Witch in Training

by Elle Adams

  I took another step backwards, one eye on the sparking wand. “Is that what you think they did? All of them? I wouldn’t have thought they’d have had the chance to do much before the curse took hold. Weren’t they just getting started?”

  He stepped in closer, his eyes narrowed. “It’s none of your business.”

  I folded my arms across my chest to hide my shaking hands. “You can’t expect me to find the truth if you withhold vital details. What do you teach them in the first two weeks of the job? Maybe that’s what’s causing it.”

  “Are you accusing me of cursing my apprentices?”

  Possibly. He was as likely a suspect as anyone, but if anything, I though Ava or her granddaughter was the most likely culprit. At the same time, I couldn’t suppress my curiosity about the previous wand-makers.

  “No,” I said to him, “but you have to admit that since you haven’t told anyone aside from me, the evidence makes you look as guilty as the other possible perpetrators. And as I said, I need all the information possible if I’m to come to an accurate conclusion. I’m not a mind-reader or a qualified detective, for that matter, so if that’s what you’re looking for, you hired the wrong person.”

  “And the fact that you worked out who killed Mr Bayer was pure luck?”

  “Well,” I said. “Yeah. It kind of was.” My knees shook, but I stood up straighter. “I’ve been doing my best to find you a suitable candidate, Mr Falconer, but frankly, I don’t know what to tell the people who seem convinced that you’re doing this to your candidates yourself. Not when it’s plausible to anyone who doesn’t know the full story.” Including me.

  He hissed out a breath. “For your information, I did not curse my own candidates. If I wanted to punish them, I have a number of more immediate and effective weapons present right here. A curse like that is tame by comparison, if I were capable of casting one. Which I’m not.”

  He spoke the truth. That meant… not only had he not cursed the job, there was a type of magic he couldn’t do after all. Curses didn’t require wands, but it would have been so much simpler if he had done it.

  Or not, considering the town would be without a wand-maker if he wound up in jail.

  “I had to ask, because several people are already concerned,” I said. “They also seem to think you did something anger the witches and that’s why they won’t work with you.”

  His face reddened. “I told you not to tell anyone.”

  “I didn’t. But people talk. Are you certain a witch or wizard did it? There are a lot of witches and I’ve only met a few of them in the short time I’ve lived here.”

  “That is not my problem,” he growled. “Any of them might have done it.”

  “Then what about Ava?” My body tensed, ready to run.

  “Ava?” he echoed.

  “You know. The town seer. She’s currently in hospital—the same hospital Alissa works at—and I’ve run into her a few times. Anyway…” I faltered. What if I misjudged and got her hurt? I didn’t want to put anyone else in the path of Mr Falconer’s anger.

  “What about her?” he asked.

  “She was raving about creating her own wand,” I said. “Seemed insistent on it. She was also raving about a bunch of other stuff, but the nurses said that one came up a lot. And—apparently she was injured in the forest not long afterwards.”

  “Isn’t that a pity?” he said, in a soft, deadly voice. “I heard the rumours, and I will say that I did nothing to that old woman. She brought it on herself with her meddling.”

  My throat went dry. “You—did you cause Ava’s… accident?”

  “Certainly not,” he said. “She was losing her wits long before she started that ill-advised attempt to gather wandwood. It wouldn’t have done her any good, anyway. She was never trained by a wand-maker.”

  His words didn’t register as lies. My heart continued to gallop in my chest, but I could breathe easier—even if I did have twice as many questions. “I heard—the last wand-makers lost their memories. Is it true?”

  “I didn’t call you here to discuss town history,” he growled. “I didn’t call you here at all. You’re trespassing.”

  “Technically, I’m in the road, not your shop,” I pointed out, probably unwisely. “Don’t you find it odd that a whole coven lost their memories?”

  “You clearly have a great deal of gaps in your education,” he said. “Ask the witches if you must insist on satiating your curiosity, but the past has no bearing on whoever cursed my job. It happened decades ago. The curse came into effect last year.”

