The Accidental End (The Accidental Witch Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  There are six furious people, magically bound, against their will, inside this house.

  Fun.

  Ember steps in front of Elodie as they go through the front door, and I’m struck again by how lovely she is. She really is a pretty woman. Scary. Pretty. “I moved them upstairs. I thought it would be better if I tucked them out of the way.”

  “Superb idea. Show me.”

  We follow Ember up the steps, the long curve of the stairway sweeping around. Such a beautiful detail in such a beautiful house. Yes, I’m rambling. My thoughts are rambling and scrambling and swirling, because I do not want to face this.

  I’m not even an actual witch. I don’t see why I should be in all these difficult and dangerous situations when I’m just a normal girl, and an amateur witch at the best. An absolute novice. A newbie. An accident.

  Ember stops outside double doors that probably open into an exquisite bedroom or library or... who cares? We will probably die in that room, whatever type of room it is.

  We cannot leave people tied up indefinitely, but the minute we untie them – two vampires, two shifters and two fairies – well they’re not going to politely thank us and head on their merry way. No, they will unleash their fury on us.

  I actually whimper but quickly turn it into a cough when Thea glares at me.

  Fletcher squeezes my hand, and I close my eyes.

  It’s okay. I have faced death more than once since I became a witch. I can face it again. It just pains me that one of these days I might face it and that’ll be the last thing I ever do.

  I breathe in and out, calming my panic.

  Then my eyes snap open. “There’s nobody in there.” I say it, not knowing where the insight came from, but knowing it’s true.

  Elodie shakes her head and pushes open the doors. “She’s right. I was so worried I didn’t even notice.”

  Maybe I am an excellent witch.

  “Same,” Ember says. “I did not pick up on it at all.”

  They shake their heads, smiling, and then frown as they realise what this means.

  Thea and Talia hold hands, looking frantically around, expecting the creatures to jump out and ambush us.

  “There’s nobody here at all. Anywhere here,” I say again.

  Know it all.

  “She’s right,” Fletcher agrees with me, and I smile at him. He might laugh that I’m a rubbish witch, but sometimes I’m bang on.

  “She’s right.” His mum sinks to the floor, crying, and Fletcher drops beside her, he’s such a lovely guy.

  “Don’t cry.”

  “I have to. Where have they gone? Who helped them? If they’re not here, we can’t explain everything to them, and if we can’t explain everything to them, that means they’ll be angry with us. And we don’t know where they are. Which means this isn’t over.”

  Ember sits beside her sister. “They probably told people they had the meeting here with us, and when they didn’t come back, those people came looking for them.”

  “But it was witch magic. Which means only a witch could have undone it.”

  “So, they probably called one of the witches who hates us and asked them to help. And by now they might have heard about the fight on the pier, and they might even know about Zeta and Efa. Don’t panic.”

  Fletcher holds out his hand to me, and I pull him up. Then he helps his mum up. “Let’s go. If they were furious, they’d have stayed here and waited for us, or set a trap, or done something. There’s no one here. That’s a good thing. Come on. We’ve got enough trouble, let’s not look for any more.”

  Elodie lets Fletcher take her out of the house and down the enormous driveway, quiet but coming with us, letting herself be led away from the house, like I let Fletcher take me in there.

  We are all quiet, looking back at the house, peering around the grounds, sure we’ve missed something. I haven’t heard the twins say a sarcastic word for days. Not that I miss it. Ever since I got my own back on them, they’ve been nicer to me. There was no good reason to be horrible.

  I’m lovely.

  Back in Fletcher’s arms, ready to fly home again, I worry about the next part of our day. He told me how his mum wants to call the demons back to the portal, and I’m pretty sure I remember them saying that it must have been some evil magic that got them out.

  I can’t even do normal magic that well, I’m not sure I’m best prepared for black magic.

  In Fletcher’s arms, as we fly home, the words ‘dark magic’ repeat in my head.

