Deceptive Secrets

by RM Walker

  “Well, don’t stand on ceremony, eat up.” Steve smiled at her. “April makes the best curries.”

  The twins mumbled agreements around their food.

  Lily couldn’t help the groan of appreciation she made when she tasted her first mouthful. “It’s really good, Mrs Nethercott.”

  “April, call me April, and thank you.”

  “So, boys, ready to give me a full day tomorrow?” Steve piled a huge spoonful of curry onto his rice.

  “What?” Josh looked in surprise at his dad before looking at Jake. “At the garage?”

  “Yes. I’ve two cars I’m behind on.”

  They looked at each other again, and Lily knew they were talking silently.

  “Yeah, if you need us,” Josh answered.

  “I do. Sorry, sons. But you don’t leave till Monday, do you?”

  “Yeah, Monday morning.” Jake took some more naan bread. “We’ll help, it’s no problem.”

  “Thanks, lads.” Steve helped himself to more curry.

  “How’s your mother?” April asked Lily.

  “She’s fine, thank you. She’s gone to London for the week.”

  “You’re on your own?” April asked in surprise.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “But what about your epilepsy? Can you be left alone at night?”

  Steve snorted and patted April’s hand. “Do you honestly think she’s going to be alone at night?”

  Josh choked on the spoonful of curry he’d put into his mouth. Jake banged his back and Lily froze, her own spoon halfway to her mouth.

  “Steven!” April tutted. “Ignore him, Lily.”

  Lily didn’t know what to say, so she put her spoon in her mouth quickly.

  “Just remember you can sleep in their room if you need to,” April said. “They won’t mind sleeping in the conservatory, will you boys?” It wasn’t a question, and Steve snorted again.

  April glared at him, but Josh caught her attention.

  “No, Ma, we’ll be happy in the conservatory.” He smirked at his dad and then sent Lily a wink.

  “Just stop it,” April said, shaking her head at the twins. “Lily, do you have enough? Help yourself to more if you want it.”

  “Thank you. It’s delicious.”

  “May’s the baker of the three of us, but I do like to experiment with cooking. With these two being allergic to meat, I’ve had to adapt a lot of recipes over the years.”

  “Well, this is a great adaptation,” Lily said, suppressing a grin. “It’s a shame they can’t eat meat, though.”

  “It took us a while to work out what was wrong with them,” Steve added. “An hour after eating anything with meat in and, lord, if you lit a match the house would have blown up!”

  “Dad!” They spoke at the same time.

  “Do you remember the time we went to Harold and June’s fifth anniversary? They weren’t more than two, and we still weren’t sure what caused it.” April patted Steve’s arm, ignoring the twins’ discomfort.

  “Oh, lord, yes. It escaped their nappies and left a trail as they toddled across the hotel foyer. Unfortunately, it was a white carpet,” Steve finished the tale happily.

  “You want to be on your own tomorrow, Dad?” Jake asked innocently, a stain of red across his cheeks.

  Lily snorted with laughter behind her hand. “I’m sorry, it’s just the visuals.”

  “The reality was far worse.” April laughed. “Poor Harold, he’s never gotten over that.”

  “Well, he should have,” Steve said. “You’d think Matt was perfect the way he goes on sometimes. I’d love to have seen his face when he found out Matt shared his girl with his cousins.”

  “Steven.”

  “Dad.”

  “I don’t know whether this will last or if it’s just an experiment between you all. But I dislike Harold’s position intensely. Matt can come here if need be. Absolute bloody disgrace. Excuse me.” He got up from the table and went out grumbling.

  “Mum, what’s going on?” Josh demanded.

  “Oh, dear. Just stay and eat your tea.” April got up and hurried after her husband.

  A heavy dread settled over her as Josh took out his phone out and tapped on the screen before setting it on the table.

  “Hello, you’ve reached the answerphone of Matthew Ethan Crowder, please leave a—”

  “If he needs us, he’ll text.” Josh ended the call.

  “I’m worried about him.” She put her spoon down, feeling sick with dread.

