by RM Walker
“You’re young still. Give yourselves time. When you fall in love, really fall in love, there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for that person.”
“You killed for Lily’s mother?” Nate waded back into the conversation.
“I did it for her, for me, and for Lily. I wish I could go back and tell myself what I know now. But I can’t. I just have to live with the consequences, but unfortunately, so does Lily.”
“Do you regret killing them?” Jake demanded.
“I do.”
“Why?” Nate asked.
“Have you heard anything I’ve just said?” He threw his hands out in agitation.
“If you could go back, keep Sarah and Lily safe, have a good life, would you still have killed them?” Nate demanded.
“A good question. Lily needs to take a leaf out of your book, Nate. You ask the right questions.”
“How about answering it?” Matt suggested.
Drew sent him a look and then ignored him in favour of Nate. “I wouldn’t have become involved with any of it. I would have quit university, got a full-time job, and supported Sarah and Lily until I could go back.”
“And if you’d known you couldn’t go back to uni? If you knew you’d never be a teacher?” Jake asked. They were not convinced at all. It was all too glib, too smooth.
“If I could go back, knowing what I know now, I’d choose my family, every time.” He held eye contact with Jake, no apparent deception in them at all.
“And if you went back with no knowledge?” Josh asked.
“Then I’d be doomed to repeat the same mistakes.” Drew pushed his hands forwards, palm up. “I’d be who I was then, and not who I am now. The only way you could change anything of the past is by taking back what you learn from the future.”
“So, you just want to build a relationship. No plans for world domination using her powers?” Jake asked, still not ready to accept it.
“World domination?” Drew laughed. “I can’t organise my students’ essays properly. I don’t think I’d be able to organise a coup on all the world governments, even with Lily’s powers. We’re witches, not gods.”
Do we believe him?
Josh echoed through his head, and he gave a tiny shrug. He didn’t know. He didn’t know the answer to that question at all, and he suspected neither did Nate or Matt.
“I think I’ve earnt a few more questions. Who else knows you’re fairies?”
“I’m not a fairy,” Nate snapped. “Fae, we’re fae.”
Drew smirked at Nate. “You are most definitely a fire fae. You’re arrogant, domineering, short fused, and can be a right bastard. I have no idea what she sees in you.” He looked at Matt. “You, you’re gentle, and you dote on her, I can see why she likes you. And you twins? Well, you’re fun to be around I expect. But you?” He looked back at a furious Nate. “You’re dangerous, and she doesn’t even know it.”
“I would never hurt her.” Nate exploded.
“Yes, you would. In fact, you will if you try and stop her from forging a relationship with me.” He pointed towards the door. “You saw how she reacted when she saw me. Alcohol didn’t make her feel things which aren’t there, it just allowed her to relax enough that she didn’t care who saw what she really feels. She wants to try this, if you stop her, you will hurt her.”
“We won’t stop her. We’ve already decided we’d try for her sake—”
“That’s big of you.”
Nate sneered. “Yeah, well forgive us for being wary of her ‘supposedly’ dead father. One who just happens to have murdered people in cold blood. I can see why you think that’s unfair of us.”
“This is why I don’t teach in colleges,” Drew muttered.
“You think we’re too young? That we should sit here and nod our heads reasonably? That when you casually throw out that you regret stripping souls, we should pat you on the back? Welcome you with open arms?” Nate demanded.
“No. But welcoming me with an open mind wouldn’t be too much to ask.” Drew threw his hands out and then pointed at Nate. “You haven’t even lived. You don’t even know what’s beyond your little village.” His voice deepened as anger seeped in. “You sit there and judge me on something you have no idea about. You’ve been fed lies by someone, and don’t bother to deny it. You need to open your eyes, all of you. You need to open your eyes and you need to—” He stopped abruptly.
“We need to what?” Matt asked.
Lily came into the room looking better but worried. Nate pulled her onto his lap, and she kissed his cheek.
“How do you feel?” Nate asked.
