Covet (Clann)

tonight. Which was why, when I spotted Mom mingling throughout the banquet like the First Lady working for last-minute votes during a presidential election, I didn’t try to stop her. Her methods might be crappy and cause me more work to have to undo later, but if they got me in as Clann leader, so be it.
    I was starting to understand why politicians all had a certain underlying ruthlessness to them. In order to do good, it seemed like a whole lot of compromise and strategic maneuvering was required first.
    I just hoped, a year from now, I could still stand to look at myself in the mirror.
    * * *
    By the time the banquet broke up and everyone prepared to head out to the Circle for the vote, I was strung tight and having a hard time not showing it.
    Unlike Mr. Williams. He stood on the opposite side of the clearing’s stone chair that had been my family’s all the way back to my great-great-grandpa, and he should have looked nervous. Instead, Mr. Williams was nothing but cool, calm and confident. Where I felt like a kid playing pretend in my suit, he looked ready to become the next U.S. president, never mind leader of the Clann.
    For the first time in my life, I hated being young. If I were a couple of years older, he wouldn’t look so smug.
    The stone chalice was passed throughout the crowd. You had to be eighteen to vote, which was probably a major point in my favor since it meant Dylan and the Brat Twins couldn’t vote yet. The teenaged descendants had been allowed to attend, though, while younger descendants had been excluded from the gathering in order to keep the event as orderly and formal as possible. The vote itself was a magic-based process. Mom had explained it to me this afternoon. Descendants had to use power to make their mark on the ballots, ensuring that each vote’s maker could be traced, thus preventing any ballot stuffing.
    Finally Dr. Faulkner brought the chalice to rest on the seat of the stone chair.
    He tapped the chalice once, twice, three times, and a fourth, each time at a different compass point on its rim. Then he turned to face the gathering.
    “And now for the results of the vote!”
     
     
    SAVANNAH
    It had been the single longest week of my life, made complete by the longest day today. I hadn’t been able to sit still. Dancing for hours hadn’t helped, though it had taken the edge off and kept me loose and warm. As a last resort, I’d even tried grounding in the woods behind my house. But all that did was leave me panicky that I wouldn’t have enough energy in case the vote went wrong and Mr. Williams’s first act as the Clann’s new leader would be to come after Dad and me. So I ended up drawing more energy instead until I felt like a cup ready to overflow.
    Listening in on Dad hadn’t helped, either. He’d been on the phone speaking in French to someone all day. The problem was, he was also thinking in French. Since I’d taken Spanish instead of French in school, I was beyond lost as to what he was up to.
    At six o’clock, my phone rang and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Was this it? Had they voted already, and Tristan was calling to let me know?
    “Hey, how you holding up?” Anne asked.
    The breath whooshed from my lungs. “Um, fine, I guess. Kind of nervous. Sick to my stomach. Can’t sit still.” I’d told Anne about the Clann’s vote earlier in the week.
    “Want to come outside and kill time for a while? I’m in your driveway.”
    “Why didn’t you just knock on the door?”
    “Because your dad’s home and he’s got that whole mind-reading thing going on, too, and I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to know about him and the Clann and the Keepers and the vote, and yet it’s all I can think about today!”
    Oh. Right. “Okay, I’m coming out.”
    I ran downstairs and told Dad I would be in the front yard talking with Anne. He waved and nodded, then went right back to arguing with someone in French.
    Ron was sitting on the far side of Anne on the tailgate of her truck when I joined them.
    “Having car problems?” I joked.
    “Nah,” he said with a grin. “We just needed the truck to go hog hunting earlier.”
    “Without me?” I gave Anne a pointed look. Did this mean she’d finally taken my advice and called him to apologize, and I had been right?
    Anne cleared her throat, her cheeks turning pink beneath their tan. “I needed a safety buddy, and I didn’t think you’d be up for it. But don’t think you’re getting out of that hunt you