by Adele Abbott
“Here we go. You can’t bear the thought that your son is only on level three, can you? What does it matter?”
“Of course it matters.” His father was becoming redder and redder in the face. His mother put her hand on her husband’s to try to calm him down. Neil’s father took a deep breath and continued. “Look, we all know you struggled with magic, and that it’s taken you longer than expected to get to level three.”
“By ‘longer than expected,’ you mean longer than it took any of you.”
“Yes, but you got there in the end. That’s what matters. And if you’d carried on, you would have been at the same level as your brother and sister by now.”
“I don’t care about any of that, Dad. We’ve been over this a thousand times. I don’t want the same things as you, Mum, or Michael and Jackie. I’m very pleased that you’ve achieved such a high level. But it’s not for me.”
“Your father and I have been talking,” his mother said. “We know money’s tight, but we thought that if you came back to Candlefield—”
“I’m not coming back, Mum.”
“Just hear me out. If you came back, we could support you for a few years so that you could concentrate solely on your magic studies. If you had no other distractions, and you didn’t have to work, then we’re sure you could make it to level five.”
“It’s very kind of you and Dad to offer, but I don’t want your money. I have no interest in progressing beyond level three. That’s good enough for me.”
“Good enough?” His father thumped the table again.
“What’s wrong with you, Neil?” Michael chipped in. “You’re a level three wizard living in the human world doing a no-mark job.”
“It’s nice to know what you all really think of me.” Neil stood up. “I guess I should leave you magical supremoes to it. You won’t want a lowly level three wizard in your presence.”
“Wait, Neil,” his mother called after him, but it was too late. Neil had already stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.
Back in Washbridge, he needed to cheer himself up after that encounter, so he went to one of his favourite bars, Candy Time. The place was always quieter in the daytime. After ordering a beer, he spotted two young women standing at the far side of the bar. Neil might not be a level five wizard, but level three magic was good enough for his purposes. It had always served him well when trying to impress the ladies. All humans loved magic—or at least so it seemed. Neil was so much better than the average ‘magician’ because of course he was performing real magic.
He engaged his trademark smile as he approached the two women. “Hello there, ladies!”
One of them was a blonde—the other a brunette. They both eyed him suspiciously.
“Do you like magic?”
“Err—yeah,” the brunette said. “I guess so.”
“Why don’t I show you some? Here, let me have your watch.”
She pulled her arm away.
“I’m not going to steal it. I just want to show you a little magic. Don’t you trust me?”
“This was a present from my parents,” the brunette said. “How do I know you won’t run off with it?”
“I tell you what—” Neil reached inside his pocket. “Here’s my wallet. Take a look inside. My credit cards and cash are in there. Hold on to that, and let me have your watch. I’m not going to run off and leave my wallet behind, am I?”
That seemed to satisfy the young woman who slipped off the silver wristwatch, and passed it to him. Neil put it on the bar, then took a few steps back so that he couldn’t reach it.
“Keep your eyes on the watch.”
The two women stared intently at it.
“Are you ready?”
They nodded.
“Okay, three, two, one.” Neil cast the ‘hide’ spell, and the watch became invisible to the two women. It was actually still on the bar, but they couldn’t see it.
“Wow, how did you do that?”
“I’m a wizard.” He laughed.
“You haven’t lost my watch, have you?” The brunette sounded a little worried.
“No, of course not. You still have my wallet, don’t you?”
She held it up.
“Okay, three, two, one.” He reversed the spell, and they could once again see the watch. “There you go. Good as new.”
The young woman slipped the watch back on her wrist, and handed Neil his wallet.
“And now, as payment for the magic show, you both have to give me your phone number.”
By the time he left the bar, he was feeling much better about himself. Neil had no desire to pursue magic beyond level three, but at times like this, he did enjoy being a wizard. He’d just earned himself a phone number. The blonde already had a boyfriend, but the brunette had seemed quite open to the idea of meeting up with him again. That was how he often found his girlfriends. He dazzled them with his magic and charm.
***
When Neil arrived back at the apartment, Charlie and Dorothy were sitting in the lounge. Charlie was reading the newspaper; Dorothy was studying her phone. Just then, the canary cheeped.
“What the—?” Neil stared at the bird.
“It’s mine.” Dorothy stood up.
“What’s it doing here?” Neil walked over to the cage.
“It’s a present from my mother. She knew that I’d been missing Babs, so she bought Bob for me.”
“Bob? What kind of a name is Bob for a self-respecting canary? How are you doing, Bob?”
The canary cheeped at Neil.
“Why won’t he speak to me?”
Dorothy shrugged. She didn’t want the others to know that Bob could talk to her, and only her. On the bus ride home it had occurred to her that the canary could act as her eyes and ears when she was out.
“You’re not thinking of keeping him here, are you?” Neil said.
“Why not? He isn’t doing any harm.”
