Who: Miriam and Caius When: Monday, Oct 16, evening Where: The Boathouse Status: Complete
Caius had been keeping it all business at work with his father, and that seemed to satisfy Anthony enough -- or it at least he kept biding his time -- but Caius could only avoid his mother for so long. She had left him some pointed voicemail messages, insisting that he call her back, and he’d finally caved. If he was being completely honest, Caius was angry with her too, because she’d surely known about this curse that had been kept from his for his entire life. The one that put the lives of both himself and the woman he loved in danger. That no one had ever told him about. No one had ever prepared him for. He didn’t know how to not be bitter about it.
But he could man up and have dinner with his mother. Caius was glad that she wanted to meet one on one, without Anthony or Reagan or Sera there. He’d never been as close to her as he was to Anthony, they couldn’t bond over magic, but Miriam was still his mother and he loved her. Salty as he felt about it, he supposed talking was better than stewing in private. And he didn’t think he could politely avoid the topic through an entire meal.
Caius arrived a bit early at the restaurant, shaking hands with the manager and checking in on how business was doing. The D’Onofrios didn’t own The Boathouse, but they did own the property it sat on, and it was kind of soothing to talk business for a moment. It also meant they always got the best seats in the house. Then he sat down and waited for his mother to arrive, idly thumbing through his phone.
Miriam knew that if she was persistent, that Caius would eventually cave and meet with her. She didn’t have the advantage of working with him like Anthony did, or the magic, but she was still his mother, and she counted on him having a soft spot for her on that account. She knew he was angry with them, too, and really didn’t blame him. She would’ve been pissed in his place. But they’d thought they were managing it, at least up until the point where Caius and Reagan ran off and got married. That changed everything.
But she knew he couldn’t ignore her forever, and if he was going to be pissy with her, she’d rather it be in public, where he’d feel obligated to keep himself in line. Neither of them wanted to make a scene. Coming alone was almost like a peace offering on her part. She could be honest with him without managing Anthony and Sera. She just hoped he would listen and fill her in on his progress. Waiting was the worst part.
When she stepped into the restaurant, the host immediately recognized her and pointed her towards Caius. She walked over with a small smile, hugging him in greeting. “Thank you so much for having dinner with me. I know how busy you are.”
Caius saw his mother coming and stood to greet her. He hugged her back and brushed a perfunctory kiss against her perfumed cheek, then pulled her chair out for her. Once she was seated, he sat down again himself. “No need to thank me, I can always take the time,” Caius murmured, giving her a faint smile. Of course, more often than not he didn’t choose to take the time, but that was another matter. He had his reasons, especially lately. Caius finally started to browse the menu, now that Miriam was there. He already knew what was on it, of course, but it was something to do with his eyes and fingers. “How are you, mother?”
Miriam smiled when he rose, and then pulled out her chair. She’d raised him so well. He really was such a gentleman, the kind of son it was easy to be proud of. The thought that she could lose him still turned her stomach, but it was a worry she’d had for so long it was familiar. Only recently did it feel dire, with his marriage to Reagan. “I’m fine,” she said, browsing the menu for a second. She’d been there often enough that she knew what she wanted, but it never hurt to look. “Your sister was in a bus accident Friday night, but before you worry too much, she’s alright. Just a scare.”
Caius looked a little startled as he blinked over at her. “Really? Wow ... sure she’s all right? Did she go to the ER?” Not that he didn’t trust his mother to know if her daughter was fine, especially for the past two days. Friday night ... when he’d been doing an exorcism for a bunch of stupid teenagers. Cold clenched Caius’s stomach for a moment -- what if Sera’s accident had been part of his backlash? Or the demon’s doing? -- but he tried to push it immediately away. He’d banished the demon and taken his own backlash, it had to be unrelated. He’d just been so isolated all weekend, healing and trying to rest, he hadn’t been paying attention to the news, and nobody had said anything to him at work about it.
“She’s alright,” Miriam promised. “She hit her head on a window and has a few cuts from broken glass, but it wasn’t that bad. No concussion. Nothing broken. She didn’t even have to go to the ER, which is a blessing. Some of the other students had it worse.” It was a terrifying call to get and Miriam had wanted to rush out to the crash site just to hold her little girl, irrational as that was. It was a credit to her husband that she’d waited until the the bus returned to the school. Both of her children in danger was more than she could handle.
Caius immediately worried about a hidden concussion that maybe the EMTs didn’t recognize or something -- hadn’t that guy from TV hit his head and then died like days later? He couldn’t remember the details. But he was sure his father had looked Sera over magically to make sure she was all right. He would have to check in with her as soon as dinner was over, feeling guilty that he hadn’t even known and it had been days. Granted, he’d been busy healing from his own injuries, but still. The backlash slice into his back was healing, just slowly. He nodded at what his mother said and gave a little sigh. “I’ll text her tonight. Glad nobody was seriously hurt,” he added in a murmur. Caius finally settled on something from the menu and set it aside. “Any other news?”
