other witch - complete series, page 63
Oscar opened the door as I busied myself making tea for us all. ‘Hi Jeb,’ I called as casually as I could. ‘Come on in.’
‘Is Ethan coming, too?’ he asked as he strolled in.
‘We’re doing a separate handover for him,’ I lied smoothly.
‘Making sure the notes tally?’ he joked.
‘Just to ensure we get your individual impressions about how things are going. Milk no sugar, right?’
‘Yes, please.’
I held out the mug to him and he stepped forward, carefully skirting the rug. I might not have noticed that in a normal meeting, but I noticed it now. Jeb knew I had a permanent pentagram there – heck, he’d helped paint it.
My stomach lurched with dread. If Jeb was innocent, there was no reason to skirt a pentagram, even a hidden one. My face fell, even as he took the mug from me. The mug read: Careful, I’m an evil genius, but he wasn’t looking at the words. Instead he was studying my oh-so-expressive face.
I saw knowledge dawn on his face. ‘Ah,’ he said calmly. ‘The cat is out of the bag, then.’
It turned out that I didn’t need the truth runes after all. ‘Why Jeb? Why?’ I asked, needing desperately to understand. ‘You killed Cindy and took her tail? Arranged Melva’s death? Why? Why turn to necromancy? Help me understand.’
As he set down the mug, his eyes flicked to Bastion, Benji and Oscar. The latter had a lighter in his hands, flame exposed, ready to flambé him. I saw the moment that Jeb accepted that he wasn’t escaping. And that made him even more dangerous.
‘Help you understand? Why? So you can pity me and my choices? I pity you, Amber,’ he said forcefully. ‘Your mind is so closed. If you would open yourself up to the possibility of darker power, you could be great.’
‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘Never.’ Never again.
‘Pain is a great resource, Amber,’ he tried again. ‘When I broke that clearing on your mind, the magic didn’t take it’s toll on me, instead, it gifted me with strength from your pain. I was buzzing with power afterwards.’
The thought that he’d used my pain for his own gain made me feel faintly sick. And I wasn’t the only one whose pain he’d used. He’d removed Cindy’s tail and killed her. A familiar! ‘Goddess, Jeb, it’s so wrong. How could you do that to Cindy?’
He shrugged. ‘Something in black-magic use is making our familiars sick. No matter what you think of us, we love our familiars. Madame X is making potions to keep them going. She needs tails and the pain of their removal whilst the familiars are still alive. I was instructed to harvest a tail. Ria had made her about-turn known but there’s no leaving the black Coven, not ever. Ria had to be told that. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a mutilation is worth a million. So … Cindy.’
‘Why not harm Ria’s familiar, Fido?’ Fido was a small brown mouse that often lived in Ria’s pocket.
‘The death of her mother’s familiar was sufficient punishment. The black Coven demands strength – we wouldn’t willingly make one of our own weak by removing their familiar, even to give them a lesson. Better to kill a family member’s.’ His tone was matter of fact. No doubt it would also have been tricky to separate Ria from Fido.
‘That’s insane,’ I muttered, horrified that anyone could even contemplate harming or killing a familiar as punishment. It was wrong on every level.
‘Letting insubordination go unpunished is insane,’ he countered. ‘I even got to clean up the scene.’ He smirked. ‘I took the blood-soaked carpet from the scene of her death because that held pain that could be used.’ His smirk turned vicious. ‘And it wasn’t even Cindy’s body that we cremated because I’d given it to Madame X for parts. Your oh-so-touching eulogy was for a stuffed toy cat.’
Horror clawed at me; depriving Cindy of her final rites was monstrous. ‘You’re evil,’ I whispered. ‘What other horrors have you committed?’
‘Too many to name,’ he said honestly.
‘Killing Melva – that was you?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, but that was because I was ordered to. Nothing personal.’
Rage flared in me. ‘Why?’
‘To keep you from learning about the prophecy, of course.’
‘And how do you know about that?’
‘Your father knew about its existence but he also knew you mustn’t hear it. Steps had to be taken.’
Unfortunately for them, I had heard it. They’d killed Melva too late, but they didn’t need to know that. ‘And the attacks on my mother, on me? Were those “nothing personal”, too?’