  Steve and April came back as if nothing had happened and the rest of the meal was spent chatting about college, camping, and what Steve needed the twins to do the following day. Lily managed to keep up a front but the worry wouldn’t leave her until she could see him for herself.

  THE TWINS SAT EITHER side of Lily on Josh’s bed as Nate answered her call.

  “Hey, sexy.” Nate’s voice came out loud and clear.

  “Well, thank you, Nate, but I’m afraid we don’t swing that way,” Josh said.

  “What are you doing with Lily’s phone? Where is she?”

  “I’m here. Nate. Have they got anywhere?”

  “Well, if turning the library inside out is getting somewhere. It’s hard to get anything from Jonas, he’s still in pain, and if I ask Drew, he just grunts.” His sigh showed his frustration. “Problem is Jonas has so many damn books in this place it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

  “Can we help?” Lily asked.

  “Hang on, I’ll put you on speakerphone. Maybe you can get more than a grunt from him.” She heard him shuffling around and then he told her to go ahead.

  “Dad?”

  “Lily? Everything okay?”

  Nate muttered about answering her but not him, but she ignored it. “Can we come over and help look?”

  “I thought it would be easier, but it’s more complicated than I thought. Without knowing the original curse and who did it, I’m shooting in the dark here.”

  “Can Jonas tell you the curse?”

  “We tried that. He nearly took his whole tongue off.”

  “Bloody hell, they’re serious he doesn’t talk, aren’t they?” Josh said.

  “One thing we can always rely on with the Council, is that they take themselves very seriously. I’ve gone through all the normal spells that it could be, but none of them would cause such intense physical reaction. Whatever it is, they never wanted anyone to find out.”

  “Jonas is shaking his head,” Nate spoke up.

  “Don’t keep trying to communicate! I swear to Merlin, if you don’t keep your mind blank, I will come over there and knock you the hell out.” Drew’s voice rose, and she heard a door slam. “He’s a real piece of work, isn’t he? But he’s certainly got some books here.”

  “We’ll come over after Matt gets back,” Lily said.

  “Lily? Go into the spare-room and under the bed, there’s a small wooden box. Don’t open it, but bring it with you, please.”

  “Yeah, okay, call off the killer flies first, please,” she replied.

  “They won’t hurt you.”

  “What about Josh and Jake?”

  “It’d be a relatively quick death—”

  “Dad!”

  “Joking. They won’t hurt any of you. But whatever you do, don’t open the box, understand?”

  “I won’t, promise.”

  “And you two, or Matt, none of you. I mean it. Bring it with you, but do not open it, you hear?”

  “Yeah, we hear.” Jake rolled his eyes. “Put Nate on, will you?”

  She heard grunting, shuffling and then Nate’s voice came through. “What’s up with Matt?”

  “We don’t know yet. Did you know the vicar was going to be there?” Jake asked.

  “Not till he got the text,” Nate replied. “Give it ten minutes, if he hasn’t called or shown up, ring him.”

  “If he doesn’t answer we’ll go over,” Jake said.

  “Yeah. You’ll need to keep o
ut of sight though, Lil,” Nate replied.

  “I can wait at the bottom of the road.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you later.” Nate rang off.

  “How did he know something was up with Matt?” she asked.

  “Matt is not happy right now. He hasn’t been for over an hour. He’s okay, he doesn’t need us. It’s just so strong it’s coming through the bond.”

  “I don’t feel anything.”

  “We’ve not fully bonded with you. If you want to do this with us still, we can do it after midnight on Monday.” Jake slid his hand onto her lower back.

  “But there’s no pressure, Lil, there never will be,” Josh added.

  “I want to bond with all of you.”

  They didn’t say anything, just shuffled closer to her.

  “Why after midnight Monday? Wouldn’t it be better Tuesday? That’s Halloween isn’t it?”

  “We need the witching hours, when magic is at its strongest. Any night will do, but Samhain is stronger, plus it’s a full moon this year, the veil between worlds is at its lowest, and if we can, we can do it at Dozmary Pool. The magic there is special.”

