What the hell were they looking for?
I asked my magic, but nothing showed up—just this room as it was in the now. Hmm…. I looked at Will. “Okay. Next room.”
He led the way to another room that was just as dark and granite filled as the last one. Nothing unusual showed up through my lens. We made our way up a narrow spiral stone staircase. This place had been a monastery and a jail in its former life. What secrets it must hold.
As we walked through, a shadowed movement flicked in my peripheral vision. I swung my head around, but there was nothing there. Had I imagined it? Probably. When your senses were on high alert, nothings could turn into somethings. I ignored the sense of being watched and kept walking.
After going up and up the staircase, we came out at a rectangular courtyard. A covered walkway enclosed it, giving us a view of the open grassed area through the stone archways that framed it. A cold wind swept through, and I shivered. I hastily zipped up my hoodie—we’d gone casual for this holiday. It was weird not being in uniform for an investigation, and as gorgeous as Will was in his suit, he also looked pretty damned good in jeans and a jumper. Truth was, Will couldn’t look average in anything. If he wasn’t an agent, he would’ve made a good model, although I couldn’t see him keep a straight face strutting down the catwalk in some of the ridiculous outfits they had to wear.
I made another bubble of silence, raised my camera, and whispered, “Show me my parents.” Another gust whistled through, and I shivered again. When we were done here, I was so getting a coffee and pastry. Just let Will try and stop me.
Daylight disappeared. Moonlight silhouetted three figures on the pathway across the courtyard from where I stood. I wandered around there, dodging a couple of sightseers who were here in real time. Will stayed at my side.
What the hell had gone on? It was hard to make out, but I was pretty sure it was my parents with the same man who’d been in their hotel room. The guy stood behind my dad and had him in a headlock. Grrrr. My father’s hands were on the guy’s forearms, likely trying to pry him off. My mother stood in front of them, feet planted wide, a gun pointed at the stranger’s head. Go, Mum!
But hang on, there were two faint figures in the middle of the courtyard. They weren’t showing up as solid as my parents. I snapped a couple of shots and zoomed in. My mouth dropped open. They had sandals and robes on… monks? What did they have to do with anything? One monk had grabbed the front of the other one’s robe and had pulled him so their faces were close together—aggression if I’d ever seen it. What had that been about?
I shook my head, lowered my camera, and refocussed on where my parents had shown up—whatever was going on, I needed to deal with it one mystery at a time. “Show me what happened next.”
Nothing.
I sighed.
I turned to Will, brought up the photo of my parents, and handed him the camera. “Check that out. I guess maybe nothing ended up happening? My parents returned from that holiday.” I made air quotes. “I couldn’t find anything else from afterwards. I’m assuming if they’d killed him, it would’ve shown up.”
“You would think, but who knows how it all works—what the universe chooses to show you or not show you. In any case, it’s intriguing, and we need to do some more digging.” He went to hand the camera back, but I shook my head.
“Go to the next pic and tell me what you think.”
“O-kay.” He flicked across to the next one. His forehead wrinkled. He enlarged the picture. “They’re a bit faded, but are they monks?”
“I think so, yes. But why? I’m thinking they weren’t there the same time as my parents. I’ve never had that happen before—two time periods intermingling, two different crimes.”
Will’s eyes had a calculating look in them. “What if they’re related?”
“Hmm, interesting.” Way to make things more complicated. Fatigue washed over me at the prospect of doing more research, then piecing all this together. I walked to the edge of the space and looked across the water. The tide was out, and sand stretched into the distance. The tides here were crazy. At home, the water moved down or up between three and six feet with each tide, but the tides here sucked the water away for miles.
Will stood next to me and slid his arm around my waist. “Whatcha thinking?”
A blast of icy wind blew my hair away from my face. I slid my arm around Will’s waist and snuggled into his side, soaking up his warmth. “I’m just tired. It’s like, we find something, but then it raises more questions. How long can this go on? How long can we go on? I know our war with RP is coming, but if we have so many unanswered questions, will it come back and bite us later?”