“Like an idiot. I’m sorry.”
“No more apologies,” Drew said. “I told you I already knew. There was no one around, but you lot may have just learnt why we shouldn’t lose control.”
Jake wanted to point out they already knew that, but it would damn them even more that they’d let her get drunk.
“What were you going to say before Lily came in?” Matt asked. “We need to what?”
“You’re sheltered here. To the extent you have no awareness of the magical community out there. You even think you’re the remaining few.” Drew rubbed his eyes with his fingers. “Look, I won’t ask names. I just need to know if you’ve been taught by someone like us, either a witch or fae.”
No one spoke, and irritation flashed across his face. “I get it, you’re protecting someone—” He turned and switched the kettle on.
“Go on.” Lily caught his attention, and he looked over his shoulder at her.
“Tea?”
“What? Oh, yes, please.” She got up and opened a cupboard to get mugs out.
She was at home here. Knew where everything was and didn’t ask for permission. Jake wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“Tea? Coffee?” Lily looked over at them, but they shook their heads.
Matt and Nate refused as well, and Jake saw her face fall as she turned back to the mugs. She left two out and put the rest away. He watched as she pushed the mugs closer to Drew and he filled them. She was like him in her looks, and he hadn’t noticed it before. Her hair was brown, whereas his was solid black, but when she turned her head, Josh could see the similarities in their profiles.
“Please, don’t hide anything from me. Not you, please,” Lily begged.
Drew’s shoulders slumped but Jake still wouldn’t bet on it being genuine.
Drew put a hand on her shoulder. “Go and sit down, then.”
She went back to Nate and perched on his knee, holding her mug in both hands.
Drew leant back against the counter, holding his own mug. “You don’t trust me. None of you do, and I don’t expect you too.” He tapped his fingers against his mug, a muscle working along the length of his jaw. “All right. What do you know about the Council of One Purpose?”
“Nothing, other than they stopped you from bringing me up,” Lily answered.
“How about you boys? What do you know?”
“Only what Lily told us,” Nate answered for them.
And the Reformation?” Drew asked.
Reformation? What reformation? Josh was confused.
Dunno. Sounds like a ship, HMS Reformation? Jake wasn’t convinced though.
“Well, some of it was because Henry VIII and Catherine didn’t have a living male heir despite seven pregnancies. Their only son to survive birth was Henry, Duke of Cornwall, but he died when he was less than three months old. So that—”
“Not quite the Reformation I was thinking of.” Drew smiled at her.
“Oh, sorry. Then, no, I don’t know.”
She’s like Matt. Never, ever, bring up history with her, unless we can’t sleep.
Josh wasn’t sure they’d ever be that desperate.
Drew regarded them all silently, a muscle ticking in his jaw. He took a sip of his tea and lifted an eyebrow as if debating with himself.
“I wasn’t expecting you four.”
“What do you mean?” Jake asked.
<
br /> “I knew Lily was here, obviously. But you lot were a surprise.”
“Well, you wouldn’t, would you?” Lily said.
“Why not?” Drew looked at her. “I knew Jimmy kissed you after the dance, that you’d probably have built a physical relationship with him if you’d have stayed.”
A surge of jealousy washed through Jake, intensified by Josh’s feelings.
“No, you’re wrong. It didn’t feel right, not like it does with—”
The jealousy faded and was followed by a jolt in his lower stomach. He knew what she’d been going to say, and it made him feel ten feet tall.
“You were spying on her?” Matt picked up on a point Jake had missed.
“No, I wasn’t spying on her. I was making sure she was safe. There was a loophole in my binding. I couldn’t have any contact with Lily, but there was nothing to say I couldn’t watch her, keep her safe. I’ve been over this with Lily and, frankly boys, what she thinks is all that matters to me. But that’s not important.”
“What is?” asked Lily.
“The fact I didn’t pick up they were here.” He looked back at her. “When you were ten, you were at that little school in Inverness, remember?”
