In a flurry of activity, magically moving the bound Zetas, sparking fire at the henchmen who try to stop them leaving, and fear about the girls, the witches get outside and with a nod fly back to the safe house.
They get inside, with difficulty, there are only six of them with eleven helpless Zetas, none of whom can move independently now. The safe house is empty. There are two boxes of pizza sitting on the table, and one on the floor, pizza slices spilled everywhere.
“They’ve gone. All of them.”
“Right.” Fletcher clears the room with some magic – pizza gone; eleven chairs lined up. He pushes one Zeta into each chair and then starts at the beginning of the line.
The others stand behind him, ready to assist. Fury is guiding him now and they are happy to let him take the lead. It’s what he would be doing, anyway, if the magic ceremony hadn’t gone so terribly wrong.
He unbinds the first Zeta, then points a sparking finger at her. “Revert to form.” He says the words with authority and both Elodie and Ember are smiling. This isn’t what either of them would have done, but it’s clever in its simplicity. The first Zeta vanishes. She has no form, because she’s not the real one. They are magical clones, made of nothing more than Zeta’s desire to bamboozle them. It won’t take long to get to the real one. He goes along the line, unbinding and questioning each one, and number seven is the real Zeta. When he tells her to revert to form, she snarls and lashes out at him. He quickly binds her again and gets rid of the others.
She looks quite pathetic sitting on her chair now. Not so clever, not so proud of herself.
He loosens the magic that’s binding her, only slightly. They need to be able to talk to her and they need her to talk to John. “I want her back. Now.”
Zeta simpers. “That’s won’t be so easy.”
“Now!” Sparks fly out of his fingers, close to her hair, causing her to flinch backwards.
“You wouldn’t hurt an old woman, would you Fletcher?”
“I’d hurt you. I want Ellis back now. She’s nothing to do with any of this. She’s just a human girl. You started this war on us long before she became involved. Why take her?”
“She is important to all of us. She’s the head witch. If a decision is going to be made to undo the hold the witches have on the other species, it will come from her.”
“So you kidnaped her to force her to free the other species? That doesn’t even make sense.” His voice is a roar now. “This has gone past that. That’s been your bull excuse the whole time. We banished you and were mean to the other species. And that excuses you killing us, and killing them? You’re just a lunatic. How do you contact John? Do it now.”
She shakes her head, then holds a hand up, barring any more magic being used against her. “I can’t contact him. We made a plan and he’ll stick to it. I cannot do anything until the morning.”
“What is the plan. Tell me.”
“John has taken the girls. Somewhere safe. But I don’t know where.”
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t know where. We thought it would be safer. He won’t hurt them. Then in the morning, he’ll let me know where to meet him.”
“But you must be able to contact him in the meantime?”
“No. That’s the plan.”
She’s so smug it infuriates him, and he wants to hurt her so badly, but he knows he shouldn’t because she’s the crone and a woman, and... he has to turn away from her. She cannot move or cause any trouble; but she’s refusing to help as well.
They move away from her, leaving Jane and David watching her. They are anxious and upset about Sally. Ember is worried about the girls. All of them are worried about each other.
Fletcher turns to Vann. “We are witches, we are in power, so maybe we are too deep in this to see it, but do the fairies wish for independence? Is it such a terrible thing that we haven’t given you all your freedom? Does it make sense that Zeta is doing this, all of this, because of that?”
Vann looks uncomfortable, but he answers. “Fletcher, honestly, we all want our freedom. Our independence from the witches means nothing to you but a lot to us. The old ways are out of date now. We don’t need one person to rule all of us or keep us in check or to carry the knowledge. We have books, technology, to do that – and the world is too big. It isn’t like the old days, where we all knew the head witch and the clans were close. The world has grown, our numbers have grown. You would have been head of the magical creatures in this country but half of the species from this country have moved somewhere else. What benefit is there to having a head witch now? In this modern world, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a tradition, I understand that. It’s the way it’s been for a long time and I understand that, but it wouldn’t matter at all to you to let us all go. You could be head witch of the witches and we would have someone of our own species representing us. Besides which, the species have mingled since the old days too. We have lots of hybrid babies being born.”
Fletcher looks sad but thoughtful. “So, you think Zeta’s right?”
Vann holds up his hands. “No! She’s crazy. This isn’t our fight she’s fighting, or the vampires, or the shifters. This is her own distorted view of the world. We don’t want to hurt you or kill you, you’re our friends and in some cases family. We just think it’s out of date to have one species rule over the others. It’s archaic.”
“So why wouldn’t any of the other head witches give that power to you? It sounds so reasonable what you’ve just said. I understand it. And if we weren’t in the middle of this mess and one of you had come to me with this request, I can’t imagine saying no to it.”
“That’s good to hear. Fletcher, so many leaders just do what the leader before them did. There are no fresh ideas, no new thoughts. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks. Mum, what do we do?”
Elodie gestures for Jane and David to join them; there really isn’t anything Zeta can do while she’s bound. “I know this is hard, but I think we have to wait. I cannot think of a way to force her to contact John, and if she did, it might alert him to something being wrong with their plan. If they were to have no contact until morning, and she rings him, or contacts him any other way, then he’ll know something’s wrong.”
