Ember stops outside double doors that probably open into an exquisite bedroom or library or... who cares? We will probably die in that room, whatever type of room it is.
We cannot leave people tied up indefinitely, but the minute we untie them – two vampires, two shifters and two fairies – well they’re not going to politely thank us and head on their merry way. No, they will unleash their fury on us.
I actually whimper but quickly turn it into a cough when Thea glares at me.
Fletcher squeezes my hand, and I close my eyes.
It’s okay. I have faced death more than once since I became a witch. I can face it again. It just pains me that one of these days I might face it and that’ll be the last thing I ever do.
I breathe in and out, calming my panic.
Then my eyes snap open. “There’s nobody in there.” I say it, not knowing where the insight came from, but knowing it’s true.
Elodie shakes her head and pushes open the doors. “She’s right. I was so worried I didn’t even notice.”
Maybe I am an excellent witch.
“Same,” Ember says. “I did not pick up on it at all.”
They shake their heads, smiling, and then frown as they realise what this means.
Thea and Talia hold hands, looking frantically around, expecting the creatures to jump out and ambush us.
“There’s nobody here at all. Anywhere here,” I say again.
Know it all.
“She’s right,” Fletcher agrees with me, and I smile at him. He might laugh that I’m a rubbish witch, but sometimes I’m bang on.
“She’s right.” His mum sinks to the floor, crying, and Fletcher drops beside her, he’s such a lovely guy.
“Don’t cry.”
“I have to. Where have they gone? Who helped them? If they’re not here, we can’t explain everything to them, and if we can’t explain everything to them, that means they’ll be angry with us. And we don’t know where they are. Which means this isn’t over.”
Ember sits beside her sister. “They probably told people they had the meeting here with us, and when they didn’t come back, those people came looking for them.”
“But it was witch magic. Which means only a witch could have undone it.”
“So, they probably called one of the witches who hates us and asked them to help. And by now they might have heard about the fight on the pier, and they might even know about Zeta and Efa. Don’t panic.”
Fletcher holds out his hand to me, and I pull him up. Then he helps his mum up. “Let’s go. If they were furious, they’d have stayed here and waited for us, or set a trap, or done something. There’s no one here. That’s a good thing. Come on. We’ve got enough trouble, let’s not look for any more.”
Elodie lets Fletcher take her out of the house and down the enormous driveway, quiet but coming with us, letting herself be led away from the house, like I let Fletcher take me in there.
We are all quiet, looking back at the house, peering around the grounds, sure we’ve missed something. I haven’t heard the twins say a sarcastic word for days. Not that I miss it. Ever since I got my own back on them, they’ve been nicer to me. There was no good reason to be horrible.
I’m lovely.
Back in Fletcher’s arms, ready to fly home again, I worry about the next part of our day. He told me how his mum wants to call the demons back to the portal, and I’m pretty sure I remember them saying that it must have been some evil magic that got them out.
I can’t even do normal magic that well, I’m not sure I’m best prepared for black magic.
In Fletcher’s arms, as we fly home, the words ‘dark magic’ repeat in my head.
When we sit and watch Elodie and Ember make lunch, the same words repeat in my head and I wonder how dark is dark?
Considering the time I spend with dead people, I’m actually a bit of a wuss – I don’t like the idea of evil magic. When I think about it, it makes my insides squirm.
Are we talking about sacrifices, blood rituals, evil spirits? To be honest, I’m not up for all that. It comes down to living with dead people. If I think about ghosts – friendly or otherwise – I’ll get no sleep. If I imagine that at any moment, all of our corpses might come to life like some sort of zombie film, I couldn’t relax at all. I have to think, know, believe, that once you’re dead, you’re dead.
That’s why the demons don’t sit well with me.
I shake my head, and Fletcher touches my arm. “Are you okay?”
I nod, then shake my head. “Just nervous about the demon recalling.”
“Me too.”
Thanks. That’s reassuring. He knows far more about all this than I do and he’s nervous. I should be petrified then.
Maybe I can stay behind.
As I think about it, I know it won’t be the case. I am the head witch. Even though I’m the most rubbish head witch since records began. There are no records, but I know what I mean, anyway. I’m crap. But they’ll need me.
Bound to.
I eat – Elodie and Ember make a lovely spread – it would be rude not to.
“We’ll go to the portal after lunch.” Elodie just announces it, like we might be going on a pleasant trip – to the cinema or the fair or the shops.
A nice bit of dark magic after lunch. Yup, that’s perfectly normal, not at all creepy, and pretty boring, actually.
I can’t even answer her, not that she’s waiting for my answer, as though we can’t go unless I commit to it, but I choke on a crisp, and can’t speak, even if I wanted to.
I feel Fletcher’s hand on my leg under the table. Reassuring me, tethering me to him. In a magnificent way.
I’m okay. I’ll be okay.
I eat and repeat this to myself, watching
