Witch in Charm's Way Read online

  I tried not to flinch.

  “Giselle!” said a sharp voice behind us.

  We both turned to see Lorcan Hardwick striding towards us. He looked shocked to see her stabbing her wand at me like that.

  Clearly not wanting her younger brother to think badly of her, Giselle chuckled and swung her wand away as if she had only been playing.

  Lorcan did not look fooled. He shot me an apologetic look and dragged her away by the wrist.

  “Hey,” I said to him. “Did Agent Constantine talk to you?”

  He looked stricken. He swallowed hard and he nodded. For a moment I thought he actually might cry, but then a blank mask came over his face.

  He knew that Lily was dead.

  His sister was looking furiously from him to me, as if astonished that we knew each other.

  He tucked her arm through his and hustled her away from me.

  “What was that about?” she asked him sharply as they went.

  “Nothing,” he ground out.

  They disappeared around a corner. I waited just a moment, and then followed them at a safe distance.

  “How exactly do you know her?” I heard Giselle demand. “You two better not be—”

  “Don’t be stupid, Giselle. Of course I’m not.”

  “Good, because Uncle Alaric was bad enough. Grandmother wouldn’t tolerate it. And anyway, you know that all the girls in her family are cursed. It will only end badly. She’s bad news. Stay away from her.”

  It made me angry to hear her speak of the curse.

  All of the women in my family really were cursed. And it had been a Hardwick who had put the fairy-tale curse on our great-great-great-great-great-something grandmother hundreds of years ago. We were doomed to find love only through fairy tale romances, and everyone knew fairy tales never really ended happily. The princes were always crap, the princesses often insipid. Love never ended happily for us Westbrim women. Sometimes I was surprised the family line had managed to last this long.

  That had probably been the point of the curse. To wipe us out. Too bad for the Hardwicks it had not worked.

  “Are you finished?” said Lorcan acidly to his sister. “It looks to me like you are the one who should stay away from her before you let your anger do something that you’re going to regret. I saw what you did with your wand.”

  Giselle’s voice changed and became thoughtful, scheming even.

  “Actually, you knowing her might not be a bad thing. You can help me think of a way to get rid of her. Get her out of the castle…”

  Her voice trailed off as they walked further down the corridor. I wasn’t going to be able to follow without them realizing that I was behind them.

  It did not matter though. Her plots would come to nothing. I wasn’t planning on sticking around.

  I turned back around and went into the section of the library that I wanted. Once I got there, I looked around in dismay. Being away in London for so long, I had forgotten how vast the magical and eldritch sections of Brimstone library were.

  “Need some help?” said a cheery voice in my ear, making me jump.

  I turned my head, expecting to see a librarian.

  Who I saw was definitely not a librarian. My mouth dropped open.

  “What are you doing here?” I squeaked.

  And then I blushed hotly for having said it. Why was I always letting that stupid question come out of my mouth?

  For the second time today I was bumping into someone that I had known from high school. This time it was my high school crush, Jasper Echo.

  But unlike the glowering Chris Constantine, Jasper Echo didn’t sneer at my question.

  “Same as you. I’m getting some books,” he said cheerfully.

  “Books? You?” I said.

  I realised how offensive it sounded the moment I said it, but Jasper only laughed.

  “I’ve finally learned to read,” he said confidingly.

  I giggled. I couldn’t help it. It was that twinkle in his sea-green eyes. Jasper had always been smart, if a little lazy about his school work.

  He was the same as he had always been. Lean and athletic with a swimmer’s build. His golden curly hair still flopping over his forehead, that dimple still in his cheek. So adorable that I wanted to hug him.

  But I did not. Because he and I had never really been friends. We had once been paired up by the teacher for a science project in our final year at school. Before that I had always admired him from afar. In fact, I wondered why he was talking to me now.

  I looked around in confusion. Had he mistaken me for somebody else?

  “Have you lost someone?” he said. “Your cousins?”

