They weren't planning to stay long, but it wouldn't hurt to steel themselves for what was ahead. Elsie still looked strained, like her burdens could crush her at any moment. She leaned over, asking for a cigarette from Adam, who gave her it with a dull look of surprise; after all, she'd told him she didn't smoke. It showed just how stressed she was. Troy told her she'd have to go to the porch and she nodded, heading back up the stairs. Sadie looked worried, glancing around everyone. “She shouldn't be alone, right?” she asked, and Lila nodded.
“Go keep her company? Please? She's really fragile right now, and you're awesome at cheering people up.”
Sadie smiled at the compliment, giving Lila a hug before heading up the stairs. Her boot heels clacked on the wood, loud enough that Lila wondered why she hadn't heard them on the way down. She must have been entirely in her own world again. She would really need to work on keeping focused.
They sat up at the bar, drinking and playing with their magick. They were really just showing off, Troy starting a drizzle indoors, much to Lynch's chagrin. Adam retaliated by causing flowers to sprout up along the bar. Rose added to this by making a tree sprout in the corner, flowering into cherry blossoms.
“Oh Hell.” Troy groaned. “Dude, take them away. I have a black thumb.” he insisted, looking glum. Lila laughed.
“I've got this.” she promised, and the Earth witches looked at her in curiosity. Closing her eyes, Lila traced the life strands of the plants and tree, tugging on them. They shrank, the tree to a sapling, the grass to seeds. Once the tree was gone, barely an acorn, she picked up all of the seeds and handed them to Rose, who was staring at her wide-eyed.
“So, can you like, reverse the age of people?” she asked. Lila shook her head.
“Nope. I can only do this because they're magickally created, not natural. Their life force doesn't quite join with the Earth, so I can grab the ends and unravel them like a knitted sweater.” she explained while Rose's expression changed to a thoughtful one. “Natural born things are tied with the Earth, buried deep. It'd take a lot of energy to get to them, if I even could.”
Impressed, Adam nodded his head in her direction. “Seriously cool. I know why Spirit is the leader of the covens, now. I'm guessing you can interact with all of our magick?”
Lila nodded. “Yeah. I can mess with plant life, pull up a water wall, spark an explosion, create a tornado. It's not cool, though. The deeper I go into other magick disciplines, the higher the risk that I will literally lose my mind. I'm not trained to use the other disciplines, and I never could be. Every time I do it, a little bit of my soul gets caught up in it. Every time I've done it, I've pulled it back with me, but with a tornado or something, nope. I'd wind up crazy and possibility homicidal.” Lila shuddered. She'd seen it once. Thankfully her parents had been able to successfully save the boy, but if she was nowhere near strong spirit users, she'd be completely screwed.
“Wow. That's a bum deal.” Rose sympathised.
Glancing up at the clock, Lila frowned. “Elsie and Sadie have been gone for nearly half an hour. We should go check on them.” she insisted. The others shrugged. It was entirely possible that Elsie had just taken a longer cig break and had gotten caught up in a conversation with Sadie, but she had a bad feeling and had to follow it up.
They trudged up the stairs to the front door with Lynch moving to open the door. She couldn't help but think the gym downstairs would be necessary if she lived with someone who insisted on doing everything for her.
Stepping out on the porch, she saw no sign of the girls, but her eyes were instantly drawn to a dark patch on the stone step. Her heart began to race and she bent down, sure she was the only one who had noticed. Touching the stain, she then looked at her fingers, which were now stained with blood, as she'd expected. The others gasped, Rose made a distressed noise.
“So, it was Elsie or Sadie.” Lila mumbled, feeling like her heart had just been ripped out – she had bonded with them both, and to find out it was a friend was impossibly painful.
“Huh?” Troy asked, looking pale and worried. Lila remembered that no one had told him what was going on. She explained as briefly as she could, but his questions took time and she was getting anxious.
“Okay, we've gotta go look for them...” she asserted, then realised she had no idea where to go.
“Not looking like that, you're not.” came a casual voice, laced with boredom. Lila whirled round to see a guy reclining against the wall beside them. He had clearly been there for a while. “Seriously. Go change into something you can move fast in.” he demanded.
She didn't know his name, where he came from, anything, but the backpack he was carrying was bulky in a way which suggested it contained weapons. In itself, this wouldn't be much of an issue to a trained witch, but she could tell by his easy demeanour that there was a lot more to him than that. He seemed to know exactly who – and what – they were and yet he wasn't phased in the slightest. Lila gave Troy a searching look, the blonde boy worrying at his lower lip. Nodding once, he led Lila and Rose to his parents old room. “Help yourself.” he offered. Instantly, Lila felt uncomfortable – these were his mother's clothes.
“Are you sure?” she asked, concern evident in her voice as she searched his face. Troy nodded once, obviously judging his level of comfort on the spot. It wasn't like they had any other option, though, so Lila moved over to one of the wardrobe doors, pulling it open to find a walk in wardrobe big enough that her jaw physically dropped in surprise. Stepping inside, she looked around the outfits. It was no surprise that everything was designer, but she hadn't exactly expected how high the prices were.
