43

CIARA SPENT HER NEXT day—her birthday, the 31st of October—at work, continuing the investigation. She interrogated a few more people and went through evidence material and her notes. She had to make sure everything matched.

Once she had finished for the day, she joined her team in training. It had been a while since her last time training with any colleagues.

They finished training by five. Bill had found out about Ciara’s birthday, and the team offered to take her out for a drink or two. She couldn’t say no to that.

It was a splendid chance to get to know her team. She felt more relaxed around them the more they talked, and vice versa. She insisted they should treat her as a friend or a colleague rather than their boss.

Being someone’s boss was still new for her. She could hardly believe she had an entire team of her own.

She was proud of how far she had come at such a young age.

***

IT WAS PAST EIGHT WHEN Ciara opened her flat door. She was ever so slightly tipsy from the drinks.

“Finally!” Out of nowhere, Henry rushed to hug Ciara. “Happy birthday!”

“Whoa! Henry, wha—”

Jenna joined the hug, making it a group hug. “Happy birthday!”

Ciara couldn’t help but smile as her friends stepped back, releasing her. “Thanks.”

“Had to see you on your birthday,” Henry said, grinning.

“Have you been waiting for me or what?” Ciara asked, shrugging off her coat and hanging it up.

Henry nodded. “Liam was waiting with us, too, at first. He let us in. But he had somewhere to be.”

“You have clearly become a workaholic,” Jenna said, crossing her arms. “Are you working over twelve hours a day now?”

Ciara chuckled. “I have to admit I didn’t know anyone was waiting for me, so I agreed to get drinks with my new team. I barely know them, so I thought it was a good chance to fix that. Although I worked a bit overtime, too.”

Jenna shook her head. “Of course you did.”

“But at least I’ll have a late morning tomorrow,” Ciara said. She didn’t have any set working hours. She was just below the head of the department, so it was enough for her to do her job and show up to work every weekday.

Henry and Jenna had brought cake, and they had some with Ciara before they had to leave. Liam still wasn’t home, so Ciara was left alone.

She waited for a little while, but Liam was still a no-show. Eventually she went to bed, having nothing to do.

***

SHE WOKE UP AROUND nine the next morning. By then Liam had already gone to work, but he had left a note and a gift box on the dining table.

In the note, he wished Ciara happy birthday, not having seen her the previous day. Once Ciara had read the note, she opened the gift box. Inside it was her birthday present—a bracelet with a gem charm.

Ciara’s cheeks warmed up. Even Henry had never bought her jewellery. Not on any occasion.

She finished her usual morning routine before heading to work. That day she worked with her team for a change.

They went through the addresses—the locations Josh had found for Ciara. They tried to figure out who owned those houses. As it turned out, one address was a warehouse.

Kellan agreed the team should check it out. It was Ciara’s first mission as a boss. She kept thinking back to her mission with Doherty. This time she couldn’t lash out like that. She was the one in charge.

The team changed clothes and geared up for the mission.

***

AT THE WAREHOUSE, CIARA ordered the team to split up. They made sure to keep their distance to the warehouse at first, going through the surroundings. The grounds were full of containers, and they had to go through all of them.

Theresa suggested splitting into smaller teams to cover more ground. Ciara considered it when they walked towards their first container, but eventually she said no.

She wasn’t going to take risks like that. She didn’t mind if they were slower if it meant they were safer.

No one questioned her decision.

Ciara walked to the container’s doors and snapped her fingers. The doors flung open, revealing pitch-black darkness. Theresa used her wand to shine light inside.

Empty.

Ciara led Bill, Declan, and Theresa to the next container. She let Bill open the door. This time Ciara shone some light inside to see what was in there.

The container turned out to be empty like the previous one.

Niles, River, and Owen informed Ciara that they hadn’t found anything so far either. They were searching through the containers closer to the back of the warehouse.

The grounds were utterly silent, and it was making everyone anxious. It was like the calm before a storm.

