Witch Undercover

by Elle Adams

  If I brought them to the real culprits, they might finally agree to leave Fairy Falls alone, but there were no guarantees. They probably wouldn’t take kindly to being herded by a flock of fairy cats, either, but I was all out of other ideas as to how to get them to look for the source of the trouble.

  I kept flying, looking for any signs of the trees that Thistle had described. After circling the hills a half-dozen times, I wondered if he’d been having me on—then I spotted a small copse of trees nestled between two hills. I counted seven oak trees, and a number of round golden fruits hung from the branches of a smaller tree in the centre of the oaks. There it is.

  I landed in front of the tree, unsure of my options. Could I just yank it up by the roots? If the hunters refused to follow Sky and the other cats, I’d have to bring the proof directly to them, but the tree was as tall as I was, and each of the fruits was almost as big as my head.

  I reached for the branches, trying to get a grip on the lowest fruit.

  “Leave my tree alone,” said a voice.

  I turned on the spot. The gardener witch, Argyle Winthrop, stood there with a wand in her hand.

  “So it’s yours?” The fairies weren’t responsible? “Did you plant it? You grew this tree in a place exposed to normals on purpose? Why?”

  “No.” She lowered her wand. “It was an accident. Someone gave me some seeds, and I dumped them in a nearby field. Later on, I went looking for them, only to find they’d grown in my absence.”

  Not a word she spoke was a lie, but I hadn’t been prepared to deal with a witch instead of a group of fairies, and I’d come here expecting to find someone who was definitely guilty of a crime. I hadn’t a clue how the paranormal laws would react to someone accidentally growing a tree of intoxicating fruit, but I’d bet the hunters would take no excuses. And where, then, were the fairies?

  “Couldn’t you have moved the tree before it grew this big?” I asked. “Two normals have already found their way here, and if you don’t tell the authorities it exists, the market will get into a lot of trouble.”

  “They’d deserve it.” She sniffed. “That goblin does. She refused to deal with me. Said she wouldn’t buy the seeds. Then I tried to sell her the fruit and she wouldn’t buy that, either.”

  “So you weren’t buying from her at the market?” I thought I’d seen her pleading to buy the fruit, but I hadn’t heard most of their conversation. “You were trying to sell the tree? Or just the fruit?”

  “Look, I needed the money,” she said. “If it wasn’t impossible for me to legally sell the seeds to anyone, I wouldn’t have thrown them out and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

  “Even so, it’s not legal for the tree to stay this far away from any paranormal community,” I told her. “Besides, at this rate, the hunters will shut the market down and you’ll have no chance of ever selling that fruit to anyone. They’ll take away the tree, cut it down, and probably lock you in jail, too.”

  Her face crumpled. “I can’t—I can’t leave it. It’s all I’ve got.”

  I shook my head. “The hunters are already on their way here. I thought those fairies were responsible, but I guess they must have hidden themselves away.”

  I hadn’t seen anything in the tree, but who knew, maybe they were lurking nearby all the same. I wheeled around, scanning my surroundings, and recoiled in shock.

  A pile of bushes nearby nearly concealed several bodies—several living bodies. Not fairies, but humans.

  My foster parents. Ropes bound their hands and feet, cloths muffled their cries, and their expressions were glazed. I didn’t stop to think before pulling out my wand and flicking it, removing Mrs Wilkes’s gag, then Mr Wilkes’s.

  The two of them cringed backwards into the bushes, looking at me in horror.

  “Wings,” whispered Mrs Wilkes. “She has wings.”

  They were under the effects of goblin fruit.

  15

  I spun back to Argyle. “You kidnapped my parents and force-fed them goblin fruit? Why?”

  “No!” She paled, staring into the bushes at the two captive humans. “No, I didn’t see them there. I ran all the way back here from the market to check on my tree when the hunters showed up. I swear, I didn’t see a single person anywhere.”

  True. But that meant… They were glamoured before she got here. The fairies left them here.

