Witch Cursed in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  Liv swivelled around to stare at me, her eyes wide, her hands also protecting her ears. The horrific noise continued, and she jumped up, jerking her head towards the door, ears still covered. This must be a drill or something, but, man, was it loud. Time to follow Liv and get outside.

  I silently bade goodbye to the food on my plate. I’ll be back for you later. Stay safe, my spicy friends.

  Out in the corridor, I would’ve expected people to be running everywhere, but there was just Liv, me, and one other middle-aged woman. I looked at her with my other sight, confirming she was a non-witch, so she must be someone’s secretary. Her high-heeled black shoes clicked a fast beat as we headed to the lift. When we got there, I read the sign: In case of fire, do not use lift. So, did that mean no one was ever allowed to use the lift, in case there happened to be a fire? I snorted to myself. Obviously, they meant in a case where there is a fire, but their wording was stupid.

  “Well, we’ll have to take the stairs,” said Liv. “I don’t think there’s a fire, but we should probably be careful. The exit’s this way. I should’ve just gone straight there. Come on.” The lady followed us as we hurried along the passageway. We went through the emergency exit into the stairwell and descended, finally exiting into the freezing air and parklike grounds.

  Stupid me had left my coat on the chair. Liv stopped a few metres from the building and hugged herself. “It’s a bit chilly.”

  I laughed. “Trust you to understate how cold it is. Typical Brit. Lucky you have me. Where was your coat?”

  “On the hook behind the door.”

  “Thanks.” I held out both hands. “Within Millicent’s office are two coats: one on a chair, and one hanging from the door. Please send them to me now, I implore.” Magic trickled out of me, and the jackets appeared, one hanging on each arm. I handed Liv hers and donned mine.

  “You are very handy to have around, Lily. Thank you.”

  I smiled. “It’s my pleasure.” I bowed as if she were royalty, and she giggled. I straightened. Two men exited where we had and walked past to stand with the woman who’d come out just after us. All in all, there were maybe twelve people standing around. The alarm was still blaring, but it wasn’t as loud out here. I grabbed Liv’s arm and took her further from the building, where it was quieter. “What do you think is happening?”

  She shrugged. “I thought maybe it was a drill, but the alarm should’ve stopped by now.”

  Powerful magic skittered along my scalp and down my spine. I gasped. As uncomfortable as it was, it didn’t have a distinct feel about it, or, rather, it had too much within it to pick out anything clearly. Was it more than one witch performing the same spell?

  “Are you okay, Lily?” Liv touched my arm.

  “Ah, someone’s drawing magic. A lot of magic.” Normally, I’d feel the odd ping of magic at the PIB, but generally nothing much, just enough to make photocopies, or move food around the place etcetera. “I think you should call Ma’am.” I would’ve run in to see what was going on, but I had no idea where to start—it was a ginormous building.

  She wrinkled her forehead. “Okay. Should I ask her to return?”

  “Definitely.”

  While she called Ma’am, Gus appeared at the same door we’d come from, holding his head and stumbling. “Gus!” I shouted and ran towards him. The waves of magic grew stronger and the alarm peals louder the closer to the building I got. I didn’t fancy shouting at him, so I grabbed his arm to help him away, but dizziness struck me. I kept hold of him and slammed my other hand against the wall for balance. This was crazy. What the hell was going on?

  I mashed my lips and teeth together against the need to retch. The longer I stood there, the worse the dizziness became, until I was ready to fall. We had to get away.

  I sucked in a deep breath. This was it. We just had to go, whether we were on our feet or not. I pushed off the wall and lurched forward, dragging Gus along. Every step lessened the wooziness. When we reached Liv, only the dregs of nausea remained, although the alarm still screeched. A headache needled behind my eyes. I released Gus, put my hands on my knees, and took some deep breaths.

  Gus rubbed the back of his head. “I have to go back in there.”

  I straightened. “That’s impossible. I can’t believe you managed to make it outside. I would’ve been lying on the floor in my own vomit if I’d stood there much longer.”