  When we sit and watch Elodie and Ember make lunch, the same words repeat in my head and I wonder how dark is dark?

  Considering the time I spend with dead people, I’m actually a bit of a wuss – I don’t like the idea of evil magic. When I think about it, it makes my insides squirm.

  Are we talking about sacrifices, blood rituals, evil spirits? To be honest, I’m not up for all that. It comes down to living with dead people. If I think about ghosts – friendly or otherwise – I’ll get no sleep. If I imagine that at any moment, all of our corpses might come to life like some sort of zombie film, I couldn’t relax at all. I have to think, know, believe, that once you’re dead, you’re dead.

  That’s why the demons don’t sit well with me.

  I shake my head, and Fletcher touches my arm. “Are you okay?”

  I nod, then shake my head. “Just nervous about the demon recalling.”

  “Me too.”

  Thanks. That’s reassuring. He knows far more about all this than I do and he’s nervous. I should be petrified then.

  Maybe I can stay behind.

  As I think about it, I know it won’t be the case. I am the head witch. Even though I’m the most rubbish head witch since records began. There are no records, but I know what I mean, anyway. I’m crap. But they’ll need me.

  Bound to.

  I eat – Elodie and Ember make a lovely spread – it would be rude not to.

  “We’ll go to the portal after lunch.” Elodie just announces it, like we might be going on a pleasant trip – to the cinema or the fair or the shops.

  A nice bit of dark magic after lunch. Yup, that’s perfectly normal, not at all creepy, and pretty boring, actually.

  I can’t even answer her, not that she’s waiting for my answer, as though we can’t go unless I commit to it, but I choke on a crisp, and can’t speak, even if I wanted to.

  I feel Fletcher’s hand on my leg under the table. Reassuring me, tethering me to him. In a magnificent way.

  I’m okay. I’ll be okay.

  I eat and repeat this to myself, watching the others around the table, wondering if they are as nervous as I am.

  Thea and Talia definitely are. They fought so well on the pier, but they are just kids, like me. We should be worrying about our college assignments, worrying about spots, worrying about anything other than rogue witches, vampires, shifters, fairies and demons!

  No wonder they look stressed. I probably look worse than they do; at least some of this stuff is familiar to them; maybe not the fighting, or the danger, but that all these creatures exist at all still throws me.

  And they are a thousand times better at magic than I will ever be.

  Elodie and Ember both look stressed out. Their faces are white, tight, anxiety easily evident. I feel sorry for them and grateful for them too.

  And Fletcher. I cannot see his handsome face, but I can feel his hand in mine, and feel his leg jigging up and down; he can’t keep still.

  We are all feeling it. I feel like it’s closing in on me, the worry, stress, anxiety and panic.

  Panic is the word. Making it hard for me to breathe, making my chest feel tight, and my stomach feel sick. I take a deep breath. And another.

  Whatever happens at the portal, I don’t have to face it alone, and I’ll have the best witches by my side.

  3

  Once they have cleared away the remnants of their lunch, Elodie carries a thick, old book from the front room and places it on the table.
There’s a plume of dust knocked into the air, which makes them all cough.

  Ember smiles and sits at the table, running her fingers along the title of the book. “Elodie, it’s years since I saw this.”

  “What is it?” Thea asks.

  “It’s our family book of spells.” She opens the cover and turns over a few of the pages. “We wrote these spells – us, our family, our ancestors. Some of these spells are probably thousands of years old.”

  Elodie nods. “Hundreds maybe.”

  “They aren’t in chronological order, though, which is clever. They’re written according to subject so you can easily find what you need.”

  “Are there any of your spells in there?”

  “Only a few,” Ember says, squealing with excitement. “Oh, why was this tucked away? I love this book. Look, one of mammy’s spells.”

  The two sisters look at their mother’s writing, fond expressions on their faces. Elodie tears up. “I think we live in a different time. We can Woogle most things, but we need the book for this.”

  They are all silent. The unspoken spectre of the demons unsettling them all.

  “Will there be anything about demons?”