  “Monsters!” yelled Mr Wilkes in alarm, pointing at me.

  My heart contracted. Both he and my foster mother shrank away into the bushes, their expressions terror-stricken. Tears stung my eyes. “I’m not a monster, I’m your daughter.”

  How could this be possible? If they were glamoured, then someone else had hidden them from view. Someone like… a certain pair of fairies. They must be close enough to see the tree. Which meant they’d heard every word we said.

  I rotated on the spot, squinting around for any more signs of hidden glamours. “Who else is out there? Show yourselves.”

  When no response came, I raised my wand and fired off a warning shot of glitter. At once, the two fairies from the market descended in a gleam of wings and light.

  “You,” I said. “I knew you were involved.”

  “We didn’t glamour them.” Holly looked down at my foster parents with wide, frightened eyes. “Not us.”

  Truth. But then… who?

  A third flash of light heralded the arrival of Dill… and he held a wand in his hand. Magic crackled off the end, raising the hairs on my arms.

  “You?” I said. “I don’t understand. You helped me.”

  “Yes, I did.” He pointed his wand at me, looking almost sad. “Before I realised who you were, and who your father was. You should have stayed away from the market, Blair.”

  Rustling sounded as the other two fairies each drew a long wooden stick. Fairies with wands. How was that possible? Yet that hardly mattered, considering what Dill had just said.

  “You knew my dad?”

  “I wish I hadn’t.” Dill’s eyes turned cold. “He betrayed us when he chose that witch over his own people.”

  “You lured the hunters to town,” I said. “You did, didn’t you? You bewitched those two normals, and when that didn’t work, you sent Holly and Heather to steal from that house and then told tales on them in the hopes that the hunters would come here.”

  The two fairies gave each other uncertain looks. “You’re lying.”

  Dill wore a calm expression. “Your people drove us out of the magical world at large. The witches did. Just look at this town of yours. Fairy Falls, it’s called, and not a single fairy in sight.”

  “I am a fairy,” I said heatedly. “Besides, why the hunters? They’re not going to make things any better for you.”

  “I beg to differ,” he said. “They’ll remove this witch council of yours and allow us to take back what is ours. And you, Blair, will not stand in our way this time.”

  This time. He was with the Inquisitor. Raw fear pounded in my chest. The hunters might make things better for the other fairies if they were in power, for all I knew, but the other paranormals would pay the price for it, I was certain. And I couldn’t let them take my home away.

  A gasp came from the bushes. I stole a glance behind me. Mr and Mrs Wilkes clung to each other, looking at the three fairies in terror. With the true sight, they saw it all.

  Behind me, Argyle was looking between us, her body frozen. Her wand still in her hand. I gave her a pleading look, but she didn’t move, too frightened to budge an inch. I couldn’t take on three fairies alone. Especially with my foster parents hiding in the bushes, thinking I was a stranger. Thinking I was a monster.

  I looked back at him. “Please, whatever you want with me, leave my parents out of this. They have nothing to do with the witches, the fairies… anything.”

  “I will gladly let them go, if you promise to leave this world and never come back,” he said.

  “Are you kidding me?” I’d thought the hunters wanted to recruit me,
not kick me out. “I won’t leave Fairy Falls. This is my home. More than it is yours.”

  “It was my home.” Dill raised his wand, and a jet of sparks shot towards me. I took to the air, my wings beating, but I didn’t dare fly out of range of my foster parents in case he hurt them.

  “What did I ever do to you?” I yelled over my shoulder. “And my foster parents? They don’t even know fairies exist. Or they didn’t.”

  I flew in circles as I talked, dodging another spell, but even conjuring a shower of glitter didn’t bring anyone running to help. I’d flown too far away, out of sight of Fairy Falls, and it didn’t look as though the cats and the hunters were coming to help me after all.

  Dill flicked his wand, sending a jet of air at me. I flew head over heels, crashing into the sprawling branches of the tree. Grabbing one of the goblin fruits, I tugged at the branch, hard. Argyle’s hands grabbed mine and helped me give one last firm tug. The fruit broke free, and I flung it into Dill’s face.

