by Sharon Booth
'Heavens, Benedict,' Star said. 'Why don't you go out with him if he means that much to you?' She nudged me. 'He's good looking, though, isn't he? Even you must have noticed that.'
'You never told me you thought he was good looking,' Benedict remarked.
'Why would I? It's perfectly obvious he's a handsome man. You shouldn't need it pointing out to you.'
'All right, no need to go on about it,' he grumbled. 'He's a good-looking bloke. I get it.'
Star giggled. 'Are you jealous?'
'Why would I be jealous? He's not your type.'
'Oh, really? And why not?'
Benedict shrugged. 'He's too decent for you. You'd eat him alive.'
'Well!' Star pulled her coat from the back of her chair. 'I think that says more about you than it does me.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'If Hector's too decent for me, what does that make you?'
Benedict considered the matter. 'I suppose,' he said slowly, 'it makes me honest. You and I are flawed individuals, Star, whereas Celeste and Hector are perfect. Far too good for the likes of us.'
I tutted, embarrassed. 'What a ridiculous thing to say.'
Star sighed. 'He's perfectly correct, though. Probably why we're so right for each other, sweetie.' She leaned over the table and planted a kiss on her husband's lips, earning an affectionate smile from him.
'Honestly, you two are crazy,' I informed them.
'So,' Star said, 'you've told Hector you won't be seeing him again?'
I nodded. 'Well, not in so many words, but I think he got the gist.'
'That poor man,' she said.
'He's been to the Museum of Magic many times, and he's only interested in it for the historical stuff. The magic means nothing to him.'
'The philistine! You're better off without him.'
'What a shame.' Benedict buttoned up his coat. 'Maybe a second date would change your mind?'
'I'm sorry,' I said. 'I don't see the point. I liked him but ...'
Star linked her arm through mine. 'I know, I know. You don't have to spell it out. Let's get out of here.'
Benedict gave her a wary look. 'Are we walking, or do you plan to zap?'
'Does it matter?' asked Star.
'Zapping makes me dizzy,' he told her. Poor Benedict. Since marrying my sister, he'd certainly accepted our magic, but living with a witch must have been difficult for him. He let her “zap” — as we nicknamed instantaneous transportation — him around sometimes, but he much preferred the ordinary modes of travel.
'Honestly,' I assured them, 'I don't mind walking, as long as we can get out of here.'
Benedict drained his glass as Star collected the brochure and shoved it in her bag. 'Come on. Let's take you home.'
'Not home,' I said. 'I promised Sky I'd pop by to tell her all about the date. She's going to make hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows.'
'Really?' Star clutched Benedict's arm. 'It's an awfully long walk to Jethro's and Sky's house. One zap won't make a difference, will it?'
Benedict rolled his eyes. 'I suppose not. Let's go outside, though. I know people in this place have been drinking, but I don't want them worrying they're hallucinating when we all disappear into thin air.'
'You're such a darling,' I told him. 'I appreciate it.'
'It's okay,' he said, giving me a mischievous smile. 'I'll do anything for a cup of Sky's hot chocolate.'
Chapter Two
Christmas Eve was, as I'd told Hector, an exceptionally busy day in Castle Clair. There was always a market on Christmas Eve, unless it fell on a Sunday, in which case the town's charter forbid it. The shops were usually heaving.
Star roped Sirius in to help in The Broom Closet, which she deemed only fair given it was his business, anyway. He didn't mind. It gave him something to do and, as he often told us, he was at a loose end since leaving Ballydraiocht and giving up his teaching job.
You'd assume people would be too busy doing last-minute shopping to pay much attention to a museum, and I expect in many towns and cities that's the case. Not in Castle Clair, though. The Museum of Magic was always full on the twenty-fourth of December, thanks to the anniversary of the witch's leap. Queues would form down Riverside Walk and up the path leading to the shrine, marking the spot where Blaise St Clair had jumped from the castle wall. People would lay flowers, leave letters and poems, cards bearing his image with heartfelt messages inside, and little bundles of herbs tied together with ribbon. All expressed sorrow at his untimely death, and their loathing both of the witchfinder who'd hounded him and the younger brother who'd betrayed him.
