“We’ll spell him.”
“But who will keep the young ones safe.”
“They’ll be safe here. It’s a safe house,” Thea says.
Fletcher takes charge. “Thea, if you take the young ones into the kitchen, get sweets and chocolate then put a film on. Talia, explain to them what we’re doing and where we’re going. If they argue, spell them. I’ll spell Max and then we’ll go. Ready?”
They all nod, and the crackle of excitement and panic is almost sparking in the air.
They are doing exactly what they said they wouldn’t, exactly what they know they shouldn’t. And yet, for all of the ways they know they are doing the wrong thing, it feels right that they should go to help, and not sit like helpless kids waiting for their parents to come back.
Fletcher takes Ellis to one side, touches her cheek. “Are you happy to come?”
She nods.
He knows that it makes the most sense to leave her here, in safety, but for some reason he can’t, he won’t. She’s precious to all of them now, but she matters to him too. He still feels responsible for her being in this predicament in the first place, and he doesn’t want to abandon her to strangers.
“Definitely?’
She nods again, though he can see the fear on her face.
“I promise I won’t let any harm come to you.” He kisses her forehead, unaware of Sally watching, and scowling.
Thea comes back over. “I didn’t have to spell them, they’re all just glad we’re not making them come along. Billy’s a bit gutted.”
“Thirteen is too young.”
“That’s what I said.”
Fletcher heads over to Max and in seconds he’s back. Max is sitting on an arm chair, a vacant smile plastered on his face. “If the workers need him, he can function and answer questions, and if the kids need anything-”
“They won’t. Billy’s got this.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Ellis steps closer to Fletcher. “How do we get outside if this place is all locked up with magic and stuff?”
“This is where you come in handy. Take my hand.”
She does as she’s told. Thea, Talia and Sally all link hands and then join hands with Ellis and Fletcher. The five of them make a circle, and if any one of them thinks that what they are doing is stupid, or irresponsible, or insane, or a death wish, then none of them is going to be the spoilsport who says so. Fletcher mutters a few words, and suddenly they are outside, in the carpark.
“How?”
“I just used your head witchness to override Griff’s magic.”
Ellis grins and they all breathe in the fresh air.
There are people milling around, shopping, chatting, picking up fish and chips for tea. “We need to go around the back, where there’s nobody to see us fly away,” Fletcher says, and they all troop along the side of the building.
The back is deserted – lots of bins and rubbish, but no people.
Fletcher holds on to Ellis, like he did before. Sally glares at them but says nothing.
“Ready?”
They nod but hesitate as a white van skids into the carpark. They try to look nonchalant and unsuspicious, just five teenagers hanging around on a Saturday evening.
The van pulls to a stop in front of them and the back doors open.
Two men and two women jump out and bundle them all into the back of the van, so quickly, so practiced in their movements, that the five don’t have time to do anything. They can’t hold them off, use their magic or escape, so quickly do their kidnappers get them tied up, blindfolds over their eyes and tape over their mouths. They are helpless and frightened. Unable to move. Unable to protect themselves. Unable to do anything.
Ellis
I KNOW IF I THROW UP, I will choke on my vomit and die, so despite being in a heart stoppingly scary predicament, I breathe slowly, through my nose, and refuse to let my panic escalate. I can hear the others, shuffling, falling as the van goes around corners, and leaning against me, but I have no idea who is who.
I can smell perfume, sweat and fear – I can actually smell fear. I’m like a dog all of a sudden. They say that all of your senses heighten when one doesn’t work, and it’s true.
There is something too vulnerable about being unable to see. It’s obviously the other species who’ve taken us, bundled us into their van and taking us somewhere, who knows where, to kill us. I swallow down sick before it reaches my mouth. I will not choke to death. But then maybe it stops them having the satisfaction of killing me.
I wonder if these are the ones who killed Zeta. It was all too quick. I have flashes of memory. Blonde hair, stubble, green jacket, but I can’t put all the pieces together. I can’t figure it out.
Not that it matters. Fletcher and the others might know some of them, but I don’t.
I wonder how often they mix – the different species – or if they even do at all.
I wonder how they’ll kill me.
Quickly.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Kindly.
Kindly. I almost laugh.
These people have been systematically killing off witches, for who knows how long and I’m sure the more they kill, the more they enjoy it. The more inventive they get. The more dramatic and innovative. The more fun they get out of it. The more satisfaction.
Breathe, Ellis, breathe.
Where are they taking us? Why are they taking us? It’s hard to be logical when you’re trussed up and bouncing around in the back of your kidnapper’s van, but it hits me then that I should already be dead. Why not just kill us all in the carpark? Why not do it? Why take us?
It’s not for any good reason, I know that much.
I refuse to let my imagination run away with me. I’m a good worrier – I love a bit of doom and gloom and something to moan about. I enjoy feeling sorry for myself and I can catastrophise almost anything.
But not today.
I breathe in and out and I focus only on my immediate surroundings. The feel of the hard, wooden floor under my hands, as I try to steady myself. The warmth of the body closest to me, who keeps landing on me every time we go around a corner or a roundabout. The smell of perfume – not fear or sweat – I focus on the perfume. It’s fresh and pretty, probably Sally’s.
