Magic and Mayhem

by R K Dreaming

  He opened his mouth to tell her to sod it, but nothing came out. He looked torn.

  “You are supposed to be my partner,” Octavia yelled.

  “Go,” said Percy to him. “I’ll handle my stuff. She looked at Nan and Shara, and said, “You coming?”

  Nan and Shara nodded.

  “But you can’t,” he said. “I can’t let you go alone. Shall I call someone to help you?”

  “They’ll never believe us. You just make sure that you catch the Sheedys tonight,” she said urgently. “It has to be tonight. Don’t let them get away.”

  “No, I’ll—”

  “No time!” she yelled. She was already running away.

  14. The Password

  “That was clever,” said Shara as she ran behind Percy towards Wapping station. “You planted that tracker on George Sheedy when you tried to steal Nan’s wand, didn’t you?”

  Percy nodded, too busy running to reply.

  “I can’t believe that Octavia wouldn’t believe you!” said Nan breathlessly, sounding angry.

  “Felix should have come with us!” said Shara.

  “I wanted him to go with her,” panted Percy.

  “Why?” said Nan.

  They had arrived at the station. Percy hurried to purchase tickets to Old Windsor from a machine.

  “Shara, text Juliet back,” she said. “Tell her that the Sheedys escaped, but we’re chasing them with Felix. That we’ll get her the password, but we’ll only trade it for my mum, and my mum better not be harmed.”

  “Wait!” said Nan urgently. “We need to think about this. We don’t have the password.”

  “It doesn’t matter. She just has to think we’re going to get it.”

  “But what’s the plan?” said Nan with anxiety.

  “She has to be at Max’s house,” said Percy. “We know where he keeps that spare back door key. We can take her by surprise. There will be four of us, five including Hank, versus just Juliet. We can do it.”

  “If only I had my wand,” Nan said in despair.

  “What about Nan’s mum?” said Shara. “She has a wand.”

  Nan’s face turned pale. But she nodded determinedly. “Mum will help if I just explain it to her.”

  “She won’t,” said Percy. “We’ll end up spending hours explaining, and she’ll say we’ve made a mistake and it can’t be true. Even if she eventually believes us, she’ll want to call the conclave, and then they’ll do exactly what Octavia did and say we’re mad or lying or both.”

  “That’ll take hours to sort out,” said Shara.

  “Days!” groaned Nan.

  “We don’t have time to waste,” said Percy. “We know where they are right now — they have to be at Old Windsor. Juliet has nowhere else to go.”

  “That we know of,” said Nan.

  “She wanted that password right now,” said Percy. “So she has to be there. But by the time we deal with the conclave and make them believe us, who knows where they’ll be or what she’ll do. I can’t risk losing them. She’s got my mum!”

  “You’re right,” Nan moaned. “This is terrible. What are we going to do?”

  “You don’t have to come,” said Percy. “I can do this by myself. Actually, you shouldn’t come. We should split up. You should go and explain to your mum, Nan, and you should just go home Shara.”

  “No way!” said Nan and Shara together.

  “We are not leaving you alone,” said Shara.

  “Like you said, five against one is better than three against one,” said Nan determinedly. She hustled Percy towards the ticket barriers. “Let’s get on the train. We’ll think about everything else later.”

  The train journey seemed to last forever. It passed much more slowly than their first journey to Old Windsor felt like it had taken.

  The worst part of it was that Juliet did not reply to Shara’s message. The lack of response was ominous.

  By the time they got into Old Windsor it was nearly midnight, and it was past midnight by the time they had jogged all the way to Max Marlowe’s house.

  The house was dark, as it had been the first time that Percy and Nan had visited. No lights on inside. No sounds of life from within. They crept up behind the bushes outside the front gate.

  The bush was too high for Percy to leap over. She was going to have to go to the gate and hop over it and hope the gate wouldn’t creak. It was the only way to get access to the gate that led to the back garden.

  “You wait here,” whispered Percy to the other two. “I’ll go first, see if the coast is clear.”

  Percy was worried that Juliet might be watching from one of the dark windows. But what choice did she have?

