“You’re right. I’ve been thinking about what you said, about your dad being a good man. And he was. I think there’s a reason he wouldn’t do it, why the other head witches wouldn’t do it. We need to figure it out. Quickly.”
“I think so too, mum. You know what he was like.”
She reaches for his hand. “You’re so much like him. He was a principled man. And we’ll finish what he started. Let’s wake everyone up. Let’s go to Scotland, sort out the council, then sort out the demons, and then I’ll go through – we’ll go through – all of your father’s things, see if there’s any information there.”
“We’ll be okay. We got through the worse of it.”
“Some of us did.”
He pours a drink for Ellis and goes upstairs to wake her, leaving his mother to wake up his aunt and his cousins.
Ellis is fast asleep, hair looking wild, one arm flung over her face, the other hanging off the edge of the bed. “Ellis,” he whispers her name, and she stirs straight away, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. He passes her the drink. “Thanks.”
He sits beside her. “How are you? You slept through an entire day.”
“No way! Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I wasn’t far behind you. We were all shattered. We need to get ready. We’re going to Scotland.”
Horror dawns on Ellis’s face, and she covers her face with her hands. “The council. They’re still tied up. We forgot all about them. They will be so angry.”
“We were kind of busy,” he says, trying to sound flippant, before shaking his head. “No, it is awful that we forgot. They’ll be furious. But what can we do? We can hardly leave them now we’ve remembered them.”
“I suppose we didn’t deliberately forget. It’s been a crazy few days.”
“Exactly. And they’ll understand that. Hopefully. How are your broken bones?”
“Better. I think I’m back to normal.” She climbs out of bed without wincing. “See?”
He laughs and takes her in his arms. “So this doesn’t hurt?”
“Nope, not even a little.”
He leans in, and they kiss. “Don’t you wish this was all over, and we could just kiss all day?”
She nods. “Definitely. My dad thinks you’re a lovely boy, from a lovely family. He’ll be happy.”
“Does he really?”
“Yeah. I mean, he’s wrong about your family. Except your mum. Your mum is lovely. Your aunt and your cousins... not so much.”
He laughs. “They are hard work, for sure. Will your dad really be pleased?”
“Yes. He’s been waiting forever for me to get a boyfriend, so he’ll have somebody strong to cart our coffins around.”
Fletcher laughs. “I am not carting coffins.”
She shakes her head. “We don’t really ‘cart’ them, that’s not the right word. My dad is nicer to our dead bodies than he is to me and Isaac. But he’ll be happy to have someone strong around the place.”
“I’d be more than happy to help. I can just magic things done. And so can you, now.”
“I keep forgetting that I’m a witch! I’m the worst one you’ve ever met, aren’t I?”
He cannot keep a straight face and she groans. “Oh, I’m so embarrassing.”
“You’re not. You’re lovely.”
They kiss again. “Come on, we need to be quick.”
She nods, and they are downstairs within ten minutes. The others aren’t far behind them.
“I feel sick,” Ember says to Elodie. “What are we going to say to them?”
“Sorry. And, in fairness, the reason you probably feel sick is that you drank too much champagne.”
Ember nods and winces, holding onto her head. “True. They’ll be so angry. Are Jane and David coming too?”
“No, just us. I don’t want to overwhelm them or for it to look like we’ve come with loads of backup. I’m hoping to throw myself on their mercy, to be honest.”
“If they have any.”
Elodie shrugs. Her sister has spoken aloud her exact fear.
Thea takes her mum’s hand. “I’m scared. I don’t want another big fight. I don’t think I can face it.”
“It’s okay. We need to do it. We need to explain what went wrong, and we need to say sorry. And we need to be open with them. Moving forwards, we need to work more closely than we ever have before. We can’t let this happen again.”
“Come on, everyone. Let’s go.”
Elodie and Ember check outside to make sure it’s safe, before they go out, and once they are all gathered on the pavement, Ember puts the protections back in place.
“Ready?” Fletcher holds out his arms, so Ellis can step into them. She fits so perfectly against him. She lays her head against his chest, and then he holds her close.
They fly away, up to Scotland and land in front of the enormous house.
There’s no welcoming committee this time, and they all pause. None of them wants to step inside and face the absolute anger they know is coming.
Ellis
Fletcher’s mum takes the lead, thank God; I don’t even want to go inside, never mind go inside first. And then it’s like my legs won’t walk, and Fletcher has to tug on my arm to get me to move. And ever so reluctantly I follow him, clutching onto his hand.
There are six furious people, magically bound, against their will, inside this house.
Fun.
Ember steps in front of Elodie as they go through the front door, and I’m struck again by how lovely she is. She really is a pretty woman. Scary. Pretty. “I moved them upstairs. I thought it would be better if I tucked them out of the way.”
“Superb idea. Show me.”
We follow Ember up the steps, the long curve of the stairway sweeping around. Such a beautiful detail in such a beautiful house. Yes, I’m rambling. My thoughts are rambling and scrambling and swirling, because I do not want to face this.
I’m not even an actual witch. I don’t see why I should be in all these difficult and dangerous situations when I’m just a normal girl, and an
