Storm Witch

by Alys West

  Another minute. If she slammed the door in his face, he could hardly go back five minutes later to ask if she’d changed her mind. His fingers beat out a staccato rhythm. A man got out of a campervan parked opposite, zipped up his fleece and headed across the car park. A group of lads walked past, laughing and joking together. Winston looked at his mobile again. 21:20.

  He locked the car, strode across the road and ran up the stairs to Jenna’s flat. At the door, he hesitated, his finger hovering over the doorbell. Too late to wimp out now. He pressed it.

  His hand moved to his throat, fastened around his staff. His other hand pushed his hair back from his face. Through the glass pane he saw a figure coming down the hall. Too tall. Who the hell else would be here? Her uncle? How the fuck would he handle that? He plucked his staff from the thong. The door swung open. Hal stood there.

  “What do you want?” Hal said. “Because now isn’t—”

  “Is Jenna here?” Winston peered past the Viking’s enormous shoulders. Was she too scared to open the door? Was this going to be a re-run of yesterday lunchtime?

  “She’s ill. I thought you were the paramedic although that’d have been bloody quick—”

  Winston didn’t stop to hear the rest. He pushed past Hal, barging against him when the Viking didn’t step aside to let him past. “What happened?”

  “Some kind of seizure but I don’t know what caused it.” Hal followed him down the hall. “It came on real fast. She was fine one minute and then she wasn’t.”

  Winston’s hand tightened around his staff. He should have come sooner. Should have realised it would be as bad when the spell lifted. Should never have left her alone for Hal to take care of. He strode through the door into the living area. There were boxes everywhere. Jenna was lying on the sofa, her body taut as another convulsion shook her. He stepped over her fiddle and knelt beside her.

  “How long’s she been like this?”

  “About five minutes.”

  He should have come as soon as Zoe rang. She’d been going through this when he’d been sat in the car watching her window because he was too scared to climb the stairs.

  Her feet drummed on the cushions, her head rolled from side to side, a hand flew out smacking him in the chest. He captured it, held it. “Jenna, it’s Winston. Can you hear me?”

  “She recognised me when it first started. I kept talking to her like the 999 operator said but there’s been nothing since.”

  Her body lifted from the sofa, held straight for a second before crashing back. Bright blood bloomed on the sleeve of her t-shirt, staining the throw beneath her.

  “Why’s she bleeding?”

  “She dropped a glass in the kitchen and fell on it.”

  “Fuck. There’s a first-aid kit in Finn’s car.” He fumbled in his pocket, brought out the key and thrust it at Hal. “Will you get it?”

  Hal looked at his outstretched hand. “The paramedic will be here in a minute.”

  “And if you go now you’ll be back before him.” Winston pushed the key into his hand. “Blue Honda CRV. It’s in the car park, parked next to the road. First-aid kit’s in the glove compartment.”

  Probably. That’s where he’d found it when Finn was injured after the fight at the Nine Maidens. Knowing Finn he’d have refilled and replaced it. But the important thing was to get Hal out of the way for a minute or two.

  Hal nodded. “Alright.” He hesitated for a micro-second before turning. “I’ll leave the front door open in case the paramedic comes.”

  Winston kept his gaze on Jenna’s face. Her body was motionless for a moment. “You do that,” he murmured. He heard the door open, footsteps on the stairs.

  Gently, he raised her shoulders. His fingers touched wet fabric, came away slick with blood. He slid his hand down her arms. There were small cuts down both arms and a really nasty one above the elbow on her right arm with a fragment of glass still in it, a curved slice about as long as his thumb.

  He rested his forehead against her head for a moment. How had this happened? Why had she got hurt again because of magic? It was so bloody unfair.

  Jenna’s muscles tensed beneath his hand and he knew what was coming. The paroxysm came on quickly, her body shaking, shuddering as it moved through her.

