Storm Witch

by Alys West

  First, she had to find somewhere to park the car. She swung it round and pulled up outside the village store. There was still a stiff breeze and it was getting chilly as the evening lengthened. Zoe shivered in her thin top. She zipped up Finn’s waterproof and grabbed her bag. She had to look like she was out for an evening stroll. Keeping her mobile in her hand, she locked the car and walked over the bridge.

  The stream gurgled beneath her feet. There was a distant murmur of waves. Seagulls cried overhead. She glanced left and right as if she was just another tourist exploring the village. A car passed her, heading back towards the main road. Two young children peered through the windows at her. She tried to smile at them.

  She was opposite the fence now. She mustn’t be too obvious. She glanced right. The Range Rover was parked next to a red convertible. A man and a woman stood behind them. The woman… Shit, the woman was Felicity! If she saw her, she was screwed.

  Flipping up the hood on Finn’s coat, Zoe kept walking. Was the man working with Felicity? Did that mean Andrew was behind this? Was it another attempt to get Jenna to do what he wanted? A final, desperate bid to control her after the coercion spell had failed?

  When the road became a lane with grass growing down the middle, she looked around. Largely hidden by clouds, the sun sank towards a wide bay with a high headland at one end and a small island at the other.

  She was going to have to go back. She couldn’t lurk here all evening. If she had to bang on doors to beg the use of a phone then she’d do it. As she retraced her steps, she risked one quick glance as she passed the tearooms’ car park. Only the two cars occupied it. She picked up the pace and almost jogged back over the bridge.

  On the right, close to where she’d parked was a red telephone box. It was too much to hope there was a telephone in it. It’d probably have been converted to a tiny café or a community library or a safe place to keep a defibrillator but she’d be an idiot not to check.

  She yanked hard on the heavy door. The smell of damp swam out to meet her but, unbelievably, there was a phone. She rummaged through her bag to find her purse, took out all of the change she’d got and stacked it on the metal shelf. Lifting the receiver, she inserted a coin and dialled Finn’s number.

  Chapter 52

  There was a repeated tapping on the utility room door. A voice kept saying her name. Rachel raised her head from her knees and wiped tears away. They didn’t grow as she touched them, didn’t expand as they fell into the water that surrounded her. Was it over? Had the storm passed?

  She pushed herself up to standing. Water sloshed around her, forming eddies and waves that bounced off the walls and came back to her. She waded over to the window and peered through the cracked pane. No, definitely not passed. She’d done it again, created something she didn’t know how to stop.

  The person on the other side of the door said, “Rachel, can you hear me? It’s Grace. I need your help.”

  Grace wanted her help? That didn’t make sense. She couldn’t help anyone. She couldn’t even take care of herself.

  Rachel waded towards the door. She opened her mouth but her throat was so dry no words came out. She coughed, tried again. “Grace?”

  “Yes, pet?”

  “Can you get me out of here?”

  “Yes, it’ll take me a bit of time but I can do it. I need to ask you something first though. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. Jenna’s gone missing. We think someone took her. I know it sounds unlikely, especially here in Orkney…I found Jenna’s phone in the kitchen and I wondered if you’d heard anything. I’m only asking because, well, we’re desperate.”

  It wasn’t much but there were things she knew, things she’d seen this afternoon and on the night Nina died. She cleared her throat. “I didn’t hear anything but it could be Felicity. She trapped me in here. Or the Glaswegian guy, Ewan. He threatened me with a knife.” Thinking about it made the panic begin again, the tightness build in her chest. “That’s when I lost it and called the storm and now I can’t stop it. I don’t—”

  “Rachel! It’s alright. We’ll figure it out together. One second—”

  Rachel pressed her ear to the door. Grace was talking to someone else. She shrank back. “Who is it? Who’s with you?”

  “It’s Finn,” Grace said. “He’s a druid.”

  “I know.”

  “Of course you do. He and Winston came to see you. They don’t want to hurt you, Rachel. None of us do.”

