Witch Undercover

by Elle Adams

A flash of glitter woke me from a fitful sleep. Then, a small winged creature flitted past my line of sight, drawing my eyes fully open.

  I sat bolt upright in bed. “There you are!”

  The pixie flitted around the bed and came to a halt in mid-air. Delicate gossamer wings sprouted from his shoulder blades, while tufts of blond hair stuck up between his pointed ears. Since Sky had scared him off the last time I’d seen him, the pixie hadn’t come to call on me in weeks, let alone actually come inside my room. Given the sheer number of cats roaming around our flat last night, it was a wonder he hadn’t been terrified off. The noise had finally quietened down around midnight, when the cats had presumably sneaked out to the market again. Judging by the quietness in the flat, they’d stayed out all night, too.

  “What is it?” I whispered. “Do you have a message from my dad?”

  I scrambled for my notebook and pen, but the pixie flew into my path, tugging at the sleeve of my pyjama top.

  “Huh?” I dropped the pen. “What’s wrong?”

  The pixie made agitated chittering noises.

  “You can’t deliver messages?” I guessed. “Because—I know the truth about the Inquisitor now. I know how risky it was for you to bring those messages from my dad to me. I’m sorry I didn’t realise sooner.”

  At the word Inquisitor, the pixie let out a shrill moan and tried to hide underneath the bed.

  “Hey—it’s okay, he’s not in town,” I whispered. “I just wanted to tell you I figured it out. Some of it, anyway. I know there are fairies among the hunters. Not all of them are bad, but I’m guessing the ones that are were responsible for tossing my dad in jail. And I need a Pixie-Glass to contact him. Do you know how I might find one?”

  The pixie flew out from underneath the bed, nodding frantically.

  I leaned over the edge. “What’s that mean? The Pixie-Glass is gone. I heard at the market that Blythe’s mother of all people was the last person to look for one, and if she succeeded, I bet she handed it right over to the hunters before she was jailed.”

  The pixie gave a head-shake and flew over to the window, jabbing a finger in the direction of the garden.

  “What… you want to go outside?” I pushed the covers aside and slid out of bed. “All right, but give me five minutes to get dressed, and please don’t disappear. I know it’s risky, what you’re doing, but I need your help. Badly.”

  I hurried to find my clothes and pull them on, my hands shaking. I didn’t dare hope there might be a chance of finding the Pixie-Glass after all, but the pixie’s reappearance had lifted my mood all the same. Thankfully, the pixie was still there when I came out of my room, flying in circles around the living room.

  As I’d suspected, Sky had vanished during the night, along with his fellow fairy cats. Not before eating all our cat food and leaving a layer of hair on every piece of furniture and every inch of carpet, though. Alissa wasn’t awake yet, so I dropped her a note and slipped out of the house, shivering in the freezing air.

  Nobody seemed to be on the streets. Probably, they were all sleeping off their hangovers from dancing the night away with the fairies. I couldn’t see if there was any activity going on at the market from this far off, but even the dancing fairies had to sleep at some point. The pixie, however, angled through the centre of town instead of towards the lake.

  “Where are you going?” I hurried along behind him, snapping my fingers to bring out my fairy wings. “The forest? The elves don’t want me to come back until I’ve done a favour for them—they want me to find the person who bewitched two humans and gave them the true sight. I don’t suppose you’ve seen anyone from the market handing out goblin brew to normals, or otherwise putting spells on them?”

  The pixie himself had been at the centre of trouble on at least one occasion, but he’d have nothing to gain by bewitching normals. He’d probably spent the last few weeks lying low to avoid the hunters.

  Instead of answering, the pixie picked up speed, forcing me to fly faster to follow him. He veered away from the forest, into the more affluent side of town where the houses were larger and more spread out. Then he flew over the fence of an elegant house surrounded by high fences, hovering above the gate.

  Blythe’s old house. She didn’t live there anymore, and neither did Rebecca, but the hairs rose on my arms at the memory of how their mother had threatened me in this very spot.

  “You’re not seriously saying we should break in?” I hissed at the pixie.

