Witch War in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  “Meow.”

  “Do you think you could invite the squirrels in for breakfast? I could do with a pick-me-up.”

  “Meow.” She jumped down and went to the back door. I opened it, and five minutes later, she returned, three squirrels in tow. I laughed. “Thank you!” Two of the squirrels shied at my excitement. I whispered, “Oops, sorry.” The only squirrel who seemed comfortable was my friend from last time. I recognised the little scar on his left ear. “Hello, Grayson. Welcome back. Please come in.” I stepped back and the little troupe entered, tails twitching.

  I grabbed some nuts from the cupboard that I’d bought for these occasions. After Grayson visited last time, I was hoping he’d come back. And here he was with some friends. I held back the squee I wanted to release. If they ran everywhere and hid, it might be hard to get them out.

  I sat at the table and put the nuts into a dish. “Thank you, Abby. You’re the best.”

  “Meow.”

  I magicked myself an extra-large cappuccino, and while I sipped it, Grayson climbed the chair on the far side of the table from me and haltingly made his way to the plate. How squirrels could move so quickly yet so slowly at the same time was a mystery. Their jerky little movements made them look like they were going to have a heart attack brought on from nerves at any moment.

  I tried not to move too much so the other two would gather the courage. Eventually, they figured out I wasn’t going to hurt them, or maybe they could smell the nuts and worried that Grayson would eat them all. Whatever it was, they climbed the chairs and made themselves at home at the plate.

  We were all happily breakfasting when the reception-room door opened, and footsteps came down the hall. The squirrels stood and stared at the doorway. “It’s okay, guys. It’s probably just Will. Keep eating.” One of them wasn’t having a bar of it and turned to jump off the table, but Abby meowed, and it stopped. Its whiskers and nose twitched, and it stayed.

  Will walked in, then stopped when he spied the party on the table. I gave him a cheesy grin. “Me and my posse are hanging out. Want to join us?”

  He pushed his bottom lip out and nodded slowly. “Seems you’re well on your way to building that squirrel army you were talking about.”

  “Just give me a couple of weeks, and me and my jittery sidekicks will be ready to conquer the world.”

  He laughed. “I can just see you all when there’s a sudden noise.”

  I laughed too. That would be funny since I was just as jumpy as my furry pals. “So, what’s happening?”

  He sat carefully, and the squirrels went back to eating. “James is a bit better today, at least focussed enough to get this done. It looks like you are too.” He stared at me. “Are you?”

  I took a deep breath and sighed it out. “Yes. I’m ready to destroy them all.”

  He raised his brows. “Destroy? That’s a bit… violent.”

  I raised one brow—sometimes less was more. “You got a problem with that?”

  “Uh-uh, no. Definitely not. Destroy away.”

  “Thank you.” A little tap on my arm that was resting on the table. I looked down. Grayson stared up at me with his orby little squirrel eyes. Sooooo cute! “What is it?” He looked over at the empty plate, then back at me. “Ah, hungry, hungry hippos.” I smiled. “Here you go.” I magicked more nuts into the plate, and one of the new squirrels turned and sprinted to the end of the table in fright before stopping to look back. When it saw the other two eating again, it hurried back over. “I think I’ll call you Chicken Little.”

  Will chuckled and shook his head. “You’re hilarious. How could I not love a woman who invites squirrels for breakfast?”

  “I know, right?” I cradled my cup in both hands and brought it to my chest, the warmth comforting. “What’s the plan for today? Please tell me we’re going to go after them.”

  His gaze was measured and more poker-faced than not. I had no idea what he was thinking. “We’re finalising everything now. The French agents have been a godsend. I don’t know what we would’ve done if Agent Roche hadn’t turned out to be an honest and principled witch.”

  “Do you think we’ll be ready to confront them tonight?”

  “I’m hoping. I’ve got a lot to organise. I’m liaising between James and Roche. We’re going to use his men for the arrests and some of the German agents.” He looked at the squirrels, one of whom was cleaning its ear. “Aw, look how cute that is.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Me?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Mr Obvious. You don’t even like squirrels and now they’re cute?”