  My eyebrows rose. “Do you know my cousins?”

  He shrugged. “You are Esme Westbrim, aren’t you? I remember you from school.”

  I touched my hair automatically, as if to check it was still brown. How come all of these people were recognising me?

  “You’ve changed it,” he commented. “It used to be cute. Not that it isn’t nice now,” he added quickly.

  Wow. Jasper Echo remembered me. He said my hair used to be cute.

  I scowled.

  No. Not wow. Darn right he should remember me. I was worthy of remembering. I had so generously forgiven him after our botched experiment, hadn’t I?

  And I was a fully grown woman now. I was above gushing. Particularly since I was pleased to note I was not experiencing any butterflies whatsoever. Which was very good.

  And anyway, he might be a fully grown man, but he was still clearly used to effortlessly attracting people’s adoration. He wasn’t going to get mine.

  He was looking at me like he might not be surprised if I fell at his feet. No thank you very much.

  It was kind of mortifying to think that he might know I had a crush on him in school, and I was definitely not going to give him any hint of it now.

  Gosh, was it weird coming home. Like I’d been transported back in time. People hadn’t changed. My emotions hadn’t changed as much as I’d have liked. It was unsettling.

  “It was good seeing you,” I said to him briskly. “I’d better be off.”

  I walked away, and I could have sworn before I went that I saw a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

  It didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be seeing him again. The only reason I’d come here was to find a way back home. I spent the next hour and a half until the library closed finding the books that I wanted, and caught a cab back to Mansion House.

  5. Four Cousins & A Fairy Tale

  When I got home the front door of the castle was ajar. I stared at it. I was sure that I had not left it open, and Aunt Adele would never have left it open either.

  I pushed it tentatively with my finger. It slowly swung open, revealing the corridor within.

  Everything inside looked normal. The many figurines on the hallway table were still there, the gilded mirror was intact, and so were the oil portraits. Nothing had been stolen, nothing trashed or vandalised.

  I still had a bad feeling.

  I almost called for Aunt Adele, but snapped my mouth shut at the last moment. What if the intruder was still inside?

  Getting my wand out of my pocket, I quietly let myself over the threshold. My backpack full of books was very heavy, so I silently shrugged it off and gently placed it down on the ground.

  I froze.

  A small creak had come from somewhere up ahead, past the family lounge where I had slept last night.

  With my heart thudding, and my wand pointed ahead of me, useless as that might be, I crept along the hallway towards the direction of the sound.

  I went past the doors of the family lounge and Aunt Adele’s private lounge, deeper into the castle towards the direction of the kitchen and the café.

  The noise came again. Very quiet. It gave me the eerie feeling that someone was stalking me.

  The sound was coming from behind the closed kitchen door. I stopped outside it, my heart frantically pounding, my wand clench
ed tightly in my fist. It hit me that I had found a dead body in the garden. And now an intruder was in my home.

  I put my hand on the handle, and turned it very slowly.

  The door flew open, revealing a person on the other side. Definitely not Aunt Adele.

  We pointed our wands at each other and screamed.

  “Esme!”

  “Ali!”

  Shaking, I let my wand drop and sagged against the wall. Allegra and I both started to laugh weakly.

  “You gave me the fright of my life,” I complained.

  “Tell me about it,” she said.

  “Are you two done giggling yet?” said a disgusted voice behind me.

  Viv and Flaffy had come out from nowhere, both with their wands in their hands.

  The three sisters looked very similar. They all had dark hair and brown eyes.

  Allegra, the eldest, was also the tallest. With her high, round cheekbones and her sparkling eyes, she was also the best looking. But maybe I thought so only because she had always been my favourite. She was looking very elegant in jeans and a knitted hip length dress.

  Viv, the middle sister, was currently sporting a trendy, sharp bob with lots of wispy purple strands.

  Flaffy was the youngest and most girlish of her sisters, with a floral skirt down to her ankles, and her hair in a long Rapunzel braid.