  Right. “Just thought it weird that there’s only one wand-maker, that’s all. Seems a lot of pressure to put on your apprentice, too.”

  “Precisely why I only want the best,” he said. “If it is that seer, blaming me for her ailments, I’ll see to it that the police set her straight.”

  You evil old man. Could you actually get arrested for putting a curse on someone’s job? I hadn’t seen enough of the paranormal rulebook to make a judgement call on that one. After all, even if she was responsible, Ava was hospitalised with a serious injury. That ought to get her off the hook. Right?

  “I don’t think it’s her,” I said, ineffectually. “She’s injured, anyway.”

  “Not my concern. Anyone who threatens my business pays. And that includes you, Blair Wilkes.”

  Alissa waited for me when I hurried breathlessly back into the classroom—the spell had fizzled out when I’d bounced off whatever defences Mr Falconer had around the shop, so I’d had to run back to the witches’ place with my face and neck covered in mud. “I was about to send out a search party.”

  “It didn’t work,” I said, letting the door swing shut behind me. “He has some kind of shield around his place, and I bounced straight off it. And on top of that, he caught me outside, and I don’t think he entirely bought my excuse that I was looking for those mice.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh no. I really didn’t think he’d be there. You got away lightly, I think.”

  “No kidding. Anyway, he’s still refusing to say what he actually teaches his apprentices. He insists it’s not relevant. But there is this—I got him to say directly that he didn’t put the curse on the job himself. And my lie detecting ability didn’t go off. He was telling the truth. On the other hand, I accidentally alerted him to the fact that Ava might have done it. He says anyone who threatens his business will spend the rest of their lives in jail.”

  Her expression went steely. “He can try. Trust me, the nurses won’t have any of it, and even the police wouldn’t arrest someone from the ward.”

  “Have you seen her today?”

  She nodded. “She’s given a grand total of twelve false prophecies this week already. The staff will never believe his accusations. Even if they’re true. She’s been leading people astray for years.”

  I heard the implied meaning—she might not have known my mother at all. But she’d seemed so sure. This was where it’d come in handy to properly understand my ability to sense lies. Because if it did kick in when the other person believed what they said was true even if it was complete nonsense, there was no point in putting my trust in it to solve this case. Not to mention, it was typical that the one person willing to talk to me about my mother was possibly delusional.

  “Seeing is rarely accurate, even if your mind is clear,” Alissa explained. “Because you get visions of the past and future at once. It can get overwhelming.”

  “I guess so. Mr Falconer didn’t seem to think he was responsible for her accident, but I don’t know. It seems odd that he spoke to her at all.”

  Her brow wrinkled. “So did he give you any clues?”

  “Nope. He wouldn’t back up what Vincent said about the last wand-makers losing their memories. Unless I corner Vincent again to ask for the name of someone living who might be able to help, but at this rate, he’s going to think I’m using him for his historical knowledge.”

  “Or that you like him. Which won’t bode we
ll for your relationship with Nathan.” She winked.

  “There is no relationship. I haven’t even seen him all week thanks to Mr Falconer, work, and the exam I’m going to completely fail at this rate.” I hadn’t even touched my revision notes since Mr Falconer had given me the job.

  Her gaze filled with sympathy. “I could ask for Madame Grey to pull you out?”

  “Nope,” I said firmly. “I’m not putting this off. I just haven’t organised my time as well as I should have.” Since I kept sneaking off into forests or trying to get into Mr Falconer’s shop instead.

  “Hey, you’ve had a lot on your mind. I’m surprised your boss is still pressing you to help Mr Falconer, given his history. Maybe he’s bribing her?”

  “No, that… doesn’t sound like Veronica. Maybe he’s Simeon’s relation and is using mind control, too.”

  “Nope,” she said. “I checked if anyone else in the town has that power, afterwards, and he isn’t one of them. And Blair hasn’t been anywhere near him. She’s under close watch, with her wand bound.”

