To Catch a Witch

by Sharon Booth

  He spun round to face me, and his expression softened. 'I'm sorry, Celeste, I didn't mean to scare you. But don't you see, I have no magic! I can't protect you. Can you imagine how useless I feel?'

  I got to my feet and wrapped my arms around him. 'It's okay,' I said. 'I understand. It will be okay.'

  'But how can it be okay?' he said. 'Who is this Hector Swan? I told you, didn't I, that I didn't trust him from the first? If he is the white bird, how did he go back in time? He's not a witch?'

  'No,' I said. 'He's not. I'd have sensed that.'

  'Then how ...' His voice trailed off, and I nibbled my thumb nail, confused.

  'His mother!'

  Blaise looked distracted, as if he was trying to work something out. He glanced up at me, frowning. 'What do you mean, his mother?'

  'Maybe she's a witch? Maybe she's the one who went back in time. I've only seen her briefly in the charity shop, but Mrs Greenwood knows her. She says Harriet Swan is a bit odd, away with the fairies half the time. And terribly protective of Hector. Do you think they're in it together?'

  'Wouldn't you have sensed it if she was a witch?' Blaise enquired.

  'I've never got close enough to her,' I admitted. 'And I doubt anyone in my family has, either. We wouldn't know.'

  Blaise paced up and down, thinking. 'There's only one way to find out for sure,' he said. 'You need to call him, Celeste. Get him over here.'

  'What?' I stared at him, horrified. 'And then what?'

  'Make him tell the truth,' he said.

  'Are you crazy? He'll kill us!'

  'You said he's not a witch,' he said patiently. 'How can he harm you, with all your powers? Call him. Act casual. Don't give him any reason to suspect anything.'

  'But why would I be calling him?' I asked. 'What reason could I give to get him over here?'

  He gave me a resigned look. 'I'm sure you'll think of something. You seem to get on very well with him, and I think he'll be delighted to pay you a visit.'

  The look in his eyes overwhelmed me with shame. He sensed something. Had he known all along my feelings for Hector were changing, developing into something they shouldn't? Remembering his hostility towards Hector, I thought maybe he'd realised long before I did. My poor Blaise.

  'There is something I could try,' I said doubtfully.

  'Do it,' Blaise urged. 'We have to find out what this man or his mother have done before it's too late.'

  'What if it's too late already?' I said wearily.

  He grabbed my hands, squeezing them tightly. 'You're still here, aren't you? And I intend to keep you here, no matter what it takes.'

  I lifted my head and kissed him lightly on the lips. 'Thank you,' I murmured. 'And I'm sorry.'

  'For what?' he smiled at me and I shook my head, not wanting to say out loud that I felt sorry for letting my attention wander to a man who didn't deserve it, sorry for allowing him to cloud my judgment and pull me away from the man I'd always looked up to and adored, and sorry, most of all, that, even as I kissed Blaise, I felt an overwhelming pain that Hector could ever have lied to me.

  So, this is love, I thought bleakly. Shakespeare was right. It makes fools of us all.

  'Go on,' Blaise urged. 'Call him.'

  Hands shaking, I took my phone from my pocket and laid Hector's business card on the bed so I could read his number.

  The phone rang once, twice. On the third ring he answered. He sounded cheerful, casual.

  'Hello, Hector Swan.'

  As easy as that! Not even bothering to hide it.

  'Hector, it's me, Celeste.'

  'Celeste, how lovely to hear from you!' He hesitated. 'Are you okay?'

  'Yes, yes, I'm fine, thanks,' I gabbled.

  Blaise nodded reassuringly, and I gripped the phone tighter and said lightly, 'I'm ringing to let you know Mrs Greenwood gave me a Yorkshire parkin for your mum. I promised I'd drop it at the charity shop for her, but I totally forgot, and now I'm back home and I can't leave the house because I'm expecting a delivery. Would you like to pop over and pick it up?'

  There was a moment's silence.

  I looked at Blaise and he lifted his eyebrows enquiringly. I held my breath, heart thumping.

  'No problem. I can be there in — oh, shall we say ten minutes?'

  I closed my eyes in relief. 'Yes, that's great. Ten minutes. See you then. Oh, I'm at Castle Lodge, not the museum!'

  'Yes,' he said gently, 'you said you were at home. I'll see you soon. Bye, Celeste.'