Even Ciara felt her heart hammer in her chest, but it was under control. It was just her body’s natural reaction to possible danger. She was ready to fight if it came to that.

Ciara kicked the next container open with Bill. A squeak made all of them—Ciara, Bill, Theresa, and Declan—cast spells inside the container.

Then Declan shone light inside. It was only a rat that was now unmoving from the spells they had cast at it.

Ciara sighed. “Next one.”

There were a few more containers left. They went through each of them, because they didn’t have room for mistakes. But they all turned out to be empty. They didn’t even find any more rats.

The other half of the team finished right after. Ciara instructed them and her half of the team what was going to happen next. They would go inside, with Ciara’s half going in from the front while the others entered from the back. That way they could surprise whoever was inside if they hadn’t been spotted yet. They had been careful not to be seen while looking through the containers.

So far everything had gone as planned. Except for the possibly dead rat.

Ciara waited to hear from Owen before giving permission for anyone to enter the warehouse. He was observing the warehouse windows to see if he could spot anything.

“No movement. I’m at the back with River and Niles now,” Owen informed the team, using a magical telepathic link. Each team member heard his voice inside their head. The link worked in a similar way to an earpiece.

However, the magical link was more trustworthy than any technological devices. The downside of the link was that it was also draining. That was why no one used telepathic links when they needed to talk to someone in their everyday life. Phones were invented for that.

“Let’s move in,” Ciara said via the link.

She pushed open the door and her half of the team ran into an enormous, empty hall. They were prepared for traps and enemies, clinging onto their wands as if their lives depended on them—because their lives did depend on them. Except for Ciara who didn’t need a wand to cast magic.

Her heart beat unusually fast. It was her first mission back on the job, but it was even more importantly her first mission as the leader. She was responsible for the success of the mission and the wellbeing of the team.

No one was in the enormous hall. Still, the half of the team searched the hall for any evidence. They found two sleeping bags in one corner, but that was it.

“Someone’s been here,” Bill noted, keeping his voice low.

They still didn’t know what was waiting ahead. For all they knew, someone could be listening to them.

“There’s been an enchantment protecting this warehouse,” Declan said, also keeping his voice low. “It was broken recently.”

Ciara nodded. “Let’s move.”

There were two rooms ahead. Ciara decided they had to split again to cover both rooms. Ciara went with Bill, and Theresa went with Declan.

Ciara was the one to open the door again. Bill rushed in with Ciara right behind. The room was mostly empty, except for a table.

But what they found on the table was interesting. Herbs.

Glass shards covered the floor, sticking to Ciara’s and Bill’s shoes. It looked as though someone had left in a hurry, leaving a mess behind.

Ciara collected a sample of the herbs. She would deliver it to the lab at work. Whatever the herbs were, they weren’t for cooking and they had to belong to a witch or a wizard.

Ciara moved to the next door, motioning for Bill to follow her. They listened carefully at the door before charging in.

Right then, the door across the room slammed open. Ciara and Bill raised their wands, ready to attack.

“Stop!” Ciara exclaimed, lowering her and Bill’s wands.

It was just Owen. He, too, lowered his wand once he heard Ciara’s voice.

“You checked the whole other half?” Ciara asked him.

Owen nodded. “We did.”

“Someone’s been here, but they left recently.”

“And in a hurry,” Bill added.

Ciara worried they had been seen; that they had been a few moments too late to catch whoever had been at the warehouse.

She didn’t let it show to her team, but she cursed herself in her mind.

***

“YOU FOUND NOTHING?” Kellan asked, forehead wrinkling. He and Ciara were talking alone in his office.

“We found a few sleeping bags and some herbs. And those weren’t just cooking herbs.”

“So what herbs are they?”

“The lab is running some tests. We should know by the morning,” Ciara said.

“What about the other addresses?” Kellan asked, leaning back in his chair.

“We still need to check them.”

“When?”

“We’ll start tomorrow.”

“Do you need more help?” The frown on Kellan’s face eased a little. “There are other teams available.”