  He tapped his staff on the floor, focused and, as soon as it was full-size again, pulled on awen. If he could only stop the bleeding. As energy flooded into his body, he sent it down his hand and out through his palms. The tingle was strong, becoming warmer where his hand touched her body. He watched, looking for any sign that it was working. Her body juddered, relaxed and tensed again but the movements were less extreme.

  Running footsteps on the stairs. Her eyelids opened. He leaned over to peer at her irises. A thin line of blue showed around the pupil.

  ***

  Grace held out her hand and Finn put the piece of amber into it. Her voice rose, growing in power as she said, “As firmly as the pattern is set in amber so shall Jenna’s free will be returned. Let the best fate that can be hers according to her own choices prevail against abuse or spite, manipulation or evil by day or night.”

  From her pocket Grace took a pebble she’d picked up from the beach earlier. She touched it to the amber. “I draw with the power that is the Earth’s magic and creativity. Let Jenna’s life pattern be freed. Nothing shall change this pattern except to improve it. I draw her free will back to her released from spell, curse or enchantment.”

  With a few words to Finn, she passed him the pebble. Using a sharp piece of flint he’d tracked down earlier he scratched the surface. Zoe was too far away to see what he drew. She knew from reading the spell that it had to symbolise Jenna’s life. Grace hadn’t told her what symbol she’d finally decided upon.

  Finn returned the pebble to Grace. She threw elder leaves on the fire and when the smoke billowed held the pebble within it. “The pattern of Jenna’s life is returned to her set in stone. This is the pattern that protects her against manipulation or evil strife. May the Great Mother protect her and keep her in the wisdom of her light.”

  Grace sank into the chair placed next to the fire and closed her eyes. Zoe blinked. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Was she alright? She glanced at Finn. He picked up the grimoire, quickly scanned the page, shook his head.

  Zoe ran around the intangible barrier, stopped three feet from him, careful to remain outside the circle. “What’s happening? Is Grace okay?”

  “I don’t know.” He put the grimoire on the ground and walked towards the spellworker. By the fire, he stopped, cocked his head as if he was listening. As he turned, Zoe saw some of the tension had left his face. “She’s chanting, really quietly, under her breath.”

  “But it’s not in the book.”

  “Spellworkers don’t always follow spells to the letter.” Finn bent to pick the grimoire up. “Some look at them more as guidelines and improvise as they go along.”

  “But how are we going to know if it’s worked?”

  “We’re not. But we probably wouldn’t have even if she’d followed the book. Spellwork’s not like chemistry. You can’t be sure you’ll get the same result if you follow the same method. There’s always a huge number of variables.”

  “So we have to wait and hope Grace knows what she’s doing?”

  “Pretty much. You could ring Winston. See how Jenna is? That’s one way to find out if the spell’s working.”

  Zoe slid her mobile out of her back pocket and pulled up his number. It rang and rang before clicking through to voicemail. “No reply.”

  “She could be fine now and they’re too busy snogging for him to answer.”

  “You don’t believe that for a second, do you?”

  Finn half turned to look at Grace. “No.”

  ***

  Steps in the hall. Winston took his hand away and rested his staff against the arm of the sofa as Hal strode into the room.

  “The paramedic’s on his way. I heard the siren as I came up the stairs.
”

  “Good.”

  Winston heard it too now. Only a minute or two away. He took the first-aid kit from Hal, opened it and blinked at the neatly packaged contents. Wipes. For the blood. There was a lot of blood. He ripped one open.

  “There’s nothing you can do here.” Except tower over them in a really annoying fashion. “Go make sure the paramedic knows where she is.”

  “I gave him the number.”

  Winston bit back a number of replies which would only have made Hal hate him more. “But it’ll be easier if he sees you and knows to come straight up.”

  Jenna’s body became rigid, her head trashed from side to side as another convulsion shook her. It was worse again. The calming effect of awen hadn’t lasted.

  “Look at her, man.” Winston’s control was thinning, his tone much sharper. “She needed him here ten minutes ago.”

  “Yeah, alright.”