  'Bye, Hector.'

  I ended the phone and stared at the blank screen, feeling as if I'd been wrung out. I felt drained, empty.

  'He's coming?' Blaise watched me, his expression serious.

  'He's coming,' I confirmed. 'Where are you going?'

  'To the kitchen,' he said, 'to make our guest a cup of tea. We wouldn't want him to feel unwelcome, would we?'

  'Blaise,' I said, 'I'm really frightened.'

  'Don't be,' he said kindly. 'Everything will work out fine. Trust me.'

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Nine minutes gone. Any moment now, Hector would knock at the front door. I sat at the kitchen table, my ears straining for the sound, feeling sick with dread. Blaise placed a tray with three mugs of tea, a sugar bowl and a milk jug on the table, then sat down next to me. 'You okay?'

  I felt faint. 'No,' I managed, 'I'm not.'

  'It will be all right,' he said. 'Please don't worry.'

  I took a sip of tea, hoping it would soothe my nerves. 'What are we going to say to him?'

  'Leave it to me,' he said.

  'But what if we're wrong?' The thought had just occurred to me, bringing with it the wretched hope that, maybe, Hector hadn't betrayed me after all. Maybe he was exactly what he'd seemed to be: a friendly, kind, thoroughly gorgeous consultant lawyer. 'If he's not the white bird of the prophecy, he'll think we're mad.'

  'He's the white bird all right.' Blaise sounded certain.

  'How can you be sure?'

  'Because it all makes sense now,' he said calmly. 'I've been trying to work it out for so long; trying to figure out what would cause storms to rage and thunder to roar, and what this sacrifice is. It all rested on knowing the identity of the white bird. Now, finally, I have the answer. He's not getting away with it.'

  I took another sip of tea, then frowned. 'But I thought—'

  There was a bang on the front door, but before I could even get up to answer it, we heard it open and close. We looked at each other.

  'Surely, he'd wait for us to answer?' I said, nervously.

  'Clearly not,' Blaise said, as the kitchen door opened, and Hector walked in.

  I half got to my feet, then fell back as I realised he wasn't alone.

  'B—Benedict! What are you doing here?'

  Benedict gave me a strained smile that didn't fool me for an instant. He knew something was wrong, and judging by the serious expression on Hector's face, so did he.

  'Come in,' Blaise said. He nodded at the mug of tea and the sugar bowl on the table. 'I wasn't sure how much sugar you took but help yourself. Sorry, Benedict, I didn't know you were coming, or I'd have made you one, too.'

  'Are you all right, Celeste?' Hector asked me. He sounded genuinely concerned, and I thought, He's good at this. Too good.

  'I'm okay,' I said shakily.

  'Good,' he said. He turned to Blaise, who was sitting quite still, staring at him. 'So, let's get this over with, shall we? I gather it was you who wanted me, rather than Celeste?'

  He pulled out a chair and sat opposite Blaise, staring coolly at him.

  Oh God! I turned to Blaise, horrified. So, we were right. Benedict was visibly shaking, and I could see this terrified him. Why had Hector dragged him along with him? Was Benedict some sort of hostage? An insurance policy?

  'You're right,' Blaise said. 'I take it I'm addressing the white bird?'

  Hector smiled. 'Well done,' he said. 'Although it took you long enough to work it out.'

  'You had the adva
ntage,' Blaise said. 'The time travel shot my memory. If I'd been of a clear mind, you'd have had no chance.'

  'Oh, I wouldn't say that. After all, your memory loss wasn't my only advantage.'

  I could barely breathe. This was even worse than I'd imagined. Why, oh why, had I been so blind? I glanced over at Benedict, who had gone grey.

  Hector must have noticed the concern on my face. 'Sit down, Benedict,' he said without looking round.

  Benedict somehow made his way to the table and sat beside Hector. He gave me an anguished look, and I tried to reassure him with a smile, but I had a feeling it didn't quite do the trick.

  'So, I was right,' Blaise said. 'It was you who did it.'

  'Did what?' I asked.

  'Tell her,' Blaise said. 'Tell Celeste who you really are and what you did to me.'

  I slowly turned to face Hector. 'What — what did you do to him? Who are you?'

  Blaise took a sip of tea. 'Go on, Hector Swan. Tell her what you did. Tell her what you took from me.'