He waved away my words. ‘The attacks on your mum were never serious. They were a distraction for you. She was safe, she had griffin protectors.’ His expression turned a tad wistful. ‘I had a plan, Amber. I was going to woo you, make you fall in love with me. Your father would have seen me as his son-in-law and I could have inherited his whole empire. You don’t know what it’s like Amber, being a male in a matriarchal society. There are no coven fathers, Amber.’
‘Oh boo hoo,’ I snapped. ‘The UK is still a patriarchal society. Men are still paid more than women. There are only 34% of women as directors of top FTSE 100 companies. The glass ceiling is alive and well. Witches may be matriarchal, but our society isn’t. Don’t expect me to cry a river. And besides, there may not be coven fathers, but we have men on the coven council too, just as many as we have women.’
He looked at me with exasperation. ‘But there’s no male Crone, no male equivalent of the Triune. The Leader is going to change all of that. You’ll see.’ He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. ‘You never saw me as anything other than dear, harmless Jeb, did you? I didn’t stand a chance. I waited too long, overdid the kindness routine. I thought I had time, but you had me friend-zoned. If you didn’t come round in a year or two, there are plenty of enchanted artefacts that would have made you fall in love with me, but the Leader was against that. I couldn’t risk his disapproval. If I could just have won you over, he would have been so pleased.’
Jeb huffed out a breath. ‘You made me fail him.’ He glared at me and gestured towards Bastion. ‘If I’d known you were into bestiality I would have moved faster. Fucking a creature Amber? Really?’
Bastion’s growl was low and threatening and I felt his anger rising. Jeb’s answering smirk was triumphant. Bastion took a step toward him. ‘Stop!’ I ordered. ‘He’s goading you. He wants you to kill him. We saw how the evil Coven deals with those that fail.’
Jeb ignored my jab and smiled as he taunted Bastion. ‘Yes, stop. Like a good little guard dog. Woof-woof.’
‘You attacked my mum,’ I interjected, trying to bring the focus back to the interrogation.
He shrugged. ‘Not seriously, only enough to divert attention. She wasn’t harmed – we just needed her to be moved from the home she was in. The griffins guarding her were more than a match for the vampyrs I sent.’
‘Why did you need her to be moved?’
‘Why? So that we could recover the harkan crystal from her room, of course.’
I felt the room closing in on me. ‘What? Why would Mum have the harkan crystal?’
His smirk was dark, twisted and full of schadenfreude. ‘Because she was its latest creator.’
‘You’re lying,’ I spat.
‘Am I? Your mum isn’t roses and kittens, Amber. Why do you think she went to the Third realm so much?’
‘To be there for me, to raise me.’
He laughed. ‘Poor Amber, so delusional. Do you think your mother is stupid? Why would she risk her sanity for something so inane? No. She was trying to undo her so-called crimes. But some things can’t be undone, no matter how hard you try.’
I looked at Oscar. He was glaring at Jeb but his eyes were resigned. ‘It can’t be true,’ I breathed. ‘Oscar, tell me it isn’t true.’ He said nothing and my heart broke.
While we were distracted, Jeb pulled a knife from his ankle holster. He threw himself at me, the blade raised. But Bastion wasn’t distracted; Bastion is never distracted. Jeb was only two steps from me when Bastion’s talons tore through his throat. Crimson blood sprayed over me as he collapsed inches from me, staining my rug.
So Jeb had got his death by griffin after all, I thought dully. At least this time Bastion had let me question my erstwhile assistant before he’d meted out his own permanent brand of justice.
Chapter 53
I showered off Jeb’s blood whilst Bastion and Benji disposed of his body via a quick trip to the Coven incinerator. As I stepped out of the shower, I felt clean but utterly lost.
Oscar had made me an orange juice and he held it out to me, looking uncertain. I stared at it but didn’t take it. ‘You knew? You knew she’d used black magic?’
Frustration was visible in every line of his body. ‘It’s not like you think. What she did was for the greater good, Amber. She’s a good woman.’
‘She used evil magic. Yes or no?’
He grimaced then nodded. ‘Yes. As did you, once,’ he pointed out softly.