  “Ewan did. And Felicity. She had his knife. She…” Tears fell, sliding down her cheeks and nose. They hit the water with a heavy plop. As her hands rose to scrub them away, water streamed across her fingers. It was happening again. Panic swam up her throat, trapping her voice. She coughed and tried again. “Grace, I don’t know what to do! There’s water coming out of me and I can’t make it stop.”

  “That’s because water is your element and air too. That’s why you can make them without trying,” Grace said. “But you can stop them too. Anything you can make, you can unmake.”

  Rachel blinked. “Nina used to say that.”

  “She did. She was the best spellworker any of us will ever meet. Nina told me so much about you. She was so excited about you. She said you’d got a rare and beautiful talent.”

  “It’s not beautiful. I can’t do anything except this—” Even though Grace couldn’t see her, Rachel’s hands gestured to the pool surrounding her. “What use is this?”

  “Storm witches were revered in the old days. To have control of air and water was believed to be the greatest gift of the Goddess. Close to the powers of the gods and very few humans are trusted with that.”

  “And you’re saying I am?” Rachel folded her arms across her chest. “The Goddess messed up big time then. I’m a total screw up. She should have known—”

  “Rachel, pet, you never have been and never will be a total screw up. I have a nephew like you. He had no belief in himself either. But he’s getting there, and you will too. The first step is for you to trust me. Can you do that?”

  “I don’t know.” Trusting never ended well for her. But Nina had trusted Grace. They’d been best friends. Rachel rubbed her hands across her face. They came away wet but only with her tears. Sighing out a breath, she rested her palms flat on the door.

  “Do you miss her too?”

  “Every day, pet. Every single day.”

  ***

  “How can you not know? She’s your wife for fuck’s sake.” Winston brought his fist back ready to hit Andrew again. “Didn’t she tell you what she was planning?”

  “You don’t know her.” Andrew cringed backwards, his gaze fixed on Winston’s raised hand. “She said she was going to sort it. She took the boys with her so I didn’t think she was planning anything like this.”

  “Like what?” Letting his arm drop, Winston brought his face close to Andrew’s.

  “Like what you said. Taking Jenna somewhere. I swear—” As Finn entered the room, Andrew broke off and wiped blood from his nose.

  Winston took a step back and faced his friend. “What?”

  Finn tilted his head towards the door. “Not here.”

  Winston pointed at Andrew. “Don’t try anything. I’ll be right outside.”

  When they were both in the hall, Winston closed the study door and leaned against it. “What?”

  “Grace’s got Rachel to talk. She says Felicity’s a spellworker.”

  “No way!” Winston’s head jerked back. “She’s a bloody Stepford wife.”

  “And she had a man with her, Ewan, who threatened Rachel with a knife.”

  The cold ball in Winston’s stomach expanded. “I’m going to pound Andrew Stewart into a pulp. The lying fucking bastard. He must know—.”

  Winston broke off as Finn’s mobile rang. “It’s Zoe,” Finn said, as he pressed the screen.

  “Put her on speaker.”

  Finn ignored him, pacing away towards the dining room. “You’re where?” he said. Winston had rarely
heard him that angry. “Do you not have any idea how worried I am? You promised not to do anything risky.” There was a muted response and then Finn gestured for Winston to join him. “I’m putting you on speaker. Zoe’s in Birsay.”

  “What? But—”

  “In a phone box. It’s eating money.” Zoe’s voice was high with panic. “I followed the Range Rover to the Palace Tearooms. When I saw where it went I thought maybe I’d got it wrong but I walked past—”

  “You did what?” Finn interrupted.

  “No one saw me. I was wearing your old waterproof. Felicity was there and the big burly guy who took Jenna. But I couldn’t see Jenna. The Range Rover’s got tinted windows. I’m guessing they took her inside but I didn’t check. Oh God, should I have—?”

  “No, you did fine,” Winston said, before Finn could jump in again. “Did you see anything else? Anything at all?”

  “Jenna tried to run outside the Stewarts’,” Zoe said. “I think she was heading for the garden but she fell. The man picked her up and pretty much dragged her back to the car. It must have really hurt, what with her arm already being injured and everything.”

