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LIAM AND HENRY WERE having a brothers’ night at Henry’s flat. It was Friday, so they were drinking and watching a game of crashball.
Crashball was a magical sport that resembled volleyball.
Neither Liam nor Henry liked volleyball, but they loved crashball. It was so much more interesting with the magic involved. The players weren’t allowed to touch the ball. And if they did, the ball vanished with a puff of smoke and the other team won.
“Ciara still has no idea when she’ll be back?” Liam asked Henry.
Liam had been thinking about asking for a while, but asking Ciara wasn’t an option. He didn’t have her number. And not even his parents had mentioned anything about Ciara.
“Nope.” Henry sighed and paused. “But I haven’t even spoken with her.”
Liam raised his eyebrow at Henry. “What?”
“Mum and Dad are in contact with Doherty every other day. Ciara and Doherty are working together, so all the information comes that way.”
“You haven’t even tried to call her?”
Liam usually thought his brother was smart, but sometimes Henry acted like an idiot.
Henry shook his head. “No. She’s being selfish the way she’s putting herself in danger all the time. She should realise there’s people who care about her.”
“You’re worried about her. You shouldn’t be angry for something so silly. She’s your best friend, for God’s sake!”
“Whom I didn’t see for three years.”
“She came back, didn’t she?” Liam gave his brother a pointed glance. “She got an excellent job offer. Wouldn’t you take a job offer like that?”
“I wouldn’t cut ties with everyone. Especially not my best friend.” Henry reached for his beer on the coffee table. He brought it to his lips and took a sip.
“I thought she apologised.”
“An apology won’t fix everything.”
“Did you ask her why she never contacted you? Or anyone else?” Liam asked, turning his focus away from the crashball game.
“She’s avoiding questions like that.” Henry took another quick sip of his beer. “But claiming it was to protect anyone is just an excuse.”
“Are you sure? Because she has a reason. If not that, then another good one.”
“You’re such an optimist.”
Liam smiled. “She said the same thing.”
Henry’s eyebrows rose, and he turned to face Liam. “You two talked?”
“A little. I came here, but you were at Jenna’s place. It was mostly just catching up.” Liam furrowed his brows and reached for his beer. “It was...sort of weird.”
“Not what you expected?”
“She feels distant,” Liam said, nodding. “I mean, yes, we used to date and we haven’t spoken much since the break-up. It’s just...I’d like to be her friend again, maybe.”
“And what would Iris think of that?”
“Iris is her friend.”
Henry didn’t want to argue, even though he doubted his brother’s fiancée would have appreciated Liam and Ciara being friends. “Fair enough,” he ended up saying.
Talking about Iris brought a conversation back to Liam’s mind. “Iris suggested Ciara went to the States for Theo.”
Henry turned to Liam. “Why would she think that?”
Liam shrugged.
“Ciara said she didn’t know she would be working with Theo until she met him at work.” Henry paused, his brows knitting together. “Are you sure someone doesn’t have hidden feelings for my best friend?”
Liam scoffed and shook his head. “Of course I don’t. Not romantic ones. I love Iris. We’re in the middle of wedding planning.”
Henry brushed the topic aside, deciding it was wrong to question it further. Instead, he hung onto the topic of the wedding.
“So, December wedding it is, huh?”
Liam nodded. The movement was slow, as if his brain was weighed down with too many thoughts. “December wedding it is.” His voice was monotonous, lacking any excitement.
“You’re gonna have to hurry with the planning.”
Neither brother focused on the game anymore. Their conversation was far more important.
“Iris has most of it planned already.”
“You don’t want to have a say in anything?”
“I don’t care about napkin colours.”
“Well, I’m not a wedding expert, but I think there are other things that need to be planned for a wedding.”
“I know.” Liam sighed.
“Tell me you got to choose your best man at least.”
“I asked Hugo.”
“And how did Shawn take it?”
Shawn and Hugo were Liam’s best friends. They had known each other since their school years.
“Shawn was fine with it. I let Iris decide between the two, so no one felt offended.”
