The Language of Spells (29 page)

Gwen glanced at the pile of vegetables on the draining board. They were whiteish yellow, sickly-looking.

‘How did you get in?’

‘I told you.’ Lily gave her strange tinkling laugh. It lifted the hairs on the back of Gwen’s neck. ‘Neighbours all look out for each other around here.’

Gwen edged backwards, thinking that if she could grab the phone in the hallway, she would call for help. Lily did not look at all well.

‘I’d rather you stayed here. Rude to leave so quickly.’ Lily’s eyes were shining feverishly. ‘We’ve got such a lot to talk about.’

Gwen looked at the pile of vegetation again. ‘That’s Wolfsbane.’

‘Aconite, yes,’ Lily said. ‘I was wondering what to do with it. I’ve got such a lot.’

‘It’s poisonous,’ Gwen said. ‘You need to be careful.’

‘Don’t pretend to be concerned,’ Lily snapped. ‘You don’t care about me. You’ve heard what everyone says. I’m evil.’

Gwen swallowed. ‘Nobody’s saying that.’

‘Liar.’ Lily spoke mildly, but her eyes hadn’t lost their crazed glaze.

Gwen felt the counter behind her and realised that she’d been backing away.

Lily took a step forward. ‘You’re as bad as Iris, you know. I tried to be a friend, I welcomed you, but you’ve been keeping secrets. You’re keeping what’s mine. Just like Iris.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Gwen said. ‘I don’t have anything that belongs to you.’

‘Stop playing games.’ Lily’s voice went up at least an octave. ‘You know what I want. Iris must’ve written about it. She scribbled everything down in those little books. I know.’

‘I know she was scared of you,’ Gwen said. Her own fear was there now, unmistakable and pressing onto her chest.

Lily shook her head, smiling eerily. ‘I can’t live like this. The worry is too much. It’s exhausting.’ She smoothed a hand across her brow, as if erasing the lines there. ‘All you have to do is give me the evidence and I’ll leave you alone. I’ll even let you stay here.’

‘What evidence?’

‘Iris called it her insurance. Evidence that put me in the house when my poor father had his accident. She said if anything happened to her, it would be found. Now I’ve gone over and over that day and I’m sure there isn’t anything, but I can’t help worrying.’ Her mask had slipped. Lily was breathing heavily, her silk blouse stained with crescent moons of sweat under each arm. ‘I’m not going to jail. He never wanted to be an invalid. He was in pain. I gave him peace, so it’s only fair I got his house.’

‘Did he want that kind of peace?’ Gwen couldn’t help thinking about an old man standing at the top of a staircase, feeling a shove in the small of his back and the sensation of falling, the lurching panic.

‘What other kind is there?’ Lily said. ‘Besides, he knew I wasn’t cut out to be a nursemaid. He
knew
that.’

Lily was between her and the doorway to the hall. The route to the back door was clear, but it was much further and Lily only had to take a couple of steps, lunge a bit, and she had it covered. ‘I know what you can do. I know how you found your niece. And that dead boy. All you have to do is find Iris’s evidence. It’s not such a big ask. You’ve been doing favours for people all over town.’

‘I can try,’ Gwen said. ‘But I can only find what actually exists.’

Lily’s mouth twisted. ‘How convenient.’

‘It’s the truth,’ Gwen said. ‘And I promise you that Iris didn’t tell me about any evidence. I really don’t think it’s real. I think she made it up.’

Lily’s smile fled. The expression that replaced it was so much worse. ‘You’re not leaving me much choice, Gwen. I’ve got to be certain no one knows. It’s nothing personal, you understand?’

Gwen slid her hand behind her back and felt around on the counter for a weapon. ‘Can’t we talk about this?’ Gwen said. ‘Work something out?’

‘Everyone around here knows you’re unstable. Doesn’t matter what the police say, half the town thinks you had something to do with your niece going missing. I made sure of that. And now she’s so poorly, too.’ Lily’s mouth twisted. ‘When she dies it won’t take much to convince everyone that you killed yourself out of guilt.’

‘Nobody will believe a word from you.’
Good job, Gwen. Insult the crazy woman.

‘But the herbs that Katie took are right here, in your kitchen.’ Lily’s blue eyes were like marbles. The whites showing all the way around. ‘And the flask that Katie drank from belongs to you.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘You really should have checked the contents list for the house when I told you to, Gwen. Iris had a pretty little flask and you inherited it along with the house. Such a shame you decided to brew such a nasty concoction to feed to poor little Katie.’ Lily shook her head in mock sadness. ‘It’s truly tragic when someone turns on their own family like that. I tried to warn everyone that you were trouble and now they’ll know how right I was.’

