If he’s angry, it’ll only be because he cares about me. I know that, but I also know that I shouldn’t have told Sadie that I would die for the sake of anybody else. I wanted her to change the original magic so that nobody would die. Magic can’t usually be undone in that way. I should have fixed everything. And I told him I had. I told him and his mum that I had fixed everything.
I lied.
I promised to die so that everybody else would live.
And then I ran away from Fletcher to visit my family one last time before the end.
I’m having a grand day.
Reluctantly I walk away from my home, my family, my lovely dead bodies and head back to Fletcher’s house. Time to face the music and all that.
A noise behind me has me turning, and even though I’m still invisible, somebody can see me, because they shove a hood over my head and bundle me into a car.
Fudge.
10
Fletcher runs out into the street, screaming inside his own head for his mother, and calling out loud for Ellis.
He can’t see her, and he instantly feels sick.
Elodie rushes out of the gate and puts her hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump and swear.
“Fletcher!”
“Sorry! Ellis is gone. The gate was open and there’s no sign of her.”
“Why would she leave?”
“What if someone took her?”
“Who? There are too many protections in place. Let me see.” She goes back to the gate and then looks at him, her expression awkward. “Fletcher – this has been magicked open from the inside. Ellis left.”
“Why? She knows how dangerous it is. I don’t... I can’t...”
“Stay calm.”
He’s running his hands through his hair, angry and agitated. “I don’t think I can, I don’t understand.” He looks confused, hurt, worried, angry – all the emotions passing over his face, then the fog lifts. “I bet she’s gone home.”
Elodie nods. “Get her.”
“She wouldn’t have let them see her, I’m sure. I’m sure she was just homesick.”
Elodie goes back inside, locking the gate behind her. Fletcher heads up the hill, cursing under his breath. He gets that Ellis is new to all of this; he gets that she’s scared; he gets that she’s homesick, but he needs to her to stop being reckless and stupid. If she is missing her family, she should have told him. If she’s scared, she could talk to him. Running away and leaving everybody in a panic is selfish and immature.
It isn’t far to her house, and he’s scowling and muttering as he walks, scowling and muttering and not paying much attention to anything going on around him, and then scowling and muttering as he hears a vehicle screech to a halt.
And he’s scowling and muttering when he sees Ellis being pulled into a van, a hood over her head, her hands flailing and her legs thrashing.
It all happens so quickly, in such a rush, that he almost can’t believe what he’s seen. He shakes his head, rubs his eyes and watches, helplessly, as the van drives away.
He runs faster than he ever has back to his mother. There’s no point chasing the van; he won’t catch up with it, and there’s only two possibilities for who is responsible for this.
The rebels – which he doubts. Ember is tracking the last remaining few at this very minute, or it’s the council members who are still angry at being trussed up and abandoned in Scotland.
His money is on the council members.
He crashes into the house, causing Elodie to jump with fright. The look on his face tells her everything she needs to know. “Ellis?”
“She’s gone. She was walking back down the hill, and someone took her.”
“Who? Took her where?”
“I don’t know! They stuck a hood over her head and bundled her into a van and drove off practically on two wheels.”
“A van?”
“Yes, with no number plate, just black.”
“Right. I don’t think it’ll be the rebels. It’s probably the council members, some ridiculous notion of revenge. This is why wars go on and on, Fletcher, this pointless, destructive tit for tat attitude that people have. It’s so aggravating.” As she talks, she’s ringing Ember. “No answer. Come on, let’s go.”
Outside, she nods at him. “Let’s go to the twins, Erin and Anna. They’ll know what’s going on and they have more sense than some.”
They fly off at the same moment and land in what seems like seconds.
They are in a normal street, in a normal cul-de-sac, standing in front of a normal semi-detached house.
Elodie knocks on the door and then magics the door open. Stepping inside, with zero hesitation, she calls out. “Erin! Anna!”
Erin comes out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, flour dusting her cheeks, the picture of calm domesticity; the complete opposite of Elodie’s barely simmering fury.
“Excuse me!” The fairy is indignant and confused. Her wings flutter as she moves, shimmering beautifully. “Elodie, what the hell are you doing bursting into my house? And what’s with the attitude? Last time I saw you, you left me tied up, and you forgot about me. Seems I should be the angry one, not you!”
Anna comes down the stairs, so similar to her twin. The only difference being the colour of their wings – Anna’s are pale purple, and Erin’s are light green. “What the hell, Elodie?”
“I’m sorry I burst in, but I’m sick to death of the games, the drama. We just want Ellis back.”
“We don’t have Ellis.”
Straight away both Elodie and Fletcher know it’s true, and the anger vanishes, replaced by a creeping fear. If this isn’t the council, and Ember isn’t answering her phone...
Elodie is shaking, and Fletcher is swearing. Erin takes them both, leads them into the lounge, sits them down and gives them a drink. “I think we can overlook the dramatic and rude arrival, what’s going on?”
Elodie cannot speak, she is crying now, panic over Ellis and her sister making her shudder.
Fletcher wipes his eyes. He
