The Solstice Countdown by Lisa Shearin

Author:Lisa Shearin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC009060
Publisher: Murwood Media, LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

20

Some things you kept in the family.

The town council meeting was to be followed by a Fraser family meeting.

Mom asked Cynthia if she could get us a quiet corner table and a round of her steak sandwiches and fries.

Weird Sisters had two pubs, both owned and run by Cynthia Browne and her husband Barry. The Cauldron was for the tourists and locals who understood they had to either be human or be able to look that way.

In the Cauldron, it was all Macbeth all the time.

The town was named after the three witches in Macbeth, and our little theater performed the play every summer in an amphitheater just outside of town that was partially constructed, but mostly natural tiers of stone seating surrounding a large flat area of rock that served as the stage. The production and psychic festival were Weird Sisters’ two main summer events.

The Cauldron was decorated with photos, props, and costumes from the local theater. Instead of columns to separate the areas, there were illuminated glass display cases with mannequins dressed in costumes from various productions. Cynthia and Barry were particularly proud of two costumes they’d acquired from the Globe Theatre in London. The bar as well as the tables, chairs and booths were dark wood with a distinctly Elizabethan vibe.

The second pub, the Cellar, located downstairs from the Cauldron, was for supernatural and clued-in human locals only, and was accessed from the small parking lot running behind the Main Street shops. There were two doors—one marked “Deliveries” and a second unmarked with a pull handle. There was a small buzzer next to the unmarked door. Everyone knew the drill. You pressed the buzzer and a camera hidden inside what looked like a broken light fixture over the door showed whoever was tending bar the new arrival. Once you were identified and approved, there’d be a click, the door would unlock, and you were in.

The Cauldron was great, but the Cellar rocked.

The Cellar was a place where people could go and let their hair down, so to speak. Glamours were optional, which was a welcome relief for a lot of our locals. Civilized behavior was not optional. It was expected and enforced. Cynthia’s husband and head barkeep, Barry, was a quarter troll and had no problem whatsoever in keeping the peace by tossing the offender into the parking lot or the street if he was working the bar upstairs.

Mom and Aunt Vickie had a few things to take care of, then they and Uncle Mike would be joining us. Grandma, Rake, and I went down to the Cellar.

Based on our earlier conversation, Rake decided not to drop his glamour. Most folks in town had only heard of goblins and had never seen one. I’d caused enough of a stir by bringing a man home. I just wanted an hour of peace and relative quiet at a dark corner table. I also wanted one of Cynthia’s homebrewed ales, but since Janus was out there somewhere with who knew how many ghoul minions, I’d have sweet tea instead.

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