It was tricky, being descended from Bevil St Clair. Sometimes it seemed we didn't deserve to have inherited the castle and the rest of the estate. It was our ancestor who'd informed the authorities that Blaise was a witch and brought Tobias Palmer to Castle Clair in search of him. I tried to justify it by reminding myself we were also descendants of the noble Rafe St Clair, the brothers' father, and from Bevil's son, Bartholomew.
After paying tribute to Blaise, people wandered the castle grounds, mostly heading to the garden and peering over Witch's Leap to stare at the river below, where Blaise had landed. They then made their way to the museum to browse the St Clair exhibition. I often had to answer questions about my ancestors and agree with them that Blaise had deserved better and Bevil was a complete rotter. They had strong opinions on this and wanted answers.
'What happened to the witchfinder?'
'No one knows. He was never heard of again. I expect he gave up the search for Blaise and went off to chase another poor wretch.'
'Why did Jennet marry Bevil? How could she forgive him for what he did to Blaise?'
'Maybe she didn't realise what he'd done. Or possibly there was no choice. It's believed she was an orphan and Rafe took her in, gave her a home and a family. She probably had no one else; there were so few options for women in those days.'
'Why would Bevil turn on his brother like that, after everything Blaise did for him?'
'The legend is he was jealous of Blaise. His older brother inherited everything from his father and, to top it off, he had Jennet. Bevil had fallen in love with her and wanted her for himself. Apparently, they argued a lot about her, and it seems Bevil decided there was only one way he could settle it.'
'Was Blaise's body ever found?'
'No, it never was.'
'So how do you know the fall killed him?'
How to answer that? I didn't trust that conclusion myself, but I could hardly tell them why, could I?
'Because he simply vanished and, given that he would surely have wanted revenge, it seems unlikely he survived. It's difficult to accept he would let his brother get away with marrying Jennet or taking control of the St Clair fortune.'
And yet he had, I was positive. But why? Where did he go after he got out of the river? The questions kept me awake at night sometimes, although I would never admit it to my sisters. They were already convinced I was obsessed.
After a long and exhausting day, I was ready for a lengthy soak in the bath and an evening curled up on the sofa with a good book. Unfortunately, Mother had other ideas. She informed me as I arrived home that she'd invited everyone over for a Christmas Eve dinner.
Spirit gave me a weary glance. My beautiful, tiger-like cat was evidently as ready for a nap as I was.
'But why?' I groaned. 'We'll be seeing them all tomorrow for lunch, anyway.'
'Yes, but not here,' she pointed out. 'And since I won't be the one preparing lunch for us this year, I wish to do something nice for us tonight. It's sweet of Star to invite us round to Lily Cottage, but how we're all going to squeeze in there I have no idea, given Benedict's insistence that Star do things the traditional way, as much as possible.'
I wondered that myself. Star, Sky and I owned Lily Cottage, but after Star's wedding, I'd moved to Castle Lodge, our family home, to give her and Benedict privacy. Sky was already living with Jethro in his new-build five-be
droomed house at the edge of town and, really, it made more sense to eat Christmas lunch either there or at the Lodge. Star, however, insisted. It was her first Christmas as a married woman, and she wanted to host Christmas lunch. Fair enough. We'd manage somehow.
Given the circumstances, I shouldn't be surprised Mother wanted everyone round at Castle Lodge for Christmas Eve, even though it was terribly inconvenient. I couldn't help worrying Star would be pretty shattered, too, as the shop would no doubt have been heaving with customers all day, plus she had Christmas lunch to prepare. Unless she was planning to use a little magic. I wondered if Benedict would be happy about that. He'd come to terms — eventually — with the fact she was a witch. He'd even coped with the astonishing discovery that his own mother, paternal grandfather and half-sister were, or had been, witches. But he still found the whole thing tricky, and Star was trying to take things slowly with him and not overload him with magic. Benedict was awfully sweet, but he got panicky about things he didn't understand. He liked rational explanations. I suppose that was the science teacher in him.
'Who's everyone, anyway?' I asked Mother.