Ciara shook her head. “No. I think everyone in the team knows what they’re doing. They were great today.”

The hard look in Kellan’s eyes softened finally. “Doherty was an excellent mentor.”

Ciara swallowed, unused to hearing his name, and nodded. “He was.”

“Do you think we stand a chance?” Kellan still had that softer look in his eyes—something Ciara hadn’t seen before. After all, he was her boss, and she barely knew him.

“Against the witch hunters?”

Kellan nodded, and Ciara saw worry flash in his eyes. “Yes.”

“Well, we got rid of many of them in America. I don’t see why that couldn’t happen here,” Ciara said honestly. “It’s going to take more than a week, though. It’ll probably take years.”

Kellan nodded. “Well, it’s a good thing we have you here.”

Ciara smiled. “I’ll do my best to help. Just like everyone else.”

“Still, you have more knowledge and experience with the witch hunters. I hope that will turn out to be valuable.”

“I hope so too.”

“So you’ll meet the team in the morning?” Kellan asked.

“Yes. We’ll start working on the rest of the addresses.”

“Good.”

***

BACK AT HER FLAT, THE first thing Ciara did was check if Liam was home. He probably was. But his bedroom door was closed, so she decided not to bother him.

Instead she walked in the bathroom to get a nice, warm shower.

When she walked out minutes later with a towel wrapped around herself, she spotted Liam in the living room.

“Hi,” he said when he heard her walk around the corner. “When did you come home? I didn’t hear you.”

“Just a moment ago,” Ciara said, making sure her towel stayed in place by tightening her hold on it.

“So are you working overtime all week?” Liam asked.

“Probably,” Ciara admitted.

Liam’s expression twisted into a frown. “Are you trying to find the witch hunters?”

“There’s plenty of other work to get done,” Ciara lied and smiled at Liam.

He didn’t need to know what she was doing. None of her friends needed to know. Henry and Mary would be the first ones to get worried—and for nothing.

“Good.”

Ciara was about to head to her room to get dressed, but then she spun around to look at Liam. “Oh, I almost forgot! Thanks for the bracelet.”

Liam smiled, his entire face brightening up. “You liked it?”

Ciara nodded and smiled. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

***

FIRST IN THE MORNING, Ciara found out what the herbs had been. Blacknettle. It was a somewhat common magical herb used in various poisons. Even the lab couldn’t tell which poison it had been used for. There were too many options.

Once her team was ready, Ciara left with them. It was time to check the next address on the list.

She walked in first. The house was eerily quiet. The light coming in through the windows was minimal, because it was a cloudy day.

Ciara and her team split into pairs, so they could check all the rooms. Because there were an uneven number of them, Ciara grouped with Bill and Owen.

The three went up to check the second floor. They ascended the stairs slowly, but still the old steps creaked.

Ciara walked to the first room on the left. She turned back to see Bill and Owen waiting for her to open the door. She reached for the doorknob, twisted it and pushed the door open.

Cold air rushed out of the room, and the three of them looked inside. They could see nothing out of ordinary except for an open window, so they walked in. In just a matter of seconds, they had gone through the room, which appeared to be a bedroom.

Nothing odd except for the window. Owen shut it once they finished with the room.

They moved on to the next room, and Ciara felt adrenaline kick in.

She had gone through an endless number of houses and other locations in the past. It was rarely the first room that revealed anything, but they often found something as they went along.

She had seen what the witch hunters were capable of. She dreaded what might be waiting for them in the house. The worst scenarios were running through her mind, making her feel sick.

Ciara opened the next door, revealing a small bathroom. They could see it all without stepping in.

Splashes of blood covered the sink like red paint splatters on a white canvas.

Owen stepped inside to collect a sample. After he stepped out, they shut the door.

There was only one more room upstairs. Ciara walked to the door, shuddering at the thought of what might be inside.

It couldn’t be good. The blood in the sink was enough to tell that.

She didn’t know if Bill and Owen were prepared to see the horrors. She was used to them, and she hoped they were, too.

