“Mum!” Fletcher’s tone is sharp. “We need to sort this out. How can we swap places?”
Elodie focuses on her son, her eyes full of unshed tears. “Easy,” she says, but there’s no expression in her tone, no life in her eyes.
She mutters some magical spell or other, flicks her wrists at the two of them and they switch places. Even their voices change.
“I’ll bind them all as soon as they undo the magic.”
“Should you do it straight away?” Thea asks.
Fletcher shakes his head, Thea’s hair fluttering around his face, causing him to frown. “I’ll let her do that, we want it done anyway, so it won’t matter, then I’ll stop them before they can kill Ellis. You two bind or kill everybody else and wait outside the door. When I yell, come in and help me.”
Thea nods, Elodie doesn’t. She’s in too much shock.
Thea hugs Fletcher fiercely. “I don’t know if you’re my brother or my cousin, I don’t care, but I know there’s more good in you than any of us. Stop my mum.”
Fletcher nods and goes inside the house, very aware of his boobs.
“Where’s Thea?” Ember asks, the tension filling the room. She clears everybody else out of the room. “Everybody out, except the girls and Vann. And these two.”
“I’m here,” Fletcher says slipping into the room.
There are candles lit, and a fire roaring, making the room too hot, too stuffy. Ellis sits on a chair, and Lincoln sits on another one, to her left. He does not look happy, but he doesn’t look like he’s ready to put up a fight either.
Vann stands guard at the door, and the twins take a seat behind their mother. Ember is ready to perform the ceremony. The ceremony that will give Vann and all the other creatures their authority back. She turns to look at him, giving him a tender and loving smile, before turning to face Ellis again. “This won’t hurt you, Ellis, but as head witch, I need you here.”
Ellis merely shrugs, Ember is wrong. This will hurt her, an awful lot.
Fletcher cannot get comfortable in the chair and wriggles around, aware that Talia is glaring at him. He wants to lock eyes with Ellis; he wants to let her know that it’s him in this room with her, not Thea, that she will be safe, that as soon as the ceremony is over, he will rescue her.
He shuffles his chair over, so he can see her, causing Ember to glare at him. “Thea what’s wrong?”
He smiles sweetly. “Nothing, just want an enjoyable view.”
Ember rolls her eyes but smiles at him. “This is history in the making girls. Adam wanted to give the authority back to his friends for so long and he never got the chance to do it. We’ll do it today. Vann, this is for you.” She blows him a kiss and Fletcher almost laughs when he sees the expression on Ellis’s face. She doesn’t look impressed.
He feels a little calmer. Not ready to process what Thea said to him outside, not ready to face the thought his father might have betrayed his mother and lied to them all for the years afterwards. But he is ready to save Ellis, and he’s more than happy to see the other supernatural creatures get back their autonomy. It’s what his father would have wanted. And he was a good man, in that respect, even if the other thing is true.
Could it be true? He glances at Talia and wonders, could she really be his half sister? He looks at the back of Ember’s head – her stylish hair, her fashionable clothes. Did his dad really cheat on his mum with her sister? He’s not much older than the twins. There’s only a year between him and the twins, so he would have only been a few months old when his dad betrayed his mother.
He shakes his head. He cannot think about it now. He needs to focus on what’s happening in the room. He needs to make sure he steps in at the right time. He can only hope that Thea has pulled Elodie out of her funk so that the two of them are dealing with everybody else in the house – including Gregory.
He knows it’s true; he knows Ember has betrayed them, regardless of who the twin’s father is, but he cannot wrap his head around it, not really. His aunt has always lived with them, she’s always been as close to him as his mother. Has she really been plotting against them this whole time?
Taking a deep breath, he tunes back into the room, to the magic being performed and to Ellis.
He doesn’t understand where the feelings he is feeling for her have come from, or why they are so strong after such a brief period of time, but he loves her. He really loves her. And he has to play this properly; he cannot risk her life because he’s wondering or worrying about his father and what he may or may not have done.
