“Can you believe our mum?” Thea says, unusually serious. But then it’s an unusual situation.
“I can’t believe any of it.”
“Sorry about your dad.” This from both of the twins, in unison as always.
“It’s okay. I can’t believe we didn’t know.”
“I wish she’d told us too. I don’t hate her because she didn’t, and I’m glad she kept you safe, but it’s weird to think all this is going on – people killing your dad, trying to kill you, this whole war – and we knew nothing about it.”
“Yeah. Like, how have we missed all this. Your mum going off with Griff to kill people, and people trying to kill me.”
“Trying to kill all of us. I wonder how many witches they’ve killed already?”
“Too many,” Elodie says, joining them. “This is new to me too, but Ember and Griff have filled me in on what they know. Now I need to tell you – you don’t leave our sight. You don’t go anywhere.”
“What about college?”
“We’ll magic in and mark you all as present. Until this is figured out, we stick together. Please. I need you to know how serious this is. This isn’t just about keeping Ellis safe; it’s about keeping all of us safe.”
“How do you think they got in the house, mum?”
“Well, we don’t know, and we don’t like to believe it, but just as Ember said we have insiders within this rogue collective, I wonder if they have insider knowledge of us.”
“But none of us-”
“Not one of us, Fletcher. But any witch would have known how to get past our protections.”
“So, they have a witch helping them, a traitor?”
“We don’t know, but it’s the only thing we can think of. We might be completely wrong, so we’re keeping it to ourselves, for now.”
There’s a knock at the door and Griff rushes over. They can’t hear what he’s saying but after a minute or so, he unlocks the door. There’s a flurry of people and voices, and greetings, and explanations, amid sombre faces and serious moods.
The adults gather over at a kitchen island, making teas and coffees and the youngsters come over to the sofas. There are five of them, and Fletcher and the twins stand up and greet them with hugs, kisses and high fives.
A tall girl with long, shimmery, red hair, leans into Fletcher, kissing him firmly on the mouth. “Hey, you. It’s been too long.”
Fletcher pulls back, wipes his mouth and grins, stumbling over his words. “Hi Sally. It has. Was it last summer?”
“It was. As if you’d forget.” She turns to the twins and they squeal and hug.
“Who’s this?” A younger boy, about thirteen, pulling his headphones out, points at Ellis. “She’s new.”
Ellis shuffles forward on the sofa, all eyes on her.
Sally turns to look at her, then comes back to Fletcher’s side and snakes an arm around his waist. “Yeah, she’s new.”
“This is Ellis.”
Sally frowns, looking her up and down, finding her severely lacking. “Isn’t that a boy’s name?”
Ellis shrugs. “Evidently not.”
Fletcher smiles and untangles himself from Sally, moving closer to the twins. “Guys, this is Ellis. So, how much do you all know?”
None of them know anything. They have been dragged away from whatever it was they were doing and told to follow their parents to the safe house. Confusion colours all of their faces.
The twins give Fletcher a look that clearly says, take it away buddy, and so he does. He explains about the ceremony and the investment that went so wrong.
“You’re kidding. She’s not even a witch?” This from a short, blonde girl, with ridiculously long hair. Like Rapunzel long.
Ellis shrugs again. “I am now.”
“Who cocked up the magic circle?” Sally asks.
“We don’t actually know. We were trying to keep all this quiet.”
“But?”
“But it got worse.”
“Worse than her?” The disdain on Sally’s face as she looks at Ellis is frightening.
“Worse than me,” Ellis says, scowling at Sally and everybody else.
“Really?”
Fletcher nods and then, with some difficulty, explains that his father’s death wasn’t an accident but murder, and that Griff and Ember, to some degree, have been working to battle a rogue collective of the other species.
“What? No way! My mum would have told me.”
“Maybe she didn’t know. My mum didn’t.”
“Elodie didn’t know?”
Fletcher shakes his head and a heavy silence settles over them all.
A tall, skinny boy with longish hair speaks up. “What do this rogue collective want? Do we know?”
“Well, at the moment they want to kill all the witches. They killed Zeta.”
“You’re kidding.”
“We’re not. We were there.”
“You saw them kill her?”
“No, she told us they were coming, and then we left.”
“You left her to die?”
“Well, we didn’t want to. She made us. She told us that she knew it was the end of her life, but that we had to keep Ellis safe.”
“Why?” Again, the obvious distaste from Sally.
Ellis
OOH I CAN’T HELP IT. I hate this prissy red head coming in and kissing Fletcher. On the lips.
I try not to sound too snarky as I answer, but I don’t think I manage it: “Because I’m pretty important right now. I am the head witch, remember – that means I’m in charge of all of you. And apparently all your secrets, magic, power, and all that crap, are locked inside me.”
I glance at the twins and they actually look impressed, for about three seconds, then they are scowling at me. In fact, their expression is exactly the same as Sally’s.
I’m not sure who I hate more.
Yes, I am.
It’s Sally.
Ooh she’s pretty and perky, and her lipstick perfectly matches her hair, without making her look like a clown. Why are all these girl witches so damn good looking? She’s wearing jeans so tight I know she’s not wearing any knickers and her top is so tight that even I can’t help staring at her boobs.