She was about to open the door, but she stopped, her hand already on the doorknob, and turned around. “See if there’s more blood in the bathroom.”

Both men looked at her. Bill tilted his head and was about to open his mouth, but Ciara didn’t let him say anything.

“Just do it,” she ordered.

They obeyed, leaving her alone at the door.

Once she was alone, she reached for the doorknob again. Cold shivers ran down her spine when she pulled the door open.

It was nowhere near an ordinary room. Not anymore. Shackles hung from the ceiling, and torture devices were scattered on top of a table. Drills, blades, and even magical objects. Ciara knew what each one of them did, even though she wished she didn’t.

The worst part were the corpses hanging from the ceiling. Their skin had gone pale, and all their blood had poured out, forming a dried pool underneath them.

Ciara stared at the bodies, horrified by what those people had gone through. The stench made her feel ill, even though she should have been used to it.

The rotting smell had stayed inside the room until she had opened the door, thanks to an enchantment. Someone had tried to hide the bodies in there for as long as possible.

Using magic, she collected every magical object from the room. She used a spell to extract a photo of the room from her memory, so she could include it in the evidence. The objects she had collected, she hid inside an enchanted ziplock bag that seemed smaller on the outside than the inside. It also appeared as any other empty ziplock bag for non-magical people.

With one last look at the room and the corpses, Ciara shut the door. “We need to call the police.”

By that she meant she would call a police department who in reality worked for the magical government, even though they worked in the non-magical police force. There were plenty of cases like that in the non-magic world; witches and wizards working in secret amongst them. Even some of the non-magic hospitals had witch and wizard healers working as doctors or nurses. Those healers were behind all the miracle recoveries and healings happening across the world.

Bill walked out of the bathroom, eyes darkened. “That bad?”

“You don’t want to see it,” Ciara said. “There are three corpses. I bet you can smell the stench.”

“I can.”

They found nothing else in the house. They were forced to wait for the magical police department to arrive before they could move on to their next location.

Eventually the police came. Ciara gave them the evidence she had, so they could investigate the situation more.

***

THE NEXT ADDRESSES were small flats, so the team split. Ciara went with Bill and Owen again, and the others—Declan, Niles, River, and Theresa—went together.

Inside the first flat, the trio split up, so they could search all the rooms. Ciara signed for Owen to take the first door and Bill to take the second.

Ciara stepped in first again. After all, she was in charge of the mission.

She watched each of her steps, heading for the third door. She only turned back to check on Bill and Owen.

They were both looking around warily, trying to see if there were any traps. Ciara could tell they were used to their work, so she didn’t let herself be distracted by them.

She focused on the corridor ahead instead. She looked around, testing the walls on her way, but she couldn’t find any kind of traps—magical or otherwise.

Eventually she stood in front of the third door. She breathed in, filling her lungs with air, and then exhaled slowly.

She reached for the doorknob and was about to open the door when she heard a sickening sound come from the first room, like a blade slicing through flesh.

Then came a bloodcurdling scream.

Ciara’s eyes widened, and she froze. It took that split second for her mind to process what was happening. Owen.

She ran to the first room as fast as she could, past Bill.

She could see Owen lying on the floor with blood everywhere. Using a spell, she pulled Owen out of the room and shut the door tight. Then she locked the door with another spell.

“Bill!” she screamed out, trying to put pressure on Owen’s wound. The problem was that the wound was too big.

Owen squirmed and howled out in pain again.

“Stay still!” Bill said to Owen. He tried to keep his voice calm, but it came out panicked.

Bill summoned a cloth with a flick of his wand and hurriedly wrapped it around Owen’s abdomen. The blood soaked through the cloth instantly, covering Ciara’s hands and clothes. Bill looked barely any better.

Owen stopped making any sounds just as Bill finished wrapping the cloth.

“Owen!” Ciara and Bill screamed in unison. They checked his pulse.

He was barely hanging in there.

“Take him to a hospital!” Ciara ordered Bill. “The closest one. He needs treatment now!”

