Witch War in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  My mouth dropped open. “Well, well, well, someone started working there at a suspicious time. So she was never there because she wanted to be an agent.”

  “Doesn’t look like it. She must have destroyed those files.” He swore. “RP must have information on everything from our operations to evidence in multiple investigations. Jesus. This goes back further than I could’ve imagined. Did they have someone in there when Mum and Dad went missing?”

  “Your guess is better than mine. I didn’t even know the bureau existed until last year.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Stuff it. I can’t find out anything about that now anyway. Let’s just focus on accessing those files.” He looked at me. “Ready for some snooping?”

  I grinned and magicked my camera to myself. “Always.”

  He stood. “We’ll just get in and try our luck. Chad won’t be wandering the hallways. He’s probably holed up in his office with his feet on the table eating cheese from a can.”

  I laughed. “What?!”

  “He gets it sent here from the US.” James imitated sticking his fingers down his throat and gagging.

  “What do you have to put in cheese to make it come out of a can? Is it even cheese anymore?”

  “I have no idea. I’ve never tried it, and I’m not about to. Give me a good brie or feta any day.”

  My stomach grumbled. Damn. I’d just had breakfast. Was it too early for a mid-morning snack? “Mmm, me too.”

  “As much as I’d prefer to chat about cheese all day, we need to get a move on. Mum’s office now belongs to Agent Fairweather. She’s quite nice, actually, a good agent, and she started two years before Mum left. She’s only a few years younger than Angelica, and I’m pretty sure she’s one of her supporters, but still, don’t say more than you have to.”

  “Of course. I don’t trust anyone outside of our little circle.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. Hang on a sec.” He pulled his phone out and sent a text. One came back within a minute. He looked up at me. “See you in the reception room.”

  I stepped through my doorway. James stood in front of the intercom, but he didn’t press the button. “What are you doing?”

  He smiled. “Waiting for Gus. I texted him before we left.”

  “Ah, good call.”

  We didn’t have to wait long before the door opened. Good old Gus. He shook James’s hand. “So good to see you, Agent Bianchi. We’ve missed you around here.”

  “I’ve missed you too. Just keep it quiet.” James tapped the side of his nose.

  Gus nodded, a gravely serious expression on his face. “Of course. Here. I thought you might need this.” He handed James something small and hairy, then looked at me. “Hello, Miss Lily! It’s awfully quiet around here without you.”

  “Aw, thanks. I miss stirring things up.” And it was true. I disliked Chad immensely, but he was fun to rile up. No one else quite gave me the fodder for fun that he did. While I said hello to Gus, James had attached the stuff Gus had given him. I blinked and laughed. “I’m not sure if that’s a great disguise or it’s going to make people stare.” He’d put on a moustache, short beard, and thick eyebrows. “Where’s mine, Gus?”

  His mouth made an O. “I’m so sorry, Miss Lily, but I didn’t think to bring anything for you. To be honest, Agent Bianchi forgot to mention you were coming.”

  I rolled my eyes in mock offence. “Hopeless. I don’t know why I bother.” Gus looked at me in horror. I giggled. “It’s fine. I was just kidding. You need to lighten up, Gus. You know I’d never get upset with you.”

  He gave me a shy grin. “True. You’re always happy to see me.”

  “I am. You’re awesome. I guess I just need to walk behind you guys and try not to be seen, although I haven’t been banned from here, so I suppose if someone sees me, we can just tell them, I’m your assistant, Gus. Oh.”

  “What?” asked James.

  “You won’t be able to use your magic here now that you’re not on the approved list.”

  “No, I won’t, but you still have yours. Hopefully, I won’t need it. And on that note, let’s hurry this up. The longer we’re here, the more risk we’re taking. You lead the way, Gus. We’re going to Agent Fairweather’s office.”

  “It would be my pleasure, sir.”

  As we walked, James, in all his wisdom, decided to engage Gus in small talk. “How’s the family, Gus?” Noooooooooooo! I magicked my earbuds to myself and programmed my phone to play some Thirty Seconds to Mars, and it was just in time if James’s disgusted face was anything to go by. I gave him a cheeky grin meant to be interpreted as “sucked in.” His response of a dirty look made me smile. He understood. To be fair, I’d warned him about this before, and if he hadn’t listened, it wasn’t my problem.

