Witchslapped in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  Eager to shake off the feeling of dread, I got up and tiptoed downstairs. It was too early for a shower—I’d wake everyone. In the kitchen, I grabbed a glass of water. Ooh, there was a gold-coloured packet on the counter. I smiled. Olivia had returned safely and baring coffee grounds.

  I turned the coffee machine on, filled the thingy with coffee, and inserted it into its home on the machine. I wasn’t magicking anything this morning—my body needed a break. My limbs were heavy and sore, as if I’d run a marathon yesterday. I’d spend time later stretching because at least some of the ache had come from the sprint I’d done. Even though running was part of my regular routine, I’d pushed myself hard yesterday, not to mention all the magic use. The combination was ridiculously painful.

  Coffee made, I opened the back door and sat on the park bench—the same one I’d sat on at James’s welcome-home party after being kidnapped. The same one where James had given me our mother’s diaries. What would she think of our current situation? I had no doubt she would have protected us and given us some great advice.

  I sipped my coffee and watched through thick jasmine-scented air as the sky lightened, painting the smattering of clouds coral. I hugged my arms to my sides and cradled my cup to my chest. Such calm and serenity, almost like being in the eye of the storm, except birds chirped and squirrels darted along branches in the large tree whose thick branches reached over our back fence.

  Soft footsteps shuffled behind me. “Hey.”

  I turned and smiled. “Hey, big bro.”

  He sat next to me, dark hair scruffy, his jaw sporting five o’clock shadow, although I didn’t think five in the morning was the time they meant. He put his forearms on his legs and turned his head towards me. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m much better, thanks. Remember the last time we were sitting out here?”

  “Seems like a lifetime ago.”

  “Tell me about it. I’m sure not the same person who came here at the end of April.”

  He grinned. “You can say that again.” He gestured, and the familiar tingle of magic warmed my scalp. “Bubble of silence.”

  I nodded. “How’s Angelica?”

  “Free of Dana’s influence. That witch did a real number on her. The more Angelica fought it, the more it tried to infiltrate her brain. It would have killed her or made her pretty much brain dead. I’ve never seen anything like it. She’d trapped it, so it fought my attempts to destroy it.” He shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like that either. It’s crazy. If it wasn’t for you giving me your power, I would have died or given up.” He stared at me, worry and confusion playing over his face. “How did you do it, Lily? It’s supposed to be impossible.”

  I returned his stare with one of blankness. “I have no idea. When I look at witches with my third eye, I don’t just see their aura. I can also feel the heat from their magic—at least, that’s where I figure it’s from. It’s not just body heat, but something that’s generated with a kind of vibration as well. It’s hard to describe. I once felt it with Will, and he shut down the conversation and basically left.”

  James stared into the distance at the sky, which had brightened, the darkness giving way to faded blue. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, and when he spoke, he didn’t move, just kept staring at the vast cloud-smattered blue. “If you can give power, you can draw it too. In our history books, there has only ever been one witch like you. She lived over a thousand years ago. When the witch ruling council at the time found out what she could do, they killed her.”

  The birds chirped. The squirrels squirrelled. My stomach dropped, and my mouth went dry. Why couldn’t I be a bird or squirrel? Life would go on as per normal. Maybe I could change myself into one? Hmm, I’d have to look into it. As a squirrel, I could do cute things and become an Internet sensation, plus I liked nuts. Nuts were good food, and if I begged, I was sure humans would feed me chocolate muffins and coffee.

  “Well, Lily? Say something.” He finally turned to look at my face.

  “I don’t know what to say. Should I just kill myself and avoid weeks or months of thinking someone will murder me any moment?”

  “No! Of course not.”

  “I don’t even know if I can draw power from someone else, and if I can, we just won’t tell anyone. Does Angelica know?”

  “Yes, she does. We’ve been discussing the best way to utilise your talents against Dana without anyone knowing. I’m not sure it can be done, though.”

  Ooh, we were planning to overthrow queen of the piranhas. I liked the sound of that. “Surely any witch could see me transferring power to you if they looked with their other sight.”