  Every one of them was more stylish than me.

  “Did you find anyone?” said Allegra.

  Viv shook her head. “They’ve gone.”

  “Who’s gone?” I said.

  “Your intruders,” said Allegra.

  She let me into the kitchen and showed me. The kitchen bins had been tipped upside down and all of the trash was lying over the floor. Aunt Adele was going to be furious when she saw it.

  “The bins in the café have been tipped over too,” said Viv.

  “And the ones in the garden,” added Flaffy.

  “What the heck?” I said. “Aunt Adele would never have done this.”

  “Aunt Adele?” said Allegra looking confused. “Great Aunt Adele?”

  I nodded. “She’s a poltergeist now.”

  “No way!” said Viv, her mouth dropping open.

  “Yep, she’s still here, and she’s reopened her café. I met her yesterday.”

  “I knew it!” said Allegra. “I knew I heard a train in the background during our phone call!” She looked at me accusingly.

  I gave her a little shrug of apology.

  “But when did you guys get here?” I said quickly, wanting to change the topic. “How did you get in?”

  “The door was open when we arrived, and we were suspicious so we let ourselves in,” said Viv. “We must have just missed the intruder.”

  “It looks like vandals,” said Allegra in disgust. “We must have scared them off before they did any real damage.”

  “What do you bet it was a Hardwick who did it?” said Viv angrily. “I bet they’re furious you’ve inherited the castle.”

  “Did you inherit the castle?” Flaffy asked.

  They all looked at me hopefully.

  I nodded.

  The three of them threw their arms up into the air and screamed all at once. They whooped in glee and flung their arms around me, and we bounced up and down in a circle in the victory dance of our childhood.

  “Yes, yes, yes!” screamed Viv.

  I extracted myself as quickly as I could, ever paranoid that they would feel how chilled I was to the touch and start wondering.

  “That’s amazing,” said Allegra, wiping a tear of happiness form her eye. “That’s the best news I’ve had all year!”

  “In your faces, Hardwicks!” crowed Viv.

  “I’m so glad you’re home,” said Flaffy.

  “I should tidy this up for poor Aunt Adele,” I said, about to go into the kitchen.

  Flaffy nudged me out of the way. “I’ll do it.”

  She went into the kitchen and began to clean everything up with some nifty wand-work. The bin righted itself and everything flew back into it like a waterfall in reverse. A mop floated out from the storage cupboard and soap suds bubbled out from the sink and went to work scrubbing the tiles.

  I had followed Flaffy in to avoid Allegra’s observant gaze, but she and Viv came close behind.

  “How did you know I was here?” I asked.

  “Chief Raine came and had a quiet word with your mum about it,” said Allegra. “He didn’t want her to hear it from the rumour mill. You should call her. She’s worried.”

  “Oh no,” I groaned. “This is awful.”

  “You didn’t expect this to stay secret, did you?” Viv scoffed.

  “Maybe,” I said grumpily, going to the cool box to get out a couple of the cakes.

  Allegra lit a fire with her wand, and set the kettle to boil.

  “Where is Aunt Adele anyway?” said Flaffy.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Sometimes she just vanishes away. I thought she might be going up to her tower.”

  “Ooh!” said Flaffy excitedly. “I bet she’s visiting with the ghosts in the Black Tower. She’s supposed to be friends with them, isn’t she?”

  “Who cares about that?” Allegra said in an uncharacteristically impatient voice. “What I want to know is what are you doing here, Esme, and why didn’t you tell us you were coming home? And why the heck didn’t you tell us that there’s been a murder in your garden?”

  “And how long are you here for?” said Viv.

  “And everything about your newly marital bliss,” said Flaffy, beaming broadly, and pressing her hands together in glee.

  Flaffy was the most romantic of the lot of us, and the one who was most convinced that the four of us would find our Prince Charmings one day.

