Witch Swindled in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  I woke to an aching body and headache. James was in a chair next to my… hospital bed? William sat on a chair next to him, his hair dishevelled, tie askew, and lines creasing his forehead. He sat up straight. “She’s awake.”

  James jumped up and grabbed my hand, blocking my view of Will. I gave him a small smile. “Hey.”

  “Hey, yourself. What the hell happened? I thought we told you to stay put?”

  William stood and put his hand on James’s shoulder. “Go easy. Seriously, she just woke up. I’ll call Beren.” He walked out, his phone to his ear.

  “I know you told me to stay put, but I saw a black van. I thought it was the kidnappers from before. I stuffed up. I’m sorry.”

  “We saw the guy at the crash site. He was dead.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face, and dizziness witch-slapped me in the head. I shut my eyes and swallowed the nausea.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Lily.”

  How could it not be my fault? But I didn’t have the energy to argue. It was all I could do to not throw up. A tear heated my cheek, glided down, and dripped off my chin.

  Without opening my eyes, I asked, “How did you find me?”

  “I’ve programmed a GPS tracker into your phone. We got there just as they were loading you into an ambulance. I managed to get a look at that guy’s face. It was the driver from last time. There were traces of magic around him, so he may not have died from the impact but from failing to carry out his assignment.” That didn’t make me feel much better. Well, maybe a little.

  I risked opening one eye a crack. “What happened with Camilla?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  Oh, that well.

  The door opened, and Beren and William came in. They both looked worried, but then Beren grinned and came to the bed. He was wearing his doctor getup. “Dr. Beren at your service.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh a little—not too much, because my head still hurt like a witch. “And what is Dr. Beren going to do?”

  “I’m going to fix what ails you. Then we’re going to get out of here. We’ve warded your room so anyone thinking to come in decides not to when they get near. Ma’am’s already deleted your paperwork.”

  Interesting, but I couldn't think on it because… sore head. God, and what about the taxi stuff?

  William appeared next to Beren. “That’s been taken care of. Don’t worry about it.” Oh, my mind shield must have gone down when I crashed the car, which was understandable. Multitasking was hard when you were unconscious. William gave me a small smile. “That it is.”

  “Can you two stop with the private conversation?” James winked.

  “Hey, big bro, it’s not my fault you can’t read minds.” Agony shot through my head, and I winced.

  “I think it’s time to get you fixed, Lily. Hold still. This will take a couple of minutes. It might hurt a bit, but just hang in there. Okay?” At least he was honest. Beren placed his palms firmly, but not painfully, on either side of my head.

  I whispered, “Okay,” shut my eyes, and braced myself. Whatever happened, I doubted it could be as painful as crashing a car.

  My skin warmed, and so did my insides. Prickles of pressure burst throughout my head. It ached more than hurt. The sensation gradually moved down my body, leaving non-pain in its wake. When the sensation reached my feet, the warmth faded away.

  “I’m done. You should be as healthy as you were before, albeit tired. If you have any pain later, let me know.”

  I opened my eyes. I touched my face, where there must have been cuts, but the skin was smooth, and my head didn’t hurt. Nothing did. I smiled without holding back, and yep, all good. “Thank you, B! You’re the best.”

  His cheeks pinked. “I do what I can. I’m just glad you’re okay. You gave us quite a scare, miss. So what actually happened?”

  I turned to look at James. Now that I was okay, he probably thought it was fine to be angry. His lips were pressed tightly together, as if he were holding himself back from saying stuff.

  Well, might as well get it over with. I told them everything.

  William’s eyes were wide, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. “You crashed the car on purpose? I’m not sure if I’m proud of you or I want to strangle you. Was that really necessary?”

  I wasn’t even angry, just sad. “I know I ruined everything. I really am sorry. But, Will, if he’d gotten me wherever he wanted, you never would have seen me again.” I’d known it deep in my gut. Maybe dying in a car crash—I couldn’t call it an accident since it was on purpose—would’ve been the better option than being imprisoned, used, and killed. At least mine and others’ secrets would die with me. Whoever wanted me would surely have forced me to use my magic for them—that’s what logic told me.