  “Yep, and we can’t risk it. Anyway, we can beat Dana without it, but we have to tread carefully. She has everyone at the PIB enthralled, which is no small thing. The energy she’d need to keep it going is almost unthinkable.”

  “Remember that day at the art gallery—you mentioned some kind of cloaking device? Would that help her draw and hold a lot of power without killing herself from the effort? Because, let me tell you, if I’d gone on much longer yesterday, I might have died. I was totally drained afterwards. It really showed me how weak I really am. I have no witch stamina.” They needed a witch gym, where you could go to build up your magic muscles. Hmm, better not advertise it like that. “Magic muscles” was a bit ambiguous. I snickered.

  He looked at me as if I’d gone mad. “And that’s totally hilarious.”

  “I wasn’t laughing about that. Never mind. So, what if it is some kind of illegal witchy device. How do we find it and destroy it?”

  “I have no idea. Why don’t we wait for Angelica to get up, and we can have a proper meeting—the three of us. There’s also the not-so-small matter of the witch who spelled violence on Westerham and Kent. I had a look through your camera, and I’ve done some research. The guy’s name is Gabriel Whitehorse. He grew up in Westerham, went to a local school. His father’s dead and his mother’s in a special nursing home for witches.”

  Oh, wow. I had no idea there were special ones for witches. I wondered if they came with extra security—demented witches could probably cause a lot of trouble. You’d need more than a passcode to keep them in. Maybe the whole place was warded? On a good note, if you worked there, you could just magic the cleaning, nappy changes, and sponge baths.

  “Do you have any ideas on why he did it?” Why would someone want to do something so heinous—pit neighbour against neighbour, sibling against sibling, and partners against each other?

  “I haven’t gotten that far. I’ll have to interview people who knew him. I’m still digging, trying to find his old school friends, find out where he worked before running the tea business. Come on. Let’s go inside. I’m going to cook some breakfast. How do pancakes sound?”

  “With whipped cream and strawberries?” I wasn’t an early-morning eater, but for that, I’d make an exception.

  “Sure. Why not?”

  There was one sip of coffee left in my cup, and I swallowed it. Argh! It was cold. I stood and waved at the squirrels. “See you later, little cuties. Maybe I’ll join you later in squirrel form.” I grinned. Life goals: becoming a squirrel. It was the best idea I’d had in a while.

  By the time I stepped into the kitchen, James had the table set and was magicking up the pancakes. Three plates, a bowl of strawberries, and a bowl of cream all waited. I sat at the table just as Angelica walked through the door, dressed and impeccable, her hair back in its bun. I smiled. “Welcome back.”

  She smiled. “I could say the same to you. How are you feeling?” She sat opposite me, and a steaming cup of tea appeared on the table in front of her.

  “I’m good. A bit sore and tired, but nothing permanent. What about you? Are you… Um. Do you hate me?”

  She shook her head slowly, her face sad. “I’m so sorry, Lily. Dana’s powers of persuasion are stronger than any of us realised. Before I knew what had happened, she had control of my mind. There was part of me
, buried deep, that was aghast at what I was saying and allowing to happen to you. Can you forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive. It wasn’t your fault.”

  “I should have realised she was unhinged when she returned. In fact, when she left for New York, after she broke Will’s heart, I held some ill will towards her. She hadn’t conducted herself with as much empathy as I would have liked. It told me a lot about who she was, but I shrugged it off, told myself she was one of our best agents, and that the PIB needed all kinds to function.”

  “By all kinds, do you mean someone needs to work the torture chamber?” I laughed because I was joking. The look Angelica gave me, lips pressed together, eyes serious told me I was close to the truth. “Oh, crap.”

  “Sometimes it takes what it takes.”

  “But that’s barbaric!”

  “Lily, if you’d seen some of the witches we’ve seen, you would know not everyone readily admits to the horrors they’ve perpetrated, and sometimes we need that extra incentive. What we do is for the good of the world, for mankind, and witches. That kind of thing is not common, and it’s not something I’m proud of. More an evil necessity.”

