by Sean Stone
“That’s sounds like as good a reason as any. Yes, I’ll accept the job,” he said, smiling even more broadly. “It would be an honour.”
“Do you know what research Jonathan Langford was doing here?” Jamal said bluntly, leaning forward toward Timothy.
“No, I’m afraid he never trusted me enough to share that information. I was aware of you father and grandfather doing secret research Miss Winters, but they never told me what they were doing, or where they were doing it. It was all very hush-hush,” he said and shrugged. Clara couldn’t detect any signs of deception. He seemed like an honest enough guy.
“No-one’s said anything, you haven’t seen anything?” Jamal pushed.
“No, I mean, I saw the funds they used for the research. After Jonathan took over the government started funding a fair bit too,” he said. Clara was surprised and worried by the government's involvement, especially since William had told them what the mayor said about MI5. Judging by the look on Jamal’s face he was concerned about it as well.
“But you don’t know what the government was actually funding?” Jamal said.
“Unfortunately not.”
“Well, thank you for your time, Mr Bryson. I’ll get the contracts drawn up for your new position,” Clara said, standing up.
As soon as Timothy left the room Jamal picked up the remote control from Clara’s desk and pressed a button. The clear glass windows that lined the walls of the office misted over and turned black. It was a function which Clara had played with a good ten minutes or more when she’d discovered it.
“Government funding?” Jamal said. “So, MI5 probably know about the research then. If there are weapons there’ll be coming for them if they don’t already have them.”
“We need to find them first. Hopefully, there’ll be something we can use on Nick,” Clara replied.
“That again.” Jamal sighed.
“Yes, that again. I notice you didn’t tell William about our visit to Alistair,” she said, probing for an explanation.
“No.” He pursed his lips.
“Does that mean you’ll help me?”
He didn’t reply right away. “You have to wait until we have a plan that I am happy with. Once we have a plan you follow every instruction I give you. You do not do anything without running it through me first. And you do not go near that house without my say so. If you agree then I’ll help you. If not then I’ll call William right now,” he said forcefully. There was something quite attractive about him when he spoke like that.
“Okay. I agree,” she said. He hadn’t left her much choice.
“Good. Let’s call the station and tell Phil about this government funding,” he said and grabbed his phone.
Phil came straight to the labs after Jamal’s phone call and after sunset William brought the rest of the team over. The only team member not there was Rob who was running dispatch. They set up a systematic search of the entire building which disgruntled several late staying employees, but by the early hours of the morning when their search was complete they’d found nothing.
“Somebody must know something about the research,” Cassie said with exasperation. She collapsed onto one of Clara’s sofas.
“I’ve questioned all the board members, I’ve even tried manipulating them, they wouldn’t tell me anything,” William replied snappily. He’d taken their results the worst out of all of them.
“Maybe there actually isn’t anything to find,” Zander suggested and Clara saw him brace himself for a rebuttal from William.
“There has to be,” was all he said.
“There’s no evidence of anything. Richard Morgan said he’d searched and he couldn’t find any. If Jonathan had a secret stash of weapons then why didn’t he use them?” Zander asked.
“There has to be something,” William said again. He had his eyes closed and his head bowed.
“Why does there have to be?” Zander asked.
“Because there does. I just know it,” William said. Clara knew it too but she didn’t want to say anything, the atmosphere was tense enough.
“Has anybody questioned the scientists?” Phil asked. He was looking through a file that listed all of the personnel that worked on the premises.
“What do you mean?” said William.
“Well, unless the board were doing the research themselves they would’ve needed the scientists to do it,” said Phil and Clara suddenly felt rather foolish. From the look on his face, William did too.
“Alright. You’ve got the list, we’ll split into teams, split the names and question them now,” William said much to everyone’s surprise and displeasure. Not Clara’s though, she wanted to find those weapons just as much as he did, if not more.
“Now?” Phil asked, perplexed. “It hardly seems appropriate. Anything could be going on in town whilst we’re out asking questions. We have other duties too, William.”
“If anything comes up, Rob will get on the radio,” William said. “This is our priority.”
William went with Cassie, Zander with Phil and Clara with Jamal and Bianca. They divided the list of personnel up and got Rob to pull up their addresses from the database. By the time morning was breaking and the sky was brightening they’d only managed to get hold of half the people on the list — and none of them knew anything. William and Zander had to get to shelter and the rest of the team were shattered. Despite that Clara still wanted to work. She said she could question the rest of the staff at the office but Phil refused to let her. He instead ordered everyone to go home and rest. He would go to HQ and keep an eye on things if he needed them he’d call. Everyone obeyed and headed off home.
Once home, Bianca muttered a goodnight even though it was morning and took herself to bed. Clara made herself an extra strong coffee and went straight to her father’s study. It’s my study now, she thought and a fist of depression smacked into her. She pushed the thoughts of her father aside and got to work.
