Bricking It (A Wayfair Witches Cozy Mystery #2)

by A. A. Albright

  ‘I need to see but not be seen

  Invisible light, to all but me.’

  A ball of light emanated from the tip of my finger, illuminating the area around me. If the incantation had worked this much, then I had good reason to hope that it worked all the way. I came upon the basement. Through glass doors I could see an Olympic sized swimming pool and a gym beyond. There were some finishing touches still to be added – some water in the pool for a start – but even with work left to go, it was just about the flashiest pool I’d ever seen. There was marble. A lot of marble. And then there was some more marble, just to accent the marble. It was absolutely marbellous.

  I huffed my way down another flight of stairs and found the boiler room. After that …. Well, let’s just say I was incredibly grateful for my little ball of light. The staircase was no longer shiny and new. It suddenly became so steep that it was almost vertical. I would have flown down, had there been enough head room. Instead, I had to pick my way slowly and precariously down the longest set of steps in the history of steps (y’know, in my personal experience). The whole thing was hewn from the earth, the walls were dripping with damp. And as for the smell? Well, musty would have been a nice way to describe the aroma down there.

  When I got to the bottom I was exhausted, sweaty and really in need of something to cover my nose.

  The door in front of me was made of a heavy, dark wood. Oak, most likely. Pushing on it told me that it was firmly locked, but I could see no keyhole or handle. Well, no problem. I mean, absolutely no magical training whatsoever was clearly going to help me formulate a spell to open the door.

  ‘Deep breath, Wanda, and then try it. Okay, maybe a few more deep breaths. Okay. Here goes.’

  I pointed at the door and said, ‘Open.’

  Never let it be said that I am not imaginative. Unsurprisingly the door did not open, but hey – it was worth a shot. Sometimes the solution is simple. More often it’s not.

  I lifted my finger again, this time tracing the edges of the door, letting all the power I had inside myself burst out. If the Minister was tracking me, she already knew I’d used magic. So in for a penny, in for a pound.

  ‘Someone closed you, I can see

  That someone keeps a secret

  Hid beyond your great oak wood

  But now you must reveal it.’

  I heard the door begin to creak, but another push told me it was still barring my way. My options tumbled over one another in my mind. I could give up and get in touch with my coven. But a glance at the screen of my mobile phone told me there was no signal, so I would have to either use a spell to bring them to me (and I was already exhausted from the magical attempts so far) or else I would have to try to get to somewhere with better phone reception.

  But I’d come this far. If whatever was happening beyond that door was putting my mother’s life at risk then I owed it to her to try at least one more time. I placed my hands on the wood, moving my body as close to the door as I could.

  ‘Open for me, great oak door

  Let me see beyond thee

  What’s hidden it must hide no more

  I beg of thee appease me.’

  With a great, heaving creak, the door slowly opened.

  17. Banging My Head Against a Brick Wall

  I stepped forward and the door slammed behind me, hitting me in the rear end and sending me head first into a hard, cold I-didn’t-know-what. I could see nothing – I had let my light go out when I performed the incantation that opened the door – so I mumbled my ad-libbed Solas spell once again.

  ‘I need to see but not be seen

  Invisible light, to all but me.’

  The area immediately lit up. I was kneeling on a narrow, earthen path that ran all the way around the sub-sub basement. The object with which my head had so gracefully met was the enormous brick wall from Harry Berry’s drawing. I stood back, examining it; it was a cylindrical structure that ran from floor to ceiling. And apart from the damp mucky path that ran around its circumference, it seemed to be the only thing in the room.

  I climbed on my broom, rising up to the very top, dipping back down to the bottom, tracing every line of the brickwork to see if there was something I was missing. But I could find no way to get to the other side of the wall. Okay, so I was in the sub-sub basement of an apartment block owned by a warlock, who also happened to be a Berry. A sub-sub basement with a structure that the building’s architect had been confused about. So if the architect didn’t know what it was, did that mean it was here before the building?

  Some kind of a chimney or a kiln would have been the obvious answer. But I knew that whatever was beyond those bricks was far from straightforward. I peered closer at one of the bricks, examining it for clues. Now, if this was a human-made apartment block that might have worked. Older bricks on human buildings tend to look old. But when a witch is involved in the construction, that’s not necessarily the case. These bricks looked incredibly straight and new, but that didn’t mean they were.