  'With pleasure,' Hector said, still not looking at me. 'I took his magic.'

  'What?' I glanced from one to the other of them. They both sat deathly still, eyes fixed on each other. 'You took Blaise's magic? Who — who are you?'

  'Don't upset yourself, sweetheart,' Blaise said. He reached for my hand and held it tightly under the table. His thumb stroked the base of my thumb, and I marvelled at his bravery.

  'All this time,' I said, feeling my heart break as I spoke, 'all this time you've been lying to me, playing games with me. The cinema trip, the Jane Austen books, the kindness, the concern. How could you?' Wretched, disloyal tears broke free and spilled freely down my cheeks, revealing how effectively this liar had deceived me. 'You took his magic! You—' I wiped my eyes and sniffed, suddenly confused. 'How? How did you take his magic?'

  'More to the point,' Blaise said coldly, 'when are you going to give it back?'

  Hector smiled and shook his head. 'Oh, come now, Blaise. You know as well as I do that will never happen.'

  'I think it will,' Blaise said. 'I think you will give me my magic back very soon indeed.'

  'I admire your optimism,' Hector said. 'Really I do, but—'

  He broke off as Blaise grabbed my hand and held it up for everyone to see.

  'Blaise, what are you doing?' I stared at my wrist in total shock.

  'Recognise this, Celeste? Tell our friend here what it is.'

  'Celeste?' Hector looked deeply worried. 'What is that?'

  'It — it's a neutralising bracelet,' I said, feeling as if I was in some weird dream. 'It neutralises magic. Where did you get this?'

  Blaise got to his feet and pulled me over to stand by the sink. With his free hand, he wrenched open the drawer and pulled out a knife. Before I could even register what it was, he put it to my throat. I felt the point of steel against my skin.

  'What are you up to?' I whispered.

  He murmured into my ear, 'Just go with it.'

  I took a deep breath and tried to focus as Hector leapt to his feet. 'Leave her alone, St Clair. I mean it.'

  'With pleasure,' Blaise said. 'But not until you restore what's mine. Give me back my magic.'

  My heart leapt. So that was his plan! Genius! I wasn't convinced, though, that it had any chance of success. Why would Hector restore Blaise's magic, putting himself at risk to save me? It seemed unlikely to me.

  Benedict had also leapt to his feet and looked terrified. I tried to give him reassurance through my eyes, but I think he was beyond noticing subtle expressions.

  'Leave her alone!' he said to Blaise. 'She's done nothing to you. Please, Blaise, do the decent thing.'

  'I will,' Blaise assured him. 'All I want is for Hector Swan to return my magic to me. Once he's done that, you're all free to leave.'

  Benedict looked at Hector.

  'I can't do that,' Hector said, and I realised he was shaking, too. His eyes held real fear, and I thought, we might actually have a chance of pulling this off. Go, Blaise.

  'You will if you care about Celeste,' Blaise said. 'And you do care about her, don't you, Swan? I've seen it in your eyes when you look at her. I don't expect that was part of your plan, was it? How terribly inconvenient for you.'

  I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He sounded scornful. I looked back at Hector and saw the conflict raging in his face.

  'Hector,' Benedict said, sounding desperate, 'you can't. You know what will happen if he—'

  'I have no choice,' Hector said.

  'That's right,' Blaise said, 'you don't.'

  'But he'll kill you,' Benedict gasped.

  Hector looked directly at me. 'I know,' he whispered.

  We all stood there, locked in this awful nightmare scene, no one moving. I heard the ticking of the clock, felt the pressure of the knife blade against my throat, saw the beads of sweat on Benedict's upper lip. My gaze slid to the window as I noticed a shadow move across the wall. Sitting on the windowsill, the female raven sat watching me, her head tilting as she took in the scene. Her tiny black eyes bored into mine and as they did, the thing that had been nagging at me finally became clear.

  'Don't do it,' I said loudly.

  Hector and Benedict stared at me as the knife dug deeper into my flesh.

  'What are you saying?' Blaise hissed.

  'Don't do it, Hector,' I said. 'He'll kill you. He's a liar.'

  Blaise grabbed hold of my hair and tugged my head back. 'What is wrong with you?'

