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Avery skidded to a halt at the entrance to the cave, smacking into the back of Reuben, who ran far quicker than her. She pushed him out of the way, wondering what he had stopped for.
The cave was dimly lit with light from the lanterns they’d carried with them. Faversham stood in the centre of the room, a vast creature rearing up next to him, made out of what appeared to be sand and stone. It seemed to have short, stubby legs, but long arms, and it swept them outwards, trying to grab Alex and El, who dodged out of its grasp whilst sending blasts of energy at it. She couldn’t see Gil at all.
“What the hell is that?” Reuben exclaimed.
Avery didn’t answer. She didn’t care what it was, but she presumed it was somehow being controlled by Faversham, and he hadn’t seen them yet. The sight of him looking smug was enough to infuriate her. How the hell did he keep finding them so quickly?
Avery summoned her powers and sent a blast of air towards him at a blistering pace, like a tornado. The noise of the lumbering beast was so loud that Faversham couldn’t hear it coming, and he looked around too late. It smashed into him, carrying him into the far wall with a resounding smack. He fell to the ground, dazed, and the creature started to lose cohesion as it slowed to a stop.
Avery didn’t hesitate. She loosed another wave of air and energy straight at the rock monster, and it staggered, turning towards her with a roar.
Instinctively, she drew on the air again and it lifted her clean off her feet until she floated over the ground. Without having any idea what she was trying to do, she rushed forwards, aiming a blast of pure energy from her hands towards the centre of its mass. The creature came to a stuttering halt.
In the lull from the attack, Avery saw Alex and El release a stream of fire at Faversham, who was trying to rise to his feet. He looked furious, but their attack caught him off guard and he scrambled for cover.
Avery renewed her attack on the beast, enveloping it in another tornado, until, with a deafening roar, it broke apart, sending sand and rock blasting in all directions. A large chunk of stone caught her in the gut and threw her backwards onto the pile of crates, the impact making her dazed and nauseous.
Despite the hit, she couldn’t stop. Not now. She staggered to her feet, wobbling on the boxes beneath her.
Avery saw Alex and El standing shoulder to shoulder below her. Faversham was back on his feet, sending a jet of sand and earth at them. They struggled under the onslaught, throwing up a shield in front of them. Avery directed her magic at one of the crates and picked it up with a whoosh of air, hurling it over Alex and El. At the last second Faversham looked up, but it was too late and the crate smacked into him, crushing him beneath its weight.
Once again, Alex and El combined their powers and sent a stream of fire at Faversham’s dazed and broken body. Although she couldn’t reach them, Avery added her magic to theirs, enhancing their fire with air, until it turned white-hot. Unable to tolerate their combined attack, Faversham disappeared.
Avery collapsed on the crates, vaguely wondering what had happened to Gil and Reuben. And then she heard Reuben’s frantic shouts coming from somewhere below her. “Gil, Gil, wake up!”
Avery sat up, and her adrenalin kicked in. Gil must have been injured. She slid towards the sound of Reuben’s voice, the crates wobbling and sliding beneath her, and then she saw them. Gil was lying at the rear of the cave, covered in blood, and Reuben was cradling him in his arms. Gil was horribly still.
She half lurched and half ran towards them, until she fell on her knees next to them both, Alex and El arriving at the same time. Reuben was sobbing, almost breathless as he hugged Gil.
Alex leaned in close, feeling for a pulse, but Gil had a huge head injury, she could tell from here, and his head fell at the wrong angle. A wild panic surged through Avery. Gil looked dead. It couldn’t be true. She wouldn’t believe it.
“I can run back and call an ambulance,” she said, feeling her voice breaking, as she desperately tried to remain calm and rational.
El was silent next to her, in complete shock, and Reuben was inconsolable.
Alex looked at Avery. “I don’t think we can save him, Ave. I think his neck’s broken.”
Avery started to shake all over, as tears overtook her, and she sat back, letting grief flow over her. Alex was right.
“El,” Alex called softly. “Can you—” he gestured towards Reuben, and El nodded, her face white as she eased her way to Reuben and put her arms around him, while he cradled Gill in his lap.
Alex crawled next to Avery and put his arms around her, pulling her close, and she returned his hug, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.
For a few minutes, there was only silence. Avery felt as if she had fallen into a black hole, and the only thing that stopped her from slipping away completely was Alex. His solid warmth was the most comforting thing she could hope for, and she felt his head rest on hers as he pulled her even closer. His body trembled and she looked up at him, smoothing his hair away from his face. His cheeks were wet.
“What happened?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. I have no idea where that bastard came from.” He paused for a second, thinking. “We were searching the crates and trying spells, and all of a sudden, Faversham was there, and he blasted us right off our feet. Then that creature appeared. The thing is, I don’t think he expected us to be so strong. He demanded that we back off and we refused, and it all went mad after that. Gil was caught by that thing and got thrown against the rock. I didn’t even see you arrive. I think he would have killed all of us if you hadn’t come.”
