Formidable Magic: Myrtlewood Mysteries book 7, page 1
Formidable Magic
IRIS BEAGLEHOLE
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
Beneath an old yew tree, hidden by foliage, cold, calculating eyes watched as the Thorn witch kissed her vampire lover.
The eyes narrowed and a child-like voice whispered, “You’re not going to be a threat for much longer.”
The small figure turned and quickly crept behind the tree and through the forest at a supernatural speed.
It wasn’t long before she reached her destination: an old drain, inconspicuous to prying eyes. She glanced around to make sure no one else was in sight before descending into the earth and the dark network of tunnels there.
Quickly, she returned to the cavern where only her most loyal of followers were gathered.
“You’ve returned, mistress,” said Despina, getting up from her armchair and dusting off her pale pink cardigan.
Geneviève pulled back her hood, revealing her gleaming chestnut curls and an unnatural smile. “Indeed I have,” she said. “And how are our plans developing?”
“Three more have joined us,” said an older woman with blonde hair.
“And the Travellers?” Geneviève asked.
“They’re on their way,” said Despina.
“Everything is in order,” a hulking figure from the corner added.
“Very well,” said Geneviève. “We continue advancing towards All Hallows Eve. Focus on the weak and be ruthless. Now go, do not waste any more time.”
With a clap of her hands, in an instant the room was cleared without a trace of any of her loyal shifters, witches, or vampires.
Geneviève could finally relax, slumping onto a velvet chaise lounge with a cocktail glass full of human blood. Taking a sip, she savoured the taste.
“Ah, yes, Samhain is going to be interesting…”
One
The weather was turning colder and the fog seemed to thicken over the township, hanging unnaturally still below the clouds.
The last leaves that clung stubbornly to the trees were beginning to let go of their resolve. The oranges and reds of the foliage around the town frosted slowly to brown and the atmosphere took on a soupy quality.
There was a supernatural chill that lay beneath the ordinary frosts of the land that throbbed with a deeper power. An older magic threatened to break free as the spirits that had long lain dormant in the land and its buildings began to stir in restless frustration. Samhain was coming, and it was no ordinary festival.
This year as All Hallows drew near, there was a thickening in the air, an anticipation of chilling potential promising to be a festival the people of Myrtlewood would never forget.
“Is your dad still away?” Sam asked Athena, running their hand along a row of books near their seat. They sat in the library of Myrtlewood Academy, waiting for History and Folklore to begin.
“Yes,” Athena replied, looking down at her hands. “He’s busy helping Finnigan get set up in the fae realm and doing a bunch of diplomatic stuff with his mother. The treaty is taking a lot more work to implement than anyone realised.”
“He’ll be back before you know it,” said Elise.
Deron giggled at Felix, who was doing his best impression of Ms Twigg – sticking his tongue out pretending he was some kind of lizard – when the door opened and the entire class fell silent.
Ms Twigg stood there looking unimpressed, and Felix quietly melted down into his chair.
Elise and Athena smiled at each other. They still didn't understand quite why Felix was terrified of the very tiny and oddly reptilian teacher. It seemed almost instinctual rather than rational.
“It sounds like you're all having a wonderful time,” said Ms. Twigg, entering the classroom. “However I'm sorry to interrupt your merrymaking with actual learning.” She gave them a wry smile.
Athena smiled back. She was rather fond of Ms. Twigg, as strange as she might be.
“Now today's class is not only about the history of folklore and mythology. It's also about the present. And I'm delighted to inform you we have an upcoming field trip.”
There was a murmur around the class.
Athena looked questioningly at Elise, who simply shrugged.
Beryl, who'd been rather quiet and withdrawn recently, shot her hand up in the air.
“Yes, Miss Flarguan?” Ms. Twigg said.
“Does this concern Samhain?” Beryl asked quietly.
“Very good, Miss Flarguan.”
“Sow-wain,” said Deron, rolling the word around his mouth that was pronounced so differently from how it was spelt, at least in English. “Is it to do with pigs?” he asked.
Ms Twigg smiled in her chilling way. “There may be some shared etymology. After all, pigs were of great importance for our ancestors here, in this part of the world. Cerridwen herself was often considered to be a sow goddess and she is one of the great dark goddesses associated with this time of the year and of the coming winter.”
Deron beamed. He didn't often feel confident with schoolwork and Athena was happy to see him look proud of himself for a change.
“Samhain is unique among the ancient sabbats,” Ms Twigg continued. “Now if you could all turn to page one hundred and seventy three in your course book.”
