Broken by Magic

by Rebecca Danese

  I would insult him if my mouth was working, but the best I can manage is a glare.

  “Oh, this is nice. Not having to hear you whine makes a pleasant change from our previous meetings.

  “Well, I suppose I can get down to business while we drive, as we aren’t going far. You see, Curtis, you’re going to take me back to wherever it is you’ve been staying so that I can speak to Ella.”

  If I could scoff I would. Taking him and his thugs-for-hire to the manor is the last thing I’m about to do.

  “Now, I can see that I’m not going to get you to do that willingly, which is why my lovely Cassie here is going to help us.”

  Ah, Cassie. The girl that Edward joined and subsequently left the Magic Circle for last year. A number of questions in my head right now are trying to burst through, and I can see she’s almost struggling to keep me in submission.

  If she’s doing this to me, what did she do to Edward to make him a power-hungry maniac who thinks himself capable of running his own terrorist group? Maybe that’s why he looks like fried crap up close.

  I feel for a chink in her power over me, my mind struggling against the force of it. Finally, I feel something in the pressure on my mind give way, finding a tiny crack in the brick wall she’s surrounded my willpower with, and I take my chance.

  “What are you doing here, Ed? Why are you running around calling yourself the head of The Magic Circle?” I blurt out, the sweat dripping from my forehead even though it’s freezing.

  “Sorry, darling, he’s stubborn,” Cassie drawls to Edward, and he rolls his eyes.

  “Tell me about it. Kai, pull over,” he says to the tattooed driver. He pulls over in a small lay-by and pulls out a knife. The one that matches my own. But Ed doesn’t know I have its twin in my pocket, and I don’t volunteer the information. I wonder if it could be the knife that stabbed Federico and if I’m dealing with a murderous lunatic after all.

  “I’m going to get your cooperation whether you do it willingly or not, so there’s no point in protesting. I need to see Ella now. That’s why I’m here, because believe me, it isn’t because I like talking to you.

  “As for me running The Magic Circle, well, I do. Munday was a waste of space as a leader, and after he went nuts, so did the group. The attacks went from weekly to daily, and that set off the stupid Normals rioting in Parliament Square. It needed someone who knows what they’re doing to take control.”

  “Oh, and that’s you, is it? The rich boy with daddy issues?”

  The punch catches me off guard, and I hear something crack in my cheek.

  “Eddie, was that really necessary?” I hear Cassie say to him over the sound of blood rushing through my ears. If I’m not careful, they’ll be digging my grave before they let me get back to Ella.

  “He bloody well deserved it,” Edward says to her, massaging his hand.

  “I’m s-sorry,” I manage to splutter.

  “Hang on, what did you say?”

  “I said I’m sorry. I have no right to comment on your personal life. Mine’s no better.”

  “Wow. Coming from a little Normal like you, that’s impressive,” he says, sounding genuinely surprised. “I don’t want to be your friend, Curtis, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together. I mean, you’re a genuinely unlikeable person.”

  “Thanks,” I say sarcastically, wincing at the pain in my jaw.

  “Sure. I don’t know what Ella sees in you, but I do know that you’ve got some guts, and that’s why my father used you like he did.”

  “And what about him using you as his inside informant?” I throw at him. Maybe his companions don’t know about his double life, and I can plant some doubt in their minds.

  “I let him think he was in control,” Edward says flippantly.

  “Really?”

  “Of course. I tried to warn you about working with him. I even tried to get to Avers first, but you worked faster than I thought. You kind of spoiled my plan to expose him, by the way.”

  “Wow, sorry I foiled your big plan to expose all my friends and potentially get them arrested for Augur activity,” I say, feeling Cassie’s willpower win over mine again. I get the impression my emotions are somehow getting in the way of me beating her.

  “Listen, all that aside, I honestly think that if you and Ella—and whoever else you’ve got from the Society cooped up in your hiding place—were to hear what I have to say, you’d want to team up with us. The Magic Circle is going to change the way people think about Augurs all over the country.”