Will stared out at the expanse of sand for a moment. “I don’t know, Lily. I wish I could tell you it’ll all be over in a couple of weeks, and there won’t be any loose ends to chase up, but….” He shrugged.
I sighed. “I know.” My stomach grumbled. “Yeah, yeah, I know I forgot to feed you before, and I promised.”
Will chuckled. “Okay, Lily’s stomach, let’s hurry this up, and once we’re outside, we’ll go get you something yummy.”
My stomach gurgled. “She said thank you.” I grinned and pulled away from Will. “Let’s get this done.” I spoke with all the confidence in the world. But, hey, what did I know?
Even though we didn’t find anything else in the abbey, Mont Saint-Michel wasn’t finished with us yet. Not by a long shot.
After leaving the abbey, we visited the boulangerie next to our hotel and grabbed two sandwiches, two chocolate éclairs, and two coffees. We took them up to our room to sit and discuss our next move. Other than the drone of power constantly buzzing through my body, I liked it here. It would be nice if I could spend more time wandering around, exploring the narrow paths, nooks, and crannies of the island, maybe even have a romantic dinner before we went home, but we had work to do. I was definitely putting it on my list for us to come back and stay for real when this was over and done with.
I’d finished my sandwich, and it was coffee and éclair time. The first bite was even better than I could’ve imagined. “Mmmmmm.” I spoke with a full mouth because all etiquette went out the third-floor window and died a happy death on the concrete. “This is soooooo good. Oh my God.”
Will smiled as he ate the last of his. “Agreed. Hmm, maybe we should have an éclair wedding cake. Just a pyramid of them. What do you think?”
“I think you might be joking, but I’ll hold you to it. Ooh, I know! We can do one layer of double-chocolate muffins, one layer of éclairs, and so on to infinity.” I laughed.
“Whatever makes you happy.” He grinned.
“You’re the best. I knew I made the right choice when I said yes.” I held my hand up and admired my sparkly engagement ring.
Will grabbed my hand and kissed it. “I’m glad you said yes, too, and not because we’re going to get cake at the wedding.” He leaned closer and kissed me senseless. He eyed the bed we were sitting on. “We could make better use of this before we go back.” I was about to answer when his phone rang. Dammit. He frowned and picked it up off the bedside table. “Agent Blakesley.”
Magic tingled my scalp. I narrowed my eyes and stood. Will gave me a brief quizzical look but had to concentrate on his conversation. I quietly walked to the door and carefully gripped the handle. Ready. Set. Go! I spun the knob and yanked the door open. Standing outside in the corridor, her eyes wide, was a young woman dressed in jeans and black jumper. I was about to ask her what she was doing when she turned and ran.
Should I go after her?
Stuff it. Yes. Yes, I should.
I bolted out the door and down the stairs. Her footsteps clapped a staccato beat to the bottom. I caught a glimpse of her heading for the front door. One of the waiters from the restaurant stepped out in front of me from a side door. I dodged him and sprinted for the front door. I burst into the street and jerked my head one way, then the other, as I gulped in huge breaths.
“Damn
!” She’d disappeared in the crowd, or maybe she’d gone up nearby stairs. This place was a medieval rabbit warren.
“Lily!” Will said. I turned. He was standing just outside the hotel door. “What happened?”
I made a bubble of silence, something we hadn’t done in the hotel room. “Someone was spying on us. Didn’t you feel that magic when you were on the phone?”
“Yes, but it was so faint, and the call was important. I figured it was probably nothing—it could’ve been a hotel maid cleaning the room next to us.”
“There was a woman, about my age. I didn’t have my other sight on, so I don’t know what spell she used, but she was standing in the hallway, likely spying.”
Will swore and peered up and down the street. “Let’s go back upstairs. Things have changed.” Without waiting for an answer, he turned and re-entered the hotel. I hurried to keep up with him. Whatever he needed to tell me was important, and in light of someone—likely RP—knowing we were here, danger was closer than we thought.