Rifling around, she found a pair of jeans and pulled them on, managing to fasten them even though they felt a size too small. Troy's mother must have been absolutely tiny. Rose was pulling on a pair of dress pants, the only pair she'd found which would fit her. Tops were easier; long-sleeved t-shirts were there in abundance, thankfully even in Lila's size. They were snug around the chest, but the one she found was long and so balanced out to rest just on her hips. Pulling on her own hoodie, still a little blood stained, she zipped it up and tied up her hair. Rose pushed a few hair slides into her hair to keep it off of her face as it was too short to tie back.
Suited up, they left the closet, passing Troy who tried to ignore their clothes and the particular memories which came with each outfit, or how badly his mother would turn over in her grave at the lacklustre way they'd been thrown together.
Back outside, they found the same guy waiting for them, and she briefly wondered if they should have exited through the back. Maybe this guy knew where their friends.. or friend, whichever was the case, were – it was the only reason she didn't try to knock him out and run. “What's your name?” she asked, looking him over again. It yielded no further results on the last time she'd done this; he was still as much of a mystery to her as he had been before.
“It's Liam.” The voice came from behind her, not from where he was standing. Lila looked over her shoulder at Rose, whose face showed the tension she'd expect from a realisation like that.
“Very good, little girl.” Liam answered, a glint in his eye which could be construed as either mischievousness or madness. Lila truly wasn't sure which. From what Lynch had told them, Liam had been completely insane, and looking at the butler now didn't do much to alleviate her fears – Lynch seemed to be carrying his own burden, unable to look at Liam.
“I'm not a little girl.” Rose shot back defiantly, and Liam's face registered surprise at the ballsy response. It was clear she'd impressed him, but why would that matter to someone sent here to kill them? Wait, if he was going to kill them then why would he have sent them to get changed into more battle worthy clothes? So many questions, so little time.
“Our friends – your sister – is out there, in danger. Can we get a move on?” Lila asked, too worried to be scared of him for longer than a second. Liam turned his impressed look upon her and for some reason she blushed, feeling o
ver-scrutinised. After all, she had no idea if Elsie were the victim or the captor.
“I'm aware.” he answered drably, before twirling keys around his fingers. “Jump up on to the back.” he added, inclining his head backwards. For the first time, Lila truly focused on the path behind him, a little off to the side of the doorway.
“How did you get that in here?!” she gasped; the car wasn't small; on the contrary, it was a large pick-up truck, black in colour and very well maintained. Liam grinned smugly.
“I've been here for hours. I watched your friend punch in the code.” he nodded to Troy.
He'd been watching them? Somehow, the revelation didn't shock her as much as it should have. Her own, however, did. “Lynch... did you know?!” she yelped, before she'd even had time to really consider the notion. He didn't answer, but he didn't have to. One look at the guilt on his face and she knew. Troy recoiled from the man, looking betrayed. “I think you better explain yourself.” Lila continued, trying hard not to appear judgemental.
“It's not how it sounds.” Lynch insisted. “He contacted me last week, said something was afoot.”
There was no time to even process half of what was being admitted right now. “Wait... last week?” she asked, suddenly pale. “Before our parents...?”
Liam nodded. “I was working the case, tried to get my parents to open up to anything. They mistook it as me asking for a handout... nearly a thousand in by bank account by midnight.” he answered. The money, of course. “And before you ask, I did my best to save my sister, too.” he pointed to the blood on the step. “But that blonde girl? She wouldn't go down.”
Blonde girl. That meant that it was Sadie who was the impostor. Somehow this seemed far worse than if it had been Elsie, as much as it pained Lila to admit it. She liked the redhead, but had grown close to Sadie, which, as it turned out, appeared to be more by design than coincidence.
Lila was supposed to be the leader here, not that she'd done such a great job so far. Striding decisively – on the leg which Elsie had mended, she thought guiltily – towards the truck, she climbed up into the back and sat on one of the seats on one side. Rose, Adam and finally Troy followed her, steadying themselves on the bench. Lynch attempted to follow, but Troy barked an angry order at him to stay and actually keep an eye on the house. Lila turned away from this, feeling awkwardly like she was interrupting a family argument. Instead, she focused on Adam, who was trying to get Rose to buckle on one of the belts despite leaving his own off. She attempted to intervene, finally compromising by making them all wear seatbelts, herself included. Truthfully, she was surprised that the car had seatbelts in the back, very few did in this kind of vehicle. Liam jumped into the front seat, dumping his bag beside him and starting the car.
Chapter Fifteen
It took Lila longer than it should have to realise where they were heading, her mind preoccupied with what they were about to do. Further than that; if they did survive, if they managed to put an end to Sadie's plans, who was going to take her place as coven leader? She didn't have any younger siblings, so the task would pass to another relative, the eldest of her cousins most likely. Did she even have cousins? Lila wished they'd taken more time in each place, had gotten to know each coven more intimately. It had never registered with her before just how dangerous their position could be, not only from internal threats like Sadie and rogue witches, but externally. There was always the threat of witch hunters, or normal civilians finding out who they were. As coven leaders, it was their job to keep their communities safe. In her opinion, they weren't doing so well.