Elise raised her hand.
“Yes, Miss Fern?”
“Sorry, pardon me,” said Elise. “But you mentioned a field trip. Could you tell us about that before we start reading? Only, I'm curious.”
Ms Twigg’s smile spread wide across her face. “I'm pleased to see you’re all taking such an interest in schoolwork. For some reason you often do as we near the sacred festivals, owing no doubt, to the strange occurrences we've all experienced recently.”
Ms Twigg eyed Athena for a moment too long.
Athena gulped, feeling that she was somehow to blame. Of course, the strange goings on in Myrtlewood were attributed to the Thorn family magic being released, which had acted as a kind of magnet for all sorts of magical chaos since she and her mother had moved into the small town.
It wasn't like Athena had planned any of it. Ms Twigg’s gaze, however, wasn't blaming as much as it was questioning, as if Athena might hold some kind of secret knowledge that the teacher was after.
“Very well,” said Ms Twigg. “If you must know, the field trip that I'm planning for this class involves a trip to a haunted house.”
A ring of excitement spread through the small classroom.
“Haunted house,” Elise whispered. “Is she for real?”
“Is she having us on?” Felix asked. “Some kind of lizard trick?”
Athena gave him a pointed look.
“Why haunted house, Miss?” Ash asked.
“Well, isn't it obvious?” said Beryl. “Samhain is associated with the other side. You know? When the veil is thin, and the spirits can walk across.”
Athena coughed. “What do you mean? I thought the veil was thin around the equinoxes?”
Elise giggled. “Different veil,” she whispered.
“Oh,” said Athena. “You mean to the dead? The veil to the underworld?”
“Indeed,” said Ms Twigg.
“Spook,” said Felix, though he sounded more excited than scared, as did the rest of the class.
“So you think it's more likely that we'd see ghosts at this time of year?” Sam asked.
“That tends to be the experience,” said Ms Twigg. “However, this is no carnival haunted house. This is research and I will expect you to all write reports on it.”
“How do you know the house is haunted?” Ash asked.
A strange expression crossed Ms Twigg’s face. “All we have to go on is rumours,” she said dismissively. “And it may be that the house is not haunted at all and you’ll have to write about that instead. However, each year around this time, I have identified a house known to be haunted in the community and taken a group of students there. Sometimes it’s the same house we go to, but we've never been to the Brashville Manor before. It was occupied until quite recently.”
“Did the owner die?” Felix asked, sounding far too thrilled about the possibility.
Ms Twigg glared at him and he wilted back into his seat, hunched over. “Lady Brashville passed away recentl
“Will it be a night time trip?” Sam asked. “I mean…don’t ghosts come out at night?”
“Funny you should ask,” said Ms Twigg. “Yes. It will be an overnight visit. So you will all pack sleeping mats and sleeping bags and we will bring a range of technical equipment for monitoring the supernatural.”
“A real science experiment!” said Beryl, sounding genuinely excited.
“That's what floats your boat,” said Felix. He raised his arms, crossing them behind his head, and leant back until Ms Twigg shot him another stern look. He lowered them down again and sat primly on his chair.
“Now, let us continue with the lesson,” said Ms Twigg. “Page one hundred and seventy three. The history of Samhain.”
Two
Rosemary put the finishing touches on a tiny pumpkin she’d made out of orange-tinted chocolate in the window display and stood back to admire her handiwork.
It was a great spooky spread of different treats.
“It looks great!” said Papa Jack, emerging from the kitchen to admire the candyfloss ghosts and the spooky haunted house that Rosemary had spent many hours deftly crafting.
“Well, if that doesn't help sales pick up, I don't know what will,” said Rosemary. “It's been so slow this month. I thought people were supposed to want lots of sweets for Halloween, but I suppose this isn't America.”
Papa Jack chuckled. “People want candy no matter what time of year it is.”
“So why aren’t they coming in? Is it because I offended everyone during that mayoral race by siding with the werewolves?”
“I don't think so. But everything has a season.”
“Maybe somebody's cursed me.” Rosemary slumped down at a table feeling the need to sulk, but her mood was quickly picked up again with the first sip of a spiced hot chocolate brought over by Papa Jack.
As she sat slurping the spicy sweet beverage, the doorbell rang and Marjie bustled in looking slightly frazzled and pale.
“What's wrong?” Rosemary asked her dear friend.
“Oh, nothing…nothing.” Marjie she didn't sound her normal cheery self.
