by Ruby Loren
“Come on, slow poke. I heard them talking about getting a take-away to celebrate!” Hemlock called back.
I stopped hesitating and ran after my aunts and my wayward familiar.
Once we got beyond the cobwebs, it felt like we were already free. We raced down the maze of corridors, never doubting Aunt Minerva’s navigating skills for a second. Now that we weren’t checking for magical traps and we knew our main adversary had been taken care of, everything was so much faster. We arrived at the nondescript door, where we’d started our mission, in what felt like the blink of an eye. In the next blink, we were back on the sleepy streets of Oxford and away into the night.
“We did it!” I said, scarcely able to believe we’d managed to get out alive when things had turned so hellishly bad.
“Do I want to hear the story? No lies. I know it’s tempting to ham it up,” Aunt Linda said with a bright smile. Her powers may be missing for now, but even being powerless and free was better than being powerless and incarcerated. It was a no-brainer.
“Our niece opened a gateway to another dimension and Kimberly was sucked into it,” Minerva said, bluntly.
Aunt Linda looked at me. “Remind me to never bully you into doing the washing up again.”
I smiled, even though I was still feeling rather churned up inside, thinking about what I’d done. Had I killed someone tonight? Sure, she’d been trying to kill us, but I still didn’t want to be responsible for someone’s death.
Especially when that someone was supposedly a super high ranking witch in an organisation that was probably going to wipe me off the face of the earth for what I’d done.
“What, exactly, did the Witch Council do to deserve being turned into slime?” I asked, hoping, for once, to get a straight answer from my aunts. I mean… they seriously owed it to me!
“They let their power go to their heads,” Aunt Minerva said, succinctly, but not at all helpfully.
Aunt Linda shot me an apologetic look. “That’s basically it. They went power mad and started to dictate pretty much everything. There were plenty of witch hunts carried out when they started to perceive rule breakers everywhere. Their friends got away with murder, whilst their enemies could barely blow their noses with a magical hanky, without warranting being dragged off to a detention centre. It became a dictatorship. We plotted and planned and put a stop to it, before the Council could find out what we were doing. And everyone lived happily ever after! Until now,” she added, glancing down at her hands with a glum expression. “I hate losing my magic.”
“We’ll get it back one way or another,” Minerva said. “If things are back to the way they used to be, you know exactly what might make them reconsider.”
“A large anonymous donation?” Linda perked up.
“We’ll make it appear as if the Salem family have an interest in adding it to their collection. That should do the trick,” Aunt Minerva said.
Linda shivered. “That’s exactly the low-down sort of thing they’d do!” She looked worriedly at her sister. “You don’t think they’ve already done it, do you? I’d rather drink poison and die than let my magic be in the hands of that sleaze-bag, Constantine. Jumped up little so and so!”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Linda. I’m sure he’s got bigger fish to fry.”
Aunt Linda noticed the look Minerva gave me. “He’s after Hazel? Why?”
“Well, we did try to subtly seek advice from our dearest family about her magic. It would appear that we weren’t subtle enough.”
I looked between them anxiously.
“Constantine must have far more control than he once did,” Linda said, looking concerned.
“I’m certain of it. You should have seen him when he came to visit the shop with the family…”
Linda stopped walking. “He was in the shop? He brought the inner Salem circle with him?” She shook her head in disgust. “That pretentious man! Don’t worry, Hazel. Once I get my hands on him… and my magic… I’ll make him a spider and feed him to Hemlock.”
“Urgh, I never want to see a spider again as long as I live!” Hemlock told me. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
I glanced down at my familiar and noted he did look more bloated than usual. He’d overindulged on eight-legged snacks and was probably going to pay the price for it.
My smile faded when I realised I may soon find myself cleaning up spider vomit.
I was still considering this terrible future when we turned the corner of a street and I nearly walked into someone coming the other direction.
I shook myself and looked up… straight into the eyes of Constantine Salem.
12
Spyders
“Uh-oh,” said Aunt Linda, making her contribution to the ‘Understatement of the Year Award’.
Constantine beamed the moment he laid eyes on me. “My dear Hazel! What ever are you doing in Oxford? Here to pay your dues to our illustrious Council? That’s very prudent of you. If you were agreeable, I’d be delighted to contribute a good word in Aleister’s hearing. With your stunning abilities, I’m sure you’d rise through the ranks without even trying. It’s the perfect place for a Salem to be.”
He looked up and noticed Minerva and Linda for the first time. He seemed to squint and frown for a moment. I suddenly realised that Aunt Minerva had attempted to cast some sort of invisibility spell as soon as Constantine had materialised. She’d probably known it would be in vain. I shared Aunt Linda’s opinion of the creepy magician, but it was obvious that he was a powerful magic user.
“Linda… your life sentence seems to be over much quicker than I’d anticipated.” He smirked. “I was going to pay you a visit in fifty or so years… to see what was left of you.”
“Go and choke on some frogspawn, Constantine,” my aunt replied.
His teeth seemed to turn sharp. “I can see that your magic wasn’t returned to you. It would be such a pity if it were… lost.” He raised his pointed dark eyebrows.