  I patted myself down to check I wasn’t naked under the hospital gown—phew, bra and undies in place—before I slid my legs to hang over the side of the bed, and sat up. “Where are my clothes?”

  James hesitated before he said, “We threw them out. They were bloodied and full of glass shards.”

  “Oh. Can you magic me something from home?”

  William stared at me. “What? You’re not upset?”

  “They’re only clothes. I can buy more. Seems to me jeans are a bit trivial to cry about, don’t you? Maybe if I’d been wearing super-expensive designer threads, I’d be worried, but I wasn’t. So I’m good with it.”

  James shut his eyes and mumbled something. My emerald-green turtleneck sweater, a pair of faded blue jeans, and a pair of socks appeared in his hands.

  “Nice choice. Thanks.” I grabbed the clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. Luckily they’d gotten me a private room, although it wasn’t luck. They’d known what they were doing.

  I dressed, toileted, and went back out to find my shoes, which were sitting neatly next to a small built-in closet. As I laced them up, I asked, “What happened with Camilla?”

  James answered. “We found her apartment, but they weren’t there. We searched the place and were going to wait till they got back, but then I got the weirdest feeling, and I knew you were in trouble, so I tried to call, but you didn’t answer. That’s when we got out of there and followed the GPS.”

  “How did you sort out the taxi stuff? Surely they’ll freak out when they find out what happened to their vehicle?”

  “We used PIB money to buy an identical car, and we magicked the taxi stuff onto it and the same number plate. It took a huge amount of magic, but Angelica and William sent the wreck and the dead body to PIB headquarters, and I wiped the memories of the police and a few bystanders. We also had PIB head office pull some strings with the French PIB. It took a few hours, but the cover-up is complete. That’s why Angelica isn’t here: she’s exhausted. She’ll probably sleep until this time tomorrow. William should have gone home too, but he insisted on staying.” James shot him a sympathetic look.

  “I wanted to make sure your sister was okay. So sue me.” He shrugged, so nonchalant. He was totally pulling off the “I don’t care that much about Lily” façade, but the fact that he’d stayed spoke volumes.

  “Well, thank you all for pulling together to save me. I appreciate it more than you all know. I’m just sorry I stuffed up catching Camilla.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” said Beren. “We’ll be back on the case in a couple of days. We just have to hope she wants to keep your friend’s fiancé around.”

  I let out a heavy sigh. If Ernest was acting without free will—and even though my magic said he wasn’t, maybe he really was—and Camilla killed him in the next few days, it would all be my fault. Would I ever get the hang of being a witch?

  “At least you know where they are now.”

  James shook his head. “Not necessarily. We disarmed her protection wards to get in, but it’s hard to redo someone else’s magic the same way. We tried, but she’s not stupid. As soon as she got home, she could probably tell something was off. All she had to do was look for other m
agic, and she would have seen ours. We scrambled it, but she’ll probably find somewhere else to run.”

  Oh. I really had ruined everything. “I think I should stay home next time. I seem to do more harm than good.”

  William focussed his intense gaze on me. “No. We need you. We never would’ve found where they were in the first place without your magic. Angelica’s already said when you’re better, we need you to find out where they went next, but you’re going to learn to travel first so we can send you home without dramas when you’re done.”

  I couldn’t help the little heart flutter when he’d said, “We need you.” Was he secretly saying he needed me?

  “I’m off. I need sleep. See you all in a couple of days.” William vanished without so much as a hug. He obviously didn’t need, need me. My magic was useful. I guess I should get used to people wanting me for it, even though I couldn’t wield it properly. It was time I got my magic act together, so I was less of a liability and more of a badass.

  “Thanks again, Dr. Beren.” I gave him a hug.

  “Any time. See you two at Thursday’s meeting.”