The wind went out of my sails. ‘Yes,’ I sighed. ‘I did – when I was young and stupid.’ I had saved Jake’s life using black runes, brought him back from the brink of death, but he had never been the same. I had often blamed the black magic, the runes, but I should never have painted them on him. I should have let him die, but at the time I couldn’t.
‘Your mother was young once, too,’ he murmured. ‘She was trying to do what was right.’
‘The end doesn’t justify the means.’
‘Doesn’t it? That’s a question for each of us and our own measure of what is right and wrong.’
‘Can you tell me what she did?’
He shook his head, ‘She made me swear—’
‘—an oath.’ I sighed. Mum sure did love her oaths.
I had seen first-hand with Abigay what the cost of breaking one of Mum’s oaths was: death. So, although it half-killed me, I didn’t press Oscar.
The silence that stretched between us was tense and heavy, its weight like an anvil on my chest. My heart hurt and I suspected Oscar’s did too. I didn’t want that for him; it wasn’t his fault.
I’d been meaning to raise something and now seemed like the perfect time so I broke the silence. ‘I saw you.’
‘What?’ he asked, confused. ‘When?’
‘When Jeb broke the clearing on my mind. I was focusing on recovering forgotten memories from my father. Some of the memories given back to me were the ones that had been cleared from me, but others were forgotten ones. Forgotten memories of my other father – forgotten memories of you. I remembered you brushing my hair for school and putting it in a plait. I remembered you doing maths homework with me at the dining room table. I remembered you sitting with me while I practised my runes.’
I cleared my throat. ‘From the moment you entered my life, blood relative or not, you were always there for me. I want you to know how much I appreciate that, Oscar. How much I appreciate you.’
His eyes filled with tears and he looked away so I couldn’t see them. ‘Hey,’ I said firmly, ‘don’t be ashamed of your tears. You’re allowed to have big emotions too.’ I was channelling Bastion.
He swallowed hard and looked at me nervously. ‘For the longest time I’ve wanted to ask you something.’
‘Anything,’ I said simply. Oscar had killed ogres by chargrilling them, flung flames around like a pyrotechnician, defended me against all and sundry – yet now he looked uneasy. ‘Anything,’ I reiterated firmly, touching his hand.
‘If you’d like to – and you don’t have to – but if you’d like to it would be okay with me if you wanted to call me Dad. Sometimes. Not all the time, of course – you’re older now. And only if you want to. I wish I’d said something when you were younger, but I didn’t want you to think I was trying to replace your father.’ He was rambling, anxious about my reaction.
My vision swam with tears and a rock took up residence in my throat. I gripped his hand more firmly and nodded. ‘I’d love to … Dad.’
He nodded back and suddenly both of us were fighting tears. The absurdity of it made me choke out a half-laugh. We were ridiculous; this wasn’t a hand-holding situation. I stepped closer for a hug. He took me in his arms and kissed me lightly on the forehead.
After several long minutes of silence he said, ‘Should we visit your mum?’
‘What’s the point?’ I asked, my voice hitching with despair. ‘She hasn’t known either of us in days. Her condition is worsening suddenly and I don’t know why.’
Oscar’s face tightened as he sighed and stepped back. He knew why. If I wanted the truth out of Mum, I needed to speak to her and the only way I could do that was to heal her fractured mind. I had tried so many potions but I’d been trying to achieve the wrong thing. I had focused on curing mental illnesses when what I needed was to heal the temporal rift in her mind. Nothing like a tall order.
Luckily, I had some ideas.
Oscar brushed some stray hairs out of my eyes. ‘The point is to go there and love her. Even if she doesn’t know you, she’ll know that she’s not alone and that’s worth a little heartache for us.’
He was absolutely right. ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘For everything. But now I need some time alone. You visit Mum, if you want to. I’ll visit her soon, I promise. I want to – I need to. I know you’re right.’ He was right. It was always worth the heartache to see her; even if she didn’t know me, I knew her, and being with her buoyed me up even on the hard days.
Oscar kissed my cheek and went to the door. ‘I’ll stay outside until Bastion is back.’ I didn’t bother to argue.
