“Fletcher!” Ellis is beside him and Elodie joins them.
“Ellis, help me get him in the kitchen. Up onto the table.”
They drag him through, Fletcher shuffling along a little and hoick him up onto the table. He’s sweating from the pain.
“Will he turn into a wolf now, a shifter?” Ellis is in a panic.
“No,” Elodie says, pressing a compress full of some magical potion against the wound. “It doesn’t work like that. But it’s nasty. Can you grab me the yellow basket from the garage, please, the one with bandages on the top?”
Ellis goes to fetch the basket, and Elodie mutters some magic as she pours some medicine straight into his mouth. He shakes his head, spitting it out. “Disgusting.”
“Tough luck. It works.” She pours another, more liberal, dose into his mouth and glares at him until he swallows it down. Ellis passes her the basket of medical supplies – bandages, suture kit, magical lotions and potions. “What can I do?”
“Nothing lovely. Just pour him some pep, and maybe a wet cloth on his forehead. He’s burning up.”
“Is it poisonous, the bite?”
Elodie shakes her head. “No, he’ll be fine. Luckily, we’re witches, so magic helps. If a human got bit or another shifter, or one of the other supernatural creatures, then yes, it would take much longer to heal, but he’ll be fine in about half an hour.”
“Could they have killed him?”
“Oh, yes, if they’d got him around the throat, or his femoral artery. Or if they’d all got hold of him. Nasty, nasty creatures. This means that the rebels haven’t lost as many as we hoped and that some council members are in cahoots with them.”
“I hate this.”
“Me too. I cannot believe the fairy twins took you; they seemed so convincing. Both Fletcher and I were ready to leave with them.”
Ellis shudders. “I’m sorry I went out.”
“Oh, they would have found another way to take you, another time. At least now we know whose side they’re on. At least we know the shifters – rebels or otherwise – are still after us. Fletcher, you need five minutes for that medicine to kick in before I can stitch you up. I’ll try Ember again.”
While she does, Ellis smooths Fletcher’s hair, kisses his forehead and closes her eyes.
Ellis
I need this entire thing to be over. And the only way for it to be over is for me to tell Fletcher what I agreed to with Sadie, and for him to fix it with some magic.
But now he’s a little busy having the wolf wound in his leg fixed.
And it is nasty.
It’s deep and very bloody, and I feel a little bit sick looking at it. There’s a puncture wound from the teeth that’s deep, and then a tear where he’s kicked the wolf and forced him away, pulling an entire load of the flesh from his leg with it.
Between magic and stitches his mum can fix him, but in the meantime, I can’t spill my secret. He’s pretty sweaty and seems to drift in and out of consciousness, or maybe it’s just the magic kicking in ready for his mum to stitch him up.
That I do not want to see.
I’m not at all squeamish – seeing hundreds of dead bodies a year has cured me of that. I’ve actually got a bit of a fascination with all sorts of medical stuff – not an unhealthy fascination by any means, but I don’t mind a good look at a corpse who’s suffered from burns, or a good chat about a bit of surgery with my cousin Jack, a heart surgeon in the local hospital. A trip to the mortuary can be a good morning out, and I don’t find our dead bodies creepy or scary, I know that they’re dead and I am so kind to them. I always talk to them and make sure they look their best for their ultimate trip to the cemetery.
But looking at the blood congealing around the open wound on Fletcher’s leg is too much. Because of how I feel about him? Maybe. Because a werewolf did it, for crying out loud? Probably. Because it could have been me? Might be. Because it could have been so much worse? Yes.
I keep running my fingers through his lovely hair and try to keep smiling. As soon as he feels better, I’ll tell him. We won’t be performing any magic ceremony until he’s feeling better, so I’ve got time.
It still feels crazy that I’m back by his side. That I escaped from the crazy fairy sisters. That the crazy fairy sisters even kidnapped me. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if they hadn’t got distracted talking to Fletcher and his mum.