  Without knowing what the hell else to do, I began to bang my fist against the bricks.

  ‘Hello!’ I shouted. ‘Is there anyone in there?’

  ‘Wanda! Wanda, is that you?’

  If it wasn’t for the broom’s gravity holding me in place, I would have fallen right off. The voice was muffled and weak, but it was most definitely my mother’s. Just as I was about to reply, I heard more voices chime in, calling out, ‘Who’s there? Let us out!’

  I descended to the ground, climbed off my broom and pointed my finger.

  ‘Like the door these bricks do hide

  They keep unwilling folk inside

  Hear me now, these bricks must fall

  Let out what hides behind the wall.’

  Nothing happened. Well, unless you count the fact that I heard the great big wooden door creak open once again. By the time I spun my head, it had already slammed shut. Will Berry was standing there, a large sheet of paper in his hands, a Solas spell hovering a foot from his body to give him light.

  I gulped, but he didn’t even look up. Oh, thank the goddess. My spell had worked fully. The hybrid Solas spell I’d created was letting me see, but keeping me invisible. Hah, take that Mizz Plimpton.

  From within the wall, I heard loud banging and shouting. Oh dear.

  ‘Wanda!’ called my mam again. ‘Wanda, are you all right, love?’

  Will looked up from his plans in shock. ‘Wanda?’ He glanced from left to right, then began walking around the edge of the wall. I pressed myself against it but … well … like I said earlier – my hips don’t lie.

  ‘What the–?’ Will slammed into my hips, then stood back, staring at the space before him. ‘Wanda? Wanda, I know it’s you.’

  I huffed out a sigh. ‘Fine, it’s me. Hang on a sec. I concentrated my power again, and mumbled, ‘I’d still like to use the light, but now I’ll do so in plain sight.’

  Will’s eyes rounded. Presumably, I had just become visible. ‘What was that incantation?’ he asked.

  I shrugged. ‘Something I made up.’

  ‘And you can do an invisibility spell, too?’

  ‘It’s … kind of a hybrid.’

  He rolled his eyes. ‘So you’re what? Some sort of super-fast learning witch? Hey – I thought you weren’t even supposed to be using magic.’

  I put my hands on my hips. ‘And I thought you didn’t have anything to do with the missing witches.’

  ‘What?’ His eyes grew enormous. ‘I don’t.’

  I gritted my teeth. ‘Really? So you just happened to have come down here to the room where those witches are being kept captive? The room in your father’s apartment building. Y’know, the place where you work.’

  He looked behind and ahead of him, then over my shoulder. ‘Wanda, there’s no one in here. Unless you’ve got them under an invisibility spell, too.’

  My mother chose the perfect time to shout out once again.

  ‘Wanda! I can hear Will Berry with you
! Please say something so I know you’re okay!’

  Her voice was followed by the sounds of dozens of hands banging on the other side of the wall. ‘So.’ I eyeballed Will. ‘Would you like to revise your earlier statement, Mr Berry?’

  ≈

  Will gaped at the brick wall. ‘There … there are people behind there. Your mother. Your mother is behind there.’

  ‘Well duh, Captain Obvious. And you really didn’t know about it?’

  He clenched his jaw. ‘No, Wanda. I really didn’t know about it.’ He spun towards me, his face a mixture of confusion and anger. ‘Do you think I would have hidden a thing like this? I …’ His brow furrowed. ‘What are you wearing?’

  I looked down at my uniform. It was yellow and red. Bright yellow and red. I could have stopped traffic in the thing. In fact, I’m surprised it didn’t act as a flashlight when I was coming downstairs. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Maybe I should try and get another job with the evil Berry coven. Then I’d get to wear overpriced shirts and jeans the way you do.’ I found my eyes straying just a little too long over the body inside those overpriced clothes. ‘Anyway. Who cares what I’m wearing? I’ve had enough of people deflecting, Will. If you’re so innocent, then what are you doing here?’

  He met my hard gaze. ‘I could ask you the same.’

  ‘Deflecting!’