Will’s magic tingled my nape as he set up a spell outside our room. “An alarm so we aren’t taken by surprise again.” He opened the door for me, then followed me in and shut it.
I checked, and my bubble of silence was still up. I’d managed to stay close enough to Will that it didn’t break, which could happen. There was a point at which it didn’t work if things changed too much from when you set it. “What was that call about?”
“One of the French men we’d rescued from the factory was due to give a statement today, but just as he came in, we received a call for him from one of his childhood friends. He rang to say that his parents and sister had been kidnapped, and that if he cooperated with us, they’d be killed.” He took in a deep breath and huffed it out loudly. “He refused to talk, and being a victim, we can’t force him.”
“That’s crap. Bloody RP.” I growled. Frustration built inside me until I wanted to scream. “Argh!”
“Yeah, I know.” Will ran a hand through his hair and placed his hand on his hips. “So, tell me about your girl. Do you think you could take a picture and we can send it to Liv?”
“Um, I can try. Not sure it’s going to work.”
“But it happened in the past, right?”
I shrugged. “I guess so. But won’t someone find out my secret?”
“I don’t think so. We can say we knew she was there, and you took a photo as soon as you opened the door.”
I nodded. “Okay.” I decided to use my phone since I could just text the pic to Will, and it was more likely I would have my phone handy. I opened the door to an empty corridor, thank goodness. Whoever she was, she would confirm with whoever sent her that we were here. Maybe they were going to send more witches after us? I brought up camera mode and pointed it at the spot. Crossing my fingers, I said, “Show me the girl who was eavesdropping on us in the last hour.” Yes! There she was. Long brown hair, slim, a bit taller than me. I clicked off a shot, then moved to another spot to get a side profile. Roman nose, a smattering of freckles, green eyes. Click.
I went back inside our room and shut the door. “Here.” I texted the photos to Will.
“Thanks. I’ll send them to Liv.” He texted them.
“Now what? Do we stay and keep investigating, or do we go home where it’s safer?”
He sat on the bed. “Maybe we’re close to something; otherwise, why spy on us? And she didn’t try to hurt us.”
“Maybe she was working up to it?” I sat next to him. “Have you got any ideas on what my parents were looking for?”
“No. It could be anything—evidence for a crime, enslaved people like the ones we found, magical items. I’d like to know if our situation is linked with those monks in some way.”
I rubbed my forehead. This was too much thinking with not enough information. “I’m guessing yes. My talent is never random.”
“But it could just be that we’re so close to the source. Maybe it’s supercharging your talent, and you’ve managed to pick up on two totally unrelated circumstances?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea, Will. Absolutely none. Can you call a meeting at my brother’s?”
“We might have to, but I think we’re close to something here. I’d hate to leave things as they are. That birthday dinner your mother’s diary mentions, I bet it’ll give us a lot to work with. I think we get some more photos, see if we can identify everyone who was there.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure if I was happy to be staying or scared and tired. “What time are you thinking?”
“When everyone’s asleep. One in the morning?”
I yawned just hearing what time I’d have to get up. “I thought you loved me?”
He grinned. “I do.”
“So why are you trying to kill me with lack of sleep?”
“You’ll survive. I promise.”
I shivered. Lack of sleep might not kill me, but RP would if they got half a chance. We were in a strange place, just the two of us, and that worried me. But if we wanted to get to the bottom of everything, we had to push on. “I’ll hold you to that, buddy. Now, where are you taking me for dinner?” If we had to hang around, I was going to do it in style. I just had to hope it wasn’t our last supper.
Chapter 6
Dressed in black and under no-notice spells, we made our way to the hotel’s courtyard. We’d had an uneventful night after dinner, thank goodness—the alarm had stayed quiet, but we both kept our return to senders up. At this point, doing otherwise was just stupid.
As we stepped outside, the frigid breeze stole my breath. Goosebumps sprung up along my arms. Man, it was cold. The shadowed shapes of tables and chairs sat along each side wall, leaving a path down the middle. Someone had a light on in a room above, but the window was closed. It gave us enough light to see by without making me feel too exposed.
