Witch Cursed in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  Beren appeared at his open office door—Dr Finnegan had forgotten to close it. Normally relaxed, Beren’s forehead wrinkled. “Oh, it’s you. What just happened?”

  I shrugged. “Dr Finnegan was hurrying out of your office, and he crashed into me. Not a big deal. He seems a bit overworked.”

  Beren glanced down the hallway as the frazzled doctor disappeared around a corner. “He’s not any more overworked than the rest of us. We haven’t even done anything today. That’s why he was here—he’s not feeling well, and he’s going home early. He’s not sure if he’s in tomorrow either.” He pressed his lips together. “This damn curse is never going to be lifted at this rate. I’m just worried it’s still infecting people. We thought we had stopped it from hurting anyone else, but Dr Finnegan is having the same symptoms the rest of us did, and the nurse that works with him also went home unwell this morning.” He rubbed his temples.

  I sucked in a breath. “That’s not good. Do you think it’s contagious? We can’t afford to lose more agents. Does Ma’am know?”

  “I’m going to call her now. I have no idea if it’s contagious, but if it is, we’re sunk until we find a cure. How are we supposed to beat this thing?”

  I lowered my voice. “Ma’am’s working on something, but I can’t say here because, well, you know.” I looked each way and up at the ceiling. “But would they really make it contagious? Can you imagine what would happen if every witch caught it?” Although, you would think the ones who started the curse would know how to stop it, and they could make a lot of money curing people, but that would also leave them exposed—it would be way too easy to figure out who it was if they did that.

  Beren gave me a worried look, then his expression cleared, and he glanced at my hands. “So, you’re extra hungry today?”

  Apparently it was time to change the subject. I grinned. “Come on, B. Don’t be silly. This is normal for me. You know that.”

  “Oh, my mistake.” He smiled. “You wouldn’t happen to be going to see the most gorgeous woman at headquarters, would you?”

  “But I’m standing right here.” I snorted. “Yes, I’m off to see Liv. She wasn’t there before, but I’m hoping she’s back. This food isn’t going to eat itself, although I’m sure I could eat both muffins if I had to.”

  “I bet you could. Anyway, say hello to her for me. Tell her, I’ll be at her office at five thirty.”

  “Will do.”

  “Oh, and congrats.” He grinned. “I heard about what happened at your brother’s place.”

  He must be talking about my tracking spell being deactivated. Happiness warmed my insides. “Thanks. One down, two to go. Anyway, I’d better leave you to it. See you later.”

  “Later.” He shut his door, and I returned to Mill’s office. This time, Liv was there. She had, indeed, been in the bathroom.

  “What the hell happened to you, clumsy klutz?”

  I looked down at my coffee-stained shirt. “Small accident. Dr Finnegan walked into me. It wasn’t actually my fault.” I stuck my tongue out.

  She laughed. Miracles will never cease. She eyed the food. “I see you’ve brought supplies.” She indicated the food and tea.

  “Yep. I look after my friends, even if they insult my ableness.” I placed everything on the table and grabbed a muffin. I wanted to talk about the curse, but it wasn’t safe. Maybe I could make a bubble of silence. I mean, what could go wrong? Okay, so plenty could go wrong. Boy, this was frustrating. Stupid curse. I couldn’t even whisk us away to Ma’am’s place where everything was eavesdropping proofed. “So, is there any work I can help you with? I’m stuck here all afternoon again, and it’s going to be extremely boring if I have nothing to do.” I bit into my muffin.

  “I’ve got loads of stuff you can help with.” She stood and grabbed a pile of files sitting on Millicent’s desk. She handed them to me, then her phone rang. “Hello, Olivia speaking.” She listened for a moment while I placed the files on Liv’s desk in front of me. “Yes. Coming now.” She hung up and looked at me. “We’ve been summoned to Ma’am’s favourite conference room.”

  I placed my muffin on the desk and frowned. It would have to wait. “Oh, okay.” It was a surprise but not a shock. When at HQ anything could happen. Hmm, that wasn’t just at HQ. That was my life now. I was getting used to the unpredictability… although, in a way, the unpredictability was predictable, so one could argue that there really was no unpredictability. Well, it made total sense in my head.