  We got in the lift and went down one level. I bopped my head up and down to the music while Gus talked, and James plastered a pretend smile on his face. It almost looked like he had gas. I quietly snorted. They both looked at me. Oops, it mustn’t have been as quiet as I’d thought. Maybe my music was up too loud? I shrugged.

  The door opened, and Gus led the way to the left. I took my earbuds out as the gravity of the situation seeped in. We were going to Mum’s office. I was going to see her through the lens again. I swallowed, memories of my father raw and stinging. My stomach had turned into a tempestuous sea of queasiness—a quea-sea. Ha ha. It wasn’t even funny enough to make me smile. Prognosis—not good.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Lily. I forgot I wasn’t supposed to mention vomit.”

  I did my best to smile. “It’s fine, Gus. It actually wasn’t your story. I think I ate something this morning that didn’t agree with me.”

  James looked at me, concern in his gaze. I gave a short shake of my head. He nodded, then turned to Gus as we slowed and stopped in front of a door. “Are you going to wait around, or do you want me to text you when we’re done?”

  “I have a couple of things to do downstairs. Just text me.”

  “Okay. Thanks, mate.”

  “Any time…”—he lowered his voice to a whisper—“Agent Bianchi.” Gah, seriously, Gus. He should know better. My brother looked up and down the hallway, but thankfully, no one was coming.

  “I’ll text you.” James turned and knocked on the door as Gus gave me a wave and walked off. I kept my mouth shut. James and I could whinge to each other later, when we were safe at home with our information.

  “Come in!” The voice was loud, as if the woman was in the hallway with us.

  James must’ve noticed the surprise on my face because he said, “An amplify spell.”

  “Ah, cool.”

  He opened the door and waited for me to go in first. I walked through the empty reception area and stopped at an open doorway. A slim woman in PIB pants and jacket, her straight auburn hair in an angled bob cut, stood behind her desk. She smiled at me. “Hello.” She stared at me through her red-framed glasses for a moment. When James stood behind me, she looked at him; then her mouth dropped open. She created a bubble of silence. “Oh, my goodness! Lily Bianchi! I’m Miriam Fairweather. Lovely to finally meet you.” She came around her table and gave me a bright smile. “You look so much like your mother, it’s not funny.” I knew I looked a bit like her, but I could also see traces of my father. I guessed everyone perceived things from their point of view. “It’s lovely to meet you.” She shook my hand, then turned to James. “Agent Bianchi. A pleasure, as usual. Why are you wearing that ridiculous facial hair?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I figured I’d visit incognito. I’ve been stood down.” Maybe she was just really good at recognising people? We had to hope no one else was that observant.

  She shook her head. “So I heard. Ridiculous. This place has become a right old circus.” She gestured to the chairs. “Please, sit down. So, what can I do for you?” She walked around to the other side of her table and sat.

  “This used to be my mother’s office, didn’t it?” Hmm, this was going to be an
interesting conversation. He hadn’t explained to me how we were going to get the information without disclosing my secret.

  “Yes.” She rested her arms on the table in front of her and interlaced her fingers. She was a bit like Angelica in the sense that she was calm and gave the impression that she could wait patiently for you all day to spit it out. She was unlike Angelica in the way that her demeanour wasn’t scary at all… just measured. Hmm, come to think of it, Angelica would be giving off flinty vibes by now, and you’d feel the pressure to just spit it out. Maybe she wasn’t like Angelica at all.

  “You were one of my mother’s best friends here, weren’t you?”

  “Yes.” She cocked her head to one side. “Your mother was one of our best agents. It was very upsetting when she disappeared. I’m just sorry that I didn’t get more involved in trying to find her.” Sadness emanated from her gaze. “I failed her… and both of you. I’m sorry.”