  I stowed that information away. “Maybe he’s manipulating people… he’s definitely not doing anything to me, though. Aside from blackmail.”

  Not bribery. It wasn’t like I was being paid overtime to deal with this mess. Maybe he really had cast a spell on the boss, but she wouldn’t be happy to hear me suggest that, and you couldn’t cast spells over the phone. The fact that he could easily sabotage our entire business was enough.

  “We’ll put that theory on hold for now.” I absently petted Sky. He stretched out, offering no explanation of what he’d done with those mice. “I wish I could send you to spy on him for me.”

  “Miaow.”

  I went to my room and grabbed the bubble wrap. I had a feeling I was going to need some stress relief to get through the rest of this week.

  The waterfall poured over my head in a shower of glittering water. I shook out my wings, beat them, a thrill racing through my chest as I flew into the air above the lake. My reflection shimmered below. I dropped lower, looking closer. I’d never seen my fairy form up close…

  The lake became a mirror. I looked into it and saw a green-skinned thing with bat-like wings and a stranger’s face. Huge, luminescent eyes, and teeth as sharp as knives. I recoiled, dread curling through my chest.

  Someone stood beside the water. Nathan.

  He turned away from the reflection, disgust clear on his face.

  Scaly hands reached from the water, grabbed me, and pulled me under.

  Sky poked me in the cheekbone. Hard. I yelped, feeling blood trickle from the wound. “What is it?”

  “Miaow.” He purred and rubbed against my face. Maybe he’d known I wanted to wake up.

  “Next time just poke me in the leg or something. Not with the claws.” I dabbed at my face and looked at my clock. I’d stayed up late reading through my revision notes, and now I’d slept in. I scrambled around looking for my clothes. Despite yesterday’s narrow miss, I still hadn’t got any actual concrete answers out of Mr Falconer. And now I had to get through yet another day of work, with the clock ticking behind my head.

  Three days until my exam. Four until Mr Falconer denied me a wand, unless I figured out who’d cursed his apprentices. No pressure, Blair.

  Bethan waved the files underneath my face. “Hello? Is there anyone in there?”

  “Not really.” I yawned and took them. “What’s this?”

  “Didn’t you ask for these?”

  “I honestly don’t remember.” The printer emitted a distinct hissing sound in the background. “That’s new.”

  “We’re trialling a new type of ink,” Bethan said. “Lizzie is, anyway.”

  I took the files from her. They glowed all over with colour-changing ink that made me frankly nauseated to look at. “What’s the occasion?”

  “We’re getting a fourth member,” said Lizzie. “Veronica wanted us to make welcome posters.”

  “Yep,” said Lizzie. “I’m not saying you haven’t done a grey job considering how little training you’ve had, but Blythe did, unfortunately, cover some of our trickiest clients. So we need someone trained in advanced techniques.”

  “What, like unicorn handling? Compared to Mr Falconer, I could probably do it in my sleep.”

  “How’s the job going, anyway?” Lizzie asked. “I’m guessing not great, given how Veronica keeps griping about how Mr Falconer’s out to destroy our reputation?”

  “The candidates keep dropping out. I think I’ve more or less burned through the entire list of grade five wizards and he still won’t accept anything less.” I exhaled in a sigh. “I’m short on options, to be honest. I was thinking of going for grade fours or just making it up.”

  Bethan glanced at me from behind her teetering pile of papers. “He won’t be happy if he finds out.”

  “He has me backed into a corner. What does Veronica think?”

  She blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “Has she spoken to you about him? He seems to have her wrapped around her little finger, which makes no sense considering…” I cut myself off, remembering she wasn’t supposed to know all of it. “Considering he’s, well, him.”

  “He’s the only—”

  “Wand-maker. I know. It’s still odd.”

  “Not exactly. She’s always pressuring us to treat problem clients the same as everyone else.”

