Page 13 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

W hen Molly first mentioned that Elaine and Temp looked after animals, I was expecting maybe one or two. The garden had at least twenty-five cages, all with different animals in.

“Whoa,” Enoch says, looking around. “All these animals are sick or injured?”

Elaine nods. “They are.” She moves to one of the cages and opens the door. “This little badger has a broken leg but hasn’t let us get near him to help.”

Enoch moves slowly forward. “Look at you, Mr Badger. I’ve never seen a badger in real life before, and you look amazing.

” He drops down on his knees by the cage entrance.

“Can I stroke you?” he asks softly, slowly putting his hand in the cage.

“Look at your poor leg. Bet that hurts, hey.” He touches the badger's leg, and I feel his magic in the air.

“Whoa, look at that. Your leg is fixed.” He takes his hand away. “Can you stand?”

We watch as the badger stands up. His leg looks perfect, and he walks around with no hint of a limp.

“Look at you, Mr Badger,” Enoch says happily.

“Well done, Enoch. Molly was right about you. You do have a gift with animals.”

Enoch grins at her. “What happens now?”

“We’ll keep him in overnight and release him tomorrow.”

“You hear that?” he says to the badger, “You can go home tomorrow.” And with a final stroke, Enoch stands up, smiling brightly.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.

“Why don’t we leave Enoch and Temp to look at the animals, and we can sit over there?” She says, pointing to a garden table set on a pretty patio, so we can still see them both.

“We can do that,” I say.

“Excellent, have a seat, and I’ll get some drinks. What do you fancy, hot chocolate?”

“Please,” I say with a happy sigh. I can’t remember the last time I had hot chocolate, but it’s just the thing needed while sitting outside in the cold.

I sit at the table and look around. Even with the cages, the garden is stunning and filled with fragrant colourful flowers.

It doesn’t take Elaine long to make the drinks and she was soon back, carrying a tray, with four mugs of hot chocolate, a bowl of marshmallows and a can of whipped cream, with a jar of chocolate sprinkles.

I jump up and take the tray from her.

“Thank you, Ebby,” she says, smiling at me, and sitting down.

I put the tray down and hand Elaine a mug, and push the toppings closer.

I look up when I hear Enoch and Temp laugh.

“Thank you for this,” I say. “Enoch is truly happy, and thanks for letting me come along.”

“Think nothing of it. You don’t know me yet, so it’s understandable you would want to be here.”

“It’s not just that. The boys have a fear of light magic users. Thankfully, Enoch seems to be getting over his fear.”

I see Elaine looking at Enoch, and she growls. “Your father better not show his face in Cadenbury. If he does, I imagine all the town witches will be after him.”

“But we don’t know all the town witches. We don’t even live here.” I point out.

“Rumour has it that you might be buying the old Myers house.”

I sip some of my hot chocolate before answering. “We all fell in love with that house. We were cautious because of all the witches in this town. But it looks like Enoch is happy here.”

“Plus, there’s good cake here, and Ernest is kind of crazy in a weird, fascinating way, and this town is never dull.”

I burst out laughing. “It does seem to be eventful, but I thought that was just because of the Halloween Farm. Mind you, saying that the light witches have created a website scoring their encounters with dark witches, so yeah, I can see how this town is never dull.”

“The town has certainly got more interesting with all the light witches turning up.”

“And you got an apprentice out of it,” I point out, looking at Temp. He’s standing with Enoch, who is holding a bird.

“How lucky am I. Temp is the perfect apprentice.”

I watch as Enoch lifts his hands and releases the bird, who happily flies away.

“He flew,” Enoch practically shouts happily. He turns to look at me. “Ebby, did you see that? I fixed the bird’s wing, and he flew.”

“I saw. Congratulations.”

They both go off and wash their hands before coming over to our table and sitting down. I pass them mugs of hot, well, lukewarm, chocolate and push the toppings closer.

“This is the most fun I’ve ever had. Who knew I could use my magic to heal animals? I need to see if there are any lessons I can take on animals for next year.”

“I’m sure we can find some,” I reply.

“Enoch, you’re welcome to come and help the animals any time you like. The gate is always open, so if neither Temp nor I are here, just let yourself in. If you do heal any animals while we are out, just message Temp or me and let us know,” Elaine tells him.

He gives her his cheeky smile. “Thanks, Elaine.”

Once Enoch has finished his drink, we leave, saying we’ll be at the manor for dinner.

“That was so much fun,” Enoch says, as we walk along the road. “Were you very bored?”

I shake my head. “I wasn’t bored. I was talking to Elaine and watching you having fun.”

Enoch nods. “Temp is fun and nice.”

“And just think we’re all cackling round a cauldron tonight.”

“It will be fun as well.”

We stop off at the baker's to grab some sandwiches and walk back to the B&B, going into mine and Sly’s room, where we see Sly and Xander sat on the chairs, watching TV.

“You’re back,” Sly says happily, standing up and walking over to me.

I put my hand around his neck and pull him forward, kissing him.

He wraps his arms around me and happily kisses me back.

We pull apart when the boys keep giving very loud fake coughs.

“Gross,” Xander says.

Sly looks at him. “I will never apologise for loving my husband.”

“Well, just love him when we’re not in the room.”

I grin at him. “Sorry, not sorry. On a happy note, I brought sandwiches. Did you two eat?”

“Yep,” Sly says. “We had burgers, candy floss, and a bucket load of sweets.

“I’ll put yours in the fridge for tomorrow,” I say, handing Enoch his sandwich, taking mine out and putting the other two away.

“How were the animals?” Sly asks.

“OMG, they were so amazing. I healed a badger’s broken leg and fixed the wing of a bird, and started the healing for some others.

Elaine said anytime I wanted to go back, even if she wasn’t home, I could just let myself into the garden and give healing to the animals,” he says happily, his arms going all over the place.

“I’m glad you had fun,” Sly says to him.

“Yeah,’ Xander mutters.

“I’m sure Elaine will let you come as well if you want,” Enoch says to him. “Shall we go next door, and I’ll let you win Mario Kart?”

Xander laughs. “You wish. Come on then.”

The boys go off to their room, and Sly and I sit down as I eat my sandwich. “I can’t remember the last time I saw Enoch so relaxed and happy.”

“I’m glad. Xander seems happy here as well. The house is perfect and has a ready-made workshop for you. The witches we’ve met all seem nice.”

I nod. “They do, and that house really is perfect,” I say, finishing my sandwich.

Sly grins at me and kneels in front of me, putting his hands on my thighs. “So, what do you say? Shall we take a chance on a town filled with witches and other paranormals? Adhan and the others we’ve met don’t seem to mind that I’m a dark witch.”

I lean forward and touch his cheek. “And why would they? I think we’ve found our forever home.”

Sly leans in and kisses me.

I drop to my knees, kissing him back, wrapping my arms around him. After what feels like forever, I pull back and look into his eyes. “I love you so much.”

Sly gives me his lovely, loving smile. “Just as I love you, my darling. I’m forever grateful you took a chance on a dark witch.”

“Best decision I ever made.”