by Nancy Warren
I left the inn through the back door, making sure to stay out of sight from any of the other contestants who’d arrived after the working day had finished. Although I’d love to see Gaurav, Maggie, and the others, I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself. I’d already gained a reputation for wandering off and getting involved in the village drama, and I certainly didn’t want to encourage any more speculation. I imagined kindly Maggie lowering her glasses and asking where a young lady was off to by herself in the dark. And it wasn’t like I could reply, Oh, just on my way to a magic circle to join forces with my coven of witches.
Outside, it was chillier than I’d imagined while I’d been cozying up with Gateau, and I was glad of the extra layer. I followed the narrow pebbled path lit by old-fashioned caged lanterns, its rows of whitebeam trees rising up either side of me, their puffy leaves swaying gently in the breeze. I recalled when Elspeth had accompanied me to my first circle a few short weeks ago. So much had happened since then. I was looking forward to seeing Elspeth Peach, contest judge and my witchy godmother, and hoped that she’d be able to help me get to the bottom of my mystery hawk.
I stopped for a moment, looking back in the direction of the inn and the manor house, and gasped. There was a shadowy figure in the distance. My heart began to beat rapidly. Who was that? I squinted and realized the figure was coming closer. Okay, Pops, stay calm. It’s definitely not an ax-murderer on the loose, probably just someone walking off their dinner. I stayed rooted to the spot. Was it better to keep walking? Pretend I hadn’t seen anything? But the decision was taken out of my hands when a bright light flashed in my face. I blinked rapidly, one, two, three times, then put my hand in front of my eyes.
“Oh, sorry, miss,” a man’s voice said. “Didn’t mean to blind you there. Just doing my rounds.”
The bright spots cleared themselves from my eyes, and there was Martin, the new security guard from the competition tent. He was still in uniform, and a walkie-talkie was strapped to his belt.
“Oh,” I said, bemused as to what he was doing so far from the tent. I’d never seen any security straying so far from their base. Was he onto me? Did he know I was off to do some magic?
“I’m fine,” I said quickly. “Couldn’t settle before filming starts tomorrow, so thought I’d have a short stroll around the grounds.”
Martin frowned. “Well, please do be careful, Miss….”
“Wilkinson. Call me Poppy.”
“Poppy, then,” he said, smiling. “It’s a lovely, clear evening, but you never can be too careful.”
That seemed to be Martin’s catchphrase.
He wished me a nice evening and turned back towards the inn. I let out my breath. To get through the weekend, I’d have to stop jumping to the conclusion that a murderer was on the loose each time I bumped into someone. I rolled my shoulders a few times, shook out my hands, and continued along the path that would take me into the woods and the magic circle. If I remembered correctly, I’d have to climb a short hill and then through a smattering of thick trees before I’d reach the clearing.
As I walked, I concentrated on the image of the hawk soaring, trying to recall exactly where and when I’d spotted him. Did each sighting have something in common? Why didn’t I pay more attention? Surely by now I should have figured out that every small detail counted. I was letting my sleuthing side down.
Before long, I came out into the clearing with its circle of standing stones reminiscent of those at Stonehenge, except on a much smaller scale. One big headstone loomed over the rest, and a few others had fallen over and were badly weathered. The ancient stones were protected by law, but in earlier times, people used to break the massive stones up to build houses and fences. Now there were gaps in the circle, and that’s where I spotted Eve, Susan, and Elspeth. I immediately felt calm and ready to hear their plan. If only I could bottle this feeling of contentment I felt around them, I’d be a cracking witch and a millionaire.
“Poppy dearest,” Elspeth said. “Blessed be. Welcome back. It’s so good to see you.” She delicately touched my hand, and I felt the familiar ZING race through me. Other women approached me, took my hands and repeated the same greeting. I smiled at each one warmly, my heart full. I looked up at the gorgeous moon and silently thanked it for bringing me and these women together this evening. The very air felt sacred and special, and I took deep lungfuls, feeling myself revived with each breath. Tonight I would get answers.