  “The guy is more of a recurring catastrophe than a problem client at this point.”

  Lizzie snickered with laughter from behind a stack of luminous papers. “She’s not wrong. I dealt with him last time.”

  I shook my head. “Yeah, how did you find another grade five? Because there aren’t any, not in this town, anyway.”

  “Graduates,” she said. “Look at anyone who’s set to graduate this summer. It’s only a couple of months away.”

  Of course. “Good thinking.”

  “Happy to help. Is he giving you a lot of trouble?”

  “You might say that.” I put down the neon-inked pages. “Do you know who’s most likely to suffer if he stops making wands?”

  Lizzie blinked. “The academy, of course. Most witches and wizards have one wand for life.”

  Hmm. “Has anyone ever lost their wand?”

  “Probably,” Lizzie said. “Replacing them is expensive. The academy gets a discounted rate. Same with my family’s technology.”

  “What did it used to be like when there were more options? Did people pick and choose who to buy from?”

  Lizzie shook her head. “I don’t know. It was before I was born.”

  Bethan looked at me sideways. “Any reason?”

  “It’s odd that he’s the only person left in the entire town who can make wands. I get that there’s specialist skills that can’t be passed on to just anyone, but if he dies or retires, they lose their only source, right?”

  “Theoretically, they can be imported from outside without too much trouble,” Bethan said. “But everyone’s been using the same wands for years and it’d cause too much disruption to go to another source. Most of us have never known any different.”

  Hmm. They were too young to remember the other wand-makers and I didn’t want to push my luck with Veronica today. Nor did I want any more innocent apprentices to get caught up in his spell.

  Which left me one option: stall him until I figured out how to stop the curse. Of course, the only way to do that would be to send someone in to act as an apprentice in the full knowledge that they risked spending an eternity as a rodent. Admittedly, if he found out my plan, it’d put both of us in the firing line. He was already furious with me.

  You’d think the surviving grade five wizards would have formed their own support group by now. Of course, Bethan and Lizzie didn’t know the extent of the curse, and exactly what I was asking the potential apprentice to risk.

  I looked down at the list of candidates to call today and a name jumped out at me. Leopold —he was a graduate, who’d left univer
sity last year. And he’d already been looking for a job. He wasn’t really qualified in terms of experience, but he was the only person on the list who came remotely close to matching the criteria.

  I slapped a hand to my forehead. If this was a sign from the universe, it wasn’t a funny one.

  “What is it?” Bethan looked over my shoulder. “You’re choosing who to send into the tiger’s lair?”

  “Essentially,” I said. “There’s one guy. I don’t think he’s a grade five wizard, but he fits the bill. He’ll probably do what I say, but I reckon I’m storing up some major bad karma for this.”

  “Yes, you are. It’s Mr Falconer. His evilness is rubbing off on you.”

  “I wouldn’t actually send him into the lair alone,” I said. “But if I don’t start giving Mr Falconer names, he’ll start trouncing the company’s reputation.”

  After running through the options in my head, I dialled Leopold’s number.

  “Hello,” I said. “I’m calling about a potential job. Are you interested in working for the wand-maker?”

  “Mr Falconer?” he asked, in his slightly high-pitched voice.

  “That’s him.”

  “Wait, is this Blair?”

  “Yes.” I winced inwardly. Leading this innocent guy into a potential trap wasn’t fair, especially as I’d once sort of ditched him on a date. No. I just couldn’t do it.

  “Okay. I’m interested.”

  “You know he’s really grumpy, right?” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “And possibly evil.”

  “I thought you wanted me to take the job,” he said, his brow pinched in confusion. My ability to ‘see’ a person on the other end of the phone was like a weird one-way video. At least I’d know if I pushed too far.

  “I wanted you to know what you’re getting into,” I told him. “I’m calling you because he’s strong-arming me into helping. I know I ditched you before, and I’m sorry for that.”

  “Eh. You’re too old for me anyway.”