Witch in Training

by Elle Adams

  “It’s on one of the wands,” I said. “I don’t know which, or how it got here…” But maybe I did.

  “You’re being ridiculous. Nobody could have messed with one of my wands. I’d know.”

  “Apparently you didn’t.” He spoke the truth—my lie-sensing ability picked up on that, if nothing else—but maybe it was what he believed to be the truth, not reality.

  “Has a wand ever been returned here before, from outside?” I asked him. “What happens when its owner dies? Or it’s confiscated?”

  I had to hand it to Ava. I also didn’t think she’d meant to hit his apprentices, but who knew what was going through her head?

  His eyes narrowed. “Yes. Confiscated wands are returned here.”

  “Ava,” I said. “She left a last surprise for you.” A clever one, too. “But that’s not all there is,” I said. “You’re being blackmailed, aren’t you? By the surviving members of the Wormwood Coven, the ones who made themselves forget the craft of wand-making.”

  His jaw clenched. I’d got it right.

  “Those treacherous old witches,” he growled. “They probably put her up to it to begin with.”

  “You mean the ones you intimidated into erasing their own memories?”

  “I intimidated them?” he snapped. “No. I only wanted to teach them a little humility, but they had the last laugh. Nobody carries a grudge like a witch.”

  “You wiped their memories, so they cursed you to make wands for the rest of your life and hand over the profits to them? Seems fair to me. But it’s not fair to leave your apprentices like that.” I took a cautious step towards the cage.

  “I can’t let you help them,” he said. “The witches and I have an understanding, but they will take everything I have if the truth comes out. Lift the curse and I’ll let you leave with the mice.”

  “I don’t know how to lift the curse. You’ll have to find the wand yourself.” My gaze went to the mice, then to the fancy wand in the window display.

  “That thing.” He swore under his breath. “I should have known.”

  Crossing the shop floor, he picked it up in his hand. “This one won’t obey me.”

  Because it was an older branch of wand, from before his own method had been standardised.

  “The elves,” I said, seeing he had no apparent inclination to open the door and let me out. “Friends or foes?”

  “Depends on the day of the week.”

  Which explained nothing. “They hated you… or worked with you. Or is it the witches they hate?”

  “We have that in common,” he growled. “The Wormwood Coven are crooks. I suppose they became worried when I began to pass on the trade secrets to others.”

  “But you’ve had other apprentices, before these ones,” I said. “Right?”

  “Aside from that girl? No.” He shook the wand, turning it over in his hand.

  “The mice aren’t turning back,” I said. “Look, you’re going to have to hand over that wand to a curse expert to undo it. Or the caster.”

  “I don’t think so.” An ugly expression crossed his face. “Besides, I can’t have those apprentices blabbing.”

  I took a step backwards, ready to bolt for the door, even knowing it was locked against me. “So why hire me to break the curse in the first place?”

  “Why else? I needed to know who my enemy was, and if I had anything to fear from them. Now I know.” He took a step towards me. “You’ll be staying here for a little while. A long while. At least you won’t be alone.”

  He raised the wand.

  “I wouldn’t,” I warned him. “Nathan’s outside. Either of us could bring the police to you in a second.”

  “The police know nothing about this place.”

  Several wands sparked, and something flashed outside the doors—right where Nathan and been waiting. My heart lurched. I couldn’t see if he’d been hit or if he’d managed to get out of the way.

  I backed up towards the shelves. I might not have a wand of my own, but I was a walking force of destruction and the shelves were old and wobbly. It wouldn’t take too much effort to knock them over.

  He raised the wand. I kicked out, and the nearest set of shelves crashed down. An explosion of light went off to my left, but missed. I leaped behind the collapsed shelf and kicked wildly at the next one, causing a domino effect of sparks and crashing lights. Mr Falconer swore, showers of sparks exploding over his head. I threw myself out of the way of another shower of sparks, and landed on my back as wands crashed to the ground.

  Grimacing, I groped around for something—anything to defend myself with. My fingers closed around a wand handle and an odd tingling sensation ran straight from my fingertips. I picked it up, and sparks shot from the end.

  Frantic squeaking erupted somewhere close by. I got to my feet, rubbing the back of my head. The dust cleared, revealing Mr Falconer, surrounded by mice. One of them held his wand out of reach in its paws.

  He roared and grabbed for it, and I raised my own wand in defence.

  A rush of heat enveloped my hand, and a shimmering barrier appeared in front of me.

  “DO NOT DEFEND HER,” he screamed. It took me a moment to realise he’d yelled at the wand, not the mice.

  Of course. The wand in my hand was still programmed to defend the place against harm, except now it’d chosen me, I was included in the spell. It would never let him harm me.

  He climbed to his feet. “YOU DARE—"

  A blast went off from the window display where the wand had fallen, and he crumpled to the floor, shrinking in on himself. A moment later, nothing remained but another, grey-furred mouse.

