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“I have to go soon, I don’t want to get caught in traffic.”
It was an unholy hour, and Lily was half asleep. She’d heard her mother moving and she’d left Matt and Nate to sleep while she went down. The twins had already left earlier, whispering they loved her before climbing out of the window.
She wrapped her dressing gown tighter as she watched her mother pick up the giant canvas tote she used as a handbag and set it with the other bags by the front door. “Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room before I go?”
“Elephant?”
“Don’t be obtuse.”
Lily drew her feet onto the edge of the sofa and hugged her legs.
“You let him kiss you. I know you’re young still, I know things can be confusing. You may not settle with Matt or J... the twin, but I do know even puppy love hurts. If you like Matt, you need to tell...” She hesitated.
“Josh,” Lily said.
“Josh, you need to tell Josh that Matt is your boyfriend. Don’t play one against the other, you’ll get burnt. Those boys are closer than blood brothers, they will talk to each other.”
She didn’t know what to say. The last thing she wanted, or needed, was to try and explain their relationship. Her mother would never understand, and she might even put her foot down and say she couldn’t go camping with them.
Her mother sighed, rubbing her forehead. “That’s the elephant, now let’s deal with the skeleton. Are you really going to call him Dad?”
The pain in her mother’s voice made her heart clench, but she wouldn’t back down. “It’s who he is, Mum, whether you like it or not.”
“Those mugs aren’t wrong you know.”
“Mugs? What mugs?”
“Those gift mugs that say, ‘Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad’.” Her mother poked the arm of her chair repeatedly. “He’s nothing more than a sperm donor. He didn’t bring you up, I did.”
“I know that. You’re my mum, and I love you. He just wants to be a dad to me. That’s why he bought me the phone, laptop and saved up for me.”
“Maybe he has saved for you, and maybe pigs have grown wings and are now flying transatlantic, who knows.”
“Oh, for goodness sake, what does he have to do to get you to change your mind about him?” Lily snapped.
“Turn back time and give back my sister.” She got up and went to the door, picking up her bags. “I need to get going. I’ll text you when I get there.”
A lump caught in her throat, she couldn’t let her mother walk away angry or disappointed. She had to try, just once more. “You’ll be too tangled up with Mr Pringle, emotionally and physically, to even think of me.”
“You’re a bad girl, Lilith May! Go on with you.” She laughed, a smile appearing on her lips, and it lifted Lily’s mood.
Her mother unlocked the front door and stepped out. It was still dark, but false dawn was creeping over the treeline. “I know you don’t want to hear this. But, please, be careful with Drew.”
“He said you view magic like cancer,” Lily blurted.
Her mother looked taken aback for a few seconds. “Why did he tell you that?”
“I thought you hated me, that you couldn’t love me because I was evil.” Tears formed, and she blinked them away, frustrated at her own weakness. “He said you don’t view the magic as being me.”
“Magic isn’t you, it’s just attached to you. I don’t hate you, I could never hate you, I love you, Lily. And I will keep telling you until you believe me. Everything I do, everything, is for you.”
Lily went into her, relieved when her mother dropped the bags and wrapped her arms around her.
“I’m so sorry. I should have told you, but I was scared, young, and I was selfish. You are my daughter, Lily, you are mine in everything except DNA.”
“I’ve felt so adrift. It’s stupid, really.” Lily backed away, wiping at her face. “You’re my mum, nothing will change that. But so many other things are changing, and it’s overwhelming. So much to take in at the same time.”
“It’s going to be all right, I promise.” She picked up her bags. “Make sure you lock up at night. And don’t forget to eat properly, especially breakfast. Eat your porridge every day. Take it camping with you.” She went out of the gate and started down the road.
“I will. Drive safely, Mum.”
“Ring me if you need me,” she called.
Lily stayed in the doorway until her mother’s mini pulled up by the gate. The passenger window lowered. “I want to see all the porridge gone by the time I get back. At least I’ll know you’ve had one decent meal a day.”
“I’m not that bad.” Lily laughed.
“I mean it, Lilith. Oh, and try to remember how the washing machine works. I don’t want to come back to Mount Everest.”
