by R. M. Walker
“Why did he go after her and not the meeting of witches?” she asked.
Nate shrugged. He picked up the cube again and spun it on a corner. “I don’t know. I’ve not really researched it. I just know that story.”
“Is that why you called your cat Pyewacket?” she asked Josh and Jake.
“No, it was the name of a cat in a film Mum loves,” Josh said. “She got it from there.”
Lily giggled and shook her head. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”
“Because we think you’ve spent too long in denial,” Josh replied.
She started to get up, but Jake pulled her against him, slipping his arm around her shoulders.
“Listen, the twenty-ninth is not far away,” he said. “We don’t know what will happen, but we don’t want you—”
“Urgh!” She covered her face with her hands, slumping forward, but he leant with her, stroking the side of her neck.
“We’re not trying to upset you,” Matt said, putting his hand on her knee.
“Then drop it, please,” she begged, sitting up. “I’m not a Seer, or a witch, or anything special at all, believe me.”
“Well, you are special to us, sweetheart,” Nate said softly, taking the cards from Matt. “We’ll drop it for now. You had a rough night, but you’re going to have to face it soon.”
His softly spoken words settled her, but they made her blush too. They thought she was special and that made her insides curl up and her toes tingle.
“Do you know how to play poker?” Nate asked, shuffling the cards.
“No.”
“Let’s teach Lily Pad to play poker,” Jake suggested. “Who knows, in a few years we may even get her to play strip poker with us.”
“Jake!” Lily squeaked, she could feel the heat in her cheeks.
Matt reached out and swatted his knee with a comic he had picked up. “Get your head out of the gutter.”
“Just teasing,” Jake said to her with a wink.
Her blush deepened, but she rolled her eyes and picked up the hand Nate dealt her. They were going to leave it for now, but she knew Nate, and she knew he wouldn’t leave it for long. None of them would. And she had no idea how to convince them they were wrong.
~*~*~*~
“Who taught you to cook? Your mum?” Lily asked, impressed as Nate stirred a lump free white sauce. They’d spent the afternoon playing cards in the treehouse then gone back to Lily’s for tea.
“Yes, she works for a local restaurant in the kitchens. She’s the sous chef,” Nate replied. “You’ll have to come over for dinner; she’s fantastic.”
The doorbell rang followed by a knock on the door.
“We can go,” Josh volunteered from where he and Jake were taking out the plates.
“No, it’s all right, I’ll go,” Lily said and left the room, wiping her hands on the apron she’d tied around her waist.
She opened the door and was taken aback when she saw Drew standing there. His back was to her, but he turned when he heard the door open and gave her a wide smile. The pile of books he was holding slipped and tumbled to the ground.
“Oh, damn! I’m sorry. All fingers and thumbs tonight. I broke a cup earlier.”
Lily crouched to help him gather the books. “Did you want Mum?” she asked, not sure why he was here, but unwilling to give away the fact that she wasn’t home.
“What? Your mum? Oh no, I wanted to let you have these books. It’s not my entire collection on medieval history, most of them are back home. But these are the ones I brought with me. I think you’ll find them fascinating. No rush to get them back, whenever you’re ready.”
“That’s really kind of you.” She piled them into her arms, taking the ones he was holding as well.
“There’s a few about the local area also,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “I’d be interested to hear what you think about some of those.”
Lily juggled the books, keeping her eyes on the cover of the top book. It was a stunning picture of the Cornish coastline.
“Thank you,” she said, bringing the books close to her chest.
“I’m going out on a limb here, but are you taking your history A level at the college in town?” he asked, sticking his hands into the pockets of the black suit trousers he was wearing.
“Yes, I am, but it’s—” Matt slid his arm around her waist and propped his chin on her shoulder, surprising her into silence.
“Is everything okay here, sweetheart?” The possessiveness in his voice was clear.
Drew looked at Matt. A sardonic smirk tugged his lips. “I was just leaving Lily some books on the local history,” he said, rocking back on his heels.
“You should have said, Lily. I have lots back at the Manor. You can have any of them. Save bothering, Mr—” He stopped, fishing for a surname.
“It’s no problem,” Drew replied. “Besides, I don’t know if you were told today, but Mr Peters was in an accident yesterday. I’ve been drafted to take over. I’ll be teaching you for the time being.”
“Oh, no!” Lily shifted the books in her arms. “He’s not too badly hurt, is he?” She didn’t know Mr Peters well, but she’d liked what she’d seen so far.
“Multiple breaks,” he said sadly. “Going to take a while before he’s on his feet.”
“And they just happened to ask you?” Matt asked, not bothering to hide the suspicion in his voice.
“I’m a history professor,” Drew replied. “I was on a sabbatical, but the local authority knew I was in this area. I got a call early this morning. Didn’t the substitute teacher tell you today?”
“Well, um, we didn’t go in. That is, I wasn’t in today,” Lily admitted.
“Skiving off?” he asked, tilting his head forwards but keeping his eyes on her.