  Gus cringed. “No offence, Miss Lily, but that’s disgusting. I already feel sick. There’s no need to add to it.”

  My mouth dropped open. So dog vomit was okay, but human vomit was off limits? I’d have to remember not to be so polite next time he regaled me with his delightful stories. I turned to Liv. “Did Ma’am say she was coming? Because she should probably avoid the reception room.” Could whatever spell was there kill people?

  “She said she was on her way. What happened over there, anyway? You two don’t look too well.”

  “There’s some kind of magic. If you get too close, you get really dizzy and want to”—I eyeballed Gus—“expel the contents of your stomach.” He nodded. At least that description must have been okay, which was silly, since we all knew what I meant. “We have to warn her. Maybe she can travel away quickly. Can you call her again?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “While you do that, I’ll contact Will.” I’d hate for him to get called back for the emergency and then he succumbed too. Thank goodness he picked up straight way. “Hey, Will, sorry to bother you, but there’s a… situation at the PIB.”

  “Is that an alarm I can hear in the background?”

  “Yes. But don’t travel to the reception room whenever you come back—there’s some sick-making kind of spell. I’m not sure what’s happened, but it’s too strong for me to even go into the building. Gus is out here with Liv and me. He isn’t too well.” Gus’s face still had a distinct green tinge.

  “Does Ma’am know?”

  “Yes, well, not the whole thing. Liv told her to hurry and come back, but she didn’t tell her about the spell. She’s trying her again now.” Two PIB agents—a man and a woman—crawled out of the door. They made it a few feet, then collapsed. Crap. “Um, Will, two agents just crawled out of the door. They don’t look good at all. I think they’re unconscious.”

  Will swore. “Lily, I’m going to have to come. I’ll bring B. But I need you to do something.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m there.”

  “You’re going to have to make a landing spot for us, then send us the coordinates.”

  I swallowed. I’d never done anything as complex before. I knew stuffing up the landing spot could send an agent anywhere, even the middle of the ocean or the centre lane of a busy road. There was no room for error. I took a deep breath. “Okay. Tell me what I have to do.” Liv was still trying to get hold of Ma’am, so I told Gus what I was doing and walked further from the building, to a spot on the grass away from everyone.

  “Okay. I’ve found a level spot out the front of the building.” Butterflies added to the aftermath of nausea in my stomach—not my favourite feeling in the world.

  “You’re going to step out a circle big enough for two people to occupy. As you do that, I’m going to get you to use your magic to draw a golden line. At the end of it, it should look like a hoop on the ground. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes.” This, I could handle. I crossed my fingers that it didn’t get much more complicated.

  “And make sure the line doesn’t fade. It needs to stay there until we banish it. Okay?”

  “Okay.” I swallowed, my nerves deciding maybe it wasn’t going to be that straightforward after all.

  “Oh, and it has to be strong enough to hold the spell you’re going to place inside.”

  “Right. Any other requests? Would you like the colour to pulse as well, maybe add in some blue and red flashes? Because the more stuff you want me to do, the less likely it is that I’m going to be able to make it work.” Channelling that woman at the antique sho
p from this morning, I bit my fingernail. At least Imani wasn’t here to rib me about it, but actually, if she had been here, she’d do this spell, not me.

  “Don’t worry, Lily. This isn’t the hard part. You’ll do fine. You’re the one with multiple special talents, remember? If anyone can do this, it’s you. I wouldn’t ask you to do something I didn’t think you could handle. Okay?”

  I took a shuddering breath. “Mmmhmm. If you say so. Right. I’ll let you know when it’s done.” I kept him on the line.

  The stronger you wanted the spell, the more power you had to put into it. I opened the portal to the golden river, my stomach warming as the energy entered my body. I imagined the energy coming out of my feet and said, “Make a golden circle on the ground, following my steps as I walk around. Make the circle strong enough to contain a powerful spell, and don’t let it disappear until I tell you to.” I started walking, carefully placing one foot in front of the other, creating a neat circle. Brilliant golden light burst forth from beneath my shoes as I went. When I closed the circle, I stepped back and admired the shining round beacon hovering just above the stunted winter grass.

