I Put a Spell on You (31 page)

“Concentrate,” I said. “Reach out with the witchy part of your mind and feel your energy growing.”

Esme had her eyes closed. She was holding Xander’s spell book tight – it looked like it was squirming in her fingers. She took a deep breath, and…

“Lovely day,” said a voice. I jumped out of my skin and Esme opened her eyes. An old man with a smiley Labrador stood there.

“Oh lovely,” I said politely, while swearing inside. “Nice day for a walk.”

“It surely is,” he said. And – thank goodness – he threw a stick, the dog bounded off, and he followed.

Esme and I exchanged a look and then we started again. She drew up her energy and concentrated on reclaiming her own self. Then she lifted her arm and threw Xander’s spell book as hard as she could across the river. It flew onto the opposite bank and landed with a soft squelch in a pile of muddy leaves. There was a whooshing noise – or it could have just been the wind – and Esme let out a long breath.

There was silence for a second. I couldn’t hear the river, or the distant traffic. And then the noise all came back, and Esme blinked in surprise.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

Esme looked round.

“Everything’s brighter,” she said. “The colours of the river and the muddy bank and the brick of the houses. And more in focus.”

She pushed up her sleeve. The sparkles were gone.

“We did it,” I said in relief. “Thank god for that.”

“Should we leave his spell book over there?” Esme said. Xander’s book, with the precious message from his mum inside was nestled in the mud on the other side of the river.

“Maybe not,” I said. I reached out with the witchy part of my brain and felt the soft cover of the book, now covered in cold mud – and it appeared in my hand.

“Yuk,” I said.

“Amazing,” said a voice in my ear. The Labrador sniffed round my toes and I turned to see the old man.

“Trick of the light,” I said with a grin.

Arm in arm we walked back to Xander’s house.

“You need to stay here and see what else you can find,” I told Esme. Really I just wanted her to stay out of the way, and to be safe. I knew if I told her that, though, she’d immediately tell me she was coming with me.

“Okay,” she said. “But where are you going?”

“I have to go and meet Xander,” I said. “I have to talk to him. He’s my brother, Ez, I need to understand why he’s been doing all this.”

“Call me if you need me,” Esme said.

I kissed her on the cheek and she clung onto me for a second.

“Be careful.”

Chapter 45

I wasn’t sure if Xander would be at the spa. After all, we’d sent him off there ages ago. I texted him saying I was on my way, and hoped he’d be there when I arrived.

But when I got there, there was no sign of him. I sat down in one of the comfy sofas in reception and flicked through a magazine, not reading any of the pages. I thought I’d give him half an hour, then go home and think about what to do next. It would probably be sensible to fill Louise in on everything we’d discovered and let her deal with it from here.

But just as I was thinking it would be a good idea if Xander didn’t arrive, suddenly there he was in front of me, his face pale and drawn, but with a smudge of dirt down one cheek.

“Where did you come from?” I said. He hadn’t come in the front door, I’d have seen him.

“I was downstairs,” he said vaguely. “Checking some stuff.”

I frowned at him. I’d been planning what I was going to say and how I was going to confront him with my theory but now I saw him, just standing there being Xander, I didn’t know where to start.

“Before you say anything I want you to know how sorry I am,” he said. “This whole thing just got out of control.”

He sat down next to where I was standing, on the comfy sofas in reception, and tucked his hands under his knees like a little boy.

“I’m sorry,” he said, looking up at me.

I found my voice.

“You’re sorry?” I said. “What for exactly? For ruining my business? For breaking up Esme’s relationship? For…”

I stopped.

“I didn’t hurt Star,” he said. “She was ill, H. I wouldn’t do that.”

“Don’t call me that,” I muttered. “Only my friends call me that. You have swanned in here and picked my life apart – you’re not my friend.”

“No I’m not,” Xander said. “I’m your brother.”

I stared at him.

“You are?” I said. “You really are?”

He nodded.

“And you’re a witch?”

He nodded again.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” I said, sitting down next to him. “I’d have been pleased. Thrilled. I’ve always wanted a brother.”

Xander snorted.

