by Clare Kauter
“I’m glad he didn’t call me,” I snapped. “Not that I would have answered anyway.”
Henry raised his eyebrows at me. “Are you trying to say you didn’t miss me at all? I would’ve thought that I’d be all you could think about.”
Despite my best efforts not to, I gulped. He was right – I’d thought about very little else, although it wasn’t so much because I wanted to see him again. Well, maybe it was partly that. Oh, for Satan’s sake. I was a mess.
We were standing on a hill that looked over a large body of water – Loch Ness, I was guessing. The grassy mountain we were standing on was a vibrant green that contrasted starkly with the grey, cloudy sky. I stalked away from the group to the edge of the hilltop and stared down at the water, watching its surface ripple, noticing the waves lapping against the rocky land’s edge at the base of the hill.
What happened now? Henry hadn’t turned me in yet, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t soon. I didn’t know how to play it. Was I meant to act normal? Should I mention our last conversation – the one when he’d accused me of being a murderer? Should I deny it?
“We should go to the castle and discuss the case,” said Hecate. “The sooner we start our search, the better.”
“Of course,” said Henry. “It’s not far from here – we can walk.”
Despite myself, I was a little amused by that. Henry obviously just didn’t want to have to fly on Hecate’s carpet. He was terrified of flying, which for a shifter was kind of endearing (or it would have been under different circumstances). It was like a mermaid not liking swimming.
“Nessa?” Daisy called.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and then turned back to face the group. Right now I didn’t much feel like spending time with any of them. They were just as bad as Ed. Maybe even worse. After all, at least with Ed I knew I couldn’t trust him. These guys were sneaky. Daisy and Hecate had tricked me into joining their coven so they could use me for my powers, and Henry… well, I didn’t know about Henry. I mean sure, I’d convinced him I was crazy to save myself, but I hadn’t enjoyed doing it. I hadn’t wanted to do it at all, but the alternative was him finding out about my murderous tendencies. But now that he had found out, he seemed to be holding it over me. I wished he’d just tell me what he was planning to do with this knowledge rather than leaving me in limbo like this.
“Fine. Let’s go. A castle, did you say? Great. Should have plenty of ghosts for me to chat to so I don’t have to interact with any of you.”
Henry rolled his eyes at me.
“What?” I snapped.
He just shook his head.
Henry transformed into a large white wolf and led us down the side of the grassy hill to an uncleared area of land. As we began to make our way through the forest of pine trees, I wondered why Henry had chosen to shift into a wolf. Was there something in the woods that he wanted to scare off? The air in the forest seemed uncomfortably thick with energy, and I could tell the second we entered that this was an area hidden from normals. There must have been something in here that somebody didn’t want any non-magicals to stumble across. I wondered what that could be. Unlike in the woods near my house, the magic crackling in the air around here was heavy, dark energy. What was lurking amongst the trees?
I cast out a net of magic, just testing the waters, but aside from a few small animals I couldn’t pinpoint any energy sources. Where was this oppressive darkness coming from? It felt almost as if it was coming from the trees themselves. Biting my lip, I hoped we wouldn’t spend too long in this forest. I didn’t like the feeling I got in here. It was like being on the cusp of getting goosebumps, or the moment just before you shiver – creepy, uncomfortable and unsettling.
Looking at the others, I noticed that they didn’t seem to share my discomfort. I frowned, wondering why. Usually light dwellers were more sensitive to dark energy than me. I didn’t like this turn of events.
It soon became clear that Henry had been lying about the castle being close by. My eye began to twitch again. We’d been walking for a long time and I was growing a little jealous of Hecate and Daisy sitting on the carpet, floating along, while I had to hike. Daisy saw me glaring at the carpet and invited me to sit next to her, but I refused. To be fair to her, she did seem to be more sympathetic to my plight than the others.
I wondered if Hecate had somehow forced Daisy to trick me into joining the coven. After all, Hecate was the sheriff, even if Daisy was a fae and a stronger magician. Hecate was known by many as the Dawn Witch, and since she essentially led a cult of necromancers, presumably she had some tricks up her sleeve. Plus she carried a dagger on her – something I now knew first hand. Maybe she had more power than I gave her credit for. Or maybe I was looking for a way to forgive Daisy because I was sick of having no friends and trusting no one.
We walked on for what seemed like hours. Henry had definitely been lying about the distance to the castle. I was growing crankier with myself by the second for turning down Daisy’s offer of sitting on the carpet, but I could hardly give in and admit defeat now.
It was cold in the shade of the forest, the dull kind of cold that seeps in and makes your bones ache. The only comfort was that amongst the trees we were sheltered from the wind. The trees would also have sheltered us from the sunlight if the clouds didn’t already have that covered. Even if a stray ray did manage to peek through the clouds, it wasn’t going to make it down to us.
I shivered under my robes. I wasn’t built for the cold. The only good thing about walking along this path was that at least I was getting a bit warmer from the exercise. Looking at Henry’s thick white pelt, I was more than a little envious. I giggled to myself, imagining riding on Henry’s back like he was Aslan. My hands were red from the cold and I just wanted to bury them in his coat to warm myself. Instead I made do with wedging them under my arms – they needed to be in tip top condition in case some crazy spectre emerged from the trees and I needed to defend myself. I didn’t trust that any of the others would have my back if we were attacked. (When it came to my back, it seemed that lately they were more in the practice of stabbing it.)
