just_another | PHONE/TEXT POST

"I see," Riona says quietly, staring blankly ahead as she hears her fears realized. She swallows hard and takes a breath, doing her best to remain calm. "Well, Davin is alive, I can tell ya that. I'd feel it in me blood if his heart stopped beatin'. An' I'm sorry t'hear 'bout Spencer. Davin cares about the two o' ya quite a bit."

She's already thinking about how quickly she could get to America, and which of her people she should bring. There's nothing she wouldn't do for him, and she will see her grandson again. There is no other option. "Tell me everythin' ya know, please. I will do everythin' in my power t'help bring them home safe."

And her power is mighty. She doesn't know how much Joel knows about her, about what she can do, because there's so much she hasn't told Davin. She feels guilty about that, yet again, but she was just trying to do right by him. She was trying to keep him safe and happy. And right now, he's neither.

There's something about the way she says it so simply that calms Joel just a little. Enough that he can gather his thoughts and put them in an order that makes sense.

"The police don't have much of anything to go on at this point. Some of them think I had something to do with it," he says and he hopes she knows well enough that he would never do something like that. "There was blood left behind in Davin's garage, it looks like he was knocked out and Spencer was forced along. He'd have done anything to make sure Davin wasn't hurt further." Of course he would have, his good, kind husband. The man people in this town still don't appreciate.

"I have a friend, he can get inside dreams, so we... we went looking for Spencer." It's so hard to talk about, the things he'd seen, how it had felt to be able to kiss Spencer, knowing he was kissing him goodbye at least for the time being. "We didn't get much, but we know what he looks like and that he's keeping them in a warehouse close enough to town that he can come back for coffee. Spencer sold him some books and said he was trying to do a spell. If I give you the titles of the books do you think you'd be able to help me figure out exactly what he has planned?"

"So someone is tryin' t'use my boy as a tool," Riona says in a calm, cold voice that leaves little to the imagination when it comes to what she would do to such a person given the chance. She puts a trembling hand over her face for a moment and takes a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. When Joel keeps speaking, she lets out a small, humorless scoff. "Well that's jus' them bein' foolish, dear. Davin's boyfriend is with the police, is he not? I assume he's workin' with ya."

She listens closely as Joel talks about the dreamwalker, brows furrowed in thought. She has a few people in the coven that can do something similar, but she isn't sure it would work over such a great distance. He mentions books and she gets up to head towards the vast library, heels clicking against the hardwood as she pulls open the heavy door. "Aye, I'm ready. If there's a book o' spells he was able t'get his hands on, I'm confident I'll have it here."

She's calm and matter-of-fact and what Joel hears in her voice mirrors his own thoughts lately. For months now he had thought he could blame the demon he'd been housing for so many years for the uncontrollable rage he'd felt, but now he knows it isn't true. That rage is all his, the demon was only using it.

Now Joel has to learn how to use it. He has to learn how to control it, make it work for him, but now isn't the time. He has other things to worry about.

Looking down, he shuffles his papers until he can find the list of books. "Alright, the books he bought are Transference of Power, De Nigromancia and Transcendental Magic."

As soon as Joel says the names of the books, Riona swears in violent Gaelic before taking a deep breath. Terror strikes her heart, along with guilt, because she did not see this one coming. "I know who has 'em. His name is Roman."

She lets out a frustrated noise and reaches for the first book. "He came t'see me a few months ago an' asked me t'perform a certain spell. He wanted t'take a witches power. Today most people think the idea of transferrin' a witch's power t'another witch, or even a human, is a myth. But it isn't. There are a few witches who still can, thanks t'their lineage an' inherent power. I'm one 'o 'em, which makes Davin another."

Riona opens the book and swallows hard, fingers trembling slightly as she grips the phone. "This man, he's... he's unhinged. He believes that he truly deserves this power. I told 'im t'get out, obviously. I didn't - I had no idea it would lead t'this."

And that's her fault. She will spend the rest of her days atoning for this mistake.

"But Joel, that spell. It's incredibly dark magic, an' if Davin were t'do it, it would destroy him. An' it would destroy you." There's no doubt in her mind whose powers Roman intends to take, not if he took Joel's human husband along with Davin. "He won't do it, Joel. I know m'boy, an' I know he wouldn't. But there's no tellin' what Roman might do t'try an' make 'im."