“Hmm? We’ll see about that. Anyway, what’s this I hear about you attacking our new flatmate?”
“I didn’t attack her. What did she say to you?”
“That you pricked her finger.”
“Well, yes, I did do that.”
“You did what?” Charlie looked genuinely shocked. “Why would you do that?”
“It was all a misunderstanding,” Dorothy said. “Tilly told me that vampires often soft-feed off humans without them noticing.”
“Soft-feed?” Neil looked puzzled. “What does that mean?”
“It’s when you don’t bite their necks to drink their blood. You just prick their finger, and let a few drops drip onto a saucer.”
“So you pricked Susan’s finger?”
“Yes, but Tilly didn’t make it clear that I should have used a special device called a soft-stab. I just used a needle from my sewing kit.”
“Oh dear!” Charlie laughed. “What did Susan do?”
“She woke up and looked at me like I was insane. Hardly surprising, seeing as how I was kneeling on the floor next to her with a needle in my hand.”
“Where is she, anyway?” Neil looked around.
“She’s not back from work yet,” Dorothy said. “I’m not looking forward to seeing her. I feel a bit embarrassed after what happened yesterday.”
“A bit? If I’d just attacked someone with a needle, I’d feel more than a bit embarrassed.”
“You’re not helping, Neil!”
Chapter 14
On her way into the multi-storey car park, where Chris Briggs had met his untimely death, Susan stopped to study the sign next to the entrance. The roof and fifth floor were reserved for employees of the town council whose offices adjoined the car park. The floors below those were operated by a private company, and were open to the public.
“Hi.” Susan put on her best smile for the security man who was busy crushing candy on his phone.
He grunted something, but didn’t look up.
“I’m from The Bugle.”
; “You want to get that crossword sorted out.” He put his phone onto the table in front of him.
“Sorry?”
“The crossword. I used to be able to do it, but now they’ve gone and made it too difficult. You need to get it sorted.”
“Okay. I’ll have a word. Can I ask you about the man who fell from the roof?”
“He didn’t fall. He jumped.”
“Do you have CCTV?”
“Up to the fourth floor, yeah.”
“What about the floors above that?”
“Nah. They belong to the council. They haven’t got any cameras up there—cheapskates.”
“So the suicide wasn’t caught on CCTV?”
“Nah, like I said, there’s no cameras up there. But it’s obvious that’s what happened, isn’t it?”
“How do you mean?”
“The guy was a loser. He didn’t have a pot to—”
“I get the picture.”
“Did the police view the CCTV for the floors below the fifth floor, to see how he got up to the roof?”
“Yeah, but he wasn’t on it.”
“How do you mean?”
“What I said. He wasn’t on it.”
“So how did he get up there?”
“The cameras on the south stairs are out. The cops reckon he must have gone up that staircase.”
“Which are the south stairs?”
“Around the back.” He pointed.
“I didn’t even realise there were stairs around there. Why would he have gone around there when there are three other sets of stairs on the front and sides of the building?”
The man shrugged and went back to his phone. Candy Crush was obviously calling.
“Okay, thanks for your time.” Susan started for the door.
“Don’t forget to get the crossword sorted.”
Susan simply didn’t buy any of that. Coming from Bridge Street, which was where Chris Briggs had spent most of his time, the last staircase he would have been likely to use was the south one. It struck her that that was just a convenient get-out for the police who didn’t then have to worry about how he’d really ended up on the roof.
***
“Great!” Susan said, under her breath. This was all she needed today. She’d only been at her desk for a few minutes when she spotted Margie coming through the door at the far end of the office. She was already making a beeline for Susan’s desk. Dougal Andrews had a big smirk on his face.
“Hello, Margie.” Susan had to force a smile.
“I hope you don’t mind me calling in again, but I really would like to get this thing moving if we can. Who knows how many more people have already been taken back to Candlefield?”
“If you recall, Margie, I did say that I’ve only just started in the job, and it might take me a while to get around to this.”
“But Susan, it’s so important.”
“If there were so many people disappearing, surely we’d have heard about it, wouldn’t we?”
“Not necessarily. Most of those partners who have been left behind have been brainwashed.”
“Brainwashed?”
“Yeah. That’s what they do. They brainwash you, so you’ll forget.”
“Who are they?”
“The supernaturals, of course. The Rogue Retrievers. I don’t think the brainwashing can have worked on me, though. Sometimes I wish it had because then I wouldn’t have to face all this ridicule. Everybody thinks I’m crazy, but I’m not. It’s all true. Please, Susan, if you’d just follow up on this story, you’ll make a name for yourself. You’ll be famous.”
Infamous, more like. Susan needed to shut this down once and for all. But if she just sent Margie away again, she’d no doubt be back the next day, and the next. Maybe if she allowed Margie to get it off her chest, that would satisfy her.
“I tell you what, Margie. How about we go back to your house? You can give me all the details, and I can take it from there.”