“Yeah. I remember. It was one of the few times we moved midterm.”
“Lynda moved you to Dorset. She probably gave you some tripe about it being her ‘painting’. But that’s not why she left. In the year above you, there was a girl who was a witch. She picked up there was something different about you and told her parents. Her dad spoke to Lynda. You moved the following day.”
“I remember her. She was odd, kept asking me strange things about my fits. Weird questions.”
“Now they don’t seem so weird, do they? But my point is this: I already knew she was there. Every school area you were moved to I’d scout out to see who was there. Who could either be a threat or a help to you. It’s easy to find magical presence when you know what you’re looking for. And I do.” He looked at Jake. “You’re hidden from other magical people. Did you do it?”
We keep quiet. Josh mumbled in his head.
It was at times like this Jake was glad Nate stepped up. He always knew what to say, while they had no idea.
“No, you didn’t, did you? Don’t bother lying.” Drew banged his mug down. “There really is no point in trying to pry it from you, but you need to have a long chat with whoever is hiding you.”
“Maybe you just missed us,” Nate suggested.
“Why do you think they were hidden?” Lily asked.
Her mouth fell open, and Jake realised looking at her he’d missed something from Drew. “What?” he demanded.
“Matt,” Nate said, pushing his glasses into his hair and rubbing his eyes.
“Because I can heal?” Matt asked.
“Yes. It was probably done to protect you primarily, but it covers all of you. It covers the whole area.”
“That’s okay isn’t it?” Lily asked. “Being hidden?”
“On the surface, yes. But it depends on why it was done,” he replied.
“To protect him,” Nate said. “That’s quite simple.”
“Probably, or...” Drew pinched the bridge of his nose and stuffed his other hand into his pocket.
“Or?” Lily prompted.
“He’s following orders. I need to find out what’s going on. The teacher? Who is he?”
“What teacher?” Nate asked convincingly, but Drew just snorted.
“Remember Johnston? I wasn’t leaving it up to you to make sure he didn’t mess with Lily, so I caught him behind the cookery block. I was going to alter a few memories, but he was interesting, so I went deeper. He watched you heal the bird in the playground. He was about to shout out when a man slapped a hand across his mouth.”
Nate shook his head. “No, Johnston didn’t see us. None of the other kids saw.”
Jake tightened his hold on his twin’s shoulder. He knew Jonas had seen them, but he’d never said anything about anyone else seeing them. And he would have done, surely?
“Johnston did see, and he was stopped from calling you out. Whoever did it was sloppy though, he covered the memory, whereas I removed it and left him passed out with his drug stash on show.”
She said Jonas was keeping something from us.
Jake had no reply, he could only echo his other half’s words. They pulled tighter together, this changed everything.
“Look, go home and sleep on it. Talk with him, see what he says. Maybe he was just in the right place at the right time. And because he’s been secluded here for Merlin knows how long, he’s lost touch and really believes the rubbish he’s spouting. I don’t know.” Drew shrugged.
“We’re leaving.” Nate moved Lily abruptly and got up.
Josh nudged Jake, and they pushed away from the door together.
Lily picked up her empty mug, and Drew took it from her. “See you soon, Lily.”
“Yeah, thanks for sobering me up.” She followed Nate from the room. “Bye, Drew,” she called.
“Not Dad anymore?” he asked and laughed as he followed them to the front door.
“Dad?” Lily turned in the threshold and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“You called me Dad when you were drunk,” he said.
His voice was soft, and it niggled at Jake. He still wasn’t convinced he wasn’t playing some elaborate game.
“Oh.” Lily frowned at Drew and Jake saw the hesitancy in her eyes.
“I liked it,” he reassured her.
She flushed, giving Drew a bright smile that made Jake feel decidedly uneasy. She was being sucked in by him, or at least the idea of him. She’d be destroyed if he betrayed her.
“Come on, Lily, let’s get going.” Nate took her hand, and they went down the path to the gate.