  I hated to disappoint her, but I couldn’t bear the way that her big chocolate brown eyes were twinkling at the thought of me and Drew living in marital bliss.

  “There is no newly marital bliss,” I said.

  The beaming smile immediately melted off Flaffy’s face and was replaced with one of confused upset which made me feel bad.

  So I cut them some slices of cake and fussed around with a tea set and avoided looking in their eyes as I told them about Drew and Sarah.

  When I was finished there was a moment of stunned silence.

  “You found them there together?” said Flaffy in a small voice. She looked heartbroken for me.

  “I am going to hex him,” said Viv immediately.

  “I’m going to curse him,” said Allegra, her eyes blazing. “The sort of curse that is going to put him in a Humble hospital for a decade before they figure out what’s wrong with him.”

  “An insane asylum,” said Viv.

  “How could he do this to you?” wailed Flaffy, looking on the verge of tears.

  “Serves you right for marrying a Humble,” said Viv angrily.

  “Hey,” I said half-heartedly. Their anger on my behalf was actually making me feel better in a way that I thought nothing could.

  “Forget Humble. Try just not marrying anyone called Barrington-Cholmondeley,” Viv said in disgust. “Chol-mon-del-y. Yuck! Thank goodness you never changed your name.”

  “As if I would. Westbrim forever. Anyway, it’s not Chol-mon-del-y. It’s Chum-ley.”

  “Filthy is what it is!” she hissed, her eyes narrowing. “Filthy dirty toe rag! What were you thinking?”

  “It’s not her fault,” said Flaffy hotly.

  “No,” said Viv grimly. “It’s his. And we’re going to make him pay for it.”

  “No you are not,” I said with a sigh. “He’s a Humble, and you know that we would never cross that line, so what’s the point even talking about it?”

  All three cousins looked like I had burst their bubble. Their shoulders sagged, because they knew I had spoken the truth.

  The three of us had always hated the kinds of witches and wizards who would use magic to target Humbles. It was something we would never do.

  “It won
’t stop me from dreaming about it,” said Viv resentfully.

  “And wishing bad karma his way,” said Flaffy.

  “And finding a genie to make the wish into reality,” said Allegra.

  The four of us burst into laughter, and this time gathered into a more sombre group hug.

  “It’s no wonder you’re looking peaky,” said Allegra. “I can’t believe you’ve lost so much weight since I last saw you. Are you sure you’re not still ill? I mean, you look good, but you also look pretty terrible.”

  She plucked my clothes which were hanging loosely off my body.

  “It’s nothing,” I said. “All of this being ill and stuff with Drew just made me lose my appetite.”

  I wasn’t ready to tell them about the true extent of the malady affecting me. It was dangerous. It wasn’t something I wanted to drag them into.

  And I couldn’t bear to watch dread and fear cross their faces as they looked at me. I didn’t want to make them into the ones who would have to report me to the conclave and carry that guilt forever.

  “Does that mean you are home for good?” asked Flaffy hopefully.

  I shook my head. “I just needed to get away for a bit,” I said. There was no point raising their hopes for no reason.

  “Then you had better come home tonight with us to see the family,” said Allegra in a firm voice. “You know that Granny Selma will never let you live it down if you don’t.”

  “You’re not a Humble,” added Viv, “so she’s not above using magic to make you sorry for not doing your grand-daughterly duties.”

  “This is so exciting,” said Flaffy. “Nineteen years! I can’t believe you haven’t been home in nineteen years.”

  I groaned. “And I don’t want to go home now. Can you imagine telling them that my marriage broke down after just three weeks! And you know what Granny Selma is going to say.”

  “That you shouldn’t have married a Humble?” said Viv with a smirk.

  “I don’t need to hear it from you, thanks very much,” I said. “I can’t face it today. Can you imagine what she’ll say when she finds out I’m staying here at Mansion House?”

  “The abode of the enemy!” said Allegra in mock horror.

  “Does granny know that you three are here?” I asked.