“I’ll try, but it’s so complicated to use.”
“It’s not—” Her mother shook her head when Lily poked her tongue out at her.
“Go on, Mum, Mr Pringle is waiting for you. He’ll pine away if you don’t hurry.”
“Bad girl! Remember, washing and porridge.”
“I will.”
She watched her mother drive away before going in and shutting the door. She might as well keep her promise about the porridge now she was up.
—***—
JONAS HESITATED BEFORE sitting on the chair by the fireplace. “Okay. Someone has definitely died this time.”
“No, no deaths.” Lily forced a laugh, but no one joined in.
The tension in the room rose when there was a knock on the front door.
“What’s going on?” Jonas’s deep voice resonated through the room.
“I’ll get it.” She raced from the room and closed her eyes briefly at the front door. If she was nervous, the boys must be on tenterhooks. They hadn’t shown any signs of nerves, but when the twins came back earlier, they were quieter than usual.
She opened the door, knowing who would be standing there.
“Hi, Lily, how are you feeling today?”
“I’m fine, thanks.” She stepped to one side to let Drew in. He closed the door and indicated for her to go first.
She went in, scurried over to her seat between the twins and collapsed into it. And then jumped up again, remembering her manners. “Oh, sorry. Who wants a drink? Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate? There’s some juice, and I think there may be some lemonade left.”
Josh tugged her belt loop. “We’re okay, babe, sit down.”
“Oh, okay, but if you want anything just say.” She sat down.
“What’s going on here? Who is this?” Jonas demanded as Drew took a kitchen chair and straddled it. “Is this who cast an Obscurus Arcanum and scared the life out of you, Lily?”
“I’m Lily’s father, Drew Wenlock. You seem to know me, but I’m afraid I’m at a loss as to who you are, other than the boys’ mentor,” Drew answered.
“Jonas Rutledge. Why are you here?” he snapped the words out, his eyes narrowed. “Boys, why is he here? Has he hurt you?”
“I haven’t hurt anyone. I explained myself to Lily, and it’s behind us. That’s not why we’re here though. How far have you got, boys?” Drew looked around at them.
“Nowhere,” Matt admitted. “We were waiting for you.”
“Fair enough. Let’s get one thing out of the way before we do anything else, Jonas. I know what you are, and I know you’ve been protecting the boys. None of them told me about you, so don’t get angry with them. I found out about you anyway.”
“I heard. By forcing your way into a boy’s memory,” Jonas drawled, clearly not impressed.
“Any means necessary when it comes to keeping my daughter safe.” Drew leant his arms across the back of the chair.
“What is this all about?” Jonas demanded.
“There was a power cut here last night,” Drew answered him.
“It happens several times a year, ask the boys, nothing unusual about that.”
“No, but we also had a visit. Well, Lily did, a close encounter if you will. The Council sent a witch-hunter and a vampire.”
Jonas turned to the fireplace, snapping his fingers, and flames caught the kindling roaring into life.
“The Council is still around, it always will be. You must know that,” Drew pressed him.
“There is no Council of One Purpose.” Jonas voice was flat, dead, almost disinterested.
Nate made a noise at the back of his throat and she looked at him. He was sitting opposite Jonas with Matt perched on the arm, both looking conflicted. Josh was fidgeting with his fingers and Jake was twitching. She couldn’t do much to help Nate or Matt, but she knew how to make it easier for the twins. She stood up and Jake didn’t need prompting. He shifted over until he was pressed against Josh from shoulder to knee. She sat down and rested her elbows on her knees.
Drew took in a deep breath. “Say it again. Say there’s no Council.”
“There is no Council.”
“Bullshit! Why are you here?” Drew demanded.
“None of your business. What are you doing here?”
“You know why I’m here. I need to know if you were sent here? Or was it purely coincidence?”
“Lots of things happen purely by coincidence. But I still don’t know why you think it’s any of your business.” Jonas sat back from the fire, still watching the flames.
