Although one or two looked unsure, they didn’t stop moving. More and more spells flew at the bubble. I repeated the incantation, trying to keep it intact, but how long could I hold out against a barrage like this?
‘We’ll break through that amateur force field soon enough, so I suggest you let go of the brat,’ Justine ordered my father. ‘I don’t want you damaged.’
My father looked from me, to her. He didn’t let go. ‘I know her, Justine. She looks like ... I know her. I’m not letting you hurt her, or her friends.’
She shrugged, pulled out her mobile phone, and clicked on the screen. All of a sudden, a vent in the wall opened.
‘You know perfectly well that my phone is the only one that works in here. And I have an app that controls everything in this room.’ She spoke with a sad sigh, shaking her head at my father like he was a child. ‘When you went wild making too many of those stupid old brooms of yours last week, what did I do?’
My father’s shivers grew violent. ‘You ... you cut off my magic.’
She smiled. ‘Precisely, my love. The wall-vent that has just opened is pulling in air from the Chaos Field. In a few seconds time, all magic will cease to work inside this room. But ...’ She pulled a gun from her pocket. ‘... you don’t always need magic to get things done.’
Behind her, each and every security guard joined her in pulling out guns.
As the bubble faded completely, I pulled and pulled at my magic – but just like when I flew over the chasm on my witch broom, it was sorely lacking. There’s an expression in the witching world that says there’s no point in bringing a gun to a magic fight. I guess they didn’t take Chaos Fields into account when they came up with that one.
Will held his hands up. ‘Wait a minute. Listen to Finn. Listen to me. You can’t think this is right. Your boss kidnapped Wanda’s father, kept him prisoner all these years.’
‘We don’t think it’s right,’ said the woman with long brown hair. ‘But better that than end up like Benny and the Jeffs, or Fontanella.’
‘Also,’ said another security guard. ‘It’s nearly December. I need my end of year bonus.’
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I hadn’t got the energy to try and argue anymore. I was trapped in a room with an evil woman, and all of these people were going to kill us because they were afraid they wouldn’t get a bonus otherwise?
‘Fine,’ said Will. ‘How about this? How about I pay your bonus? Come on. You know I can afford it.’
A ripple of hesitation passed through the room. The brown-haired lady looked suspiciously at Will. ‘You could just be saying that. We could let you out of here, and then you could arrest us all.’
‘That’s not going to happen,’ Will insisted. ‘I promise you. Finn promises you. Don’t you, Finn?’
Finn nodded. ‘It’s like he says. Help us now. Arrest my aunt, let us out of here, and nothing will happen to you. The only one arrested will be Justine.’
One of the guards eyed me. ‘What about her? She’s a Wayfair. She’s hardly going to let us off. They’re bloody do-gooders, her lot.’
I sighed. ‘This is what the world’s come to? Doing good is a source of irritation? Wow. I’ll try and remember that next time I’m tempted to solve a crime. Listen, none of you deserves to be let off, to be honest. But I’ll give you my word anyway. Because that’s the thing about do-gooders – we tend to stick to our word. The Wayfairs won’t arrest any of you. But only if you make a decision right now.’
There was a little chat. A moment later, the brown-haired woman had clearly been chosen to be the spokesperson. ‘We’d like twice our usual bonus.’ She stared defensively in my direction. ‘And I’m not being mercenary, no matter what the Wayfair girl thinks. This place will shut down when it all comes out. We have families to feed and clothe.’
Will shrugged and shook the woman’s hand. ‘Fine. Double your bonus. You’ve got it.’
I sank against my father, looking around in disbelief as the tide finally turned on Justine Plimpton.
≈
We stood in the main area of Justine’s mountain lair, with dozens of staff members staring our way. Most of those stares were in my father’s direction. Some people looked truly shocked. Others had an odd look of resignation – a look that told me they had known, or at least suspected, that he was here all along.
Gretel was still the worse for wear after her electro-shock, and she was sitting in a chair while the rest of the Peacemakers surrounded the Minister. Justine was trying to convince them to let her go, but something inside of every single one of them had changed. Even those who had been on her side just a few minutes earlier no longer looked at her with fear.
The Minister for Magical Law had just been overthrown, and every one of them knew it.
The Peacemaker carriage had transported directly into Facility B when it arrived, and now the Púca snorted impatiently and kicked at the ground.
‘We’re taking my aunt to maximum security, Wanda,’ Finn said. ‘You can click your fingers from here. Just get your dad home, and I’ll check in with you as soon as I can.’
He shoved his aunt inside the carriage, and as soon as the rest of the Peacemakers piled on board, they disappeared.
‘Well, that’s my part done,’ said Will. ‘I’d better get off.’
My father reached out to him. ‘Aren’t you coming with us?’
Will shook his head. ‘I have to get home, Mr Wayfair. It really was an honour to meet you, sir.’ He gave me the briefest glance, then clicked his fingers and left the room.