All at once, the trees disappeared and we found ourselves standing on a precipice overlooking the water. There was a sheer drop from here, and I grew a little nervous. Had this whole thing been a ploy so Henry could push me over the cliff to my death? No, that was ridiculous. So what were we doing here?
Henry took a knife from his pocket. (Even though in gorilla form he didn’t appear to be wearing anything other than a pair of round, gold-rimmed glasses, in his human form he was clothed, so he still had pockets – it’s a magical physics thing; I don’t get it either.) I gulped when I saw the blade. Jeez, was he actually going to murder me after all? Bringing the blade to his index finger, he pierced the skin and a drop of blood oozed from the wound. He knelt and smeared the blood on a rock.
The air around us began to ripple and shimmer as thick black smoke poured from the area where Henry had performed his sacrifice. I was immediately uncomfortable as the air filled with even more dark energy. The magic was tangible – I could feel it on my skin, making it itch as if a million tiny ants were crawling across it.
I made a noise of disgust and the others turned to me in confusion.
“Don’t you feel that?” I said. “It’s like I’m being attacked by a swarm of insects.”
I began to scratch my arm, but Daisy gently caught my wrist and stopped me.
“Nessa,” she said, “have you, uh, drunk any potions recently?”
“What?” I was confused. “Do you think I’ve having a reaction to something?”
“She thinks you’re high,” said Hecate. “And frankly, it does sound like it.”
“What? Why – oh. No, it’s not that. The magic around here is just getting to me.”
They continued to eye me with concern, but I ignored them and turned back to the cliff face, which had expanded outwards, stretching to a respectable size. There was now a ledge han
ging over the water, and from the grey stone up sprang stone towers and turrets until there before us stood a castle. Somehow with the castle in front of us it seemed even colder.
The castle had seen better days. Some turrets were covered in lichen, others had water stains, and some even appeared to be crumbling away. It wasn’t massive as castles go (the size of a mansion rather than the size of Hogwarts). There was no mote, no drawbridge – just a wooden door at the front, a few steps away from where Henry had made his sacrifice.
There was a scratching noise from inside the castle and I realised someone was opening the door. The itching sensation from earlier had disappeared, and I could sense two dark magicals on the other side.
Henry stepped back and stood next to me. I tried not to show that it bothered me.
“Don’t panic when you meet our hosts,” he whispered. “The guy can take a bit of getting used to. He’s a Fachan.”
“Henry!” I gasped.
He frowned. “What?”
“What kind of language is that?”
He rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I said. He’s a –”
The doors opened further and Henry fell silent. Now that the entrance was open, I could feel their dark energy much more strongly. They must have had some sort of ward over the castle that prevented me from being able to feel their magic properly while the doors were closed. These guys were powerful.
Then they stepped out of the shadows and I stopped thinking about their powers. I was too busy trying not to gag at the sight of the, uh, ‘man’ for want of a better word. Now I understood what Henry had been trying to tell me – the guy was a Fachan (nicknamed by some uncouth magicals as ‘Fachan ugly’). I know it’s not right to judge someone by their appearance, but in this case I couldn’t help it. No, seriously – one of his powers was to cause people to have heart attacks at the mere sight of him. Ugliness was one of his greatest strengths.
The Fachan was short, only reaching his lady friend’s waist. In place of hair, his head was populated with black feathers not quite thick enough to fully hide his blistering scalp. He had one eye, one short little arm and one leg. I’d never seen anything like him before – and this coming from a girl who’d literally lived in Hell. I slid my gaze to Henry, who shrugged as if to say I warned you. I narrowed my eyes. Telling me the man was a Fachan had not adequately prepared me for the sight of him.
The woman was very tall and pale. Her skin had a strange hue, almost grey, and her blonde hair fell down to her waist. She wore a long green dress with lacy sleeves. The skirt fell to the floor, the hem touching the ground. I wondered how she managed to walk without tripping over it. If it had been night time, I would have wondered if she was a vampire, but as she was now standing outside during the day, it seemed unlikely.
“Afternoon,” said the Fachan.
“Good afternoon,” Henry replied. “We’re from The Australian Department of Magic and Death. I believe you were expecting us.”
Our hosts nodded. “Of course,” said the Fachan. “This is my wife Gladys, and you can call me Fach.”
I had to bite the inside of my cheek – hard – to keep from laughing.
Henry introduced all of us. Fach insisted upon shaking our hands, which was repulsive – his skin seemed to be secreting some kind of mucus. I doubted the handshakes were just to be polite. If I had to bet, I would say he was doing it so he could get a good sense of our magical abilities. He held my hand for a little too long. I wasn’t quite sure since I didn’t really know what bits of his face did what (he was like a walking Picasso painting) but I was pretty sure he tried to sniff me. I ended up shooting him with a little jolt of energy to get him to let go. He yanked his hand back and for a moment I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but then he began to laugh.