“What?” Henry’s eyes widened. “You let your bride decide on your best man?”
“In a way, but it was still my—”
“It was her decision,” Henry said. “Don’t tell me otherwise.”
“Her decision was good.”
“I suppose.”
Liam sighed. “But?”
“Just thinking. Because a while ago, you said you weren’t even ready to get married yet.” Henry furrowed his eyebrows, looking at Liam. He couldn’t believe his brother was about to let his wedding be taken over by his bride. “You said you wanted to be engaged for a little longer. So, what changed your mind?”
“Iris wants this.”
“Iris wants this? And you’re gonna let her make every decision?”
“Not every decision, of course. But honestly, I don’t see any downsides in this whole wedding thing.”
“Downsides? It’s your wedding! You should be excited and planning it. You don’t feel you’re ready.”
“There’s plenty of time to get used to the idea,” Liam said. “Besides, I love Iris. I’m happy to do this for her. And most importantly, with her.”
A sigh passed Henry’s lips, and he nodded. “As long as you’re happy.”
“Trust me, Henry, I am.”
A silence filled the room, and the two brothers turned to watch the crashball game again. They both sipped their beers, unsure what to talk about.
“So, how about you and Jenna?” Liam asked, breaking the silence. He turned to face his brother, and a smirk formed on his lips.
“Oh, don’t start,” Henry groaned and took a gulp of his beer as if in a hurry to drink it.
“Oh, come on, Henry. I know you like her. In fact, you might be a little obsessed with her,” Liam teased.
A blush crept onto Henry’s cheeks. “She’s amazing,” he admitted dreamily.
Liam’s smirk only widened. “And it took you this many years to figure that out?”
“Well, I might have had a small crush on her in school.” Henry’s blushing got worse, painting his cheeks bright red. “I’ve just got to know her better recently. You know, without Ciara there as the mutual friend.”
“So something good came out of Ciara’s absence. You found yourself a girlfriend.”
“We’re not dating.”
“Yet.”
The corner of Henry’s lips twitched. “I asked her out already.”
Liam’s eyes widened, and he grinned as if he had just received world-changing news. “When and where?”
“We’re having dinner tomorrow. At a restaurant.”
“Cute.”
Henry rolled his eyes, briefly turning to look at his brother rather than the game. “Don’t tease.”
Liam raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not teasing.”
“Oh, please!”
Liam chuckled. “Alright, fine. I was.” He smiled, happy for his brother. “Are you nervous?”
Henry wished he could escape the questioning. He wondered what spell would make the soft cushions swallow him whole. Nothing came to mind.
He ended up nodding. “A little.” Cocking his head to the side, he looked at Liam. “How did you woo Iris? With flowers?”
“No. She asked me out when I was still dating Ciara. I declined.”
“But you went out with her right after the break-up.”
Liam had written to Henry about Iris back then, so he couldn’t deny it. He nodded, unsure what to say.
“I always wondered why you dated another girl so soon.”
“Was it too soon?” Liam had thought about it before. But Ciara had been the one to break up with him.
Henry shrugged. “It felt soon to me. But I guess the whole long-distance thing had already made you and Ciara drift apart.”
“I think it had.”
“Does Ciara know the entire story?”
Liam shook his head. He stared at the television screen without focusing on the game. “I don’t think so. And I hope she doesn’t find out.”
Henry nodded. “It would hurt her feelings.”
“Exactly.” And Liam didn’t want that.
***
TIME FLEW BY IN ENGLAND. Liam was busy at work for the following week. He even worked the weekend.
A government official had been cursed by an unhappy citizen. As it turned out, the citizen had known her way around curses, so breaking the sickness curse had turned out to be a struggle.
On another day, there was a cursed house with dead witches and wizards inside. The officials insisted it was just a group of misfits. Liam doubted that. What sort of misfits went around killing people mindlessly? It had been the witch hunters, without a doubt, and the government refused to accept that after the horrors Canada and the United States had gone through in the hands of those terrorists.
A lot of horrible things had happened, and those cases involved curses that had to be dealt with.
