The Accidental Invitation (The Chronicles of the Accidental Witch Book 2) Read online

  The front doors swing open, and one woman comes out to greet them. She has a lovely smile on her face, open arms, and, it seems – purposefully – a non-threatening demeanour.

  They all tense as she comes towards them.

  “This is Mya, she’s a vampire,” Fletcher whispers to Ellis. Ellis nods, unable to speak.

  “Welcome,” she says, and Elodie breaks apart from their little huddle to meet her.

  “Mya.” Elodie leans in and kisses her on each cheek. It’s a warm and friendly greeting, and the witches visibly relax. Maybe this will be okay.

  Mya turns from Elodie and addresses them all, a smile on her face, her arms wide. “You’re all so welcome. And safe. Come on in. We have much to talk about.”

  They follow her inside.

  Ellis

  Oh my word. This place is insane. It’s a mansion – like something from a film. I wish I wasn’t so scared; I might enjoy it then. But I am scared.

  I am about to face nine supernatural creatures that I never knew existed until a few days ago. And I know that everything I know about them – from films and stories – isn’t true, so I’m scared and completely in the dark too.

  Fun.

  I am so thankful I have Fletcher by my side. I have no idea how I got so lucky as to suddenly be holding hands with – and kissing – the hottest boy in college, but I’m not complaining.

  I’ve had my funny five minutes questioning his motives and his sanity and I’m done. Why make myself more miserable than I enjoy being? Why push him away when, for whatever reason, he’s enjoying spending his time with me?

  This kind of thing used to happen to Molly, not to me, but maybe ‘witch me’ is lucky in love. Maybe ‘witch me’ gets the good-looking boy and everyone else can cry.

  Ours is not to question why – isn’t that an old saying, some old wisdom? I have none of my own so I’m happy to borrow.

  We follow the woman in. These people I am about to meet are going to be cross with me. Cross might be going easy on myself. I think they are going to be furious that I am involved. A human girl. Not anymore.

  I wish I could disappear – I probably could if I had any clue how to use the magic that now runs through my veins and pulses through my blood.

  What a weird thought.

  I need to ask Fletcher if there’s a crash course in magic I can do – like you can with driving.

  We go up the steps and into an enormous hallway, entrance hall, I don’t know what you call it, but it’s big – all marble floors and wood panelled walls. Very posh.

  There are pictures on the walls and huge velvety curtains covering the windows. I don’t know much about expensive stuff, but I can tell you – this is expensive stuff!

  It smells clean and fresh – of flowers and clean clothes.

  I am entranced by what I’m seeing; there are huge wooden stairs that descend into the middle of the hall. I can easily imagine a beautiful princess or movie star floating down the stairs, in a ball gown – ooh I bet there’s a ball room – and-

  Fletcher tugging on my arm pulls me out of my ridiculous reverie. I keep forgetting who I am now and what I’m in the middle of.

  A war – a species war, full of species I knew nothing about until I chased Macaroon into Margam Park. I still blame her for all this. I hope she’s okay. I know Isaac will be looking after her.

  I feel a pull of emotion when I think about my family, and then Fletcher is pulling on my arm again.

  I need to get a grip.

  We are in an enormous room – a dining room, or a banqueting hall is probably a better description – and the table is set with fancy things, and filled with plates of steaming hot food. Around the table are eight – weirdly friendly-looking, and smiling – individuals.

  Mya gestures for us to sit, and Elodie steps forwards. “We are happy to meet with you all today, and pleased to find such a kind and inviting sight to welcome us, but-”

  A man stands up and holds up a hand, ready to interrupt her, but looking nervous to do so. “Please excuse me, Elodie, I just want to reassure you.”

  He turns, and I gasp – he’s a fairy, with the most incredible wings. They are silvery grey, shimmery and thick – they almost look like feathers. He is ridiculously handsome. Even better looking than Fletcher, but very intimidating. He looks like a statue of a god. His voice is divine.

  Really?

