Witch Cursed in Westerham

by Dionne Lister

  Millicent handed me a few nuts. “Here. Offer him this.”

  Oh, it was a him. “Here you go.” The squirrel took them from my palm with his clawed hands. I was practically vibrating with contained joy—refraining from squeeing and jumping up and down was super difficult. I took a deep breath. “I’m going to pat your back now.” It looked at me, fluffy ears pointed towards me. Goodness knew what it was thinking, but I gently reached out, alert for any signs it was going to run. So far, so good. Then my palm was on its fur, stroking down. Soft, but not ridiculously so. It trembled. “It’s okay, buddy.” Not wanting to upset it, I gave it one last pat and backed away. “Thank you.”

  It went back to chewing macadamias. Angelica had a resigned expression on her face. “Come on. Let’s go.”

  At the door, I waved. “Bye, squirrel. The next time I see you, I’ll have to change you back. All good things must come to an end.”

  Millicent shook her head and smiled. “Get out of here, you goose. I’ll see you later.”

  I gave her a cheesy grin and joined James and Angelica in the hallway. “I’ve already taken Will,” said James. “Both B and Robert are unravelling this. They’ve pretty much been up all night. Robert will deal with Lily, and B, being younger and hopefully having more energy, will cure both Angelica and Will. But after that, they’ll need a rest. We’ll cure Imani tonight if Beren’s up to it.”

  “Sounds good to me.” I was keen to get my magic working properly. Being without it had caused way more trouble than I could have anticipated. And putting everything on hold in regards to RP was beyond frustrating.

  James made his doorway, and I followed Angelica through.

  That night, Will, Angelica, James, and I sat around the kitchen table munching homemade pizza and garlic bread. The comforting aromas of our meal capped off what had actually been a successful day. Despite Squirrelzilla, everything had turned out well. Will, Angelica, and I had our magic back in full force, and the squirrel had been downsized to normal and was happily back with his buddies, darting about their business in anonymity.

  James swallowed a mouthful of food. “Bloody Agent Williamson the Third told everyone you’d been fired over your continued poor handling of cases. He put Millicent and me on notice—said if we stepped out of line or conveyed any sensitive information to you, we’d be fired. He said, and I quote, ‘I’ll be watching you.’” He rolled his eyes. “The guy’s an idiot. We had a call out today, and he didn’t follow procedure properly. He pulled an agent off a case when she was close to finding out what we needed and stuck her somewhere else, for no good reason I could see. It’s like he’s trying to cause more trouble. I’d say I just don’t get it, but I’m afraid I do.”

  Angelica, who’d hardly eaten anything, dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “Yes, the timing couldn’t be better, could it? At this rate, we’ll be shut down by Easter. I bet New York was happy to be rid of the incompetent moron. I wager he has no idea he’s been moved here to ruin things rather than ‘fix’ them.” She placed her napkin carefully on the table and shook her head. “I just can’t understand it. We have supporters on the board of directors, enough that it shouldn’t have gotten this far. What’s changed?”

  “You don’t think RP managed to get to them somehow?” Will asked.

  Angelica drummed her fingers on the table. “I wouldn’t put anything past Dana, but they’d need tens of millions of pounds or some juicy blackmail material to take it this far. We’ve got support in the government, enough that they wouldn’t look too kindly on us being disbanded. Without the PIB, there would be so much unsolvable witch crime, everyone would suffer.”

  I shuddered. Normal crime was bad enough. Left unchecked, witch crime would be catastrophic. Maybe that’s how superheroes were created—when the authorities didn’t do enough, you had to take matters into your own hands. Not that any of us were remotely superheroish, although Angelica could be scary—I’d give her that. I smirked because she couldn’t read my mind since I’d gotten my power back and put up my mind shield.

  Angelica squinted at me. “What’s so funny?”

  My smirk grew to a grin. “Just enjoying the privacy of my own thoughts.”

  “Trust me, Lily, I’m extremely happy not to have to go there.” She gave me a smirk of her own.