  The fruit exploded. Yellow pulp splattered his face, seeds flew left and right. Dill gave a bellow of rage and waved his wand, and this time, I had nowhere to run. I grabbed my own wand and waved it in a zigzag motion.

  I didn’t expect it to work on fairy magic, but the shower of sparks bounced off my shield and flew in the other direction. With an anguished shriek, Argyle sprung out from behind the tree and blasted him out of the air.

  With a snarl, he raised his wand hand—and Nathan grabbed his arm from behind, holding it behind his back.

  Nathan. My heart lifted with relief. Behind him, Sky padded along, leading Erin and Buck… along with a whole pack of fairy cats. I glimpsed more people behind them, but before I could take it all in, Dill twisted out of Nathan’s grip, taking aim again.

  Sky grew to full size, positioning himself between my foster parents and the three fairies. Several other fairy cats ran up to the clearing, turning into their monster-sized selves, too. The other two fairies still held their wands, but their expressions had turned to fear. They knew no glamour would get them out of this one.

  “You’re outnumbered now,” I warned them. “There’s nowhere to run. Or fly.”

  Dill wiped a handful of goblin fruit from his face and aimed another attack at me, only to miss wildly. His eyes had begun to glaze over.

  “You poisoned him!” said one of the other fairies in accusing tones.

  “He set you up,” I retaliated. “He sent you to burgle that house because he knew it’d alert the hunters. He’d happily throw both of you under the broomstick to get what he wants.”

  “She’s lying!” His words were slurred, while he dropped mid-flight, on a level with the goblin fruit tree.

  Argyle flung herself at him, grabbing his feet and pulling him out of the air. As she and the fairy grappled, a jet of light hit both of them, and they fell unconscious to the ground.

  I looked around for the caster, and spotted a larger group approaching along the hillside, led by Madame Grey. Backup had arrived, in the form of half the leading witch coven. Gargoyles flew in from above, blocking the fairies’ escape route, while more people from the market followed on foot. My heart gave an unwelcome jolt at the sight of the hunters, then relief swept over me when Madame Grey overtook them.

  She reached us first, halting beside Dill and the unconscious Argyle. “Would someone like to tell me what’s going on here?”

  I did my best to, with some input from Nathan. I made sure to stress that while Argyle had been the one who’d dropped the goblin fruit seeds, it was the fairies who were at fault for luring in normals unlucky enough to stray too close when wandering through the fields. I also made it clear that Dill was the instigator, though the other two were far from blameless.

  After I’d finished, Madame Grey and the witches moved in to discuss the culprits’ punishment with the hunters. I wasn’t really a part of that conversation, so I moved to Nathan’s side.

  “I’m glad you’re okay, Blair,” he said.

  “Same,” said Erin, with a guilty look at Buck. We’d need to talk about what I’d told them earlier, but that would have to wait until we didn’t have an audience.

  “Thanks for coming,” I said. “How’d you know where to find me?”

  “I saw you flying,” said Buck in explanation. “Also, your familiar insisted.”

  “He’s good at that.”

  “Miaow,” said Sky, alerting my attention to the bushes where my forest parents cowered away from the noise. He and the others had turned back to their normal-cat sizes now that the fairies were surrounded, but Mr and Mrs Wilkes both wore expressions of utter terror, and they shrank away when I approached them.

  “Who are they?” asked Erin.

  “They’re my foster parents.” I swallowed hard. “They’re under—they’re under the effects of the goblin fruit. I have to get them out of here, but I don’t want to frighten them.”

  I also didn’t want them to see me like this, without glamour, but with the goblin fruit in effect, I didn’t have a choice. Both of them cringed away from me when I moved closer.

  “Wings.”

  I flinched. “You know me. I’m Blair. I’m still me. I know I don’t look like me, but I am…”

  “Blair.”

  My body tensed. “Do you… do you know who I am?”

