by R K Dreaming
“Don’t be shy for our sakes,” I said to him, indicating me and Jasper. “We’ll leave you and Aunt Adele alone, shall we?”
I gave him a tart smile.
Aunt Adele swooped over to me and started pushing me towards the kitchen table.
“No, no, no,” she said. “It’s time for your break. I insist that you stay here and keep these two wonderful young gentleman company. In fact, why don’t I leave you all alone? I believe I am being what you young folk call a fourth wheel. I shall go and take care of my customers. Esme, you take care of these two. Make them some of my special tea.”
She gave me a wink, and then swept out of the kitchen door.
Jasper burst into laughter. “Do you think your aunt is matchmaking perhaps?” he said.
I looked at him and then at Chris and then groaned.
“Why do you always say these things out loud?” I said. I threw my tea towel at him.
With a snort of disgust, Chris stood up and stalked out of the room.
“Wait!” called Jasper. “Take your tart with you!”
13. Willow Manor
When it got to near five o’clock, past sunset, I told Aunt Adele that I had to go home for the Saturday family gathering that evening. She gave me a sympathetic look and wished me luck.
The café was still bustling with customers, but she reassured me that she was perfectly capable of taking care of all of them by herself.
“What time will you be back, dear?” she said. “Late? Did I hear you making a date with that handsome young incubus, Jasper?”
“It’s not a date,” I told her.
She gave me a small smile and said nothing.
“It’s really not,” I protested.
I had agreed to meet Jasper at Club Nocturne that night. Someone there had to have seen Lily after the others had left. Maybe they had even seen who she had been waiting for.
I went back up to my tower room to get ready. Aunt Adele had lent me some of her robes, which was probably a good thing because Granny Selma was very traditional and set in her ways. She didn’t approve of non-witching clothing, and if I had turned up in anything else — jeans in particular — she would have had more than a few sharp words to say about it. She might even send me home to get changed.
I decided not to test my luck, and put on a set of Aunt Adele’s peacock blue robes that went all the way down to my ankles. It wasn’t too loose on me, because this was something that she had owned in her youth.
It was outdated in fashion. Even so, I quite liked the ruffled neckline and the sweeping sleeves and flaring skirt. It felt like battle armour in its own way.
It would not do, however, for the club later on tonight. With nothing suitable to wear in my meagre wardrobe, I was going to have to ask Allegra if I could borrow some clothes.
This was a nice thought. Allegra had always been slimmer than me. And now, thanks to my furiously fast metabolism, I was going to be able to share clothes with her. She wouldn’t mind me borrowing something.
After eyeing up what cash remained in my purse, I decided I would have to take a swift forty minute hike down to Willow Manor. It might take me even longer in the dark.
I tucked my wand into my pocket to take with me. It probably wasn’t the safest idea to go walking to Willow Manor. The route there passed near the Grim Forest.
Brimstone Bay town and beach themselves were usually safe, but the Grim Forest could be a different story. Every once in a while it attracted feral eldritch beings, not to mention the usual pesky creatures that lived in there year round.
I decided it would be safer to take the beach route into town, even though it was longer.
But then, just as I was ready to leave, Allegra arrived. Aunt Adele floated up to tell me that she was waiting for me in the castle café.
I arrived to find her looking her usual gorgeous self, her dark hair sleek and left loose, and wearing elegant lilac robes that looked gorgeous with her warm golden skin.
Allegra hugged me when she saw me. “I thought we could etherhop home together,” she said.
I made a face. I did not enjoy etherhopping and it had been a long time since I had done it.
It felt like being squeezed and stretched and shaken all at the same time, and had always left me feeling a bit nauseous. But I didn’t turn her down, since she had taken the trouble to come here.
We went out into the café garden, which was empty given the damp day. I slipped my arm into the crook of Allegra’s elbow, and closed my eyes out of habit when I felt Allegra’s arm tighten on mine.
It was just like I remembered. There was a sensation of being squeezed very tightly and stretched very thin. My stomach revolted violently, and I couldn’t breathe, and the darkness beyond my eyelids became even darker, and then all at once it was over.
I only landed upright on my feet because Allegra was holding on to me.
I opened my eyes to see her laughing at me.
“Shut up,” I said. “You know I’ve always hated doing that.”
“It’s because you haven’t had enough practice,” she said.
“That’s because I didn’t want to get ether-frayed,” I said.
She gave me a look as if to say, you won’t know unless you try.
We had arrived in a completely different place. I felt a tiny bit astonished by the instant arrival, like a Humble would have, but only because I had lived away from Brimstone Bay for so long. The novelty would wear away fast.
We were standing in a green landscape of perfectly manicured gardens. Up ahead of me was Willow Manor. I eyed it up with some degree of trepidation.
It was funny how looking at your childhood home and knowing who was within could make you feel like a teenager all over again.
I had not been back to Willow Manor since the day I had left, aged eighteen, and determined to make my way in the Humble world. What confidence I had been filled with back then. And what naiveté.
My mouth had gone suddenly dry.
She tugged my arm. “Just come in and get it over with.”