None of them are speaking – the people who took us. Maybe they don’t want to give us any clues as to who they are or where we’re going.
It hits me then that if I hadn’t seen the vision of Griff and Ember, this attack would have come completely out of the blue. If Zeta hadn’t warned us when we visited her that they knew and were coming for her, then this attack would have been completely confusing for us.
I wonder if they know that we know. I wonder if the fight is over at Fletcher’s house. Did they win or lose? Is it still going on? Will we get to wherever they are taking us, and it’ll all be over and they’ll let us go?
I wish I knew. I wish...
I pause and try to clear my mind of my muddled thoughts and concentrate. I’m a witch. I’m the head witch.
Maybe there’s a way I can magic us out of this. But then when I wanted to clean myself up, earlier, I ended up with a bar of soap in my mouth. I am not qualified for this.
We’re alive for a reason. Maybe I need to just stay calm and see where we end up.
I almost laugh. Stay calm. Highly unlikely.
The van stops. Is it a traffic light again, a junction, or have we arrived at our destination? I do not want to know.
We’ve arrived.
The doors open and even with the blindfold on the light hits me and makes me wince. We must be inside a garage; it’s not that light outside now.
Someone grabs my arm, hauls me to my feet, out of the van. I actually clench my bladder – I do not want to wet myself through fear.
I’m ushered along with the others and pushed down onto a chair. My blindfold is ripped off, along with some of my hair and I gasp at the pain.
Blinking I l
ook around. Five chairs, five of us. All alive, for now. We’re in a huge, empty, warehouse – the kind where they torture and kill people in films. You know the kind.
“What did you bring?”
A woman, too pretty to be a murderer, strides out of a side door and circles us. She’s very tall and very blonde and has very sparkly wings. A fairy.
I cannot hide my wonder on seeing such a creature up close. I know Fletcher is a witch, but only because he told me so. I would never have known or guessed.
But this woman could never hide the fact that she’s not human. No way. Aside from the wings, which make it pretty obvious, her skin sparkles and shimmers and her eyes glow with something magical too.
I hate to believe that she would hurt me.
The four thugs that bundled us into the van and the driver look pleased with themselves. They’re obviously just minions because she waves them away and they reluctantly leave.
“I’m being facetious. I know what they brought because I told them to bring you. We have the twins, Miss Sally, Fletcher – who should be the head witch – and the accident who is instead. I’m Peri.” Her smile is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and then she snarls. “So, the next question – and I know the answer to this too – is which one of you dies first?” She laughs and I think I might die just from the sound; it’s so sinister. It’s the prettiest sound, coming from the most adorably pretty maniac. I feel myself shudder.
The doubt is fading. The reason we weren’t killed in the carpark is because this crazy lady wants to savour it.
The tape over my mouth stops me from throwing up. Just.
“I’m going to take the tape off your mouths so I can hear you scream. Is that okay?”
Nobody answers because we can’t. Even if I could, I know I wouldn’t be saying a word.
“Of course I don’t get to have all the fun myself. Which is a pity.”
She walks away from us and I’m mesmerised by her wings. They are absolutely beautiful, and so big. She’s calling as she walks, and then she comes back towards us, two people following her. One man and one woman.
I feel another wave of nausea. This isn’t good. Or fun. Or enjoyable. I want to go home.
The woman is unusual looking – crazy tall, with such long legs, they don’t look real – she looks like she’s been stretched. Her hair is so long it touches the floor. She’s too tall, too gangly, too weird looking to be a murderer. Right?
But the man? Oh, he’s a murderer all right? And boom – I can see him doing it, time after time after time. Woah this guy likes blood – like really likes blood. Nothing is too gory for him – he’s definitely not a stickler for keeping things clean and tidy. I can see him murdering a rush of people in my mind, like a scary film. So many dead people. Young, old, male, female.
I shrink into my seat, wishing I could vanish, and breathe in so slowly through my nose, as I’m sure I’m going to be sick, and I really don’t want to draw attention to myself.
So he looks like a murderer and he is a murderer. I don’t dare wonder about the other two, as I don’t want to see it. Not anymore.
Neither of these two has wings that I can see, so I wonder, is one a vampire and one a shifter, or are they both shifters, or both vampires.
I close my eyes. Why do I even care what species they are? They want to kill me. And they’re going to.
“Fun,” the tall one says, and I open my eyes. She’s looking at us all in turn, like we are specimens or something. She stops in front of me and my stomach actually convulses. It twists and cramps and I think I might just die from fear.
“Is this the accident?”
14
PERI NODS, AND THEN points at them all in turn. “Accident. Should have been head witch. Ember’s twins. Sally Allan.”
The man whips around to face Sally, a sick look of longing on his face. “Sally Allan? I think I had the pleasure of meeting your uncle. Dave?”
Sally nods.
“I enjoyed killing him.”
Sally’s eyes fill with tears which splash over her face, over the tape on her mouth, and onto her lap. She doesn’t move a muscle.
None of them do.
The atmosphere is oppressive, and they are all terrified, but they stay still and calm. On the outside, at least.