“Not at all,” Matt spoke clearly. “The college is aware of why we weren’t in today.” His tone was clipped. He gave no further explanations.
“Good! I know you’re new here, Lily, but the last thing you need is to be distracted in your final year before your exams.”
“What are you saying?” Matt demanded as he straighten behind her, tugging her back against him. She heard movement behind them; the others were there.
“It’s okay.” She tried to defuse the situation. “It was completely beyond our control, but it won’t be happening again.”
“You know exactly what I’m saying.” Drew ignored her, his eyes still on Matt, and she saw a hardness in them that made her shiver slightly. “This is your last year before your finals.” He looked at Lily. “You need to work hard this year to get the results you want.”
“We’re aware of that,” Matt said. “You don’t need to worry about Lily. We’re looking after her.”
“Hmm.” Drew arched an eyebrow at Matt then smiled at Lily, the hardness gone from his eyes. “Wonderful. Well, see you Monday morning, Lily.”
Lily smiled weakly at him, but he was already turning away and walking back up the path, whistling as he went. She was tugged back into the cottage, and the door was slammed.
“He’s an asshole,” Josh spat, and she heard the anger in his voice. “He’s trying to make Lily back off from us. But I don’t get why.”
She looked down at the books again, realising if they saw what they were about, they might think she’d told him about them. That would make the whole situation so much worse. She pulled away from Matt and went into the living room and up the staircase quickly. “I’ll be back down,” she called.
“He’s after her, I tell you.” Nate grumbled as she headed up the stairs.
She slid the books under her bed and hurried back down to them in the kitchen. Nate was mixing the cheese sauce with the pasta, his body tense. Jake pulled her into his arms as soon as she came through the door. She watched the others for their reaction, but nothing showed on their faces to suggest they were unhappy with the show of affection. It would seem that all their negati
ve energy was focused on Drew at the moment.
“He’s a teacher. A professor,” Matt said carefully. “That means he’s from a university somewhere. He’s not going to risk his job for a student, not even one as pretty as Lily. He’d be a fool.”
“Then what is he doing?” Nate demanded.
Lily extricated herself from Jake and crossed to take the dish of grated cheese from him.
“He’s doing his job,” she said. “He’s a teacher. We weren’t in school and his first reaction was ‘why not’?” she said reasonably. “I think you’re reading into it too much.”
“I don’t know,” he grumbled, and put some cheese into his mouth.
“I do,” she said, and smiled at him. “Josh and Jake are with me during registration, and Matt is in history with me. I’ll be fine, but I really think he’s just being a teacher. It makes sense now. It was all we talked about when he drove me home—he was telling me the history of...” she stopped, realising where her next words would take her. “Britain,” she finished lamely and busied herself with pushing the cheese covered pasta under the grill and lighting it.
“What, the entire history in a ten-minute trip?” Jake snorted. “What is he? Super-teacher?”
“No, not the entire history,” she said, her cheeks heating up. She needed to change the subject and quickly. “A couple of minutes and this will be ready. Where do you—” Her mobile rang, and it caught her off guard, making her jump. She dug it out of her pocket and answered.
“Are you okay? I got the message June left me. Are you hurt? I can come right home. There’s a train in half an hour.” Her mother’s voice was hurried and anxious.
“I’m fine,” she said, watching the pasta in case it burnt. “The police are looking into it. You don’t need to come back until you’re ready.”
“Are you sure?” Her mother sounded doubtful, and Lily nodded, forgetting she couldn’t see her. “Lily?”
“I’m fine, honestly. We’re cooking macaroni at our place, and then we’ll go back to the manor. I’ll be okay, Mum.”
“If you’re sure. I’m supposed to be attending a showing tomorrow. I should expect it by now I guess, no matter how much I hate it.” She sighed. “But I have to go with the flow.”
Lily smiled and switched off the gas. “It’s okay. Enjoy your showing, drink champagne, and eat prawns and salmon for me.”
“If you need me, call me, please!”
“I will. Go and enjoy Mr Pringle’s attempts to seduce you,” she teased her.
“Lilith!” Her mother’s strangled voice made her laugh.
“I could go with Lily Pringle.” She laughed when her mother choked over the phone.
“You’re going to be the death of me! Behave, before I come back down there and smack your butt with my slipper; you’re not too old, Lilith!”
“I’ll behave.” She giggled and blew her mother a kiss before hanging up.
“Lily Pringle?” Josh snorted. “Sounds weird.”
“He’s the gallery owner, and he’s been after my mum for as long as I can remember, but it only goes one way. She’s not interested.”
“What happened to your dad?” Jake asked.
“He died when she was pregnant with me.”
“How?” Nate asked, taking the dish of macaroni from under the grill with oven gloves.
Lily picked out a serving spoon from the pot of utensils on the side. “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging as she followed him into the living room.
“What?” He put the dish down on the table. “Why don’t you know?”
“She never talks about him. I think it still upsets her, so I never pushed her for any answers.”