He smiles at Ellis, his heart full for her, feeling sorry for her and wanting to rescue her straight away, but wanting to give his mum and Thea time to get rid of everybody else.
That way there will only be Talia, Ember and Vann to deal with. Lincoln looks sick as a pig to even be in the room, and he knows he won’t join in the fight.
Patience. Let Ember get through the spell, and then he will act.
Ellis
Ember is sitting pretty opposite me, eyes closed, muttering something, her hands held out in front of her, palms up. The twins are watching her closely, and Vann is almost drooling – whether he’s excited about her or his freedom, I’m not sure.
He’s a handsome chap, for sure, but he’s not a good guy, so when I look at him now I don’t see the good-looking face, the hot body, the sexy wings... okay so I see them a little bit, but I see past them.
Maturity.
I see the lies, the betrayal, the cheating, the disloyalty. He’s perfect for Ember.
Talia looks happier than Thea, but then I suppose she should be. By luck or fate or whatever you want to call it, she’s the oldest of the two girls, so she’ll be head witch once I’m dead.
Then I look at Thea. They’re horrible girls and usually when I look at them, all perfect and smug, I shudder; they make my skin crawl. Thea doesn’t have that effect on me today, which is weird, but then maybe she’s not as happy at the outcome of all this as her sister. She must be reeling – they both must – that Adam is their dad, if it’s true. And then that Ember has been planning this all along, since they made me head witch, since she found out that my accidental investment wasn’t an accident at all but planned all along by Zeta.
I still can’t get over that. She was a clever old witch, really. Figuring out that loophole, luring me in... I shudder thinking about holding Layland disguised as Macaroon in my arms again.
Thea clears her throat, and when I shoot a glance at her, she smiles. Softly. Tenderly. Creepily. Why is she looking at me like that?
I look at Talia to see if she’s noticed. Maybe this is another of their weird ways to be horrible to me, or make fun of me, or make me feel so very, very unwelcome in their little world.
Talia hasn’t taken her eyes off her mum, but Thea is gazing at me. Like really intently.
I concentrate instead on Ember. I’m actually happy that this spell is being done, that the supernatural creatures will have power over themselves again. You don’t need a species war to know what’s right and what’s wrong. They should have their power, and of course we know why they couldn’t, until now.
Splendid job, Ellis!
And what nobody else in this room knows is that the true sign of success for Ember’s spell won’t be the freedom of all the species from the shackles of the witches’ power, but my death. I have no idea how I will die. Slowly. Quickly. In a blaze of glory. Will I turn to dust? Will I vanish? Or, knowing Sadie for the brief time that I knew her, will it be horrific, torturous, painful? Yeah, it’s bound to be a painfully slow agonising death that she will have enjoyed thinking about after we left her, even though she’d be long dead by the time it came to pass.
Freak.
She’s speaking a language I understand again, not chanting or speaking in tongues and I want to tune in and to concentrate, I don’t want my death sneaking up on me while my mind was wandering elsewhere – I have a real tendency to do that.
But I can feel the weight o
f Thea’s stare on me, I know she’s looking at me, staring at me, barely blinking and I can’t stop looking at her, and then looking away, and then looking at her. Why is she being so odd and creepy? And, truth be told, a little bit pervy.
Honestly, I haven’t had a lot of boys look at me in this way in my life, but I watch films and TV and read books, and I have caught Fletcher once or twice with this look in his eyes. If you’ve ever watched Dirty Dancing, and if you haven’t you ought to. My mum made me watch it, but I’m so glad I did! Anyway, see – mind wandering – it’s perfectly described by a song in the film, hungry eyes. That’s how Thea is looking at me, and it’s weirding me out.
How can I concentrate and savour the last moments on earth when she is looking at me in that way? It’s very-
Oh.
I stare back at her, not getting embarrassed or awkward or squirmy, but really look at her and I know.
It’s Fletcher!
