The Once and Future Witches

Bella accuses Quinn of betraying the witches, but the reporter denies this. Instead, Quinn confesses that she is one of the Daughters of Tituba, a group descended from the Black witch of Old Salem. Quinn was sent to learn how much Bella knew about resurrecting the Lost Way. She apologizes for concealing this information. Quinn guides Bella through the tomb to a set of connecting tunnels, which were originally part of the Underground Railroad leading out of New Salem and connecting to New Cairo. Quinn brings Bella to her mother’s spice shop, where she can spend the night.

The following day, Bella disguises herself as Juniper’s landlady and calls at the police station. She learns that Juniper has been accused of killing their father through witchcraft. Knowing she can’t do anything to help at the moment, Bella goes to the library. She finds herself locked out of her office and learns that she has been fired. Agnes isn’t faring much better. The mill owner informs all his female workers that they are being suspended without pay for a week until they give up the nonsense of women’s suffrage and magic.

Juniper is taken to an underground prison called the Deeps, which is half-full of run-off water from the sewer system. An enchanted iron collar is placed around her neck. Juniper concludes that she will be abandoned by her sisters yet again. She tells herself a variation of the Rapunzel fairy tale in which the Mother and the Crone disappear forever.

Bella goes back to her flat in despair, not knowing how to help her sister. Quinn arrives and proposes that they find the Lost Way and discover a means of freeing Juniper. They are soon joined by Henry Blackwell, head of Special Collections at the library. He has come to return Bella’s research journal. Blackwell is sympathetic to the witches’ cause. Blackwell suggests that the best place to search for something lost is the last place you found it. Before leaving, he and Quinn both sign the membership roll of the Sisters of Avalon.

Juniper remains in prison, where she is repeatedly questioned about the Sisters of Avalon. Her iron collar is a torture device that burns her during interrogation. Much to her surprise, she receives a late-night visit from Councilman Hill, who reveals that he is the shadow master who has been spying on the witches. Gideon is centuries old, and he is the one who eradicated witchcraft from the world so he would never have to share that power with anyone else. Hill is curious to know if the sisters have found the Lost Way yet. Juniper says that they have not.

Agnes frets alone in her rooms at the boardinghouse. Lee comes to visit and brings her some food. Even though he means well, his take-charge attitude annoys Agnes, and she asks him to leave. Later, she receives a visit from Bella and Quinn, who are going to Old Salem to hunt for clues to the Lost Way. Bella wants to perform a ritual to free Juniper that requires a crone’s tears, a mother’s milk, and a maiden’s blood. Bella provides the tears. Agnes already has the mother’s milk, and she also has a dried bit of Juniper’s blood from their last ritual. Agnes reluctantly agrees to help, and Bella says to be ready and wait for her sign.

Quinn and Bella travel to Old Salem and search the burned ruins for anything that might lead them to the Lost Way. They visit the local Museum of Sin because it supposedly contains authentic relics of the town’s witches. While there, they stumble across an old needlework sampler with the missing verses of the rhyme that Bella has been searching for: “Cauldron bubble, toil and trouble, Weave a circle round the throne, Maiden, mother, and crone” (243).

When all the dogs in New Salem start barking at once, Agnes recognizes this as Bella’s magical signal that they will perform the ritual that night. After dark, Agnes brings seven candles to St. George’s Square. Her telepathic link to Bella allows them to perform the ritual from three different locations. Bella, in Old Salem, stands for the Crone. Agnes stands for the Mother in New Salem. Juniper, still locked in the Deeps, stands for the Maiden.

Bella begins the chant, starting with the verses she first found in the Sisters Grimm, then adding the new verses found at the museum. Agnes channels Bella’s energy and combines the milk, blood, and tears. In her cell, Juniper’s collar begins to burn, and she realizes that her sisters are trying to bring magic back and free her. She rallies herself and joins her own will to theirs. Juniper feels the spell taking effect, and her iron collar turns to ash and drops from her neck. She feels Mama Mags guiding her to draw a circle on her prison wall. It soon becomes a portal through which Juniper can escape to freedom.