Ellery doesn’t answer her, but Fletcher and Ellis wish that they could.
“Ooh, maybe we kill the shifters and use the fairies as slaves. We can clip their wings and subdue them easily enough, I think. Ellery – it’s all still developing, really. As you can tell!”
“And the vampires?”
“Well, we’ll use them first, to kill all the humans.”
“Kill all the humans? Won’t people notice?”
“Maybe. But what else are they good for?”
Ellery shrugs and shakes her head.
Sadie goes on. “For now, I’ll let them all go home, call off their people, stop all the fighting, give them a week or so, while I decide for definite and then I’ll start. It’s so exciting.”
“Very.”
Sadie bustles off to another witch who is beckoning her over, and Ellery catches her sister’s eye. When Alex joins her sister, Elodie joins Fletcher and Ellis, the three of them silent witnesses.
“She’s gone mad.”
“What do you mean?”
“She doesn’t want to stop the war and be in charge of all the creatures to ensure peace. She wants to clip the fairies’ wings, and kill the shifters, or the other way around. She wants to use the vampires to kill the humans and-” Ellery bends in half, breathing ragged.
“Breathe.” Alex takes her sister’s hand and leads her away, smiling, and Elodie turns to Fletcher. “Reading about it all was bad enough, but being here, unable to put a stop to it... awful.”
They are silent, each wrapped up in their own thoughts, until they leave and follow the coven back to their home. They congregate in the hallway, watching Sadie gloat. Elodie whispers, “I think we need to take turns in following her. Even if you two want to stick together, and I go alone. Three is too many, and if we overcrowd her and she senses us, or feels us... I don’t want to risk anything going wrong now.”
Fletcher nods. “We’ll stick together, I don’t want Ellis on her own.”
Elodie nods, assuming that was the stance he would take. “That’s fine. Just be careful. While she’s here, we can all watch her together, but we can’t mess this up.”
They are quiet and sombre faced as they watch Sadie and the other witches celebrate. The only witches who aren’t happy are Ellery and her half-sister, Alex. They are smiling and laughing, but the joy doesn’t meet their eyes.
“I don’t mind being on my own with her, if I need to,” Ellis tells Fletcher. “She won’t know I’m there.”
“We should be fine together but thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m trying to be brave in the middle of a ridiculously scary and horrendous situation.”
Fletcher laughs and kisses her forehead.
They turn their attention back to Sadie and her insane celebrations.
“I feel sick watching her,” Fletcher says. “Knowing that she started all of this, knowing that she wanted to kill everybody.”
“Like Zeta,” Ellis says, clutching onto his hand. “I’m scared. What would happen if they find us?”
“They won’t.” Although he is whispering, his tone is forceful. “I won’t let you come to any harm.”
They stand together, the three of them, silent and watchful, unsure of when Sadie will make her move, and add to the spell.
“She won’t do it here,” Elodie says. “I think she’ll do it when she’s alone. Or with some of her closest friends.”
They have no choice but to wait, and then Sadie slips away, alone, and they follow her.
She hums as she walks through the corridors, pleased with herself. Elodie hangs back and gestures for Fletcher and Ellis to go without her.
Fletcher is ahead of Ellis but still far behind Sadie. They are both walking as quietly as they can, trying to make no noise, breathing through open mouths to make less noise.
Sadie pauses, and so does Fletcher. Ellis just stops herself from colliding with him. Sadie looks around, suspicion on her face. They are invisible, but they both freeze.
She turns and carries on, and they continue to follow her, even more carefully.
Up some stairs and around a bend, she opens her bedroom door. Fletcher ushers Ellis inside and then before he can follow her Sadie shuts the door, locking it.
Fletcher is on the other side of the door, helpless. He cannot hear anything, so he can only hope that she was being careful and cautious and that she doesn’t know about them following her. She can’t do. He shakes his head and tries to magic a way into the room. Nothing works. He puts his ear to the door one more time. He can hear Sadie humming, but nothing else. Ellis must be okay. But he might need some help. He turns and runs back to fetch his mother.
Ellis
Fletcher ushers me inside and before he can follow me, Sadie pushes the door shut and locks it. I scuttle over to the window as far away as I can from her, so she doesn’t accidentally walk into me, and flatten myself against the wall. She’s humming as she takes a seat on a huge armchair.
Then she waves a hand around, whispers something I cannot hear and then says, “You look ridiculous flattened up against the wall like a painting. Who are you and why are you following me?”
She can see me. I peel myself off the wall, I almost faint, I hold out my hand, stupidly, because I could always see myself.
“Are you going to speak or just look at me with your mouth agape like a thirsty dog?”
I shut my mouth and take a seat opposite her. I cannot stand. I will faint. Or cry. Or die. “How did you know I was here?”
“I am the most powerful witch in the country. Why are you wearing such strange attire?”
I look down at my jeans and top and look over at her dress. I suppose I look strange to her. I need Fletcher.
“He can’t