  I raised the phone to my ear. “Done. Now what?”

  “It isn’t fading?”

  “Nope. It’s bright, no fading spots. I thought you said I’d be able to do it easily. Now the truth comes out.” I couldn’t blame him, really, considering I’d never done it before, but this didn’t bode well for his confidence in me to do the next part right.

  “Sorry. I do trust you. Ignore me being silly. Are you ready for the next part? Once you make this spell, we’ll be able to land there.”

  “Yep, I’m ready.” The alarm continued blaring in the background. I glanced at Liv and Gus, who were talking, worried expressions on their faces. Liv was gesticulating at the building. She likely hadn’t been able to contact Ma’am. Crap. I had to shove that out of my thoughts so I didn’t make things worse by sending Will and Beren to the moon.

  “In order for you to know the coordinates, you’ll need to stand inside the circle and tap into the magical world map. Once you know the coordinates, you’ll use them in the spell.”

  Ma’am had shown me once before how to tap into the world map and focus in on a point. You could only get coordinates if you were standing in the spot. There was a book of coordinates, which gave all the public-toilet landing spots in the world, but you could only get coordinates for a person’s reception room, for instance, if they gave it to you, or if you stood in it and looked it up that way. At least it made things more secure.

  I stepped back into the shining hula hoop. Closing my eyes, I pictured the world as a globe in space. It spun slowly until I saw the UK. I focussed on it, drawing it toward me. “Show me the coordinates for where I stand, on this grassy land.” The globe sped towards me until the UK had stretched out, its borders disappearing, the map surrounding me. It halted. Large yellow numbers hovered in my mind. Not wanting to lose the image, I kept my eyes shut.

  A little out of breath from the magical exertion, I spoke into the phone. “I have the coordinates. Now what?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. I’m fine. It’s kind of like going for a light jog. Don’t worry. I have plenty of energy left.”

  Apprehension muted his tone. “Just making sure.”

  “So, now what do I do? We really should hurry.” I cracked open one eye and cast a worried glance at the PIB building. Ma’am could be in there, unconscious right now. What if whatever the magic was had the ability to kill witches?

  Will explained the next step. Damn. It was going to take a lot of power and concentration. If I got even one of the numbers wrong, they’d end up God knew where because there would be no anchor point in this spot. Random was not the way to go. They used to have mystery flights in Australia, where you could buy a plane ticket, but they didn’t tell you where you were going. Many people found it exciting. I was pretty sure Will and Beren would not.

  I shut my eye again, the shining numbers filling my mind. Now to do as Will had instructed.

  I knelt and planted both hands on the cold ground. An earthy tang filled my nostrils. I syphoned as much of the magical river as I could, filling myself until it thrummed through every vein and pore. Then, as I pictured the coordinates and spoke the words Will had told me, I channelled the power into the soil. “Embed these coordinates into the ground, for thirty minutes, as a landing place easily found. When thirty minutes has expired, so too must the link to this place this spell provides.” The ground heated beneath my palms and knees, steam rising. As the power leeched from my body into the thirsty soil, my fingers, arms, and shoulders ached. A cramp seized my stomach. Just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, it stopped.

  Had it worked? I opened my eyes, gingerly stood, and stepped out of the circle.

  Yes! The golden coordinates were embedded into the ground, glowing inside the circle. They slowly faded, until they disappeared. A surge of tiredness broke over me, and I resisted the urge to sit on the ground. I put the phone to my ear. “Done.”

  “Are you outside the circle?”

  “Yes. It’s safe for you guys to come through. I set it for thirty minutes.” Any longer and other witches might have stumbled across it, which was a security risk, not that we weren’t in the midst of one anyway, but why ask for more trouble?

  “See you in a sec.” Will hung up.

  Within no time, Will emerged from his doorway inside the circle. His gaze met mine. He smiled, stepped out of the circle, and gave me a hug. “Great work, Lily.”

  “I do what I can. I’m tired though. That took a lot out of me.”