  Winston kept his focus on Jenna. Mainly to avoid doing something really unhelpful, like punching Hal. As the paroxysm passed he picked up each arm in turn, gently wiping the blood away. Hal’s footsteps faded. Winston’s mobile rang, he ignored it. He reached for his staff, drew awen again, pulling as deeply as he could from two storeys up, frustrated by the layers of brick and concrete between him and the earth. He put his hand on her heart, felt its too-fast beat and let awen flow into her.

  The rapid beat slowed. Her body tensed and he braced for another convulsion. There was a tiny judder and she was still. He dropped his head to hers, closed his eyes. Behind his lids was a green glow. He opened them to see it emanating from her heart, spreading out in a gentle wash of colour, enveloping him, taking him with it, flowing into them both. Her eyelids fluttered. He pulled back to see. Blue. Nearly all of the iris was blue. He sighed out a long breath.

  ***

  “The power is free!” Grace’s cry made both their heads turn. Her hands were above her head, her face tilted up to the darkening sky. In three long strides Finn was beside her.

  She fumbled for her stick. Finn caught it and handed it to her. Grace walked over to the fire and threw the pebble into the flames. “May the fire cleanse and let her soul be free. So be it.”

  Walking to each of the compass points in turn, she spoke words that were too low for Zoe to catch and then blew out each candle. With her wand raised Grace walked three times anticlockwise around the circle. Returning to the centre, she raised her hands again and said, “Let the circle be uncast but remain unbroken. Say it with me.”

  Zoe glanced at Finn, following a second later as he raised his hands and said the words.

  Grace looked at them both. “It’s done. Now we have to wait to see if it’s worked.”

  Zoe’s hands flew out. “But can’t you—”

  All of the colour drained from Grace’s face and she wobbled, dangerously close to the fire.

  ***

  Two sets of running footsteps on the stairs. Only seconds before they got here. Winston removed his hand from her heart, let his staff fall.

  She blinked rapidly. Turned her head. “You’re here.”

  “I’m here.”

  “But I thought you’d gone. I thought I made you go.”

  “Not going anywhere.” He knew what the green meant. Whether he’d dreamed it or felt it, it was there, representing the words he wasn’t ready to say.

  Her gaze focused, her left hand grabbed his, held on tight. “We were…And then….” Her face changed and he knew what was coming. “Oh God! What happened? Did the spell…?”

  “She’s through here, you said?” A woman’s voice. Coming down the hall.

  “I’ll explain everything later but for now, just stay with me and follow my lead, okay?”

  He held her gaze for a long moment, ignoring the bustle of the woman coming through the door, Hal’s pointed comment of “give her some room, will you?” until Jenna nodded, the gesture tiny but unmistakeable.

  Winston rocked back on his heels to let the paramedic do her job.

  Chapter 44

  The antiseptic stung like hell as the paramedic swabbed the wounds on her right arm. Jenna blinked back tears. None of this made any sense. She remembered being in bed with Winston, she remembered that very clearly. He’d been gentler, kinder, more affectionate than she’d ever expected. And he did kiss like a God.

  Then everything went fuzzy, almost like it did when she was really drunk. Time slipped and slid so that the past two days seemed compressed into mere hours but within that were a few hard facts, a few moments she remembered with HD clarity. She’d thrown Winston out, screamed at him to leave. She’d resigned from her job. She’d given Mansie away to a woman called Rose who’d turned up with Grace. Why on earth would she do that? She loved him. She’d never give him away. She bit her lip hard but it didn’t stop a tear from escaping. She scrubbed it away.

  Winston sank to his knees in front of her, wrapped both of his hands around her left one. Warmth flowed into her, intensifying to a tingle. Awen. The sharp pain faded. She licked her dry lips. “Where’s Mansie?”

  “I’ve not seen him.” He shifted his gaze to Hal. “You seen Mansie?”

  “He wasn’t around when I got here.”

  Hal was looking at her with a mixture of fear, worry and compassion which made her heart hurt. She licked her lips again. “Will you look for him? He might be in my bedroom.”

  “Sure.”