  Liv and I arrived at the same time as Beren. Oops. “Oh, Liv,” I said. “I forgot to tell you that Beren will be at your office at five thirty, and he said to tell you hello.”

  Beren shook his head. “You’re hopeless, Lily. I could tell her myself now.”

  “I know. But I would’ve remembered eventually. I just hadn’t had time.”

  “Hadn’t had time to remember?” Beren raised a brow.

  “Well, we started eating pretty much straight away, and well, I forgot. Food makes me do that.”

  “Blaming food, Lily? That’s a new low, even for you.” His lips upturned on one side let me know he was joking.

  Liv put her arm around me. “Lily would’ve told me, eventually. Probably when you were knocking on the door at five thirty… but still.” She giggled, and I swatted her arm off my shoulder.

  “And you call yourself a friend. Pfft.” I took a seat at the conference table to the right of Will. Ma’am was at her usual spot at the head of the table, my brother on her left, Millicent next to him—she was working again while we cleaned this mess up, but since she hadn’t been in her office, I had to assume Ma’am was keeping her busy elsewhere. Liv sat next to me and Beren next to her. At the foot of the table sat a very sexy Agent Viking, the one who’d driven us to the gallery. Ma’am cleared her throat. I blushed. Oops. I turned to her. It’s not a crime to look.

  She narrowed her eyes. I shrugged. I loved Will for who he was, and I thought he was hunky too. I could guarantee that he took notice when a gorgeous woman walked past. He was only human. There was no way I’d leave him for anyone or anything, and he knew it. I was betting Ma’am knew it too, but she just enjoyed giving me a hard time. She smirked. Argh!

  “Where’s Imani?” I asked. She was normally at these meetings because she was someone Ma’am trusted implicitly, and so she should—Imani had sworn to protect me to the death, and it was binding. She was definitely on our side.

  “She’s out in the field, dear. And before you ask, it’s on a need-to-know basis. Now let’s get started.” She gave Agent Lyon a nod, and he made a bubble of silence. A weird yearning twisted my gut. I missed calling on my magic. As well as saving time and effort, it made me feel accomplished and powerful, like I could take on anyone, do anything, and now it was denied me. At the risk of stating the obvious, I hated having my favourite things taken away. For the first time in this whole curse thing, anger simmered in my belly.

  “Thank you, Agent Lyon. Right, as you may have heard, Dr Finnegan and his nurse have gone home sick. We’re not sure if it’s related to the curse or not. We haven’t had any other reports of healthy agents coming down with anything, but as we can’t afford to lose anyone else, we’re having our healthy agents use protection spells when they’re with cursed agents. This uses a fair amount of power, and it’s going to put a drain on our resources, yet again.” At this rate, the PIB would be out of business in a month. How could agents do their jobs with only their talent distinguishing them from a non-witch? Hmm, I guess it was doable, but you’d have to send a group of agents to handle everything, rather than just one or two, and anyone working undercover by themselves would be at a distinct disadvantage.

  “Agent DuPree, I want you to undertake a health check on all our uncursed agents. I know it’s going to take time, but we need to know for sure if this thing is spreading.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Ma’am’s phone rang. She frowned and answered it. “What is it?” A flash of incredulity widened her eye
s before she reined it in and resumed her poker face. “Secure the facility. I’ll be right there. Is the landing spot still safe?” She listened and nodded a couple of times. “Mmhmm. Right. Bye.” She looked at Millicent. “I need you to take me to Spellford Jail. There’s been an explosion and fatalities, but we don’t have an accurate number yet.” She stood and addressed the rest of us. “I’m sorry, but this meeting is over. We’ll reconvene at six tonight. Agent Lyon, please meet us at the facility.” He nodded and stood.

  Millicent also stood and moved away from the table. She made a doorway. Ma’am walked through, and after James shot Mill a goodbye-be-careful look, Millicent stepped through and disappeared. Then Agent Lyon made his doorway and was gone in an instant. The rest of us watching worriedly. Being unable to help really sucked. Were they walking into the aftermath of something or just the beginning? Goosebumps raced along my arms.

  “Is there anything we can do?” Liv asked James.

