MOTHER

The fire never dies; beware smoke on the wind.

Tenet Nine, The Book of the Binders

‘We must speak to the Seven at once.’ Bertie Greenfinch had one hand on a plump hip and one on a mug of tea. Not one of the china teacups – they had all been smashed. ‘They can’t get away with this in this day and age! Going around binding magic against young girls’ wills! Making sacrifices! Sacrificial magic is not allowed. It is not within the Balance. The Binders must be stopped.’

‘It’s an outrage,’ another witch agreed.

The house was busy with Wort-Cunning witches. It was strange to see them in Aunt’s pristine kitchen. Rowan and Manda had brought them just in time. They’d gone searching for them after the ball but hadn’t been able to find anyone – Selene’s house had been empty. In the morning they’d tracked down Anna’s house and watched as the Binders arrived one by one, knowing something wasn’t right. Rowan had gone home and spilt everything to Bertie – about Anna’s curse, about her aunt. Bertie had rallied the troops.

If they hadn’t turned up when they did … Anna didn’t want to think what might have happened. They could not have held the Binders off forever, and yet, if they’d shown up earlier – Aunt would not be dead. Are you really dead? Did I kill you? Anna reached for her Knotted Cord but it wasn’t there.

She sat with a blanket on her shoulders, sipping on some warming concoction Bertie had given her, listening to their plans. Entirely numb. They had tried to make her lie down again but she wanted to know what was happening. She didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts.

The Wort-Cunnings, arriving in numbers, had fought the Binders back and they’d fled. Bertie was planning to cover up Aunt’s death with magic – make it look like a heart attack or suicide or stroke. They hadn’t decided yet. They’d taken her body upstairs and an unconscious Peter back to his dorm room, never to remember. The golem was to be destroyed. Anna never wanted to think of that creature again.

Manda and Rowan tried to talk to her but Anna was too exhausted to explain anything; she couldn’t explain anyway. Nothing felt real. Effie hadn’t looked at her or spoken either. Anna caught Attis’s eye several times but she looked away. He, like Selene, had fought on their side but she still didn’t understand how he was involved, who or what he was. All she could see was him raising his knife, the blood spilling out of his open wound, his perfect skin broken. Why? She wanted to pound her fists against him. Why would you do that?

‘We can’t speak to the Seven,’ said one of the witches. ‘They aren’t back.’

‘They are.’ Bertie nodded with slow significance. The room stilled. ‘I have it on good authority they’ve returned. But …’ She went quiet.

Anna looked up. Attis turned to her. ‘Anna, are you OK?’

‘Fine,’ she replied, still not meeting his eyes.

Effie spoke for the first time, directing her words at Bertie. ‘What? What’s happened?’

‘Yeah, Mum, we need to know what’s going on,’ said Rowan.

‘Nothing. Nothing any of you need to know right now.’

‘The Seventh, the one who escaped, has come out of hiding and, though nothing has been said officially, there are rumours she has spoken of hunters – that we are being hunted!’ a Wort-Cunning in a bright knitted waistcoat announced skittishly.

Gasps around the kitchen.

‘Tania!’ Bertie chided. ‘Now was not the time.’

Tania put up her hands. ‘Sorry. I just think everyone deserves to know.’

‘What does that mean? Hunted?’ another Wort-Cunning cried.

They descended into fraught discussion.

‘We knew something was going—’

‘Witches have often been under attack—’

‘Of course she doesn’t mean the Hunters, they’re not real—’

‘What else can she be referring to?’

‘We don’t know what her words mean yet,’ Bertie quietened them. ‘She may not be referring to the Hunters in that sense, but that we are under threat from someone, something. There’s no need to panic. The Seventh has raised the others. They have returned. Whatever is happening, they will put a stop to it.’

Selene scoffed. ‘Some group of fools are probably calling themselves the Hunters. This isn’t the sixteen hundreds! What can they do? Send us to the stake?’

‘Still,’ said a woman with grey hair piled up on her head like a bird’s nest. ‘Considering the ongoing anti-magic suspicion in the news, we ought to keep a low profile, for now, until the Seven deal with them.’

‘That’s exactly what they want us to do,’ said Selene dismissively.

‘Iris is not saying we curtail our magic,’ said Bertie, ‘but that we take extra care right now to ensure it doesn’t become exposed.’