  “There will be. But...” Elodie hesitates, and Ember takes over, looking at each of them. Thea. Talia. Fletcher. Ellis.

  “This book is sacred and special, and full of any spell our family might need, and any spell they might have used. But it’s also a... gateway-” She looks at Elodie. “Is that how you’d describe it?”

  Elodie nods. “Maybe. It’s full of magic and power and history. A lot of what’s in here is probably in your head, Ellis. Though you might not know how to access it.”

  Ellis tries not to look embarrassed and fails. Fletcher squeezes her arm but keeps his eyes on the book.

  “A gateway. You mean we can access stuff that’s not in the book, through the book?”

  Ember nods. “Most of our ancestors weren’t battling with demons, but we can access their total knowledge through these pages.”

  “What if none of them had demon knowledge?” Talia asks, reaching out to touch the book, before pulling her hand back, reluctant to touch it.

  “It’s unlikely. This goes so far back, before the portal was used to banish them. But it might not be pretty.”

  “Should we all stay...?” Thea asks, her voice trembling.

  “Yes,” Elodie says at the same time that Ember says, “No.”

  They look at each other.

  “I don’t want the girls to do this. It’s different for Fletcher – he’d be head witch if it wasn’t for Ellis. My girls, I just don’t want them... they could have died on the pier, they could have died when the demons came into the garden. They’re all I have left.” She shrugs.

  “I won’t make them come. If they don’t want to, and you don’t want them to.”

  They all look at the twins.

  “I don’t want to,” Thea says.

  “Nor me,” Talia says.

  Ember pulls them both into her arms and kisses them. “Is that okay?”

  Elodie nods. “We don’t need them to come. We have enough manpower for the portal...” she trails off, tears filling her eyes. “I just wish I had the same choice with Fletcher. And Ellis.”

  They are all silent. The twins look relieved, while Fletcher and Ellis look more petrified than ever. If the twins won’t be part of this because it’s too dangerous, but they have no choice, how is that fair?

  “Does Ellis-”

  Fletcher doesn’t get to finish his question, his mum answers, her voice flat. “She’s head witch. She has to be a part of this.”

  The room feels heavy, and even though Elodie has agreed that the twins don’t have to be a part of what’s coming, she looks angry.

  The girls hug Fletcher, and Ellis, reluctantly, before kissing their mum and begging her to be safe. “They can go to Sally’s. The three of them can stay behind when we go to the portal.”

  Decision made, the girls pack a bag of their things, and Ember takes them outside. She will fly them to Sally’s house and be back quickly.

  “While she’s gone, I’ll get the front room ready. We need to find the right magic to help with the portal, and I have no idea how hard that’ll be. You two...” Elodie trails off. “Go to Ellis’s house. Invisible. Let her see them, but make sure they don’t see you.”

  Fletcher nods, his expression solemn, and Ellis looks wildly from Elodie to Fletcher and back again. Elodie says nothing, just touches Fletcher’s arm before leaving them alone.

  “Why do I need to see my family?”

  Fletcher pulls her into a hug.

  “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

  “None of us are safe. We’ve never done this before.”

  “So, I’m saying goodbye to them? Seeing them one last time, without them even knowing it.” She shakes her head, anger colouring her face. “I hate this. I don’t want to say goodbye. I don’t want to die. And I don’t want to be your stupid head witch anymore.”

  She pulls away from him, shakes off his arm, and runs upstairs.

  When he opens his door, she’s gathering her things into a pile on his bed. “I’m done.”

  “Ellis,”

  Fury makes her fingertips spark. “No! Thea and Talia get to walk away. Why don’t I? Because I’m the stupid head witch! That’s your problem, not mine. I didn’t ask to be head witch; I didn’t ask to be a witch at all. I didn’t ask to be a part of this stupid war. I don’t want to say goodbye to my family. No!”

  She stands up, and then her hands drop to her sides and she sobs.