Bill grabbed Owen and disappeared.

Ciara stayed on the floor, staring at the pool of blood.

She hadn’t been careful enough. Owen was her responsibility, and so was whatever happened to him.

She didn’t have time for a pity party, though. Snapping out of it, she grabbed her phone and warned Kellan and the rest of the team.

She waited inside, staying near the door, tormented by her thoughts.

She had already failed as a team leader. She had been the one in charge, and she had let Owen walk straight into a lethal trap.

That was all on her.

Kellan was the first one to arrive, opening the door and spotting Ciara.

“I’m such an awful boss,” was the first thing Ciara said.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Kellan said to her firmly, patting her on the shoulder.

“His side was torn open by a spell,” Ciara said, sickened by the image flashing in her mind. She had seen a lot of blood before, but it still made her feel sick from time to time.

Kellan eyed Ciara. “Is that why you’re covered in blood?”

Ciara looked down. She hadn’t realised how much blood there was on her. “Yes.”

“We need to figure out how many more traps there are,” Kellan said. “Niles is our expert with traps.”

“I hope we don’t find more bodies.” She sighed, turning to look down the hallway.

“Don’t hope too much for the best. They are terrorists.”

“Trust me, I know what they are.”

***

AFTER THE REST OF THE team arrived—excluding Bill and Owen—Niles was able to figure out the flat and its traps.

Once all the traps were disarmed, the team searched the flat cautiously.

It was a horror show.

In each of the rooms was one piece of a corpse. In the first room—the room Owen had stepped in—was a torso. Just a torso with purple veins showing closer to where the neck started. There was no blood around the corpse, so someone had cut it into pieces elsewhere.

In the next rooms, the team found limbs. Someone had even cut the fingers off.

There was one more room left unchecked when they found the head. The ears were cut off.

In the last room, there was text written on the wall using blood from the corpse. It said: Stop or someone might get killed. Beneath the words was a pool of blood.

The murder looked like it could have been anyone’s handiwork—even a non-magic’s—but the message seemed clear. The witch hunters wanted attention, and it had likely been them. Such a horrendous murder was one way to gain attention.

***

IT WAS ENOUGH FOR ONE day. The team hurried to the hospital to check on Owen. Kellan returned to the office to handle the paperwork. Ciara went home to wash the blood off before going to the hospital.

Luckily, Liam hadn’t been home. He would have overreacted to Ciara’s bloody hands and clothes.

“I need to see Owen Blake. I’m his boss, and he got injured at work,” Ciara said at the hospital desk.

“He’s with a healer. I believe his colleagues are waiting just outside his room. The doctors had to perform emergency surgery on him,” the man at the front desk told Ciara. Then he gave her a room number and pointed her in the right direction.

She found the right room.

“How are you all?” Ciara asked her team. They had known Owen for a long time—years, likely—and they were undoubtedly sick with worry.

“The nurse told us to wait here,” Bill said. “He should make it, but they said it’s bad.”

Ciara nodded. “I, uh, got permission to go in. I’ll tell you if there’s anything to know.”

River nodded. “Thanks.”

Ciara walked to the door, sighing, and then went in. There was a blonde-haired healer changing the medication going into Owen’s cannula. Owen seemed to be unconscious.

“Excuse me.”

The healer finished changing the medication and turned around to look at Ciara.

“Iris?” Ciara’s eyes widened, but she recollected herself and gestured to Owen. “How is he?”

Iris smiled warmly at Ciara before turning to glance at Owen. “He should be fine. Eventually, I mean. It’ll take a long while before he’ll get the stitches out, though.” Iris’s smile faded. “Uh, I thought everyone was supposed to wait outside until the doctor gives permission to see him.”

“I’m his boss, so the healer at the front desk told me I could come and see him,” Ciara said. “It was a work accident.”

Iris’s eyes widened. “Oh! I didn’t realise you were back at work.”