“So do nothing?”
It breaks his heart to see his mother nod her head.
Ellis
John is creepy as fudge. He’s kind of handsome for an old bloke, which adds to the creepiness, and he definitely looks better in person than in his photograph. But, still, I do not want to fancy my kidnapper, thank you very much.
He was invited in, damn Sally, but he was very nice about it all. There was no violence, just some dodgy hypnosis, kind of suggestion crap.
And it worked.
He suggested us right out of the safe house and into his car.
I am stuck in the front with him and the girls are in the back. He smells lovely.
Gross.
I have no idea why I am finding him even the slightest bit appealing. He’s older than my dad, he’s not kidnapped us for a good reason – like a trip to the cinema or an ice cream – he’s a vampire who probably wants to kill us all, and all I can think of is that he seems like an absolute gent.
It has to be more of the suggestion type crap. An absolute gent wouldn’t have lied to get into our safe house and then kidnapped us all – even if it was a very gentile kind of kidnapping.
“Are you all comfortable?”
I can’t help it; I giggle. I’m in the car with a very dangerous being and I’m laughing. He shoots me a glance, a smirk on his face, and then he watches the road again. “Well, are you?”
I watch him driving; his muscular arms on the wheel, strong, hairy arms, a nice watch, sleeves rolled up, ready to work – ready to strangle us probably. Do vampires strangle people, or just suck their blood?
Here I go!
“So, do vampires strangle people or just suck their blood?”
I hear the girls in t
he back gasp, but I keep a straight face. It’s an honest question and I have a feeling he’ll give me an honest answer.
He’s smiling at me again. A strange smile, enigmatic, is the word that pops into my head. Seductive is the next word.
Ooh, gross.
I definitely don’t fancy old vampires, but he seems really, really nice.
Like if your old granny had a boyfriend, you wouldn’t want to date him yourself, but you could see he was a gentleman – good looking in his day, and maybe a bit of a cad...
I shake my head. It’s got to be the vampire vibe messing with my head. Like when I first saw Vann the fairy and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. This feels the same, but also I don’t feel any harm coming from this vampire.
“We usually just suck their blood. It’s not so strenuous. It’s a little bit messier, but ultimately preferable.”
I can’t help it; I laugh again. “Messier.” I repeat the word, chuckling. Of course, it’s messier to suck someone’s blood until they die, but he’s so relaxed about it. I suppose I did ask.
“And do you plan on killing us, in a non strenuous way?”
He laughs out loud – a pleasant sound. “I like you. You’re straight to the point. Witches usually aren’t. At least Zeta isn’t.” He sounds nostalgic. “She’s the most complicated girl you ever met. Wonderfully complicated. You, you’re simple.”
Simple. Doesn’t actually sound like a compliment, does it?
“I have no plan, or desire, to kill any one of you lovely young ladies. I am under instruction to take you to my lair, which is much more homely than it sounds, settle you in with some food, drink and four comfy beds. I’ll allow you to lock yourselves into the room and keep hold of the key.”
I feel suspicious. “Why so nice?”
“Vampires are nice. We have a very bad press, you know. Zeta wants you alive. That’s all I know.”
“And you do as you’re told?”
“Like any good vampires does.”
We are silent for a while and I mull over what he’s said.
It feels too easy. Too nice. Zeta and John killed people and sent their bloody hearts in a box to the other species, just to get the witches in trouble, just to frame them for the murders they had been carrying out. They’ve killed their own kind, humans, other species and they released the demons. No way is this going to end nicely.
But I smile and listen to the radio and keep a dumb, trusting look on my face.
When we get out of the car I manage to whisper to Thea. “Play it cool. Don’t fight back.”
I see her confused expression, but she nods, and I see her pass the message on to Talia and Sally.
We are ushered inside a huge old mansion, very gothic, very vampire, although the inside doesn’t match at all – it’s very minimalistic and bright. He takes us to a lovely room, with four – as promised – comfy beds and when he tucks us inside, he gives us the key. “Lock me out, the maid will knock when she brings the food.”
When I lock the door, the girls look at me like I’m insane.
“What was that?”
“Why not fight back?”
“We could have easily spelled him!”
“Wait a minute. Didn’t you hear what he said in the car?”
“That we’d be safe and fed and have lovely beds? Are you kidding me! You believe him?”
I shake my head, no. I do not believe him, but I know there’s something else. Some trick. “I think there’s a trick, I just don’t know what it is, but if we tried to spell him, and it went wrong, we’d be dead.”
“She’s right. Vampires are nasty.”
“With a bad press,” I mutter. “So, let’s think. What’s his game? He took all of us – not just me.”
“Even though you’re the only special one?” Sally sneers and I shake my head.
“Really? I know you hate me, but I can’t help being the head witch. I didn’t choose it. It was an accident.”
“Sally, not now. She’s right. He could have left us there. Why does he want or need us?”
“To annoy, anger, upset our parents. Pick one.”
“We don’t even know if our parents are okay.”
