by Ruby Loren
“I can certainly do that,” I told him, feeling like I’d been sucked up into a tornado and then placed gently back on the ground again. This entire meeting had been surreal.
The mayor stood up and stretched out a hand for me to shake. I shook it, staying alert for any feelings I got when I did so, but there was nothing. Still no hint of power or anything ‘off’ that even pointed to the deal he’d made. I’d been able to figure out that Kimberly had made a deal. There’d been a wrongness to her magic… but either she’d been a unique case, or the deals the mayor had made were far more subtle. I just wasn’t seeing it yet.
His smile widened, teeth bright white. “Take care of yourself, Hazel. This town needs more people like you. Don’t let the bad eggs get you down.”
We both knew exactly which bad egg he was talking about in particular.
I managed to smile back. “You take care, too,” I said, standing up to leave the office.
It was only when I was walking along the corridors that led out of the building that I realised I wasn’t actually sure whose side I was on anymore.
What had the mayor ever done to harm Wormwood? He seemed to love the town and want it to succeed.
Perhaps more importantly… what had Jesse ever done to help Wormwood?
Or anyone other than himself?
16
Hellhound on my Trail
The next night was a regular non-emergency coven meeting. As the weather was mild, and the stars in auspicious positions, we were out in Wormwood Forest. Ally had managed to find a clearing free of any tainted rituals or negative energies. It was at this new spot we were due to meet tonight.
I’d been the first into the woods, checking the magically marked pathway that Ally had left for us. I had no doubt that, once used regularly and for good, strong magic, this spot would likely become as magically charged as the last one had been, before the conjuring circle had been drawn and the body left on top of it. I’d passed that clearing on my way into the forest, and the dead space where the energy had been sucked into the void still remained. Sometimes it was better to start afresh.
I stood waiting in the forest with the clear night sky above me. When I shut my eyes, I could hear the calls of animals in the distance. It wasn’t a full moon, but I suspected some shifters were still running wild through neighbouring Witchwood Forest. I wasn’t worried that I might meet a lion or a leopard in the woods tonight. There were ancient accords in place that meant the shifters steered clear of Wormwood Forest, and witches mostly did the same in return. My witch trial had been an unfortunate exception, but one the pack leader had tolerated.
I thought about January Chevalier whilst I waited for the rest of the coven to arrive. She’d definitely seemed to know something about alternative dimensions, but she hadn’t recognised the place I’d opened a doorway to. But still… she might know something. Plus, she was supposed to be some kind of legendary magic user.
I discarded the idea as soon as I had it. January struck me as someone who’d have her ear to the ground and would know everything about me before I even knew it myself. I didn’t think approaching her and begging for help would solve my situation. There was surely a good reason why she didn’t associate with Wormwood’s witches and magicians, and I should respect that.
I remembered the terrifying sight of her transforming into a black unicorn and tried to convince myself that these logical reasons were definitely the only thing keeping me from knocking on her door. “Maybe if all else fails,” I promised myself. “Or nearly all else fails,” I added, knowing that there was no way I was going to ask for the truth from the Salem family. It would appear I had a long journey of self discovery ahead of me, lined with unhelpful people like Jesse Heathen, who dealt in half-truths and lies.
Fortunately, I wasn’t left to dwell on that dark thought for long. The members of the coven came tripping through the trees and they’d brought a familiar face with them.
“It’s good to see you, Emma,” I said, welcoming the witch back into the fold. Even though I knew the techniques she’d used to get herself declared innocent, I was not going to be the judge and jury and kick her out of the coven for what she may or may not have done. Unless the group decided otherwise, she was welcome here.
“First, I just want to say, I know what you’re all thinking,” she began, looking around at the many faces. “I promise you that I had nothing to do with whatever has happened to poor Helen and Sarah. I also didn’t send those nasty letters everyone in town was getting. The police didn’t want to believe me because I’d thrown it away, but I actually got one of them myself! And I’m really sorry about what I was trying to do by copying the letters. Jane, I shouldn’t have done it. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I was just jealous of everything you have and your success with your bookshop - which has always been a dream of mine. I was in a bad place and I made a mistake.”
I looked between the two witches, wondering if anything would kick off between the magical book shop owner and the librarian. When no one hexed anyone, I relaxed.
“Okay,” Jane said after what felt like an age had passed.
Emma tried a small smile, but the other woman didn’t return it. I saw something pass between them, some sort of understanding that they’d come to just now. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I knew better than to force anyone to dwell on it for too long.
“I would love to start the evening off by saying how good it is to nearly have a full coven again.” I made sure to smile around the circle of witches, even at the ones I didn’t like. There - I was a pro high priestess. “I’d also like to warn everyone that the Council may indeed pose a threat to Wormwood. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we stick together and work as one.” I considered mentioning the hellhounds, Jesse’s theories about the mayor’s dark plan, and the things I’d just started to uncover, but it was too soon. I didn’t know enough and I didn’t want to spark panic.
So - naturally - someone else did it for me.