  “We can’t wait till the witching hours on Tuesday as it’s technically the 1st November, not 31st October,” Jake added.

  “Let’s get this box. You got a key?” Josh asked as they stood up.

  “Yeah, he gave me the spare.”

  “C’mon then, we’ll get the box and then check on Matt.”

  “Are you sure he’s okay?” She followed them from the room.

  “Yeah, just royally pissed off,” Jake replied.

  “He’s probably getting a sermon from the vicar about his venial sins,” Josh said.

  “Are you off then?” Steve came out from the conservatory with a newspaper under his arm and a mug in his hand.

  “Yeah. We’ll be a bit later, we’re going to see Jonas after we pick up Matt,” Josh said.

  “Okay, say hi to him for us.” Steve settled into his chair. “Nice to see you, Lily. Don’t be a stranger.”

  “Thanks for having me to tea.” She put her coat on and followed the twins out. They took her hands and walked the short distance through the car park to Drew’s cottage.

  Lily opened the back door and switched on the lights. She went through the living room and they followed her up the stairs. She was relieved to see the ceiling was as it should be and she crossed to the bed.

  “Bloody hell.”

  “What?” Lily turned, her heart beating fast. “Oh! You scared me, I thought the flies had come.”

  “No, not flies.” They were by Drew’s cauldron, but it wasn’t that they were interested in, it was the knife.

  “He’s got an Athame,” Josh said.

  “Don’t touch anything.” Lily went to her knees. “Just in case.”

  “No, we wouldn’t touch this anyway. He’d have to cleanse it and re-charge it,” Jake said.

  “What?” Lily peered under the bed, several cardboard boxes were under there, but only one small wooden one.

  “If someone other than the owner touches the Athame, it won’t work in whatever spell you use it,” Josh said.

  Something tugged at her memory, but as she moved the box something alive moved with it. Shrieking, she scrambled backwards from the bed as a massive spider came scuttling straight towards her. She screamed again and threw the first thing she could find at it.

  “No. Stop. You’ll hurt it,” Josh shouted, rushing over and lifting the book she’d thrown.

  It scuttled towards her again and she let out a blood curdling scream, jumped to her feet, and ran from the room out onto the landing.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay now,” Josh crooned.

  “No, I’m not, I just lost ten years of my life.” Lily pressed her hand over her racing heart. She stepped forward, peered into the room and saw the twins huddled together over the spider. “The spider? You’re talking to the spider?”

  “Yeah, it’s just a bit scared, don’t worry.” Josh stood up, his hand held out towards her and sitting there quite happily was the spider.

  “I’m so glad,” she said, folding her arms.

  Jake looked up, did a double take and nudged Josh. “Um, Lily, sweetheart, are you okay?” he asked.

  “Do you want to see her?” Josh offered.

  “No.” Lily took a step back. “Her?”

  “Yeah, she’s a lady and a beauty. If you look closely you can see her eyes.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. Can you keep it on your hand for a moment?”

  “Yeah, why?” Josh asked.

  “I’m going to grab the box, go downstairs and out the front door. Wait for my text to say I’m clear and then you can bring it, her, down and release it in the car park.”

  “Why? Her home is under there,” Jake said.

  “Are you afraid of spiders as well as rats?” Josh asked.

  “Aren’t most norm— people?”

  “She won’t hurt you. She’s more scared of you than you are of her.”

  “Jacob! She ran towards me. If she’s so scared, why didn’t she run back under the bed?”

  “They don’t sit there and think, ‘There’s Lily, I’ll go say hello’. They feel the vibration of you coming near them and they run for the first biggest shadow they can see to hide. Unfortunately, that would normally be you,” Jake explained.

  “Yeah, right, well, just keep her on a leash while I get the box.”

  They backed away, but she heard them sniggering under their breath.

  “What did you just say to each other?” She toed the box, and when nothing else attacked her she picked it up.