Gwen’s insides were like ice. ‘What did you give Katie? Tell me.’

Lily ignored her. ‘I’m doing you a favour, really. You don’t know what it’s like in this place. You make one little mistake and they never forgive you. Never let you forget.’ Lily produced a knife. ‘You’re the crazy one. Everyone knows it. And now you’re suicidal, too.’

Gwen’s fingers closed around the handle of something. She brought it out in one deft movement, hoping for a knife or the steak mallet. It was a spatula.

Lily laughed happily. ‘What are you going to do? Spread me?’

Damn.

Lily was moving slowly to one side, stealthily. A look more dangerous than Gwen had ever seen crossed her face. Her voice was quiet, insidious. ‘You’ll never belong in Pendleford. You may as well give up. Give me the evidence and you can leave. I don’t mean you any harm.’

Gwen forced herself to pause, to look as though she were seriously contemplating Lily’s words. Then she ran for the doorway. She made it into the hallway, but could feel Lily right behind her. Everything seemed to have slowed down; she was hyper-aware of everything: the slippery tiles on the hall floor, the sound of her desperate breathing, the scent of oak and earth and, underneath those, something foul.

The knife slashed down to her left, slicing through her sleeve. She dived through the nearest open door in the hope she’d be able to shut it behind her.

She was too late. Lily was halfway through into the dining room. Her hand grasped the back of Gwen’s shirt and she yanked, pulling Gwen backwards. She stumbled, almost toppling over.

Gwen managed to pull away in one panicked movement. She stumbled forwards, picking up the only portable item on the vast expanse of the unused dining table. A plant pot. She edged behind the table and hefted the ceramic in her hands, getting ready to throw it.

Lily was still talking, varying in volume like a radio being tuned in and out. ‘I am never going to stop, you know. You may as well leave. I am never going to let you have End House. It’s just not yours. Not by rights. And you’re just like her. Sitting in your big house, laughing at me, thinking you’re better than me.’

‘I don’t want to be like Iris. I don’t want people to visit me; I want a quiet life.’ Gwen tried to sound reasonable. Soothing.

Lily shook her head violently, the knife waving. ‘It’s all just words. You should know better. Action is what counts.’

Gwen thought about screaming, but knew no one was close enough to hear. Damn the stupid isolated house and damn her pathetic witchy powers. What good was the ability to ‘find things’ now? She needed super-strength or the ability to shoot lasers from her eyes.

Lily was creeping forwards, circling the table. ‘I tried to tell your niece that. You’ve got to go after what you want in life. No one’s going to hand you anything on a plate.’

Gwen felt sick. ‘When did you speak to Katie? Tell me what you did to her. Please.’

Lily paused, looking outraged. ‘I gave her what she wanted. I gave her power, which is more than you, her so-called aunt, did. You and Iris. You’re selfish. You want to keep everything for yourselves.’

Oh God. Katie
.

Lily started moving again, taking tiny steps and moving on the balls of her feet like a parody of a ballet dancer.

Gwen moved crab-wise in the other direction, but she knew it wasn’t going to be much longer. She was trapped behind the table and as soon as Lily got close enough to use that knife, it was all over. She was unarmed and no match for the ball of insane fury advancing towards her.

Without warning, the crack in the ceiling wrenched apart. To Gwen, it looked as if invisible fingers had hooked themselves either side and pulled. But, of course, that wasn’t possible.

A split second later, and a large chunk of plaster fell squarely onto the top of Lily’s head. She went down in one movement, hard. Smaller pieces of plaster and an unholy amount of white dust rained down from the hole and within a split second Gwen couldn’t see anything. The dust was in her eyes, up her nose, and in her throat. Then she heard it. Cam’s voice.

‘Help!’ she yelled and coughed, her voice coming out thick and strange.

‘Gwen?’ Cam’s voice and the sound of a door opening. Gwen almost wept with relief. Instead, she had a coughing fit.

The dust cleared, settling around the room like a sprinkling of fake snow and, suddenly, wonderfully, Cam appeared. He looked at Lily’s crumpled form and sprang forward.

‘Careful! She’s got a knife.’ Gwen made her way from behind the table.

‘Christ. Are you all right?’

Gwen nodded. Her eyes were streaming and she pulled up the tail of her shirt to wipe them.