“He was your dad. You have the right to know what happened to him,” Nate said, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Why? It doesn’t change the fact he’s dead,” she said, spooning the macaroni onto the plates Jake had brought in. “And if it upsets her, what’s the point?”
“Don’t you want to know?” Matt asked, as she handed him a plate.
“Not really.” She said taking another plate. “I don’t think about him. It’s only a name to me. I never knew him, and I don’t think I’ve missed him. That sounds cold-hearted, but it’s always just been Mum and me; I’ve never needed anyone else.”
“Have you got any pictures of him?” asked Josh, taking the plate from her and handing it to Jake.
“No.” Lily shook her head and dished up Nate’s plate. “I don’t think we have any. I’ve never seen one.”
“Lily.” Nate scratched the back of his neck. “Don’t you think that’s slightly odd?”
“I think it’s her way of coping with losing the love of her life and being left to raise a daughter on her own,” she replied, not sure why they were so hung up on it.
None of them said anything, and she dished up her own plate and took a fork from the pile Josh had brought in. She crossed to sit on the bottom step of the spiral staircase. Matt and Nate took the sofa, and the twins sat cross-legged on the floor, side by side and facing her.
“Are you comfortable there?” Matt asked. “I’ll swap with you.”
“I’m fine, thanks,” she said, winding the stringy cheese topping around her fork.
“What was your dad’s name?” Nate asked softly.
“William Adair.” It was one of the few things she did know about him. She’d never spoken much about him to anyone. Generally, when people found out that he was dead, they expressed condolences then hastily changed the subject. They didn’t start up a third degree about him, like the boys were, asking her questions she had no answers for. It was making her feel awkward. She needed to change the subject, and she knew how. She’d been waiting for the right time.
“What did he do for work?” asked Matt before she could speak up.
“I don’t know.” She kept her head down, looking at Nate under her fringe. His eyebrows lifted quickly before he looked back down at his plate.
“So then,” she started. “I think I have your number, Nate. Or should I say name, Ignatius?”
Nate’s head shot up, and she couldn’t help the smug grin when she realised she’d got it right. His eyes sparkled behind his glasses, and his mouth widened into a smile.
“Well done!” Josh laughed. “How did you work it out?”
“I cheated,” she said. “I put Nate into a search online. There were only a few names that came back, and I’ve tried them all.”
“That’s what you wanted my phone for the other day?” Matt asked, and she nodded at him, chewing on a mouthful of pasta.
“What would you like to claim from me for your prize?” Nate asked. His head was down slightly, and tilted to the side as he watched her. The smirk on his face made her stomach tilt, and she hastily looked down at her plate.
“So, I take it you don’t like the name?” She heard a snigger and looked up under her eyelashes to see the twins smirking at each other.
“I hate the name,” Nate clarified.
“And you hate being called a fairy,” she said with interest. “Why? It’s what you are, isn’t it?”
He winced. But the others didn’t seem to show any aversion to the name, and it intrigued her.
“For a moment, don’t think of us,” Nate said, setting his empty plate on the floor. “Describe what you think a fairy would look like, or what you would have said six weeks ago.”
She used the edge of her fork to scrape some cheese off the plate as she thought about it. “Well, small, I guess.” Her mind brought up pictures she’d seen of flower fairies, and she began to see his point. “Glittery wings, pixie dust, girls usually, or at least something like a flower fairy.”
“Exactly,” he said. “None of which we resemble, but it’s what comes to mind.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said innocently. “I think you’d look good in a little acorn hat and green trousers with pointed shoes.”
Josh r
oared with laughter as Nate rolled his eyes.
“What? I think you’d look good like that, too, Joshua,” she said sweetly, and his laughter turned into a choking splutter.
“You’re evil,” Josh said. “Would you rather we had wings and glitter?”
“Well, maybe not the glitter, but how cool would it be to be able to fly?” She whooshed her hand through the air for emphasis.
“And where the fuck would we hide them?” Josh asked with a laugh. “How would we explain that when we went swimming?”
“Same way you hide the tree?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“Can’t do that. We can’t change our appearance,” Matt said, leaning down to pick up Nate’s empty plate. “Only witches can do that, and even then, it’s a glamour spell that doesn’t last long.”
“They can change what they look like?”
“Yeah, some witches can alter how they look,” Jake said, and stood up in one movement with his plate in his hand.
“What, like turn into a dog or a cat or something?” she asked in awe.
“No, they can’t change form. They alter your perception of them,” Matt said and got up to take her plate from her. “But they’re few and far between.”
“Why? How do they do it?”
“How about you come back with us to see Jonas,” Nate said. “He can tell you a lot more than we can. There’s not much he doesn’t know.”
Lily pulled a face, turning away from him as she stood. Jonas frightened her; she’d never forget the pure agony that had raced through her head because of him. No, she wasn’t going back there unless she was dragged, kicking and screaming.
“I’ll get the washing up,” she said, and escaped into the kitchen, clearly hearing Nate swear behind her.
“Lily—”
“Leave it, Nate,” Matt said.
She could still hear them, but none of them had followed her.
