He glanced at me, and his face seemed angry. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel and he swung the car too fast out of the car park. There was a moment when I thought we would skid on the icy road, and then he seemed to get a grip.
He stared straight through the windscreen at the road and said, “I can see I’m going to have to have a talk with Iris.”
“This isn’t about Iris!” I clenched my own fists tightly. “I want to know why you didn’t tell me.”
He drove for a few moments in silence and then pulled over when we got to a quiet road. He switched off the engine and turned to look at me.
“Your mother was an amazing woman. Being a witch was just a small part of who she was. It’s not something I want you to get involved in.”
I looked down at my hands, willing them to relax. “I am involved. I don’t have a choice.”
“You do have a choice!” He sounded really mad now. “Stay away from that stuff, Emily, I’m not going through it again!”
I looked up at him, wondering what he meant. “What stuff?” I asked fearfully.
“Never mind. Just promise me you won’t try to do any magic.”
“I can’t make that promise, I’m sorry.” I wanted to, I hated his being mad at me, but that would mean turning my back on Fletch, and on who I was.
He didn’t shout, though, like I thought he would. Instead he unclipped his seatbelt and leaned over and put his arms around me. It was weird; I tried to remember the last time Dad hugged me like that. After a moment I hugged him hard back.
“Oh, Emily,” he said into my shoulder, “I’m so sorry.”
“What for?” I mumbled.
“Everything.” Then he pulled away, put his seat belt back on and drove us home.
I kept looking at him, waiting for him to say something more, but he didn’t. I was totally confused. He waited until we got right outside the house and then he said, “Let’s go and visit my mother, hmm? Maybe at the weekend?”
Normally I would have jumped at this. Iris had told me that my dad’s mother was also a witch, and I was dying to know what she might have to tell me, but the timing couldn’t have been worse.
I bit my nails for a second. “Do you think we could go the weekend after? I sort of have a date on Friday, and a thing on Saturday too.”
Dad pursed his lips, “A date with a boy?”
I laughed, he was always so unexpected; just when I thought he was being understanding, he reverted back to being Dad.
“Yes, a date with a boy, but don’t worry, it’s a double date with Duncan and Kate; nothing to worry about, we’re just going to the cinema.” I was still laughing, though I had to control it as I felt like I was close to getting hysterical.
“Well, okay then. But you know the rules!” He was acting totally as though our conversation about witches had never happened.
“Yeah, yeah, back by ten.” I rolled my eyes and got out of the car.
“That’s right.” He got out too and we began to walk to the house.
“Emily?” His voice took on that worried tone again.
“Yes?” I stopped to look at him.
He dithered for a moment, “Nothing. Let’s get inside.” Then he opened the front door and ushered me in.
Chapter Fifteen
After dinner, I went up to my room and called for Bob out the window.
“I’m sorry to send you back out,” I told him, when he came, “but could you tell Fletch I have some news, if he could come by later?”
Bob fluffed his wings and clicked his beak, in a way that I assumed indicated irritation. But he said, “Yes, Mistress.” And he flew off again.
I got ready for bed and then typed up a report on Elizabeth I for History, which thankfully I had already written in longhand weeks ago, but was due tomorrow.
Bob seemed to take ages to return, but eventually I heard him tapping on the window.
“Is he coming?” I asked before he could even speak.
Bob ruffled his feathers at me again. “No. He was out hunting. But the wizard asked if you could come by tomorrow, after school.”
“That’s it? No news?” I was a bit peeved. I didn’t really want to have to walk over there after school, but I needed to see Fletch as soon as possible. I had to let him know about my conversations with his family and also about his body being brain-dead and yet responding to me.
I knew I ought to ring Iris and tell her about my conversation with my dad, but I just didn’t have the energy, and I had a feeling she was going to be cross with me, so I wimped out and didn’t.
Instead I went to bed early. I needed to catch up on my sleep anyway.
School seemed to drag by the next day.
There was a row between Tamsin and Bryony. Tamsin had made some comment about Bryony’s boyfriend, Matt, flirting with her, and Bryony had threatened to smash her face. It was all apparently big gossip, but I just couldn’t find the emotional strength to care. Instead I pretended to listen while Bryony ranted to Kate and me, but really my mind was on Fletch. Now that I had met his family, I knew that I absolutely had to make the spell work; nothing else mattered.
As soon as the last bell went I was out of there. I practically ran up the hill, past my house, and back down the other side towards the Common. I had no idea where the wizard’s trailer was parked, but I could guess.
I skirted the edge of the woods, feeling uneasy about going into them on my own, until I joined back up with the road that came from town in the other direction. I followed it until I came to a dirt track. By now I was getting tired, and my school shoes were not really designed for mud; but there were tyre marks on the track, so I hoped for the best and set off along it.
Dusk was falling and the trees were creeping me out. The birds were doing some last-minute shouting to each other, but nothing worth listening to.
