“So we escaped?”
“You did more than that. You destroyed his magical barrier, and made him leave the house, never to come back.”
“Why did we stay? Why didn’t we get out of there?”
Gloria smiled. “It might have been your prison, but it was also your home. Where would you go?”
Lillith bowed her head. “Were you okay with that? He was your husband. Did he just disappear, never to be seen again?”
Gloria scoffed. “I was fine with that. He wasn’t a good husband.” She looked down, and visibly swallowed. “And he didn’t disappear. He’s not the type to give up so easily. He joined forces with the witches who threatened us, and convinced them that you were an evil force. They’ve been after us ever since.”
Lillith stared at Gloria. The coven. She was talking about the coven, and her dad was in it.
Gloria seemed to understand Lillith’s shock. “They’ve attacked us a few times,” she said. “We had shields around the Hall, but they eventually got through. Each time, we had to defend ourselves.”
A chill shivered through Lillith’s bones. She knew what that meant. A fight. Someone getting killed. She looked into Gloria’s eyes. They seemed to have developed black circles, as black as the memories she was sharing.
Gloria looked up and into Lillith’s eyes. Her expression was haunting. “In answer to your question, Lillith – yes, we’ve killed witches. But we’ve only killed them while defending ourselves and our home, and each time, we’ve not meant to. We try to get rid of them safely, but it comes down to us or them, in the end.”
Lillith stared back. “All because of me?”
Gloria looked down. Lillith assumed she didn’t want to say the words, but she couldn’t deny it, either. What Lilly had done to the girls at school had triggered all of this, and it was indefensible.
Lillith lowered her gaze. “Why didn’t my mind go back to then? I could have stopped all of this.”
Gloria sighed. “Some things are meant to happen.”
That reminded Lillith of Cassandra, and her stomach sank again. She blinked back tears, and looked up. “Well, I’m here now, and I can change next week, at least.”
Gloria breathed out, and shook her head. “I still don’t think you’re here to do that.”
“Then why am I here?”
Gloria shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe your body…” She stopped talking and looked at Lillith. “Your other body,” she quickly explained, “needed to shut down, and threw your mind here?” She paused. “Maybe it’s a power you possess?”
Lillith’s curiosity was piqued. ‘A power she possessed’ suggested she might be able to control it. “Do you think it could be?”
“I’ve never heard of it, but anything’s possible.”
“What is my special power?” Lillith asked, realising that she could find out once and for all.
Gloria looked up, curious. “Don’t you know?”
Lillith shook her head, thoughtfully.
“You can control elements.”
“Right. I thought it was something like that.”
“It’s more than that. You actually have quite a special power. You can connect with pretty much anything that occurs naturally, on the earth and in its atmosphere, and command it to do whatever you want.”
Lillith had experienced something fairly significant on the beach, but it was short-lived, and she’d still been beaten by Arthur.
Donovan, who’d been sitting quietly listening to the conversation, gave a little chuckle. “You can turn coal into diamond,” he said. “That’s pretty cool.”
That was pretty cool. Lillith looked at Donovan’s face. It was so like Brody’s, and then not, at the same time. He had the same dark eyes, except Donovan’s had lines around them, and darker circles underneath. Donovan was paler, with a bigger nose and squarer chin. Both he and Lilly had been through a lot: being locked up, being attacked, and killing people. Yet here he was, smiling and chuckling, and remembering nicer times. Her brother was made of tough stuff.
Lillith smiled. “Real diamond?” she asked.
“Yep. Diamond and coal are both made of carbon. Diamond is just coal after a few more centuries, apparently. You’re just able to speed up the process.”
Lillith knew her chemistry, and that wasn’t quite right. Coal and diamond were indeed both carbon-based, but diamond was pure, and required both an immense amount of heat and pressure to make the crystalline, lattice structure of diamond. Coal contained mainly carbon, but included lots of other substances, too. Lilly must have found a way to separate the carbon from the coal, then magically simulate the heat and pressure found within the Earth’s mantle. She couldn’t think of a way to do that, but she supposed once she understood her full potential of being able to control anything found naturally on the Earth, that would help.