  “You are all safe here with us today. We are on your side. And with sustenance inside us, we will help you to formulate a plan to end this rebellion once and for all. There is no harm here. None at all.”

  Which is exactly what he would say if he was about to poison us all.

  Elodie goes over to him and hugs him. I cannot hear what she says or what he says, but I cannot take my eyes off him. He is tall, broad, strong-looking, and the most perfect specimen I have ever seen.

  Really?

  “That’s Vann,” Fletchers whispers to me, and I turn to him, almost surprised that he’s still there; I’m so entranced by this beautiful fairy man.

  Then he goes around the table, explaining who they all are. I’m not sure I’m even listening anymore. “Ellis. You’re not listening.”

  “I am.”

  “You’re not. You’ve been struck by Vann haven’t you?”

  “Struck?”

  He smiles and leans really close and then kisses me, full and slow on the mouth. I want to protest, but I can’t draw away from him. He pulls back. “Look at Vann.”

  Weird.

  But I do and I grin, looking back at Fletcher with surprise on my face.

  “It’s not your fault,” he says, still grinning. “Fairies have this thing they give off, they can’t help it, but it’s mesmerising.”

  “Peri wasn’t mesmerising.”

  “Peri is evil. Vann isn’t. It’s like they hook you with some weird fairy magic – we’ve all been there. But I snapped you out of it.”

  He did. I can still see that Vann is crazily good-looking, but I no longer want to slope over to him and lick his face.

  Well...

  I shake my head. No, I don’t. I’m fine.

  Fletcher pulls my attention back to him. “Let’s try again. Closest to you, dark hair, pointy chin, that’s Jude. She’s a vampire too. The blonde man next to her is a vampire too. His name is Luke. Then the two women are fairies – sisters – Erin and Anna. The man with white hair is Gregory – shifter, and next to him is Chris, also a shifter, then on the end is Lillia. She’s a shifter too.”

  “So you’ve met them all before?”

  “Yes, but only because I was meant to be head witch. The twins and Sally won’t know them.”

  I bristle at Sally’s name – stupid, but I can’t help it. I feel better about Fletcher, since my meltdown, but I do look at her and wonder why he fancies me.

  Elodie eventually steps back from Vann’s arms and I wonder if she’s struck too – she’s definitely blushing. She nods at us all and we sit.

  I am quiet as I eat, watching and listening to everyone. In fact, I notice that Fletcher, Thea, Talia and Sally are silent too. Maybe they are as scared as I am.

  The group seems happy enough, none of the adults look tense or stressed and I slowly relax. Maybe this won’t be as bad as I feared. Maybe we’ll sort out this rebellion today and life can go back to normal.

  I don’t mind being a witch, but I can’t say I’d miss it if I was just me again. But only if I get to keep Fletcher, I suppose.

  I sneak a look at him and he’s looking at me. Okay? He mouths it at me, and I nod.

  Strangely I am. Nobody is paying any attention to me at all, and I quite like that. I glance around, nosy as always, and Vann locks eyes with me.

  I smile and try to avert my eyes, but I can’t. My eyes are stuck, looking at him. I blink and still can’t stop looking at him, and then I turn my head, but I still can’t stop looking at him. This is excruciating. I reach out for Fletcher and he must see what’s happened because his lips are on my c
heek in a second, and then I turn away from Vann.

  I am mortified looking at Fletcher. “What was that? I couldn’t look away. I don’t like it.”

  He frowns and turns to look at Vann, but his attention is elsewhere.

  “I think he’s doing it on purpose.”

  “Why? I don’t like it. It’s like my eyeballs were stuck.”

  “I don’t know. Don’t look at him again.”

  Easier said than done. What’s the only thing you want to do when someone tells you not to look? Look!

  But I don’t. I pull on some inner reserve, and only look at Fletcher or food. Fletcher or food. I repeat it silently as a mantra.

  I have no idea what creepy game this fairy is playing, but I don’t like it. It’s one thing to be a handsome and mesmerising fairy and not be able to help it, it’s quite another to purposefully unnerve and attack me.