She had done me the favour of arriving some distance back along the driveway, so that we could walk up together and I could get used to the idea.
We trudged up the stone path, and I couldn’t help but admire the view ahead of me. When I was a kid this place had just been home. Now I was seeing it with new eyes.
Willow Manor looked like a cross between a duke’s palace and an aristocrat’s stately home. Which it was in a way.
It was named Willow Manor because it stood on the banks of a large lake, with half a hundred enormous weeping willow trees all around it.
It had hundreds of rooms inside which looked out upon the beautifully landscaped gardens. My favourite had been the children’s garden with the paddling pool fountains, where my cousins and I had spent many happy childhood summers.
My heart flip-flopped in a mixture of joy and nerves as we got closer.
“Remember, it’s always best to eat the frog first thing in the morning,” joked Allegra, giving my arm a comforting squeeze.
“It makes me feel like a little kid again,” I said. “And not in a good way. Is she still a dragon?”
“Always.”
The family poltergeist butler Frasier opened the door and bowed at me slightly. “Madam.”
I burst into laughter. “Frasier, it’s only me.”
“I am quite aware of that, madam,” he said in his pompous voice. “Welcome home.”
“You’re making me feel like a stranger.”
“You have been a stranger, madam,” he said, his nose in the air as he glided off to carry out his duties. No ghost had ever been able to glide so snootily as Frasier.
Allegra and I looked at each other and chuckled quietly, not wanting him to hear and be offended.
“He’s exactly the same,” I whispered.
She nodded. “So is Miles.”
My eyes lit up. “And Domino?”
“She’ll be with the kids in the f
amily lounge.”
I smiled fondly. Domino was my favourite of the family poltergeists.
The family gatherings were held in two different lounges next door to each other; one where the adults assembled like courtiers around Granny Selma, and the other where the children ran about like little heathens, as granny liked to say.
I was tempted to put my head into the children’s lounge first, but I refrained. I didn’t want to offend granny.
Allegra walked into the adult’s lounge ahead of me, and cried out cheerfully, “Look who’s home!”
I was glad for the light-hearted energy she tried to inject into the moment.
Granny Selma was not to be so easily swayed however.
I barely noticed everyone else in the room. My eyes went directly to her. Our unmistakable matriarch.
She was sitting in her usual spot in her favourite armchair at one end of the room. A dark-haired elderly woman now in her early eighties, she was thinner than I recalled. She seemed a little frailer somehow, and yet as frightening as ever.
“And so the prodigal returns, does she?” she said, fixing her piercing dark eyes on me and my dyed hair in particular. It wasn’t meant kindly, as evidenced by the bite in her tone.
And yet I was enveloped with a sudden wash of affection. So I went over and gave her a warm hug.
“I’ve missed you too, granny,”
I almost expected her to push me away, but instead she patted my back, and sniffed only a little bit haughtily, and said “Well, I suppose it’s good to have you home.”
I couldn’t believe it. That was as good a stamp of approval as she would ever give me.
There was a collective sigh of relief from across the room, and my mum in particular was beaming. She held out her arms, and I ran across to wrap her in a warm embrace.
“Mummy, I’ve missed you!”
“Yuck,” said Allegra light-heartedly. “You are such a mummy’s girl.”
“That’s because I’ve got the best mum in the world,” I said.
And she really was. Evanora Westbrim, fondly called Evie by everyone in her family, was the most kind-hearted of the lot of us. Mum had been a great beauty in her youth, and even at nearly sixty, remnants of it remained in her clear brown eyes, her rosy cheeks and her warm shy smile.
“Hey!” protested my Aunt Cerci.
She was mum’s younger sister, and was mother to Allegra, Viv, Flaffy, and their younger brother Gabriel, who was currently away studying at Magicwild Academy.
“And you’re the second best,” I said to her fondly, and went across to give her a big hug.
She looked much like my mum, only a bit less plump, and the years had not aged her as much. She was dressed in stylish bright pink and white floral printed robes. One might even have mistaken her for an older sister to her grown daughters.
She looked absolutely delighted to see me, and it warmed my heart. She pinched my cheek half in admonishment, half in welcome.
“It’s good to see you at home again. And don’t you dare leave it so long next time.”
My greeting to my two uncles was somewhat cooler. “Hello Uncle Radaghast, Uncle Elphias.”
“So you’re back, are you?” said Uncle Radaghast querulously. His disapproval of me was evident.
But least he had spoken. Uncle Elphias only gave me an unsmiling nod.
Clearly they were not pleased to have me home, and thought their mother had let me off too lightly.
My favourite uncle, their good-natured younger brother Abraham, lived in London with his family, where he managed the everyday operations of our Flaffiness Emporium flagship store in Magicwild market. Sadly he was not here.
“Hi!” trilled my twin cousins Coco and Cora, offering me bright smiles.
“Hi!” I trilled back equally brightly, matching the wattage of their smiles. It was nice to see them again, but we had never much kept in touch.
Their younger sister Cordelia offered me a gentle wave and smile.
“Hey Cordy.” I went over to give her a hug.
“Want some tea?” she asked. “I was going to put on a fresh cuppa. Anyone else?”