  Cold swamped his body. Winston’s fists tightened. “How far away are you now?”

  “About, I don’t know, I’m rubbish at distances.” The telephone beeped and he heard the clatter of coins. “I’m running out of change. Two, maybe three hundred metres. But there’s a high fence around the car park to the tearooms. I can’t see what’s happening unless I walk up—”

  “Do not go anywhere near the place!” Finn shouted into the phone. “Felicity’s a spellworker and Ewan’s got a knife.”

  “She’s what?”

  “Turns out.” With some effort, Winston kept his tone even. “So be careful.”

  “Wait in the car,” Finn said. “Until we get there.”

  There was a long moment of silence and then Zoe said, “No, it’ll be at least half an hour until you get here. Jenna might need me. I don’t know what I can do but if I can do anything to help her then I will and I’m sorry, Finn, but you’ll have to live with it because I am not leaving anyone to go through that on their own. You were there for me at the Nine Maidens and I’m going to be here for Jenna. I know I’ve not got magic or anything but—”

  “Just don’t get yourself killed. Finn’d never get over it.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Grant. This is between me and Zoe.”

  “No, it’s not,” Zoe said. “It’s between all of us but I make my own choices. I won’t do anything stupid but I’m not going to sit meekly in the car until you get here.”

  The phone beeped again. “I’m out of change,” Zoe said. “I love you Finn. Don’t—” There was a longer beeping, a series of crackles then the line disconnected. For a second, they both stared at the blank screen.

  ***

  Hal stepped through the Stewarts’ front door into silence. The weird wind had gone but the evidence of its existence was everywhere. Furniture was upended or propped at strange angles against the walls. Pictures had fallen and lay face down in pools of broken glass. Anything moveable; ornaments, photograph frames, vases, had been smashed. His feet crunched over the wreckage littering the floor. An enormous crack ran across the polished wood floor. Water seeped from fissures in the pipes or sprang upwards like miniature fountains. Someone needed to switch the water off at the mains and fast. He stepped over the crack.

  “Hello?” he called. The word echoed. Had everyone—

  A banging on one of the doors in the hall made him spin. A voice called, “Let me out!” He was walking towards the door when the tap of a stick came from behind him.

  “It’s Andrew. Don’t open the door,” Grace said. “It won’t make any difference. He’s trapped in there until I say otherwise.”

  Behind her head, through the wide window, the sun was emerging from behind thick clouds, spreading fingers of molten orange light across the sky.

  “But why? Where’s Jenna? How’s this going to—”

  “Jenna’s at Birsay.” When Hal opened his mouth to interrupt, Grace held up her hand. “Felicity and a man called Ewan took her. We don’t know why. Winston and Finn have gone to get her back.”

  Something hot and white flared in his chest. “What’s Winston going to do? Talk them into submission?”

  “Winston’s more useful in a crisis than you’d imagine.”

  Hal seriously doubted that. He needed to get there. Needed to pound this Ewan for hurting her. “Where in Birsay?”

  “The tearooms.”

  “Why on earth would they take her there?”

  “I don’t know.” Grace sounded weary. “I can’t help but think it’s to do with Nina. In the end this is all comes back to Nina.”

  “But Nina’s dead.” Hal’s brain was half occupied in figuring out the fastest route to Birsay.

  “And yet she’s at the centre of all of this.”

  Hal started back towards the front door. “I need to get over there.”

  “No! She doesn’t need you, Hal. Winston, Finn and Zoe are there. They’ll bring her back.”

  “She hardly knows them!” His teeth clenched as he spun to face her. “She needs me. I know her. I can—”

  “She’s made her choice. You have to accept that.” Grace leaned forward, her hands locked on the top of her stick. “For now, Winston’s who she wants. It might not be forever. Knowing Winston, there’s a more than a fair chance of that.”

  “But I—” Even now he couldn’t say the words aloud.

  “Love her, I know. You’ve got to figure out what you’re going to do about it.” Grace rose shakily to standing. “Right at this moment I need your help.”