Gloria stood up, which jiggered Lillith out of her thoughts. She began to clear the dishes on the table. “These dishes aren’t going to wash themselves,” she said, as she piled Donovan’s on top of Lillith’s and carried them to the sink.
Lillith stood to help. Gloria smiled and handed her a tea towel when she joined her at the sink. No words were spoken, but Lillith was certain they were all thinking of the same thing: how to plan for Friday.
Chapter 28: A Trip into the Village
They washed and dried the dishes in silence. Lillith wasn’t sure where they all went, so she piled them on the benches. As she was drying the last item, a small cup, she looked up.
“Have you ever thought of getting a dishwasher?”
Gloria chuckled. “What do we need one of those for?”
Lillith waved her hand over the clean plates stacked up on the bench.
Gloria smiled again. “We could use magic, if we really wanted to avoid washing dishes. I just don’t find it that much of a chore when there’s just the three of us.”
Lillith had been brought up in a house where no magic was used, so it was normal to have technology such as a dishwasher to help with the chores. She wondered if most witches used magic instead.
“Watch,” Gloria said, flicking her finger. The stack of dishes on the counter started to lift up and float towards cupboards. The cupboard doors opened, allowing the plates and cups inside. Cutlery was stacked neatly in the correct drawer.
Lillith watched, mouth agape. It was like watching the scene from The Sword in the Stone, where Merlin set the dishes to magically wash, dry themselves and put themselves away. She smiled, and began to sing the song. “Hicitus, spicitus, spocitus spum, proladidgitorium,” she sang, almost certainly incorrectly.
Gloria and Donovan realised what she was trying to sing and joined in, although their words were inaudible through their laughter. Lillith thought back to her first attempts at using magic. First with Angela at the sea front, where moving rubbish into a pile had been such a feat. Then in her own kitchen with Tristan and Brody, trying to break that teacup. She’d come so far since then. Her heart sank as she thought of Tristan and remembered his lifeless body, lying in the sand. She wondered if she could do what Tristan had done. She wondered if she could break a teacup and then fix it again.
Lillith scooped up a teacup before it floated into its kitchen cupboard. “I’d like to try breaking this and fixing it again. Would you mind?” she asked both Gloria and Donovan. After all, it was their cup she was intending to break.
Gloria shrugged. “Do what you have to,” she said.
Lillith positioned the cup on the bench and closed her eyes, then pushed out her hand, willing magic to fire out and break the cup. It worked – maybe a little too well. The cup exploded into many pieces, which flew out into the room. Lillith hadn’t wanted to do that. She raised her hands, and the shattered pieces suspended in the air, as if frozen in time.
Donovan clapped. “That’s great,” he said. “You might not be Lilly, but you’re just as powerful as her.”
Lillith could hardly believe it. Magic was effortless
in this body. Her heart pounded, and excitement welled up. She felt like she could do anything. She willed the shattered pieces to fly back towards the bench. They complied. She then wished they would mould back together. They did as they were bidden. The shattered pieces spun around, and settled back into position as one teacup again.
Lillith went over to it and picked it up. “Good as new,” she said, tapping it with her fingernail to prove it wasn’t going to break up. Adrenaline soared through her.
“Is that the magic that you’re intending to use on Arthur?” Gloria asked.
Lillith turned and looked at Gloria, who wore a sad expression. Lillith shook her head. She hadn’t even thought about that. “It was just something I wasn’t able to do before, that’s all,” she said, but she lowered her eyes to the floor. Maybe that was exactly what she was going to do to Arthur.
The light above them flickered and made that noise again, jolting Lillith. She looked up, and sighed. “Are you trapped in here all the time?” she asked.
Donovan shook his head. “We go out in disguise.”