Alone, I went into my bedroom and opened the cupboard to my safe. ‘What are you doing, Ellie?’ Frogmatch’s voice piped up, making me jump.
‘The impossible,’ I answered grimly.
Chapter 54
‘Stay quiet,’ I instructed Frogmatch. ‘Grimmy is a bit–’ bigoted? ‘–dated in his views.’
‘Not a fan of imps, huh?’
‘Nor any sort of creature,’ I admitted. ‘As I said … dated.’
I stroked a finger down Grimmy’s spine but nothing happened. With a reluctant grimace, I pricked my forefinger using the point of my athame until blood welled. When I stroked the spine with the fresh blood, the book came to life.
Grimmy floated upwards and glowed lightly. His pages fluttered, like he was stretching. ‘Why, Miss Amber! To what do I owe this pleasure?’
‘I need a potion to heal a temporal rift in someone’s mind. Do you know of such a thing?’
He fluttered, flustered. ‘Miss Amber, no such potion exists!’
‘As far as you know,’ I countered.
‘If it existed, I’d know,’ he said firmly. ‘If you want that potion, you need to make it for yourself.’
I didn’t have time for that. The irony wasn’t lost on me. ‘A healing base, a pewter cauldron. Milk of thistle, fennel, damson leaf. What else?’
Grimmy was still agitated. ‘There is nothing to be done,’ he said reluctantly. ‘There is no ingredient for time, Miss Amber.’ And that was where he was wrong.
*
I called Tom Smith, Emory’s right-hand man. ‘Crone,’ he answered, his tone respectful. As usual, there was nothing wrong with the dragons’ information network. My new position had barely been announced in Edinburgh yet Tom was already in the know.
‘Tom, Jinx took Gato with her on honeymoon. Did she take Indy?’ It was a long shot and I held my breath as I waited for his answer. Indy and Gato are hellhounds and they can manipulate the realms – including the Third realm that controls time. If there was any ingredient to represent time, it would come from a hellhound.
‘No.’ I could hear the grimace in Tom’s voice. ‘Jinx felt like she was a little untrained to take on honeymoon. She was worried Indy would destroy the hotel rooms.’ From what I’d seen of the pup, that was a valid concern.
‘Can I speak to her?’
‘Jinx?’
‘Indy.’
There was a beat of silence. ‘Sure,’ he said finally. ‘Why not? Though I don’t guarantee you’ll get much sense out of her.’
I didn’t need to understand the hellhound, I just needed her to understand me. I contemplated calling Lucy for help. As a piper she can talk to animals, which would come in handy, but I hesitated. She would do anything for a friend, even if it was to her detriment, but she had visiting werewolves to deal with. No, I couldn’t distract her now when she needed her wits about her. I cared about her too much to derail her career.
Indy would understand me just fine; hellhounds are very smart. ‘Where is Indy?’ I asked Tom.
‘At the castle.’ Caernarfon Castle is the dragons’ stronghold; there is a reason why the dragon appears on the Welsh flag.
‘I’m on my way.’ I hung up and stowed Grimmy back in the safe. When I left the bedroom, Bastion was pacing outside the bedroom door.
‘Hey,’ I greeted him, stepping into his arms. He smelled like sandalwood and something uniquely him. He’d just showered – he’d probably been splattered with Jeb’s blood, too. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.
‘Hey, Bambi,’ he murmured. ‘I’m sorry I killed him. I know you wanted to question him, but I couldn’t risk you.’ He was braced for a fight.
I sighed and rested my head against his chest. ‘I know. Jeb did it on purpose – he didn’t want to be captured, to be a liability to his foul Coven. I don’t think it was fanatical loyalty that made him do it but fear of the evil witches and what they’d do to him.’
‘Maybe. All the same, I’m sorry. I know you liked him.’
‘It looks like I didn’t even know him. The Jeb I thought I knew was a fabrication – something to make me fall in love with,’ I said bitterly.
‘Unsuccessfully,’ Bastion interjected.
‘Very unsuccessfully,’ I agreed. ‘No man has turned my head in years until you.’ I kissed him lightly. ‘So, we need to go to Caernarfon Castle.’