  She crept out from behind the bushes, then jerked back behind them again. The front door of the house had creaked open.

  “Percy,” said a voice.

  Percy froze. It was her mum speaking. She was sure of it.

  Percy peered around the bush to make sure. Her mum was standing in the doorway, visible by a light that was now on inside the house. She was being held at wand point by Juliet Jolie, who clearly had stopped taking her potion. She no longer looked like Cousin Opal.

  She no longer looked so beautiful as her old self either. Oh, she had the same glossy chestnut silk hair, and those big beautiful hazel eyes, and those striking high cheekbones on a lovely oval face, but now she looked like a fraud. Like a monster inside a beautiful skin.

  Now Percy knew what she really was, she couldn’t believe that she had ever thought that Juliet was fragile and emotional and helpless.

  Juliet and Gwendolyn were both peering into the darkness of the street, as if trying to catch a glimpse of Percy.

  Juliet had a cold smile on her face. “I know you’re there,” she said in that husky voice of hers. “You and your little friends. You’d better come in. Come slowly. Don’t try anything, or Gwen here will get it.”

  Percy came out from behind the bush, her hands held in the air so that Juliet would see she had no wand. Gwendolyn’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

  “Persephone Prince, what are you doing here?” she said shrilly.

  “I’ve come for you, what else?” said Percy.

  “You’d better run or I’ll—”

  Gwendolyn stopped speaking abruptly. Juliet had prodded her with her wand.

  “Don’t hurt her,” said Percy sharply.

  “Then you’d better come in. All of you.”

  “It’s just me.”

  “Don’t lie,” said Juliet coldly. She prodded Gwendolyn again, and Gwendolyn made a strangled sound.

  Nan and Shara hurried out from behind the bush. “We’re here,” said Nan. “We’re coming!”

  Percy glared at them. Nan shrugged back helplessly, and said very quietly. “Four against one.”

  “Where’s the other one?” said Juliet sharply. “Felix?”

  “It’s just us,” said Percy. “He’s chasing down the Sheedys. It is his job, you know.”

  “Get in,” said Juliet, looking angry.

  The three teens walked inside the house. Percy now saw Gwendolyn’s hands were tied behind her back, but at least she looked unharmed. Gwendolyn was glaring at her.

  “For once in your life couldn’t you try to stay out of trouble?” she demanded.

  “But we came to help you, mum!” said Percy indignantly.

  “I am a grown witch,” said Gwendolyn. “And you are my child! What were you thinking? Why didn’t you call the conclave for help?”

  “Because they wouldn’t have believed us,” said Percy. “Because we’ve already tried telling people from the Eldritch Council and they thought we were mad!”

  “Darling, you don’t understand,” said Gwendolyn. “Juliet here is a murderer! She murdered poor Brad.”

  “We know, mum,” said Percy. “And she’s the one who planned the wildmagic heist. She was the mastermind.”

  Juliet laughed. “Quite the chatty family all of a sudden, aren’t you? Not the emotional
reunion that I expected, but interesting enough.”

  “You wanted me to sob and fall into mum’s arms?” said Percy in disgust.

  “A little emotion would have been nice,” said Gwendolyn.

  Juliet was slowly backing towards the lounge, keeping her wand pointed at them all. Only it wasn’t her own wand that she was holding. Percy recognized as sleek dark wood of her mother’s wand and its ornately carved handle.

  “How did she get you here, mum?” Percy asked.

  She eyed up the glamorous evening gown that her mother was wearing. It was red, made of what looked like thousands of slinky threads interwoven with red pearls. Exactly the sort of attention grabbing style that her mother liked to wear to go out for an evening.

  Gwendolyn looked slightly embarrassed.

  Juliet laughed. “Go on, Gwen. Tell her.”

  “You tell her,” said Gwendolyn curtly.