Lillith furrowed her brows and shook her head. Did they mean wigs and false moustaches? Gloria tapped Lillith on the shoulder and waited until she’d turned to look at her, then covered her face with her hand. After two seconds, she moved her hand down. With every movement, something changed. It started with her hair, which went grey and wiry. Then her skin went darker, her eye shape changed, and her eyes changed colour. As her hand moved down, her lips became thinner, her nose grew longer, and her chin narrowed and pointed at the end. She moved her hand over her body, and that changed, too. Her shoulders grew wider, her breasts sagged, and her waist filled out. By the time Gloria stopped moving her hand, her whole appearance was completely different. She was an old, black woman. There was nothing familiar about her at all, nothing that would connect this person to Gloria’s image.
Lillith gasped. Her eyes ran up and down the new body. “That’s a brilliant disguise,” she said.
Gloria smiled, proudly. “We can look like anything we want. If we can imagine it, we can become it.”
Lillith was stunned. Even Gloria’s voice was different. It had a rasp and the twang of an accent that Lillith couldn’t quite place. She thought of Mr Parker, Brody’s dad in the future. He’d had the power to change his appearance, and he’d said it was unique. Yet here her mam was, able to do the same thing. “Can all witches do this?” she asked.
Gloria shook her head. “Not to this extent. I have a talent for it.” She smiled. Then she pointed at Donovan. “We’re also able to go a step further than other witches.”
Lillith looked at Donovan, who winked. Of course, Lillith thought. Donovan’s Assan powers made anything possible.
“I know someone who can do this,” Lillith said, “It doesn’t change your sense, does it?”
Gloria looked shocked for a second, then shook her head. “If a witch was trying to sense us, they’d still be able to with this disguise, but they think we disappeared after we left Richmond Hall, so they don’t bother with things like that.”
Lillith frowned.
“We stay clear of witches who know us well, just in case,” Gloria continued. “Luckily, that’s a very small number. Did you say you knew someone who could do this?”
“Mr. Parker. Brody’s – I mean Donovan’s – adopted dad, in the future.”
They stared at Lillith. Donovan looked shaken by the information, but Gloria looked intrigued. “I always thought my talent was unique,” she said, thoughtfully.
Lillith smiled. “That’s what he said, too.” She bit her lip, preparing herself for the next question. “So if I wanted to pop out, could you help me disguise myself?”.
Gloria looked puzzled. “I could, but where do you want to go?”
Lillith looked up at the flickering light above them and pointed at it. “I’ve got an idea.”
Gloria disguised Lillith as an older woman. She had black hair with stripes of grey, pulled into some sort of twist at the back of her head. The change that surprised Lillith the most was her eyes. They were no longer the bright, neon green that she was used to, but a dull grey. That had taken some getting used to. She’d stared at her reflection in the mirror for so long, trying to see the green, but all she saw staring back at her was grey.
Gloria dropped her off in a small village nearby called Rookhope, and asked her to call when she wanted to be picked up. She’d given Lillith a mobile phone, but not any sort of mobile phone that she knew. It was black, and only had a tiny screen for searching or typing numbers. No touchscreen or keypad, or texting ability. This was only eighteen years ago, but the technology was so primitive.
Lillith breathed in, and her breath trembled slightly. Why was she nervous? She was in disguise. Lillith began walking, looking around herself. It was a pleasant day. The sun was shining, and there was no wind, so although it was cold in the shade, it was warm in the sun. Nothing like autumn at the coast, Lillith mused. She’d wrapped herself up in a warm coat, but it almost felt like she didn’t need one.
Children were laughing in the distance, and Lillith saw a park to her right. She crossed a small bridge with a shallow river running under it, splashing over rocks. Something pulled inside of her, like a feeling of déjà vu. Was she remembering being here before?
She turned onto a high street. Although Rookhope was a small village, it was fairly busy, and there were quite a few buildings containing shops, bakeries and cafes. The smells were amazing: fresh bread, with some sweetness from the many cakes and pastries. Lillith felt tears well in her eyes. Everything seemed familiar. It was like walking down a high street from her dreams. Across the road, she spotted what she was looking for. A local hardware store. That’s where she imagined she’d get an ultraviolet light and a U.V. marker pen.