  He holds her, and eventually she leans into him, tears soaking his clothes. He doesn’t care. “I’m sorry, more sorry than you’ll ever know. If I could undo it, I would. If I could keep you safe, I would.”

  Her voice is quiet. “But you can’t.”

  They cry together, holding on to each other, as though the world might end if they let go of each other. Which it might.

  “Why is this so much worse than anything else? Why didn’t I say goodbye before we went to the pier? There were demons on the pier. And Zeta’s dead now. Is it that bad?”

  There is hope in her voice that makes him want to cry even more. “When they banished the demons – before my time – more people died than at any other time in the history of the supernatural creatures. Trying to get the demons, who were reluctant, to say the least, back to the portal, to get them in there, to subdue them enough.” He shivers. “We’ve all heard horror stories.”

  “Can’t we just leave them out, then?”

  He shakes his head. “Without proper supervision, they’ll just kill everyone. Men, women, children, human or otherwise, they just don’t care.”

  “So where are they now? If they’re so terrible, why aren’t we hearing reports about it?”

  “I don’t know. Zeta only just died; she might have been magically harnessing them somehow. So we have to do it, and we have to do it quickly.”

  “So, do I even have time to say goodbye to my family? Is there any point if they won’t even know I’m there?”

  “It’s your call. We’ll make time.”

  She lays down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “This is not how I thought I’d end up. When I realised that I’d become your head witch; I thought it would be amazing. I thought I’d have power. I thought it would be fun.”

  “It’s not usually so bad.”

  “I hate it.” Tears roll down her face and into her ears, making them itch.

  He lies down beside her, takes her hand in his and holds it next to his heart. “I can’t say it enough times. I’m sorry. I wish things were normal. I wish we were just in college again. I wish you weren’t a part of this. But you are. If we can get the demons to the portal, if we can figure out how to convince the other creatures that we mean no harm, if we can get everything back to normal, then we can try again to make you normal too.”

  She closes her eyes. “I don’t want to see my fa
mily. It’ll be too sad. To be there but for them not to know I’m there. It’ll feel wrong, and it won’t achieve anything. It’s just going to make me even sadder. If I have to be part of this, let’s just do it. Get on with it and get it over with.”

  He closes his eyes and they lie side by side in silence until Elodie knocks on the door.

  Ellis

  The knock at the door makes me want to throw up. This is it. Time to invoke some black magic and wrestle with demons. Sounds like fun.

  I follow Fletcher from his lovely, safe, smelly bedroom, down the stairs, feeling my stomach drop with each step. I wish I was an evil twin and could escape this.

  “Did you want to go home?” Elodie asks, looking so concerned for me I cry a bit. I shake my head no.

  It’s a lie. Of course, I want to go home, and not just to see my family, but to hide under my bed and never come out again.

  It’s not an option. The next time I see my family I will be safe and my normal self again. Or, if they cannot undo the magic that made me a witch, then I’ll at least be safe. I won’t risk bringing trouble to their door and seeing them will hurt me more than help me.

  “Ember’s back. It’s time.”

  The front room looks unfamiliar. It’s empty of furniture and full of candles instead. The fire is lit, and roaring merrily away, and I think about jumping in it for a second. I want to run away.

  Ember is sitting cross-legged on the floor, her back to the flames. Elodie sits opposite her, and gestures for me and Fletcher to sit opposite each other, in between them.

  On the floor in the middle of us is the book. The family spell book.

  Like a family recipe book, only creepier.

  I try to breathe; I do not want to have a panic attack or pass out, or die. Not much to ask.

  “This is the easy bit,” Elodie says, and I actually snort, then cough and then clamp my mouth shut because Ember is glaring at me, and Fletcher is shaking his head. Sorry, but easy?

  Easy is what my family makes me do: put lipstick on dead people, decant ashes into pretty boxes and share my living space with corpses. What Fletcher’s family makes him do is battle supernatural creatures, invoke evil demons and try to save the world by shutting down stupid portals, which anybody could have told them was a rubbish idea.