  “I’m afraid not. Just keep going with whatever you were working on before. Agent Blakesley, can you help me coordinate the disaster protocol from here? Ma’am’s going to need support, information, and assistance.”

  “Of course. Just tell me what I need to do.”

  “And Agent DuPree, I’d say you’d best get started screening our healthy witches.”

  “Will do.” Beren stood and turned to Liv. “I’ll be by to pick you up later, but best make it six thirty.”

  Liv nodded. “Not a problem.”

  Liv and I waited until everyone had gone before we got to our feet. Even though paperwork and research were important, what we were working on wasn’t going to solve anything quickly. I bit my fingernail. Surely there was something we could do to really help. Hmm, what if I managed to weed out who had cast that spell this morning when the second message came through? I could do it with my phone so I didn’t look too suspect wandering around. The only problem would be if the security cameras were manned by someone who was involved.

  I looked at Liv. “Can I borrow your notepad and pen?”

  “Sure.” She handed them to me, curiosity shining from her eyes.

  “I need to go to the bathroom before we head back. Wanna come?” Yes, weird question, and I wasn’t one of those people who needed company in the bathroom—in fact, I hated anyone listening to what went on in the bowl. But I had a good reason this time. Honestly.

  Liv’s forehead furrowed for a moment, but then she opened her mouth in an “ah.” “Yeah, sure.” I loved that I could always count on my best friend.

  In the bathroom, I pointed to one cubicle, and then I went in the one next to it. I put the toilet seat down and sat to write in the notebook. The toilet was the only place in the PIB that was surveillance free—at least I assumed so. Hmm, maybe I should check. “Hang on a minute, Liv.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  I put the notebook on my lap and pulled out my phone, then turned on the photo app. I spoke in my mind. Show me any cameras. I panned around where I could see—nothing. I picked up the notebook, opened the door, and with the camera in the other hand, panned around the bathroom. Nothing. Phew.

  I hurried back into my stall and sat again. Placing my camera on my lap and notebook on top of it, I wrote a note to Liv.

  I want to see if I can find out who cast the message spell to Ma’am this morning. It was someone inside the PIB. But I’ll look weird running around taking photos. Can you come with me, and I can pretend I’m taking photos of you? I’m not sure what story we’ll have for that though. What do you think? Oh, and I’ve checked for cameras in here, and there aren’t any.

  I slid the notebook and pen under the small gap under the divider into her cubicle.

  After a couple of minutes, the notebook came back.

  That’s a great idea! Maybe we could pretend we’re doing an audit of the premises for Ma’am—making sure fittings and furniture etcetera are all up to standard and checking what we need to budget for next year. You could just video as we’re walking. We might need to clear it with Ma’am first, though, because we’ll need access to everyone’s offices.

  Ooh, she was clever, and she made some good points. I wrote another message.

  Maybe I could get clearance and a letter from James to take around since he normally speaks for her. And he’s here. I think Ma’am has way too much on her plate for us to bother her. If I called her now, she’d likely say no because she’d be annoyed at the interruption.

  I slid it under the partition. A minute later, it came back.

  Sounds good. Let’s go find James and ask. And while you’re filming, I’ll hold a notebook and pretend I’m taking notes.

  I flushed the toilet, just in case anyone happened to be in the bathroom—not that I’d heard anyone coming or going, but you never knew, especially around witches. Liv and I washed our hands, then went to find my brother.

  James was a reasonable guy, but what if he said no because he didn’t want me to get in the middle of anything? Once that happened, I wouldn’t be able to go over his head to Ma’am—kind of like when one parent said no and you went to the other parent. That just led to a whole lot of trouble. I guessed the worst that was going to happen if he said no was that we wouldn’t be able to help, which would be frustrating, but it wasn’t life-threatening.

  We found him in the sickbay with Beren and one of the healthy witches, who was saying goodbye. After they left, James asked what we were doing.

  “Here.” I handed him the notebook. “Just read it.” I shifted my weight from foot to foot as he read. Please say yes. Please say yes. He handed me back the notebook. “Come with me. I think I have a job for you.”

  Liv and I looked at each other and shared a smile. Victory was ours. Now we just had to make it count.