Reuben spoke then, his voice ragged. “I’m going to kill that bastard. He started a war he will not win. And all for a damn book.”
Avery pulled free from Alex. “Did you find it?”
Alex shook his head. “No. Not a trace.”
“Did Faversham know?” Avery couldn’t believe that Gil was dead, and they hadn’t even found the book.
“I don’t think so. He didn’t ask questions.”
“We need to get out of here. Faversham could come back at any moment. And we need to call the police. We have to report Gil’s death.”
“What the hell are we going to say?” El asked, finally speaking.
“We tell them we came searching the caves, and Gil fell from the top of the crates. We keep Faversham’s name out of it—no one will believe in witchcraft, and we can’t reveal ourselves.”
“And what about Newton?” El asked.
“We’ll deal with Newton when the time comes. You stay here with Reuben, and we’ll come back with help. Reuben,” Avery asked gently, “are you okay to stay here with El?”
Reuben nodded. “Whatever. I’m not leaving Gil.”
“No, of course not. I’ll go with Alex, and El can wait with you.” She looked at El, who nodded her agreement.
“And you better find Alicia, too,” Reuben added.
Avery felt her heart sink even more. How would she take it?
“Of course.”
Alex rose to his feet and extending his hand, pulled Avery up next to him. He looked at El and Reuben. “I’m worried about leaving you. Faversham might come back.”
El reassured him. “He won’t come back. He looked injured to me. I think we broke his arm. And he must have used a lot of energy to control whatever that thing was.”
“Come on, let’s go,” Avery said, and they headed to the passage that would lead them back to the glasshouse.
For a while they walked in silence, Avery wondering how to broach the subject of Alicia, but Alex spoke first.
“Are you all right?”
She tried to hold back tears. “Not really, but we have to get through this first.”
He nodded and a guilty look flashed across his face. “I’m wondering if there’s some sort of spell we can use for Gil.”
She looked at him sharply. “No way. You don’t mess with that stuff. People die, Alex.”
“I know, but Gil’s been murdered! He’s gone. He’s our friend!” Alex was almost shouting, a pleading look in his eyes.
They came to an awkward stop, their voices resounding in the enclosed space.
“Of course he’s our friend, but he’s dead, and we cannot bring him back.” Her voice broke into a sob. “We’re not monsters, Alex.”
Alex hugged her close again, wrapping his arms around her. Avery cried properly now. Big, long sobs wracked her body as she felt the shock washing through her, and she felt him shaking, too. Alex felt so strong and so warm that she wanted to stay there forever. But now was not the time. She pulled back. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologise. I shouldn’t have asked. It was stupid, and you’re right. But I feel guilty. Gil didn’t really want to do this. I’m afraid it’s my fault he’s dead.”
Avery shook her head. “We can’t do this. Not here. Not now. We underestimated Faversham—we won’t again. Come on. We need to get moving.”
“But where’s the book? It has to be here somewhere. We can’t have gone through all this for nothing.”
A sudden thought struck Avery, and she smacked her head with her palm. “We’ve been so stupid! How can we have thought the book would have been in pile of crates used by smugglers as recently as the last two hundred years? They would have found something.”
“Shit.” Alex closed his eyes for a second. “We need to get smarter about this.”
“Come on. We’ll think as we walk.”
Alex released his hold and the cold air swirled around Avery again as they continued up the passage.
“What do you know about Alicia?” Avery asked, deciding she had to bring this up.
“Not much, why?”
“Because someone’s betraying us. There’s no way Faversham could know where we were today.”
“He must be using a finding spell!”
“But he knows too much!”
“And you think it’s Alicia? That’s a big accusation.”
“I know, and I don’t say this lightly, but think, Alex! How else could he know what’s going on?”
“But how does Alicia know? She doesn’t even know Gil’s a witch!”
“We don’t know that. He could have been deceived by her for years.” Avery stopped again and told him about her conversation with Reuben. “All of this started when I received the note from Anne. Faversham mentioned Anne. He knew her name! How could he possibly know that?”
Alex rubbed his hands across his face, and the torchlight flickered wildly along the walls. “I suppose that makes sense.” He sounded tired and despondent. “So, what do we do? Do we pretend we don’t know?”
“I think we play it by ear. It depends what she does now. Gil’s dead, and it will be interesting to see how she deals with that.” She paused. “Sorry, that sounded really cold, but you know what I mean.”
Alex nodded. “I know. Are we going to tell the others?”
“I think we have to. Do you trust the others?”
“Reuben, Briar, and El? Yes! Absolutely.”
Avery took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Good. Me, too.”
“Come on,” Alex said. “Time to call the police.”