  “It was one of my more brilliant plans,” Juliet boasted. “I was really worried that the fabulous Gwendolyn Prince would catch on, but she didn’t have a clue. I persuaded her that we should go out for the evening. That nobody would recognize me as Cousin Opal, and wouldn’t we look wonderful together, two beautiful redheads turning heads all night long? I told her I was tired of sitting inside all the time, and called a limousine to take us to a cocktail bar so we could arrive in style. And once she was in the car, it was as simple as pouring her a drink to get us both in the mood. Of course, her drink contained a bit more than she thought it did.”

  “She used my own potion to knock me out,” said Gwendolyn, looking quietly furious.

  “And very kind of you it was to make me a sleeping draught to help me cope with my sleepless nights,” said Juliet with amusement. “After she fell asleep it was a simple matter of telling the chauffeur to bring us to this address instead. The poor Humble fool even insisted on helping me get unconscious Gwen out of the car, and didn’t think twice when I told him she clearly couldn’t handle her drink. I had to give him a large tip just to get him to leave us both alone. I couldn’t have him knocking on the door and alerting Hank that we had arrived.”

  “Very clever,” said Percy. “But then again, it’s not like mum was expecting you to be a sneaky murderous villain. If you’d fought fair, she would have been more than a match for you.”

  “But she wasn’t,” Juliet spat. “Everyone’s always saying how much of a brilliant witch Gwendolyn Prince is, but I outwitted her, so who is the better witch in the end?”

  They had reached the lounge, and Juliet flicked her wand towards the door to indicate that they should all go in. Hank Hyde was sitting in there, tied up to a chair. He looked astonished to see them. He mouthed a despairing hello. Juliet must have put a silencing spell on him.

  Despite her bindings, Gwendolyn sat down regally in an armchair, calm as you like, as if she was a queen in her own palace. Watching her, Juliet got a sour look on her face.

  The two women looked at each other. The calculating coolness on Gwendolyn’s face brought anger onto Juliet’s.

  “Silento!” said Juliet, even though Gwendolyn had not said a word.

  Gwendolyn did not react at all, but Percy saw her mother’s jaw tense a little.

  Percy, Nan, and Shara sat down on a couch all in a row, exactly as they had done just hours ago in the Sheedys apartment. Percy glanced at her friends. They had to do the same thing all over again. Buy time and look for an opportunity. A minute nod from Nan and Shara told her that they both understood.

  But Juliet was far enough away from everyone that they couldn’t jump on her and knock the wand away.

  “Well?” she demanded. “Give me the password!”

  “First we need to negotiate our terms,” said Percy.

  “There are no terms,” snapped Juliet. “I want the password, and after I find the walnut I will let you all go. I’ll modify your memories and leave you all in here, nice and safe, while I make my escape. Someone is bound to come along sooner or later and find the five of you.”

  “Or we’ll just die of dehydration,” said Percy. “I don’t like that plan.”

  Juliet scowled. “I am sick of you and your smart mouth,” she hissed.

  “About as sick as I am of your stupid mouth,” said Percy, unable to help herself. “Whining and crying. On and on. It was pathetic.”

  “And you fell for it,” spat Juliet.

  Nan got a panicked look on her face like she didn’t like the tension building up in the room.

  She said softly, “But Juliet, the one thing I don’t understand is why did you come to Mrs Prince’s house in the first place? You could have gone anywhere in the world. You’ve got all that money. Nobody knew you were the murderer. The Sheedys might have been after you, but clearly you’re a much better witch than they are wizards. There was no reason for you to be afraid of them.”

  She said it pleadingly and in a gentle tone, trying to ease the tension in the room.

  It worked. Juliet was looking smug again rather than angry. “You are such a silly little girl,” she said. “Don’t you understand? Why do you think I killed Brad in the first place?”

  Nan looked confused. “Er, you didn’t love him anymore?”

  “No, you fool! I didn’t love him for years. I put up with him because he was rich. But as it turned out he wasn’t quite so rich as he should have been. He was addicted to gambling. Burning his gold away as fast as he could earn it, and after all those years of me putting up with him and all of his women, knowing that one day he was going to try and leave me for one of those pretty young things. When I heard that the Sheedys had broken out of prison, I thought, well that’s just perfect. I can get rid of him and no one will know it was me.”