  Wow, that was unexpected. James and I had suffered so much over the years, missing them and not knowing what had happened, but I hadn’t realised that maybe other people missed her or felt guilty for not doing enough. I couldn’t lie, though. It would’ve been nice for someone to have stepped up and called us, checked in to make sure her kids were okay. I looked at James. Maybe they had, and he’d told them we were okay?

  “It’s okay. And I know you and Angelica called a few times to make sure we were okay. I appreciate it.”

  I raised a brow and stared at James. He ignored me. It would’ve been nice to know, but I guessed it wouldn’t have changed anything. “For what it’s worth, no one blames anyone but the people who killed my parents.” Anger pulsed behind my temples. Those people were going to go down sooner rather than later, and I couldn’t wait.

  Her brows drew down. “We don’t know that for sure.”

  James put on his best poker face. “Would you be willing to swear to secrecy and agree not to do anything that would hinder our investigation or Lily’s safety?”

  Her eyes widened. “What’s going on, James?”

  “Will you swear with a witch oath?” His determined gaze didn’t waver.

  “Yes.”

  James grabbed my hand. Huh? “Lily, I can’t draw power in here at the moment.” Ah, stupid Chad. “Could you give me yours for this spell?”

  I blinked. “But….” Was he going to give away one of my secrets? There weren’t many or any witches left who could just give and take power, whether the recipient wanted it or not. It wasn’t my biggest secret, but if this got out, I’d gain the wrong type of attention, and not to forget that the less RP and Piranha knew about what I could and couldn’t do, the better. Surprise might be the only thing that gave us the upper hand in the days to come.

  “It’s fine, Lily. Once she swears, she won’t be able to tell anyone or try and sabotage us. And she answered honestly in the first instance.” Ah, because it was his talent, he could use a little bit of his own power to figure out whether or not she was telling the truth. The ban they’d put on him here mustn’t be as strong as handcuffs. But even still, he could only use the tiniest amount of magic, so it wasn’t like he could do anything much, even with access to his internal reservoir.

  I looked at Agent Fairweather and back at James. “Okay.” I kept my eyes on Fairweather, just in case she tried something. I didn’t really think she would, but you never knew. I also put up a return to sender and drew more power. My arm and hand warmed as the magic flowed to James.

  “Repeat after me,” he said. “I, Miriam Fairweather, do swear on my life that I will not tell another living being about anything said in this office by James or Lily Bianchi in the next hour. After that, I promise to support them by never telling anyone not already sworn to secrecy about anything they tell me. I also promise to never purposely interfere with their investigation into Regula Pythonissam or help Regula Pythonissam in any way. I promise to never disclose what Lily’s talents are to any other living person, and I promise to protect her in all things if it is in my power. I promise never to harm Lily or James Bianchi. This I solemnly swear. If I break my promise, I understand that death will be swift, via a massive heart attack.”

  Oh, wow, that was pretty heavy, but we needed her total agreement, or we’d have to walk out right now without any photos. We could try and lie about why we were taking photos, but this woman didn’t strike me as the stupid type. She might put two and two together. Even an assumption would be enough to start others looking into my history. It would not end well.

  Funnily enough, she didn’t flinch the entire time she repeated James’s words. When she was done, a bell rang, the note clear and loud, but, of course, there were no bells in the room.

  Agent Fairweather smiled. “It is done, then. Now, let me hear all the news.” She rubbed her hands together, and I couldn’t help but giggle. We’d been so serious, and she’d promised so much; now she just wanted to know.

  James started by going back to when I arrived in the UK. He told her everything, from the diaries to what we’d found at Mont Saint-Michel. “They’ve done the DNA testing, and one of the skeletons is our father.”

  Sadness moistened her eyes. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry. It’s good that you have closure, but I’d hoped that somehow, they were alive somewhere and were in hiding, waiting for the right time to come out and expose everything. I knew it was a fanciful wish. I’m so sorry for both of you.”

  I blinked, banishing my own tears. “It is what it is. But we still have to find out what happened to my mother. If we can lay them to rest together, I’m sure they would appreciate it… not that it really matters—they’re not here anymore—but, I don’t know….”