“What?” I said. “I’d have been a lot happier about it if you’d told me before you ruined my life.”

“It should have been my life,” he said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“It should have been my life,” he said again. “Do you know what it was like for me growing up in a normal family? My mum had no idea how to deal with me – with the things I could do – but she tried, you know. She really tried. And then she died.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But none of this is my fault.”

Xander wasn’t looking at me.

“And when she died she gave me Dad’s spell book and told me to find him. I thought he could help me make sense of everything. But when I tracked him down, he didn’t want to know.”

He shifted in his seat so he was facing me, but he still didn’t meet my gaze.

“He told me he had another family – a daughter – and he didn’t want me ruining it.”

I felt an unexpected glimmer of sympathy for him.

“You thought it was me?”

He nodded.

“It’s not me,” I said. “I’ve never met him.”

Xander looked like he didn’t really care.

“I found you unexpectedly,” he said. “I used to visit inharmony.com all the time. It really helped me when I was trying to get to grips with everything.”

I gave a grim smile.

“That’s what it’s for,” I said.

“I found your photo on the site and I recognised you,” he said. “You look like me. I can’t believe you’ve never noticed.”

“I just thought it was coincidence,” I said frostily. “Excuse me for not immediately assuming you were the brother I never knew about.”

“It didn’t take much to find out about you and put two and two together,” he carried on. “And then I just watched you, and waited. And when the time was right, I came to Edinburgh.”

My head was spinning.

“So you came to ruin my life?” I said.

“Not ruin it,” he said. “Take it. I wanted everything you had. The business, your family, Esme…”

It all began to fall into place.

“So all those times you dived in and saved me – put things right – you’d caused the problems in the first place?” I said, still not quite believing it.

Xander nodded.

“I thought you’d give up eventually,” he said. “And then I’d take over.”

I shook my head.

“And Mum? All those phone calls?”

He shrugged.

“She’s nice,” he said.

“And Esme?”

“I saw how you are together,” he said. “I liked your friendship. I wanted it. So I took it.”

“She’s devastated,” I pointed out.

Xander shrugged again.

“And all this is because of our dad?” I said. “Our dad who I’ve never even met. Who I saw for the first time in a bloody magic mirror? And who – as far as I can tell – has another daughter that he’s not interested in either.”

Xander looked slightly ashamed for the first time.

“By the time I realised you weren’t the reason Dad rejected me, I was in too deep,” he said.

I’d heard enough.

“You are crazy,” I said. I got up and picked up my bag and coat. “This is crazy. I’m going home now and I’m calling the police. I don’t care if you are my brother, you’re not getting away with this.”

“It’s too late,” Xander said, looking genuinely sorry. “It’s too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a fire,” he said, rubbing his cheek where the dark smudge was. “In the basement. I expect it’s spreading into the treatment rooms now.”

A cold fear gripped me. I threw my bag down on the sofa and dashed down the corridor towards the treatment rooms. Somewhere up ahead, I heard glass smash and smoke billowed down the hall towards me. I shrieked, torn between terror and rage that Xander would do this.

I needed my phone – which was in my bag, back in reception. I turned to run back the way I’d come, coughing as the smoke got thicker, but I couldn’t see where to go. I fumbled along the wall, feeling my way.

“Xander,” I shouted. “Call 999.”

He didn’t reply.

“Xander!” I yelled again, but I couldn’t breathe properly because the smoke was creeping into my lungs. Trying to think straight, I bent over so I was lower down. Nope, that made no difference. I stood up again, and whacked my head – hard – on something. Dizzy, I reeled back and tripped, landing face-down on the carpet. And then everything went black.

Chapter 46

I don’t think I was out cold for long. But as soon as I came round, I realised I was in trouble. Big trouble. I was completely disorientated – I literally didn’t even know which way led back to reception and which way went towards the yoga studio. I crawled along the floor, head pounding, trying desperately to keep my panic under control, until I found a door.

“Oh thank god, thank god, thank god,” I coughed. I felt my way up to the door handle, pulled my jumper over my hand in case it was hot, then half fell, half dived through into the room. It was my office.