  He sounded transatlantic when he said that. Cassie was coming next weekend. And not long after that Winston would leave, go back to Glasgow and she’d never see him again. She tried to pull her hands away. She should never have kissed him. Everything went wrong after that, didn’t it? Well, first of all very right indeed but then wrong. More wrong than she could comprehend.

  Winston’s grip tightened. “You’re alright. I’m here.”

  “But you’re going to leave. I should never—”

  “Leave you? Not a chance.” He leaned closer, whispered in her ear. “You’d better get used to it, Miss Henderson, because I’m going nowhere.”

  She’d heard him sound like that before. Tea in bed. He’d brought her tea in bed. He’d sat on the edge of the bed and talked calmly to her while she screamed at him. “What happ—”

  “Later. I’ll explain everything later.”

  “You’re going to need stitches on that big cut, Jenna.” The paramedic gently replaced her right arm by her side. “I’ve put a dressing over it to keep it clean but we’re going to need to get you to the Balfour to make sure we’ve got all the glass out.”

  “Okay.” The word fell from her mouth without thought.

  “Can your boyfriend drive you?”

  “He’s not—”

  Winston cut across her. “Of course. Car’s outside.”

  “But you don’t have—”

  “Finn’s car.”

  A sound by the door tore her gaze from Winston’s. Hal stood there, Mansie in his arms, his face frozen. If Winston noticed, he showed no sign. “You’ll like it,” he said. “Built like a tank and does 0 to 60 in about twelve minutes.”

  Mansie wriggled, jumped from Hal’s arms and darted over to her. She buried her face in his fur and hugged him to her.

  ***

  She’d lied to him. He’d asked her again and again and she’d always denied it. But it’d been obvious since Winston barged in here and took over that there was more going on. And Jenna couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

  Well, fuck this. He’d got better things to be doing with his Saturday evening. Things that needed doing before Cassie arrived. Because she didn’t lie. You always knew where you were with Cassie. That was a good thing. That was what he needed. Not this shit.

  He walked around the back of the sofa, keeping out of the way of the paramedic as she packed her kit away. He picked his guitar up, placed it in its case and flipped the clips closed. Taking a step towards Jenna, he cleared his throat. “I’ll get out of your way then.”

  She pulled her hands away from Wins
ton and turned to look at him. “You don’t have to go.”

  “Yeah, I do.” Hal couldn’t look at her. He fixed his gaze on the door. “You’ve got all the help you need.”

  “But I’ll see you tomorrow?” She frowned. “We’re playing at Uncle Andrew’s, right?”

  “That’s the plan.” Unless he could fake an injury, contract a mysterious illness or come up with some other excuse not to be there.

  “Okay.” Her frown deepened. “I can’t remember what time he wanted us.”

  Had the seizure affected her memory? She’d been really clear on this earlier. “You said three thirty to set up.”

  “Did I?” She glanced at Winston and then smiled unconvincingly. “Sorry. My head’s pounding.”

  “If you’re not up to it tomorrow…” He let the sentence hang as he crossed to the door.

  She nodded. “I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks, mate.” Winston stood and turned to him. “For your help earlier.”

  He couldn’t say it, could he? Fuck it. He could. He let the silence spread, felt Jenna’s gaze on him but it was Winston he spoke to. “I didn’t do it for you.”

  ***

  “Yes, yes, I really am alright,” Grace said. “I sometimes get a little lightheaded when I finish a ritual, that’s all.”

  Zoe glanced at Finn, raised an eyebrow.

  Taking the hint, Finn said, “You nearly passed out. It was lucky that I got to you before you fell.”

  “Into the fire,” Zoe added.

  “But I didn’t.” Grace held out her plastic mug. “I’ll have another cup though if there’s more tea in that flask.”

  Zoe unscrewed the lid and poured. It was Grace who’d insisted they bring a flask. Perhaps she’d known she’d need it. Zoe added two spoonfuls of sugar, one more than Grace had asked for, stirred and handed it to the spellworker.