  He ignored me and vanished. Glamour. It couldn’t be more obvious the pixie wanted me to hide myself and follow him on his breaking-and-entering spree.

  Does that mean the Pixie-Glass is here?

  If I broke in, I’d hardly be helping my family’s reputation as criminals, but Mrs Dailey was in jail, Blythe had left town, and Rebecca had a new guardian. If there was the slightest chance the Pixie-Glass was inside the house, I had to look for it. With glamour, nobody would need to know I’d been here at all.

  I snapped my fingers, glamouring myself invisible. Then I flew over the fence, hovering above the stone path leading to the front door. On either side, the garden had grown wild, the neat rows of flowers I’d seen last time spilling out of their beds. Not surprising, since nobody had been around to take care of the place. Mrs Dailey had always seemed like the kind of person who’d have servants to do mundane chores for her, but perhaps she hadn’t expected to ever return.

  But what had she done with the Pixie-Glass?

  My heartbeat drummed against my ribcage as I flew up to the door, careful to avoid the purple flowers which were known to be deadly to fairies and pixies alike. The house featured in my nightmares more than I cared to admit, but Mrs Dailey was in prison for life. She couldn’t appear in the hallway and hand me over to the police—or, as she’d threatened to do once before, strip out my memories of magic altogether and cast me back into the ordinary world. Relax, Blair. Look for the Pixie-Glass. That’s what you’re here for.

  I withdrew my wand and cast an unlocking spell on the door, and it sprang open, revealing polished floors now covered in a thick layer of dust. It was odd not seeing my reflection in the mirror as I flew past, but I didn’t quite dare take the glamour off in case she’d left a magical security camera behind or something.

  All right. I’m in. Now… where do I start looking?

  The house was pristine yet held an empty, abandoned air that made sense with its owner jailed and both Dailey siblings gone. Rebecca would have taken her possessions to Mrs Farringdon’s house when she moved out, while Blythe had probably wanted as few reminders of home as possible.

  I headed upstairs, following the trail of glittering light left by the pixie. Rebecca’s room was nearly empty aside from the furniture, as I’d expected. The room next door, however, was full of boxes of dusty toys. I looked around at the bright wallpaper with some confusion. Was this Blythe’s childhood room? She hadn’t lived in this house when we’d first met, but she’d been forced to move back in with her mother after she’d been fired from her job at Ditch & Co for trying to get me thrown out of town. My gaze panned over shelves of books and boxes of toys, and the image of a small girl in pigtails leapt out at me from a photograph on the windowsill. At first, I didn’t recognise her as Blythe, but the girl in the photograph wore the trademark snooty expression I’d often been on the receiving end of. She might have been spoiled and had everything she wanted, but Blythe had never struck me as a particularly happy person. Not even when she’d been under the influence of her sister’s personality-altering spell.

  Okay, that was about enough empathising with my former mortal enemy for one day. I backed out of the room, feeling weirdly ill at ease, and made my way towards the partly open door of the master bedroom at the end of the corridor. The room, however, was as empty as Rebecca’s, with the furniture stripped bare and no other signs of habitation around.

  I was right. Someone cleared out the place.

  “Question is, who?” I muttered. “Any
ideas?”

  The pixie didn’t answer.

  As for the Pixie-Glass? Why would Mrs Dailey even need a magical communication device, anyway? Didn’t she have a phone?

  The pixie chittered, and a spiral of glitter drew my eyes up to the ceiling, where a trapdoor stood out behind a chandelier. Hello, a clue.

  I flew up and aimed an unlocking spell at the trapdoor, which sprang open, revealing torrents of dust. I coughed explosively, screwing up my eyes as I flew up into the attic. Dusty cardboard boxes lay everywhere, wreathed in spiderwebs.

  Landing on the floorboards, I eased the lid open of the nearest box, closing my eyes against the spray of dust. The contents appeared to be nothing but papers. A quick check of the next box confirmed the same filled that one, too. I crawled across the floor, the dusty floorboards digging into my knees, and gasped. A photo frame lay atop one of the boxes, and the woman in the photo stood out as achingly familiar, even though I’d only seen her as a ghost. Her long curly dark hair bounced to her shoulders, while her smile was a mirror of mine.