  “You killed him because you were angry that he was having affairs?” said Percy. “Why didn’t you just divorce him and take whatever gold he had left?”

  “Because he’s an incubus,” she spat. “He had me on his hook. And he was from the powerful Jolie family. Do you really think they were going to let a nobody like me get his gold in the divorce? They always despised me. Said I wasn’t good enough for him. Called me a lowly hedge witch! They would have ruined my reputation for sport, made everyone despise me, made it so I could never get an acting job again. With their contacts, they practically own Hollywood. Well I showed them!”

  She paced the length of the room as she talked, but never for a moment did she take her eyes off them, or relax her grip on the wand.

  “The only way to get rid of him and keep what was left of the money was to kill him and make it look like the Sheedys had done it. Those sniveling fools. I thought they would run off into the sunset and no one would ever be any the wiser. But they came for me. I couldn’t understand it. I thought they must want to clear their names. That they didn’t want to take the fall for Brad’s death. After all, the Jolie family would hunt them to the ends of the earth for revenge. They would never be safe.”

  “They were chasing you because they thought that you had the wildmagic,” said Nan, still speaking calmly to defray the tension.

  Juliet laughed. “That’s hilarious. And here was me deciding to lay a trap for them because I thought they had the wildmagic.”

  “What trap?” said Percy.

  “Why, the trap where Gwen here was going to help me catch them. That was my plan. Let myself be seen in London. Lure them to Gwen’s house—”

  “Wait, you were the reason they came to London?” said Percy. “You let them know you were here?”

  “Of course. Did you think I’d leave that to chance? I mentioned it casually to a half dozen people at Gwen’s Halloween party that my friend had sighted Juliet Jolie shopping in London and told them to not tell soul. Naturally they all scurried off to tell everyone else. Next I was going to drop a rumor at the school about Juliet and Gwen being such good friends, and lure them to the house when I was ready.”

  “The sheer nerve!” said Percy.

  “Women need to have a little nerve,” said Jul
iet. “It didn’t do your mother any harm in life. The plan was for her to take the Sheedys down when they came for me at your house, and when she’d got them all tied up, I would force them to tell me where the wildmagic was. The pittance Brad left me wasn’t going to last forever. Not for the lifestyle I had planned for myself.”

  Gwendolyn made a sound in her throat, and her inability to speak made Juliet chuckle.

  “So what did you plan to do with my mum once you had the Sheedys?” said Percy. “Knock her out? Murder her?”

  “Oh no. It wouldn’t have been me who did it,” said Juliet, batting her eyelashes in mock innocence. “It was going to be those dastardly Sheedys who murdered her. She is the powerful Gwendolyn Prince after all. She would have died a hero, taking them out with her.”

  Gwendolyn growled.

  “What was that Gwendolyn?” Juliet taunted. “Are you asking what I’d have done with your daughter?”

  “What would you have done?” asked Percy angrily.

  “You’re why Gwen would have fought so angrily and bravely. A mother tiger protecting her cub. Too bad the cub would have died in the process.”

  Gwendolyn looked like she was going to pounce at Juliet, wand or no wand. And Juliet looked like she was aching for Gwendolyn to do it so she would have an excuse to blast her away.

  Nan had been looking nervously back and forth between the two women.

  “But then your plan changed?” she said desperately, trying to distract Juliet.

  “Of course it did,” Juliet spat. “It changed the minute you told me this idiot was still alive.” She jerked her head towards Hank Hyde.

  He gave her a frightened look, and quickly looked away, staring hard at the floor as if he wished he could sink down into it.

  “Look at that pathetic creature,” said Juliet, pointing her wand at him with such vitriol that Percy was surprised Hank didn’t explode. “Can you believe I was ever married to such a pathetic creature? To think he used to be quite handsome once. And pliable. And so desperate to please. Not this pathetic quivering mess.”

  Hank hung his head.

  “He deserves to be dead,” she continued. “I should have killed him already just for daring to hide from me all these years. I even offered to exchange his life for the walnut, but the fool tells me he doesn’t know where it is.”