It was clear as daylight that the witch hunters were growing more dangerous. They were causing more and more harm. More people got hurt. Some even killed.
After the talk Liam and Henry had had, Liam felt guilty for having to work so much while Iris was planning their wedding. But still, he was glad he didn’t have to think about napkin colours when there were mindless murderers on the loose.
***
IT WAS LATE BY THE time Liam finished work that Sunday. He was excited to be heading home. The following day would be his day off.
He was about to leave and go home when he received a message.
They needed him at his parents’ house.
He sighed in frustration. For a moment, he wanted to smash his phone.
But then he grabbed his wand and hurried to teleport himself to the house. Once he was there, standing outside, he knocked at the door. He hadn’t realised it was raining, having spent the entire day inside.
The second his father opened the door for him, he could see the chaos inside. He had heard none of it outside, thanks to an enchantment.
The house was full of people. They were all part of the anti-terrorist group. There were only about twenty or thirty members, but it was enough to fill the house. Most were family friends or people who had suffered in the hands of the witch hunters. Most importantly, all of them were people who weren’t going to accept the government’s inability to accept the problem. Even if their actions were illegal, they were going to fight the witch hunters.
Liam’s father explained the situation to Liam. Witch hunters had killed one of them in the man’s own house and had severely injured another. Those terrorists had tracked down the address and had attacked.
Iris was tending to the injured woman in the bedroom. Or so Ray told Liam, but Liam didn’t go to see. He knew he shouldn’t distract Iris when she was working. She was probably trying to save a life in there.
Liam found his mother and tried to comfort her. She was upstairs crying. She didn’t want all the other members to see her break down, so she had gone to Liam’s old room.
It became a long day—or a night. It was rough for Liam, but he couldn’t imagine what his fiancée was going through, tending to the injured woman.
***
NEXT DAY WAS LIAM’S day off.
Finally.
But he didn’t get to enjoy it. Instead, he spent his time planning the next mission. They had to repay for the attacks. They needed a plan on how they would handle the situation—and the witch hunters.
Despair was growing within the group, and the members were coming up with more and more desperate ideas—some of them even impossible. They couldn’t track the witch hunters with a spell, like Liam’s father’s friend Eric had suggested. Liam could understand the desperate need to find any kind of solution—possible or not. It had been Eric’s brother who had died the previous day.
People were impossible to trace with magic unless they knowingly left a magical trace to be followed. Tracking an object could have worked if they had got a piece of any object the witch hunters had. But they had nothing.
Iris was also busy that day. She was checking up on the injured woman once every other hour. The injuries could have turned fatal if it hadn’t been for her. Thanks to Iris, it was looking like there wouldn’t be more death.
Liam was proud of his fiancée. She was such a caring person. She worked hard in order to help others, and she was a great healer with her knowledge of healing potions and spells. Although healing spells were rather limited. Injuries couldn’t be completely healed with a spell, but the pain could be eased and the healing process could be sped up.
***
NO MATTER WHERE LIAM went, he had to deal with witch hunters. Most of the curse breaking at his work resulted from something the witch hunters had done. He recognised their curses and methods. He was all too familiar with them.
The government still refused to believe any of it. They refused to admit there was a witch hunter organisation—a terrorist group—loose in England. They still thought the problem was in America.
The witch hunters’ message had been clear in America when they had been wreaking havoc across the continent. They wanted equality between the magical and the non-magical—no matter the cost. Those terrorists wouldn’t stop killing until magical governments stepped out into the daylight and made themselves seen to the non-magical side of the world.
Even in European countries, showing magic to non-magical people was highly illegal and punishable. The witch hunters had expanded to Europe to get their message across. The magical government in the UK had to be blind not to see that.
If Liam could have, he would have knocked some sense into the government officials. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that.
***
ON A FRIDAY EVENING, there was a meeting at Liam’s parents’ house. A lot of the members, Liam included, were attending.
“We need to do something,” was the most used phrase of the meeting. The members kept repeating it over and over again. Especially Eric who was driven by revenge after his brother’s death.