“Take a seat,” said Papa Jack, pouring another one of his delicious and warming drinks and bringing it over to Marjie.
“Thank you, dear,” she said. “But I can't stay long. Things are fraught at home.”
Rosemary gave her a questioning look, but it didn't seem like Marjie wanted to talk about it.
“I just popped in to check on you,” said Marjie. “To make sure everything's all right. You looked so glum sitting there. What is it?”
“I don't want to trouble you with my problems,” said Rosemary. “It's just the business. It's not doing so well at the moment. It was fine until just a few weeks ago, but since the equinox we've had hardly any customers.”
“Oh, it will pick up again,” said Marjie. “You make the best chocolates around.”
Rosemary smiled. “Thanks, and you're right. I shouldn't worry. I've still got funds to draw on from my inheritance and the money Granny put in the trust for us. I just don't want to waste it. You know what business is like. Bad investments can lead to losing everything.”
“Don't I know it?!” said Marjie. “The number of crazy schemes I’ve cooked up over the years! Most of them failed. Herb almost threw me out on the street. I'm sure of it. Especially after that toilet paper business.”
Rosemary gave her friend a sympathetic smile.
Marjie smiled back, though there was sadness in her eyes. “It took a long time for me to find my true calling and create my tea shop. You're lucky you always really knew what you wanted to do, didn't you? You wanted to work with chocolate. You always loved food. It’s a perfect match.”
Rosemary’s smile faltered a little. There was something definitely strange about Marjie at the moment.
The door to the chocolate shop opened and Athena came in dragging her school bag behind her. She slumped down next to Rosemary and took liberties with her hot chocolate, making Rosemary mock-frown at her daughter. “Get your own.”
Athena gave her a cheeky smile. “Yours is right here. Besides, you didn't even make this, I can tell.”
“I’ll bring you another one,” said Papa Jack.
“Don't worry about it,” Rosemary called out after him. “I’ve probably had enough chocolate. So has the rest of Myrtlewood, apparently.”
“Business still not good?” said Athena. “You know, we should really get you set up better online. You can do internet orders.”
“Well, Papa Jack is better at that. I hate admin.”
“Remember all those people from around the country were really keen on your chocolate at the Summer Festival.”
“You're probably right,” said Rosemary. “That's how Liam's business has managed to stay afloat all these years, isn't it? Even when the town totally rejected him, he still had online orders.”
“At least when he wasn’t off galivanting at the werewolf commune.” Athena found Liam’s holiday up north fascinating and hilarious, particularly when she’d learned the werewolf colony up near Scotland was complete with drumming circles.
“I like your display,” Athena said, gesturing to the window behind them.
“It's great, isn't it? said Papa Jack, coming over with another hot chocolate despite Rosemary's protestations.
“Perfect for Samhain!” said Athena. “We've been learning about it at school and ghosts are totally appropriate. It's not just an American thing after all, Halloween. All Hallows has been celebrated here for thousands of years.”
“That's right,” said Marjie absentmindedly. “Yes, yes, it has.”
“We're going to go and visit a real haunted house.” Athena’s eyes lit up.
“You are?” Rosemary asked. “Sounds dangerous!”
“Oh no, I think the ghosts are friendly. Besides, we have experience with ghosts.”
Rosemary gave her daughter a stern look. They weren't really supposed to talk about Granny Thorn’s ghost that had intermittently haunted them in a mostly friendly and sometimes infuriating way. Granny had a way of getting on Rosemary's nerves by being cryptic and little bit flippant when it came to whatever trouble they happened to be in at the time.
“Sounds fun!” said Papa Jack. “A real haunted house? It’s the perfect season for it.”
Athena beamed. “That’s exactly what Ms Twigg said.”
“It makes me a little bit uncomfortable,” said Rosemary. “All this sort of… celebration of death.”
Marjie shuddered and got up from the table. “Right, I better be off, then,” she said brusquely and left.
“Does she seemed a bit off to you?” Rosemary asked.
Athena shrugged. “Isn't Marjie always a little bit odd?”
“I mean, in a different way from usual. She came in looking – I don't know, kind of troubled and flustered.”
“I don't know,” said Athena. “But you’re right, I’d have expected her to go into a jaunty tirade about how wonderful the season is and all about the Samhain traditions. Maybe her business isn't going well either?”
“The tea shop seems to be just as busy as usual,” said Rosemary. “It's just me that's cursed.”
“Not that again, Mum. Nobody's cursed you.”