We all tried to not betray any emotion. It would be a race against time to get Linda’s powers back. I just hoped Aunt Minerva was up to the job and could beat Constantine at his own game.
“Hazel, I really do think we should discuss alternative arrangements when it comes to appropriate guardians for your needs. Someone with your unique abilities would benefit from a…” He looked sideways at my aunts. “…more senior member of the Salem family. Or perhaps even someone from the Witch Council itself. I’ve already mentioned a few things to Aleister and he is very interested in meeting you.”
“You’re a fool, Constantine,” Minerva said, surprising me with her hot words. “You know as well as any of us that the Council is rotten to the core. You were a part of the Grand Coven back when the new witch order came to be.”
The man opposite us bristled as soon as she mentioned the Grand Coven. “You speak treason!” he said loudly, before leaning in closer, so that none could overhear. “Times have changed. We grew weak, and the Council is strong. I like to be on the winning side.” His eyes flashed.
“I wonder what would happen if the Council’s members ever found out that there was more to their sudden transformation than Linda having the luck of the devil? It’s a wonder they haven’t already begun to question how one witch - and Linda, of all witches - would be able to do that to so many powerful magic users.” Minerva raised her dark blonde eyebrows at Constantine.
“Hey!” Linda protested, reading the slight against her.
“I don’t know about that… I’d say there’s ample evidence that a surprising amount of power runs through Salem veins to this day.” The creepy man looked at me like a vegetable grower admiring his prize pumpkin. It made my skin crawl. “Well… half Salem.” His eyes glinted with the promise that he knew something he wasn’t telling me about that.
For the briefest of moments, I was struck by the thought that Constantine could be the one sending the letters… I didn’t know exactly what he had to do with Wormwood, but it was clear that he seeme
d disagreeable to almost everyone he met that he couldn’t force under his thumb.
I dismissed it just as quickly when I realised that he delighted in dropping hints in person… so what would a mysterious letter writing spree achieve? He wasn’t sneaky… he liked to watch people squirm.
“It’s probably only a matter of time before the Council start thinking more clearly. Once the slime has fully left their brains.” Minerva smiled thinly, still piling pressure on Constantine.
He didn’t even break a sweat. “I think they’ll be very forgiving once I reveal the location of their escaped convict and her accomplices.”
I noted that he’d included me in his sweeping statement. I took it as a compliment… I must be getting to the odious man.
“I suppose we’ll have to see where the magic falls,” Aunt Minerva said, pragmatically.
“When she says ‘magic’ she means a grand piano and when she says ‘falls’ she means on your… mmph!” Linda was silenced before she could reach the end of her threat. Minerva flexed her fingers having finished casting her little silencing spell. It was one I’d noticed her using a lot.
“We shall see,” Constantine said, that dangerous glint never leaving his eyes. He took one last long look at me, before sweeping his cape-like coat around him and stalking around the corner and onwards towards the Council’s headquarters.
I wondered what he’d think of the mess he would find there.
“Who does he think he is, Dracula? What a loser!” Hemlock sniped from down by my feet, before clearing his throat. “Also… I want a cape.”
“We have to leave town,” Aunt Minerva announced the moment we set foot inside the apothecary. The welcoming smells of the dried herbs and dust had been comforting when we’d returned to what felt like a safe place, but they seemed to fade into the background at my aunt’s words.
“Why? We could hold them off here. From what I've seen, no one in town likes the Council. There are things that could be done…” For one dangerous moment, my mind skipped to Jesse and the other devil in town, and I wondered what the price of a deal truly was…
“We should never have dragged you into this. We just wanted to keep Constantine’s claws out of you, just in case you…” Linda trailed off.
“…turned out the way I did?” I suggested.
“You’re very talented. We just wanted to give you the most neutral assistance we could. Constantine isn’t the most levelheaded individual,” Minerva said.
“He’s a power-hungry looney. It surprised everyone when he joined up against the Council the last time, but even then he ducked out at the last minute after he lost a bid to become leader of the Grand Coven,” my other aunt contributed. “He was so angry. It was great.”
“And now we’re probably paying the price for that slight,” Aunt Minerva said, not sounding very regretful.
“Jackson Estrella got to lead. He was by far the favourite. Even Minerva thought he was cute.”
I raised my eyebrows at my other aunt and was shocked when she blushed.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Jackson was just the most suitable and capable candidate. It’s a shame that he made the decision he did.”
I looked between my aunts. “What decision?”
“He disappeared right after slime-gate took place. It was basically what caused the coven to go kablooey. No one was sure if the slime spell would hold, and with no leadership… things got nasty,” Linda explained.
“That doesn’t sound like an honourable leader.” I could hear the blame in my voice.
“He’s probably dead,” Linda said with a shrug. “You know what has usually happened when witches and magicians disappear. A spell went bad, or someone got them and made the evidence disappear. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past some of our own family members…” She raised her eyebrows, dropping her suspicions about Constantine into the mix.
