nice of you to wake up," Dean smirked as Alec strode into the kitchen. He immediately made a beeline for Chloe and curled his body around hers, resting his head on top of hers and yawning.
"We have lots to talk about after breakfast." He informed them. Turns out, his great-grandmother's name was Beatrice Blackwell, and it was no coincidence that Chloe had dreamed about her. He said his grandmother used to dream about a prophecy as well, but she wasn't who it was intended for so it was passed generation to generation. Until now.
"You really think it's about us?" She murmured to Alec. He nodded solemnly.
"Elspeth Graves and Lilth Mayfaire were also a part of the original coven. Although I'm not sure why they'd say that you look like them; Elspeth never had children and you're clearly not related to Nick." He said the last part bitterly and Chloe grimaced. How awkward would it be if she was related to the Mayfaire's? Was there a Montgomery in the original coven? She'd save that question for later, she told herself, as Lyle started passing out food.
"Line up, scoundrels!" He hollered, pointing with his spatula to a stack of plates. Everyone eagerly lined up like inmates with plates and utensils. Lyle smirked at the lot of them.
"Ready for the best damn pancake you'll ever eat?"

Full of bacon and pancakes, everyone was sitting by the tree in Chloe's backyard. She'd tried to salvage what she could of the plants, but now that it was December, the temperatures were so low that there wasn't much she could save. Meredith showed up 'fashionably late', as she'd called it, waltzing in after Dean and Sebastian finished washing the dishes. Chloe told them about the prophecy as soon as they were all seated on the frozen ground. Eden passed around cups of minty-smelling tea which they all gulped down eagerly.
"Okay," Meredith said, "let me get this straight. You had a dream about a bunch of old people, and we're expected to just drop everything to figure out this prophecy bullshit? What about the real plan, what about testing Elena and figuring out what happened to Amber?"
"I have a feeling that that will all be explained if can just figure out the meaning behind what Beatrice told Chloe," Nick offered. Chloe smiled at him gratefully and tried not to look at Rose's hand curled around his bicep.
"This is stupid." Meredith said.
"Meredith, what is up with you lately?" Alec almost snapped at her. She pretended to inspect her blood red nails and feigned boredom.
"Nothing is 'up with me', Boss. We just aren't getting anywhere and I think it's because our leader is too busy sleeping in Montgomery's bed." Her blue eyes twinkled as she met Alec's golden ones. His face was smoothed out and free of frowning. He just looked tired.
"You asked for a re-vote and nobody sided with you. That isn't my fault," he retorted. Her face scrunched up and she resembled an angry kitten for a moment in Chloe's eyes.
"Guys," Rose said, "just stop. How about half of us stay here and check the grimoires for stuff on the original coven and the other half of us can go check out the Crowley home?"
"Now that's what I'm talkin' about," Meredith pointed at Rose.
"Man, why didn't we elect you as leader?" Everyone just sighed. Meredith was trying to pick fights with everyone today. They quickly divided into two groups. Meredith, Dean, Sebastian, Corey, Jenna, and Blaire were going to see Elena, while Alec, Nick, Eden, Charlie, and Chloe stayed behind. Rose was going to retrieve the box of grimoires hidden in her attic to bring over.
"Be back here by six," Alec told them, and then they split up.

"Anything?" Rose asked.
"No," Everyone else responded. It had been a long few hours so far of sitting in Chloe's room with grimoires spread out to every corner. Chloe's back was beginning to hurt from being hunched over, and she leaned backwards onto her elbows with a sigh.
"How do we even know if this prophecy is about us?" Charlie muttered. Eden shoved him and he toppled sideways, groaning about her hostility. Nick's eyes very obviously looked Chloe up and down from her socks to her hair. Alec noticed this too, surprising Chloe a bit when he slid down to sit beside her. His body blocked Nick's view of her upper half and her reddened cheeks. Everyone's brains probably felt like mush. Right as Chloe was about to suggest that Alec let them take a break, though, Rose slapped her hand down on a page of the book she was looking at.
"I found a descendants tree," she said proudly, "with the list of the original coven and their children. Chloe's dreams were right; there's a Beatrice, a Lilth, and an Elspeth in here." Chloe slid closer to peer over her shoulder as everyone else moved around Rose. There they all were; Mayfaire, Blackwell, McIntyre, Baldwin, Ellsworth, Levvy, Stone, Bennett, Clarke, McLeod. . . Everyone from the coven was in here besides Montgomery. There was no Souza, either. Instead, two of the Stone's had been cousins, just like Nick and Corey. The only other gap was for Elspeth Graves. That couldn't be Chloe's family because Elspeth had no children and her mother's last name hadn't been Graves.
"It has to be you," Eden said to Chloe. She shook her head and explained her reasoning, but Eden was still flipping through the book for a photo.
"Look. You have her face," she pointed to an old, faded, black and white photo of Elspeth. Chloe couldn't deny the resemblance; they had the same dark, wavy hair and the same big doe eyes. She was small and slight compared to the rest of the coven just like Chloe was, too.
"But. . . My great grandmother's name was Leanne," Chloe said feebly. It was Charlie who dared to voice the question that was moving through the back of Chloe's mind.
"Did you ever wonder if you were adopted?"