  His sheepish expression was bleatingly obvious. And, yes, I said bleatingly. “You can’t blame me for not wanting to give you some not-great news.”

  “Spill. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.” After everything I’d seen in the last few days, it was as if nothing could possibly be that bad and I was immune to stressing about anything else. They’d put me through the worst, and no problem big or small was a worry.

  “We can’t locate Dana’s father. We’ve had Cardinal monitoring the internet at both his residences, and they’ve been dead for the last couple of days.” I finished my coffee and magicked it clean and away.

  “You don’t seem too worried. What gives?”

  I shrugged. “Not much. I know how we can find him. In fact, I know how we can get him to come to us.”

  “Why do I get the distinct feeling I’m going to hate your suggestion?”

  My grin was mirthless. “Because you are.” I stood. “Let’s go to my brother’s. I prefer to only have this argument once.”

  “Meow.”

  “Oh, sorry. I’d better let these little guys out. Thank you so much for coming to brunch. I enjoyed it.” Grayson bounded over to me and looked up at me with the cutest little face. I imagined he was thanking me. “It was my pleasure. Please come back soon.”

  He chittered something to his friends, and they leapt off the table and ran to the door. Will opened it and let them out. By the time he shut it, I was standing in James’s reception room. Wanting to get something over and done with was a wonderful motivator.

  As Millicent opened the door and greeted me with a massive hug, Will arrived. “I need you to call everyone to a quick meeting, please.”

  She widened her eyes, then quickly reversed it with her eyebrows drawing down. “Okay. I’m scared to ask why.”

  “You’ll know in a minute.” I smiled, indicating I was in my right mind, and it was nothing like I was giving up.

  She greeted Will, then turned and went through to the living room. Will and I went into the dining room instead. Liv and Agent Fairweather were at their laptops working. I sat next to Liv—I could always trust her to back me up. “Hey, ladies. How’s it going?” They both looked at me warily as if deciding how to approach me. “It’s fine. I’m upset, but I’m dealing with it. No need to tiptoe around me. I’m the same Lily I was yesterday with a small modification.”

  Liv raised a brow. “The small modification is what I’m worried about.”

  “It’s nothing you need to worry about. Our enemies, definitely, but not my friends.”

  “That sounds serious,” said my mother’s old workmate.

  Beren, Imani, James, Millicent, and Roche came into the room, saving me from having to answer. James met my gaze as he made his way to his chair at the head of the table. Curiosity warred with trepidation on his face. I wished he would just go back to having a poker face. That was an expression I could rely on. We’d lost Angelica’s steady influence, and it was showing.

  Once everyone was seated and staring at me, James asked, “I understand you wanted to talk about something.”

  I nodded. “I do.” I had no patience and no finesse, so I figured I wouldn’t even try. I was just going to drop it on them. “Will tells me that you can’t find Dana’s father.”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “Well, I don’t think we s
hould muck around with this. After last night, they would know someone is closing in on them, and I’m sure they can connect the dots. I have the perfect solution, and before anyone shouts me down, I want you to think about how we don’t have an alternative, and the longer we wait, the more prepared they’ll be.”

  Beren eyeballed me. “You’re not selling it at this point, Lily. The only thing I’m thinking is that none of us are going to like it.”

  I smiled. “You’d be right, B. But throughout this whole thing, nothing we’ve done is because we wanted to. We have to, and so it is with what I’m going to suggest. It’s the most logical thing to deal with our issue. I, for one, don’t want to be chasing Dana’s father around the world for the rest of my life. I want this over and done within the next couple of days if we can manage it.”

  Agent Roche had a bemused smile on his face. “Miss Bianchi, you aren’t the meek woman who visited my place the other day. Why haven’t the PIB snatched you up yet?”

  “They’ve tried. Ma’am keeps offering, but I have other things I want to do with my life. I was a photographer in a past life, a creative one. Anyway, enough of my dreams post RP.” If we even get to that point. “I know how we can get Dana’s father to come to us.”