Anna couldn’t process what they were saying. The Binders were mad. She’d just seen it with her own eyes. We are being hunted. Hunted? What if the Binders were right all along?

Bertie clapped her hands together, as if to drive the fear from the room. ‘Right, let’s finish cleaning up this mess. Iris, will you take Rowan and Manda home? You three’ – she looked at Anna, Effie and Attis – ‘need to rest. Now.’

Anna wasn’t sure she’d ever sleep again.

‘You might want to see this.’ A freckled Wort-Cunning appeared in the doorway. ‘Come quickly!’

They emptied from the kitchen into the living room. The bloodstains on the carpet were gone. The rose plant in the corner was in bloom. The TV was on. It took a moment for Anna to place why she knew the image on the screen. The red-bricked building was her school – a news reporter stood outside it.

‘… arrested for questioning after having inappropriate relationships with a female student’ – a photo of Headmaster Connaughty flashed onto the screen – ‘following released video footage showing the headmaster with a student during an after-hours ballet class.’

Bertie put a hand to her mouth. ‘That’s your headmaster.’

The rumours had finally completed their work, got their pound of flesh. Anna felt her hatred return, unfettered now by the knots that had held her emotions in place. Whether she hated Effie or herself more, she wasn’t sure.

‘In a bizarre twist, the student in question is claiming she was forced into the relationship by a satanic cult of witches made up of pupils from the school. The details of this are not yet known but Headmaster Connaughty had previously been in touch with police over a recent school break-in where this footage was obtained.’

Footage flashed onto the screen. Four blurred white dresses and a man with horns on his head. A fire in the centre. Faces unknown.

Anna put a hand to her mouth. Their magic was out there for all to see.

‘The students in question appear to be practising some sort of fire ritual. Whether it is linked in any way to the allegations as yet remains unclear but the questions are certainly troubling.’

It was the room’s turn now to look at them.

The fire never dies; beware smoke on the wind.

Selene tried to hug her, but Anna pulled away. She, Effie and Attis had returned to Selene’s house after a tense journey – the car alert with silence, none of them knowing what to say, whom to trust. They’d left the Wort-Cunnings in a flap about the footage of them on the school grounds. Anna didn’t care. If they were caught and punished, so be it. They deserved it. I deserve it.

‘You must get some rest,’ said Selene, perched on the end of the bed in the spare bedroom.

‘I ruined Headmaster Connaughty’s life.’

‘You tried your best to stop that spell.’

‘My magic was cursed and it got out of control. The rumour spell—’

‘Your magic is not cursed. You have a curse. It’s not the same.’ Selene looked at her with intensity. ‘That gossip spell was an evil spell with mean intent, pure and simple. I didn’t take it seriously when you told me. It’s my fault.’

‘The curse mark chased me more than it chased Effie.’

‘It wasn’t chasing you, matchstick, it was trying to warn you. And your magic expressed it more than Effie’s because it had been contained for so long by the bindweed. It was unleashing so much power at once … and you were falling in love,’ said Selene gently. ‘That was making it stronger. I didn’t know it would make its presence felt quite so clearly, mind you …’

Falling in love. It sounded so gentle, but love had proved to be as destructive as Aunt had promised.

‘I killed Aunt.’ The words did not feel real. Is she dead? Is she really dead?

‘You did not. That Binder woman—’

‘—finished what I started,’ said Anna, remembering her moment of hesitation. Would she have done it? If Mrs Withering hadn’t taken over – would she still have done it? The question formed a hard knot around her heart. I could have.

Anna felt the world go black around her again. She leant forwards, trying to catch her breath. Are you really dead?

‘Hey.’ Selene reached for her. ‘Don’t blame yourself. You can’t blame yourself. Vivienne was going to kill Effie and you—’

‘You know what the worst part is?’ Anna pulled herself back up. ‘I still hate her,’ she cried. ‘I hate her.’

‘That’s OK.’ Selene hushed but Anna pulled away.

‘I hate you too, Selene.’

‘I know.’ Selene looked tired for the first time: bags under her eyes, mascara smudged. There was no golden glow about her now.

‘Why did you lie to me?’

‘Because I made a promise to your mother that I would protect you. Both of you.’

‘But you wanted the curse to go off! You wanted the Knotting to take place! You wanted him to die!’

‘Yes. Only him. Not you and Effie.’