  He sighed, sinking back against the wall, shoving the plans in my direction. They were the last two I’d been looking at. The one with the architect’s question mark and the one of the penthouse. ‘I’m here because of these. Well, because of everything. My dad’s recent weirdness. Well, weirder than his usual weirdness. My uncle going missing and leaving a great big question mark over this … wall thingy. I’ve stayed back three nights in a row now, trying to figure out how to get through that stupid door. Finally, I found a spell that did it. And unfortunately, seeing the wall in real life doesn’t make it any easier to figure out than it does in the plans.’

  I had already scoured the plans while I was upstairs, so I kept my eyes on Will while he spoke. He didn’t look like he was lying. If anything, he looked just as confused and frustrated as I felt. ‘Well, we know there are people behind there. My mother. Probably everyone else who’s gone missing lately.’

  Will kicked the wall. ‘Do you think this is my dad’s doing? I mean, I suppose it has to be. But … why?’

  ‘I have a theory or two about that. But all that matters right now is getting through this wall, Will. I’ve already tried an incantation, but it didn’t work. Can you think of anything?’

  He stepped back, eyeing the wall like it was a football he was about to kick.

  ‘Make me firmer than this wall

  So my force can make it fall,’ he muttered, before making a run at the bricks.

  A second later, I picked him up off the floor. The wall hadn’t so much as quivered, but Will was definitely going to have some bruises later on.

  I glared at it, summoning every ounce of magic I had.

  ‘These people are not yours to hold

  Please crumble, break or crack and fold.’

  Nothing happened. ‘Or just do … something,’ I cried in desperation to the wall.

  The hands kept banging on the other side, and my mother’s voice came to me again, much weaker this time.

  ‘Was that Will I heard trying to break the wall with you out there?’

  I nodded, then realised she probably couldn’t see that. ‘Yeah. Yeah it was Will. We’re both trying our best, Mam, but we can’t find an incantation to break the wall.’

  ‘That doesn’t surprise me. Seeing as there are quite a lot of witches behind it who can’t break it either. It was really Will? Helping you?’

  ‘I told you so.’

  ‘So … he’s not working with his father?’

  I glanced at Will. He was currently banging his head against the wall. ‘No, Goodwitch Wayfair, I am not working with my father,’ he said. ‘But thanks for removing any last shred of hope I had that this whole mess wasn’t down to him. Now tell us, is there anything you know of that we can do?’

  My mother said nothing for a moment, then laughed. ‘I actually shook my head,’ she said. ‘As though either of you could see that. How dumb am I?’

  I cleared my throat. ‘Just about as dumb as your daughter, then. Look, Mam, what do you want us to do?’

  ‘You need to get to the coven, Wanda. You’ll need them all with you if you’re going to arrest Kilian Berry. You’ve probably got no phone reception down here?’

  Will and I both looked at our screens. ‘Nothing,’ we said in unison.

  I touched the wall again, imagining I was close to my mother, imagining she was touching the same spot on the other side. ‘I’m going to go and get to somewhere with reception, okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

  There was no reply. ‘Mam? Mam?’

  Another voice came, one I vaguely recognised. ‘She’s fainted, Wanda. We’ll look after her. Just get some help.’

  ‘Okay,’ I shouted. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ I envisioned Will’s office and snapped my fingers. Nothing happened. Beside me, Will was having the same problem.

  ‘Looks like we can’t travel from here,’ he said, his face worried. ‘Come on.’ He grabbed my hand. ‘We’ll have to run.’

  We reached the locked door. There were no handles on this side either. Will pointed at it.

  ‘Open wide and open full, so through you we may be

  Open wide and open now, open now for me.’

  The door remained stoically closed.

  I tried next, with no luck. We were on our sixth attempt when the door finally opened. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have opened because of our awesome magic skills.

  Will’s father stood on the other side, looking at our clasped hands and grinning.

  ‘Well, I was just thinking of calling an end to this whole business,’ he said. ‘But now I see my son has caught me the best prize of all.’

  18. Seat of Power

  With my stomach roiling, I dropped Will’s hand, glaring at him. He shook his head at me and said, ‘No. No, I swear to the goddess, Wanda. I don’t know what he’s talking about.’ He glowered at his father.

