“What does that even mean?”
Fletcher shrugs at his mother and pointedly tucks in next to a garden shed, not answering.
“Fletcher?” The whisper is so quiet they only just hear it.
Fletcher answers, just in his head, and Thea does the same.
She comes around the side of the shed and falls into Fletcher’s arms. “Fletcher.” Her voice is a wail, a quiet wail, but a wail filled with upset, sadness, distress.
Fletcher keeps his arms around her but pulls back so he can see her face. “Thea, what’s happened? Is your mum okay? Talia?”
“Nobody’s okay. Fletcher, everything’s gone mad.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t have much time.”
Elodie claps her hands, mutters something, and freezes time. “You’ve got a few minutes,” she says, rubbing Thea’s back. “What’s wrong? Are you all okay and safe?’
Thea nods, but then shakes her head. “I’m okay, we’re all okay, but nothing is okay, and Ellis isn’t safe.”
“Ellis?” Fletcher bristles at her name. “Where is she? Who has her? Is it the rebels or the council?”
Thea looks torn, upset making her shake. “My mum... my mum...” She shakes her head.
“Thea. We can’t help Ember if we don’t know what’s wrong.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my mum, well, that’s not true, everything is wrong with my mum.”
Fletcher and Elodie just look even more confused. “Thea, time’s running out. What’s going on?”
Thea takes a deep breath and looks between her aunt and her cousin, maybe brother.
“My mum is in there, with Vann and Gregory and Ellis and Lincoln. She plans on undoing the original magic, giving Vann and everyone else their freedom, and then killing, or having Vann kill Ellis, so she can make Talia head witch.”
Elodie’s expression and Fletcher’s expression match – mouths open, eyes wide, disbelief on both of their faces. “No! That doesn’t even make sense. Why would she want Talia to be head witch? She can’t kill Ellis, I don’t understand.”
“I barely understand myself,” Thea’s voice is low, laced with misery. “I’m so sorry. Mum says that... mum says that Adam is our dad, that Talia would be head witch is it wasn’t for Fletcher, and she’ll make a better head witch. It’s all ready to go. I need to go back in.”
Elodie is silent, face white and mouth tight. She’s shaking her head over and over and over. Fletcher grabs Thea’s arm. “I don’t believe you!”
Thea is crying. “Fletcher, it’s true. I don’t know if it’s true that he’s my dad, but it’s true that mum said it.”
“No.” He folds his arms.
“Fletcher, we can argue about it later, Ellis is in danger.”
It’s like the fog of anger lifts at her name. “Then you can’t go back in, let me go instead of you, let me rescue Ellis. I don’t care about anything else; Ember can’t kill Ellis.”
“She has to – she can’t make Talia head witch without killing Ellis. Fletcher I don’t even know if it’s true, my mum has never mentioned who our dad is before now. But she’s determined. She’s crazy.”
Fletcher turns to his mum, shaking her shoulders, trying to bring her out of her daze. “Mum, mum, I need you to focus. I don’t think it’s true about dad, but we need to move fast – we need to rescue Ellis. How can we switch places, me and Thea? I’ll go in instead.”
Thea nods, colour coming back to her cheeks. “That might work. Straight after she undoes the magic, she’ll have Vann kill Ellis. You can step in before that. Aunty El, me and you can sort everybody else out.”
Elodie shakes her head, unable to speak.
Fletcher looks at Thea. “Why have you told us this, why aren’t you taking her side?”
Thea colours. “I don’t think Talia should be head witch. I love her – most of the time – but she won’t do a suitable job, not like you would, neither would mum. They’re both too self-centred, too... mean. I don’t know if your dad is my dad, but for now we just need to stop them.”
“Mum!” Fletcher’s tone is sharp. “We need to sort this out. How can we swap places?”
Elodie focuses on her son, her eyes full of unshed tears. “Easy,” she says, but there’s no expression in her tone, no life in her eyes.
She mutters some magical spell or other, flicks her wrists at the two of them and they switch places. Even their voices change.
“I’ll bind them all as soon as they undo the magic.”
“Should you do it straight away?” Thea asks.
Fletcher shakes his head, Thea’s hair fluttering around his face, causing him to frown. “I’ll let her do that, we want it done anyway, so it won’t matter, then I’ll stop them before they can kill Ellis. You two bind or kill everybody else and wait outside the door. When I yell, come in and help me.”
Thea nods, Elodie doesn’t. She’s in too much shock.
Thea hugs Fletcher fiercely. “I don’t know if you’re my brother or my cousin, I don’t care, but I know there’s more good in you than any of us. Stop my mum.”
Fletcher nods and goes inside the house, very aware of his boobs.
“Where’s Thea?” Ember asks, the tension filling the room. She clears everybody else out of the room. “Everybody out, except the girls and Vann. And these two.”
“I’m here,” Fletcher says slipping into the room.
There are candles lit, and a fire roaring, making the room too hot, too stuffy. Ellis sits on a chair, and Lincoln sits on another one, to her left. He does not look happy, but he doesn’t look like he’s ready to put up a fight either.
Vann stands guard at the door, and the twins take a seat behind their mother. Ember is ready to perform the ceremony. The ceremony that will give Vann and all the other creatures their authority back. She turns to look at him, giving him a tender and loving smile, before turning to face Ellis again. “This won’t hurt you, Ellis, but as head witch, I need you here.”
Ellis merely shrugs, Ember is wrong. This will hurt