‘I don’t understand,’ my father said. ‘Why isn’t he coming with us? He’s your beau, isn’t he?’
I forced a smile on my face and shook my head. ‘No. He’s not my beau, Dad. He’s just a guy who helped us out today. Come on. Let’s get you home.’
23. The Cat’s Out of the Bag
I stood in the corridor of Night and Gale Healing Hospital, peeping into my father’s room. My mother clutched his hand, staring lovingly at his sleeping form. Just as I was about to bring her in a coffee, my phone beeped.
As I looked at my screen, I saw that there were a dozen missed calls, all from Paul. I checked my messages, and heard his voice frantically telling me, ‘I did it, Wanda! I’ve earned my cheese! It’s in your inbox now!’
I went online, and checked my email. Sure enough, Paul had forwarded me the missing message – Benny’s very last words to Fontanella.
Hey Fonty,
I’m sorry to tell you this, but if you’re receiving this email, then I’ve probably been killed. If that’s the case, then I need you to get this information to Wanda Wayfair.
You know how me and the Jeffs have been working in Facility B a few days every week? Well, turns out there’s even more secretive stuff going on in Plimpton’s Brooms than any of us could have guessed.
I was on Quality Control over there. It was my job to throw away any Elite models that weren’t up to spec. I soon began to suspect that the brooms I was supposed to throw away weren’t defective, after all. I showed one of them to the Jeffs, and they agreed with me. We began to believe that they might have been made by none other than Aengus Wayfair.
Then, one day, we saw the man in the flesh. There were only a few of us there at the time – the Minister, me, the Jeffs, and that awful accountant and her spoiled brat of a daughter. I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing Aengus. None of us could.
He has a real family out there. They love him. They miss him. And I know I’ll be killed if I let this secret out, but how could I live with myself if I didn’t tell the truth?
We tried to get one of Aengus’s brooms to Wanda as soon as we suspected, but we should have done more. Now that we know for sure that it’s her father, we’re going to tell her the truth, face to face. But there’s always the chance that we won’t be able to get to her in time.
So if things go badly, you need to tell her all of this. I’ve attached a photo of her dad that I took at the facili
ty, so she’ll know it’s true. And Jeff the wizard has set up a glitch in the security system. Another failsafe. Every nine minutes, the facility will become visible to anyone flying over Chaos Chasm, for a few seconds at a time. If a few days go by without Jeff accessing the security system, the stretches of visibility will grow longer.
Oh, and I might not have said this before, Fonty – but I love you. More than anything in the world. We might have only had one real date, but when you know, you know. So if by some miracle I don’t get murdered and all of this works out ... will you marry me? I’m serious, Fonty. Sod the law. Sod all of it. We’ll have the most beautiful little vamp-dog children the world has ever seen.
All my love,
Benny.
≈
I banged on the door of Candace’s house. It took a bit of time, but her mother eventually answered.
‘You!’ she spat. ‘You have our whole coven in tatters, you interfering little–’
Candace stepped out from behind her mother. ‘Hi, Wanda. We’ve seen the news. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I’ve finally been let out of my room.’
‘Well,’ I said, sidestepping her mother and greeting Candace with a smile. ‘The cat is actually still in the bag. And she can’t wait to get out.’
Kitty peeped her head out of my small shoulder bag. I could see her nervous shakes melt away as Candace picked her up and spun her around. Tears fell down the little girl’s face, and she snuggled the kitten close.
‘I’ve missed you so much, Kitty! You know if there was anything I could have done to get you back to me, I would have done it.’ She glared at her mother. ‘My mother believes that Kitty is just about the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. She thought that without Kitty’s influence, I would come to understand why it was perfectly all right that her evil boss was keeping your father prisoner, Wanda. Apparently, toeing the coven line is more important to her than common decency.’
‘Wow.’ I tugged one of Candace’s perfect pigtails. ‘I never thought I’d hear such words coming from your mouth, young Miss Plimpton. I’m impressed.’
Candace frowned. ‘As it happens, I’m not quite sure that I’ll be remaining a member of the Plimpton coven. And I will be keeping Kitty, no matter what my mother thinks.’
I smiled at her mother. ‘It’s funny, isn’t it? Just think – if you hadn’t been so hell bent on separating Candace from this gorgeous little kitten, then Kitty might never have tracked me down in the first place. I would never have begun looking for Facility B. Your former boss would still be carrying out her usual evil deeds, instead of adjusting to life behind the magical bars of Witchfield. I bet you wish you’d just left well enough alone.’
She stalked into a room down the hall, and slammed the door behind her.
Kitty cuddled even closer to Candace, and the little girl’s face filled with love. ‘Thank you, Wanda. For keeping Kitty safe for me, and for trusting what she had to say. You might be the most annoying person I’ve ever met. But ... you’re kind of all right.’