“Interestin’,” he muttered. “Very interestin’.”
“Shall we go inside, darling?” asked Gladys. “It’ll be getting dark soon. We should show our guests to their rooms so they can get settled in before dinner.”
Fach nodded and finally dragged his eyes off me before hopping over to join his wife. They turned to lead us back inside. When Gladys moved, her emerald skirt swished around, lifting off the floor for a moment. For the brief second it was in the air, I was able to see under it to her feet. I started when I saw that they were hooves. What was she? Not for the first time, I wished that magicals would get around to digitising their encyclopaedias so I could look up magical beings on my phone rather than having to dig out some ancient reference book every time I encountered a creature I wasn’t familiar with. I didn’t have my books with me, and I didn’t like being in the dark.
While I wasn’t too keen on entering the castle, I didn’t have much choice. If this was where Alora had stayed, we needed to question Fach and Gladys. That didn’t mean I liked it. The magic around here made my skin crawl. And what kind of hosts require a blood sacrifice before they’ll open the front door? Had they not heard of a doorbell? This was the kind of thing you expected to have to do to open Death’s front door in Hell, or to visit a demon or something. This was not the kind of accommodation you expected to encounter by the side of a loch.
Why had Alora decided to stay here? Surely there was a better offer on Airbnb somewhere nearby. I didn’t trust these hosts at all. There was something off about them. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find that they’d had a hand in Alora’s disappearance. Well, three hands.
CHAPTER 8
GLADYS SHOWED me to my room, and the second I was alone I dumped my bag on the floor and locked the door behind me. After throwing up a few quick safety spells (and checking in the wardrobe and under the bed), I collapsed onto the mattress. The wards had helped keep out some of the weird energy, but I was still not totally comfortable. I lay back on the blood red sheets of the four-poster bed and sighed loudly. How did I keep getting involved with this kind of thing?
I let my eyes drift shut. I’d been awake for a long time now, and I was starting to get portal-lag from the time difference. The bed was reasonably comfortable despite being a velvet nightmare. Rolling onto my side, I curled up and snuggled into the pile of pillows. It didn’t take long for me to drift off.
A pop to my left woke me a minute or two (or sixty) later and I screamed as I sat up and scrambled backwards on the bed, right over the opposite side. I landed on the floor with a thump.
“Ow,” I said grumpily. As I’d tipped over the side, I’d caught a glimpse of the intruder and now knew I wasn’t in any danger.
Ed appeared around the corner of the bed, sticking out his hand to help me up. “I’m getting deja vu,” he said as he assisted me to my feet.
“If you stopped appearing in my bedroom while I’m sleeping then this wouldn’t happen,” I snapped as I stood. I didn’t bother asking how he’d gotten through my wards – I’d seen him do it before.
“What fun would that be?”
The moment I had my balance, I snatched my hand away. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.
He folded his arms and smiled at me. “Just came to say ‘I told you so.’”
Of course. “I should have guessed.”
“Still going to try and tell me that joining the coven wasn’t a terrible idea?”
“I didn’t have any other option!”
He raised his eyebrows. “You and I both know that’s not true.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sorry if I don’t consider ‘world domination’ to be a viable alternative.”
“So, you’re a cop now.”
I rolled my eyes. “Hardly. I don’t even have my licence yet.”
“But you will be. You made a blood pact to join that coven. They own you now, and you’re going to be doing this shit all the time.”
“Which will be fine if I don’t have to keep doing it for free.”
He shrugged. “Fair enough,” he said. “So, if you’re a cop, does that make me an informant?”
“If you’re hoping for some kind of immunity, you’r
e not getting it,” I said.
He folded his arms. “Well who are you going to call next time you need help, then?”
“Anyone but you.”
“Sure,” he said, looking amused. “Because you have so many other friends.”
“I’d hardly call you a friend.”
He placed his hand on his chest and gave me a wounded look that I didn’t believe for a second. “How could you?”
“Why are you here, Ed?” I asked. “Just to say ‘I told you so’ or was there something else?”
Sitting back on my bed, he asked, “How’s the search for your crone in distress going?”
I plonked down next to him. “We only just got here.”
He frowned. “You stepped through that portal hours ago.”
“I know. The portal stopped on top of a hill nearby and we walked here.”
“Can’t have been too nearby if it took you this long to reach the castle.”
The corner of my mouth tipped up. “Yeah, it wasn’t that nearby. We had to hike through the woods outside.”
“Right.”
I had a thought. “Did you walk through the woods?”
“It might surprise you to know this, but given my ability to teleport, I don’t often hike when I don’t have to.”
“I know that. I just thought maybe you would have teleported outside to scope the place out before coming in here.”
He shook his head. “No. Why?”
“I need to know what your opinion of the forest is.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Really? Why?”
“There’s just something about it…”
“Ah, I see,” he said with a nod. “It’s got a romantic vibe and you want to spend some time there with me.”
“It makes my skin crawl,” I said flatly. “Just like you. I thought maybe you’d have some insight into why it affects me so badly when none of the others seem to notice it.”