'The usual crowd,' she replied airily. 'Obviously Castor, you, Sirius, Star, Benedict, Sky, Jethro.'
'Right.'
'And your father and Aurora.'
'Golly,' I exclaimed. 'Is Aurora likely to fit through the door?'
'I hope so,' Mother said wryly. 'If not, she's got no chance of squeezing into Lily Cottage tomorrow.'
Aurora was my stepmother, and lovely in every way. She adored food, and pregnancy had served only to increase her appetite. Given her baby was due in less than a fortnight, she now resembled a hot air balloon, and I was frankly amazed she could be bothered to even leave Ballydraiocht, where they lived. She would, no doubt, travel by magical means, dragging my father along with her. Father had, sadly, been a rather badly behaved witch in the past, and it forced the High Council of Witches to ground him. He no longer possessed magic, something which he'd coped with rather magnificently. Forced to stop depending on his powers, along with meeting and falling in love with Aurora, Father had changed his ways, and was a sober and rather sensible chap these days, to everyone's relief. He couldn't wait for his fifth child to arrive, and we all privately hoped he would be a much better father to the new baby than he'd ever been to us.
Despite all that, though, I loved him dearly, and it thrilled me he was once again part of our family. He'd been in disgrace and alienated from us for years, so it was wonderful to have him back. This would be our first Christmas since he'd returned to the fold, and I realised how lucky we all were to have each other, so I raised no real objection to the dinner, even though I was dead on my feet and could have happily slobbed around all evening instead.
Castor sounded full of the joys of the season, anyway. He was humming to himself when I entered the kitchen, and he gave me a huge smile and asked if I'd had a nice day. I replied I had, thank you, grabbed a glass of orange juice and headed to the living room, rather stunned.
'Gosh,' I said, 'what's happened to Castor?'
Mother was rearranging baubles on the Christmas tree and didn't look round. 'Hmm?'
'Castor. He was nice to me, and he was humming a tune! What's happened?'
'Oh, nothing much. He's been on the sherry, that's all. It has a weird effect on him,' she said. She turned around, smiling. 'Now, are you going to shower and change? They'll all arrive in half an hour or so.'
'Already? I suppose so. Where's Sirius?'
She sighed. 'Went for a walk with Belasko. At least he's walking. Belasko, obviously, is flying.'
Belasko was my brother's raven and accompanied him everywhere. Since returning home, Belasko had been his one constant companion. It really wasn't good for Sirius.
'He's doing a lot of walking lately,' I observed.
'Isn't he just?' She looked sad. 'He's not settling, is he? I hoped everything would come right when he came home to Castle Clair, but it seems to have made him worse. I honestly think he was happier in Ballydraiocht.'
'But Castle Clair's his home,' I said. 'Ireland was a stop-gap. Somewhere to recover from — everything.'
'That's what I thought,' she admitted. 'Carissa's been dead for three and a half years now. He loved her deeply, but he has to move on.'
'Perhaps it's not just Carissa,' I mused.
'Meaning?'
'Meaning lad's got nowt to do,' Castor said, joining us. 'What did you expect would happen?'
Mother whirled round to face him. 'What are you talking about? Sirius is head of this family. He's got plenty to do.'
'When he buggered off to Ballydraiocht, he gave Celeste control of the museum and put Star in charge of the shop. The castle virtually runs itself in the winter, and he's not even master of his own house, what with you and me and Celeste living here an' all.'
'Are you saying we should move out?' Mother sounded aghast.
'No, 'cos that would only make things worse,' he said. 'Lad'd be rattling around here with no company and that's the last thing he needs. But he will always defer to his mother, won't he? Not only that, but it don't sit easy on him, being master of Castle Clair, now his dad's back on the scene.'
'But Raiden has no magic,' Mother reasoned. 'And his father disinherited him, anyway. We all accept that. Sirius has every right—'
'Aye, I realise that, and so does he, no doubt. Don't mean he feels good about it though. I reckon he's not sure what he's supposed to be doing, and who can blame him? You women managed perfectly fine without him for the last few years. You proved you don't need him. So, what's he supposed to do, eh?'