  The food is continuously topped up by servants in fancy uniforms, and the drink keeps flowing. I wonder if we’ll ever leave this table, if we’ll ever figure out what’s next, and if I’ll ever get to look at anything other than Fletcher or food again.

  2

  Mya stands and claps her hands, and everyone except the witches rise. Then they follow suit, uncertainty making them slow.

  “Let’s go to the drawing room and discuss. Maybe leave the children behind?”

  “Mya, the children know more than we do – they were kidnapped and held by the rebels yesterday.”

  Mya colours slightly but then nods. “Of course.”

  Ember butts in. “Besides which, they aren’t children. Fletcher is seventeen and considered old enough to be head of all creatures. Ellis is the same age, as is Sally, and my girls are only a year behind. They are perfectly capable of hearing what’s being said, and yesterday they were perfectly capable of fighting the rebels.”

  Nobody answers her, but you can see that she feels better for her little outburst.

  Inside the drawing room there are chairs, sofas and floor cushions and everyone sits. The witches, instinctively, group together and there is a definite divide between the two sides.

  “Elodie, why don’t you take us through what you think has been happening...”

  Fletcher stands up and clears his throat. “I’ll do it. You all know I was supposed to be head witch by now. I assume you all know that Ellis was invested instead of me. This seems to be what brought the rebels out into the open – though we can’t be sure. Griff and Ember have been fighting them for years – they killed my father.”

  “Hang fire boy. That’s quite an accusation.” The white haired vampire stands up, adding weight to his words because of the intimidating size of him.

  Griff calls out, anger colouring his voice. “Not an accusation, Gregory – a fact.”

  “A fact?”

  “Absolutely. We knew that too many witches were dying for it to be an accident, we knew there was something sinister going on. None of them looked like murders, I’ll grant you that, but we’re not stupid. Witches talk. And all of a sudden there’s a pattern emerging of dead witches. We started an investigation, and this lead to a group of us counter-attacking these rebels. They killed Adam. There’s no doubt, because he authorised us fighting back.”

  Luke, the blonde vampire speaks up. “Griff, we don’t ask questions to insult you, only to understand and get to the bottom of this. This is news to us.”

  “Is it?” This from Ember, asked in a hiss.

  The sisters, Erin and Anna jump up, wings fluttering with indignation. “Ember! You can’t mean that?”

  Ember shrugs. “I don’t know what to think or what to believe. But I know that my daughters were kidnapped yesterday and almost murdered by Peri, Layland and Efa.”

  Mya shakes her head. “No – the three of them are together, but only because they’ve been working on a project.”

  Griff explodes: “A project that excludes us? A project we’ve never heard of, and that we aren’t a part of? How convenient.”

  Elodie claps her hands. “Please – this is getting personal.”

  “It needs to be,” Ember says, pure anger flashing from her eyes. “Come on then Mya. What reason is there for a secret project that excludes us? Oh, and the people in charge of it tried to kill us yesterday. That sounds pretty sketchy to me.”

  Mya puts her hands up trying to placate everybody. “It does, I accept that, but I’ll explain and you’ll see that there’s nothing sketchy, just...” She falls silent and sits back down. She looks at Vann and he shakes his head at her, a warning.

  “There’s a perfectly good reason for the project – and it’s nothing to do with a rebellion and everything to do with Fletcher. We have been planning an amazing surprise, for after he was made head witch. That’s what Peri, Leyland and Efa are doing. Nothing sinister. Nothing wrong.” Mya folds her arms.

  “She’s lying,” Ellis says, her voice louder than she intended.

  “Excuse me!” Mya shoots to her feet as do several of the others, all exclaiming angrily.

  Elodie steps in front of Ellis, partly to protect her and partly to ask her what she means.

  “Ellis? What is it – a vision?”

  Ellis nods, her expression suddenly more serious, her skin pale and clammy. Her eyes roll back in her head and Elodie catches her as she falls.

  The other creatures gather around her, suspicion and worry marring their faces.

  “What is this, Elodie, some sort of trick?”