“Because that’s my daughter sitting by your protégés!” Drew pointed at her, still glaring at Jonas. “It’s most definitely my business if you feed her lies! All I care about is her safety. You’re protecting those boys; why?” Drew didn’t raise his voice, but she heard his anger.
“You know why,” Jonas snapped.
“Tell me again. If the Council isn’t around anymore, what difference does it make?”
“Non-magical people would rip him apart if they got their hands on him, you know that. You know how rare it is, but if they find him—” He let out a grunt and closed his eyes.
“You do know they exist!” Lily cried. How could he do that to them? How could he lie to them?
“You just said ‘if they find him’.” Nate’s voice was muffled, his head in his hands, elbows on his knees. Matt was staring at Jonas as if he’d never seen him before. The twins didn’t react at all, but she knew they were saying a lot inside. They’d all been clinging to the hope that Jonas hadn’t lied, and with one sentence, that hope had been ripped away.
Jonas looked across at Lily, catching her gaze. “There is no Council.”
“But you lie—” She stopped abruptly, something was wrong. She didn’t know what, but there was just something in the way he looked directly at her, and not the boys. It wasn’t her he needed to grovel to.
He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth and she saw a red stain before he folded the cloth. She made herself think clearly, to push down her anger with him and think about the whole picture.
“Are you lying?” she asked.
“I’m telling you what I can,” he replied.
“What about the car last night? Do you deny there was a witch-hunter and a vampire here?” Drew demanded.
“I only have your word for who was in that car. Did you see them?” Jonas asked.
“We saw how Lily was. She was freezing, and it wasn’t a natural cold.” Matt’s voice was emotionless, his eyes looked dead.
“I’m telling you what I can,” he repeated.
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake. If you’re hiding something and it puts my daughter in danger, I will take you apart bit by bit.” Drew slammed his hand onto the back of the chair.
Jonas looked stricken but turned his face away, shrugging helplessly. “I’ve told you what I can.”
“Jonas.” Lily caught his attention. “Please, give me something else.”
He held her gaze, silent for so long that she thought he wasn’t going to help. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and then met her gaze. “Lon.” He brought his handkerchief to his lips and coughed into it, his other hand was white knuckled on the arm of his chair.
“What?” Drew was mystified as he looked at Jonas. “What the hell is that? Why won’t you help us here?”
“I seem to have picked up a cold,” Jonas said, wiping at his mouth.
“We trusted you, we still do, we still will, just tell us, please,” Nate begged, and her heart twisted in her chest at his desperation.
“Well, then you’re a moron.” Drew sneered at Nate.
Nate swore at him and then true to form, they were trading insults at the top of their voices. Lily shut them all out, trying to work out what he was telling her. She’d asked, and he’d given it to her.
Lon.
All she needed to do now was work out what it meant.
London? Long? Longitude?
It made no sense, there was no word that seemed relevant at all. She took out her phone and type the word into a search engine. Nothing came up that made any sense to what was happening here. Frustrated she racked her brains, she had to figure this out.
Maybe Lon was the meaning of something, not a place or object. She searched the meaning and scrolled down, confusion growing, until something caught her eye.
L.O.N. League of Nations.
How on earth did the League of Nations have anything to do with it?
It seemed like a long shot, a stab in the dark, but it was worth a try. She looked at Jonas, who was watching her intently. “League of Nations?”
He closed his eyes, his shoulders slumped as he nodded his head once.
“What are you talking about?” Matt looked at her.
Lily ignored him, going through all she knew about the organisation. “League of Nations. Set up in 1919 to try and settle disputes before they erupted into open warfare. In the early years it had good success but began to falter when it couldn’t prevent conflicts that led straight into the second world war. It was dismantled until after the war when it was resurrected, with a few changes, to be the United Nations. The UN had most of the same ideals— Oh, oh! What else is the Council known as? What other names does it have?” She looked over at Drew and saw his instant realisation.
“Merlin! They gave it a fancy new name back in the eighteenth century, but no one paid any mind to it. Reformation. They called it the Reformation of the One Purpose.” He looked at Jonas. “You’ve been playing with semantics.”