If Sera had been seriously hurt, Miriam would have made sure Caius knew about it. She would’ve still been fretting over her daughter and asking every witch she knew to help heal her. She definitely wouldn’t be out dining as if nothing was wrong. “I’m sure she’d like to hear from you,” she said with a little smile. It was nice how well the two of them got along, despite their age difference. “I was actually hoping you might have some for me,” Miriam said, setting down her menu as well. “How are you and Reagan doing?” It was a broad question, with so many directions he could take it, but she was hoping he might focus on what she was interested in without her having to ask outright.
Caius knew exactly what he was asking, and the temporary pause on his bitterness ended abruptly. He was sure Anthony had been telling Miriam all about how this was a doomed endeavor, how he would fail at finding a solution, and the ‘adult’ witches would have to take matters into their own hands. He doubted his father showed much more faith in him in private than he did to Caius’s face. Nevermind that he was actually making progress that might not have been made before. “We’re doing well,” he told his mother, stubbornly avoiding what he knew she wanted to know. “Making plans to sell my house and move into hers. It’s for the best, she’s really attached to the place. Dad did a good job selling her on it.” He kept his tone bland, like there wasn’t the underlying fact that Anthony had talked Reagan into buying a place in Black Cove to try and make trouble between them and keep them apart.
Miriam knew he was hurt, and was sure that he’d avoid the conversation for as long as he could. She tried to look at it as she might if the curse wasn’t in place, as if they were just a newly married couple with normal, everyday decisions to make. “If that’s what the two of you really want,” she sighed. “We’ll miss having you so close.” There was really no way to stop them from moving in with each other permanently. They were married now. “You know, you could both sell your houses and find something together. Something you both like. Make it yours.” It was what she would have wanted, had she been in their shoes. It was a lot more work, but it was something she would help them with, if Caius was willing to let her. “Has there been any more talk of a wedding?”
The possibility of buying a whole different house had crossed Caius’s mind, but he didn’t want to make that move just yet. If this curse breaking went badly, if they ended up not in love anymore ... as much as it pained him to think about it, he didn’t want Reagan to have to move. Agreeing to nest in her house had been a concession that he could tell had made her happy, and Caius wanted to make her as happy as possible with the time they still had. If he failed, he wasn’t sure what would happen, but he just might leave Point Pleasant for good. Let him be the unmoored one. Not that he was going to tell his mother that. “No,” he answered, wishing he had food already to focus on. “All that’s on hold until our problem is solved. So no need to concern yourself with putting on a farce that anything about this is a happy occasion.” Caius gave her a tight, cold smile.
“It is a happy occasion,” Miriam sighed. “I want you to be happy, sweetheart. I also want you to be safe. Right now those two things are at odds, but your father tells me you’re working on it. Once that’s all resolved, I do hope there’s a wedding. And a honeymoon. The two of you deserve one.” She knew he probably didn’t believe her, but it was the truth. All she’d ever wanted was his happiness, but not at the expense of his life. She just hadn’t expected on pursuing the one person who would put that in jeopardy. Yes, they’d been on and off since they were teenagers, but she kept hoping that they would eventually stay off for their own good. Perhaps they should have told them long ago, but at what point did you tell a child that the person they loved was going to eventually kill them?
Caius blamed his father more than his mother for this mess, since he was the one with magic, the one who’d been through it. The one who had cut his emotional ties with Veronica Kelly to dodge the curse. He knew Miriam didn’t know about that part, and he was tempted at the moment to tell her, just to throw a wrench into his father’s life just like Anthony had done to him. But that wasn’t fair to his mother, so he wasn’t going to. Caius wasn’t sure at the moment if she was being genuine or just trying to placate him, but he softened a little. Regardless of what they thought of Reagan and the mistakes they’d made, he knew his parents loved him. “We’ll see when this is all over,” he muttered, fidgeting a bit with the silverware in front of him. “There might not even be a ‘two of us’ left. But I am working on it, and we’re making progress.” He was loathe to ever admit that he was scared, but he was.
“What do you mean?” Miriam asked, not quite following his train of thought. They would get through this, which meant breaking the curse, which meant they could eventually be together without this hanging over their heads. Miriam refused to believe that one of them dying was the solution, especially if that meant she might one day have a grandchild in the same situation. This needed to be stopped, not be diverted or passed on. “What kind of progress have you made?”
Caius briefly arched a brow at the first question, but he didn’t have a chance to answer before their waiter arrived to take their orders. Irritating, but that was the kind of timing those things always had. Once that was done and they were alone-ish again, he realized that Anthony might not have told Miriam everything there was to know about this curse. “If breaking it doesn’t work, Dad’s solution is to do a ritual to destroy the bond between me and Reagan,” he explained. “Make us stop loving each other so we stay apart. So that’s ... one of the last resorts.” The others were death for one of them, but he didn’t want to get into those possibilities. “However, we’ve located the grave of the witch who put the curse in place to start with. I believe we can use some of her remains to find a descendant of hers. If we have some of ‘her’ blood--” he finger-quoted, “-- then maybe we can break it. That’s the plan to try, anyway.”
