Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

The candlelit room, lined with sturdy wooden bookcases and heavy midnight blue silk draperies, contained an air of solemnity underscored by the absolute cessation of her power from the moment she'd stepped through the doorway. The room must be shielded by the most powerful of wards; Erin couldn't hear even a glimmer of the song of the large geodes that rested on the bookcases. The gems on her fingers lay dark and still as well.
     
    The rumors of Silencing she'd heard, growing up as a witch, swirled up through her memories to press against her mind. Unfortunately, the rumors had brought along their buddies: Terror and Despair. Twice in one evening she'd been blocked from her powers. She made a promise to herself: it wasn't going to happen again. She straightened her shoulders and took a step toward the massive table at one end of the midnight-blue draped room. "I am here to report an incident, am I not?"
     
    Gennae looked up from the papers she'd been arranging at her place at the center of the table, her icy features, nearly as pale as the white robes they all three wore, were arranged in an expression of mild surprise. "Did we ask you to speak?"
     
    "No, but I—"
     
    "That will be quite enough, Erin," said Lillian, her fall of short gray hair swinging around her square jaw as she nodded for emphasis. "You will speak when asked to do so."
     
    Berenice, the third and final witch at the table, pushed her dark hair away from her face and stared at Erin for a long moment. When she finally spoke, her silky voice held nothing but contempt. "Perhaps Erin feels she does not need to heed coven law, now that she is so adept at channeling the Wilding?"
     
    Erin narrowed her eyes and tried not to glare at Berenice, in spite of the taunt. That's what she wants me to do. Blow up and show them all that I'm unstable. Not going to happen.
    Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    "We're going to talk about my use of the Wilding, instead of the attack?" She didn't bother to hide the disbelief in her voice.
     
    They merely stared back at her, not speaking. So she did the only thing she could think to do. She answered the question. "I am well aware of coven law and follow it faithfully.
    As you all know, I have been working very hard to control the Wilding magic. The force of it this evening took me entirely by surprise." Erin clenched her hands tightly together behind her back, but kept her face smooth.
     
    "Not hard enough, clearly," Berenice sneered. "We felt it clear across town at our dinner meeting."
     
    Gennae held up a hand. "I would hear no more of this. You especially, Berenice, know the Wilding chooses its wielders. If a witch could choose to channel such dark magic, only the ones with the most corrupted hearts would make that choice. And the dangers inherent in the Wilding are too great to be left in the hands of one with evil intent."
     
    She turned to face Berenice. "Although done with the best of intentions, your own attempt to call the Wilding a decade ago nearly destroyed the entire city of Seattle."
     
    Berenice's face flushed a deep red. "I will not defend or discuss that decision again, all these years later. When vampires and shape-shifters made their existence known, I felt I had the opportunity to destroy them before they could gain overt power."
     
    Lillian murmured a sound of agreement. "And you were right to forecast the threat, Berenice. Now the vampires have their own house of Congress, and the Primus holds more power than the House and the Senate combined. With the shape-shifters controlling much of the mainstream media, the power structure of the world is forever tipped in their favor."
     
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    Gennae shook her head, her long red hair flying behind her. "No. And no, and no, and no. She was right in her premonition, but wrong in her methods. Had we not intervened when we did, the results could have been disastrous."
     
    Erin couldn't keep quiet any longer. The rage had been building inside her until she thought her head might explode from the force of it. "What, exactly, would you consider not to be disastrous about the night the vampire Caligula murdered my entire family?"
    she asked, biting out the words.
     
    All three of the witches at the table bowed their heads for a moment. When Gennae looked up at Erin again, her face had softened. "For that, I apologize. Losing your mother and your sisters was the