  She nodded, understanding in her eyes. “It’s all right, Lily. I get it. And what about Regula Pythonissam?”

  Anger crept into James’s gaze. “We’re dealing with that right now, which is why we’re here today in this particular office.”

  “Your mother’s office.”

  “Yes.” James turned to me. “You can explain this part, since it’s about you.”

  I licked my lips. It was never easy to spill my secrets because I was so used to keeping them inside for fear of what might happen. I took a deep breath and told her about my talents, the seeing who will die, the seeing the past, the photos, the videos, my ability to give and receive magic. She wasn’t as shocked as I’d expected when I finished.

  She leant back in her chair and nodded slowly. “Well, they are some incredible talents, and I see why you don’t want anyone finding out, but can I be honest? It’s what I would’ve expected from your mother’s children. She was an incredibly strong and talented witch, and I imagine she, too, only let everyone in on a fraction of what she could do. She shouldn’t have died.”

  Hmm, that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear. Just when I was gaining confidence that I could out-magic Piranha, she had to throw that in there. My mother had so many talents and was powerful, yet it wasn’t enough. Although, it was unlikely she’d been up against Piranha. She would’ve been too young, surely? Had Dana’s dad killed her? Had a group of witches done it? Ah, crap. “Um, circles of witches. What’s the likelihood of them coming after us with one of those?”

  James and Fairweather looked at each other. Fairweather was the first to speak. “Your point is valid, Lily. We must consider forming one of our own.”

  James scratched his neck. His concerned expression didn’t inspire any more confidence than Fairweather’s assessment of my mother had. “It’s dangerous. With that much power, anything could happen. And they’d need an extremely strong witch to pull that off. Unless their talent is like yours, Lily, they will burn out a lot quicker than you, and if they’re strong enough… mass carnage is likely. Think World War III. Witches and non-witches could easily get caught up in the shockwave.”

  “Kind of like a firework display that got out of control?”

  James nodded. “Yes, but not as pretty. Everyone would find out. There would be eyes lost, fingers blown o
ff hands, and much, much worse.”

  My brother really knew how to bring home a point. “Yeah, you’re selling this so well. Problem is, if they do it, how can we not?”

  “Lily’s right, James. We can’t hold back.”

  “So you’re planning on helping us, on backing us up?” James seemed genuinely surprised.

  She smiled. “Of course I am! I’ve waited a long time for this, to do what I should’ve done years ago. Your mother would’ve been very disappointed in me, I’m sure. I’m just glad I’m getting the opportunity now. Thank you.”

  James shook his head. “She would’ve understood. There’s so much at play and much at stake. What could you have done by yourself?”

  She pressed her lips together. “A hell of a lot more than what I did. Anyway, I don’t want to put all this on you. At least I can step up this time. Hopefully, your mother, wherever she is, will forgive me.” She tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling for a moment.

  I gave her a sad smile. “We’re happy to have you on board. Welcome to the team. Oh, and we call Regula Pythonissam RP for short. It’s just quicker.”

  She chuckled. “Well, then, I shall call them RP too. So, you didn’t just come here to spill. You came here to, I assume, see if you can find anything about the past in this office. Why don’t you get started?”

  I stood and pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  We spent two hours in Mum’s old office. Every time I asked for information, up it came. One thing was for sure; Mum was very thorough, and she had enough on RP to bring them down. But some of that information made me want to be sick. If we didn’t bring them down soon, the world would become a much darker place.

  And the million-dollar question remained.

  Why didn’t anyone take on the case when she disappeared?

  Hopefully, we’d soon find out.

  Chapter 16

  That night, we all met at James’s again. This time, Agent Fairweather was in attendance, as was Cardinal. He took an oath of secrecy regarding everything we were doing and my secrets. Sheesh, the way we were going, everyone in Kent would soon know about my talents. They weren’t so secret anymore. On the other hand, it was nice to have more people on our side. We needed everyone we could get. And because we might require a circle of thirteen, Sarah and Lavender had been invited. Millicent’s dad, Robert, had also been recruited. Unfortunately, we were still two people short.