At some point in the midst of these thoughts, she realised that she recognised the road they were on. Leaning over, she tapped the window between the back and the drivers cabin, and he reached back without taking his eyes off of the road to press the lock so that she could slide it open. “Why are we heading to Markdale?” she asked, a wave of fear clenching her stomach; was Sadie going to kill their covens now? Not knowing what was going on was perhaps the worst thing of all.
“That's where they're heading. The blonde girl dragged them into a car and almost ran me down.. yelled out that she'd meet us in Markdale.” Liam answered, speaking loudly to be heard over the roaring wind and traffic. “I'm guessing this is where your coven operates from?”
Lila nodded, finding it odd that Sadie had practically invited them, and also thinking that perhaps she shouldn't be telling Liam anything – he was a witch hunter, after all. “Why are you helping us? Don't you hunt people like us?”
“Only the bad ones. I'm a witch myself, remember. Hunters have a bad rep in coven circles, I know – but not all of them are bad. There are quite a few factions, like mine, who actually recruit witches because they believe that only a witch can judge what's evil and what isn't. Without our mediation, they could call all sorts evil, and do in some cases. Like curing illnesses that civilians can't. They call that an unfair advantage, interference where it's not welcome. We say it's using what you've been blessed with.” Liam shrugged. “As to why I'm helping you? Two reasons. One, that's my baby sister that bimbo took off with and two, what she's up to is going to affect the whole world. Oh, it'll start here, but it's going to blow up in a big way.”
“Oh.” Lila answered, feeling a little sheepish. Of course he wanted to help – Even if he were going to kill them, an evil witch like Sadie would take priority over them, and since they were working towards a common goal, it made sense that he'd work with them. Great; so she only had to worry about him killing them after Sadie was captured or dead.
She wasn't sure why she couldn't simply believe his words, the fact that he didn't hunt witches like her. She supposed it was because of the new found trust issues she'd developed in the wake of Sadie's betrayal. Even with the mental preparation she'd done, knowing someone was going to turn on them, it still stung more than she cared to admit.
She sat back, suddenly assaulted by wind whipping her hair into her face. It must have been doing this the entire ride, but somehow she had missed it in her grief. Spluttering as it caught in her mouth, she sat forward again, bending almost double. Grabbing her hair and pulling it into a bun, she fished in her pocket for a hair tie and fastened it there. Looking up, she saw it was no such luck for Rose, who had hair in her mouth and an expression which could turn a man to stone if she willed it – possibly literally. “You doing okay?” Lila asked, stifling her laughter.
Rose gave her a glare. “Smug much, Ms. Long hair?” she grumbled, and Lila gave a soft laugh.
“I'm sorry. You just look kinda funny. Can't you pin it back?” Lila asked, and Rose shook her head in response.
“Left my hair clips in the other pants.” she admitted, and Lila pulled a sympathetic face. It was understandable, really. They had been in a rush. It had been pure luck that she had put the same hoodie back on.
“I have some hair ties in my pocket. Want them to put your hair in pigtails or something?” she asked, and though Rose glowered, she could tell the younger witch was considering it. After a minute, she held out her hand wordlessly. Digging in her pocket, she located another two hair ties, pulling them out. They were different colours and sizes, but really it didn't matter. Passing them over, she watched idly as Rose tied her hair into pigtails.
Once she was done, Rose raised an eyebrow at her. “Don't even think about it.” she warned, raising a finger before pointing it at her accusingly. Lila bit her lip, the reaction causing her to snicker slightly. She couldn't help it – she knew how much Rose hated being treated like a child, yet with her hair up in pigtails the girl looked like she was about nine. It was probably just as well that she would clearly rip the hair ties off the minute they got out of the car, since Adam would wind up even more overprotective than usual – even more overprotective than he was going to be in the face of heading into battle with a psychopathic killer who already murdered their parents. That thought sobered her, the laughter dying on her lips as she looked down at the steel flatbed beneath her feet. This w
hole time, she had been friends with someone who had stuck an athame through her parents, or was at the very least associated with the person who had. She felt like a traitor herself; after all, she'd known that one of them was the perpetrator. What she should have done was cut them loose as soon as she'd received the warning, but the need to have company in her quest had won out.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
“What?” Lila asked, looking up at Adam after he'd spoken.
“Sadie. I know you're beating yourself up about this. We may not have known each other long but we've been through a lot together.” he answered. She pondered his words, frowning faintly as if she were arguing their merit. He was right, of course. If she'd have let Sadie go, there was no way she would have been here right now, on her tail and ready to fight. She certainly wouldn't have allies. On the contrary, she probably would have found herself hours away from the action and without a way to reach them on time, if she would have known about it at all.
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