Jonas gave a humourless laugh and winced. A trickle of blood appeared on his lips and she went forward onto her knees in front of him. “Why is your mouth bleeding? Have you cut yourself?”
“Bleeding?” Drew jumped to his feet.
The twins shot up, blocking his way to Jonas, but he ignored them. “You can’t, can you? You can’t tell them. That wording—you’re bound by a curse, aren’t you?” Drew exclaimed.
“That’s why you kept telling me not to take things at surface value. You want to tell them, but you can’t.” Lily got to her feet. “You didn’t mean Drew, you meant you.”
“I should have said it sooner,” he tried to joke, but flinched as blood dripped from his mouth.
“Stop!” Drew pushed past the twins. “Don’t even think about it. Keep your mind blank. I’ll find it, okay? I’ll find it and undo it.”
“No.” Jonas jerked on the chair, blood splattered onto his knees.
“Why’s he bleeding? What’s going on?” Nate’s voice echoed the panic she saw in all her boys.
“He’s never lied to you, but he’s never told the truth either. He literally can’t tell you, well, he could try, and he has now.” Drew looked at Jonas. “What will happen? Drown in your own blood?”
Jonas shook his head and flinched. Pain washed over his face, but he said nothing.
“Okay, okay, it doesn’t really matter what—”
“Of course, it matters,” Lily cried, horrified.
“What I was trying to say”—he pulled a face at her—“is that whatever is causing the bleeding isn’t important, stopping it, however, is.”
“Oh, sorry.” She gave him a sheepish look, and he winked at her.
“What do we do?” Nate was cleaning his glasses on his jumper, his face white as a sheet.
“It’s okay, Nate, honestly.” Jonas dabbed at his mouth, but his voice was muffled, as if something was in there.
“Oh, my god! You’re biting your tongue, aren’t you?” Lily clenched her hands together.
Jonas gave her a crooked smile, but didn’t answer, he didn’t have to.
“Is it tagged? Just a nod or shake.” Drew went to him, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Jonas nodded, groaning with pain as more blood seeped from his mouth.
Matt touched Jonas’s cheek, and roared with agony, stumbling backwards. The twins caught him before he could fall and hauled him onto the sofa. Blood gushed from his nose, and he had a dazed look on his face.
Drew thrust a handkerchief towards him. “Idiot. You aren’t healing this. It’s a binding curse. Don’t you know anything?”
Lily took it and held it to Matt’s nose, worry gripping her heart until his eyes focused.
He took the cloth and gripped her hand in his other. “I’m fine. Jonas, help Jonas.”
“I should kick your arse for not teaching them anything, but I guess you had good reason.” Drew sat opposite Jonas in the chair Nate had vacated to get to Matt.
“There must be something we can do,” Josh said, twisting to look at Drew.
“Please, Dad, you must know something that can help.” Lily moved from the sofa to kneel beside him.
Drew stroked her cheek gently. “I’ve waited years to hear you call me that. You’ve called me Dad a few times, but the feeling is even better than I’d imagined.” He looked at Jonas. “I will try to help you, but I’m making it clear that I’m doing this for Lily and only Lily. If I had my way I’d take her and leave you all to rot.”
“Please! That’s not helping,” Lily begged. “He’s hurting.”
“All right, but I’m only trying for you.”
“Yeah, well, don’t exert yourself,” Nate muttered.
“Nate!” Lily flapped a hand at him.
He pulled a face at her as he sank next to Matt. The twins took a defensive position either side of them.
“How do we even know it’s not him doing all this?” Nate pointed at Drew.
“You don’t. You’re going to have to go out on a limb here, Nate. And when Jonas can talk freely you’ll finally see what morons you’ve all been.” Drew smiled coldly at him. “In fact, I can hardly bear the wait. It’ll be one of those ‘mark it on the calendar’ events: Nate, and his merry band of morons finally realise they’re delusional assholes that don’t know it all.”
“Fuck you!” snarled Nate.
“Stop it, all of you,” Lily ordered. “This isn’t the time to dig at each other. We need to figure out a way to get this tagged binding thing off.”
“What is a tagged binding?” Jake asked.