  “You might not like it if we kept her as a pet.” Josh lifted his hand to Jake’s arm and she watched as the spider crept over onto him. It ran up his arm and stopped on his shoulder.

  “Keep it if you want,” she said and went to the stairs. “But I’ll never go to your place again.”

  “Put her back under, Jacob. Babe, wait for us, we were only joking.”

  “I wasn’t,” she called sweetly. She smiled as she heard them stomping after her.

  “She’s back under the bed” Jake came down behind them.

  A wave of nausea crashed over her, she dry-heaved, and the room seemed to spin around her. They helped her onto the sofa and she slumped down, resting her head back. “Felt really weird then,” she mumbled, closing her eyes.

  “Probably tired,” Josh said. “We’ll get you some water, hang on.”

  The nausea was passing, and she figured they were right. All the early wake-up calls and all the emotional tension was exhausting.

  A loud pop brought her eyes open to inky blackness. “What’s going on? Has the fuse thing tripped again?”

  There was no reply, and she couldn’t hear them moving.

  “Josh? Jake? Don’t muck about, please,” she begged. “I’m scared.”

  The dark was oppressive, pushing on her, not even the faint glow from the streetlights outside. She huddled into herself, trying to make herself as small as possible. “Guys, please.”

  A light flickered, and she peered into the black. A chilly breeze swept over her. Had they opened the door? The breeze lifted and played with the long strands of her hair. She could hear the rustling of the leaves on the trees around her. Trees? In confusion she looked down and saw her bare feet on the leaf strewn ground.

  She wasn’t in the cottage anymore, she wasn’t even in Trenance. She knew this place, she’d been here before. Too many times.

  The flickering lights came closer and she saw it was flames from torches held high in the air. She couldn’t make out who was carrying them, and she wasn’t staying around to find out. She moved forward, but was jerked back, the horrifically familiar feeling of chains biting into her skin.

  Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the area. Thunder cracked overhead, rolling on and on, shaking the ground beneath her feet. Rain began to pour down and she was soaked in seconds. But
nothing deterred the flames on the unholy torches being held by the hooded and cloaked figures that were now clear to see in front of her.

  An edge of impatience seeped into her. This wasn’t real it was a vision. Resentment flashed through her; she didn’t sign up for this, didn’t ask for any of it.

  “You cannot be allowed to live. You are an abomination.”

  She didn’t know which one had spoken, unable to see any faces in the shadows of the hoods.

  “You have been judged and found guilty by the creed.”

  “You must burn until there is only dust. The dust will be scattered over Mare Mortuos as a warning.

  “Do you know how old this is getting?” she shouted at them.

  “You are not listening.” The words echoed through her mind.

  “Listening to what?” she snapped, trying to ease the tightness of the chains behind her.

  “You are the seer; you see what no one else can. You are the watcher; you watch when no one else will. You are the listener; you listen when no one else hears.”

  “Not helping,” she muttered.

  “Yours is not to understand but to see, watch, and listen.”

  One of the cloaked figures stepped forward, lowered the burning torch and touched it to the edge of her dress. The flames took instantly, leaping up the material and spreading around her. A red mist tinted her vision as fury ripped through her. She fisted her hands, called up every spark of her magic and broke free from the chains.

  “See, watch, listen.”

  The hooded figures shrank back, as she lifted her hands high. The Ouroboros ring curled around her wedding ring finger came alive, uncurling and lifting its head, the tail no longer in its mouth. The eyes flashed green as its mouth opened wide, flames leapt from its forked tongue and engulfed the hooded figures. Shrieks of agony filled the air, as they flailed around trying to beat the flames out.

  But these were her flames, the flames of hell, and there was no putting them out once they were summoned. They would burn until nothing was left.

  “See, watch, listen.”

  The anger left her abruptly as the screaming died away. The trees faded, and the familiar decoration of Drew’s living room came into focus. But the flames remained, still flickering around her, under her skin, part of her.

  “Lily? You’re scaring the fuck out of us. Lily? That’s it, Lil, wake up. C’mon, babe.”