Would they have killed me? Tortured me? Kept me for a pet?
Nothing would surprise me anymore.
I keep getting a panicky, sick feeling, where my stomach turns and my heart hammers and my palms sweat and then I realise I’m safe, beside Fletcher again, his mum in the other room. I came so close to something and I don’t even know what it would have been.
Death really is searching for me at the moment, the little bastard. I won’t let him get to me.
As soon as Fletcher feels better, we’ll fix it.
His mum comes in the room, worry written all over her face. “She’s still not answering. Ellis, can you just do the fire check thing – make sure she’s alive? If she’s alive, then she can look after herself, at least until Fletcher feels better. Then we can fetch her; you’ll know where she is.”
A shiver runs through me. “I don’t need to. She’s alive. She’s not hurt. She’s talking to somebody. A man, but I can’t see who it is. She’s smiling. She’s okay.”
Again, don’t ask me how I know some stuff I know, but I know this. And the relief on Fletcher’s mum’s face makes me glad that I know it.
“Oh, Ellis, thank you. That head witchness really comes in handy sometimes, doesn’t it!”
I nod, and she busies herself with Fletcher’s leg. He cries out when she touches his leg, and I take his hand. I don’t look at his leg or his mother stitching him up, while muttering some magical chanting, but I look at his face, his skin, his eyes bunched tight in pain.
Poor thing.
He’s squeezing my hand to bits, though, so I think he’ll live!
“Nearly done,” his mum says, sounding much more cheerful. “I think we should see Ember then; Ellis will pinpoint where she is. I’ve left a message telling what happened when we went back in time, how Ellis figured everything out with Sadie, and how we can undo the original magic without everybody dying...”
I tune out, she’s waffling a bit, bless her. Plus, I don’t enjoy hearing how impressed she is with what I did, when it isn’t actually what I did. I feel bad, but in fairness what sort of choice is that to give anybody? Sadie really was a witch. Do you want to be responsible for everybody dying except a bunch of true-hearted – nasty, crazy, evil and as batty as she is – witches or would you rather die yourself? Um, maybe secret answer three – neither!
Stupid woman. But then how stupid was I agreeing to it? I must have had a bump on the head when we landed, or something.
I am not a good, kind, selfless person, I’ve been down this road before.
When my best friend got ill, I felt sick that I had wished it on her or cursed her somehow, because I had sometimes wondered if I’d be the centre of attention without her, the popular one, the pretty one, the one everybody wanted to talk to. I know I didn’t curse her, but do I weirdly need to atone, by choosing to sacrifice myself for the rest of the world?
Maybe, but I’m still hoping my super handsome, clever witchy boyfriend can figure something out that gets me to secret option three.
Really hoping.
If he ever stops moaning and groaning with this pain in his leg. His mum is wiping her hands on the front of her apron, looking pleased with herself. His leg looks better, neatly stitched, and clean, but Fletcher is white.
“I’m gonn-”
Whoa – I step out of the way, just in time, of the wave of sick that comes my way.
His mum – brave – steps closer to him. “He’s not right.”
You can say that again. Definitely not the most romantic thing I’ve ever faced.
“Ellis, pass
me the cloth.”
I pass her the flannel I was pressing to his forehead to cool him down and watch her mop his brow. He’s clammy and so pale he almost looks translucent. I panic and his mum can see it on my face.
“He’ll be fine – I think he just lost a little more blood than I first thought.”
“Does he need to go to hospital?”
“Oh, lovely, how would I explain a wolf bite to them?”
I shrug. I have no idea, but if he needs a blood transfusion, she can hardly do that on the kitchen table.
Then I realise I never want to eat off this table again, and my stomach turns a little.
“I’ll be right back.”
She bustles off and I talk to him. “Wake up, Fletcher. I need you. I need you to be okay.”
He ignores me – I’m not sure he’s even conscious, but I keep talking, babbling, droning on, and then his mum comes back. She’s holding a tub full of something that looks really gross. Some sort of lumpy, greyish paste. It does not look like it will help. At all.
