“No, it’s been alright aside from Norrell. They don’t need much of anything. They’re all so busy anyway, I hardly see them. I’m trying to spend more time at the shop, get everything squared away while I’m… blocked. But I think I have everything handled at home too. I raked the leaves and debris in my yard by hand the other day, a good arm workout so I’ve discovered,” I say, trying to lighten the mood.
“Oh, I just started a raised bed garden in the backyard, and I can’t believe how many muscles it works that I didn’t know I had. I cheated just a pinch and used some magick fertilizer, so the vegetables grow out of season. It’s early in the process, they’re still sprouting, but I’ve loved it so far. Tending to the garden is so relaxing. Very zen for me. Once we have our first harvest, I’ll bring some over!” Cara gushes.
“I think it’s been helpful during your recovery, my belle,” Ben remarks, his eyes searching Cara’s.
“Yeah, it really has,” she agrees, her eyes turning bright.
As the night progresses, everyone solicits little ways to help me. They are so wonderful, and I’m honored to have such good friends. But I’m still left betwixt and between. So much hinges on my magick. It’ll be smart to plan for a life without it regardless. The world is moving on without me, and I shouldn’t let myself fall too far behind.
Chapter 9
Norrell
“You can’t be serious,” Niven challenges into his phone. From the staircase, I cannot hear exactly what he is being told, but the caller sounds agitated. “I’ll be right there.” My eyebrows rise as I enter the kitchen. Niven seems caught off guard by the call. He smirks to himself, shaking his head as he stares out the glass doors at the back garden.
“Did trouble find you already this morning?” I ask wryly.
“Wouldn’t you know, it did. But things just got a lot more interesting,” he confirms, his gaze flashing to mine. “Sometimes they surprise me, especially when I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee. Norman Weatherby turned up just now at the gas station outside the wards in a stolen automobile. He claims he’s defected from the other warlocks. Wants to turn himself in.”
“Sounds like a break in the case,” I reply, cautiously optimistic.
“It is even if turns out to be some sort of elaborate setup by the warlocks,” he answers. “We can’t be too careful until I have him under compulsion. You can block magick, right? That’s what you yetis do?”
“Something like that. I sense the source of magick and draw it away from the wielder or the spell they cast,” I answer hesitantly.
“And you’re good at it?” he questions with a gleam in his eye.
“Very,” I confirm, curious where this is heading.
“Excellent. You’ll be my backup. I’ll finish my coffee and we’ll hit the road,” Niven says with a broad grin. Like he is anticipating having some fun.
We get into Niven’s borrowed automobile to drive to the gas station outside the ward, where members of the Monstera Bluff coven and some of Niven’s colleagues wait for us. Security is tight. Travel through the sealed ward is now granted manually, as the enchantments within community members’ travel amulets are no longer compatible with it. Witches stationed just within the ward open a section momentarily to grant us passage. We park near the building’s front door. There are several other automobiles in the parking lot. It seems like a crowd has already arrived. I am not sure how I will react to seeing one of the perpetrators of this violence against Ada. For his sake, he better hope I keep a level head.
As we step into the disguised building, several witches dressed in uniform eject one by one from the travel portal. Niven greets them along with his team who I saw at Ada’s interview. They surround an old, graying, human-looking male with a bloated, ruddy face who sits slouched in a chair, his hands in magickal cuffs behind him. He hardly looks like a threat, but sometimes the most dangerous are skilled at concealing it. My hands feel fidgety, ready to slash his throat if the opportunity arises.
“Well, someone decided to grow a conscience. You were only a few weeks too late to make it meaningful,” Niven chides the male, whose hunched posture looks guilt-ridden. “It looks more like you got sick of roughing it.”
“I never thought they’d take it so far. The plan was just to get seats on town council. Then everything spiraled.” He sounds as pathetic as he looks.
“You’re not in a position to inspire any trust in your words, so you’re going to submit to my questioning now,” Niven commands through clenched teeth. The male has the intelligence to look frightened. Though as soon as that expression crosses his face, it slackens as Niven’s compulsion takes hold.
“Where are Dalton Atticus and Ralston Samuels?” Niven asks, not wasting any time.
Empty of expression, the male answers, “When I fled, they were staying in an abandoned fishing shack only a few miles down the coast. They seek out weaknesses in the ward every day.”
Niven’s brows knit in anger, though his hold on the warlock’s mind does not falter. “What is their plan if they find a weakness?”
“Ralston wants his revenge on everyone who wronged him. Cara, Clancy, Ada, the rest of town council. They’re trying to summon a Malefic to help them through and exact their revenge. They’re practicing invisibility spells to help them go undetected while they ambush their perceived enemies. They brought a collection of their enchanted weapons with them,” the warlock responds ominously.
Weapons? This sounds like they have been planning something for a while, way before the human female showed up. “Then what will they do?” Niven presses.
“Try to leave the town in ruins. And then they’ll go somewhere they can take over a human’s land, use their magick to get anything they want. Everything they deserved from this town.” The warlock’s lifeless words send a chill down my spine.
“Did any of you tell the fae to target Ada’s magick?” He pushes the warlock even further, based on the beads of sweat now collecting on the male’s ugly face.
“No, Ralston told it to dispose of Cara and anyone who got in its way. Spare no one,” he confesses.
After several more questions trying to get a better idea where the two remaining warlocks are holed up, Niven releases Norman Weatherby from his mind control.