The meeting progressed in a promising way. Heather had offered to explain how the witches of Wormwood’s past had made a traditional flying ointment to aid in their spells of levitation to enable flight. She’d brought some along with her that she’d made, but she was refusing to share the exact recipe - which was apparently secret. Even so, my knowledge of herbs meant I was able to smell a mixture of what I suspected were extremely toxic active ingredients, including mandrake and hemlock. The dark colour also suggested belladonna. I was very glad when Heather revealed that it would never touch the witch, merely anoint the broom, and was more of a traditional blessing than a true magical agent. The rest was down to a wish and a spell.
Heather had then gone on to explain why a levitation spell alone was not enough, you had to hold the idea of flight in your mind and then balance the upwards lift of the spell with factors like the wind and a gentle spell of propulsion. All in all, she made the act of flying on a broom sound like quantum physics. By the end of it, the entire coven looked dazed and confused and the brooms we’d been instructed to bring remained leaning against the trees around the edge of the clearing.
“Heather, have you ever actually flown?” Aurelia drawled when Heather finished her lecture.
“Of course I have! I wouldn’t presume to talk to others about something I knew nothing about,” she said, effectively shutting the younger obnoxious witch down. If it wouldn’t have been deemed un-priestess-like, I’d have given Heather a high five.
“Hazel, would you like to try flying first?” she asked me.
I mentally retracted the high five. “I’m not a big fan of heights. I think I’ll keep my feet on the ground and make sure no one gets into trouble.”
“What will you do if they do get in to trouble, summon a sword?” Aurelia sniped, earning grins from her followers and her sister.
“Only if it’s you,” I promised her. So much for behaving in a professional manner! There was only so much of the Ghoul family’s nonsense I could
put up with. Especially when I knew we were all horsing around in a clearing when there were terrible things lurking around Wormwood.
Right on cue, I heard a howl, not too far from the clearing.
I looked around the coven. “You all heard that?”
They nodded.
“It’s probably a dog, or a lost werewolf,” I said, hoping to allay everyone’s fears - not least my own.
“It’s more likely to be the Council’s hellhounds. How stupid do you have to be to call a meeting in the middle of the forest when they’re prowling around?” Natalia said, looking at me like I was a fool.
“About as stupid as you are for attending,” I muttered. This was fast dissolving into something that was less than civil. I had hoped that the mention of the hellhounds in conjunction with the Council at the last meeting had merely been in passing, but it seemed that the hysteria was only growing. Unfortunately, I was now aware that there genuinely were hellhounds in the town… I just wasn’t sure they were under the Council’s control. Unless this whole thing is connected, I suddenly thought, wondering if absolutely everyone was conspiring against Wormwood. I was giving myself a headache and turning into a raving conspiracy theorist to boot.
“Look, I know that a few of you, or your parents, were involved in something which brought about the downfall of the Witch’s Council. I have no judgement to pass about that. I’ve recently experienced what the Council is capable of… and it wasn’t pleasant. There is one thing I don’t understand… why do you think the Council would use hellhounds when they’re primarily kept by devils to collect on their deals?”
There was a lot of exchanging of looks. I’d just said something that changed things. I sensed it. The question was, had what I said been the revelation, or had the coven been pulling the wool over my eyes?
“It’s happened before, when the Council were last in power. We knew they were making deals… and they’re probably doing it again!” Jane spoke up, pushing her designer glasses higher up her nose.
“What happened back then?” I directed the query at the older members of the coven, but it felt like everyone knew but me. I was always the last to know!
“The same thing that’s happening this time. Witches were dragged out of their homes by invisible hounds, leaving a gory trail in their wake to warn other witches to toe the line. The members of the Council knew they were being plotted against. They didn’t even always pick those actually guilty of any plotting - they just attacked covens at random. It happened all across the South East,” Jane explained.
“Everyone knows about it! What are you, the worst witch of all time? I can’t believe you voted her into power!” Natalia protested.
“You’re welcome to challenge me,” I said, feeling strangely interested to find out what it would be like to go up against one of my most annoying enemies. I’d put the Council’s guard out of action and sent one of their leaders to a hellish dimension. Natalia would probably be a walk in the park.
She opened her mouth and shut it again. We both knew she wasn’t sure what I was truly capable of, and even though we were not friends by any stretch of the imagination, even she wasn’t foolish enough to start a fight she wasn’t certain she’d win.
“I haven’t heard any more howls,” Ally said, dissipating the tension somewhat.
I blinked and looked around at the worried faces. I saw that they didn’t believe I could do anything to help their plight.
I gritted my teeth. “The hellhounds can be dealt with. I have a friend who controls one, and we are investigating a way to get rid of the others… and find out why they’re in town in the first place. We shouldn’t be too hasty to jump to conclusions. We are stronger together. Plus, the Council will be behaving cautiously at the moment,” I added, thinking of what I’d done to them. If I were an evil organisation who ruled witches and magicians with an iron fist, I’d want to gather info on my new enemy. Only when I had more information would I strike.