  “Do tell,” said James, his voice gruff and parental. It was the tone Dad used to use when he was waiting for a chance to interrupt and say no to something unreasonable we wanted.

  “I just need to go out into the open somewhere and wait. Eventually, Dana will arrive because we all know she just can’t help herself when it comes to me, and if we arrest her—surely if we have enough agents in hiding waiting, we can trap her—her father will come running. He wouldn’t want his baby girl to die, surely.”

  Will’s nostrils flared. “That’s madness. What if someone else turned up? Or what if they all turned up and overpowered us?”

  “Apparently, her father wants me alive. She doesn’t. She’s more likely to do something rash, leave herself open.” I stared at Will across the table. “I can do this. What if we have the thirteen waiting? We’ll encircle her and trap her that way, and if we all have our return to senders up, no one will be able to touch her, or us.”

  James folded his arms. “Except if they arrive with thirteen of their own. You don’t think they haven’t been planning for this day for years?”

  Roche nodded thoughtfully, and even though Imani wasn’t shouting me down, she wasn’t standing up for me either. I’d better come up with something else fast, or I was going to lose this round. “Send agents to arrest Toussaint and that German woman first.” Okay, so I couldn’t remember her name. I really was terrible at remembering things, but they knew who I meant. “Once everyone is in place, we strike, and I stand out in the open somewhere not too close to a lot of people, just in case it gets messy.”

  Beren pursed his lips. “Just in case it gets messy? Are you mad?”

  I lifted my chin and took a calming breath. “Despite what happened last night and last week, no. I’m totally sane. But that can’t be said for our enemies. The longer we wait, the deeper they’ll burrow in, the more organised they’ll be. We need to act now.”

  “No,” said James, finality in his tone. “I can’t agree to this, Lily. We still have time, even if it’s a few days. I won’t go rushing in before we’ve thought this through every which way. I appreciate you’re willing to put yourself out there, but no.” He looked at Will, then Beren. “I’m sure I have the full support of everyone here.” If their nods were anything to go by, I was done.

  Liv linked her arm through mine. “I think Lily’s idea is a good one. She’s strong enough to do this. You know it. We wouldn’t even have gotten this far if it wasn’t for her.” She looked at me. “I believe in you.” She smiled. “You can do anything.”

  I smiled back. “Thanks, Liv. This is why I love you. Such a supportive friend.” I looked back at Will, Beren, then James. “That’s fine. Well, actually, it’s not really, but I’m right. You’ll see. Give RP more time and we’ll all regret it.”

  “Sorry, Lily. As strong as you are and as capable as all of us are, it’s not the right solution. I think we can come up with better.” James stood. “Back to work, everyone.” Everyone stood—except for Agent Fairweather, Liv, and me—and slowly filed out.

  I wanted to scream, but I didn’t. Liv put her arm against me and rested her temple against mine. “They’re just scared to lose you, Lily. James has been in a state all day. First your dad, then your mum. I don’t think he can handle anything else. He even tried to tell Millicent she had to stay here when the time came.”

  I shook my head. “He can’t protect all of us all the time. His wife is an agent, for squirrel’s sake. That’s something I’m going to do from now on, Liv, use the word squirrel more. I regret not using it more up to this point. No regrets if it all ends soon, right?”

  She giggled. “You have your priorities straight. No one can say you didn’t live your life to the full.”

  “Damn straight.” My smile fell. “I know why he said no, but we can’t make all our decisions based on fear. If we did, I’d be safe at home in bed. I’m scared to death, Liv, but I’m more scared of what will happen to everyone else but me if they’re let loose. James is lying to himself if he thinks it’s about being smart.”

  Someone put their hand on my shoulder, and I jumped. I jerked my head around. Imani. “Hey, love. For what it’s worth, I know you’re strong enough, but that plan is just too risky. Keep thinking. I know you’ll come up with something else.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  She squeezed my shoulder. “I just wanted you to know.”

  I smiled. “Thanks. Now get back to work.”