‘I don’t understand …’

Selene sat down next to her and sighed. ‘You and Effie are twins, cursed to fall in love with the same man and be torn apart by it, one of you fated to kill the other. That was written in the stars long before you were born. Your mother and Vivienne were cursed just the same, but they knew from the beginning, from when they were little girls. Their father thought that being open about it might prevent it from happening – but it happened anyway.’

‘How?’ Anna could barely keep herself together but had to know the truth. At last.

‘Vivienne met Dominic first, at Edinburgh University where she was studying. I think they started dating properly when she was in her second year and they were together until the end of her studies but then that summer – he met Marie on a trip to London at a conference after-party. Oh, they fell in love so quickly, that night perhaps, that very night. She didn’t know who he was and he didn’t even know Vivienne had a sister, she’d kept Marie a secret, paranoid as she was even then. Marie had always thought if she didn’t believe in the curse then, somehow, it wouldn’t happen. She’d been determined to live her life in spite of it, but it found her. She was distraught when she realized what had happened, Anna, you have to believe me. She ended it and tried to find Vivienne to make it right, but she’d disappeared.’

Selene shook her head sorrowfully. ‘The Binders had found her instead. Vivienne could never deal with her emotions even then. They took her in; they were only too happy to welcome a broken soul like her. They brainwashed her and – oh, they loved the story of the curse: dirty magic only they could make clean.’ Selene’s voice was full of vitriol.

‘They couldn’t find Vivienne and your mother and Dominic couldn’t stay apart. I tried to warn Marie against it but she loved him. Stupid. Stupid. She fell pregnant and they went into hiding – she knew Vivienne would come for her and she feared for you. She was determined to find a way to break the curse and give you a normal life. She called me one night. She’d found a way through – an antidote to the curse – a spell …’

Anna thought of Nana’s words: There are only two things in this world which can break a curse. The magic of the one who cast it in the first place. Or a spell more powerful …

‘A living spell. A man who was not truly a man at all, whose blood would break it. She had what she needed to cast it, all except someone willing to – to give birth to him …’

Anna’s mouth dropped open.

Selene’s eyes flickered with memory, one hand touched her stomach. ‘I know it sounds insane – it was insane, but she needed me. I’d done nothing good with my life; perhaps it was one thing I could do …’

‘You – you gave birth to Attis?’ Anna couldn’t comprehend it. ‘Yes. We cast the spell and I fell pregnant. We had a plan – it would take time – but it was something. Marie and Dominic were going to move abroad and raise you, but then … Vivienne called me. It was late, I’d just been sick – the damn thing inside me was causing me hell. She told me to come to Marie’s house, that I was required. I knew then she’d found them. When I got to the house, they were already dead.’ Selene stilled, tears running from her eyes.

‘How did it happen?’ Anna asked, not wanting but needing to know the truth. ‘Aunt said that my mother had attacked her.’

Selene growled. ‘No! Vivienne bound Dominic’s free will. Your mother was asleep when your dad strangled her and then he killed himself. Vivienne had become a powerful Binder. He had no choice.’

The Choke Knot. Anna knew how that felt all too well. She couldn’t begin to imagine the hell her father must have gone through.

‘I could have killed Vivienne there and then but she had you in her arms. What could I do? That was when she presented the Binders’ plan to me. We’d raise you apart. We’d bring you back together at sixteen. Let the curse unfold and sacrifice the boy you’d fallen in love with to bind it. It had all been worked out.’

‘Why would you agree to that? It’s madness.’

‘That’s the problem with a story, Anna, it doesn’t capture the complexity of it. The actions are there but the motives are hidden in the shadows or they are the hands that form the shadows on the wall. I feared what Vivienne would do to you if I didn’t comply. And your aunt did something for me once, before the curse … another story in itself … and I was scared, I was scared she’d undo it. She threatened to. She anticipated that I was selfish and a coward and I did as she asked, because I am both of those things.’ Selene looked up at Anna and smiled sadly. ‘But I was carrying my own secret.’

‘Attis.’

‘Yes. Vivienne intended to bind the curse but I had the key that could break it forever.’

‘Attis is your son.’ The words felt so strange to say.

‘I gave birth to him but he’s not my son. He’s a spell.’ Selene looked away and then back fiercely. ‘But Effie is my daughter. I raised her. I wasn’t a good mother but I tried, for Marie. I tried to be there for you too. I wasn’t much good at that either … Vivienne hated me visiting and I hated seeing her, hated every fibre of her being. I took Attis to a dear friend of mine and he agreed to take him in, under one condition of mine: that when the time came Attis would leave with me and wouldn’t return.’