She pulled out every spell book and grimoire she could find and searched through them all. It took a while but eventually she found what she was looking for — the section on tracking spells. There was only one and that relied on using a person’s DNA which meant she finally knew how Jamal was tracking her. Unfortunately, the only way to break the spell was to break the connection between her and the item he was using and the only way to do that was to destroy the item. Assuming that she had found the correct spell — there might well be another tracking spell that wasn’t in the books — Jamal had placed her hair in a jar which contained dirt from her home, from the station and from the labs, which meant that if she went to a different location he would know. If she destroyed it then he would know and he’d just make another but if she simply replaced her hair with someone else's then it would stop working but he’d just think she wasn’t going outside the three locations. The only problem was that if she went to Jamal’s flat to replace the hair then he would know unless he’d put dirt from his own home in the jar. She did spend time there when he was teaching her about magic so it was probable that he had done so. There was only one way to find out.
“Where are you going?” Bianca asked from the top of the stairs when Clara opened the front door.
“Just out for a walk,” Clara lied, turning to face her.
“You always shake your head and turn the corners of your mouth down when you lie,” Bianca said. She made her way down the stairs. “What’s going on Clar? We haven’t spoken properly in months. We barely talk at all.”
“I’ve just been busy,” Clara said and shrugged. She hadn’t spent any time with her best friend, she’d been so preoccupied with accessing her powers that she hadn’t really focused on anything else. The only person she’d spent any real time with was Jamal. Thinking about it, she found that she didn’t mind that, as annoying as the guy could be she actually enjoyed his company. He was an infuriating man at the best of times, always telling her what to do and never leaving her alone, but he was kind of sweet and his heart was in t
he right place. She felt safe when she was with him, he’d never let her come to harm. But that was only because he’d been ordered to protect her and teach her and it wouldn’t do her any good to think it was because of anything else. And honestly, she would like it if it was because of something else.
“Busy with Jamal. Are you sleeping with him?” Bianca asked out of nowhere.
“No!” Clara said at once, swinging the front door shut again.
“Do you want to?” Bianca said a small smirk was showing on her lips.
“No,” said Clara, blushing. Maybe. “He’s just teaching me about magic.” She could feel her cheeks reddening.
“Okay,” Bianca said, her eyes said she thought otherwise. “So where are you really going?”
Clara sighed, there was no point lying to Bianca, she knew her too well to be fooled. “I’m going to Jamal’s to try and break his tracking spell.”
“He’s tracking you? Why?”
“It’s a long story,” Clara said, hoping Bianca wouldn’t ask to hear it. Surely she was tired?
“I’ll put the kettle on,” Bianca said.
They went through to the kitchen and Clara told Bianca everything that had happened from Alistair’s advice onwards. It turned out not to be a long story at all and Clara told it rather quickly. Bianca was uncharacteristically quiet throughout and when Clara was done she considered what she’d been told.
“You’re not actually going to go after Nick though are you?” Bianca asked, and her tone indicated that only an idiot would go after the man. It didn’t change her mind about wanting to do it, though. “You shouldn’t trust Alistair, William doesn’t and even your dad didn’t really.”
“I know, but it seems to make sense. I really think that it will work,” Clara said in a pleading voice as if she need Bianca’s approval. In a way she did, she didn’t have anybody else’s approval, but the approval of her best friend would make it seem okay.
“There’s an obvious way of finding out if it will work,” Bianca said. “Go and see the blind psychic woman.”
“Katrina?’ Clara half whispered. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Katrina had been the one who’d opened Clara’s eyes to Nick’s true nature in the first place. She’d been too late to do any good but she’d shown Clara what she’d needed to see. Now maybe she could show her more.
Katrina was expecting them when they arrived at Wiccan Wares and she showed them straight through to the small room in the back of the store that she used for readings. The room was decorated exactly as you’d expect a psychics room to be; gold table cloth, velvet curtains, a crystal ball on the table and candles positioned around the room. Incense was burning in each corner of the room, for a purpose or simply for effect Clara was unsure. The three of them sat down in overstuffed armchairs around a small circular table. Clara wondered how Katrina was able to move around with such ease considering she’d only been blind for three or four months, but she thought it was probably an effect of her abilities.
“What if other customers come in?” Bianca asked, pointing uselessly back towards the now unattended shop. Clara was more interested in where Alistair was.
“Nobody else is coming, not for a while,” Katrina replied in a quiet voice. She pushed her tangled grey hair away from her face and looked straight at Clara, for a moment Clara believed she might actually be able to see her. “What do you want to know, Clara?”
Clara cleared her throat, there was actually a good deal that she would like to know, but only one question had led her here. “Alistair said that to unlock my powers I should confront Nick, I need to know if that’s right. Will it work?”
“Did Alistair say for certain that it would unlock your powers?” Katrina asked. She didn’t want to contradict Alistair. Clara wondered what relationship the two of them had; were they friends, lovers or merely colleagues? Nobody she’d asked could shed any light on the matter though and it seemed inappropriate to ask.
“No, he said it might work, though,” Clara replied.
“Okay, let me see then.” Katrina fell silent and sat totally still for a good minute or so before speaking again. Clara hoped that she might use the crystal ball — it would be interesting to watch — but she didn’t touch it. “No. If you confront Nickolas without your power you will die,” she said after some time.