I looked around. Seven other members of the Broomewode Coven were present, including the older lady who’d first called me Valerie and her daughter. I was surprised that Jonathon wasn’t present, but there was no time to ask questions, as Elspeth was already giving Eve the go-ahead to begin proceedings.
Eve took huge candles and placed them in a circle within the stones. As before, she looked to Elspeth before making another move. With a graceful swoop of her hands, Elspeth made a circling motion with her outstretched finger, and each of the candles sprang to light, one after another, like delicate fairy lights. Although I hadn’t seen anyone light incense, the distinctive spiced smell of patchouli entered into the air. The atmosphere felt electric.
“Sisters,” Elspeth said, looking at each of us in turn, “we are gathered here tonight to pay our respects and show gratitude to another full moon passing. We will also work to protect the spirits of the air.”
I smiled at Eve, grateful that she’d already passed on the message about the hawk to Elspeth. And, with no disrespect to Jonathon, I felt comforted by being in a circle of only women. My sisters.
Susan took my left hand; one of the Broomewode cooks whose name I didn’t know took my right; and just like that, the circle began. A gentle ripple of electricity began in my fingertips, and then waves of fizzing energy weaved through my forearms and into my chest. I still hadn’t gotten used to this strange sensation. It was powerful but not overwhelming, a force that helped me to connect with the coven but also to myself.
One by one, the women’s eyes fluttered shut, and I closed mine, too. Elspeth began to speak again, this time in the language of her spells. Like before, I didn’t quite comprehend the meaning, but it felt familiar, and I found myself joining in the chant, my mouth automatically forming the words, my tongue rolling over the complicated syllables. The sound was enchanting: eight women in perfect unison, in perfect synchronicity. I began to tremble. The women joined Elspeth now, echoing her words in a slow chant that rippled through the circle like a murmur.
I poured my concentration into the image of the hawk. But my mind had other ideas. I was suddenly transported back in time, and the image of the man in a brown robe appeared in my mind’s eye. So much had happened lately, I’d almost forgotten that he’d appeared at my first magic circle. He hadn’t spoken, simply given me a warm smile and a simple nod of the head as though we knew each other. Why was I thinking about him now when I had other pressing concerns? My eyes flicked open as if of their own accord.
And there he was.
In the middle of the circle, the ghostly outline of a man: tall, slender, but instead of the brown robe, he was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt. He looked much younger than I’d remembered in ordinary, modern clothing. His light brown hair was swept back, his skin tanned and smooth. But, as before, he was smiling at me. He felt so real, like I could reach out and touch him, but the flickering outline of his body left me in no doubt that this was a man who had passed over to the other side.
My eyes darted around the circle, but the other women were still engrossed in their chanting. No one else was seeing what I was seeing. And what was that exactly? Could this really be who I thought it was?
I opened my mouth, ready to let a hundred questions fire out, willing to reveal my gift of seeing the departed to the entire coven in exchange for some answers. But before I could let loose, the smile faded from his lips and he began to speak.
“Listen to me, Poppy. Listen carefully. You must leave this place. There are those who would do y
ou harm.”
He knew my name. He knew me. I shook my head. That was not what I wanted to hear. No more cryptic warnings. I wanted answers. No more fooling around.
“Katie Donegal told me that my mother was pregnant when she worked in the kitchen. Is that true?”
His face softened. “You know it is.”
I felt a tightness in my throat. I was nervous to voice aloud what I was felt to be the truth. “And it was me she was carrying.”
He nodded.
This was the final confirmation I’d been right. All my sleuthing had led to this moment. My eyes filled with tears. I let them run down my face. I looked to the old woman who’d called me Valerie the first time I came to Broomewode. She’d given me such a gift in that moment. The first clue to who I was.
I turned back to the man. “You know me.”
He smiled sadly at me. “Poppy,” he said gently, “I can’t imagine you having any other name.”