A chill ran up Miriam’s spine as she listened to Caius, her mind spinning around this new information. She always had questions when it came to magic, but there were some things she hadn’t even thought to ask. “Can he do that?” she asked. “Does he need your consent?” Something told her the answer was yes, otherwise he would’ve done it ten years ago. Miriam wasn’t sure how she felt about that option. She supposed it depended on if they had to be willing parties in the ritual. It was better than death, that much she was certain. “Once you track down a descendant of hers, what do you need them to do? Has that been tried before?”
Caius wasn’t honestly sure if Anthony needed their consent. Or if he only needed the consent of one party, or not at all, so he shrugged at the first part. If the answer was not at all, he wasn’t sure why his father hadn’t taken that step yet. It would’ve been a massive betrayal of trust, of course, but Caius felt that had already happened to some degree. “I can’t know for sure,” he answered Miriam’s last question first. “But there’s nothing in the journals about it. We’re modifying an old spell-breaking ritual to be stronger, so ... the more blood, the better.” Caius looked a little grim. What they would do once they found a descendant was still up in the air, but he knew it might not be pretty when they got there. “Nate is helping us, since he’s involved too.”
It bothered Miriam that he completely ignored her first question, leading her to believe that the answer was either yes or that he didn’t know. She was hoping it was the latter because the idea that her husband could permanently manipulate someone’s emotions with magic was unsettling to say the least. For some reason more unsettling than her son needing a large amount of blood to break a spell. So long as it wasn’t his, she could deal with it. “It seems like a good start, especially if there’s no documentation that it’s been tried before,” she said, hoping she sounded encouraging. It was so hard for her to know if what he was speaking about was really plausible without any magical experience herself. “Nate? Reagan’s brother? How can he help?” She’d always gotten the impression from Caius that Nate wasn’t much use as a witch, and if Nate could help, then so could she.
Manipulating emotions was probably one of the least unsettling things Anthony D’Onofrio could do. The things Caius had seen would probably turn his mother’s hair white. They had a tacit agreement not to get too detailed with Miriam and Sera about their magical practices for a reason. Caius knew she was worrying herself a lot about this one though, so it was an exception. “He’s a witch too, and any extra magical energy we can get to put into the spell will probably help,” he said. Nate’s power might not come close to his own, or Reagan’s, but he could bolster them. And help dig up the grave, but Caius left that part out. “I hope it’s a good start anyway,” he murmured, his gaze flickering around the room for a moment before it came back to his mother. “I’m going to fix this somehow.”
Miriam took a deep breath as she nodded. It was frustrating to know that even a subpar witch could contribute more than her, but if it took every witch in the area, she’d round them up. Whatever Caius needed. “I know I’m not much help, but it sounds like a good plan. Having a plan is what matters. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll come up with something else.” Or they would. She would sit back and hold her breath. And hopefully not suffocate under the pressure.
Caius’s expression softened slightly, and he reached across the table to briefly touch his mother’s hand. Angry as he was at them for keeping all of this a secret from him for so long, he knew at least Miriam was coming from a place of love. “Your support is help enough,” he told her, his lips quirking upward just a bit. “I wish I could be more reassuring, I just ... don’t know how anything is going to pan out yet. But we’ve got four of the most powerful witches in generations all working on it, so ... it’ll be okay, one way or another.” Anthony and Veronica might’ve had different goals than Caius and Reagan, but nobody wanted anyone to die, so they would figure it out. Hopefully.
She wasn’t sure if she should be reassured or not, but she knew she had to trust him on this, just like she had to trust Anthony. This was their expertise and her meddling wouldn’t help anyone. It was just extremely difficult, considering the people involved. At least Caius didn’t seem as intent on holding a grudge against her. When it came to the magical side of their family, she had to follow her husband and trust his judgement. She didn’t have a lot of other choices and going against his will and telling them earlier would’ve caused a whole different set of issues. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she said, giving him a hopeful smile. “You’ll keep me up to date on your progress? Your father said he would do the same, but he’s not always forthcoming with information.” She wouldn’t go so far as to say he lied to her, but she knew he omitted things where he saw fit.
That was an understatement, and Caius swallowed down the bitterness that tried to rise up in his throat again. He was sure he and his father would have a reckoning some day, a confrontation to clear this bad air, but they had to take care of this problem first. One thing at a time, and his feelings about his family took a backseat to ensuring his and Reagan’s survival. “I will, I promise,” he told his mother for the time being, giving her a warmer smile. “Now, on to more pleasant subjects. Tell me what you’ve been up to lately, I’m sure you’re keeping busy.” Miriam D’Onofrio may not have been a witch, but she still had her fingers in a lot of boards and clubs and organizations, and he was sure she could fill the rest of the meal conversation with her own goings-on.