“They are.” I get a weird rush and I know it. Sally’s mum and dad are fine – worried sick over her disappearance but unharmed. Ember is the same. Furious and frightened but alive. I shrug. “I just know.”
They nod. “Okay so we are all alive and they are all alive. Fletcher and Elodie, Vann too?”
I nod. I don’t know how I know, but I know.
“What about Zeta, did they kill her?”
I shake my head. I can feel her too. She’s alive.
“So what? Why take us? Why cause more trouble? But why not hurt us or them?”
We are silent, trying to work the puzzle out. There’s a knock at the door and we all jump. “Food.”
We wait a minute, for whoever brought it to leave, then open the door, bringing four trays inside the room, and then locking it again.
“I’m not eating it,” Talia says.
We all agree and throw the food out the window. Let the rats have it, and if it’s poisoned let John find their dead bodies in the morning, not ours. We are hungry though, so we magic up a feast, well, the girls do and their fake food tastes much better than mine. Practice.
We eat in silence, each of us looking as confused as I certainly feel.
“Think,” I say to myself, more than anyone else. “They sent the demons to distract us so we wouldn’t know they were surrounding the house. They weren’t surrounding the house to make us happy, or keep us warm, they wanted to attack us, kill us all and end this, whatever this is.”
“But we left and went to the safe house.”
“And the others went to Zeta’s.”
“So the ones at our house went inside but we weren’t there...”
“So they reported back to Zeta, and she sent John to the safe house...”
“Why the safe house? How could anybody know we were there?”
“And that’s what doesn’t make sense. Unless they were watching, or...”
“What?”
“The only other person who knew we left the house and escaped, who knew that some of us were going to the safe house and some of us were going to find Zeta, but who isn’t a witch...” I look at them, eyes wide, waiting for them to get my drift. They don’t. I help them. “Vann!”
13
“None of us will be able to sleep well, but we can’t force this to happen any quicker. John’s got the girls, Zeta says they are safe. We just have to wait.”
Fletcher slumps into a chair. He won’t shower, tuck himself into bed and sleep; he will sit here. If he drifts off, then he drifts off, but there’s no way he can switch off. It’s not just Ellis, either, he’s worrying about everything. The twins. Sally. The future of their species. The other species.
Why were all the head witches so reluctant to give up the power? There must be more to it than pure bloody mindedness or cruelty. Listening to Vann he can think of no good reason to say no to the species each having their autonomy back, leading themselves, appointing one person to be in charge, and the four heads of the four species meeting to discuss any matters that affect them all.
Seems like common sense to him.
His father was a good man, he smiles remembering all the good he said and did. The way he taught him to always be kind and look out for others, to never forget the privilege that he had been born into.
This refusal, point blank, seems so unlike him, unreasonable and unyielding – all things that Fletcher knows his father wasn’t. He can remember how his father taught him to negotiate if he did something wrong. He’d ask him, what do you think your punishment should be, Fletcher? Fletcher would give a silly answer, but then his father would frown and tell him to really think about what he did wrong, really think about how sorry he was, what he could do to make things better, and how he should be punished. He learned never to give a silly answer
again.
He cannot reconcile this image of his father refusing to help anybody with the man he knew so well.
His father was a champion for anybody who needed help, for anybody who couldn’t speak up for themselves. He didn’t ever see things only in black and white, and he often changed his mind and opinions on things; he was open to what anybody said to him and he definitely wasn’t set in his ways.
If anyone could have seen the plight of the other species, if anybody could have been convinced to change the world they lived in, it was his father.
Why would he refuse autonomy? Why would his father – the best man he knew, so kind and good and honourable – say no? And not just to the members of each species that he didn’t know or have a personal connection with. Why would he say no, to John, his best friend?
Fletcher had seen them together; they were like brothers. Close, true friends, completely in tune with each other. As different as a witch and vampire could be, but with the same views and ideas on so much of the important stuff.
Did his father know about Zeta and John, about Efa? Why did his dad refuse to relinquish power, like every other head witch before him? There are so many answers he wishes he had.
He jumps up and goes to his mother’s side. “Mum, we need to talk.”
She nods and breaks away from the others. Ember frowns, wondering what they are discussing, but she’s happy for Elodie to tell her later. She doesn’t want to leave Vann’s side.
“Mum. You knew dad better than anyone.”
Elodie winces a little at the mention of her dead husband, but nods.
“Maybe. I wonder sometimes, when I remember that I haven’t been told about any of the issues between the witches and the other species.”
“That was to protect you, though, we hope. Listen, forget that, and just think...why would dad have refused autonomy to the other species.” Elodie opens her mouth to answer, but then closes it.
Fletcher nods. “Exactly. Really think. Think about what Vann just said and think about dad. He was best friends with a vampire. He was always looking out for the underdog and he had always wanted to be head witch because he wanted to change things, shake things up. Mum, I really think we’re missing something here – something important. Dad wasn’t cruel, or power hungry. He was just normal. Better than normal.”
The Accidental Invitation (The Chronicles of the Accidental Witch Book 2) Page 12