Matt looked at Drew. “If you hurt her, we will hurt you.”
“I’m a witch, you’re a fae. Your magic doesn’t even come close to mine.” Drew sneered.
“We wouldn’t need to use magic to ruin you. You’re a teacher, you have a reputation you have to keep clean,” Matt threatened.
Drew’s expression darkened as he lowered his head, not looking away from Matt. “And I’ll tell you, if you hurt her I will annihilate you. I will scatter you to the four winds and piss on your empty graves.”
Matt must have seen something Jake didn’t, because he grabbed them both by their jackets and pushed them out of the door hot on their heels.
The door slammed behind them, and Matt kept them going till they were with the others.
“What happened? What did you see?” Josh demanded when he let them stop.
“I swear he’s the devil himself, his eyes were burning with fire.” Matt looked back at the cottage.
“Probably a trick of the light,” Lily said.
Jake doubted it was a trick of the light that had spooked Matt so much, but he kept quiet for now.
“Come on,” Nate grunted and headed down the road, still tugging Lily with him. “Let’s go back to the mill.”
Matt was still looking back, and Jake turned, seeing Drew standing at the window watching them.
“Let’s go.” Matt tugged at their jackets. “He’s a fucking wanker, that’s all.”
They carried on, but the back of his neck prickled until they were out of sight of the cottage.
The problem with pedestals
Nate stomped back and forth, his boots making a hollow noise on the wooden floor of the mill. He stopped and pointed at Matt. “No. I refuse.”
“What?” Matt stalked towards him. “Refuse to accept what’s under your nose?”
“Are you so sure Drew’s not lying?” Nate snarled, pacing again.
“No, we aren’t sure. We don’t trust him.” Josh was standing by Matt, Jake right beside him. “We have no way of knowing if it’s true.”
“But the odds are stacked in his favour,” Jake finished.
“Jonas moved here the same year we started school,” Matt poin
ted out.
“Coincidence,” Nate snapped.
“Maybe, maybe not. Only Jonas can tell us that,” Matt answered. “But how didn’t Drew know we were here?”
“So, we’re believing him now.” Nate rounded on Matt. “He just says he’s sorry and everything is just hunky-dory?”
“No! That’s not what I mean.” Matt’s voice began to raise in agitation. “I don’t trust him, but this isn’t about him.”
Lily huddled up in the bean bag, watching them anxiously. Out of all of them, Nate was the one having the most trouble finding a balance, and it was breaking her heart.
“Well, what do you mean?” Nate threw his hands out to the side. “How do we know he didn’t just spout the biggest load of bullshit known to man?”
“We don’t,” Josh repeated himself. “But on the flip side, how do we know he didn’t?”
“Five minutes of wishy washy explanations, and you lot automatically believe every word he says.”
“He was right about Inverness,” Lily reminded him, wincing at the glare he sent her. “Nate, we’re not saying trust him completely. We’re just saying that maybe we need to be open-minded about it. Maybe it was chance, maybe it wasn’t. But if it’s not chance, then you need to know why and who sent him.”
Nate made a strangled noise and threw his hands up. He was angry, but she knew it covered a layer of fear that Jonas had lied to them.
“He’s told us loads of times to be really careful. Not to let anyone get close in case they find out what we are,” Jake said.
“And he got rid of Johnston’s memories,” Josh added. “Maybe that’s not the only time he’s had to do it.”
“No!” Nate backed away from them. “Drew’s a fucking liar, and you lot are fucking brainwashed.” He turned and ran down the stairs.
Lily shot to her feet. “Nate!”
The only reply she got was the loud bang as he slammed the door shut behind him.
“And he moaned about your denial.” Jake snorted. “Fucking idiot.”
“He’ll cool down.” Matt ran his hands through his hair, sending it everywhere. “He’ll be outside I expect.”
“He’s not mad at any of us.” Josh looked at her. “He knows what we’re saying is right, he just doesn’t want to admit it.”