Page 21 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

A fter we finish breakfast, we all go back up to the bedrooms and get ready for the day, meeting by the front door an hour later.

After Sly and I are ready to go, we knock on the boys’ door. A dressed Enoch opens it and lets us in. Xander is sitting on the bed, putting his socks and shoes on.

Enoch stares at me for a moment before turning his gaze on Sly, then back at me. “You look happier.”

I touch his shoulder. “I am. It was just a nightmare.”

Xander stands up. “That dark witches made you have?”

I nod. “They did, but Sly rescued me, and Sly and Justice rescued the others.”

“Can you stop with the dramatics? Stuck in a mirror and the nightmare. Enough already,” Xander grumps out.

Sly pulls Xander into a hug. “I promise Ebby will do his very best to stop the dramatics.”

I scowl at him. “Pretty sure you were involved in one of them.”

“True.”

“Changing the subject, we’re off out with the others. Are you both alright staying here?”

Enoch nods. “Yep, we can watch films with Nora and play with Connie.”

“We’ll be back in time to help set up for the BBQ,” Sly tells them.

The four of us walk downstairs, the boys go off to the lounge, and we meet up with the others and leave the manor.

I’m holding Sly’s hand as we walk to the outside temple, and how amazing is it that this town has an outside temple? I’m lost in thought, thinking about the Haunted House nightmare. I don’t think I’m the only one, as all the witchlings are quiet.

“You’ve got to give it to the dark witches. That was creative.” Titus says.

“Creative but sucky ,” Nix says.

“Did I die in anyone’s dream?” Ernest asks generally.

“Mine,” Titus says.

“And mine,” Sal says.

“Mine too,” I say, remembering the bloody mummy and Ernest’s vacant eyes.

“And mine,” Justice says.

“Mine as well,” Temp adds.

“Mine too,” Nix says.

Ernest stops and looks at us. “They killed me in every dream? I’m still the bane of their existence.”

We all laugh at that.

Sly shakes his head. “I’ve never seen someone so happy to be the bane of anyone’s existence.”

“What can I say? It’s fun,” he replies, grinning.

Adhan lifts their joined hands and kisses the back of Ernest’s hand.

“So, how did I die? Was it impressive?” Ernest asks.

“Morbid much?” Kean asks, shaking his head at Ernest.

Ernest shrugs a shoulder. “What? Enquiring minds want to know.”

“You’re weird,” Nix says to him.

“You’re only figuring this out now?” Adhan asks, booming with laughter.

I laugh as Ernest pulls his hands free and walks away from Adhan, walking towards Elliot, who has just arrived.

“Hey, Elliot,” Ernest says in greeting, pulling him into a hug.

He hugs him back. “Are you all okay?” he asks, pulling away.

“My family is mad, it’s quite sad really,” Ernest says, shaking his head.

“Says the morbid one,” Cam says.

Elliot looks at Ernest. “Why are you morbid?”

“The dark witches gave all of us the same nightmare last night. Us in the Haunted House dying. I apparently died in everyone’s dream, and I wanted to know how I died.”

Elliot laughs. “I think I’d want to know as well. It should be a spectacular death, nothing boring like a stabbing or shooting.”

“Well... it depends on the stabbing. I mean, if it was just some thug, that would be disappointing, but if it was Chucky, that wouldn’t be so bad.” Ernest says.

“Well, if it helps, the murdering dolls did kill you,” Justice tells him. “They knocked you down, staked you to the attic floor, and took turns stabbing you to death.”

“See, now that was an awesome death, no stabbing thugs for me,” Ernest says with a smile.

I can’t believe Ernest is enjoying hearing about his deaths.

“The dancing clothes smothered your face,” Temp tells him. “And some items were folded on your torso. The folded clothes were really heavy, like stone slabs.”

“I was pressed to death? I would never have thought of that one. See, no boring deaths for me.”

Elliot, well, pretty much all of us laugh at Ernest.

I shake my head. Elaine was right, Ernest is kind of crazy, but in a good way.

“You could add that to the website. Add how everyone was killed and rate the deaths out of ten,” Sly suggests.

“I like the sound of that. Everyone, send me a message with who died and how, and I’ll add it to the list so we can all score our demises,” Temp says, grinning, a proper carefree grin I notice.

I squeeze Sly’s hand and nudge his shoulder with mine. He’s helped Temp.

“Before that, though, witchlings, we need to redo the protection around the town,” Molly says, walking over to join us.

“We do,” Titus agrees.

We walk the rest of the way to the outside temple and form a circle, making sure someone stands on each point. I bet this temple gets a lot of use.

Next to each point is a stone plinth-type thing, I imagine for offerings for calling the elements, or for binding rituals. I wonder if binding rituals are still used. I give my head an internal shake and focus on the now.

