"Yes," Ian said softly, looking out the train window. "It does, a bit."
Lilith and her followers were being held at a New Charter building not far from Scotland's southern border. When Morgan and Ian arrived, they were led into the manager's office. Matilda Bracken was tall, gray-haired, and severe-looking but smiled warmly when she saw them. Rising, she came to meet them.
"Morgan Byrne of Belwicket," she said. "How very good to meet you. Well done, down in Ireland."
"Thank you," Morgan said. "It took all of us, including Ian Delaney here."
"Yes, Ian." Matilda took both his hands in hers. "I'm sorry to meet you under these circumstances, my dear."
Ian nodded uncomfortably.
"Morgan, first I need you to identify Lilith Delaney and then to fill out a form about your charges. Then, Ian, you'll have a chance to see your mother."
Lilith was being held in a small room. The doorway was spelled so no one could enter or leave, but Morgan could see Lilith through the open door. She pressed her lips together as she saw that Lilith's face still bore signs of the bruising that Morgan's attack had caused. What a terrible night that had been. "Yes, that's her," Morgan said.
Lilith rose from her narrow bed and literally spit at Morgan through the doorway. "It still isn't over," she said, her eyes glittering. "It will never be over."
The prime emotion Morgan felt was sadness. "No, Lilith," she said. "It is over, Iona is dead. You're here, and unless you're rehabilitated, you'll be in the care of the New Charter for the rest of your life. Your house and workroom are being cleared and purified."
Lilith actually looked surprised. "No."
"Yes." Morgan paused. Certain questions still gnawed at her. "Tell me, why did you agree to work with Iona? What was in it for you?"
"Power," Lilith said, as if this were obvious. "She helped me gain control of Ealltuinn. She sent strong people to work with me. We're going to find the power leys of Ui Laithain and use them to become the most powerful witches this world has ever seen. Once I get out of here, you're just going to be a memory." She smiled at the thought, her eyes taking on a crazed gleam.
Lilith's hold on reality was clearly slipping. She had no comprehension of her situation, what her future held.
"That's why you kept an eye on me and reported on me to Iona?"
"Yes. Little enough, for all she did for me."
"What about all the hexes this past month? Why bother? Iona never mentioned them-they weren't part of her plan, were they?"
"I can think for myself just fine," Lilith retorted, her voice rising. "Those were intended to harm you. To show you you're not welcome." She frowned. "They should have worked better. You or your brat should have had accidents, hurt yourselves."
"I guess you underestimated us-both of us," Morgan said, feeling a spark of pride in her daughter. "You know that it was Moira in the end who defeated your dark wave?" Lilith's frown deepened. "How did you learn to create a dark wave, anyway? It's clearly beyond your strength."
Lilith's face grew tight with fury, and the answer was right there.
Iona. It had been in Ciaran's knowledge when Iona had killed him and taken his power.
"So why now?" Morgan pressed, "Iona made a point of telling me that now was the perfect time for all of this- before I defeated her, that is."
Lilith looked ready to explode. "She had to move now," she muttered, "before you became high priestess. Before Moira was initiated. And… she was growing desperate."
"She was dying," Morgan said. "The souls whose power she took were eating away at her. She wasn't strong enough to hold them in check for that long. She was losing control, and she had to act before they tore her apart forever."
Lilith looked contemptuous. "You can think that if you want But Iona is strong; she'll recover from whatever you did to her. And I'm her partner. Together she and I will be able to crush the New Charter. And when we do, we're going to come after you."
There was nothing to say to that. But Morgan did have one last thing to discuss with Lilith. "Ian is here," she said.
"Ian? My boy?" Lilith looked eager, coming to the door.
"Yes. You can explain to him why you abandoned him," Morgan said. "Why your pursuit of power was stronger than your love."
The older woman's eyes narrowed and she stepped back. Morgan turned and headed down the way she had come.
The long train ride home was mostly quiet. When Ian had returned from seeing his mother, he'd obviously been crying, but his face was stoic.
"Time works wonders," Morgan said inadequately, even though she knew firsthand that some pain never seemed to ease.
"Yes, thank you," Ian said, then resumed looking out the window.
I'm going home, Morgan thought, joy blooming in her heart. Home to my daughter, to Hunter, to safety and calm.
Katrina was at the train station to meet Ian. It was thoughtful of her, and Morgan was glad she'd reached out to him. Despite the terrible injustice she'd done to Morgan and to Moira, Morgan believed that Katrina was a good person and would be of great help to Ian during this lost time.
Then she was home. The front door opened before she was halfway up the walk, and her family waited for her. Moira, her daughter, who had saved them all, and Hunter, her Hunter, who was home again at last.
"Welcome home," Moira said.
"Yes," Morgan sighed, reaching out to hug one after the other. "Yes."
Epilogue
"So we've set it up for me to be initiated at Yule, only six months late," Moira said to Tess. She and her mum had made the decision together to wait a little longer, give themselves some time as a family to heal from everything and for Moira to begin to get to know her birth father. "You've not changed your mind, then?"
Tess rolled her eyes. "You only ask me that once a month. Hand me that garland."
Moira handed Tess a garland of woven grapevines and autumn branches. They, along with some others, were decorating their circle room for the Mabon celebration. This year would be especially joyous, commemorating the first anniversary of the defeat of the dark wave.
"Vita's going to be initiated at Imbolc and me at Yule, and that leaves just you," Moira pointed out.
"I'm proud and happy for you both," said Tess firmly. "But it's just not for me. I need the hammer."
Moira handed her the hammer. Tess pounded some short tacks into the wall and placed the garland on them. Across the room Vita was helping to decorate the altar with gourds, fresh vegetables, fruit, and more autumn branches.
"This place is looking fantastic," Katrina said, coming over to hug Moira. Moira smiled. It had taken a while before she had been able to forgive her grandmother, but it had been such a relief when she had. Gran had made the wrong decision, but Moira believed that she had thought she was acting for the best.
A couple of months after she and Moira had sorted things out, Gran and Morgan had gone for an all-day walk, and by the time they'd come home for dinner, they'd also been on better terms. It was so much easier this way, especially since Ian still lived at Gran's.
Hmmm, where is Ian? Moira looked around, then spotted him carrying in a large wall hanging. It was black, with a silver zodiac sign painted on it: Libra, the balance. At Mabon the day and the night would be exactly balanced, the same length, and then the next day the dark would start to domi-nate until spring.