  “Temporary landing spots are harder the permanent ones. Now, tell me what happened.”

  As Beren stepped out of his doorway, I recounted the last fifteen minutes to Will. The alarm hadn’t stopped wailing either. If it didn’t stop soon, it was going to drive me mental. By the time I’d finished, Liv and Gus had joined us. Liv said, “Ma’am hasn’t responded to my calls or texts. She’s probably inside.”

  Will nodded and turned to Beren. “How are we going to do this?”

  “Repel-magic spell?” Beren suggested.

  Will blew a heavy breath out. “I was afraid that was going to be your suggestion. Okay.” He made a bubble of silence. “We’ll head to the control room and get that damned alarm turned off, then we go straight to the reception room, drag out everyone we can, starting with Ma’am. Once we’ve done that, we’ll go back in and look for the source of the spell.” Will turned to me. “You said you felt sick just from going near the door?”

  “Yes. It was awful. Gus could hardly walk when he came out. Could you, Gus?”

  “No, Miss Lily, I couldn’t. It was like I’d drunk too many lagers, if you know what I mean. Couldn’t walk straight, wanted to throw up. It was like the worst hangover ever.”

  Even though I was still tired, I had to ask, “Do you need me to come with you?”

  Beren shook his head. “No. A repel spell is going to drain us. It’s going to have to constantly repel the magic coming our way.”

  “Won’t a return-to-sender spell work?” I wrinkled my forehead.

  “No, but we don’t have time to explain. Come on, Will.” Beren turned and jogged towards the PIB, drawing his gun as he went. Will gave me a quick nod, then followed.

  Liv and I shared a worried look and stared at the building. Beren’s and Will’s magic ruffled my scalp before they disappeared inside. I wandered closer.

  “Lily,” Liv warned.

  I stopped. “I know. But I just—”

  “No!” She caught up to me. “They’ll be fine. The last thing they need is having to rescue an extra person.”

  I bit my bottom lip, and my shoulders sagged. “I know.” Gah, it was so difficult to just wait. Doing nothing was not my strong suit. Liv and I stood shoulder to shoulder and waited.

  After checking the clock on my phone twice in a minute, Liv swatted my arm. “Stop! That’s
just going to make it take longer.”

  “At what point should I assume they need help?” Because, let’s face it, I wasn’t going to wait forever for them to emerge.

  “Give them two more minutes to turn off the alarm. Once it’s off, give them five minutes to get Ma’am down here. If they’re not out by then, you can try going in. But you don’t know that spell Will mentioned, do you?”

  My enthusiasm waned. “No.” Why was I so useless? Just when I thought I’d come so far, I realised I hadn’t. Not even trying to control myself, I didn’t just look at the time, I set a timer with an alarm set to go off in two minutes. Yes, I was an all-or-nothing kind of woman. As my timer counted down, I fixed my gaze on the exit.

  The screeching alarm stopped.

  It had rung for so long, its echo haunted my ears. “Has it really stopped?”

  Liv placed her hands over her ears, then brought them down. “Yes, I believe it has.” She grinned. “I told you they’d be okay. Before you know it, they’ll be at that door with Ma’am in tow.”

  I wanted to believe her, and goodness knew I tried, but I set my phone timer for five minutes. She rolled her eyes. Sadly, I couldn’t share her faith that everything would just work out.

  That exit door became the most important thing in my world.

  I folded my arms and hugged myself against the chill. Please hurry up. I checked my phone. Two minutes and twenty seconds to go. It was amazing how an hour could fit into five minutes. At least, that’s how it felt.

  Now the alarm was quiet, the building appeared normal, no trace of the life-and-death struggle going on inside. Okay, so it might just be a life-and-vomit struggle, but still…. Someone had set off the alarm, cast the spell. Who and why? They obviously had a lot of power. What had stopped them outright killing everyone? If they could breach the PIB so easily, we should all be terrified. Was it Regula Pythonissam?

  I was about to lift my coat sleeve and cast a disdainful eye on my unwanted snake tattoo, but my phone alert sounded.