The cat gave a chirrup when she saw her mistress coming into the room, and the moment Callie sat down Chutney Mary was on her lap, purring and milk treading as though they hadn’t seen each other for days, not hours. Callie began to relax, just a little.
***
There followed one of the strangest meals Callie had ever had. Her parents had been called and had obediently appeared in the kitchen to take their places at the table. Rose and George acted as if everything was perfectly normal, keeping up a gentle flow of inconsequential conversation as they all ate. Julia and David took part in it to the extent that they answered questions or spoke about a topic if Rose or George brought it up, but they never initiated any of the talk. Callie herself didn’t say much. The day had been endless, and she wanted nothing more than an unbroken night’s sleep.
But what about Duncan Corphat?
As she helped Rose clear up after the meal, she asked that question, dreading the answer.
“We’re not going to do anything tonight. Everyone’s exhausted; that’s no state to face him in. Tomorrow we’ll decide what to do next.” Callie sagged with relief. “Now off you go to bed before you fall asleep under the table like the dog. You’re perfectly safe here, and so are your parents. I should send them off to bed too.” Rose glanced into the sitting room, where Julia and David sat placidly drinking coffee. “I don’t suppose they’ve had much sleep either.”
***
Callie slept through the night as though she’d been anaesthetised and woke ravenously hungry.
While she was shovelling in toast and peanut butter, her parents appeared in the kitchen.
“Morning,” said George.
They replied with a general “Good morning,” to everyone and sat down.
Rose put more toast on the table. “I expect you’re both still tired,” she said. “I expect you’d be quite happy just pottering round the house and garden today.”
“Oh yes,” said Julia.
“Sounds just right,” added David.
“George will be around if you want anything. Callie and I have things to do.”
“That’s fine,” said Julia with a smile.
“Come along, Callie. Let’s get started.”
Callie crammed the last half-slice of toast into her mouth and followed Rose out of the room. When she had managed to swallow, she asked, “What are we doing?”
“Consulting Bessie first of all,” said Rose, leading her into the garden and lifting the lid of the water butt. “We’ll get her to meet us at your house and then… we’ll see.”
Callie and Rose were just about to go out when the doorbell rang.
“Morning,” said Josh. “Just thought I’d drop in and see what the plan is for getting rid of Duncan.”
“There isn’t a plan yet,” admitted Callie, and launched into an account of what had happened since she’d last seen him.
“That’s horrible,” he said as she finished. “Are you all right? And your parents?”
“Everyone’s fine,” said Rose. “Callie and I are just off to meet Bessie and see what we can do.”
“Will you come?” asked Callie. “I mean, you don’t have to, but I’d feel much better with you there.”
“Of course I’ll come.”
They walked from The Smithy this time, and got there at the same moment as Bessie arrived by car from St Andrews.
“Well, dear, open the door and let’s see just how bad things are,” she said to Callie without preamble.
They stopped just inside the front door and listened for a few seconds, then moved forwards to the foot of the stairs.
“Let’s stop here for a wee minute,” Bessie said, taking something out of her pocket. She bent to put four little cubes at the corners of an imaginary square on the floor.
“Wardstones,” said Rose approvingly. “That’s a good idea.”
“What are wardstones?” asked Josh. The cubes looked a bit like dice or sugar lumps.
“Bones with protection worked into them,” said Bessie. “As long as we stay within the square that they bound, we’re safe from any manifestations.”
“It acts a bit like a shark cage,” Rose added.
“Bone,” repeated Josh. “Human bone?” he asked hesitantly.
“But of course,” replied Bessie with an incredulous look. “What else would it be?”
“For goodness sake behave yourself, Bessie,” Rose scolded. “Of course it’s not human bone, Josh, it’s…”
“Deer, dear.” Bessie couldn’t resist, despite Rose’s death-ray stare.
“Callie, let me see your wrist again,” Rose said.
Callie stuck her arm out. “It’s still getting bigger,” she said gloomily.
Rose and Bessie considered the dark mark and both nodded in agreement.
“Right. You two wait outside while we go upstairs,” Rose instructed them.
“No! I’m not leaving,” Callie insisted.
Josh would have been more than happy to wait outside, but one glance at Callie told him she wasn’t going to find that acceptable.
“Neither am I,” he said, trying to sound as if he meant it.
“In that case, you must stay within the ward square,” said Rose.
“We mean it,” added Bessie. “We can’t be distracted worrying about you two if we’re to have any chance of dealing with whatever it is in your room.”
“All right.” Callie sounded reluctant, but Josh was delighted.
“Ready, Bessie?”
“Ready, Rose.”
Under Callie and Josh’s anxious gazes, the two witches set off up the stairs. At the top they paused to listen at the bedroom door for a minute or so, before cautiously pushing it open.
This time, the water wasn’t trapped by the invisible barrier. As the door opened it flowed out and cascaded off the landing and down the stairs like an indoor river. Within seconds all the downstairs floors were awash except for an island of dry carpet bounded by the wardstones.
“Crazy,” muttered Josh.