She laughs at my face. “This will help, believe me, I know it looks gross, but it’s pure magic paste. Once a month on a full moon, I sit, most mother witches, sit and pour all of their magic, their healing, their hope into a jar of magic balm. Every month it gets more and more potent, and it can cure almost any ill. Except death. Oh, and demons”
That explains why nobody thought to drag this gross stuff out after the demon attack, then.
“It looks...” What can I say?
“Horrible. I know. I didn’t think he was bad enough to need it, but it will work.”
Thank goodness for that.
She smears the grey globs all over his freshly stitched wound and I can’t help but make a face; it looks like it will kill him, not cure him. It looks disgusting and like it will infect him and kill him. In about twenty minutes. I shrug. She knows better than I do.
And, okay, she knows better, because in less than a minute, the sheen of sweat on his face dries, the colour comes back to his cheeks, and he sits up. He isn’t woozy. He looks exactly like he did before he got bitten. He stands, pressing his weight down on his bad leg and grins.
“Careful.” I can’t help but warn him, even though I can see there is no need.
He laughs. “Thanks mum!”
She smiles and shakes her head. “Just doing my job.”
Ah, she’s so cute. She tidies up while I just hold hands with Fletcher and marvel that he’s healed so quickly.
He leans in to kiss me. “I’m glad they bit me, not you. And I’m glad you escaped from the evil fairy twins.”
“I think all fairies might be evil,” I say, kissing him back. I’m full of relief that he’s okay and that I’m okay, but I’m full of dread for what I have to tell him, and as his mother hurries back into the room, ready to find her sister, I have no idea when I’ll get the chance to tell him.
12
“Are you going to be okay to do this?” Ellis asks Fletcher who nods at her, and stands up, hopping from foot to foot, to show how well fixed his leg is.
“Can you take us to her?” Elodie asks, trying her hardest to mask her fear. She feels better that Ellis has seen that Ember is alive and talking to somebody and smiling, but there’s still no way of knowing where she is and if she’s okay – especially as she’s not answering her phone – without seeing her face to face. “I really thought she’d ring once she got my message.”
“Maybe her phone went flat?” Ellis suggests.
“She can magic it back if it does,” Fletcher says, and Ellis understands a little more of why Elodie feels so nervous. With all that’s going on, it’s not a great sign that Ember hasn’t been in touch. Especially after Elodie left a message telling her that their mission to see Sadie was so successful.
“Give me two minutes,” Elodie leaves them alone and Fletcher takes Ellis in his arms.
“I am so glad you’re here with me and that you’re safe.”
Ellis laughs. “So far. Though I have no idea how. Far too many close shaves for me. I need a quiet night, Fletcher, just to watch TV, eat ice cream, maybe have a lay in, in the morning!”
He laughs. “One day!”
She shakes her head. “I honestly don’t think we’ll ever get there. I feel like life is upside down and I can’t ever imagine being normal again. But I also can’t wait either.”
“I know what you mean. This is all new for me too, you know. Okay, so that witches roam the earth isn’t new to me, or vampires, shifters, fairies, demons, but the rest of it? Very new. We’ve never had trouble like this before. I’ve never had to fight or battle or question anything. Life was simple before all this. The only worry I’ve had was becoming head witch and hoping that I’d do a good enough job of it. I worried that I’m too young, that nobody would respect me or listen to me. I worried about my mum worrying about me. She’s a different person since my dad died, always worrying and fretting, and she’ll never get over this. When she has time to stop and think, she will never get over the lies my dad told her, the things he kept from her, however good a reason he had for doing it. And you, I never thought I’d meet someone like you. I feel like I’ve known you all my life, that we were meant to be together, maybe even that you were meant to be head witch before me.” He shakes his head, embarrassed at being so open. “I don’t know... however horrible things are, and however many people have died, which is worse than crap, I’ve got you by my side, which makes it all a little more bearable. I think we can do this. Find Ember, undo the original magic, free the other creatures from our rule, and get on with life. I have this hope that everything will be okay. Do you think I’m being stupid?”