  I trusted her, and I knew what she was saying made sense—when you were dealing with evil, a decent person was automatically not on a level playing field. The question was: What were we willing to sacrifice to keep everyone safe?

  I looked from Angelica to my brother. “Is there a bubble of silence around us?” We’d been talking about Dana, and from the conversation, it was clear Angelica was better and ready to fight. I hoped someone had thought to keep it private.

  Angelica answered, “Yes, of course. I set one as soon as I sat down. Dana may have had control of me for a while, but I’m back, and I’m ready to take her down, all the way to the PIB cells.” She smiled.

  I grinned. She would so enjoy living there. I could vouch for the disgustingness of their toilets and how boring it was. Knowing she was in there was going to bring me so much joy, and if that made me a horrible person, I would be glad to wear that tag. “I’m happy to hear it. So, how do we go about that?”

  James put the pancakes on the table and sat next to me. Mmm, they smelled delicious. I stabbed one with my fork and put it on my plate. “Thanks. These look awesome.”

  “My pleasure. Angelica and I had a chat while you were asleep. The first thing we need to do is prove that Gabriel had a motive, which means we need to dig into his past. Angelica and I are going to do that without alerting Dana and Drake. Drake is obviously in Dana’s control, but Angelica is still a higher rank than Dana, so the only thing stopping us from investigating is Drake ordering us to stay away, and if he doesn’t know what we’re doing, he can’t make that order. So, we have to tread carefully. After we establish his motive, we’ll need to prove he did it, of course. We can’t use your photos, so we’re going to have to figure out how he did it and come up with some proof. We also may need you to take more photos to help us find the direction we need to go. Are you up for that, Lily?”

  “Yes. Definitely.” I didn’t have to think twice. This was going to be dangerous, but that wasn’t anything different from what my life was anyway. Plus, Dana being free to run the PIB would create more danger than what I was currently experiencing, truth be told. I was all in.

  I covered my pancake with strawberries and smothered it all in cream and took a bite. Sooooo delicious.

  “What about the gadget she might have that helps her do magic quietly?” If I knew what it was, maybe I could get it off her at some point.

  Angelica placed her teacup on the saucer. “I’ve been thinking about that. If you use a magic cloaking device, you have to be touching it the entire time you draw magic for the spell. She wears a gold band on the middle finger of her right hand. It would either be that, her diamond stud earrings, or maybe she has something strapped to her body. She doesn’t wear a necklace—which I know because she rarely wears a tie and has her three top shirt buttons undone.” Angelica sighed and shook her head. I was glad I wasn’t the only one who thought she was an attention-seeking witch.

  “So it’s not going to be easy getting it off her.”

  James shook his head. “Unless you want to try chopping her hand off when she least expects it.”

  Angelica laughed. “I can see it now. First we chop off her hand, but that’s not it, so we have to chop off her ears, but that’s not it. I wonder what else we might have to do?”

  James snickered. Oh my God. Typical Angelica. She loved gruesome. Every. Single. Time. I shook my head, although my mouth twitched up. It was kind of funny, but only because I knew she was joking. Hmm… “You are joking, aren’t you?”

  Angelica and James looked at each other, then looked at me. They both burst out laughing. Okaaaay. That was not an answer. I gave up.

  Angelica settled down and took a sip of tea, then said, “Don’t worry, dear. We’ll worry about the amulet, or whatever it is, later. First we need to make our case against Gabriel. Don’t forget: there are still violent crimes going on out there, and thousands of people’s lives have been upended. We need to stop that before we do anything else, or who knows how far it will spread.”

  “Of course. I know. I’m so glad we have you back. I missed you.” I forked some cream-laden pancake into my mouth.

  Angelica smiled. “It’s good to be back. Now, enjoy your breakfast, dears, because, after this, we’ll have to get to work. And our job won’t be easy.”

  Argh, as if I needed that reminder.

  I savoured every bite of pancake. Who knew—maybe it would be the last time we all ate together? I wasn’t prone to morbid thoughts, but Dana was out for blood, and I had a feeling I was first on her list.