Everyone wanted tea, so Cordy bustled off to make it. She returned not long afterwards, having been ejected from the kitchen by perfectionist poltergeist Miles.
The other adults in the room were my cousin Prospero’s wife Romilly, Uncle’s Elphias’s wife Narcissa, who gave me her thin lipped smile, and a striking woman with very pale blond hair and sharp grey eyes who looked to be around my age.
“This is Pearl,” said Allegra. “Uncle Gh—Radaghast’s fiancée.”
Allegra and I exchanged a quick glance, and we both bit our lips, trying not to laugh. She had almost called him Uncle Ghastly in public. That would not have gone down well.
Pearl’s brow crinkled ever so slightly. She had caught our expressions and thought the glance we’d exchanged was about her. She did not look pleased, but hid it well behind a placid smile.
“How lovely to finally meet you,” she said.
“You too,” I said.
“I’ve heard so much about you.”
I didn’t quite like the way she said that. I retorted, “And I so much about you!”
Allegra had been updating me on the Pearl situation during our weekly visits these past few months. Apparently the only reason that Granny Selma approved of Pearl was because Granny Selma approved of expanding the family line, and Pearl was eager to get married quickly and start popping out babies.
But Allegra was pretty sure that Pearl was a gold digger. It was certainly true that she was a hundred times more attractive than Uncle Radaghast who was more than twenty years her senior and not in the best of health these days.
I went over to take a seat next to my mum, and Allegra joined me.
Pearl was not finished with me.
“How are you?” she asked.
“Fine thanks.”
“And I hear you’ve been married recently,” she said. “How’s your husband?”
“Fine thanks,” I said.
This was true. We might not be fine as a couple, but he was definitely fine without me as far as I could tell.
The rest of the family had deliberately not asked me this, not wanting to risk invoking Granny Selma’s wrath about the sensitive topic of me marrying a Humble.
I knew full well that now was definitely not the time for me to mention the state of my new marriage. After all, I had only just been welcomed back into the family fold. Baby steps were what was needed here.
Pearl seemed to realise that she may have made a misstep when granny gave an angry huff, so she didn’t ask anything else.
Aunt Narcissa on the other hand was not quite so easily put off. “Isn’t he here with you?” she asked. “Whyever not?”
She had asked it with pretend innocence. She always did like to coat her daggers in honey.
“He’s busy with work,” I said shortly.
“Busy with his gambling,” said Uncle Radaghast with a sneer.
I glared at him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped.
He looked shocked. And then his chest puffed out like an angry griffin.
“Nobody in my family speaks to me like that,” he roared.
I glared back at him, my heart seeming to drum in my ears.
Uncle Radaghast was Granny Selma’s eldest child and her favourite. He as good as thought he was the next family patriarch. I disliked him intensely for many reasons.
I was about to roar back at him that nobody spoke to me like that either these days, but mum clutched my hand and gave me a frightened look. She was desperate for me not to start an argument.
I took a deep breath to calm myself. And I glared at Uncle Radaghast long and hard so that he would get the message that if he provoked me, he would find that I was no longer the scared teenager who had walked out of this house.
He seemed a little astonished at this, and then he looked away.
Over in th
e corner beside Granny Selma came a prolonged little cackle.
I looked there in astonishment, and realised that Great Aunt Tabitha, Granny Selma’s younger sister, was lounging on a couch there, several blankets draped over her.
She sat up a little to peer at me. She seemed to like what she saw because she chuckled again.
“You don’t want to play with little dragons, Radaghast,” she said to her nephew. “Or you might get burned.”
I grinned at her. Unless I was very much mistaken, she had just called me a little dragon.
Uncle Radaghast looked very sour at this.
My heart which had been pounding, calmed down. I was still angry. It was just like Uncle Radaghast to make a snide dig, even if it meant lying. Saying nasty things were what he did to get under people’s skin. The one thing Drew had always been good with was his money. And I had not been defending him. I had been defending myself. Because as far as Uncle Ghastly knew, Drew and I were a pair. For now.
Show no weakness in front of the family or this town. That was going to have to be my new motto.
“I was so looking forward to seeing your Magicwild hair,” said Pearl quickly, as if intent on improving the current mood. “I heard it was a lovely pink.”
“It is,” Mum said proudly. “Do you want me to change it back now you’re home?” She looked at me hopefully.
I shook my head. “Not now mum.”
“How lovely to have a Magicwild bloodline in the family,” said Pearl to us all with a simpering smile.
She turned to me. “I heard when you were a little baby you climbed out of a window on the top floor and fell all the way down into the garden. And you bounced like a ball all over the lawn, chortling with glee, and bounced right into the lake, and just kept bouncing. Right over all that water! That must have been such a sight!”
“What?” I asked in astonishment. I had never heard this story. Little babies didn’t go bouncing around like that. Not without a crazy tonne of magic.
I smirked a bit at my mum, sure that Pearl must have heard this story from someone in the town. They liked to make up stories of the amazing pink haired Magicwild baby.
But mum was nodding.
“No, I didn’t,” I said.