  “Yeah, yeah, and you hang in there.” As she walked off, frustration frothed with more turbulence than a fizzy drink that’d just had ice cream dropped into it. Mmm, ice cream. Did James and Liv happen to have chocolate ice cream in the freezer? It was a good way to pass the time… eating ice cream. I stood. “I’ll be back. Do you guys want a drink or something to eat?”

  They both answered in the negative. More ice cream for me, then. I walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen, where Roche was on the phone, staring out of the back french doors, one hand on his hip. I would’ve laughed that he was drawn to the French doors—yes, lame joke, but that’s me—but his pale face and slack jaw made me stop. Liquid dread, warm and sticky, flowed over me, raising goosebumps from my scalp to my toes.

  Crap.

  When he hung up the phone, he noticed me standing there. He turned and stared at me. We stood there caught in the web of emotion between people who know the other has something horrific to tell them. It was that moment of angst, when it was bad but it could never be as bad as actually knowing. I hovered in that space until the weight of it brought me thudding to the ground. “What is it?” Maybe it wasn’t my place to ask, but I couldn’t leave him by himself, even in the time it took him to find James.

  “RP.” His voice came out breathless but gathered strength even in its disbelief as he continued. “They set off a bomb at our Paris headquarters. Ten casualties, all of them men who’d sworn to serve our cause. Many more are injured. I’m of a mind to bring them here for Beren to heal. Would James agree to that?”

  “Of course he would. Let’s go.” I didn’t wait for him to agree; instead, I ran into the living room and told James. He barked orders and got everyone moving. Within thirty minutes, we had fourteen injured agents in makeshift beds throughout the house. Beren was going from person to person, healing them. He was going to be exhausted by the time he was done. One of the uninjured was an agent who had sworn to our cause and was also a healer. She worked side by side with Beren.

  Once they were done, the agents stayed in their beds, sleeping. We needed them to get their strength back as soon as possible. Even if James didn’t plan to go in hard tonight, it would have to happen soon, and healing really took it out of a person.

  The feeling of dread
hadn’t left me. So many good souls dead, yet again. This was getting old. Anger festered in my stomach. Maybe it was lucky I hadn’t made it to the ice cream. I needed fresh air, but leaving the house was dangerous, so I decided to wander, burn some energy. I made it as far as the hallway leading to the bedrooms when I came upon Will and James facing off with Roche and Imani. They all turned to stare at me.

  I didn’t want to anger James, but I was not going to say nothing. “Now do you see?”

  He glared at me, then threw his angry gaze at the ceiling. “Dammit!”

  I walked over to them. “There’s no easy way to do this, James. Stuff it. So what if we die? If we don’t do this now, so many more will die. We’re not more special than anyone else. And if we can’t beat them now with all our resources and support, it will never happen, especially with the PIB in disarray. I can’t see anything improving over there. Mum and Dad wouldn’t want us to stand here and do nothing.”

  The pain in his gaze when he looked at me again almost had me backing down, but I needed to stand strong. “You’re right, Lily. I hate it, but you’re right. I thought I could protect you and Mill, Annabelle, but I can’t do shit. Hesitating was wrong. I’m sorry.” He turned to Roche. “Please forgive my error in judgement.”

  “There is nothing to forgive, Agent Bianchi. I would have done the same. I would’ve been wrong, too, but the sign of a good leader is to learn from one’s mistakes, no?”

  James nodded. “Well, we’re ten men down, and the other agents need to rest now. Have we got enough agents to arrest Toussaint and Brandt?”

  “Yes. The Germans can cover us,” Agent Roche answered.

  “Okay, make the call.” James looked at Will, regret on his face. “Can you call Sarah and Lavender now? This is way too heavy for them, but we don’t have a choice. Our numbers are down, and they wanted to help.”

  Reluctance flashed in his eyes as he looked at me. I gave him a sad smile. “I don’t want you to go either, Will, but here we are. We’re all the world has. Risks must be taken and sacrifices must be made. My parents paid the ultimate price trying to stop them. We have to at least try.”