I hadn’t been aware of real magic when the Council had been taken down, but I’d seen the darker side of the Salem family all through my life, courtesy of my mother’s excommunication. I knew better than to underestimate the crawling bug of a man who was so interested in recruiting me into the fold. When he discovered what had happened at the Council’s HQ, or if he even guessed at it, I was certain he’d be more interested in me than ever. If only there was some way I could use it to my advantage…
“Linda, please tell me you at least managed to do what we discussed whilst you were in the nest of vipers?” Minerva was saying to her sister.
I pricked my ears up, realising that there had been something else going on all along… as there always seemed to be.
Linda shot me an apologetic look, reading my expression. “I sent my spiders out before they could get their hands on my magic. Or, as I like to call them, my spyders.” She winked at me.
“Uh-oh,” Hemlock said, before shifting his bloated form out from beneath the counter and slinking out of the room.
Minerva rolled her eyes at me.
“What do they do?” I asked, my voice a little strained.
“They’re designed to spread out within the building and then they’re able to communicate everything they hear back to me. The only issue is… no magic, no hearing the spyders. Once I get it back, I’ll be able to communicate with them and find out everything that the Council have been discussing for the past couple of months,” Linda explained, looking pleased as punch with herself.
I gulped, hopefully not too noticeably. When my aunt was reunited with her magic, I had good reason to believe that there would be tales of a terrible massacre courtesy of the black cat who’d ruined an entire operation.
“I’ll get word about the success of the mission to the trusted members of the Grand Coven,” Minerva said, shooting me another disapproving look.
I felt like throwing my hands up in frustration. How was I supposed to have known that those spiders were the key part of a complicated reconnaissance mission that had probably been the only reason Linda had let herself be locked up in the first place? If they’d warned me, I could have told Hemlock he was eating magical spiders, rather than the normal kind. Come to think of it, perhaps that was why he was feeling so unwell.
Right on cue, I heard retching sounds from the kitchen.
My terrible prediction of the future had come true.
“I packed our emergency bags prior to the rescue mission,” Minerva told her sister, before turning back to face me with an apology written in her blue eyes. “We’re both so sorry that things have to end this way, Hazel. We would have loved to stay with you for longer and watch you become the brilliant witch we both know you’re destined to be. I’m sorry we weren’t able to work out why your magic behaves the way it does, but I know I speak for us both when I say we want you to know that there is nothing wrong with you. We all have different gifts, and you will work your strengths out on your own. Never let anyone use it against you.” Her eyes flashed dangerously. I knew she was thinking about cursing Constantine. “With a bit of luck, we’ll be able to stay one step ahead of the Council and their cronies until we can get Linda’s magic back and, if necessary, muster the Grand Coven. However, there is still a chance that diplomacy will win the day. Times have changed.”
“But the Council hasn’t. I can tell you that from firsthand experience,” Linda jumped in. “They’re all still firmly stuck in the Dark Ages.”
“We need to go. Constantine will be telling the Council all he knows right now. They’re probably already on their way here.” Aunt Minerva pulled a handful of powder from her pocket and Linda groaned.
“I hate travelling by that spell. It takes so much out of you.”
I watched curiously as Minerva summoned the bags downstairs and then stood close together with her sister, holding the powder in her hand. “Good luck, Hazel. Always stay true to yourself. You know the difference between right and wrong. You shouldn’t have trouble here. We’ll leave an obvious trail for the Council to follow at first.”
“We love you!” Linda
added.
Then, Minerva threw down the powder and they vanished in a puff of smoke and light.
Hemlock stalked back into the shop to see what had happened.
“I guess it’s just you, me, and the double agent,” I told him.
“Does Hedge still live here? I’ve been eating his food for the past week. Oops,” Hemlock added, realising he’d just given himself away.
“I thought you were looking fat,” I said, crossing my arms.
“How dare you! I don’t take potshots at you when that fake boyfriend of yours brings round all of those delicious, delicious pastries. By the way… why hasn’t he visited here recently? I’ve been missing… him.”
I rolled my eyes at my familiar’s transparent motives, but my bemusement vanished when I considered his words. “I’m not sure,” I admitted, but I did have my suspicions. Tristan had finally found himself someone normal, against the odds, in Wormwood. It might be time for me to say goodbye to my fake relationship… and its tasty benefits.
“How would you feel about having a hellhound around the place?” I asked him.
“You’re getting a devil dog? Urgh. I don’t even know you anymore!”
“It could be good protection against… councils,” I said, weakly. I was still expecting a knock on the door and then being dragged off to an interrogation. My aunts had seemed to believe that the Council would go after them and leave me alone, but once the eyewitness accounts of the guards who’d survived their own curses started pouring in, I was willing to bet they’d change their tune.
The best I could hope for was that they’d all been unconscious when the tear had opened up and the woman in white had been swallowed by the other place. Then, the only worrying report would be how I’d managed to cause the curses of a hundred or so of the Council’s guard to rebound on them so dramatically. Normal shield spells simply didn’t work that way. They were usually overcome by power. I dreaded to think of the conclusions that might be drawn about what I’d managed to do.