  There was a long pause, where the dust settled. The other mice edged away as though reluctant to go within a metre of him even as a rodent.

  “Nice.” I walked over, picking him up by the tail. “Where’s that cage?”

  One of the other former apprentices squeaked at me, indicating the place the cage had fallen to the floor. I returned it to the desk and dropped him into it.

  “I was thinking jail would work for him,” I said. “But maybe he should stay in there for a while instead.”

  More squeaking drew my attention to the door. One of the mice nudged it open, and Nathan ran in—accompanied by two gargoyles.

  “Get this to the coven,’ I said, holding up Ava’s silver wand. “It was Ava’s old wand, and it had a curse on it before it was confiscated. I’m not sure if she remembers—or for all I know, he erased her memories himself. I’m sure he’s capable of it.”

  “Where is he?” asked Nathan, looking from the wand in my hand to the collapsed shelves and scattered boxes with a slightly stunned expression on his face.

  I indicated the mouse cage. “That’s him. We can’t reverse the curse without knowing who cast it, so… I guess he’s going to have to stay like that for a bit.”

  16

  “My wand!” Ava shrieked in delight, lunging to take it from me and cradling it in her hands.

  To my immense surprise, the gargoyles had agreed to come and talk to her at the hospital. Probably because they hadn’t understood a word of my explanation and they thought the old seer might be able to offer more of a clue. When I’d told them the wand was cursed, they kept their distance and let me carry it. Pity it only worked on apprentices, because I thought Steve deserved to have a shot at being a mouse. Just long enough for my cat to chase him around for a bit.

  I was pleased to know that while the gargoyles didn’t have any qualms about locking me up, doing the same to hospitalised pensioners was a step too far. If she was the caster, the curse would undo at her command.

  “Stop crowding her,” snapped Annabel, who’d also been called in. “The wand is hers.”

  Ava turned the silver wand over in her hand, and I lifted the cage of mice onto my lap. “Did you cast this spell?” I asked her.

  She peered into cage. “Who are they?”

  “Mr Falconer’s apprentices,” I said. “They got hit by a cur
se someone put on your wand. I know it’s possible for someone else to curse a wand if it doesn’t belong to anyone, but in this case… you know, it’s not your fault the curse hit the wrong target.”

  She blinked. “Curse?”

  My inner lie detector didn’t go off, but I nodded. “Yep. Just point the wand at them, and—”

  There was a flash of light, and several people—notably the gargoyles—ducked for cover.

  And suddenly there were a lot more people in the room.

  Ava gave a slight laugh. “That was meant to hit the person who confiscated it from me. Spoilsports.” She glared at the nearest nurse.

  My mouth dropped open. “That’s who you tried to hit? Not Mr Falconer?”

  “I never said I had an accurate aim.”

  I nearly laughed, imagining how Mr Falconer would react. The whole time, he’d thought someone was plotting against him, but he hadn’t even been the intended target. He’d have a while as a rodent to think on his own crimes, at least.

  The nearest gargoyle looked at his phone. “Madame Grey wishes to meet with us to discuss the future of the wand-making trade.” He looked around as though hoping someone else would take over.

  “Ask Mr Falconer,” I said. “That wand can turn him human again, but he’s definitely committed crimes against the Wormwood Coven. He erased all their memory of the craft, so they retaliated by making him the only wand-maker.”

  Everyone stared at me. Then one of the apprentices said, “She’s right. I heard him ranting at them.”

  “I saw him yelling at the elves in the wood. They’re in on it, too.”

  “He said they were extorting him.”

  “So he was blackmailed, essentially,” I explained. “But he started it by erasing the memories of the coven who used to practise wand-work. I don’t know where they live, but Madame Grey will.”

  “We will convene with her, then,” said the gargoyle. “And take this wand to the jail so that the wand-maker may take his trial as a man, not a mouse.”

  Oh well. You can’t have it all.

  “How do you think it went?” asked Alissa, when she met me outside the door of the examination room.

  I shook my head. “No clue. I hope it went better than I think, but I’m a little short on luck at the moment.”

  “I was waiting for something to explode again,” she admitted.

  “So little faith. Even I can’t blow up a test paper. Or turn it transparent.”

  “Ha. Whether you pass or not, you’re free to come with me to buy some accessories for that new wand now, right?”

  I grinned. Whether I passed the test or not, I felt pretty pleased with myself. “Sounds good to me.”

  I had a wand. And my first order of business was to improve its generic design with something more ‘me’.

  I looked at the rows of accessories in the shop. Brightly coloured ribbons weren’t my thing, and anything that was likely to become detached or get caught on my hand when I was casting a spell was an accident waiting to happen.

  My gaze skimmed the shelves, then landed on a pair of wings. “Hmm.”

  “Do it,” said Alissa. “They’re perfect.”

  I clipped the wings onto the end of the wand, twirling it in my fingertips and nearly dropping it. “I draw the line at glitter. I don’t want to have to clean it out of the carpet every time I cast a spell.”