Callie’s eyes were fixed on Rose and Bessie. From where she stood she could see a little way into her room. The two witches had stopped just beyond the doorway. The air around them shimmered with protective spells. Heart thumping, Callie waited.
Rose and Bessie gaped at the room. Despite Callie’s description, it was still a shocking sight. To their sensitive noses, the air was acrid with power, like the smell of lightning. For three or four minutes they did nothing, as the water rushed past their feet, trying to construct in their minds the flow and pattern of the power that had caused all this.
In the corner, the cloud of darkness brooded, waiting for them to turn their attention to it.
“What are they doing?” whispered Josh.
“Trying to work out what’s been happening, I think.”
“Then what?”
“I wish I knew.”
Rose and Bessie studied the cloud.
“That, I take it, is whatever remains of Duncan Corphat?” asked Bessie.
“And the others who were working with him, according to what Callie said.”
“Ah, what fun: a multiple entity. When did we last deal with one of those, Rose?”
“We never have, Bessie.”
“That’s what I thought.” Bessie rolled her sleeves up. “Shall we begin?”
Rose nodded.
“Duncan Corphat, we call you forth.”
The cloud swirled gently, like smoke in a draught, but no figure emerged from it.
Bessie added her voice, and they tried once more to summon Duncan Corphat.
“He’s not exactly keen to come out for a chat,” observed Bessie.
“I was afraid this would happen when I saw the mark on Callie’s wrist,” said Rose, ignoring Bessie’s attempt at humour.
“You think he’s linked himself to her?” Bessie looked at Rose, no levity in her voice now.
“That’s exactly what I think.”
“Callie,” whispered Josh. I
t was the first time either of them had spoken for several minutes. “I can hear him. I can hear him in my head.”
“What do you mean?” Callie glanced away from her grandmother to see Josh, white faced, with his hands to his head as though he was in pain.
“Josh, what’s wrong? What’s happening?”
“He’s in my head,” Josh gasped. “Duncan Corphat’s in my head.”
14. GRIMOIRES
“Rose!” yelled Callie. “There’s something wrong with Josh.” She took him by the shoulders and shook him.
“Josh, what’s happening?”
“I can feel him. He’s so angry. Get Rose and Bessie out of the room,” said Josh with difficulty.
Callie glanced up the stairs. “They’re already coming.”
“Take him outside, Callie,” Rose called.
Callie hustled Josh out of the front door and sat him down on the wall, where he took several deep breaths before taking his hands cautiously away from his head.
“Is he still there?”
“No. He’s gone.”
“What happened?” asked Rose, sitting down beside him.
“When you opened the door to Callie’s room, he was suddenly there in my head, shouting curses.”
“But that shouldn’t be able to happen,” said Bessie. She peered at the wardstones in her hand. “There’s nothing wrong with these. Nothing should be able to get past them.”
“Perhaps nothing did,” said Rose thoughtfully.
“What do you mean?” asked Callie.
“If the wardstones were working properly, nothing would get past them. That means whatever it was came from inside the ward square,” Bessie expanded.
“But the only things inside it were me and Josh,” protested Callie.
Bessie raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.
“Let’s get away from the house a bit before we talk,” suggested Rose, so they started towards the beach.
“We had long enough in your room to find out something crucial about Duncan Corphat’s haunting,” Rose began, trying to think of a way to cushion the blow she was about to deliver.
“Yes?” said Callie eagerly.
“I’m afraid it means that Bessie and I can’t get him out.”
“Will you need Barbara and Isobel as well? Can I help?”
“That’s the thing. It’s not a case of more people. It’s the right people that matter. The right person.”
Callie stopped walking, the pit of her stomach dropping away with the awful certainty of what was coming.
“That’s me, isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid it is.”
“But why?”
“The thing we’re calling Duncan Corphat is a distillation of all the fear and anger that were in that tunnel. It – he – made some sort of connection with you when you were down there. The black mark on your wrist is the physical evidence of that. Your power and his are connected now, and I fear you’re the only one who can get him out of your house.”
Callie was horrified. “But I told you what happened when I tried yesterday.”
“Yes, I know. But you weren’t prepared then, and neither were we. We’ll find a way for you to do this, Callie.”
“What about me?” said Josh. “Why could I hear him when no one else could?”
“You’re tuned in to the right frequency, since you went down the tunnel for us,” Rose replied. “You’re sensitive enough to pick him up here, now that he’s getting more powerful. It won’t happen as long as you stay out of the house.”
Josh nodded. He just hoped they were right this time.
“It’s not just getting him out that we have to think about, though,” cautioned Rose. “It’s what we do with him afterwards. We can’t simply shove him – it – them – back in the tunnels under the castle. The fight he would put up would put the whole of the surrounding area, never mind us, in far too much danger.”
“So what do we do with him?” asked Callie.
“I have no idea.”
***
Callie floated on her back, her ears full of water, trying not to move so much as a finger. The chlorine in the water made her eyes sting, but she kept them open, staring at the wood panels of the roof. She caught sight of a shape from the corner of her eye and Josh surfaced and shook the water out of his hair like a dog.