  He certainly sounds like he’s convinced himself at least, along with his girlfriend and his lapdog, Kai. I, however, am still skeptical. The guy did just punch me in the face, after all.

  It’s less than a fifteen-minute drive to St. Albans, and I can see that’s where we’re headed now. No doubt this is where they tailed me and Jer from, although why they didn’t just follow Jer back to the Manor, I’m not sure. I want to put my hand on my face to assess the damage, but it seems like the rest of my body is still under Cassie’s spell. I gather my thoughts, persevering through her mind control enough to form another sentence.

  “So, what’s the objective now, Ed? How are you going to undo all the crazy mess that Munday created and get people to accept Augurs?”

  “All in good time, Curtis. I’m not a fan of repeating myself, and I think the people that really need to hear what I have to say are pretty close by. So, are you going to give us directions in the car, or are we going to have to force you to walk us there?”

  “I can do that, you know,” Cassie says, more as a warning than a threat.

  I weigh up my options. If I could control my body, I could pull out the knife and threaten my way out of the moving car. But three Augurs against one Normal aren’t good odds. I could try and resist Cassie’s control for as long as possible, but already I can feel her patience waning. Her magic feels like an icy finger weaving its way into my mind and pushing my willpower into a corner. If there’s an Augur sitting next to me who can quite literally make me walk them all up to the door without breaking a sweat, then what’s the point in fighting?

  I nod, struggling to speak again. Cassie lets go just enough for me to talk.

  “Fine. I’ll tell you where they are, but Mr. Earthquake here isn’t allowed to come into the house. There’s too many antiques, and you don’t want to experience Beryl’s wrath.” David’s mother would have a fit if anyone broke anything, and I’m already going to lose the popularity contest for bringing a couple of strangers into the house without making it worse.

  I give them directions, all the while feeling my cheek swell up and wondering how Ella is going to take the fact that I’ve gotten myself into more trouble.

  “You had better let me go first, or there’s going to be a fight before you’ve even stepped through the front door,” I say. Edward seems to think it over, and it’s obvious he doesn’t like the idea, but eventually he nods and agrees to let me do the initial talking.

  Heathton Manor sits quietly behind a forest and a lake about ten miles from St. Albans, and it’s Beryl’s pride and joy. It’s been our haven since Christmas, and I’ve thought a dozen times about running away with Ella to somewhere just like this, with the peace of the countryside and no anti-Augur laws in sight. It’s a shame that Ella isn’t selfish enough to even entertain the idea.

  I try to work out what I’m going to say, how I’m going to introduce the fact that I’m bringing two dangerous Augurs into our sanctuary without consulting anyone. I won’t be winning any popularity contests in the household, and I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone stopped talking to me altogether. To be honest, I don’t think I’d blame them.

  “Here’s the Normal coming to ruin everything,” I mutter to myself as I walk up to the front door, finally free of Cassie’s hold on me.

  I ring the doorbell, as we’ve not bothered to get keys cut for everyone, and wait nervously, Cassie and Edward just a few feet behind me. Ordinarily, the front door wo
uld be unlocked, and I hope that me ringing the bell will give a small warning to everyone inside. I turn around to see Kai, AKA Mr. Earthquake, leaning on the bonnet of the car with his arms crossed. At least he won’t be causing any trouble for now.

  After a couple of minutes, I ring the bell again and hear it echo through the house, but there’s none of the usual commotion or sound coming from inside. An uneasy swell of tension grips me from inside. Has something happened to them? I ring the doorbell twice more with the same result.

  “I’ll check round the back,” I say, walking around the house with all three Augurs trailing behind me. Although there’s a fence that runs around the back of the house, there are openings where the garden meets the forest that surrounds it, and I walk through one of these to see the conservatory doors wide open. Frowning, I push through the thick branches and step onto the lawn, but still no one steps out of the house.