Lily heard the fear in his voice, and she went to him. He pulled her onto his lap and she put her hand on Matt’s thigh.
“It’s a curse that’s tagged to the caster. They’ll know the moment the binding is removed, and they’ll be here before we can blink to see why,” Drew answered.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“You let me think. No more questions and we may be able to save what’s left of his tongue.”
They sat there for what seemed like hours, no one moving except for Lily to swap out whose lap she was sitting on. Drew never said a word, and Jonas never opened his eyes as he leant his head against the chair.
Lily didn’t know how to help her boys, she was useless, and it frustrated her. She could feel their rising tension as the clock on the mantelpiece ticked the hours away. She was dozing on Nate’s lap when her phone rang, startling everyone.
“I’ll take it upstairs.” She slid from Nate’s lap and put it to her ear as she went up the stairs.
“I’m here, darling. Traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.”
“Oh, that’s good. I’m glad.” She went into her room and flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. “Mr Pringle okay?”
“He is. He’s sold three more of my paintings. And he wants to run another show with a winter theme, so I’m going to have to get my thinking cap on when I get back. That harbour village you told me about, Porthaven? I might do that one. And the quarry would look good when it’s icy and snow covered. I wonder if the water freezes over.”
“Seems like your thinking cap is already on.” Lily smiled, despite the situation downstairs. “You have the manor to do in winter as well.”
“That’s exclusive for the Crowders, I can’t do two and sell one.”
The tension eased from her as she listened to her mother talking about other ideas she had. It was normal, and she hadn’t realised how much she craved it, but normal was no longer a part of her life.
One thing her mother was right about; magic was a pain. If it wasn’t for magic, none of this would be happening. Drew would never have lost Sarah or her, Jonas wouldn’t be chewing his own tongue off. Nate and the boys wouldn’t be in danger or getting hurt. They’d be normal teenagers, doing normal teenage things.
“Lily? Lily? Are you still there?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. What did you say?”
“I was making sure you were eating properly.”
“Mum, you only left this morning. I haven’t even got to a mealtime to forget yet.”
“There! See! This is why you should be here and not there. It’s three in the afternoon, you should have had lunch by now.”
“Missing one meal won’t kill me, Mum.”
“Okay, but I want you to eat regularly, especially breakfast.”
“Well, you’ll be pleased to hear I ate my breakfast after you left. Aren’t you proud of me?”
“Porridge?”
“Yep.”
“I’m very proud of you in that case.” Her mother laughed, and it made Lily smile to hear it.
“You sound happy, Mr Pringle must be doing something right. High five him from me, yeah?”
“I will do no such thing, cheeky brat.”
Her bedroom door opened, and she sat up to see the twins come in, pale faced and concerned. It wiped away the ease, bringing the tension back.
“The boys are here. I need to go, Mum. Take care, won’t you?”
“I will, and you. You take care. I’ll call you later. Bye, darling. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mum.”
Lily rang off, putting the phone on the side as the twins closed the door. They slumped onto the bed, wrapping her into their arms, entangling their legs with hers, and burying their faces in her neck.
“Still nothing?” she whispered, running her fingers through their hair.
Twin heads were shaken, and she sighed heavily. “Are Matt and Nate all right?”
“Yeah, they’ve stayed to keep an eye on things,” Josh whispered into her neck.
He’d said things, but she knew he meant Drew. “He won’t hurt Jonas.” She worked her fingers through the dark strands of their hair. “He’ll only help him.”
“How can you be sure?” Jake asked.
“Because he didn’t lie when he said he was doing it for me. I believe him when he said he’d leave you to rot if he could.”
“Baby, he’s not a nice person.” Josh lifted his head, but Jake remained buried in her neck.
“I think he’s worried about why Jonas is here. He’s suspicious of Jonas because what he’s said wasn’t right. Once Jonas can tell us it’s okay, he’ll be all right.”
Josh didn’t say anything, just kissed her nose and buried his face into her neck again.
She continued to run her fingers through their hair, staring at the wooden beams above her head, not sure who she was trying to convince more, them or herself.