Clara sat back, reeling from the news. To think that in her determination she’d come that close to getting herself killed. Jamal was right. She’d never let him know that, though. She wondered if by being here she was breaking her agreement with him. She’d said that she’d run everything by him from now on and yet here she was, and he knew nothing about it. He would when he woke up though she did not doubt.
“So how do I unlock my powers? Alistair said that I was blocking them with my anger toward Nick,” said Clara.
“Your anger is blocking your powers, but it is not the anger you hold for Nickolas, it’s the anger you hold for yourself,” Katrina said. Clara was about to argue but Katrina waved her arguments aside before she’d made them. “Don’t argue Clara, I can feel your anger burning like a star. You despise yourself for the way you left things with your father. You believe he died thinking you hated him and until you can come to terms with those issues, you will never be able to use your powers.”
Clara stared down at the table, unsure of what to say. Katrina was exactly right, Clara did think that Arthur died thinking she hated him, but she didn’t hate him, how could she, he was her father? She was angry at him for lying but that was all, nothing more than anger and that anger dissipated the moment she saw him die. She felt Bianca’s hand on her arm offering comfort, but it gave none. It looked like she would never be able to access her powers since there was no way of letting her dad know that she didn’t hate him. Or was there? If witches, werewolves and vampires existed then why not ghosts? If she could contact Arthur’s ghost then she could relay the message to him.
“Can I contact him — my dad?” she asked in barely more than a whisper, the question sounded childish on her lips.
Katrina smiled. “You can try,” she said. “A séance is a very tricky ritual to perform and there are so many ways that it can go wrong. You could end up contacting the wrong spirit, you could accidentally bring a spirit into our world, or even end up stuck in theirs.”
“You can bring a spirit back to life?” Bianca exclaimed, her mouth wide open.
“No, no, no,” Katrina chortled. “Bringing a spirit into our world will not restore them to life, it simply causes their spirit to be somewhere it does not belong. There are many spirits in our world, either because they crossed over or refused to move on when they died. If it was possible for them to return to life then one of them would surely have done it by now. Dead is dead I’m afraid, there’s no coming back from that.” Clara wondered whether she would resurrect her father if given the chance, then she quickly put the thought from her mind. Jamal had warned her that when sorcerers dwelled on things out of their capabilities it could drive them mad and cause them to spend their lives chasing unachievable dreams.
“Can you help me perform a séance?” Clara asked. If it was the only way to get her powers working, then she had to do it. Plus, she really wanted her father to know the truth. But more importantly, she wanted to know he knew the truth.
“Am I right in thinking that once you have reconciled with your father and unlocked your powers that you plan to use them to try and kill Nickolas?” Katrina asked.
“Yes,” Clara admitted. She knew that Katrina might refuse to help just to stop Clara from killing herself but she also knew that lying to a psychic was pointless.
“In that case, I’d love to help,” said Katrina and gave a sly smile. Clara should have anticipated that reaction; Nick was the one who’d blinded Katrina in the first place so she was bound to want some sort of revenge.
“Do you know how it will turn out? When I face Nick?” Clara asked.
“Few things are set in stone. Sometimes I see many poss
ible futures. Sometimes I see only one. Even when I see just one vision clearly it can still be changed. Though it rarely is.”
“Did you know Nick was going to blind you?” Bianca asked bluntly.
“Yes,” Katrina replied, her voice caught in her throat ever so slightly. “But sometimes it is necessary for certain events to take place.”
“Can I ask you something?” Clara said, not sure how to broach the next question.
“You have already asked me several things, so why not one more?”
“Did Alistair tell me to confront Nick to get me killed?” The question had occurred to Clara the moment Katrina had told her that was what would happen.
“Oh, Clara, no. Alistair has no interest in you dying. As awful as this may sound you mean nothing to Alistair or his plans, so you dying would not impact him in the least.”
“Harsh,” Bianca muttered, but Clara understood the point. Clara dying would serve no purpose to Alistair, it made her feel rather insignificant but gave her peace of mind at the same time.
“What are Alistair’s plans? What does he want?” Clara asked, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer.
“There are some things that even seers cannot see,” Katrina replied.
*
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Adam learned the full extent of his power as dynast when he summoned the coven for a meeting. He had told them it was urgent but they seemed to think otherwise and it wasn’t until the next day that they actually came together. Adam and Toni had gone to Bartholomew Road by themselves to look for Holly. They hadn’t gone into the house, or even near it, they hadn’t needed to. They’d found Holly’s lifeless body abandoned in a field nearby like it was nothing more than the remains of a wild animal.
Now the body was laid out on a display table in one of the vacant exhibition rooms at the museum. Adam and Toni stood by the body whilst the rest of the coven sat facing them in the chairs he’d laid out for them. Genevieve and her daughter Elizabeth were sitting at the back of the room. Lurking in the shadows as usual. Whilst most of the people looked horrified at the sacrificed remains of Holly Mitchell, one of their own, Genevieve looked mildly irritated. The sight of her arrogant face served only to boil Adam’s blood.