  Elodie shakes her head. “She has visions.”

  “Is that a head witch thing? Did Adam have them too?”

  Elodie visibly bristles at the mention of her husband’s name but says nothing. She shakes her head. He had never had visions that she was aware of. Though she accepts now that there were things that he kept from her.

  Ellis begins to speak, her voice different to normal – slightly lower, more sombre sounding. She’s loud enough that nobody has to lean in to hear her. In fact, as she speaks, the other creatures shrink back, away from her words and her accusations.

  “So the other creatures had noticed something too. It seems it wasn’t just witches being murdered, vampires, shifters and fairies were being murdered too.”

  Gregory shouts, “Bull-” but gets cut off by everyone else. Mya shoots him a glance that brokers no arguments and nods, her voice quiet. “It’s true. It was subtle at first. We don’t spend all of our time in each other’s pockets, but we aren’t as separate as you guys. Witches are known for being isolated.”

  Ember humphs and Griff is shaking his head, barely containing his anger. Elodie nods at Ellis to continue.

  “They didn’t know that witches were being murdered too, they assumed it was just their species, so naturally their suspicions fell to you. Witches aren’t universally liked or disliked but there is always some resistance to those in charge. Power brings with it additional scrutiny.”

  “You could have spoken to us,” Elodie says.

  “We didn’t dare. If we were right, we were worried that you’d kill us all. We had to be careful. Subtle.” Mya wrings her hands, nerves making her sweaty.

  Elodie shakes her head. “But we aren’t, weren’t, killing you, until we realised you were killing us, so how did this secret project turn into a killing spree where witches were the only casualties?”

  Ellis speaks up again.

  “Their investigations showed that it was witches.”

  “Bull!” Ember shouts out, fury colouring her cheeks, and sparks shooting from her finger tips. “You are making this up. Trying to wriggle out of trouble. If vampires, shifters and fairies were turning up dead then why wouldn’t you have mentioned it before now? If you were so sure it was witches doing it, why didn’t you speak to Adam? Or was he already dead? And how come the leaders of your little project thought it was okay to turn the tables and murder us instead?”

  Vann addresses Ember. “We didn’t suspect witches at first.”

  Ellis sounds harsh. “Bring the box.”
/>
  Mya and the other creatures shake their heads, looking to one another, each one unsure and nervous.

  “Bring it!”

  Even though she is obviously still in the middle of a vision, none of them dare ignore her. Mya nods at Vann and, reluctantly, he leaves the room. Everyone is silent until he comes back. It’s only seconds but the tension is unbearable.

  When he comes back, he is carrying a box. A solid, dark wood box. It doesn’t look modern, but very old fashioned.

  He places it on a table and gestures for the witches to gather around it.

  They do, and at that second Ellis comes out of her vision. She blinks and looks around, unsure of where she is and sick-looking. Fletcher takes her hand. “Are you okay? You just had a vision.”

  “Did I?”

  He nods. “Do you need fresh air?”

  She shakes her head. “What did I say?”

  “There’s a box.”

  “A box?”

  The tension hikes up another notch, as Vann raises an eyebrow at Elodie, a question – is she ready to see this?

  She nods.

  Vann opens the lid and they all exclaim with horror and upset.

  There are three hearts in the box.

  Then an eerie voice begins to speak, coming from the box. Clearly some kind of magic.

  “Heart of fae, blood lover and wolf, all broken and abused. We’ll kill you off one by one, us witches like to be amused.”

  There’s a sickening cackle and then the box lid shuts on its own.

  The silence is thick.

  “Can you see now why we thought it was you?”

  The witches are silent, nodding, but unable to speak.

  “It wasn’t us.” Ember folds her arms across her chest.

  Elodie shakes her head. “It wasn’t me.”

  Ember turns to face her. “What does that mean?”

  Elodie looks sad, and tears roll down her face, as she faces her sister’s anger. “What I said. I didn’t send that box, I didn’t kill anybody, but I cannot say, hand on heart, that nobody else did.”

  “Mum!” Fletcher sounds shocked.