Will stood guard, hand in pocket where his gun stayed hidden. I lifted my camera and whispered, “Show me my parents at Piranha’s dad’s birthday party.” The night brightened to twilight. Fairy lights were strung up around the courtyard, and the tables and chairs formed a long line down the middle. People stood in small groups, chatting, and two men sat at the table, smoking. Those were the days… when you could be eating and have to breathe in stinky carcinogens. Thank goodness things had changed. I pointed at each elegantly dressed group and took photos, cataloguing everyone.
Grrr, there was Dana’s father chatting to my parents. His wife stood near him, talking to the guy who’d been in the abbey and my parents’ room. I had no idea who any of the other fourteen guests were, but we were going to find out. Were they all witches? Were they all involved somehow, or were some of them just innocent friends of Dana’s dad’s enjoying a fun night out?
Hmm, there were some juicy looking jewels among the women. If it was the real stuff, rather than costume jewellery, Dana’s dad was mixing with the super-rich. That, of course, didn’t surprise me. I was sure his ambitions were loftier than an eagle’s nest.
After maybe five minutes, I was done. I lowered my camera and gave Will a nod. We’d agreed to stay the rest of the night and checkout like normal people. Now we had the alarm, I felt a bit safer.
We found our way to the door, and he opened it for me. I stepped through, and someone grabbed my arm, pulling me to the side.
Crap.
“Hey!” I would’ve screamed, but I didn’t want to wake anyone in the hotel—anyone intervening was likely to get hurt or killed rather than help our situation.
A large hand gripped my upper arm, fingers digging in painfully. Another hand slammed over my mouth. My heart raced, and I did my best to push down the panic expanding in my chest. The man had his chest to my back, and something hard pushed against the side of my head. Double crap.
Will stepped through the door, gun pointed out in front. He didn’t miss anything, although my annoyed utterance was probably as good a warning as you could get.
The person holding me stepped back, dragging me with him�
�the person’s strength and height gave it away. If it was a woman, I’d eat my engagement ring.
Will pointed his gun at the guy’s head. “Drop the gun and let her go. You’ll never get away, and if you hurt her, I will kill you. Give up now, and you’ll only get jail time.” Will’s jaw was set, his eyes laser focussed on the jerk pointing the gun at my head.
“No. You drop the gun. I’m taking her with me, and if you’re smart, you’ll get out of my way.” The gun barrel pushed harder against my temple. I tried to keep my breathing normal, but it wasn’t easy. No panicking, Lily. Just think.
I had no idea if the man had a return to sender up, but since Will wasn’t hitting him with any spells, I had to assume he did. The guy dragged me back a bit. “Don’t follow me.”
“You’re not leaving here alive.” Will kept his gun trained on the man’s head.
I groaned and hoped my acting skills were on point. I mumbled through the guy’s hand, “I think I’m going to be sick.” The pressure of the gun lessened enough for me to know he was distracted. I made a heaving noise, and his hand dropped from my mouth. I put my chin to my chest and planted my feet. This was going to hurt, but it was the only thing I could think of. I made another gagging noise. I moved fast and put all my effort into thrusting my chest up and back, throwing my head back at the same time. I grunted with the impact. Pain smashed into the back of my head and radiated out. I fell to my knees—from the agony, and from the desire to get my head away from his gun.
“Argh!” The guy screamed out. Hopefully, I’d at least broken his nose.
Will stepped forward, then leapt at the man, tackling him. They wrestled on the ground. I was about to help Will—not sure how, but maybe kicking the guy in the head would make a difference—but the guy had lost his gun, and Will was gaining the upper hand. I crawled quickly to the gun and grabbed it, all the while careful not to hit my camera on the floor—it was still around my neck. I would’ve pointed the gun at the man, but I was just as likely to hit Will because moving targets were never easy to deal with, and I had no shooting skills to speak of.
Witch War in Westerham Page 4