Ellis shakes her head, no, then takes his face in her hands and kisses him, so gently at first, and then with more heat. “I don’t think you’re stupid at all. I think you’re wonderful. And I wouldn’t want to be going through this palaver with anybody else.”
He smiles at her. “Really?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
“Not really. It’s just amazing that there’s something so good in the middle of this awful stuff.”
“It is amazing.”
They stand, hugging, enjoying the feel of being in each other’s arms, and enjoying the calm and the warmth and the peace, knowing it won’t last.
Elodie comes into the kitchen. “I’ve tried her phone again, and she’s not answering. Sometimes it rings and rings and rings and then other times it goes straight to the answering machine as though she’s on the phone. I’ve left more messages and I’ve text her. I’m panicking a bit.”
“She’s okay,” Ellis says, wanting to cheer her up. “I definitely feel that she’s okay.”
Elodie lays a hand on Ellis’s arm. “Thank you, that makes me feel better. I know you’d feel it if she was in any danger.” She sighs. “Okay, let’s go.”
Outside Fletcher holds Ellis in his arms, ready to fly, always happy for a reason to put his arms around her and hold her close. Ellis frowns. “I don’t know where she is yet.”
Fletcher holds a hand up for his mother, to stop her from taking off.
Concern etched on her face as she joins the two of them. “What’s wrong?”
“Ellis can’t see Ember yet.”
Elodie turns to Ellis, concern changed to fear. “Is she alive?”
Ellis nods slowly. “I’m sure she is, but I can’t see where she is. I’m not getting that voice telling me where to go, that instinct.”
“Does that mean there’s something wrong with Ellis or Ember?” Fletcher asks, worry about his girlfriend and his aunt making his voice sharper than he intended.
Elodie shrugs. “I don’t know. Try again, Ellis.”
Ellis nods and closes her eyes, and then shakes her head, opens her eyes, looking beseechingly to Fletcher and then apologetically towards his mother. “I don’t know what’s wrong. When I wanted to find Zeta or the portal, I just closed my eyes and knew. I don’t know.” She looks so miserable that
Fletcher hugs her, and Elodie pats her arm, and then Ellis grins. “If magic isn’t helping, what about plain old technology? Do you have a tracker app on her phone?”
Elodie laughs. “Yes! Fletcher set it up. She can find me, and I can find her. Well, mainly she can find my phone when I lose it. I can never remember where I put it down. Fletcher?”
Fletcher is already scrolling through her phone and looking through the find my phone app. “Got her.” He shows his mum the map. “It’s Killay.”
“Killay? We don’t know anyone who lives in Killay.”
“Maybe it’s the team headquarters. Where they all met to make plans to find the rebels.?”
“That makes sense, why I don’t recognise it. Let’s go.”
In Fletcher’s arms once again, Ellis frowns. “I wonder why my magic isn’t working? Do you think there’s something wrong with me?” Fletcher shakes his head, no. “I think – if it is the headquarters, and it might not be – that they’ve scrambled the magic signal there. Some witches were in with the rebels, remember, so maybe they just wanted to make sure that they couldn’t be found. I think it’s the place, not you.” He kisses her quickly and then smiles as she rests her head on his chest. He takes off, following his mother’s lead.
They land on the corner and pull out Elodie’s phone again. The signal shows Ember’s phone as being in the middle of a row of five terraced houses. “I’ll try ringing her again, and if she doesn’t answer, we’ll just knock the door. Ellis, you’re definitely not getting any feeling that she’s in trouble?”
“Definitely not.”
They are quiet while Elodie rings, and after several rings where nobody picks up, Fletcher nods. “Her phone is here, so let’s go.”
The Accidental End (The Accidental Witch Trilogy Book 3) Page 11