  “Great! Now we’re both happy.” I picked up another piece of pizza and brought it to my mouth. As I took a bite, a piece of mushroom fell off onto my white T-shirt. I picked it off and put it in my mouth. It left behind a grubby mark—typical of me. Ooh, but now I could magic it off. Yay! I drew on my power and willed the stain away. It disappeared. Woohoo!

  Ma’am smiled. “It’s a relief, isn’t it.”

  “You can say that again. In the early days, I didn’t think I’d ever care whether I could use magic or not. It actually felt more like a burden than a gift, but now… I never want to be without it.”

  Warmth shone from Angelica’s gaze. “I’m happy to hear that. Your mother would have been too. She was never quite sure how you’d go, being a witch. I know she sometimes felt guilty that she’d passed it onto you.”

  “Really? If I could see her now, I’d tell her I’m just proud to have something of hers. Wouldn’t matter what it was. I’m glad I’m a witch.”

  James’s smile held a tinge of sadness. “Me too, Lily. It makes me feel closer to her in a way, you know? Closer to our heritage. I just want to make her proud, and Dad.”

  He was sitting next to me, and I grabbed his hand. “Me too.” The thought that maybe they were still alive flitted through my head, but I batted it away—getting my hopes up was a sure way to have my heart broken all over again. They’d been gone so long that there was no way they were alive. If my mum was as powerful as Angelica said, she would have found a way out, and surely I would have felt her out there the same way I’d felt Will that time.

  Angelica magicked her plate away, and a cup of tea appeared in front of her. Things really were back to normal. “As I see it, we have two problems, but with our small group, we may only be able to solve one at a time. The question is, which do we solve first? As much as I want my job reinstated ASAP, more damage is being done by whoever cursed us. I suggest we deal with that first.”

  James nodded. “I checked out those lightning-strike deaths from this morning, and there was definitely magic involved. I’ve kept it to myself, though. I’m sure Chad would find a way to turn it against us.” He turned to me. “Now that you have your magic back, I think you should take photos of that scene. He had to be standing nearby when it happened. All we need is to see the guy in the dark coat, and we’ll know.”

  “I can do that. Also, I haven’t finished my audit of headquarters. I’m sure I’d find who the mole is if I could just finish.”

  He shook his head. “It’s too risky. There’s no way to sneak you in, and the new guy would shut anything down quickly if he thought Angelica had ordered it. You’re not supposed to have a mind shield, remember? If anyone had their feelers out for thoughts, they’d know you blocked yours.”

  “Couldn’t you just tell them that you blocked them for me?”

  “I could, but…” James shared a meaningful look with Angelica.

  She shook her head. “It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you exposed. If they catch you, they might confiscate your camera. We can’t risk it. I think it’s best if you photograph the lightning scene. Will can go with you. I have other things to organise, and they’ll be on the lookout for me. I don’t want to draw any attention to what we’re doing, so I’m going to lay low. If we can solve this other crime, we’ll find a way to work it in our favour with the board.”

  James’s phone rang. He answered it. Yelling, in the form of a New York accent, came down the line. My brother held the phone away from his ear. “… blue light! What’s the meaning of this message? Are they going to attack me personally? Why didn’t you warn me? Get down here, now!” Yikes.

  James rolled his eyes and put the phone back to his
ear. “Ma’am had those messages before too. I’ll be there shortly.”

  “You’d better be!” The line died.

  James pocketed his phone. “I don’t need to explain, obviously.” He chuckled. “Not that it’s funny, but it kind of is. I’ll message you when I get home, let you know the result. I know it’s cold, Lily, but there won’t be many people around now. Can you and Will go take those photos?”

  I shivered involuntarily. “Yeah, sure. It’s not like we’ll be out there long. Maybe we can pick up dessert from Costa while we’re out.” I turned to Angelica. “Would you like anything?”

  “Not in the way of food, thank you, dear. Some enlightening photographs would be nice though.” She smiled.