  Chapter 12

  I looked at my phone for the tenth time in fifteen minutes. It was 8:12 p.m., and James and Angelica were overdue. They’d been out interviewing and chasing leads all day, and we were potentially going to visit the warehouse tonight, get inside, and see what we could find. To distract myself, I’d grabbed Olivia, and we were watching TV in the downstairs living room.

  “Oh, my God! Lily, it’s William!”

  My heart spasmed, then raced as my head shot up from my phone. “What? Where?”

  “There!” She’d jumped to her feet and was animatedly pointing at the television. “Look!”

  I leaned forward. “Oh, God.” He was standing with another agent, two police officers, and four men in army gear, attempting to hold back a mob in Canterbury. The violence had finally spread. Crap. The crowd was blocking the tourist entry to Canterbury Cathedral grounds. The whole road was filled with people yelling abuse and throwing bottles, shoving and punching each other, but they were also advancing on William’s group. A bottle flew towards his head. He hit it out of the way at the last second.

  Crap.

  “Bloody hell, Liv! Is that Dana standing next to him?” The camera had been filming from the side, and whilst I saw the matching suit to Will’s, I hadn’t seen the agent’s face. Now that the camera panned around more from the front, their identity was revealed. “Turn it up.”

  She turned it up, and the jeering got louder. A chant started. “Kill the pigs. Kill the pigs.” A chair flew past the camera and hit one of the soldiers in the shoulder. He stumbled backwards but kept his feet. Where the hell did someone get a chair?

  The male reporter off-camera said in a harried voice, “The situation is deteriorating. Army backup has been called, but they haven’t arrived.”

  A call of, “Charge!” came from the masses, and I swear to God, Dana smiled. Did she know the camera was filming her? Oh, apparently she did because she looked straight at it. Then all hell broke loose. The crowd surged. Dana shoved Will to the ground. She pointed at the camera, and the picture went black, but in the split second before it did, Dana disappeared.

  My breath was coming fast. “Did you see that, Liv? Did you see she disappeared?”

  Her mouth had fallen open, and she nodded.
>
  “I have to get to Will. He’ll be trampled to death.” My thoughts raced, as unruly as the mob had been.

  The newsroom came on, and the attractive blonde behind the desk apologised for the loss of picture.

  “I’m going, Liv. If Angelica and James get back, tell them where I am. I’ll do my best to get Will back here as soon as I can.” I pulled the mind map up in my head and focussed on Canterbury—I’d been there only three weeks ago on a day trip. The cathedral was magnificent, and I had the photos of stained glass and soaring ceilings to prove it. There was a witch’s landing place nearby, in Burgate public toilets.

  My map dissolved as Liv spoke. “You can’t go. What if something happens to you? What if it’s a trap?” Lines were set into her brow—when those lines appeared, it meant there was little chance she’d be swayed.

  “How can it be a trap? She couldn’t know I was watching this channel, or that they’d even televise it. Just because there was a news crew there doesn’t mean it would make the news. There must be hundreds of them out there filming different things.”

  “I just have a funny feeling.”

  My mouth went dry. “The more we argue, the more danger Will is in. I can’t let him die.” I tuned out her voice and brought the map up again. I pinpointed where I wanted to go, stamped the coordinates on my door, and stepped through.

  Ew, the toilets stank. I burst out of the door and turned right. Soon, I hit a T-intersection with Burgate Street. I turned right and kept running. Déjà vu anyone? I turned left at the next street, which was wider and busier. Screams and shouts, cries of anger rippled towards me. I mumbled a return-to-sender spell, just in case Dana was hanging around.

  Smoke smudged the air. It burnt my throat as I did my best to gulp in oxygen to feed my sprinting legs. I was almost at the cathedral. Hundreds of crazed humans filled the road. Some had broken from where the bodies were thickest, and they were smashing shop windows, grabbing what they could, and running, or waiting for someone else to do it, and then punching them, taking the stuff and running.