I want to cry.
I can’t look at Fletcher, because when I do, I can see her lipstick shining on his lips.
What happened last summer that she thinks she can walk straight up to him and kiss him right on the mouth?
Rude.
We are staring at each other, and I’m not sure if I’m going to start sparking with fury, when Thea pipes up. “Be careful, Sally. She has visions; she might see exactly what you’re thinking, or what you’ve done. She knew that uncle Griff has been murdering people, and that my mum had helped him.”
For a second this diffuses the tension as the younger kids are wide eyed and open mouthed. “Griff and Ember have killed people? This is wild!” This from the only one of the five who hasn’t yet spoken.
“Visions?”
“Or memories,” I say, determined to make Sally squirm. I might not know what to do with my magic, yet, but it’s there. It showed me what Griff and Ember had been up to.
“We don’t know what she’s capable of, not really.” Fletcher smiles at me, and I forgive him a tiny bit for wearing Sally’s lipstick. I hate that she kissed him, I hate the intimacy it hints at, whatever happened last summer. They’ve definitely snogged, and I hate her so much.
Oh, yes, they’ve snogged.
Her memory comes flying into my mind – unwelcome, unbidden.
A sandy beach, on a perfect weather day – the bluest of skies, wisps of candy floss clouds, the sound of people enjoying themselves, and tucked around a corner, in an inlet of craggy rock, there’s a crumpled blanket, and two bodies lying side by side. Clothed but kissing, okay actually writhing a bit. I shake my head. It’s not as fun as I thought it might be.
When I lock eyes with her, she’s smirking. Sally is smirking, red lips t
wisting, and I realise that she’s thinking about her kiss with Fletcher on purpose. She’s trying to rile me up.
Am I that obvious? Do they all know that I fancy him? Does he?
But then he’s been happy to hold my hand, before she came along, happy to touch my leg, promise me he’ll keep me safe. So maybe if I like him, just maybe he likes me too?
Does that still stand? Does he still want to protect me? Will he touch me now that she’s turned up? I wish I knew. I wish I was one of those girls who knows that everyone fancies her, knows how hot she is, knows that nobody can keep their hands off her.
I’m not that girl. Never have been. Never will be.
I’m the anxious girl. The awkward girl. The plain girl. If I tried to look glamourous or sexy, I’d end up looking and feeling pathetic. It’s just not me.
That makes me sad too.
I don’t want to look at him, I don’t want to see his memory, or visions, or anything else. What if I don’t like what I see?
“Okay?” He touches my arm, concern clear on his face. I nod. I won’t let her know that her little snog memory bothered me, and I definitely won’t let him know.
“So, what are we planning to do? Are we in danger?”
“Of course we are, Laila, a bunch of vamps, shifters and fairies want us dead.”
“So what are we going to do?”
Fletcher leans in, and everyone leans in to hear him. “We’re going to war. Well, our parents are. We’re not.”
“I might,” Sally says. “I’m sixteen, I’m old enough to fight if my parents need me to.”
I hate her courage, her bravery in the face of what might be coming her way.
But then she didn’t hear the commotion they made when they came to kill Zeta. I did. And if I think about it, I can still hear the battering down of the front door of that sweet little cottage in Mumbles.
I shiver.
“Okay?” Fletcher asks me, coming over to my side. “Is it a vision?” I shake my head, no. I won’t tell him that the last vision I enjoyed was him snogging Sally’s face off.
“You’ll fight, won’t you, Fletch?”
Fletch? Really?
I roll my eyes and look over at her. She’s pointedly refusing to look at me, maybe she’s worried that I’ll see a memory other than the one she wants me to.
Fletcher shakes his head. “I don’t know, Sal.”
Sal? Really?
Talia frowns. “Sally – this isn’t a game. Zeta’s dead. When we got home, they were in our house. They killed Adam. They’ve killed who knows how many witches – all over the country. We’ll be lucky if we’re not locked up until this is over. Ellis certainly will be.”
I glare at her, but she smiles, actually smiles at me. “I know you’re a new witch, and you don’t know any of us, and you’ve been thrown into this, Ellis, but you’re important. We can’t let anything happen to you.”
Sally humphs but Fletcher turns to her. “We know you don’t like many people, Sal,-”
“I like you.”
Ooh, I might just throw up again.
“Sally. Ellis is important. Just as important as I would have been if I’d been invested. More so now that we know about this war.”
The boy with the headphones shakes his head. “I still can’t believe we’re in the middle of a war. I wonder how many of our parents knew.”
“Who knows, but if they did know, it means they’ve been killing the other species, which means they’ve been in huge danger.”
I close my eyes for a second and let the conversation wash over me. This is scary for me, but for these kids, some younger than me, their families are in mortal danger, too.
I know how much worse this would be if I thought harm might come to my parents. I couldn’t stand it. I’m not brave at all, but I get where Sally is coming from.
It would be awful to watch your parents face danger and go through this turmoil without being able to help. I’d want to help.
I do want to help.
I want to help Fletcher. And his mum is lovely.