  Kilian shrugged his shoulders. It was then that I noticed the cat was still wrapped around his neck. ‘It’s true. Will was blissfully ignorant this whole time. I’m surprised he’s managed to get this far.’ He smirked at his son. ‘After all, you always were a bit slow, weren’t you?’

  Will pointed at his father. ‘Conáil,’ he said.

  I recognised the word from my Simple Spells and Incantations textbook. It was the Irish word for freeze, and saying the word alone was a more advanced version of the spell than the one I would soon be learning. In theory, seeing as Will’s father did nothing to deflect the spell, it should have made him turn as still as a statue. In practice, all it did was make him laugh.

  ‘As I said, a bit slow. But he’s my boy, and I love him dearly. You can’t freeze me in here. Or anywhere else for that matter. I’ve become too powerful for anyone to take me down. And now you’ve brought her here. The pretty little Wayfarer. And when someone as powerful as that enters my graveyard, even I know not to look a gift horse in the mouth. So thank you, Will. I will take her from you, gladly.’

  As Will grasped my hand I could feel him shaking. ‘Wanda stays with me. And what graveyard? What are you on about?’

  I looked up at Will. ‘I think your dad has built the Warlock Arms on the site of the Wizard’s Graveyard.’ And if what I thought was correct, then Kilian was doing more than just boasting. He was right. There was no amount of freezing spells that could help. He had managed to get my mother here. What chance did I stand?

  Kilian clapped. ‘So clever. I’m really going to enjoy taking what’s yours. Except it’s not the Wizard’s Graveyard anymore. The Berrys have owned this site for a very long time.’

  ‘But ...’ Will scratched his head. ‘That’s just a story. It’s
not real.’

  ‘Oh it’s real,’ I drawled. ‘I’m guessing that’s why you’re suddenly so awesome at baking, drawing up plans and training animals like that lovely little moggy there who, I imagine, would under no other circumstances be anywhere near a man like you.’ The cat looked up and meowed.

  Will’s jaw dropped. ‘Uncle Harry? You stole his power? That’s how you were able to design your own penthouse? Please tell me you didn’t.’ He turned back to look at the brick wall. ‘Is Harry behind there? Dad, you have to let him out. You have to let all of them out.’

  Kilian sighed. ‘No, Will. I don’t have to do anything.’ He walked to the wall and touched it. Before our eyes, the bricks just disappeared, and we saw at least thirty witches, each one weaker than the next, all clumped together on the ground of a small graveyard – an ancient graveyard, perfectly preserved, in the sub-sub basement of a warlock apartment block.

  My eyes widened, and I did a recount. My first assessment had been right, and it made my stomach sick to realise – Kilian had taken far more witches than any of us had known. How heartbreaking, I thought, to go missing and have no one notice.

  My mother was sitting propped against a headstone, unconscious, her hands in shackles, while Kevin Caulfield sat next to her giving her what little comfort he could. ‘I guess you didn’t make it out,’ he said to Will and me. ‘Oh well. Welcome to our happy abode.’

  ‘But … how? What the hell …?’ It seemed that Will was still having trouble processing the obvious. ‘You mean you always knew this graveyard was here even when it’s supposedly never been found?’

  ‘Ah, but it was found.’ Kilian smiled. ‘At one time the whole of the witching world knew very well where it was. According to the Berry Grimoire, anyway.’

  ‘There’s nothing in the Berry Grimoire about this,’ Will protested. ‘Even I would have noticed something like that.’

  ‘Not in the one the whole coven gets to see, of course. There’s another grimoire, one only the head of the coven has access to. The one you’ll get after I pass on, Will. Turns out, the heads of our coven have been sitting on this place for years. Not doing anything. Just … sitting on the throne and drawing whatever power was left to draw. We hid it aeons ago, obfuscated it with a spell and bought the plot for a song. Eventually, enough time had passed that no one even remembered it was ever in Warren Lane.’ He laughed. ‘Do you know, this place is why the Wyrd Court first formed? It’s the whole reason why Warren Lane came to be, the reason witches began to build here. It was a great big stuff you to the wizards, do you see? We showed them. Not only had we beaten them down once again, but we were so unafraid of their piddling amount of power that we built a tower to look down on them forevermore. Because wizards should always be looked down upon.’