“We need information before we do anything. Right now we have nothing to work on,” Ray said, raising his voice. He made sure everyone heard him. “Doherty and Ciara are in America for that. Once they’re back, we will get information. Then we can do something about this situation.”
“We don’t know when they’ll be back,” a male member argued. Liam recognised him as one of his parents’ friends, but he couldn’t remember his name.
“What do you suggest we do, then?” Henry asked, crossing his arms. “We have no information to work with. Even the government is against us rather than on our side.”
“Doherty is working on that, too,” Ray said.
“Oh, please! He’s been working on it for ages now,” a black-haired woman called Hannah scoffed. “It’s useless.” She was the one Iris had been treating after the last witch hunter attack on the group. She had made it.
“What kind of information are we expecting to get?” Eric asked.
Ray sighed. “We don’t know yet.”
Liam didn’t have to be a seer to know how the conversation was going to end. Even the calming shades of green and beige on the living room walls weren’t enough to keep any members calm. They were all shifting in their seats.
He trusted Ciara and Doherty. They would bring back any information they could.
“How do you know the information will help us?”
“Any kind of information will help us,” Henry said.
“Well, we’ve been waiting for the information for a month now.” It was Hannah—the black-haired woman—who spoke. “How much longer are we supposed to wait?”
“She’s right,” Eric said. “We’ve waited for too long. We’ve watched the witch hunters kill more and more. They’ve killed innocents. And our own, too. We need the information now!”
“Just give them a few more days,” Liam said. “It’s not like we can do anything else.”
“We need that information now!” another man demanded.
It was no surprise the members were growing irritated, considering the situation. Their friend had been recently killed, and another one had been severely injured. Even if Hannah was already better, it had been a close call.
The group wanted revenge. They needed to plan a mission.
But they couldn’t plan a mission yet. With no information on the witch hunters, it would have been foolish, even suicidal, to rush into action.
“We do—”
Just in time, someone opened the front door. There was a soft thud, but it was loud enough to make everyone fall silent.
Doherty appeared in the doorway of the living room, scanning the room to see who was present. “I didn’t think I’d need to knock,” he said as an apology for his sudden appearance.
“Finally!” Once again, it was Hannah.
The other corner of Doherty’s mouth turned upwards a little. It was half of an amused smile. “I see you’ve all become impatient during my absence. I understand why.” His smile became full, both corners of his mouth curling up. “But I bring good news.”
“It had better be!”
Doherty had a knowing look. He knew the information he had was good enough to make every irritated member satisfied. “The government seems to have realised the threat in our country is as real as it was in the States and Canada.”
First silence hit the room. Then after the initial shock, whispers filled the space. Liam didn’t join in, but he observed the other members.
“Ciara, whom some of you have met and some have yet to meet, has convinced the British head of the hit wizards,” Doherty said.
Liam snapped his head at Doherty, his eyes widening. He couldn’t believe Ciara had done that. He wasn’t sure if it was her influence or her persuasion skills, but it was impressive.
“But this isn’t just good news for us,” Doherty said. “If we want to continue our work, we have to do a better job at hiding our missions. Our actions would be considered even more illegal now that the government will have their own people working on this.”
“Where is Ciara?” Henry asked.
“Signing her transfer papers,” Doherty grunted.
“Transfer papers?” Liam swore he saw his brother’s eyes fill with a hopeful glee.
“She’s moving back to England.”
Liam hadn’t expected that. No one had. Ciara had just come back for a visit.
Henry was excited. He had an apology to make for walking out on her when she had joined the group, but after that he would have his best friend back in his life.
Liam couldn’t deny he was happy too. At least he would have time to talk everything through with Ciara, because she wasn’t leaving.
The meeting didn’t end there. In fact, it seemed never-ending. The members wondered how the government would deal with the situation and with the witch hunters. It was just guessing, but it still went on for hours.
Even with those few hours spent talking, they didn’t get anything done. The members agreed they would meet the following week. Ciara would have more information by then. Information they could use against the witch hunters, like their possible whereabouts or any leverage they might have on the terrorists.