'Well,' I said, at a loss to explain, 'I'm not sure exactly. Just be here, I guess. Sirius belongs here. Castle Clair always has a master, and it's Sirius's turn. He doesn't have to do anything.'
'He spent all that time teaching magic at Ballydraiocht's school. He had a purpose in life. Now he's back here, rattling around with no real job and sharing his house with his family. Lad needs to be useful. All the time he's doing nowt he's mourning for Carissa. Walking around this town — it's full of memories of her. If you ask me, all it's doing is making him more depressed and deepening the grief.'
'Goodness, Castor, you're right,' Mother agreed. 'I never realised. What should we do?'
'He could work at the museum again,' I suggested. 'We worked together before with no problems. I'm confident we can make it work again.'
'And he can help at The Broom Closet, too,' Mother said. 'I'm sure Star could use some help.'
'If you say so.' Castor shook his head. 'Not exactly demanding, though, is it?'
Mother turned back to the tree. 'Sirius will be fine. It's a matter of adjusting,' she said firmly. 'Celeste, get yourself ready, please. Castor, you and I should start making dinner.'
'Oh aye,' he grumbled, the effects of the sherry clearly wearing off, 'that'll take all of a second to prepare, won't it?'
'It will take longer than that,' she guaranteed him. 'I've decided to create three vegetarian dishes the traditional way, for Sirius and Celeste.'
'Left it a bit late, haven't you?' he muttered.
'Not at all,' she said. 'I discovered some wonderful recipes online that can be completed within twenty-five minutes. That's the beauty of the internet. Really, Castor, you must come out of the dark ages.'
As his scowl deepened, I decided it was time I took a shower. It seemed Castor's mellow mood had evaporated, along with most of the sherry.
****
Despite my weariness, I was glad to see everyone sitting around the long oak table in the dining room, tucking into Mother's dinner while exchanging gossip. As I looked around at them all, I realised that, just over a year ago, I'd never have believed this would be possible. Mother had travelled abroad for a long time, while Sirius lived in Ballydraiocht, Father was estranged from us and Sky lived and worked in the Lancashire town of Connlea, unaware of her true nature and all but lost to us. Benedict, meanwhile, had abandoned Star and taken a teaching
job in Sussex, and we knew Jethro only vaguely as Carissa's brother. So much had happened in such a short time. It was lovely that we were all together under one roof, united as a family at last.
Spirit, Sky's cat Belle, and Star's grumpy Paypacket, were playing games together in the living room. Father's raven, Bran, kept company with Belasko. They perched on a beam, watching the cats with superior expressions. Things couldn't get any better.
'What are you smiling at?' Sky said, sounding suspicious. 'You haven't heard from Hector again, have you? Because you can't possibly go on another date with a man who doesn't see the magic in the world, even when it's staring him in the face at the museum.'
Star and I exchanged incredulous glances, then burst out laughing.
'You've changed your tune,' I said. 'It wasn't that long ago you were telling us we were deluded for believing in magic! Anyway, there'll be no more dates for me, with Hector or anyone else.'
'Poor darling,' Mother said. 'Such a shame it didn't work out.'
'I warned her it were doomed from the off,' Castor said, sounding smug. 'Blooming blind dates. It'll be internet dating next, you wait and see. You ever heard the like?'
Mother fixed him with a hard stare. 'What have I told you about moving with the times?' she asked. 'Internet dating could be an option for Celeste. Lots of people meet their partners online these days.'
'They do,' Father agreed. He gave her a wide smile. 'You ought to try it yourself, Iliana. You never know your luck.'
Mother looked appalled. 'Thank you for the advice,' she said stiffly, 'but marriage to you was enough to put me off men for life. I'm happy as I am, if it's all the same to you.'
Father winked at her, and she tutted. 'I can't imagine how you put up with him, Aurora,' she told my stepmother. 'How are you feeling anyway, dear?'
Aurora was chomping away on a spicy samosa and seemed perfectly happy. She gulped her food down and beamed at Mother. 'Oh, fine, thank you. I must say, this Indian buffet was a fabulous idea. The food's gorgeous.'