  Then it was just James and me.

  “James, how come we can’t see other people’s doorways?”

  “You can only see ones you’ve been programmed to use. When you create one, your magic automatically includes you. If you want to take someone with you, you have to tell your magic to include them, and then they’ll be able to see your doorway.”

  “Okay. That makes sense.” Not much else did, but one thing was better than nothing.

  “Ready, Lily?”

  I nodded and followed him through the swirling doorway.

  Chapter 11

  Healing and the drama of the day had left me exhausted. I showered and went to bed as soon as I arrived. I would have checked on Angelica, but I didn’t want to disturb her—she needed her sleep. It was almost midnight when I got into bed, and I slept until 4:00 p.m. the next day. I woke feeling tired and with dribble running down my chin. Some things never changed.

  I dressed and wandered down to the kitchen with my phone. I had two missed calls and a text from Olivia—thankfully, my phone had survived the crash, not like the kidnapper. I still felt bad about it. I knew he was an evil person—because who else would do that—but killing people wasn’t my thing. I would carry that with me forever.

  I opened the text message.

  Tried to call you, but you’re not answering. I hope you’re okay. Just wanted to see if you wanted to do something on Thursday. Maybe we could check out one of the local castles. Anyway, call me when you can. Liv.

  How was I going to act normal around her?

  I set up the coffee machine and pressed the button, then poured milk into another cup and stuck it in the microwave for sixty seconds. It was time I used magic to do more things, and I wanted to try it to froth my milk in an instant, but after yesterday and how tired I still felt, I wasn’t going to push it. There was always tomorrow to start witching better.

  Once I had my coffee, I plonked myself in one of the armchairs next to the fireplace. I took a deep breath and dialled Olivia. She picked up almost immediately. “Lily! Thanks for calling back. I was a bit worried when I couldn’t get hold of you.”

  “I’m fine, just had a bit of a virus or something. I slept most of yesterday and today. I just got up, actually.” At this rate, she was going to think I was a sickly person who caught every virus going around. First London, now this.

  “Oh, no! I hope you’re okay.”

  “I’ll live. So how are you?”

  “I’m okay. Missing Ernest. He called last night to say goodnight. He said the conference is boring as hell.”

  Was he planning to return to Olivia? If he’d run for good, why was he still calling her? Maybe he was hedging his bets. “I bet it is.” It would be boring if he were actually at a conference. I bit my tongue. Surely lying would get easier? Yeah, nah. I knew it wouldn’t. Would this be my life from now on? Lying to all my friends? Beren had a point when he said to only befriend or fall in love with other witches. I was sure I could do one but maybe not the other. William was a conundrum for another day.

  “Do you think you’ll be well enough to do something tomorrow?”

  “Probably. I think Angelica had some work she wanted me to do, but I’ll check with her when she comes in, and I’ll let you know. I’m pretty sure her thing won’t take too long.”

  “Awesome. I’ll chat to you later.”

  “Bye.”

  Was Angelica up yet? Maybe I should check on her. I finished my coffee and went upstairs, to the first floor, where she had her master suite. The door was shut. I didn’t want to wake her, but I needed to know she was okay. Hopefully she wouldn’t be too angry about yesterday. I knocked.

  “Come in.”

  I opened the door. She was dressed and just putting her shoes on.

  “Good afternoon, Ma’am. How are you feeling?”

  “Well rested, thank you. And how are you feeling, Miss Disaster?”

  I cleared my throat. “I’m a bit tired but fine, thanks.” I met her piercing gaze. “I’m very sorry about yesterday. I went against what everyone asked and stuffed everything.”

  Her expression held no sympathy, but at least she didn’t look ready to kill me. “Yes, you did ruin things, and you almost got yourself killed. Do you understand now why you must listen when your brother or I ask something of you?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. It’s just—“

  “Up, up, up.” She held her hand high, palm towards me in the universal gesture for stop… or shut up. “I don’t want to hear it. No excuses, Lily. Now, we have work to do. You need to learn how to travel.” She marched past me and out the door.