  Why in the world did Blythe have a photo of my mother in her attic?

  Impulsively, I grabbed the photo and stuck it into my coat pocket. It wasn’t what I’d come for, but it was literally gathering dust in here and Blythe seemed to have no intention of sorting out her mother’s possessions. There wasn’t much else in the attic, though—just more boxes of papers and notes. Was the Pixie-Glass even here? It didn’t appear so, but the pixie had gone awfully quiet.

  That’s when I heard a creaking noise in the house below.

  Oh, no.

  I dropped out of the trapdoor and closed it behind me, my wings beating as I fluttered in mid-air. There was no way to open the window and escape without making even more noise that would alert the new arrivals, so I flew out of the master bedroom into the hallway, hoping my invisibility stayed active. Was Blythe back in town already? What were the odds?

  I flew to the top of the stairs, peering down into the hallway. Someone was here, but all I could make out was a human-shaped blur in front of the doors. Two blurs, in fact. Two intruders, both wearing… Glamour.

  I screwed up my eyes, concentrating hard. Then, the two fairies I’d met at the market appeared in front of the door, flickering around the edges. It was definitely them, but what in the world were they doing here? They weren’t local, and they hadn’t even recognised my mother’s name when I’d spoken to them.

  They’re breaking and entering. Does that mean they’re on Blythe’s mother’s side or against her? Whatever the case, it seemed Sky had had it right when he hadn’t trusted them.

  “Maybe she took it with her,” whispered one of the fairies. “They said she moved out of town, right?”

  “Yeah, but this is the only place she’s known to have lived,” said the second fairy. “If she hid it, it stands to reason that she might have locked it in a safe here or something. Somewhere it wouldn’t be found while she was in jail.”

  I remained frozen in place, rigid with shock. They’re looking for the Pixie-Glass.

  It seemed they hadn’t lied when they’d said the last one had been sold, but they must have found out Mrs Dailey had been the owner. Then they’d come here to find it. To sell, it maybe. Or to give it to the hunters, assuming they didn’t already have it.

  I remained absolutely still, though I was sure my fast-beating heart was audible throughout the whole house. I looked around for the pixie, but of course he’d glamoured himself invisible, too.

  Why are they here? Blythe hadn’t had any fairy friends. She’d hated me for being a fairy and done her best to make my life a misery for that very reason. She and I were distantly related, but while my mum had fallen in love with a fairy, Blythe’s family was all human. Which meant the two intruders were no friends of hers, whoever they were.

  I hovered above the stairs, wondering if I should slip outside and call the police, but the fairies moved through the hall decisively, not seeing me waiting on the stairs. I could just picture what Steve would say if I called him and said someone was breaking into Mrs Dailey’s house—and how was I supposed to explain it without giving away my own wrongdoing?

  I had a better idea. Time to use my best asset… the element of surprise.

  I snapped my fingers to turn visible and landed in front of them. The two fairies let out startled cries.

  “Quiet!” one hissed to the other. “It’s just Blair. What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask you two the same question.” I looked between them. “You’re looking for the same thing I am, aren’t you?”

  “I told you we shouldn’t have got her attention.” The blond fairy, Holly, groaned. “Now we’re trespassing in a human’s house, and if we get caught—”

  “It’d be your own fault,” I finished. “Why do you need the Pixie-Glass? I thought you were the ones who sold it.”

  “We weren’t,” said Heather.

  The sound of the door slamming made the fairies jump—and they vanished in a blur of glamour. I snapped my fingers and did the same, my heart lurching into my boots as Steve the gargoyle elbowed his way through the front door.

  “I heard voices,” Steve growled. “Who’s hiding?”

  Two more gargoyles stood at his shoulders, totally blocking the way out. I’d have to escape through the back door. At least it wasn’t the hunters, but it seemed the fairies weren’t as accomplished at breaking and entering as they thought they were. And someone had drawn the police’s attention. Who?