‘To sacrifice himself,’ said Anna, realizing everything. ‘Attis knew he was a spell. He knew he had to end the curse.’

‘He knew he had to try. We didn’t want you to have your magic bound, but the Binders’ ceremony seemed like our only chance. They would raise more magical power than we ever could alone; they would make a sacrifice. We just had to make sure Attis was it. Vivienne always said you and Effie couldn’t know, that it would be better to let the curse run its course, but now I know: she didn’t want you growing up as sisters, knowing about the curse, because she always intended for you to kill Effie …’ Selene took a shuddering breath. ‘I didn’t know – despite everything, I still believed there was some good left in her. That she wouldn’t hurt Marie’s daughters. I underestimated her.’

‘She underestimated you.’ And I, him. ‘I can’t believe Attis was prepared to die for us.’

‘Anna, he’s been waiting his whole life to do it. He said he would do anything for—’ She stopped.

For Effie. He loves Effie and he only needed me to love him to set off the curse. It hadn’t been real. Of course it hadn’t.

‘It was his purpose,’ said Selene. ‘It still is.’

‘That’s why he hated me digging into my family’s past, trying to discover the truth; he needed me to commit to the Knotting – so he could die.’

‘Yes.’

‘It didn’t work.’

‘No. I don’t know if that’s because you stopped it and saved him or because we don’t understand how it works yet. Or perhaps the curse is broken? And we just haven’t realized?’ Selene looked at Anna hopefully.

Anna shook her head. ‘No. It isn’t. I love him, Selene.’ She had vowed never to fall in love but there it was. A crime of passion. I betrayed Effie too – would I do it again? ‘I love him,’ she said. ‘And I love Effie and I hate her.’ Anna could feel the emotions inside of her, unrestricted, conflicted, free to flex into the light and dark. ‘The curse is alive. I can feel it inside of me.’

Selene closed her eyes. ‘Don’t say that. This can’t be happening again.’

‘It’s not. I hate Effie, but I don’t want to kill her. Aunt was wrong. Raising us apart didn’t make it easier for us to kill each other – it made it harder. I never loved her like a sister and so I don’t hate her like a sister either. She may well want to kill me, of course.’

‘She doesn’t, Anna, she doesn’t. In spite of the curse, you two saved each other in there.’

Silence descended.

‘Why, Selene, why are we cursed?’

‘If we had the answer to that, my little matchstick, none of this would ever have had to happen. Curses are a black hole; it’s impossible to know how they began and when they will end.’

Anna thought of the Everdell family book beneath her bed, the family history erased – someone knew the truth and had chosen to hide it. Curses attract attention like a carcass to flies …

‘The Hunters,’ she said. The Ones Who Know Our Secrets – do they know hers? ‘Aunt said the curse would attract them and now we’ve left a breadcrumb trail leading to our door. Darcey is calling us witches!’

‘There’s no such thing as the Hunters, but it’s true, we don’t know what is going on right now and, paranoid as she was, Vivienne wasn’t lying when she said curses are a powerful form of magic. We need to keep it a secret.’

‘But Darcey’s claims are going to attract attention.’

‘That’s on the news because a headmaster has had relations with a pupil and not because some teen girl is spouting rubbish about magic! Anyway, the Seven have returned and they will take care of whoever or whatever is supposedly hunting us.’

Anna wanted to believe her, but after everything she’d seen over the last year, she didn’t believe rumours went away quite so easily.

‘The Binders won’t want to let us live either way.’ Anna remembered Mrs Withering’s words. Your turn. ‘They know we’re cursed.’

‘The Binders will be dealt with,’ Selene seethed. ‘We have a whole army of Wort-Cunnings ready to take them on and that Withering woman will have to go through me. You are safe. You are free. It’s all over.’

But how could Anna ever be safe? How could she ever be free? I am cursed and Aunt is dead because of me.

‘I’m sorry, Anna. I’m sorry I’ve failed you, Effie, your mother … I was never the woman she was, but I will try. I will try to find a way to stop the curse.’

Selene lowered her head. Anna moved closer, took her hand and squeezed it.

‘Don’t give up yet. You’re the only mother Effie and I have now and we’re going to need you. But you need to know this.’ Selene looked up into Anna’s furious green eyes. ‘I will not let Attis die.’