  “You could just vanish it.”

  I smiled. “You really want that to be the first spell I try, after the transparency fiasco? I might accidentally on purpose make Blythe disappear…”

  “Where’d she fit into all this, anyway?” asked Alissa.

  “She doesn’t. She’s still disgraced, but I guess they let her off early for good behaviour. Long enough for her to attempt to sabotage my date with Nathan… if I hadn’t sabotaged it myself by going after Mr Falconer.”

  “Pretty sure he’ll forgive you for that.”

  I looked at the wings. A simple clue, but one that could upend the new life I’d only just begun to build here. Those weird dreams I’d been having lately… they were a sign that I still hadn’t figured out my heritage. My family’s past. I wanted to talk to Ava again, one way or another. If Annabel wasn’t too mad at me. But everyone accused was freed, the mice were people again, and I had a wand. Life was good.

  Helen waited for me outside. “Hey, Blair.”

  “Hey,” I said, surprised.

  “I just wanted to say I’m glad you solved that case,” she said. “I—I’m partly related to the original leaders of the Wormwood Coven, and I thought there was something not quite right about the way the wand-making business ended up. But I didn’t know they had Mr Falconer under a spell.”

  “Wait, they won’t be punished for this, right?” I asked.

  “That’s up to Madame Grey,” she said, “who sent me to tell you that you passed the exam.”

  My jaw dropped. “I did?”

  “Yes.” Her sunny smile snapped back into place.

  I smiled back. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to come and join us at the fete later today? We’ll have ice cream.”

  “You know, I might just do that. Let me get back to you.” I turned to Alissa. “I guess my luck wasn’t as deficient as I thought.”

  “That, or you retained some of Rita’s lectures,” Alissa said. “She’s a good teacher. Though fair warning, you probably won’t be able to get away with that in the practical tests. Wands backfire when you aren’t paying attention. And potions. I feel like she’ll want to see your invisibility potion-making skills.”

  “I should have known she’d get me back for that.”

  When we got back to the flat, I found Sky stretched out on the sofa, waiting for a stroke. I petted him. “You were trying to warn me, weren’t you?”

  “Miaow.”

  “Thanks,” I said to Sky. “I think. I still won’t rule out using that speaking spell on you next time you bring something questionable into the flat. I don’t need mice in my room, thanks.”

  “Miaow.”

  I took that to mean “no more mice”. Or possibly “feed me.”

  “Hey, he didn’t destroy the bubble wrap this time,” said Alissa. “As far as I’m concerned, that means he’s officially supporting your relationship with Nathan.”

  “We’ve had one and a half dates. And I’m not sure how to explain this.” I waved the wand, and the wall turned purple. “What? Isn’t the safety setting on?”

  Alissa laughed. “I think Mr Falconer used to do that manually. They’re sold without the setting on so they can pick out their owner easily.”

  She waved her own wand and the wall turned back to its former colour.

  “You’re going to be cleaning up after me a lot, I think,” I said, putting the wand carefully in its case and laying it on the table next to the sofa.

  “I’ll live. It’ll be worth it to have two wands to help around the house.”

  I stroked Sky. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m not the fastest learner.”

  I had another stack of books to read, more tests coming around the corner, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Oh, and no mice in my underwear drawer was always a bonus.

  “I’m glad we’re free from rodents,” I said. “Guess he was just helping the apprentices, not being a mighty hunter.”

  “Oh, some of them were real,” Alissa said. “Roald ate them.”

  I pulled a face. “Definitely none of the candidates?”

  “Nope. They’re happily human again.”

  “And so am I. Sort of.”

  The doorbell rang. Alissa looked at me. “Hmm. Expecting anyone?”

  “No… maybe.” I wasn’t, but… hey, maybe the lucky latte hadn’t worn off after all.

  I opened the door. A letter lay on the doorstep, an envelope with curling writing on it. Addressed to me.

  To Blair,

  I would very much like to meet you.

  Pleas
e come to the waterfall at the solstice.

  Sincerely,

  Your family.

  ***

  Thank you for reading!

  The story continues in Witch in Danger, the third Blair Wilkes mystery.

  Find out more at: smarturl.it/BlairWilkesMysteries

  If you want to be notified when my next book comes out, sign up to my author newsletter at: smarturl.it/ElleAdamsNewsletter

  I hope you enjoyed Witch in Training. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have a minute to spare, then I hope you’ll consider leaving a review. Reviews help indie authors reach new readers, and I appreciate every one of them!

  About the Author

  Elle Adams lives in the middle of England, where she spends most of her time reading an ever-growing mountain of books, planning her next adventure, or writing. Elle's books are humorous mysteries with a paranormal twist, packed with magical mayhem.

  She also writes urban and contemporary fantasy novels as Emma L. Adams.

  Find Elle on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pg/ElleAdamsAuthor/

  Or sign up to her newsletter at: smarturl.it/ElleAdamsNewsletter