The next stop was Maggie's shop, and they stepped inside.
"Jonathan, Elise, and sweet Jules welcome back. You remember Hope, and this is Fay, her sister, not identical twins as you can see. The little one over there is their little sister Sam or Samantha."
He smiled at them:
"Good morning, ladies."
All three replied at the same time:
"Good morning, My Lord.
"Please just Jon. You know who I am, so I assume you are also sisters in the circle of Maggie."
"Yes, Jon, we have just been accepted into the coven itself. Before that, we were in the circle of the children. And Sam is still there, of course."
He nodded and had a soft smile around his mouth:
"That's why I didn't sense that you were a witch yesterday. Your powers haven't come through yet."
Fay replied sadly:
"We are in trouble. It's much harder for us than we thought, but we want it so much."
He closed his eyes for a moment and scanned the girls, or rather, what was in their hearts. When he opened them, he said:
"Girls, can all three of you help Elise and Jules for a moment? I'm sure they need a lot of things."
The five girls went off, and Jonathan heard that the two little ones were already chatting as if they had known each other all their lives. He asked seriously:
"Maggie, would you please lock the door? I need to think for a while, and I do not want to be disturbed."
Silently she did as he asked, sensing that something special was about to happen. He sat down in silence, and Maggie came and sat next to him. After a few minutes, he said:
"I'm going to guess without using my powers, okay?"
She just nodded.
"I have met three sisters now, including you. Not to mention Elise. You have all treated me with kindness and respect, even though I am the Antichrist. The way you treat each other is gentle and loving. You practice white magic and only white magic. All this tells me that your coven is focused on love and the spreading of love, comfort, and consolation, but also on fertility, your own fertility, and by extension the fertility of nature and physical love. Your mother, like Elise, is a descendant of the Paschal bloodline, but you carry your father's name. A side branch, whereas Elise is a direct descendant. Therefore, your mother was, and you are now, the High Priestess because you have the most power within your coven. Am I right?"
"Absolutely right, Jonathan, but the world is becoming more and more cold and selfish, making it more and more difficult for us to fight against it. The darkness is pushing back very hard, and we are losing more and more ground."
He nodded and stared into the void. He could release the powers in Fay and Hope, release the blockage in Elise, and give the two little ones their first power, comfort. With which they could comfort and help others a little. He had a rather stern conversation with himself and called himself to the task. He shouted in his head that he should manifest a travel bag full of money for Elise and get out. He was more than a little mad at himself for even having the idea to help these girls. To release their powers. Maggie clearly saw the conflicted look on his face and in his eyes and asked:
"Jon, why are you resisting what is beneficial for you? Why don't you allow it to come to you?"
He looked at her pointedly:
"Why? Because I don't want to put innocents in danger. Because I don't want to let anyone get close to me, especially children. Just the thought of it makes me sick with fear. No, Maggie, this cannot happen."
"Why can't it happen, Jon?"
She saw him get angry for a moment as if he wanted to scream, but he pushed his emotions away very quickly:
"Because I am the Antichrist, and bad news for everyone around me. It's as simple as that."
After that, they sat in silence until the girls returned with some more piles of clothes. A very small smile formed around his mouth. When everything was settled, he asked Maggie:
"A little further down the road is a store that sells school uniforms. Do you know the manager?"
"I know the owner very well. Why?"
"Bwitch will be going to school at Saint Bernard, and so she needs uniforms."
"Oh great, Samantha goes to school there too. Tell you what, Sam, and I will go with you."
The two children continued to babble with each other, and he wondered how in the world they did it. If they ever took a breath between sentences. They entered the store. Immediately a woman of about forty came up to Maggie.
"Maggie darling, how nice of you to stop by. Hello, Samantha."
The women hugged for a moment, then Maggie introduced the woman:
"Jon, Elise, Jules, this is Clair, a good friend of mine and a sister in our coven. Clair, this is Jonathan Drago and his... friends Elise and Jules."
Clair heard his name and almost sprinted to the door to lock it. She came to stand in front of Jon and bowed to him:
"My Lord, welcome. What can I do for you?"