  The last thing I needed was to wind up locked in one of Steve’s cells, so I flew through the house and aimed for the back door. If the other two fairies got caught in here, it wasn’t my problem.

  With a wave of my wand, I opened the back door and found myself in the garden where I’d met Mrs Dailey for the first time. The once neat flowerbeds were overgrown, the hedges in dire need of trimming. It seemed Mrs Dailey hadn’t arranged for anyone to take care of the place while she was in jail… so who had been watching the house? Someone must have been, in order for the police to show up so quickly.

  I flew above the house, aiming towards the high street. When I passed a couple of witches who pointed up at me with gasps, I thought my glamour had worn off until I looked down and realised that the photo of my mother I’d swiped from the attic wasn’t glamoured while the rest of me was. Oops. I dropped down behind a building and turned myself visible again, then strode innocently down the high street as though I’d been there all along.

  And then I drew to a stop as I spotted Nathan coming the other way, from the direction of the police station. He halted in front of me. “Hey, Blair. Did you go for an early-morning flight?”

  “I may have screwed up,” I admitted. “I went to Blythe’s old house to look for the Pixie-Glass, but those two fairies I met up with yesterday were looking for it, too. Steve showed up before I could confront them.”

  “Wait—Blair, it was you who broke into Mrs Dailey’s house?” he said. “We got a call at the police station earlier. I should let Steve know—”

  “Do you think he’d let me get away with breaking and entering?” I interrupted. “I know, I shouldn’t have done it. Blame the pixie. He’s the one who led me to believe the Pixie-Glass was in there.”

  “I know you wouldn’t break into someone’s house without good reason, Blair,” he said. “I did wonder, when Blythe called the office—"

  “Did you say Blythe called the police?” I frowned. “I wish the pixie had taken me to her instead of leading me to her house. We’re not exactly friends, but maybe I could have convinced her to lend me the Pixie-Glass, if she has it.”

  Blythe was back in town? This was awkward. She wouldn’t be thrilled to know about my trespassing on her property, but on the other hand, she deserved to know those two fairies had been intending steal her jailed mother’s possessions. Question was, had she ever met them before? It made no sense for them to be there otherwise, unless someone else at the market knew of our history.r />
  “So the pixie came back?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but I lost track of him somewhere in the house,” I said. “He’s been gone for ages, so I assumed he didn’t want to carry messages between my dad and me any longer. But then he showed up wanting me to go to Blythe’s house, so I assumed he had a good reason for it.”

  Nathan’s expression softened. “I’m sure he did. I won’t tell Steve. As long as you didn’t leave any evidence behind…”

  “I didn’t, but I did take this.” I withdrew the picture frame from my pocket and showed Nathan the photograph.

  His eyes grew wide. “Is that—”

  “My mum. I don’t have any pictures of her, and this was just lying in the attic, so…” I blinked, my eyes stinging. “Don’t ask me why Mrs Dailey kept a picture of her, I have no idea. I didn’t find the Pixie-Glass, though. And those two fairies—I don’t know if they knew my dad, or if they were just trying to take the Pixie-Glass because it’s worth a lot of money. The guy who was at the stall with them might have tipped them off that the last person who bought one was in jail.”

  Nathan went quiet for a moment. “And the two normals? The ones who were bewitched by goblin brew?”

  Right. That’s what I’m supposed to be looking into. “Yesterday was a big failure on that front. If it turns out those two fairies were responsible, the police might have caught them in the house, but I doubt it.”

  “No, it doesn’t sound like they were interested in normals,” he said.

  I heaved a sigh. “Realistically, anyone at the market it might have been responsible for bewitching the two normals. There’s no common ground between them. They weren’t even in the same place when it happened.”

  “They were within walking distance of one another and the market, though, right?” he said.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t sound like the goblins were the culprits,” I said. “I’d blame that menace of an elf, but it turns out he spent yesterday hiding in a coffee shop while Alissa and the rest of the hospital staff combed the town looking for him.”

  “So he can’t have been responsible for the second victim,” he surmised. “That doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved.”