“Would you, Susan?” Margie’s face lit up. “That would be great. I’ve been trying to get someone to listen to me for so long. You don’t know what this means to me.” She threw her arms around Susan, and hugged her.
Dougal and Bob were in hysterics.
Susan gently pulled away. “How did you get here today, Margie?”
“I came on the bus.”
“Okay, we’ll take my car.”
Margie’s house was not far from where Susan’s parents lived. It was an area of Washbridge that Susan knew well. The house was just like all the others on the street. There was nothing about it to suggest that a nutjob lived there.
Margie led the way inside. “I’ll make us both a cup of tea. How do you take yours, Susan?”
“Milk and one sugar, please.”
While Susan drank her tea, Margie busied herself collecting photos and papers, which she then arranged carefully on the coffee table.
“How would you like to do this?” Margie asked.
“Perhaps you should start by telling me something about your husband. I don’t even know his name.”
“This is Gary.” Margie held up a photograph of herself with a man who was a good six inches taller than her. He had black hair and a winning smile. The two of them looked very happy together. “This was taken about a year before they took him away.”
“Had you been together long?”
“We were school sweethearts. We were together almost thirty-five years.”
“Do you have children?”
“Yes, two girls. Well, I say girls, but they’re women now. They both live in this street.”
“Really?” Susan couldn’t imagine living in the same street as her parents.
“Gary doted on the girls. He inherited some money from his parents, and used it to buy houses for them. I’m not sure either of them would have chosen to live here, but they weren’t going to refuse the offer of a house. Willow lives at number thirty-two, and Rose, my older girl, lives at forty-one.”
“I see. Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Susan knew that if she wanted to put an end to this charade, she was going to have to listen to Margie’s ludicrous story in full.
“Like I said, we’d known each other since our school days. I always thought his parents were a little strange. They were never very keen on me for some reason. It was much later, after I’d discovered that Gary was a wizard, that he told me his parents had been supernaturals too. They hadn’t wanted him to marry a human. It wasn’t that they didn’t like me; they just wanted him to marry a sup.”
“A sup? That’s a paranormal creature, right?”
“Yeah. A wizard or a witch, or a vampire. Or even a werewolf.”
“So when did you first notice something unusual about Gary?”
“Even before we were married, there were little things. I remember I had a glass ornament which my mother bought for me. It was a little ballerina. One day, I knocked it onto the floor and it smashed. But the next thing I knew, Gary handed it back to me, and it was as good as new. When I asked him how he’d done it, he just laughed and said, ‘It’s magic.’ I knew it was weird, but I was just pleased to have my ballerina back. There were other little things, too. One day we were out somewhere, and it was really hot. I remember telling Gary that the heat was making me feel ill, and then, just a few seconds later, it started to rain.”
“Surely that’s not so unusual. The weather can change in an instant.”
“But it was only raining on us. People quite close to us were still sitting in bright sunshine. It was as though he’d created our own personal rain cloud.”
Susan managed a smile, but was dying a little inside. “Was there anything else?”
“Lots of little things, but nothing major until the one I’ve already mentioned to you. One day, not long after we were married, the next door neighbour’s dog wouldn’t stop barking, so Gary turned it into a statue. He hadn’t realised I was there. That’s when he came clean with me.”
“Told you that he was
a wizard?”
“That’s right.”
“What did you say?”
“I laughed of course. Just like everyone laughs at me now. I thought he was off his head. But then he told me about this other place called Candlefield.”
“That’s where the supernaturals live?”
“Yeah.”
“Where exactly is Candlefield?”
“That’s just it. Only supernaturals can go there.”
“How did Gary travel back and forth between here and there?”
“He used magic, but not all supernaturals can do that. Werewolves and vampires have to travel there by road.”
“Did Gary ever try to take you there?”
“No, but he couldn’t have even if he’d wanted to. Candlefield doesn’t exist to humans. It took me a while to get my head around that idea. Once he’d decided to tell me that he was a wizard, he showed me lots of different magic. He made himself invisible. He levitated. He could pick up things which were really, really heavy. It was unbelievable.”
“What about your kids? Did they see any of this?”
“No. Gary didn’t want them to know. He said it would be too dangerous.”
“What happened once he’d shared his secret with you?”
“We knew we had to keep it quiet because sups aren’t allowed to tell humans that they exist. If they do, they’re likely to get taken back to Candlefield, and won’t be allowed to come to the human world ever again.”
“Who takes them back?”
“It’s a kind of supernatural police force. They’re called Rogue Retrievers. Their job is to find any sups who break the rules in the human world. That’s what happened with Gary. Somehow, and to this day I still don’t know how, someone found out that Gary had told me he was a wizard. That’s why he was taken.”
“Did you actually see these Retrievers take him away?”
“No. I was at the shops. When I came back, he’d gone.”
“So you don’t actually know for sure that it was the retrievers who took him away?”
“Of course I do. Where else would he have gone?”