He held out his hand and said:
"Let's see, don't bow to me, call me by my name, and treat me like a human being instead of something."
She saw the twinkle in his eye and took his hand. Instead of shaking it, he brought it to his mouth and kissed the back of it feather lightly. Clair blushed, and he grinned. While Elise giggled for a moment, Maggie said with undisguised pleasure:
"Clair, we need uniforms for this baby witch; she is actually going to St. Bernard soon. Three skirts, two jackets, five blouses, and so on."
Clair looked at Jonathan:
"My... Jonathan, we have a corner over there where the fathers usually retire. There's a Nespresso machine."
"Thank you, Clair, that's very kind of you."
The five of them were barely three steps away:
"Samantha?"
She turned to him.
"Do you need anything new?"
She looked at him with a blush and said quietly:
"I could use some."
He looked Clair sternly in the eyes with a look that clearly did not tolerate contradiction:
"Clair, please do the whole order times two. And I mean the whole order times two."
Without waiting for an answer or a contradiction, he walked to the coffee corner. While he waited for the ladies to finish, he used his cell phone to look up a few things and take care of them. Half an hour later, Samantha and Jules came running back. They stood proudly in front of him in their new schoolgirl uniforms. Seeing them standing there made him smile.
"Da... Jon, look at me; don't I look good?"
"You look beautiful; you both look perfect. You two must be the most beautiful and perfect girls in the world."
His words made the little faces light up completely. Any more and they could light up the whole room. The ladies approached with a couple of large bags that were almost bulging.
"Mommy, Jonathan said we're perfect!"
Jules shouted rather loudly. Elise got a big smile on her face:
"And Jonathan is absolutely right, girls; you are perfect."
Amused, he pulled out a credit card and handed it to Clair.
"Don't you want to know the final amount, Jonathan?"
Before he could answer, Elise said:
"Nope, he doesn't want to know."
And she giggled. Jon couldn't help it, but he knew he was falling deeper and deeper for this young woman. He cursed himself, and his determination grew; he had to put this behind him as soon as possible. The prospect of never seeing her again filled him with dread. One he did not like at all. But it was one he would swallow. He had already swallowed so many that one more couldn't hurt. He was already more than fucked up, so what the hell. One more wasn't going to break him now either, after all he'd been through.
"And don't forget the tip, Elise."
He said as she and Clair walked to the cash register. Maggie came up beside him again, and he said annoyed:
"No, not again, Maggie. I'm messed up enough, and I can't take any more pressure. Let me finish this the way it should be and then get out."
She smiled at him, nodded quietly, and remained silent. He had no doubt that when he saw her again, she wouldn't let it go at all. Instead of continuing the topic he wanted to avoid at all costs, she said:
"So Jules is going to Saint Bernard?"
He just nodded. Then she turned to Samantha.
"Sam, can you help Elise and Jules? She will go to the same school, and you could help them with the other things they need since they are new in town."
He looked at the two girls and suddenly saw that they could be sisters. Elise was standing close behind them. The image was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat. He was breaking down; he knew it, but he couldn't stop it. The girls' faces slowly morphed in his mind until they had Casiel's face. Those green eyes of Cas looking at him, this time accusing him. He practically screamed:
"NO! I can't do this..."
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly there were two large duffel bags on the floor. Everyone could see that he was shaking and sweating from his temples. Hastily he said:
"There is ten million dollars in there, more than enough to get back on your feet and survive for a while. Give me an hour to get my things, and then you can take a taxi back to the hotel. The suite is paid for three weeks; anything else you need, just put it on my credit card; they have the information."
With that he almost ran out of the shop, jumped into the Demon, and sped off with screeching tires and a roaring engine. Elise stood there open-mouthed, ready to run for the door, but Maggie grabbed her arm and shook her head with a gentle smile on her face. With a horrified look in her eyes, Elise asked as Jules began to cry:
"But why?"
"Come, we have to go back to my shop. Leave the bags; they are quite safe here. I have a private room upstairs; we can talk there, and I'll call for help on his behalf."