  'You told me you had no recollection of the prophecy,' I said. 'Yet before they knocked on the door, you told me you'd been puzzling it out for so long, trying to work out who the white bird was. You even quoted from it.'

  'You told it to me not half an hour ago,' he pointed out.

  'You knew that prophecy,' I said. 'You said you'd been trying to figure out what the sacrifice would be. Well, I know now what the sacrifice is, and he's not making it.'

  Blaise's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. 'Of course,' he said. Then he laughed. 'This is beautiful,' he said. 'The irony. Well, Hector, what do you say? Are you willing to sacrifice your life to save your precious Celeste?'

  I gave Hector a pleading look. 'Don't,' I whispered. 'Please don't.'

  'Yes,' Hector said heavily. 'I'll give you your magic back. Just, please, let Celeste go.'

  'I will, when it's done,' Blaise said. 'She's of no use to me now, anyway. She's served her purpose.'

  'My God,' Benedict said, 'you really are rotten, aren't you?'

  I could barely see for tears as Hector closed his eyes. Nothing happened for a moment. Nobody moved. Then I gave a muffled cry of alarm as, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pure white light taking shape around Blaise. I tried to wriggle away from him, but his grip on me tightened.

  'Not until it's done,' he said.

  The glow intensified, wrapping itself around him until I could barely make him out. I closed my eyes, dazzled by the light. A moment later, Blaise let go of my arm, and the knife clattered to the floor.

  Blaise shook himself down and smiled at me, and I flinched as I recognised the Blaise St Clair of the portraits. That proud, haughty look was back in place. He was the raven once again.

  'Thank you for that, Hector,' he said pleasantly. 'And now I suppose there's just the cleaning up to do. You would enjoy this part. You're so good at it. Unfortunately for you, you won't get to see much of it. Or any of it, really. Your part in the story is over.'

  'Leave him alone,' I cried. 'He did as you asked. Please, please, Blaise. For me. Let him go.'

  'For you?' He laughed. 'For you! Who are you, Celeste? Just some stupid girl who created a fantasy out of nothing but a portrait, and a legend that wasn't even true. Jennet had more about her than you, and even she was stupid in the end.'

  'I don't understand,' I sobbed. 'I don't understand any of this.'

  'No,' he said, 'you never did. Say goodbye to your precious love, Celeste.'

  He turned to face Hector, and
I wrenched furiously at the bracelet on my arm, desperate to remove it so I could save him.

  Benedict shouted, 'No, don't touch him!' and I looked up, as a blue flash obliterated my view of everything else in the room.

  I heard a man scream, and the room shook.

  I fell to the floor, groping blindly, as overhead the first ominous rumbles of thunder roared.

  ****

  'Where am I?'

  I wasn't sure if I was saying the words out loud, or if they were in my head.

  I couldn't see anything, but I could hear something. Way above my head, thunder was crashing, and I felt a surge of panic. The prophecy!

  'Hector!' I'd heard a man scream. But who? Why couldn't I see anything? Surely – not again. Not now!

  'It's okay, Celeste. Stay calm.'

  It was Hector's voice, and I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. 'What's happening? Where am I?'

  'Just relax and breathe. You'll understand in a minute.'

  That was easy for him to say! I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth, doing all I could to quell the chatter in my head — all the questions I had that I had no answers to.

  'You can do this.' Hector's voice was soothing, his lips brushed my ear. I calmed down, my breathing steadying.

  'Where am I?' I repeated.

  'Look around you,' he said.

  I had been looking around me! There was nothing —

  'Oh!'

  It was dark. The skies above were clear. No clouds to hide the stars tonight.

  'Where's our roof?' I gasped. Wow, that must have been some storm! 'Hang on, why is it night?'

  'Shh,' he whispered. 'Pay attention to what you're seeing.'

  I blinked and looked around. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, shapes formed, familiar and yet different.

  'I'm at the castle.' Clair Tower loomed up in front of me and I stared hard at it, not sure I could trust what I was seeing. I scanned the grounds, gasping in shock as I realised what was so unfamiliar about it. The buildings were much more intact than I was used to seeing.

  'I think you have a different question now,' Hector said gently.

  'Yes, I do,' I agreed. 'When are we?'

  I realised he was holding my hand, and I was grateful for it. I never wanted him to let go. I had a horrible feeling that, if he did, I would fly off somewhere, never to be seen again.