She waited for the traffic to pass, then crossed the road, following a man towards the shop. He opened the door, then stopped and held it open for her.
“Thank you,” Lillith said, smiling gratefully. There was something familiar about the man. Did she know him in the future? He had blonde hair and grey eyes. She definitely recognised those eyes. Was he a witch? Was he one of Arthur’s followers? What if he sensed her? Lillith passed through the door swiftly, dipping her head. The lovely smell of baking was replaced with the smell of wood and oil.
Inside, Lillith looked around. Although small, there was lots of choice. Other than the man who’d held the door open for her, there were two other people in the store: a woman behind the counter, smiling at everyone, and a lady in a far aisle, talking to herself.
Lillith started to scan the shelves. There were tools, nails of every shape and size, bits of wood, door handles, and other knick-knacks. She walked around, coming closer to the woman who was talking, and realised she wasn’t talking to herself, but to a baby in a pram. She found a U.V. pen and picked it up, but couldn’t see a U.V. light anywhere. She followed the lady with the baby to the counter. The lady started asking some questions.
Lillith looked into the pram. A young baby, only a few months old, looked back at her. Lillith smiled. The baby smiled back. She stuck out her tongue and wiggled it. The baby giggled. Lillith laughed silently, looking at the baby. It had dark brown, almost black eyes, the kind of intense eyes that draw you in. Lillith felt her stomach flip. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears. She stared into those black pools, her mouth agape. She recognised those eyes. They were unmistakable.
She crouched down to look into his face. Tears welled in her eyes, and pain stabbed at her chest. “It’s me, Lillith,” she whispered to baby Tristan.
Tristan gurgled, and bubbles came out of his mouth. “Lilly,” he said, clear as anything.
Lillith breathed in sharply. He didn’t look old enough to speak. She smiled. “Yes,” she said. “You called me Lilly when we first met.”
“Lilly,” he said, again. He grabbed his feet with his hands, and pulled them upwards. Lillith laughed, and tickled Tristan
under the chin. He chuckled.
“I’m sorry,” Lillith said. “I’m so sorry about everything. You’re going to die too young, but –” Lillith was about to say that she had a plan, when there was a scream.
She looked up, and saw the mother looking at her. Her eyes were wide, and her hands were in front of her mouth. When she lowered them, Lillith saw a similarity to Tristan in her face that she hadn’t noticed before. The lady pointed a finger at her.
“What were you saying to my baby?” she screeched. “You were cursing him, I heard you say he was going to die.”
Lillith shook her head. “No, that’s not what –” but she wasn’t able to say anything else. Baby Tristan was now saying her name over and over again.
“Lilly,” he gurgled. “Lilly, Lilly, Lilly.”
The man who’d held the door open for her, the one she’d suspected of being a witch and one of Arthur’s followers, was now approaching. He looked at Lillith and narrowed his eyes. “Lilly?” he said, although his tone suggested that he wasn’t certain.
Baby Tristan was still saying her name.
“Get her away from my baby,” Tristan’s mother wailed.
Lillith shook her head. “This is all a big misunderstanding,” she said. “I was just saying hello to the baby.”
The man wasn’t interested in what she had to say. He grabbed hold of her, and that’s when it happened. Lillith felt a twinge in her face, and felt her clothes slacken. Her disguise was failing. She was starting to look like Lilly again.
Chapter 29: The Accident
Tristan’s mother screamed. The man gasped, and pushed Lillith outside. He looked shocked, and a little confused about what to do next. He was alone right now, but if Lillith was right about him being a witch, coven members wouldn’t be far away, and would sense his peril. She had to get away, quickly.
Lillith struggled to get out of his grip. He was strong, and held her tightly. She could see he was trying to form a plan in his head. She had to break free before he did. Her breathing was erratic. She looked around, and towards the sky. Grey clouds covered the sun. Lightning. A sudden bolt, just close enough to make him panic and let go. That would work. It was dangerous; it might hit him, but what was the alternative? Let the coven get here and kill her?
Ashes: Witches of Whitley Bay Book 2 Page 19