“Who are you?” I whispered, all my energy dissolving, waiting for him to say the words that I knew in my heart were true.
“My identity can only put you in more danger. Trust that you were created out of love and I only want to see you safe. Your quest is dangerous. Leave this place.”
But I knew I wouldn’t leave. I’d come too far. And I knew by his tone, by the way he was warning me in that gently chiding voice I’d been spoken to as a kid, that this was my birth father. I stifled my tears. Later I could cry all I wanted to, but now wasn’t the time to get emotional. It was time for answers. His edges began to flicker, the softness of his outline slowly dissolving. Suddenly, I realized that while my mom appeared to me as a vision, this man, my birth dad, was a ghost, and that must mean he was dead. Before I could ever process that information, the edges around the man began to flicker with more urgency. He was going to disappear.
“Wait,” I cried out. “Are you my father? What happened to you? Is my mother still alive?”
But he was gone.
I could have screamed. Surely if this was my dad, he owed me more than a warning. I wanted to understand what had happened. I needed facts, not vague warnings. I shook my head, and the tears cascaded down my cheeks. I wiped at them roughly with the fabric of my cardigan. I didn’t want to cry. I had to be strong enough to keep searching for Valerie. And I certainly wasn’t going to let his warning get in the way. After all, I had Team Poppy by my side, and if a girl couldn’t keep safe with a coven of sisters, a magical amethyst necklace, a protection spell, a kitten, dog, hawk—and even a troublesome spirit like Gerry—well then, I didn’t deserve my witchy stripes.
The chanting stopped, and one by one, the women opened their eyes.
No one had heard our conversation. There was so much to learn about how magic worked. I must’ve looked a real mess because, like a chain reaction, as we released hands, the women came closer, some hugging me, some offering a touch on the shoulder or a whisper of encouragement.
“Poppy dearest, what happened?” Elspeth asked.
I swallowed. It was hard to get used to speaking freely. All my life, I’d learned to keep quiet about my gift, to hide away what made me, well, unique. But now I had a safe space to be myself—ghosts and all.
I took a deep breath and explained that a ghost had appeared in the center of the circle.
“He was warning me to leave Broomewode,” I told the women. “He said that I’m in danger.”
Elspeth furrowed her brow. “It’s not the first time you’ve received this kind of warning, Poppy. I’m starting to worry that the protection spell and the vigilance of me and your sisters isn’t enough.”
I could see where she was going and hastened to stop her. “Please don’t tell me to leave. I can’t. I won’t.”
“Let’s combine our powers,” Susan suggested. “What use is a coven if it can’t protect our most vulnerable?”
“We can try,” Elspeth said, but she still looked worried. She instructed everyone to join hands again. The electricity began to flow through me once more, and I gripped the women’s hands tightly.
“Let us join together under the power of the full moon and supercharge our strength by speaking the protection spell as one.”
The women nodded and smiled at me.
Earth, Fire, Water, all three,
Elements of Astral, I summon thee,
By the moon’s light,
I call to thee to give us your might.
By the power of three
We conjure thee
To protect our innocent Poppy.
So we will, so mote it be.
There was no denying the ripple of power that coursed through my hands that were linked with the other witches. The candles flickered, and a soft breeze blew through the stones and lifted my hair.
The calm I’d felt earlier returned, and I thanked the women, hugging each one with a force that I hoped conveyed my gratitude rather than feeling like they’d been mowed down by a bear.
Eve was last, and as I drew back, she suggested that when the others left, we join forces with Susan and Elspeth to cast a spell on the earl to ruin his aim. “Protection’s all very well, but sometimes it helps to disarm the enemy.”
I grinned. My kinda gal.
We said our goodbyes, the candles still burning brightly, and then took up position in the center of the stones.
“My dearest sisters,” Eve said. “Since Poppy has brought it to our attention that Lord Frome is not respecting our wildlife, we must intervene and do what we can to preserve the natural world.” A twinkle came into her eye. “And in this case, we may have to get a little mischievous. We’ll put a protection spell on the wild birds of Somerset. If that causes the earl to lose his shooting aim as a consequence—well then, so mote it be.”