24. One Week Later
Sometimes, despite all the pessimism in the world, things really do work out in the end. For so long, I had hated the Minister for Magical Law, and now she was languishing in Witchfield. Agatha Oster had temporarily taken over her role, until a vote could take place. With Agatha in charge, it looked like the Magical Law amendments, and the Equal Rights for Others Bill, might actually stand a chance at being passed. In the meantime, the Peacemakers and the Wayfairs were working together again, and Finn and my mother were firmly in charge.
But most importantly of all, my father was back where he belonged.
It was weird, to say the least. His pills – a powerful memory suppressant, according to the tests that Ronnie and I had run – were wearing off slowly but surely. His memories of how he wound up in Facility B were still hazy. He recalled flying over Chaos Chasm with no problems at all, and then seeing thirteen bats coming towards him. But how he got from that point, to believing he was Justine’s housebound husband, he had no idea.
He was frustrated as hell about the holes that remained in his memory. And he was even angrier about the years he had lost. We all were. But there was nothing we could do except enjoy the time we had ahead of us.
≈
The kitchen at Wayfarers’ Rest was buzzing with chatter. The whole coven had finally been invited to reunite with my father. My mother hadn’t been sure about the idea, but my dad insisted that the only way he would return to normal was if he actually returned to normal. Despite his bravado, I could see that he was having a tough time. He spent most of the evening with Max, who he warmed to instantly. I was beginning to think Max ought to change his name to Wayfair, seeing as he spent as much time with my coven as I did.
The party had been going on for about an hour when Gabriel poked his head around the back door.
‘Gabriel is here,’ Max barked, looking up from the game of chess he was enjoying with my father and Wolfie. Okay, so Wolfie was really just trying to eat the chess pieces rather than playing, but no one seemed to mind.
I crossed the room quickly, and Gabriel enveloped me in a hug. As he did, my father stood up and raised a brow.
‘Just how many young men do you have?’ he asked, with a twinkle in his eyes.
‘Only one,’ I said, kissing Gabriel on the cheek. ‘And this is him. Gabriel Godbody. He’s one of us. One of our coven.’
‘Oh.’ My father gave Gabriel a polite shake of the hand. ‘Well, if my daughter trusts you, then I suppose that shall have to be good enough for me. She’s the real Wayfarer, you know. Her gut is never wrong.’
Gabriel nodded. ‘I know, sir. Wanda is one of a kind.’
They stood looking awkwardly at one another for a few seconds, until eventually my father said, ‘Well, there’s an apple tart on the table that’s begging to be eaten, and a chess piece that actually is being eaten, so I’ll leave you to it.’
He walked back to Max, who was pulling one of the pawns out of Wolfie’s mouth and replacing it with a dog biscuit. I led Gabriel into the living room, and closed the door behind us.
‘It’s so good to see you,’ he said once we were alone. ‘It feels like so long.’
‘I know,’ I said, sitting on the couch and pulling him down beside me. ‘There’s been so much going on with my dad and everything. I’ve missed you, though. Oh, and I hope you got my flowers and card to say congrats on the win.’
He looked a bit flustered. ‘Yeah, about that. Wanda, I really don’t feel like I deserve congratulations on winning that race. Not from you. Not from anyone. If I’d known what had happened to Amelia, I never would have gone on with the race. You know that, right?’
‘Of course,’ I assured him. ‘It’s weird though, isn’t it? It’s the one thing out of this whole mess that I still can’t figure out. Justine has admitted to using assassins to kill Benny, the Jeffs and Fontanella. Of course, she won’t give us any information about who those assassins are, and she’s acting bat-poop crazy and insisting she did it all because she and my father are meant to be together. But still ... she’s admitted to almost everything. Except trying to murder Amelia.’
Gabriel bit his lip. ‘If it even was her.’
I blinked. ‘What do you mean? You think the same as Amelia? That it was a jealous competitor?’
‘More than that.’ His expression turned grave. ‘Wanda, I think it might have been Will Berry.’
I moved away from him, shaking my head. ‘What? No way.’
He sighed. ‘I wish I was wrong, but I don’t think I am. Wanda, he knew that either me or Amelia was going to beat him. He’d seen us both in practice. The best he was ever going to place in that race was third. And Will Berry does not like coming anything but first. Oh, look, it’s not like I can prove it. After all, he made himself out to be the hero to cover his tracks, didn’t he? Made me look like a twat for winning the thing. As far as I’m concerned, I hope he and Mandy Parker live happily ever after.’
I swallowed. ‘Happily ever after? You mean ...?’
‘You haven’t heard? He proposed to her just before they left Everest. They’re getting married this spring.’
‘Oh. That’s nice.’ I stood up. ‘Like you say, let’s hope they really do live happily ever after. Now come on. Let’s get back to the kitchen before my dad finishes off the entire apple tart.’
≈
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