The twins and Ember scare the crap out of me, and I do not like Sally. But the others seem nice. I open my eyes and glance over at the adults. They all seem nice too. You’d never guess they were magical beings, not at all.
What a weird and crazy adventure I’ve become involved in.
I look over at Sally. She’s huddled near the twins, giggling and muttering so the rest of the group can’t hear them. I could try to tune in, see if my magic would work that way, but I don’t want to know what they might be saying about me.
Maybe they aren’t saying anything about me, but Sally keeps glancing at me, so I reckon they are.
I hate them. If Molly was here with me now, I’d feel better. She was like a comfort blanket for me. I always felt better when I was in her company. We felt like we could take on the world.
The worst thing about her illness was watching the life drain out of her, watching her get weaker and weaker each time I saw her. Until she was gone.
I’m filling up with tears and I do not want to cry in front of Sally, so I dig my fingernails into my hand until it passes and then focus my gaze on the adults instead.
Their huddle breaks apart and Elodie and Ember come over to us.
“All okay?”
I nod. So does everybody else.
13
“THIS ISN’T EASY FOR us,” Elodie says. “We would rather not worry you, but it’s done now. The cat is out of the bag, so to speak, and, sadly, everything is about to change for us. This rogue collective has been killing witches, wanting to take their independence back through violence for too long. We’ve been fighting back. Well, I haven’t because I didn’t know anything about it, but certain witches did, and certain witches have – kept us safe that is. But now they’ve found out about Ellis, how she was invested instead of Fletcher and they’ve come out of the shadows. They came to Zeta’s house in broad daylight. She’s dead. When we went home, they were in our house. Griff confirms that he has never seen them operate like this. They killed Adam but made it look like an accident. Often groups like this want the glory and the recognition when they kill, but that’s what’s made this group harder. They work in the shadows, they creep around, and they’re really hard to pin down. Now it’s different. They’ve changed.”
Elodie takes a deep breath, looks around at the worried faces and tries to smile. She can’t. Tears fill her eyes. Fletcher jumps up and hugs her. She pats his back and kisses his cheek.
“I’m okay, lovely. I just wish you kids weren’t involved. I wish I could guarantee your safety.”
“What’s going to happen? What’s the plan?”
“We need you to stay here. They’re still at the house, we’ve got someone watching the place, so we’re going there now. We’re going to kill or capture – depending on who they are. Griff knows the major players, and if they are there, we can end this tonight. If not, then it’s going to be harder and take longer. We just need you kids to stay here, be safe, be brave. One of us will stay – probably Max – and you just have to wait.”
There are more than a few groans. “I know, I know. But this is not the kind of thing you can get involved in. These guys aren’t playing. They plan to kill. They do kill.”
The tension of fear settles over them all and there are grim faces and then a tearful flurry of activity as the adults hug and kiss their children, and the children protest about them leaving, and them not being able to go along to help.
Max comes over to the group. “I’ll look after you all. Let your parents go, and finish this.”
Fletcher holds onto his mother tightly. “Mum, you can’t die. I can’t be left with nobody.”
“I won’t die. I plan on killing every last one of them, for what they did to your father.”
He nods and kisses her head, already taller than she is.
The twins hug their mum, tears coursing down their faces. “Mum, be careful.”
“I’ll be
okay, my beautiful girls.” Ember is only not spiky when it comes to her girls.
“Promise?”
Ember nods, crying and hugging her twins.
Everybody is crying, and when the adults leave in a rush of fear and anger, and hope that this might be over tonight, the silence is total.
“I’m scared.” This from the youngest of them all. Thea hugs her. “It’s going to be okay; they’ll be fine. They’ll do this, easily.”
“I don’t understand. Why are the other species trying to hurt us?”
“Because they’re pigs.”
“Not all of them, Thea. Some of them. There are some vampires, shifters and fairies who don’t like that we are in charge of them. They wish they were in charge of themselves.”
“Why aren’t they?”
“You know – you’ve heard about the allegiance, haven’t you?”
She nods.
“Right, so years ago the allegiance said that we would be in charge of all the species, and hold the knowledge, magic, power – all of the important stuff to each species – within our coven, within our head witch. We don’t tell them what to do, or stop them doing anything, but we are in charge. Some of them don’t like it.”
Sally butts in: “Some of them are stupid, evil and murderous and we’re going to kill them all.”
She gestures to Fletcher, Sally and Talia with her head, and Ellis follows along. The five of them huddle around the table where the adults had huddled earlier.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sally says.
The twins nod. “We can’t just sit here and let them die.”
“I can’t lose my mum as well.”
“What about Ellis? We can’t take her – she’ll just be a burden.”
“I’ll keep her with me,” Fletcher says. “I’ll look after her. Her magic might come in handy; you never know. Besides I don’t want to leave her here alone.”
“She won’t be alone. The young kids are going to have to stay here.”
Fletcher shakes his head and Sally frowns but doesn’t argue with him.
“Fine. But she’s your problem, Fletch. We’ll fly over there right now.”
“How do we get out of here without Max noticing?”
The Accidental Witch Page 12