  “Is this some kind of trick?” Edward says as he stops next to me.

  “I-I don’t know.”

  “Maybe they’re hiding inside,” Cassie says and marches up to the back door, slipping into the house. Despite my reservations, I don’t argue when Kai follows Edward and me through the back door. It looks like no one will be around to complain if he does actually break something.

  “I can’t understand where they’ve gotten to,” I say, running my fingers through my hair.

  “You warned them!” Ed shouts, and his fingers, suddenly surrounded by flame, come within a few inches of my face. The few lights that are still on in the house flicker, and a low tremor starts, Kai obviously getting in on the action.

  “How the hell could I have warned them? You’ve been with me since the pub! I’m as surprised as you are,” I protest, backing away from the fire that is uncomfortably close to singeing my eyebrows off.

  “He’s right, Eddie. Calm down,” Cassie says, putting a hand on his shoulder. Immediately Edward’s fire goes out, and I wonder if she has some influence over him too. “You too, Kai,” she turns to him, and the rumbling thankfully ceases.

  “I’m going to check upstairs,” I say, taking off before anyone can stop me. The one advantage of living in the Manor for the past two months is that at least I know where everything is, including the old servants’ staircase. I leap up the main stairs, all dark, polished wood carpeted in deep red. I could easily lose them in the vast rooms above and get out using the servants’ entrance. The only problem, I remind myself, is that letting three manic Augurs loose in Beryl’s house is not actually my brightest idea.

  I check the rooms quickly, one by one. David and Mumbe’s room is immaculate and has been untouched since this morning. Lou and Jer’s looks a bit like a bomb landed on it, but that’s to be expected even under normal circumstances. Beryl, David’s mother, has the largest room in the house, but even hers is similarly empty. I round the corridor and step into mine and Ella’s as I hear the thundering of footsteps up the main staircase, figuring that Edward and co won’t want to leave me alone for long.

  The duvet is rumpled and exactly how I left it at 10:00 this morning. I envision Ella, sitting on the end of the bed, watching me go. Did she know what was happening? The prints from her camera are tacked up around the mirror, her clothes and belongings untouched. Did she somehow realise that I’d get into trouble?

  “You’re a bloody magnet for trouble,” I mutter to myself as I turn to leave. She didn’t even leave a note. What does that say about the circumstances in which the entire household evacuated?

  “Where are your friends, Curtis?” Edward calls down the corridor to me.

  “Not here,” I call back. How I’m going to distract them long enough to get to the servants’ staircase is my next problem. It’s concealed behind an inconspicuous doorway at this end of the landing, left over from an era when every household of this size would have an entire staff to look after the house.

  “Just going to check one more place, hang on,” I call out. All three Augurs are going into the bedrooms just as I did a few moments ago, searching for a trace of activity. If I had Jer with me, he’d be able to tell me what had happened here, thanks to his sort of magic-sensing ability. Ironic that, considering if I hadn’t pissed him off, he might’ve gotten me out of this mess.

  Hang on a moment. Jer. He must have picked up Edward’s Augur signature in Bromwich and told everyone to get out of here. That would make more sense than anything else, and I feel a little wave of relief in the realisation that they originally didn’t intend to abandon me here. Hopefully.

  But leaving me at the mercy of The Magic Circle seems unlike Ella, unless things aren’t as good between us as I’d thought.

  Another niggle of doubt begins to gnaw at my insides, and I try to push it out of my mind.

  The others seem to have found something of interest in one of the rooms, and the corridor is clear. I march over to the tiny door and slip through, taking the narrow staircase two at a time and hoping they stay distracted long enough for me to get out of there. The servants’ staircase ends in a small room which now serves as the pantry right before the kitchen, and the kitchen garden lies beyond the back door. If the keys to Beryl’s car are still hanging by the door, my luck might be in. Maybe they took David’s, considering it would just fit everyone in it.