  “I’m on it.” I magicked my plate clean and away and stood. Will did the same. I clicked my fingers for fun. My coat appeared on my body and my camera in my hand. I grinned. I loved being a witch. Magic was where it was at, baby. The way our day was going, maybe, just maybe we’d get a case-busting clue tonight.

  “Lily…” A warning tone from Will. “We may end up with nothing. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

  “How did you know what I was thinking? You can’t read my mind, can you?” I checked my mind shield. It was up.

  “I know you, gorgeous. You’ve got that look in your eye, and that cute little smile you don’t even realise you’re doing. As wonderful as your positivity is, it sometimes leads to crushing disappointment, so maybe let’s go into this with no expectations. Okay?”

  I unsmiled. “Fine.” Getting my enthusiasm under control was one of my least favourite things to do.

  Will led the way out the door, and the blinkers flashed on his car, indicating it was unlocked. Satisfaction played on his face as he looked at his car; then he glanced my way and raised a brow, daring me to say anything.

  I wouldn’t say I lived to disappoint anyone, but…

  “I miss the quackmobile already.” I opened the door, hopped in, and shot a pout his way.

  He shut his door and did up his belt. Amusement twitched the corners of his lips. “I may have a surprise for you.”

  I sat up straight, like a dog who’s just been told there’s a walk on offer. “Ooh, did you make me one?”

  He laughed. “No. Of course not. But I did get Angelica to save this.” He pressed the horn. Quack, quack, quack. He waggled his brows. “You like?”

  I giggled. “I love! Thank you!” We leaned towards each other and kissed. Will was totally a keeper. When we were done, I sat back and sighed. Today was definitely a good day.

  It took hardly any time to drive into Westerham and the site of the lightning strikes. It had happened in front of two-storey terraced shops—one a pet shop, the other a vacant store. Will managed to find parking just around the corner, about seventy feet away.

  I took the lens cap off the Nikon and turned it on. “I might just step back over here to see if he was standing nearby. Then I’ll walk closer. Just make sure I don’t walk in front of any cars.” I was prone to distraction when using my talent, and the last thing I wanted was to step onto the road at the wrong time.

  “Can do. I’ll be watching out for anything and everything.” He was probably talking about RP as well. We were never safe. It was a reminder to cast my return to sender, which I did. At least it had stopped raining, and a few stars peeked through between clouds. A couple of people walked along the footpath on the other side of the street, but it was fairly quiet—being eight thirty on a cold night, that was no surprise.

  I lifted my camera to my face. “Show me who cast the lightning spells that killed five people.”

  Subdued sunlight illuminated the drizzly day, and I had to remind myself this was magic, not reality. Being effectively transported back in time was disconcerting when what revealed itself through the lens was far different from what I’d started with.

  Standing, leaning with one shoulder against the wall, was the guy with the black beanie from the television interview this morning. The people who had been struck down were in the process of walking past him—two one way, three the other. Even though there were five people in my photo, I knew instinctively who’d done this—well, it wouldn’t take Einstein since the guy with the black beanie had been the only one to survive, but my magical sense was insisting I focus on him.

  And I could not believe our luck. I smiled, bubbles of excitement disturbing the calm within.

  I walked towards where he’d been standing and took some close-ups. His expression was serious, almost angry. He’d definitely been on a mission. But why? And who was he? Did he know those people, or were they random? So many questions.

  I lowered the camera and turned to Will. “Here.”

  He took the camera and looked at the screen. “I’m assuming it’s the guy against the wall?”

  “Bingo.” He had some nerve too. “You know he was interviewed by the news this morning. He hung around and admitted he’d been at the scene. I can’t remember whether he gave a name though. So damn brazen.”

  Will’s eyebrows rose. “You’re kidding?”

  “Nope. He’s been so clever, covering his tracks, but, of course, he had no idea about what we were capable of. Looks like he just made his first and, likely, last mistake.” Sucked in, whoever you are. You’re gonna go down. “He really fancies himself as some kind of criminal mastermind.”