Cam bent over Lily, felt for a pulse in her neck. Her eyes were open, lips parted in an expression of furious surprise. She looked like a gargoyle and even before Cam said, ‘Call an ambulance,’ Gwen knew she was dead. He kicked out and something went skidding across the floor. The knife.

Gwen made it into the hall and called for an ambulance. Then Cam was there and she leaned into the solid weight of him, burying her face in his shirt and blocking everything out.

‘What happened?’ Cam was asking, his hands stroking her back rhythmically as if she were Cat.

‘The ceiling came down,’ Gwen said into his chest. ‘It was so fast, she didn’t have a chance to move.’

‘It’s okay,’ Cam said. ‘It wasn’t your fault.’

She felt a weight bash into her calves and looked down. Cat stared plaintively up at her and let out an unearthly shriek. Gwen had never been so pleased to hear it. She bent down and stroked Cat, scratching him under his chin and feeling her heart swell with love and relief.

Katie.
‘I need to go to the hospital,’ Gwen said. ‘Now.’

‘Are you hurt?’ Cam said quickly.

‘No. It’s Katie. I think I know what’s wrong with her.’

Cam looked around. ‘We should really wait for the ambulance. And I need to call Harry.’

‘I think Lily might have hexed her. Or she told her to try a spell and it hurt her. It’s dangerous if you’re not strong enough. I swear it’s true. I know you don’t—’

Cam handed her his car keys. ‘You go. I’ll wait five minutes before I call Harry. And I won’t tell him where you are.’

In the car, Gwen used Cam’s fancy hands-free kit. ‘Gloria?’

‘Hello, sweetie.’ Gloria’s voice was sleepy. ‘What time is it?’

‘When Ruby got sick that time, how did you make her better?’

‘What’s happened?’ Gloria’s voice was instantly alert.

‘It’s Katie. I think she did some magic. Something big. Now she won’t wake up.’

Gloria took a sharp breath in. Then she said, ‘What kind of magic?’

‘I don’t know.’ Gwen rubbed her face in frustration.

‘When your sister got ill, she’d used one of my spells. Something she’d overheard me doing for a client. It took me a while to work it out, but I needed to give her something of mine. Everything has to be balanced, remember.’

‘What did you give her?’

‘It has to be something really personal. And something powerful.’

‘What did you use?’ Gwen was out of Pendleford and on the main road to Bath. She pressed the accelerator.

After a pause, Gloria said, ‘Pain. Do you remember my broken thumb? I smashed it with a hammer to wake your sister up.’

‘Oh.’ Gwen swallowed. ‘Thank you.’

Gwen rang End House and spoke to Cam. She knew that Lily was beyond feeling pain, but she wasn’t about to give up. She told him what she needed and he agreed immediately. No argument. No horror. Gwen turned the car around at the first available place and headed back to Pendleford. Gwen saw strobing lights as she neared her road, but thankfully Cam was waiting. She pulled up beside him and wound down her window, but he was already crossing to the passenger side and opening the door.

‘Aren’t the police here? Don’t you have to stay?’

‘I don’t care,’ Cam said. ‘Harry can arrest me later if he feels like it.’

‘Did you—’

He held up a small bundle. ‘Got it.’

Gwen concentrated on driving carefully all the way to Bath. The last thing they needed was to get stopped by a traffic cop.

‘Thank you,’ Gwen said. She knew Cam must be wondering what the hell was going on.

‘No problem. Just to warn you, it’s an offence to mess with a crime scene so it might be best you don’t mention this to Harry.’

He was helping her; he deserved an explanation. Gwen took a deep breath. ‘Lily gave Katie some magic. A spell or a potion, I don’t know exactly, and she used it. If you use magic that’s too strong then it can hurt you really badly.’ She swallowed, waiting for Cam to argue, call her crazy, grab the steering wheel and attempt a citizen’s arrest.

‘And you need Lily’s blood, why?’

‘It’s like there’s an almighty fight going on inside Katie. Lily’s magic wasn’t balanced by Katie’s, because Katie isn’t strong enough. That’s why she’s knocked out. While there’s an imbalance, while the fight is going on, she’ll stay like that. I need something really personal to Lily to help even the odds a bit. And you can’t get much more personal than blood.’ Gwen didn’t add that pain was even better. She wasn’t sure how much of this information Cam was ready to hear.

‘What happens if Lily’s magic wins the fight?’ Cam said.

Gwen didn’t want to answer him, didn’t want to say the words out loud. ‘She’ll die.’