Peri leans close to Sally and rips the tape off her mouth. Sally cries out, but then bites her lip. Peri pulls the tape off all of their mouths, but the rest of them are silent. None of them want to give them the satisfaction, but it isn’t easy.
They are just five teenagers faced with three assassins and none of them know what to do or how to get out of this pickle.
“Can we start?” The man is almost jumping up and down with excitement, but Peri shoots him a warning glance. “No, we have to wait for her ladyship.”
He scowls but nods and hunkers down in front of Ellis instead. “So, you’re the accident? I’m Layland. I’m going to kill you. And – if Peri lets me – eat your heart.”
Ellis shudders and turns the palest of pale, tinged with green. Tears spill over and fall onto her cheeks, but she doesn’t say a word and she doesn’t shrink away from him. He looks disappointed and goes to lean against a wall. “I don’t understand why we’re taking orders from her.”
“You know why. And it’s not for long, you know that.”
He shrugs but looks slightly mollified.
They all turn at the same time as the door swings inwards and another person joins them.
“Zeta!” Fletcher calls out her name and Layland leaps across the space between them and punches him clean on the jaw. Fletcher cries, and clutches onto his face, crying with pain.
Ellis and the twins all have the same expression of hope and confusion.
Zeta is alive?
But why is she here, with the enemy?
She’s as elegant as ever, and very much alive and uninjured. She sweeps across the room and hugs Peri and the tall woman. She nods to Layland. She doesn’t go near him but admonishes him instead: “You didn’t need to hit him.”
He refuses to look at her and studies the blood on his knuckles instead.
“Why not hit him?” Peri asks, coming over to Fletcher and ruffling his hair. “Zeta, you know we’re going to kill them all. You knew that when you changed sides.”
Zeta has the grace to look a little bit embarrassed and cannot look at any of the witches. “Peri, I’m glad I helped you. Your species aren’t the only ones who’ve been hurt by this allegiance, by this power the witches have had over you.”
“You haven’t been hurt!” Fletcher calls out, risking another punch. “Why would you betray us like this? Just because you didn’t get to be head witch? Just because the lineage fell to the men of the families?”
Layland moves closer to Fletcher, but Zeta holds up a hand. “It might sound simple to you Fletcher, like no big deal, but I have been pushed aside my whole life. The crone used to be revered – given the highest place in any family. Not me – I was banished to my little cottage, and only called on when someone needed something. Any question, anything went wrong, oh we’ll ask the crone, but other than that I was ignored and abandoned.”
“And that was enough to make you a traitor?”
She shrugs, patting her perfectly coiffed hair. “It’s enough for me. I told your father to give them their freedom, Fletcher. I urged him to do the right thing, but he ignored me. Nobody ever actually wanted my help or advice unless I was telling them what they wanted to hear.”
Fletcher folds his arms and refuses to look at her. Peri touches Zeta’s arm. “Forget it, Zeta. Don’t try to make him understand, or any of them, we understand. We know that you helped us, we get why you were happy to come over to our side, and we can never, ever thank you enough.”
She nods to the tall woman, who slips a knife out of her pocket and slits Zeta’s throat.
The five teenagers cry out, shocked and upset and the three kidnappers laugh. “She was useful – for a while.”
Zeta’s body crumples onto the floor, blood seeping into a puddle around her. “I thought we still needed her?” The tall woman wipes the blood off her knife onto the hem of her jacket.
“No,” Peri says. “We have the kids. We have the parents back at the house. It should all be over tonight. I just wanted to see these guys’ faces when they realised they’d been betrayed.”
“Are our parents dead?” Sally asks, daring to speak up, cowering back in case they hurt her.
Peri shakes her head. “Not yet. I think they’re probably putting up a good fight. It’s a shame I couldn’t be in two places at once, I’d have enjoyed killing them too. But given the choice, I chose here. As soon as I get word that they’re dead, it’ll be time for you lot to join them.”
“Why wait?”
Peri turns to Thea. “Just in case. You witches are my leverage. If something goes wrong, I want you alive. Just for now.”
Thea closes her eyes. Relief and fear. They will all die tonight. There doesn’t seem to be much of a question about it.
“We’ll be back in a bit, but just so you know, Zeta did some magic for us, before we killed her, did something to this place, so your magic won’t work. You can’t vanish out of here, or magic anyone in. Sorry.”
The three of them are laughing as they leave the room, turning the lights off as they go.
The dark surrounds them, and suddenly the smell of Zeta’s blood seems over powering.
Now the three murderous kidnappers have left, nothing stops all of them from crying. Fletcher isn’t sobbing, but tears flow down his face. How has everything gone so wrong. He should be celebrating today, instead he will die.
The twins’ crying reaches an almost hysterical edge and Sally snaps at them: “Shut up – they’re probably listening at the door. They’ll love to see us fall apart.”
“What else can we do? We’re going to die.”
Talia sniffs. “We can’t do any magic. We can’t get out of this. We can’t fight them – they have weapons.”
“And fists,” Fletcher adds, touching his jaw where Layland punched him. He winces. “I think he might have broken my jaw.”
The Accidental Witch Page 13