When they had arrived back at The Smithy after their fruitless attempt to evict Duncan, they had found the house empty and a message from George saying that he had taken Julia and David down to Fife Ness to do a spot of birdwatching.
“If I had any doubts my spell had worked, that would lay them to rest,” observed Rose dryly. “It’ll be the first time Julia’s watched a bird in her life.”
Josh had suggested Callie come back to East Neuk Cottages with him, and Rose had encouraged her to go.
“It’ll take your mind off things for a while. Off you go. Try to relax. There’s nothing you can do here anyway.”
At the cottages, they had found the car missing and a note from Anna to say she’d gone to Dundee, which happily meant they didn’t have to invent an alternative version of the morning’s events.
“Watch this,” said Callie as Josh blinked the water out of his eyes.
She kept absolutely still and pulled herself through the water using her mind alone. Josh grinned in amazement as she swept past him as though powered by an invisible motor.
“C’mon, give me a shot,” he pleaded.
“You can’t do that!”
“I know that, but maybe you can do it to me.”
Callie stood up. “I hadn’t thought of that. Let’s see. Lie on your back and keep as still as you can.”
Josh did as she said. Callie held her hands above him as if she was warming them over an invisible fire. After a few seconds, she moved them to the right, and to Josh’s – and Callie’s – surprise, Josh moved along like a puppet on a string.
She gave a delighted laugh. “Wow. I never knew I could do stuff like this.”
She moved her hands the other way, more forcefully this time, and Josh went sailing off to the left, chuckling as he went.
Callie snapped her hands to the right again, and Josh whizzed past her, laughing like a maniac, at such a speed that he left a wake, and she had to stop him with another gesture before he crashed into the pool wall.
“Now that was fun. I thought you said there was nothing good about being a witch?” Josh said, wiping his face. “Maybe we could just book Duncan into one of the cottages for a few hundred years, and you could teach him how to do that. I bet he’s never been in a swimming pool. Might improve his outlook a bit. It would be better than roaming around as a ghost or getting shoved into some grave.”
For a second, Callie felt as though she was on the verge of remembering something important, but it was gone before she could grasp it. With a sigh, she headed for the ladder at the edge of the pool.
“Why are you getting out?”
“I want to be at The Smithy when Mum and Dad get back from Fife Ness, just in case the spell’s worn off or something and Rose needs help.”
“Okay.”
***
Rose heard a car stop outside, and the sound of voices and happy barking: George and the others back from their constitutional. She’d tried to reassure Callie that she wouldn’t be needed, but Callie’s face had just taken on that stubborn look she knew too well.
“Hello Mother, hello Callie,” said Julia happily as she came in.
“Had a nice time, dear?”
“Lovely, thank you, Mother. We saw some birds.”
“Goodness me, that must have been interesting.”
“Yes, it was.”
Rose was beginning to think she preferred Julia like this. An unworthy thought, but there you were.
“Would you and David like to cook today?” she said, ignoring a twinge of conscience that knew this wasn’t what spells of compulsion were for.
“Ooh yes. I like cooking,” said Julia enthusi
astically. “I’ll go and see what you’ve got. Come on, David.”
Rose looked at Callie. “Satisfied?”
“I suppose so. Sorry. Where did you take them, George?”
“Along the beach from the golf course as far as Constantine’s Cave then back across to Longman’s Grave and along Dane’s Dyke.”
Callie stared at him.
“What? Did I do something wrong?”
“No. You’re a genius. That was it. That was what I almost remembered before.”
“Should I have any idea what you’re talking about?”
“No. Definitely not.”
Rose eyed her granddaughter curiously. “Keep an eye on Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver in the kitchen for me, would you, George?” she said.
When they were alone, Rose turned to Callie.
“What is it?”
“Longman’s Grave. George’s story,” Callie said excitedly. “He was told the Longman sometimes takes the unquiet dead down into the underworld to protect our world. Maybe we can persuade him to take Duncan. What do you think?”
A slow smile spread over Rose’s face. “I think I’d better phone Bessie.”
***
“It’s Rose. I know what we can do with Duncan.”
“That’s a relief, because I’ve got no idea,” said Bessie.
“It was Callie’s idea, clever girl. I should have thought of it myself, mind. So should you.”
“Please put me out of my misery, you irritating woman.”
“Dane’s Dyke. Longman’s Grave.”
There was silence on the line for a few seconds.
“You think we can raise the Longman?” For once, Bessie’s voice betrayed doubt.
“I think we have to try.”
“I’ll go and dig up the grimoire and come over at six.”
“I’ll have mine by then too.”
Just before she put the phone down, Rose heard Bessie mutter, “We must be off our heads.”
She checked that George and the chefs were still occupied in the kitchen, went out to the garden and collected a spade from the shed.
There was a white-barked birch tree in one corner. Rose counted five paces along the wall from it, two out, and struck the spade into the soil.
Dark Spell Page 12