Ciara smiled tightly. “I am. So, uh, can I meet the doctor? I need to make a report for work and I need to know more about his injury, so I can confirm paid sick leave for him.”

She knew Iris could tell her most of what the doctor was going to tell her. But the rules were that she needed a statement from a doctor for her report. It was a requirement set by the magical government.

“I’ll go get the doctor,” Iris said and smiled.

“Thank you.”

***

CIARA STAYED AT THE hospital with the team for hours. They didn’t leave until the hospital staff forced them to. It was eight by then. Ciara told everyone to go home, and she also told them to have the next day off. She promised to make sure they got paid for it, too.

Ciara couldn’t go home, though. She had paperwork waiting at the office.

The report about the accident was the worst, but other than that she found the paperwork to be plain boring. It took her around two hours to finish, and then she packed her stuff, ready to go home.

As she was leaving, she noticed Kellan was still working. She walked to his office door and knocked. He flicked his wand to open the door for her.

Ciara stepped inside. “Owen should be fine, but it looks like he’ll need a long period of sick leave. Bill was so quick that Owen got the treatment faster than usual.”

“Was Owen awake? How was the team? I tried to make it to the hospital, but apparently a head of department has to deal with one too many things,” Kellan said, glancing at the papers scattered on his desk. He sounded strained and was pale from worry. He had known Owen for a long time. They had been on the same team for years.

“Owen got some pretty heavy medication, so he was unconscious the whole time,” Ciara said. “I told the team to take a paid day off. I don’t think it would be smart to force them out to the field right after this. They all seemed a bit better when they heard Owen would be fine, but still.”

Kellan smiled. “I knew I promoted you for a reason. That was good thinking.”

Ciara nodded. “How are you?”

She knew no one had asked him. And Kellan didn’t seem to be the type to share his concerns.

“Worried,” Kellan admitted.

Ciara nodded. “He’ll be fine.”

Kellan sighed, relieved to hear it again. “I know, and that’s good. I just can’t help but think what could have happened.”

“I get that.”

“I know you lost your fiancé because of this.”

Ciara bit her lip and nodded, an ache forming in her chest. “I-I did. About ten months ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

Ciara smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m moving on. But I suppose his death made me more determined.”

“I bet,” Kellan said. “I wish this all could be over in days, because we have to risk our lives on this job.”

“But you won’t see the results until later,” Ciara said, nodding. “And that sucks. Especially when everyone might not be there to see the end.”

Kellan nodded. “Exactly.”

“Will you be at work tomorrow?”

“I have to be, so yes.”

“How busy is your schedule?” Ciara asked.

“Not that busy, I hope. Why?” Kellan furrowed his eyebrows.

“We triggered their traps today,” Ciara said. “They won’t stay at the other addresses for long now. From experience, I know that they are always alarmed when their traps go off.”

“Meet you here at nine, then? We’ll go see the rest of the flats together.”

Ciara nodded. “Sounds good.”

***

“HELLO!” CIARA CALLED out when she walked in. The lights were still on, so she knew Liam wasn’t asleep.

“Hi!” Liam called back, coming out of the kitchen. “You stopped by at home earlier?”

“Oh, yeah. I did.” Ciara shrugged off her coat and hung it up. “I had to get some clothes clean for tomorrow.”

“So where were you? Until now, I mean,” Liam said and leaned against the kitchen doorway, his arms crossed. “I get that you have to do your job, but it’s dangerous to go after the witch hunters on your own on your free time.”

“I’m not doing that,” Ciara assured him. “I stopped by here during lunch. I was working overtime again.”

He still had a doubtful frown on his face. “You sure?”

“Yes. One of us got injured today, so it was a bit crazy.”

“Are you okay?”

Ciara smiled. “Yes. Everything is fine now.”

Liam nodded, dropping his arms to his side. “Good.”

“What time does your work start?” Ciara asked. “At nine?”

“Yes. Why?”

“We should go to work together,” Ciara suggested. After all, they worked in the same building.

A smile spread onto Liam’s face. “Sounds good.”