  James strode down the hallway, and we caught the lift to the floor below. We got out and turned right till we came to a branching and went left. And there was his office. He unlocked it, and we followed him through the reception area that all the offices here seemed to have, and he motioned for Liv and me to sit in the guest chairs in front of his table.

  He sat and magicked paperwork into being on his desk. James was lucky he hadn’t been inside the building when he came to help heal dizzy witches the other day. The curse seemed to have mainly affected any witches who’d been inside. A couple of the witches who’d only been outside were affected but not as badly as the rest of us.

  James handed me two pieces of paper. “Here’s the paperwork authorising the audit. Make sure you get pictures of everything: carpet, blinds, chairs, tables, etc.” He winked at me. “I’ll make sure we have a list of company laptops and desktops. If anyone needs an upgrade, I’ll include that, so don’t worry about those things.”

  I saluted. “Yes, boss.”

  “You’ll need this.” James held out his hand to me, and a key appeared in it. “It’s the master key to every office. Just make sure you knock first—we don’t want to upset anyone by barging in. Okay?”

  “Yep.” I took the key.

  “And if anyone gives you a hard time, tell them to call me.”

  “Will do.” I mouthed, “Thanks.”

  He smiled. “Now off you two go. I want a report on my desk by tomorrow afternoon. You have a lot of ground to cover, and stick to ground, first, and second floors.” He gave us a stern look.

  “Of course. We’ll make sure we hand in a thorough report.” I gave him a wave, and Liv and I left. She had her notepad and pen at the ready. “Do you want to start on the ground level and work our way up?”

  “Sounds logical.”

  Out of all the offices on the ground floor, fifteen were empty, which was great, one had an agent in a dog suit—apparently he’d tried to magic his dog to headquarters, but it went wrong, surprise, surprise—and ten had normal agents doing normal things. Not one office showed me anything out of the ordinary. Maybe my plan wasn’t going to work. Not that I was going to give up. But my magic use had drained me. Because I couldn’t draw any r
iver magic, I was depleting my natural stores. Talents were the only spells where you could use just your own internal store of energy, but in doing so, you paid a hefty price. But we needed to find out who was doing this as soon as possible. So I kept going.

  We were halfway through the first floor when Liv’s phone rang. Looking at the screen, she said, “It’s Ma’am.” She answered it. “Hello, Liv speaking.” Phone calls rarely boded well. “Ah huh. Okay. Yes. Bye.” Liv hung up and looked at me. “You have to return to James’s office. You’re required out in the field.”

  “Oh.” I blew out a breath. “I suppose we can get back to this later.” I shivered. In the meantime, there was another mole running around the PIB. Was it the person who had cursed us, or was it an accomplice? And how far were they willing to go? My shoulders slumped. We weren’t safe anywhere anymore, except maybe at home, thanks to Millicent’s dad.

  Liv left me at her office, and I continued on to James’s. I knocked, then entered. “Hey, brother of mine, what do you need?”

  He looked up from his laptop. “Hi, Lily.” He magicked a bubble of silence. “I’m going to take you to the prison. Ma’am wants some photographs. You’ve got your Nikon here? We need it to look official, so take some real photos too, and we’ll put those on the system as part of the investigation. Our forensics team is there too. The scene is rather… messy.”

  I swallowed. Messy meant bodies mixed in with the debris. Yuck. But Ma’am had said there were casualties, so it was to be expected. “I’ll have to go and grab my camera from Liv’s office.”

  “You do that, and I’ll finish off this email. When you get back, we’ll leave.”

  And that’s what we did.

  James’s doorway opened to a concreted area in front of the jail on a temporary spot someone must have recently set up. Smoke haze drifted around, and I sneezed. A four-metre-high brick wall with razor wire on the top surrounded the compound. About one hundred metres away stood a sprawling yellow-brick two-storey building replete with guard towers. About a quarter of the front of it was a charred, smoking pile of bricks. People in forest-green uniforms helped PIB agents comb over the disaster. A couple of people were on stretchers and being attended to by white-clothed witches. When I looked with my second sight, their auras were glowing blue. The hum of their magic was barely noticeable at this distance, as was the magic from the other witches helping recover survivors.