Roman. Joel searches his memory to see if Spencer has mentioned anyone by that name recently, but he can't recall. There was likely no reason to mention him, not after he picked up the books, but it's a name. It's one more thing than he had five minutes ago and no matter what, he's sure they're getting closer. Scrambling for a pen, he writes that down and at the same time he spots the sales older for the books.

It might not give him anything more, but he has a name and a date and he's going to ask the nearby business owners if they saw anyone fitting that description on the day in question.

What she tells him about the spell registers, but just barely. Davin won't do it. She says that and he knows it, feels it right down in his core, but she's right about the rest of it, too. If it's power he wants, he'll probably do anything to get it and that includes trying to convince Davin to do the spell by any means necessary.

"We'll find them," he says, his voice firm. He sounds sure of himself because he is, because there's no alternative. They will find Davin and they'll find Spencer. "I'll get this information to James. A name is one thing we didn't have."

"An' I'll do whatever I can from here," Riona assures him, comforted by how devoted Joel sounds to the cause. Most of that is for his husband, she's sure, but he cares about Davin as well. He'll bring her boy home.

"Joel, when ya bring 'em home," she says, because it's when, "don't let Davin be too hard on 'imself, aye? He'll put this on 'imself, I know he will. We Kavanaghs do love our guilt."

Her voice is thick with emotion and she takes a deep breath, trying her best not to let her composure crack. She's unflappable in the face of most anything, but this is her boy. It's Davin. "Keep an eye on 'im for me, please?"

If there's anything Joel knows well, it's how easy it is to blame yourself for something that might not actually be your fault. He remembers the days following Mark's abduction of Spencer and how guilty he had felt. How guilty he still feels sometimes, but the thing that had gotten him through it had been his friends. And Spencer. Joel can promise to be there for Davin as much as he can -- and he will be, there's not a single part of him that would ever blame him for any of this -- but he thinks James is going to need to be there for him. Really be there, really understand. He's going to need it.

"I will," he says. And he doesn't know how much Davin has told her about him and Spencer, how much she knows about Joel and the lengths he's gone to protect people he cares about, but Davin won't be exempt from that. He'll do everything he can. "He'll be alright. They both will."

"I know they will," she says in a sure voice, reaching up to dab at the corner of her eye with a handkerchief. It's not often that she feels helpless, powerful as she is, and she can't say that she enjoys the feeling. She hates that there's an entire ocean between her and Davin, but he doesn't want to move here, and she can't move there, so this is how it has to be for now. "I believe in ya, Joel. I know you'll bring 'em home. An' I'll do all I can here t'help. Ya have my number now, an' use it whenever ya need."

That is, if she can keep herself from getting on a plane. She scans the shelf and pulls out another book, letting out a shaky breath as she opens it. "An' when ya find my boy, ya have 'im call me, aye?'

It's strange, he doesn't know Davin's grandmother at all, but somehow over the course of this conversation he's come to feel like he really could call her for anything and she would do her best to help. Not only with this, though this is obviously the most pressing matter. Once he has them home, though, once he and James find them and they're okay, he wonders if he'd still be able to call her. Sometimes he still has questions about his magic, the things he can do, he isn't as in control of it as he'd like to be and while his mother does the best she can, he knows it's beyond her.

And he wonders if maybe Davin's grandmother might know a better place for him to start.

"I will," he promises. "The second he can, I'll have him call. And... thank you. For... for the information and the offer." Somehow it makes him feel a little bit better still, knowing there's a calvary out there if he needs it. Right now he feels awfully alone, even with James and Coop helping him, and this is just one more name to add to that list. It helps lighten the load just a little.

"I mean it, boy," she says affectionately. "I'm in yer debt now, an' I'm happy t'be there."

There are very few people on this earth that she owes a favor to, but she means it. If Joel can help bring her boy home, she will owe him. She swallows hard and nods. "Thank you, Joel. I'll let ya go now, but I hope t'hear from ya again soon. An' hopefully on better terms."

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