I thought of Anathema.
She continued. “I just had to hope that because of your embarrassment you’d be unlikely to want to talk about it. No one likes to dwell on their shortcomings. It was a risk.”
She was right there. I still couldn’t believe it.
I went round the table and stood beside her. Desperately wanting to embrace her– but I hesitated. The wind outside seemed to be building in intensity.
Ma Birch looked up pushing herself up out of her chair. She was smaller than I remembered.
“Do you forgive me?” she asked, her eyes wet with tears.
“Of course,” I said, wrapping my arms around her.
As I pulled her close I caught the smell of butter in her hair. I squeezed her as if I would never let her go.
But then she was gone and I was alone again, standing beside the White Tower, the sun breaking through the morning cloud.
Chapter 26
“You alright?” Millie asked.
I splashed cold water over my face and straightened up, reaching for a paper towel.
“I’m fine.”
“We don’t have to do this now. We don’t have to do it at all.”
I finished wiping my face and made to smile.
“It’s just so stuffy in here.”
Millie laid a hand on the radiator, “Heating’s on full. They’re afraid of someone catching cold.”
I dropped my towel into the bin and the pair of us went out into the corridor where Kinsella was waiting. He was wearing a wool jacket and didn’t appear to be feeling the heat.
“Are you sure you’re up for this, Bronte?” he asked.
“I wished everyone would just stop worrying about me.”
“You’ve been through a lot,” he said. “We’re all aware of it.”
No one said anything for a while. We were in no rush to get to our next appointment.
From where we were standing you could look down into the gymnasium. There was a netball match going on and they were making a lot of noise.
“What’s going to happen to them?” I said.
“That’s not up to me,” Kinsella had his head angled to one side watching as someone took a penalty throw. “That’s for the Inner Court to decide.”
I exchanged looks with Millie.
“But they’ll listen to your recommendations,” I said.
“We’ve never had an influx of talent like this before and it would be nice if we could turn a negative into a positive.”
“But how is that going to work?” Millie said. “They’re too unskilled for the Bear Garden.”
“That hasn’t been a problem in the past,” he said looking at the pair of us.
A cheer went up. Someone had scored.
“Thing is,” I said. “You can’t keep them cooped up in here forever.”
“You’re right,” Kinsella said. “But we have to ensure that there are no radicals amongst them. She chose those girls for a reason.”
“Because they were Innocents. My one concern would be if Stahl were still at large.”
“Speaking of which!” Millie pushed open a side door. Kinsella indicated for me to go first. My heart was hammering in my chest when I went through.
The building we were heading for was only a short walk away. The place we’d come from used to be part of a university campus but this place had been custom built. It seemed to be one complete sealed unit. There was only one central entrance and every window had an impenetrable dark tint which stood at odds with the precise lawns surrounding it. It gave the impression of a much bigger building which was slowly disappearing below ground.
“Any word about Helena?” Millie said.
“Not much change. She’s still under the Physio.”
“Will she come back do you think?”
This question was directed more at Kinsella than at me.
“The inquiry’s still ongoing,” Kinsella said. “Could be another year before they reach a decision.”
To get inside the building we each had to enter a separate security pod. It took nearly five minutes to scan me through and I was the quickest. I thought Kinsella was never getting out.
We didn’t speak once we got through security. There was only one route open to us and it felt a lot like being a rat in a laboratory test. If the lights on the door glowed blue that meant you could go through. Red meant you couldn’t.
A large man in a rumpled suit was waiting for us. He had soulful looking eyes and gave the impression of being close to tears.
“You’ve all been briefed on the risks? Filled out the appropriate paperwork?”
Kinsella nodded.
“Can I just ask you to check one last time for any religious symbols? Jewellery mostly. Crosses are verboten, obviously, but even things like a St Christopher medal. No? Sure? Okay, have a good visit.”
Millie came alongside and laced her fingers through mine. She was a lot shorter without her heels. She hadn’t been allowed to wear them. Seems they make too good a weapon.
We walked down a carpeted corridor to the actual room itself. Lots of toughened glass so it was easy to see that we were in the right place. As if there could be any doubt with Anathema sitting there reading a paperback copy of Sense and Sensibility.
Kinsella went in first and we followed. It was a big room with two parallel settees, a long coffee table and a side cupboard filled with board games. A wheel-chair stood over by the far window.
We waited for Anathema to finish reading. She didn’t rush to finish and we didn’t rush her.
“Where is she?” Kinsella asked when she looked up.
Anathema’s expression didn’t change. She just pointed. Upwards.
Which confused me.
Millie gasped when she saw her and I was nearly sick.
Melissa Stahl was nestled in the corner of the ceiling like a big, black cockroach.
She had attached herself to a beam running the length of the room and her eyes burned red. Red and quite mad.
*
We didn’t stay long after that. No more than a couple of minutes.
But it was enough.
How Anathema could bear to be in the same room with her for hours on end was beyond me.
Different skills, I suppose.
You had to shower before you left. One of the stipulations for entry but it also felt wholly appropriate. Four showers in the centre of the room. Each had its own changing area sectioned off by frosted glass. The showers themselves were powerful and hot. Just what I needed. It felt good to stick my clothes in the incinerator. I wouldn’t have wanted to take them home anyway. Wouldn’t have felt right.
“Bronte, can I ask you something?” Millie said.
“I don’t know,” I was towelling myself dry. “Depends.”
“You told us about Stahl and what happened to her.”
“That’s right.”
“But you didn’t tell us what happened afterwards.”
I’d never actually specified to anyone what it was that I’d seen in there. Even Kinsella had avoided asking me directly.
“It was all a bit confusing, really,” I said. “The pentagram was starting to mess with my head.”
”But what about that? That mark.”
I looked down at where she was pointing. My right shoulder. The flesh was discoloured there, bearing the mark of a perfect hand-print.
“Oh that!” I said, dismissively. “That’s just the mark of the witch.”
Millie nodded her head, unsure whether I was joking or not.
I still had nightmares about that hand. Was woken regularly with the sense of someone clutching at me.
We dried ourselves in silence after that.
“Where do you get your change of clothes from?” I asked, keen to change the subject.
“They’re hung up in the locker.”
As I dressed, I considered what I had and hadn’t told them in the report. Some of it was true, some of it wasn’t.
I’d told them
that Pavel had been stabbed with the Seelie Blade. That I’d seen him disappear right in front of me. That bit was true.
I’d told them that I’d branded Melissa Stahl by accident. That was sort of true.
I’d also told them that I had seen the Seelie Blade smashed into a thousand pieces. But that had been nothing more than a big fat lie.
“How’re you getting home,” Millie asked.
“Silas is picking me up. Fancy a lift?”
Join Bronte in her continuing fight against darkness in second of the Urban Witch series.
Buy Now on pre release Urban Witch Book 2
“Bitter Moon”
Coming 27th March 2017
For updates on the series and to read my blog you are welcome to my site
www.rlgiddings.com
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Urban Witch (Urban Witch Series - Book 1) Page 31