  My foster parents rose to their feet and moved closer to me. “Blair. You’re… different.”

  I smiled weakly. “I am. But I’m still me. I promise, I’m going to help you.”

  They knew who I was. They knew I wasn’t a monster. And that’s all that mattered.

  16

  Mr and Mrs Wilkes took a full day to recover from the effects of the goblin fruit. It could have been much worse, and I was just relieved they’d made it out intact and without any other side effects. The fairies hadn’t been so lucky. Dill had to go on trial in front of the gargoyles and a team of hunters with the goblin fruit still in full effect, but I didn’t have much sympathy for him, given what he’d done to my family.

  The hunters didn’t seem to care that he’d been trying to get them to come here intentionally, because he’d still broken the law. His desperate attempt at revenge on the witches had backfired on him, majorly. Not to mention his two companions. Last I’d heard, the hunters and witches had come to an agreement that all three of them would face a long stint in the hunters’ jail as well as a hefty fine to be paid to the rest of the market.

  I skipped out on their trial, more concerned with making sure Mr and Mrs Wilkes were okay. Nathan promised to make sure the three fairies weren’t let off without punishment, so I left him to handle it and spent the day with my foster parents in the hospital. I told them a little about being half fairy, but I hadn’t a clue how much information would stick after the effects of the goblin fruit faded and they forgot their experiences. They might accept me as I really was, for now, but it wasn’t safe for them to stay here in Fairy Falls. Not as long as the hunters were watching me.

  As I sat in the hospital waiting room between visits, Argyle Winthrop walked in, accompanied by Thistle the elf of all people. The incongruous pair walked towards me, and I sat up straighter, half-expecting Argyle to yell at me for what I’d done to her beloved goblin fruit.

  “Um, hi,” I said. “Did you fall into a flowerbed again?”

  “Not quite,” said Argyle. “I just wanted to apologise for fighting you over the tree.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Of everyone involved in the events of the past week, she wasn’t even in the top five of the people I was most annoyed with. “I know that fruit is addictive.”

  “I’m not addicted,” she said. “I only tried the brew once, and you saw how that turned out.”

  “Oh.” I frowned. “Then why were you so intent on me not removing the tree?”

  “I needed the money.” She fiddled with her sleeve. “My shop is a wreck. Falling to pieces. Business has been terrible. I was in a foul mood and hungover when you saw me at the market. Not t
hat that excuses my behaviour, but I saw the tree as the only way I could earn enough cash to fix up my shop.”

  “What are you doing with Thistle? Did he get injured?” He didn’t look it, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

  “He wants to apologise, too, but he’s too embarrassed,” she said. “Elves and their pride… really.”

  Was that fondness in her tone? Surely not.

  “Apology accepted, then,” I said. “All I wanted to do was find the people responsible. And I skipped the trial, so I guess I’ll never know why those fairies wanted everyone else at the market to end up suffering the brunt of punishment at the hands of the hunters.”

  “Actually… we eavesdropped on the trial,” Argyle admitted. “It sounded like Dill bullied those two fairies into helping him commit crimes, and tagged along with the market as a cover so people wouldn’t get suspicious. All the stuff with the goblin fruit was mostly to get Fairy Falls into trouble, but he claimed he wanted you to be punished, too. Why is he so obsessed with you? Do you know him?”

  “Old bit of family history, I guess,” I said vaguely.

  “Anyway, he tried to talk his way out of being arrested,” said Argyle. “Didn’t work. I got the impression Steve wanted rid of those fairies and the hunters, because he let the hunters carry the prisoners off without arguing that they should be jailed here instead.”

  Probably for the best, considering. “So they’re gone?”

  “They left about half an hour ago,” she said.

  I glanced at the elf, who continued to hover near the door. “Good. I won’t miss them.”

  I wouldn’t… and yet it would be a long while before Dill’s words left my mind. Did he really live in Fairy Falls at one time? And why had he been so angry with me? Because he’d been angry and jealous that I’d been accepted here, while the original fairies had been driven out of town so long ago?