Ellis coughs. “And you don’t think Fletcher has the balls to do the job?”
“You might think otherwise, being in love with him, but I know he doesn’t. He’s a wuss, a sook, a baby.”
“Okay, and you can’t kill him, because you love him so much?”
“I love him, but also if I killed him to make one of the girls head witch, it just wouldn’t work.” She shrugs. “Magic.”
“And the girl’s father is really Adam? They’re not cousins, they’re brother and sisters?” Ellis looks at the twins, who look as shell-shocked as she feels. “Did the twins know? That Adam was their dad?”
Ember shakes her head. “No, I only just shared that with them, but they stand by me. I’m their mother. They are with me on this one.”
“Did Adam know? Did Fletcher’s dad know that he was their father?”
Ember looks sad and shakes her head, no.
“He didn’t figure it out? When you had the twins nine months after...” Ellis trails off and Ember shrugs. “Maths wasn’t his strong suit.”
Ellis almost laughs, but then her face turns sombre. “And when you said I was a pawn...?”
“I didn’t even know it myself, but Zeta was bragging to Vann about all the things she’d done, the plans she’d made, to get Efa to power. She wanted you to be head witch. Not you, necessarily, but somebody that wasn’t part of our world. The night you got invested, the night you thought you were chasing your little puppy through Margam Park? Nuh uh – you were chasing Layland who had shifted into your cute little puppy – Doughnut was it?”
“Macaroon,” Ellis answers, her voice trembling.
“Right, Macaroon, was actually Layland, with the sole aim of getting you invested instead of Fletcher. Like I said, a loophole. Zeta saw it, but she didn’t get as far as we did. Now we have Lincoln here to reprise his role... Sadly we must kill you, but Vann can do an expert job of it. He’ll make sure you’re struck first so you won’t feel a thing. And then Lincoln will invest Talia and the entire world will be how I want it.”
And that you’re about to kill me, that you’ve lied to your sister this whole time, cheated with her husband? None of this matters?”
Ember shrugs. “Not to me, it doesn’t. It’s the reason Adam asked me to fight against the rebels. I don’t worry, I don’t second guess, I don’t stress myself out worrying about the morality of my choices – I just do what needs to get done. And you’ve changed the original magic, so I can undo the power we have over the other creatures, give them their freedom, and set Talia up as head witch of the witches. Vann and I will get married and have little fairy witch babies and Fletcher and Elodie? They’ll get over it. That’s all they’ll have the energy to do.”
Ellis
I cannot believe what I’m hearing and yet it shouldn’t surprise me. I never liked Fletcher’s aunt – she’s so scary and cold and condescending and arrogant, with her perfect hair and her high heels and her bright red lipstick.
Did she really sleep with her sister’s husband? Has Fletcher got two sisters, well, half sisters, instead of two cousins? How will his mother cope with this betrayal?
And my stomach flips. Was Macaroon really Layland in disguise when I chased her that night? That’s so gross. And was I really changed so they could kill me off instead of Fletcher?
Why me?
I’ve always been unlucky. If anybody will step in the dog shit – yes, that’s me. If the bird will poop on somebody’s head – yes, me. The one who’ll get hit with the stray football, rugby ball, tennis ball, anything – me.
I try to think of more questions, anything to delay the inevitable, and then I smile. The one good thing – the only good thing about today – is that they will undo the original magic, and as per Sadie’s dastardly plan, I will die. So Ember might get her wish of investing Talia as the new head witch, but she won’t be the one who kills me. That’s some minor comfort to me.
Is that really a good thing? I wipe at a tear that’s trailing down my face.
“Ah don’t cry, pickle. I’ll make it painless; I promise.”
I snort. As if I can believe her. She wants to kill me so that her daughter can be head witch, her daughter, whose father is her sister’s dead husband. She’s a snake. A mean and nasty snake who doesn’t even care that she’s a snake.
“Anything else you need to know? Questions? Anything puzzling you, or can we start?”
I shrug. Everything is puzzling me, upsetting me and stressing me out. I don’t have just one question for this snake woman; I have about a thousand. But what’s the point? Even if I could get a bit of my magic to work, I’d be no match for Ember. Or the twins. Or Sally. “Are Sally’s parents in on this too. Are they against Elodie too?”
Ember frowns and sighs. “They are, as it goes, but I’m not against my sister, am I? I haven’t killed her or Fletcher. I haven’t harmed them. It’s not so much being against her as being for me.”
I raise an eyebrow at her. She can sugar coat this if she wants to, if that makes her feel better, and helps her sleep at night, but the fact of it is, if Zeta was insane, Ember is worse. She’s perfectly sane. She seduced her sister’s husband, kept her betrayal quiet, pretended to be a good, loving sister, and then planned to usurp her nephew from his rightful position as head witch. And because