  “Sure looks that way. Angelica’s going to be ecstatic. Let’s get going. The sooner we get this to her, the sooner we can try and find out who he is.”

  After a quick side trip to Costa, it took us next to no time to get home. We found Angelica reading by the fire in the living room. She waited until we were standing in front of her before she put the papers down and looked up. Her poker face relaxed slightly. “By the looks of you two, you have something good to show me?”

  I grinned and handed her the camera. “You betcha. Check it out.”

  She scrolled through the photos. Her eyes widened. “Are you sure this is him?”

  “My magic has never led me wrong. I was telling Will, that’s the guy from the news this morning who was interviewed by the reporter. He had the audacity to thank his lucky stars that he was okay. He’s just so smug, flaunting himself on TV, knowing the PIB might see it and not even realise. But he has no idea who he’s dealing with.” Two could play at the smug game, and I was feeling the smugness ooze from every pore. “Now all we have to do is find out who he is.”

  Angelica pursed her lips. “I doubt he gave his real name to the reporter, but we’ll have to ask them anyway. You never know…. Can I get you onto that, Will?”

  “Of course. I also think we should run his image through the system. Maybe get James to do it tomorrow. He kind of looks familiar, but maybe he has a common look. I’ve certainly never arrested him before.”

  “Neither have I, but you’re right. There’s something about him….”

  I didn’t believe it could be so easy, but it looked like we were close to solving this crime. “So once we find him, we just match his magic signature to the one at the crime scenes, and that’s it?”

  Will answered, “Yes and no. We’ll need to tread carefully until we find out who his accomplices are. We want to catch everyone involved in this as soon as we can. If we miss anyone, they’ll get off, and we’ll never find them. We have to find out who he is and tail him for a while, bug his phone, house, etcetera. This could take a long time.”

  I folded my arms. “And in the meantime, Angelica’s out of a job, and you guys are risking everything. What are they going to do when you don’t go back to work? They don’t know you’re cured, and because you don’t know who the mole inside is, you can’t risk going back. Same for Imani, assuming she’s already cured, and Beren.” I resisted the urge to scream. “There has to be some way I can figure out who the mole is.”

  Will wrinkled his forehead. “We can’t risk any of us going back.”

  I sat in the other armchair near the fire. “I refuse to believe we can�
�t do more. There has to be a way I can get in there and do what I need without getting caught.”

  Ma’am shook her head. “I’m afraid not, dear. We can’t disguise you with magic because witches will see through that. I can’t set anything up as an excuse or protect you now I’m not there. And I can assure you that whoever wants me gone will use any reason to get rid of your brother and Millicent. Too much is at stake, I’m afraid.”

  “Hmm, could we get James to say that in light of what happened, we’re carrying out a security review? I could use a proper disguise, and maybe Gus could accompany me to photograph each room. James could say it’s because of what happened, and we’re ensuring everyone’s safety—considering that guy was freaking out over more blue lettering. From what James said, he’s stupid enough to fall for it. Taking it one step further, rather than say it came from you, we could possibly get James to convince the guy it’s a great idea and to order it himself. He sounded spooked on the phone. It wouldn’t take much for him to agree.”

  Angelica’s smile was rather sharkish. “I like it, Lily. I think it could work. I’ll contact James later, but be ready to report for duty tomorrow.”

  I grinned, and Will gave me a proud smile. “That’s my Aussie witch, coming up with what we need at the right time. What would we do without you?”

  A warning shiver skimmed down my spine. I hoped they never had to find out.

  Chapter 12

  The next morning at ten, I was ready. Imani—her power back in full force—had commandeered a make-up artist friend of hers to come and de-Lilyfy me.

  Sam was about thirty. His shoulder-length dark dreadlocks framed a handsome face, his skin smooth and blemish-free. He had peachy cheeks that invited a squeeze… the ones on his face, obviously. I kept my fingers to myself though, as touching people without their permission was frowned upon. Those rounded cheeks rose to squint his brown eyes when he smiled, which he did often. He seemed to be a happy guy.