When I first got my powers I was super-excited about hearing animals talk. It turned out to be a bit of a let-down. If you make the effort to listen in to their conversation (and it was an effort; really took it out of me tuning in to it) then it was seriously boring stuff. Just about food and the weather. Also, animals simply will not talk to humans. Except for Lyra and Bob, and I suppose Fletch, no animal has ever had a conversation with me. I’ve tried to talk to various animals but they just look at me as if I can’t hear them and vice versa. Once I even walked all the way out of town, until I reached a gate with a cow on the other side. I tried to start a conversation with her and she actually turned her back on me and then farted in my direction. I gave up after that.
These thoughts sustained me as I got further into the woods and the light got worse and worse. I had considered calling for Bob, but I really didn’t want him around for my emotional conversation with Fletch about his family. I was just starting to think I would have to yell for him, when I saw a light ahead. It was the wizard’s trailer. He was sat on the step and had a huge portable fire pit set up in front of him. I couldn’t wait to get close and warm up.
When he heard me he raised his head with a welcoming smile.
“Emily. How lovely. I was hoping you would get here before dark.”
“Yeah, only just though!” I said, wondering how I was going to get back home. By five it would be practically impossible to see and I didn’t have a torch.
“Where’s Fletch?” I looked around.
“He’s catching us some dinner,” the wizard said, adding more wood to his fire. “He’ll be back any minute.”
“Catching, as in killing?” I asked, definitely bothered by the idea.
The wizard looked at me kindly, “He has to do it, Emily dear. He must embrace the wolf. It is in its nature to hunt.”
“Oh, right. How’s he doing with that?”
I’d hoped it was good news, but the wizard looked slightly pained. He glanced all around before saying in a low voice, “He’s struggling with it. He can’t let go and be one with it. They still battle.”
“Oh, dear.” It felt like a hug
e understatement, but I didn’t know what else to say. “I’ve written a spell,” I said, trying to bring some hope to the situation.
“Oh, marvellous!” The wizard brightened, “Would you mind if I looked at it?”
“No, of course not, I hoped you would.” I rooted around in my school bag until I found it. I handed him the paper and watched nervously as he read it.
“Oh, well done, Emily! This should do the trick. And all the more powerful because you wrote it yourself, so you will be properly connected to it.” He smiled at me. “Now we just need Fletch to be able to do his bit.” His smile faded.
“Would you like something to drink?” he said after a few moments of silence. “Some herbal tea or wine – no, not wine, you’re probably a bit young, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “Whatever.”
He nodded, and then went into the trailer and reappeared with a bottle, which he brandished triumphantly. “A sparkling nettle-ade! Like lemonade, but with nettles.”
I pulled a face; it sounded disgusting, and possibly poisonous, but he poured me a glass anyway.
I took a tentative sip. It was… delicious.
Just then Fletch came into the light, holding a pheasant in his jaws.
“Emily!” He dropped it at the wizard’s feet like an offering and then bounded over to me.
“Hello, Fletch.” I stooped and sank my fingers into his fur. The shock of our contact made me jump. But I just buried them deeper, enjoying the buzz.
“Will you two control your thoughts?” the wizard said jokingly. “You’ll make me blush.”
I quickly let go and sat down again. Fletch nuzzled my knee, like he didn’t care what the wizard could hear going on in his mind.
The wizard smiled knowingly. “Emily has written you a spell,” he told Fletch. “I think it will probably work.”
I nodded. “But you have to connect with your wolf!” I scolded Fletch.
“He’s doing fantastically,” The wizard butted in. “I’m sure he’ll be ready.”
I looked at the wizard in surprise; that wasn’t what he’d said to me.
Suddenly his voice was inside my head: “I know it’s not what I said to you, but Fletch must believe he can do it, otherwise there’s no chance.”
“Right,” I muttered.
I showed Fletch the spell. He held it down with one paw and read it in silence. “You truly think this will work?” he asked, looking from the wizard to me and back again.
“Yes,” we said in unison.
“Great.” Fletch looked relieved.
“Uh, Fletch, I’ve been to see your body, and I met your family.” I bit my lip, feeling worried that the information might not help him.
The wizard stood up. “You two have a good chat,” he reassured me with a smile. “I’ll go and prepare our dinner.” Then he picked up the pheasant and took it inside.
I drowned myself in Fletch’s eyes for a few seconds, until he brought me back with a nudge.
“Well?” I could hear the fear in his voice.
“It’s not very good news I’m afraid. Your body is fine, but your parents think you’re brain-dead and the hospital is urging them to let your body die.”
“What? They can’t do that!” His big jaws snapped shut rather menacingly.
“Your father asked me a load of questions about our relationship; they think we’re both in a cult.” I tried to recap the conversation as best as I could. When I got to the bit about his mother trying to stop me leaving and me zapping her, I found I couldn’t say it. I didn’t want Fletch to hate me for hurting his mother. So I stopped talking.
He was silent for a moment.
“When you were with my body, did you feel very sad, were you crying?” He asked tentatively.
I frowned, thinking he had a big ego if he wanted to hear that. He shook his head, reading my expression. “Not like that. It’s just that I thought I felt you. I was wandering around out here and I thought I felt your unhappiness, and at the same time as if you were holding my hand, only you weren’t here; and then I was convinced you were crying and I tried to reach you with my mind but nothing happened.”