“Family, let’s all hold hands and start,” Ernest says.

“If I’m holding Ebby’s hand when we use magic, our magic turns grey,” Sly tells them.

“Is that just with Ebby or any light witch, Dark One?” Molly asks.

“I don’t actually know. I just know if Ebby and I use magic when holding hands, our magic is grey.”

“Hold my hand and let’s both send a bit of magic out to see,” Titus says, standing next to him.

Sly takes his hand, and I watch as they both send magic out. Grey magic.

“So, any light witch then,” Molly says. “That’s good to know, Dark One.”

“You guys do your circle and send your magic out. I’ll stand back here and send mine out,” Sly says.

So that’s what we do. We hold hands. Titus, Molly, Elliot, and I call the quarters and ask for protection from the Lord and Lady, and the Gods and Goddesses, and we all send our magic out to protect the town, with Sly’s darker magic overlapping ours.

Afterwards, we sit and eat the food that Kean has brought with him and chat happily amongst ourselves.

“Are you coming to the BBQ, Elliot?” Adhan asks him.

“If I can pop in, I will, but there are things I need to do,” he replies.

“Wait,” Ernest suddenly says. “Is the Hall of Mirrors broken? Do you want us to come and fix it?”

“Thanks for the offer, but we fixed it earlier,” Elliot tells us.

“We’ll come and have another look around tonight, to make sure there is no black magic around your fair,” Sly says.

“Thanks, Sly, and now I must be away. See you all later,” Elliot says, and with a wave, walks off in the direction of his car.

“You’re all looking better, witchlings,” Molly says.

“Yeah. It was just a nightmare, and our Ernest is being himself,” Nix says.

“Good. I’m off. Be safe, everyone,” and with that, Molly stands and walks away.

I watch her leave and see Crow fly down onto her shoulder.

“Let’s go home,” Adhan says, taking Ernest’s hand and leading everyone back to the manor.

Those who are going off to work leave, and the rest of us help get everything ready for the BBQ, which, thanks to Ernest, we’re all now in the mood for.

That’s not to say we’re over the dream, but we’re no longer drowning in sadness.

Well, I’m not at least and looking at the others, there are still remnants of sadness, but now also laughter.

Sly and I are still so new to the group, but it must be so much harder for the others. They all have a strong bond. I think back to yesterday when we were claimed as family. It’s nice being surrounded by like-minded people again, to be surrounded by family, even brand-new family.

But now we’re outside laughing and joking. From somewhere, games are pulled out and the boys and Nora are playing Jenga against Cam, Kean and Jude.

“I know Ernest sent you a link to the website where we mark our dark witch encounters, but we thought we could tell you everything properly,” Temp says, walking over with Titus.

Sly shakes his head. “Some of the encounters seem amazing. I mean, being pulled through a wardrobe and a picture.”

Sal laughs as he walks over and joins us. “Tie and I were both surprised by the hands that pulled us through that wardrobe. It wasn’t until later that I found out my dark magic had pulled us through. Sly, is your dark magic a separate entity like mine was?”

Sly shakes his head. “Nope, totally bound inside of me. Is that why you became grey, because your magic was separate?”

“Yeah, I actively tried to shove my dark magic behind a door and only call on light magic. It was hard as my dark magic kept whispering things to me, telling me to kill people, and that it could help solve all my problems.”

“That sounds terrible,” I say to him.

“It was, but I bound it and became the second grey witch, Justice being the first.”

“Does your magic whisper to you?” Titus asks Sly.

“Sometimes, but I’ve learnt to ignore it,” he says. “I know Ernest claimed us as family, but are you sure? I love being a dark witch. I’m not evil, just dark. Which seems to be helpful at the moment.”

“It does, but we’re not worried,” Titus tells him. “We’ve dealt with evil dark witches and demons, so we’re pretty good at spotting the evil ones now.”

“I came to town as a dark witch. Not everyone trusted me at first, but they do now, the same for Cal. Justice went black. We pulled him back, and he and Alfred are probably the most protected people in the world.”

“Is that how Alfred survived being burned at the stake?” I ask. Reading the witches' website, the Bannisters, along with Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, and wasn’t that mind-blowing, reading about him? They kidnapped Alfred, tied him to a stake, and tried to burn him.

“Yes,” Titus replies. “When Justice was bespelled and went black, Alfred shifted into his wolf and stayed lying on the bed, next to Justice, his head resting on Justice's chest. All the protection we sent into Justice went into Alfred as well.”

“Something I’m sure you were all thankful for,” I say.

“Yep. Alfred is our happy puppy,” Temp says, grinning.

We all burst out laughing.

“Smell that,” Temp suddenly says, “Kean has the burgers cooking.”

“They smell amazing,” Sly says, sniffing the air.

“While they are cooking, we can tell you everything else,” Sal says.