Am I crazy?
No, it is, it really is.
But if that’s true, if he’s switched places with Thea, why isn’t he rescuing me? He knows Ember will kill me and have Lincoln invest Talia as head witch. Why isn’t he helping?
And then my stomach sinks to my shoes and even lower. He isn’t rescuing me because he doesn’t know I’m minutes from my death. He’ll wait. It makes so much sense. He’ll wait until Ember has finished this spell, setting the other species free, and then he’ll step in and save the day.
And by then it will be too late.
And there’s no way I can tell him... no, I can. I can talk to him without talking to him, like how his mum called him, silently, without saying a word, when she found Sadie at the coven.
Fletcher. I call out to him in my head and watch Thea to see if he hears me. Fletcher! Nothing. Is it because he’s disguised as Thea? I silently scream his name over and over and over, while keeping my face passive, which is harder than you might think.
He doesn’t flinch.
I close my eyes. Stupid, pointless, rubbish witch. I really am terrible at this.
You’d think something in my witch brain would realise this was pretty important and figure out a way for me to tell Fletcher that he needs to step in sooner rather than later.
Ember throws her arms open, sparks flying from her fingers, the air changing from boiling hot to freezing cold, a wind whistling through the room, despite the windows and doors being closed.
We’re getting close to the end of this, I can sense it.
“The time is now!” Ember calls out and there’s an answering crash of thunder. She closes her eyes, and I close mine.
I don’t need to see this; I don’t need to see Fletcher’s face when I die, however I die. I don’t need to see Ember’s disappointment when she realises that she doesn’t get to call the shots on this, and her glee when she realises that nothing can stop her ambition for Talia. I can’t resist, though, and I open my eyes to glance at Talia who is bright eyed but quiet, and Thea who is still trying to convey through pervy glances that she is actually Fletcher.
I roll my eyes – he is as subtle as a brick and just as useless. Why not come in and save me before letting Ember do this stupid spell? Why not act a little quicker? Why can’t he hear me calling him? I will die, and he’s just going to sit there and watch. The pillock.
A shiver runs through me, head to toe, and I feel faint and woozy all at the same time. I take a deep breath as the energy drains out of me, and I slump a little in my chair.
This is it; it’s coming. I can feel it.
Tears spring in my eyes, and a skull-splitting shriek booms through my brain, causing a pain like I’ve never felt before. Despite trying to act relaxed while waiting for my death, I cannot ignore this pain. I cry out and hold on to my head, tears pouring down my face and flooding my vision. I’m going to pass out, and probably never come around again.
This is the end.
I know it.
Thea jumps out of her seat and rushes to my side. Ember stands up, her face angry. Talia hovers behind her mum. Vann stays at the door; he doesn’t look too concerned.
Ember probably thinks I’m trying to screw up her spell, delay my death at Vann’s hand, but she doesn’t know.
I can’t help this. I cry out again and fall to the floor.
I’ll miss my mum and dad, and Isey. And of course, Fletcher. A sob breaks out of me and then my vision is swimming from more than just tears. I get to see Molly again. That’s a good thing. I get to hug her and tell her all about Fletcher, and all about being a witch. She won’t believe me.
I can feel a dreamy smile cover my face. I’ve not been drunk many times in my life, but that’s how I feel now. I feel like I’m in a bubble, like I’m one step removed from reality. I can hear voices, but I don’t know what they are saying. I can see people, but I don’t know where they are.
The pain dulls, and the room fades, and my heartbeat slows right down. I can hear it drumming in my ears, getting slower, and slower, and slower.
And then I reach for Thea who is Fletcher one more time, just to feel the touch of another human before I-
15
“Ellis!” Fletcher screams her name as she loses consciousness, and quickly spells his cousin Talia, and Vann, before turning to his aunt at the same time as hollering out to his mum and Thea.