“Oh, I see. Yes. There was a moment when they said they were going to turn off your life-support thing, and I picked up your hand and cried, and the machine starting binging. But I thought I might have done it by mistake by magic. But you felt me? Fletch! Do you realise what this means? It means you are still connected in some way to your body; surely that’s great news!”
“Brian?” Fletch called out and the wizard appeared in the doorway. Fletch did some mind talking with the wizard that I couldn’t hear, but I guessed it was a summary of what I’d said.
The wizard nodded, looking happy, “Yes, there definitely must be some part of you left inside your body, that’s really excellent news.”
“Why is it?” I asked.
“Because the two parts of his soul will want to reconnect, they will be drawn together, it will help enormously.”
“Oh, good,” I said, starting to feel more hopeful.
“Um, Brian?” I felt silly calling him that, even though it was his name. “What’s the deal with werewolves telling people what they are?” I hadn’t gotten to the bit where I’d met Penny yet, but I wanted to be sure before I got Fletch even more worried.
“Werewolves have similar rules to witches, except no one enforces them; it’s just a survival instinct, I think. They generally tell their immediate family but no one else.”
I nodded my thanks, and the wizard read my mind and ducked back out of sight so I could tell Fletch all about it in private.
“You met my sister, and she guessed I’m a werewolf?” Fletch couldn’t seem to believe it after I’d told him.
“She’s one smart cookie,” I said.
Fletch smiled. “Yeah, she is. So she didn’t seem horrified or anything?”
I shook my head. “No, she seemed fine with it. They just want you back, Fletch. They love you and they’re scared. Your sister will make sure your parents don’t let anything happen to your body, but for their sake you really have to help me to put this right; you have to embrace the wolf.”
“I’m trying,” he growled, “but we just aren’t connecting. Sometimes I feel like me, and sometimes I feel like I’m being pushed out by instincts that aren’t mine. I keep getting wolf urges, and then the human part of me resists and I try to stay me and in control. It’s scary letting go.”
“I know it is.” I stroked him again. “But you have to. Just let him in, for them?”
“And if I can’t control him and he takes over permanently?” Fletch leaned into my touch.
“Well, that’s going to happen anyway if you don’t make peace with him before Saturday, so what have you got to lose?” I said practically.
Fletch was silent, thinking it over.
“I know I don’t want to lose you,” he said at last, “But I can’t have you either way, can I?”
“We’ll stay friends,” I said lamely. It wasn’t what we really wanted, but it was better than nothing.
Fletch sort of laughed and joked, “Friends with no benefits.”
I pulled my hands away again. When had it become so intense between us? We barely knew each other, and he’d been a wolf most of the time we had. Only I still felt like I was talking to Fletch the boy most of the time. He was too human, which might possibly be his downfall.
“Just focus on being a wolf for now, we’ll work the rest out later,” I told him firmly.
We talked a little longer and then the wizard stuck his head out again. “Fletch, I’m going to start cooking shortly. Why don’t you see Emily home now?”
He came out and shook my hand. “I’ll see you on Saturday. I think we should use The Seven Sisters to do the spell; why don’t you come a bit early and you and I can go over what preparations are needed, say eleven o’clock? Full moon is not until just before midnight. I think we need to do it at exactly then for it to be most powerful.”
&n
bsp; I swallowed any doubts I had and agreed.
Fletch and I walked back towards the Common in silence. I kept one hand buried in his warm neck, clutching onto his fur as he guided me through the dark woods. He came up to just above my waist and it was comfortable walking like that. In some ways I was disappointed when we got to the Common and the intimacy factor faded away. I let go, as I could now make out the way from the lights of the town.
He saw me all the way back to my house, but conversation between us was limited; I guess we both had too much on our minds.
My hand constantly hovered as if to take his, but I couldn’t, and in the end I shoved it in my pocket to avoid stroking him instead.
I stood outside and felt unwilling to go in without him.
Fletch seemed to know what I was thinking. “I’ll try to come and see you before Saturday. But it’s not easy embracing my wolf when being around you makes me want to be human, so I think it’s best that we see as little of each other as possible.”
I nodded, feeling sad and a bit frustrated. Why couldn’t we just do what we wanted? Why was fate trying so hard to keep us apart?
Chapter Sixteen
I spent a lot of Thursday trying not to chew my nails. I was seriously tense, and I couldn’t concentrate at school at all. I actually considered just going home, but it would have raised too many questions. I had to act as normal as possible. I was fretting about Fletch’s family. Would they try and find me? Were they okay? Would they turn his body off? I was also fretting about doing the spell wrong, as well as fretting about doing it right but with Fletch being unable to make peace with his wolf so it still wouldn’t work.
All in all I was pretty glad of the distraction when Kate started to talk about our double date the following night.
“So, have you thought about what you’re going to wear?” she asked, by way of a note during French class.
I blinked at the words in surprise. How could I not have even thought about this? On my last date with Sean, I had blown a hole in my meagre bank account to buy a new outfit for the bowling night. I was a firm believer that wearing something brand new made you feel more confident, and I needed all the confidence I could get if I had any hope of being sparkly and interesting.
Werewolf Magic & Mayhem (Book Two, Magic & Mayhem Series) Page 9