Of course, Constantine might not have been lying when he’d said he knew the truth about me and my magic, and he also might have been skipping off to tell the Council all about it… but I was willing to gamble that we did have some time.
“I think the best thing to do is to fly out of the forest,” I decided when the howling started again.
“What happened to being afraid of heights?” Aurelia sniped.
“She’s more afraid of being chewed up by a hellhound,” her sister replied.
“I won’t be flying with you. When everyone is safely airborne, I’m going to track down whatever it is that’s making all of the noise… and deal with it.”
There was dead silence.
“You do know that witches can’t see hellhounds, don’t you?” Adelaide said, looking at me like I was crazy. She wasn’t the only one.
“She probably doesn’t know,” Natalia said, the usual smirk lifting her lips.
“Don’t be foolish, Hazel. You said it yourself - no witch should have to face this alone. I’m sure you’re trying to help the coven, but no one wins if something happens to you,” Heather added.
There were some mutterings in response to that, but I studiously ignored them.
“I can see hellhounds,” I confessed.
There was another silence - this one more stunned.
“Ha! She probably saw a stray dog,” Victoria said without looking up from her phone.
“Did you not get the memo? Only devils can see hellhounds… which is why the Council employs them to do their dirty work for them. Are you saying you’re a devil?” Adelaide looked me up and down, unimpressed by what she saw.
“I’m not a devil. Seeing hellhounds is just part of my magic. I know you’ve all noticed that I’m not a normal witch,” I said, figuring it was time to get all of this out in the open. “I’m still trying to work out why my magic is the way it is. I want to be honest with you,” I told my coven, hoping that this was the first step towards that.
I’d kept the truth from them all at the start when I’d been voted high priestess because I hadn’t believed I’d possessed any magical abilities at all. When my powers had finally shown themselves, I’d hidden them again because I knew I was different. But after everything that had happened with the Council and the threat that was facing Wormwood and its witches, I knew it was time to come clean. At the very least, I hoped it might give the other witches some more faith in me.
“She’s a freak,” Aurelia said, torn between horror and delight.
I shrugged. I was used to insults from the Ghouls, but we all knew they weren’t going to go up against me. Not yet, anyway.
“Great. She’ll be able to see the hounds of hell… before they tear her into little pieces. Although I’d love to be there to see it, I think we should take to the skies,” Natalia said, surprising me by saying something halfway sensible.
Preparations were hastily made, ointment was smeared on the brooms using protective latex gloves, and everyone mounted up. I watched as eleven bright colours of magic blossomed around the witches, as they each tried to use the levitation spell Heather had taught them. Heather herself grumbled about her arthritis and being too old for all of this nonsense, but she was the first up and away. The Ghouls soon followed, and then a whole bunch of the rest. I watched as their brooms bucked and rolled and the witches shrieked in terror, before the shouts turned to happiness as they worked out how to control the spell. Something inside me whispered that I would never be able to join them. I would never truly be a part of this.
I discovered I was standing in the clearing with just Adelaide and Hannah for company. Hannah had turned red with the effort of trying to get her broom airborne, but Adelaide’s inaction was more of a surprise. I focused on her for a second, before realising what she was doing, and turned my attention to the witch I still believed was too young and potentially wayward to be a part of the coven.
“You can do this,” I told her, hoping that encouragement was what she needed. I couldn’t exactly offer he
r actual magical advice. “You’re a part of this coven because you have the abilities you need to be one of us. Focus on the levitation spell and figure the rest out afterwards.” I could tell she was trying to work out all of the insane equations Heather had spouted. She really could have given a simpler set of instructions, but I supposed she’d never thought that being able to fly in a pinch would become so necessary so soon.
A howl came from what sounded like a couple of hundred metres away from the clearing.
It must have focused Hannah’s mind because she shot up into the air and then - after some wobbling - she, too, figured out how to fly and followed after the disappearing silhouettes of the others. If anyone was looking out of their windows in Wormwood tonight, they were going to get a heck of a surprise.
“You do know that flying close to residential areas is expressly forbidden,” Adelaide said, ending my daydream.
“The Council decided that, did they? At last… a rule that does make sense.”
“No. Every witch knows that. You really do know nothing about witches and magicians, do you? There are some fundamental laws that everyone is supposed to follow - the witch laws. Rules can be bent, but breaking them means answering to other witches.”
I looked at the last witch in genuine surprise. Perhaps away from the Ghouls, Adelaide wasn’t as annoying as I’d imagined. She seemed to be pretty bright. “I’m sure they’ll be sensible enough to land before reaching Wormwood and stay out of sight. They’re experienced witches… mostly. Circumstances surely have to be taken into consideration?” I glanced at the edges of the clearing when I said it. I hadn’t heard any further sounds, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. Adelaide’s hands twitched on her broom, as if she, too, sensed it.
“I’m sure you’re right,” she said, throwing me again. I realised why she’d ended the discussion a second later when she said: “I saw you getting cosy with Gareth.” Her sharp blue eyes found mine.