  Hal glanced over his shoulder. “With Andrew?”

  “No, he’s not going anywhere. We’ve a bigger problem than that.” Grace walked slowly into the kitchen. Leaning on the island unit, she pointed at the utility room door. “I need you to take that door down.”

  “Seriously? But this is Andrew and Felicity’s house. We can’t take the—”

  “Yes, we can.” Grace picked her way through the debris. “The normal rules went out of the window when they took Jenna. Now are you going to help me with this or not?”

  She was one seriously difficult woman to say no to. “I don’t have any tools with me.”

  “Then we’ll improvise. You know Rachel, I think?”

  “Kenny’s ex. Yes, I saw her here. What’s that got to do—”

  “Rachel’s trapped behind that door and you and I are going to get her out.”

  ***

  The man kept a tight grip on Jenna’s arm as he propelled her around the back of the buildings towards Mum’s room. She was limping badly now, pain shooting through her ankle each time she put weight on it. As they manhandled her out of the car, they’d twisted her wounded arm and blood was soaking into Zoe’s cardigan.

  Felicity marched ahead, her heels pattering on the concrete. Jet barked furiously from the bungalow, dashing from room to room as they walked past. Jenna caught a glimpse of his dark head through the sitting room window and tears threatened. She bit down hard on her bottom lip. She had to keep it together. For Dad’s sake. Because she had no doubt that seeing her like this was going to drive him back to the dark, dark days.

  Reaching the window in Mum’s room, she glanced right. Dad sat in Mum’s desk chair; his gaze fixed on Felicity who stood by the door. As if he felt her gaze, Dad’s head turned. Then they were passed, turning the corner and she was stumbling up the two steps to the door. But what she’d seen in Dad’s eyes wasn’t what she’d expected. He wasn’t giving up. He was angry, angrier than she’d seen him in years.

  “Jenna, take the seat by the window.” Felicity pointed to the green armchair. “Ewan, go and see if you can shut that bloody dog up.”

  “Don’t you dare hurt Jet.” Jenna lurched unevenly forward, trying to reach Felicity, trying to get in her face, trying to make this stop. Ewan grabbed her arm and yanked her towards the
chair. He got the right one again and the pain was excruciating. She cried out as she tumbled into the chair.

  “Stop this immediately, Felicity.” Dad’s voice crackled with anger. She’d forgotten he could sound like that. “You’ve got us both here. Say what you need to and be gone but if either of you hurt Jenna again then I’m not agreeing to anything you want.”

  Felicity’s face was in shadow making it difficult to read her expression. She gestured with her head towards the door. Before Ewan reached it, Dad said, “That goes for my dog as well.”

  “Lock the dog up and come back.” Felicity folded her arms. “And be sharp about it.”

  As the door closed behind Ewan, Dad gestured towards Jenna. “Can you not let her go? I’m sure she’d have come if you’d asked her without resorting to these kinds of gangland tactics.”

  “Not with that druid she’s seeing glued to her side.”

  “Druid? What druid?” Dad turned to her and she couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes. “The man you brought here? Oh no, Jenna. You said you didn’t want magic in your life. You’d made a life without it, a good life. Why would you—”

  “Because he’s been here for me, okay?” The words shot out without thought, angry words, words she could never take back. “When no one else has been, when I’ve had to carry all of this on my own for six years because you were ill, and someone had to run the tearooms and I lost Hal—”

  “Oh love, why didn’t you say you felt like that?” Dad stood but Felicity put her hand on his shoulder, pressing him back into the chair.

  “Because you couldn’t hear me. Because you were so deep in your own grief that you couldn’t see I was grieving too.” She shook her head. “It’s okay, I know you were ill. I know you couldn’t be there for me but Winston has been. And it might be nothing, it might be a fling before he goes back to Glasgow but—”

  “Fascinating though this is, I didn’t come here to run a family therapy session.” Felicity moved to the door and switched on the overhead light. “You can discuss this when I’m gone. You’ve clearly got a lot to talk about.”