  We spent the next four hours getting me travel ready. When we’d finished, Angelica witched the frozen leg of lamb that was in the freezer into a delicious roast with gravy, baked potatoes, and pumpkin. Yum! I slumped into the dining chair and ate. My eyes kept wanting to close. Using magic was hard work. Then I remembered going out with Olivia. “What time is this meeting tomorrow, and do I have to be there?”

  “Two in the afternoon, and yes, I want you there. It’s at PIB headquarters this time.” I looked at her, aghast. “You’re going to have to go back there eventually, and after yesterday, you don’t deserve any concessions. You disregarded everyone else to do what you wanted, no matter that you gave your brother and I a heart attack, not to mention William and Beren. Those boys care about you, Lily. You let a lot of people down yesterday.”

  I should’ve known I’d gotten off too lightly before. Shame heated my cheeks. She actually cared. I wasn’t used to being a failure or to having so many people worry about me. As a photographer, I called all the shots, literally, and I’d always made people happy and been successful. Taking orders and considering others was going to take a lot of acclimatisation. I was used to being by myself. With the exception of Sophia and Michelle, my friends in Sydney, I didn’t answer to anyone, and even they didn’t expect me to consult with them on my day-to-day activities. “I know. All I can say is I’m sorry, and I’ll do better next time. It’s not always easy for me. My life has changed completely, and I’m still adjusting. I’ll try not to let you down again, Ma’am.”

  “Good. You can travel there by yourself.” She slid a piece of paper across the table. “Memorise those coordinates. They’ll fade off the paper in two hours. Once you remember the coordinates, you’ll need to use a scramble spell on them, so if you forget to renew your mind-shield, no one can get them from your head.”

  “Why don’t I just do that for all my private thoughts?”

  “Because it takes a lot of energy, and you have new thoughts every second of every day. Just make sure to use it for any coordinates to private homes or security facilities. To create a ward, imagine a secure box around the number, and say, “No one else must know this number. Scramble it to hide it from those who would plunder.”

  I raised my brow. These rh
ymes were terrible. “Why can’t I just say it without the rhyme?”

  “It’s been specifically designed to include everyone who would read your mind and say exactly what we need with no oversights. Plus, it’s easy to remember a terrible rhyme than a convoluted monologue.”

  She had a point. I read the number over and over, until it was embedded into my memory. Then I said the rhyme. My scalp prickled as I said it, and then it was done. Now I just had to use it without killing myself or chopping a foot off. I wondered if Beren could grow someone a new foot?

  “Is it okay if I go to a local castle tomorrow morning with Olivia? She offered to take me, and she needs the company. She misses Ernest.”

  “Of course, but don’t say anything. Can I trust you?”

  “Of course. I know I haven’t done everything everyone’s asked, but I don’t want her to have to take an oath that might get her killed. Is there a way I can get a reminder before I blurt anything out, like if my mouth takes over and goes to say something that hasn’t been filtered properly?” My lack of filter often got me into trouble, and that was fine, but I didn’t want to drag anyone else down with me.

  She smirked. “No, but maybe you could make one up. I’d certainly feel better knowing it was there, and if it works, we can roll it out to the other PIB witches.”

  Ooh, that would be exciting, if I could make it work. Although, I did doubt my ability to make it happen, but there was no harm in trying… except if I said the wrong thing and wiped out my ability to ever speak again. “Okay. I’ll think on it.” I looked at the piece of paper one more time, then repeated the numbers quietly before sliding the paper back to Angelica. “I should be good.”

  Her sceptical expression showed she didn’t believe me. Well, we’d both know tomorrow whether my memory could handle it. I crossed my fingers, took my plate to the dishwasher while Angelica magicked everything else away, and then I went to bed. On the way up the stairs, I texted Olivia to tell her we were good to go in the morning.

  I fell asleep thinking of new spells.