“Thank god,” I gasped again. I slammed the door shut behind me and quickly, I pulled off my jumper, rolled it up and shoved it along the bottom of the door to stop the smoke coming in. I knew it wouldn’t be long, though, before this room was as bad as the corridor had been.

“Phone,” I said. “Where’s the phone?” It was dark in the office, and though I tried the light switch there was no power. I felt my way across the desk until I found the phone but it was dead too. I pressed the buttons wildly but nothing happened. I was trapped.

I raced to the window and tried to open it. No luck. It was locked and I couldn’t pull up the sash. I wasn’t sure if it was the window or my shaking hands that were to blame. Gibbering with fear, I picked up the stapler from my desk and smashed it against the glass. It bounced off without even cracking it. I screwed up all my energy and tried to crack it magically but I was so scared that I couldn’t focus my power and nothing happened. Disappointed and frightened, I peered out of the window hoping someone would be passing but there was no one outside. The mews was deserted at the best of times, and my office looked out onto the side of the building. I’d chosen it deliberately so I wouldn’t be disturbed. Stupid, stupid decision.

Crying now, I went back to the door, stumbling over something in the dark, My office, which had always been a sanctuary – a haven away from the busy spa – suddenly seemed threatening. Would I die here?

I reached the door and stood for a second in front of it. Would it be crazy to open it? Cautiously I reached out to feel it and pulled my hand back sharply. It was scorching hot. Terrified, and completely out of options, I dropped to the floor and crawled my way back to the desk, then I slumped down in the chair.

It was getting harder for me to breathe and I was beginning to feel sleepy but suddenly I no longer felt scared. Instead I just felt sad. Sad that I couldn’t tell my mum how brilliantly she’d brought me up and how she’d made sure I never once wished for a dad, sad that I wouldn’t enjoy more dates – and who knew what else – with Louise, sad that Esme would never know that though she annoyed me more than anyone else in the whole world, she was also the best friend I’d ever had…

Esme. Somewhere in the depths of my heavy head, that rang a bell. Esme. We’d always been able to ‘speak’ to each other without words. Maybe it was because we were witches, maybe it’s because our mums were twins, maybe it was just a friendship thing. Who knows? But now, despite my drooping eyelids and wheezing breaths, I suddenly thought Esme might be my last hope.

Weakly, I reached out with the witchy part of my mind.

“Esme,” I called, without speaking. “Esme. Can you hear me? I need you, Esme…”

And then the tiredness overwhelmed me. I put my head on my arms and closed my eyes.

“Harry.” Afamiliar voice was speaking in my ear. “Harry, oh shit, Harry.”

I forced open my eyes but all I could see was smoke.

“Harry, sweetheart, wake up.”

I tried again, blinking as the acrid air stung my eyes.

“Jamie,” I croaked.

“Can you stand up?” he said. “We need to go. Quick as you can.”

He slung my arm around his neck and pulled me to my feet.

“Come on,” he said dragging me towards the window.

“It won’t open,” I said, beginning to panic again. “It won’t open.”

Jamie propped me up against the wall.

“Stay there,” he said. He picked up the chair I’d been sitting on and swung it hard, towards the corner of the window. It shattered immediately and the chair disappeared outside into the night.

Jamie took off his coat and put it over the window ledge, then he leaned out.

“We could do with some help here,” he bellowed.

Almost immediately there was noise, voices and light. Jamie helped me to the window and arms reached in and pulled me out. Jamie clambered out after me. Someone I didn’t recognise wrapped me in a blanket. In the distance I could hear sirens.

“Where’s Esme?” I said.

“Here, I’m here.” Esme pushed her way past a man who was filming the fire on his phone, giving him a disgusted look. She threw her arms around me.

“I was so worried,” she wailed. “I heard you, I heard you calling but I didn’t know what to do.”

I gave her a weak smile.

“You did everything right,” I said. “You rescued me.”

“Well, I rang Jamie and he rescued you,” she said. “He’d rung me and left a message saying he was walking past the mews and it made him think of me.” She flashed a quick, embarrassed look at Jamie. “And then I heard you, so I rang him back and asked him to check on you.”