“What the hell are you doing, Thea!” Ember is furious, anger making sparks shoot from her fingers. “Why are you screaming for your mum, when I’m right here, and why are you screeching your own name, and why have you spelled...” It dawns on her and she puts a hand up to immobilise him, but he’s too quick. He dodges to the side. “I’m Fletcher, Thea told me everything.” He pushes his hair off his forehead and fury over whatever has happened to Ellis strengthens his magic. He binds Ember, causing her to fall to the floor. She is helpless for now but screaming obscenities at him.
The door flies open and his mum and Thea still disguised as him, come in. His mother is bleeding and looks like she’s got a black eye. Thea looks okay.
“Mum, are you okay? I need help with Ellis.”
Quickly Elodie switches Fletcher and Thea back to their normal selves. Thea refuses to look at her mum or sister, both of whom are pleading with their eyes for her to help them.
“Mum, what’s wrong with Ellis?”
“I don’t know.” Elodie feels for a pulse and puts a hand above her mouth. “She’s breathing, she’s alive.” She turns to her sister. “What did you do to her?”
Ember shrugs and refuses to answer.
Elodie mutters a few spells, keeping her fingers on Ellis’s wrist. She tuts with annoyance. Simple spells aren’t working. Elodie turns to face Ember, the hurt, anger, betrayal and devastation that Adam might be the twins’ father making her far more furious than she would have been if Ember was just trying to grab power for herself for any other reason. Elodie slaps her sister across the face, enjoying the loud noise her hand makes as it strikes her skin. Ember touches her face and then laughs. “Is that the best you can do?”
“Oh, I can do better. I want to know what’s wrong with Ellis first.”
“Nothing that I’ve done, more’s the pity.”
Fletcher has scooped Ellis into his arms, trying the few bits of magic that he knows that might help. She doesn’t stir.
“Mum!” The pain and misery in his voice forces Elodie to turn away from her sister. She kneels beside Ellis again. “I don’t know Fletcher, her heart rate is slowing, she’s not responding.”
“Then we take her to hospital.”
“We can’t, you know that. Let me try...” She presses her hands to Ellis’s forehead, muttering the words to another spell.
Ember tuts. “Let me help.”
Fletcher spins to look at her, to glare at her. “Why? You would have killed her right after you finished this spell, anyway. Did you do something to her?”
“You know everything?” She looks at her daughter, Thea. “You told him everything? You betrayed me.”
Ember swears at her, and Elodie turns to shoot a flame at her. “Watch your mouth. Your daughter is showing the loyalty you couldn’t. Now, what’s happened to Ellis?”
“I don’t know.” Ember folds her arms across her chest, able to move, but unable to perform any magic. “I really don’t. I did the spell, I got to the end and then she went all funny.”
“You’d finished the spell?”
Ember nods.
Elodie looks at Fletcher. “Maybe Sadie tricked Ellis, when she said that she changed the magic. Maybe she meant to hurt Ellis?”
Fletcher nods. It makes sense, sort of. There’s no other reasonable explanation to why Ellis has suddenly collapsed, when she was in perfect health two minutes before. He knows; he was watching her. Watching her roll her eyes at Ember, watching her expression when he tried to convey who he really was, and then watching her realise that he was Fletcher and not Thea. And then she went.
Elodie doesn’t look happy. “Fletcher, we can’t take her to a hospital, but I need you to phone Matthew – Dr Jones.”
Fletcher flicks through his phone and dials the number of their friend, a doctor but also a witch. There would be too many questions asked if they took Ellis to a regular hospital and she started shooting sparks from her fingertips, or worse.
“He’s on his way. Mum...” He doesn’t have to finish his sentence; she can read the fear on his face. If this is something Sadie put into motion when Ellis met with her, there might be nothing they can do, magically to help her, they can only hope that Matthew can do something, medically.
“All we can do is wait. I’m giving her as much of my life energy as I can. Put your hands on her skin, and you Thea.”
The Accidental End (The Accidental Witch Trilogy Book 3) Page 14