  For a woman in her seventies, Beryl has exceptional taste, and I want to cry when I see the key to the Aston Martin on its little hook by the pantry door. The real trick is going to be getting to the garage without getting caught, and the only way I can do that is by going around the back of the house.

  As quietly as I can, I step into the small garden that caters vegetables, fruit and herbs for the household. I don’t really know how Beryl manages to keep it all up by herself, but I’m no less impressed. I skirt around the greenhouse to avoid being spotted from any bedroom windows, trying not to let the gravel underfoot crunch too loudly. As I reach the front of the house, I use the button on the car key fob to activate the garage door. The sound of it whirring open is heart-wrenchingly loud, and I’m sure that they’ll be after me any second now. As if to answer my fears the gravel beneath my feet begins to rumble, and the worry that Kai will send the house tumbling down over my head is all too real. I haven’t actually figured out what I’ll do when I get in the car; I technically don’t have a driving license, and I’m hoping my few efforts to drive back home will be enough to get me on the road, but the last thing I want is to successfully escape Edward, only to be splattered by driving into a tree or something stupid like that.

  I slip into the garage as soon as there’s room for me to crawl under the painfully slow-opening door, but I don’t bother to hunt for the light switch. As expected, there’s only one car in there, and I fumble with the key trying to find the lock, almost screaming when a round pale face stares back at me.

  “Get in, you mongoose,” Agnes says, opening the driver’s side, grabbing the key from me, and starting the engine before I have time to register what’s happening.

  “Curtis, get IN!” she yells, and my body follows her command.

  I skirt around the bonnet and have barely closed the door before she slams on the accelerator, and we blast out of the garage, gravel spewing behind us.

  CHAPTER 4

  The country road is empty, which is just as well, as Agnes is doing at least seventy and taking the bends dangerously fast. I look through the rear windscreen and just make out three figures running into the road, Edward clearly visible as his entire body is ablaze, probably with rage.

  I mutter several curses before nearly being hurled from my seat as Agnes rounds another bend. That’s when I realise I should have my seatbelt on.

  “You kiss my sister with that mouth?” she accuses more than asks.

  “S-sorry. Too many near-death experiences in a short space of ti—COW!”

  Agnes swerves around the cow just as it steps into the road in front of us and carries on at break-neck speed as if nothing happened.

  “We’re not goin
g to die today, Curtis, so do stop being so dramatic.”

  And there it is. Agnes’s ability to see things that happen in the future is one of the many reasons why I don’t speak to her often, if at all. Apart from it being unnerving, she also often speaks in disjointed sentences, as if everyone has been following her train of thought even when she hasn’t said anything. It’s all very irritating.

  “Thanks for the reassurance,” I say, holding my tongue when she hits the brakes only seconds before a car comes round the corner, and we escape yet another collision.

  “How do you know where you’re going?”

  “I’m following one of my visions,” she says, and slows down just in time for a speed camera to appear ahead of us. Handy, I think to myself.

  “Where’s Ella? And everyone else?” I ask, hoping the conversation will distract me from her driving.

  “Gone back to London.” She doesn’t say anything else to clarify what happened, so I’m forced to do the talking.

  “I’m guessing Jer sensed that Edward was nearby?”

  “Yes.”

  “And they decided to leave because...?” I leave the question hanging. Because Ella wants to get as far away from me, her stupid, lying boyfriend, as possible? I don’t want to think of the conversation that Jer had with her when he got back to the Manor, and I certainly don’t want to voice my doubts to Agnes.

  “I saw what would happen if they stayed, and it mostly involved Edward losing his temper and burning the house down. There was no way that Ella would go along with what he wanted. At least this way they’re safe, and Beryl’s house remains intact.” She sighs as she pulls into an almost dirt road which takes us off the beaten path, forcing her to slow down so that we don’t end up in a ditch. “This is all thanks to you, I might add.”

  The way she blames me for everything that goes wrong is infuriating, even if I do blame myself. Often.