She paused, and we joined hands.
“I’m most worried about the hawk that seems to hover near me,” I reminded them.
Elspeth spoke. “The four of us represent each of the classical elements. I am air; Poppy, you are water; Eve is earth, and Susan is fire.”
At this, Susan grinned, and for the first time, I made the connection with her fiery red hair. And her temperament, too. She was a passionate woman. Eve was so down to earth and homely that it made perfect sense she represented the earth, and Elspeth was so calm and all-knowing—like a perfect blue sky.
Elspeth began to chant in that ancient language, and although I didn’t know what she was saying, I found that the words came to me again, like they’d been planted in my mouth. I closed my eyes and focused on the hawk, calling to mind its grand wingspan, then imagining it soaring free and undisturbed above the Broomewode hills.
When we finished, Elspeth drew us into a hug.
“Take that, Lord Frome,” I whispered.
“Quite,” said Elspeth in her delicate manner. “Take that!”
And then, out of the blue, a thought struck. Did the hawk have something to do with my dad?
Chapter 6
“Pops, you’ve really got to get a good night’s sleep the night before filming.”
Gina, my best friend and the show’s makeup and hair artist, stood back as I accidentally yawned in her face while she was applying gloss to my lips. Oops.
“I’m sorry,” I said while she tissued away the colored gloss she’d dabbed on my chin. But that was all I could say. How could I begin to explain to Gina what I’d gotten up to last night? It was wonderful having a bunch of new sisters, but it was widening the gap between me and my best friend. We’d always shared everything as kids, and when I moved back to England, we’d picked up where we left off. Gina knew all my embarrassing crushes, how bad my moves were on the dance floor, and she knew I wasn’t exactly like other people. But now that I knew I was a witch, it was like I had a whole other life going on. It was making me uncomfortable.
“Honestly, these dark circles under your eyes could eclipse a full moon.”
I snapped my eyes open. There was no way Gina could know about my goings-on with the moon, could
she? Best friends did pick up vibes from each other. I decided to tell her that the moon was actually the reason I looked so tired.
“Did you know it was a full moon last night?” I asked. “I was restless, so I walked around the grounds after dinner. It was beautiful. The whole of the village looked shimmery in its light, like the surface of a rippling lake.”
Gina squinted her eyes. “Never mind the poetry. You were meeting someone, weren’t you?”
Again, I felt astonished at how perceptive she was. Had she seen the coven? Then I noticed the way she was looking at me. Not like I was a witch, but like I was a singleton who might like a partner someday. “No,” I said, a little cranky. “I wasn’t meeting a guy.” As if I had time. “I’d tell you if there was anyone.”
“There are some nice-looking guys on the crew. I wondered.”
I shook my head. “I only have time for cakes.”
“And the perfect winged eyeliner? What do you reckon? I’m going to do it in brown, not black, to suit your skin tone and personality. I don’t want it to look like you’re wearing a mask.”
I smiled and closed my eyes. Gina was the queen of makeup. She always did what was best.
“You know, you did so well last week, Poppy, I really think you could win this thing.”
I didn’t want to go on camera with an eye injury, so I kept them closed, but I was surprised by Gina’s statement.
“Are you serious?” I asked. “There’s so much talent in the group. Every week it gets tougher. I feel like I’m barely hanging on.”
“All you’ve got to do is keep your focus. Which means no more late nights.” She tapped me on the nose with a powder brush. “Open,” she commanded. She appraised my finished look. “You look fabulous. I love that we did your hair like that.”
I gently patted the bun Gina had defied gravity with, rolling my long, thick locks into the perfectly imperfect messy bun on the top of my head. She pulled a couple of dark strands away from my face and tucked them behind my ear. It was a great look to finish off the denim shirtdress Gina had picked out for me this week, which had pretty pearl buttons from neck to knee.