Page 42 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

I message John and ask if he fancied dropping in, not to babysit, I assure him, but so the boys could show him our new house. Thankfully, John jumped at the chance and arrived just as we were leaving.

I gasp when I see the size of the bunker; it’s massive.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be this big,” Elliot says, looking around.

I was surprised when we turned up at the farm to see Elliot waiting for us. Apart from Elliot and the true witches, the Stone brothers are out in force, as well as a lot of the town witches. Most of whom I’ve not met, but everyone assures me they are nice.

“Welcome to the bunker,” Ernest says, walking over to the three of us.

“This is amazing,” Sly says, grinning.

“It really is,” Ernest agrees.

“So, what’s the plan?” Elliot asks.

“The plan is, Sly, Sal, Cal, and I against everyone else,” Justice says, joining us.

I look at him. “Do you ever lose?”

Justice’s grin gets wider. “Not yet.”

“One day,” Ernest mutters.

“But not today,” Sly replies and throws his magic out.

The bunker now looks like an ancient, ruined temple. There are light brown stone columns, some standing proud, others broken. The walls are in the same condition. The floor looks like sandstone tiles, some chipped, others completely broken. From what I can see, there is no roof.

“Well, this seems easy enough,” Nix calls from further away, touching one of the columns.

The dark witches laugh at that.

“Then you might win tonight,” Justice calls back. “Come on, Sly, let’s join the others and stop them from winning.”

I laugh as Sly walks off to join the dark and grey witches, as Elliot, Ernest and I join the others.

“Surely with all of us on this side, we must win eventually,” a witch says.

“You would think, wouldn’t you, Sally?” Temp replies, grinning at her. “Come on, Ebby, Elliot, Sally, let the games begin.”

We follow Temp into the temple. The others spread out, entering from different places.

This really is incredible. If I didn’t know any better, I would think I was in an actual crumbling temple.

Just as we step through the entrance, we hear a loud hiss and large snakes start slithering over the stones towards us.

“Snakes… Sly really?” I yell out. I don’t have an issue with snakes, because we don’t see many of them in England, but these are massive. I’m momentarily distracted by their iridescent colours.

“Enjoy,” the love of my life calls back.

I throw my magic out at the nearest one and blow its head off.

“Nice,” Elliot and Temp say at the same time.

That is, until its head grows back, and then another grows next to it.

“And this would be why we never win,” Sally moans.

The three of us throw more magic out again, with Sally muttering spells. It slows the snakes down but doesn’t stop them. The ground starts to shake, and boulders rush towards us.

“Stop cheating,” Titus yells out from somewhere to the side and in front of us. Obviously having the same problems we’re having.

“Think like a dark witch,” Cal shouts back, just as lightning crackles out and thunder sounds.

“If it starts raining, I’m giving them boils,” Temp mutters, as the three of us laugh.

“I have an idea,” Elliot says, and using his magic, he wraps it around the snake and squeezes the snake to death. As soon as the snake dies, it vanishes.

“Nice,” I say, high-fiving him.

Elliot laughs. “I’ve never played with magic like this.”

“Stop by more often, and you can,” Temp says, killing the other snake as we move through the temple.

More boulders are coming towards us. I use my magic to create a mini tornado and collect the boulders up. I then throw them, intending to hit the dark and grey witches.

“Ow, what the hell,” Sal calls out. “I will find out who did that, and vengeance will be mine.”

I look over one of the crumpled walls and see Ernest gathering the boulders and sending them in a barrage at the others. He looks at me and grins. Oh yeah, he totally copied my idea.

“Incoming,” I hear Sly shout.

I look over and up to see him blasting the boulders with his magic.

We walk through more of the temple just as the rain starts.

“You really think the dark witches are gonna go to this much effort?” Temp calls out, wiping rain off his face.

Sally mutters a spell, and a shield appears around us, stopping us from getting wet.

“Nice, Sally,” Elliot nods at her.

She grins back.

“I bet this was Sly’s idea,” I grumble.

“So how about we redirect the lightning to them,” Elliot says, grinning broadly. Oh yeah, he’s loving this play time.

“I like your thinking,” I say. “On the count of three. One... two ... three.” And with that, we throw our magic out to the lightning and redirect it to Sly and the others.

“Quick, now run,” Temp says, as we crouch low and run through the temple. Collecting the other witches in the process.

Ernest and Nix stop the rain from hitting their teams and move so it’s concentrated on the others.

As they are battling everything, we surround them from all sides.

With a click of Titus’s fingers, we are all now dry, standing there laughing at Sly, Sal, Cal and Justice, who are getting soaked and being hit with lightning and boulders.

Ernest clicks his fingers, and everything stops, as silence descends. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how we win against the dark and grey witches.”

We all cheer and high-five each other, as the defeated team looks on, wet and soggy.

“That’s one after how many?” Sal asks, squeezing water out of his hair.

“Doesn’t matter, you are well and truly defeated. This will be the first of many,” Titus says, grinning.

Justice clicks his fingers, and they are all now dry.

Sly clicks his fingers, and the temple vanishes, and the bunker now looks like it did earlier.

“So much fun,” Sally says.

“I told you we’d win at some point, Sally,” Temp replies.

“And I should have trusted you. Thanks for that everyone, it was fun. See you next week.”

After that, everyone starts leaving, until it is just the family and Elliot left.

“How did you get so wet?” I ask Justice. “I thought you were uber protected.”

Justice huffs, “I asked my protection to keep with the spirit of the training. I’ll not make that mistake again.”

“It’s a shame Cass and Sion weren’t here,” Temp says. “They would have enjoyed this.”

“How is Sion?” I ask.

“He won’t tell us, and Justice can’t say anything,” Ernest huffs out.

“Sorry,” Justice says an apologetic look on his face.

It must be hard for Justice, knowing what is wrong with Sion and not being able to tell anyone.

“If he doesn’t say something soon, I’ll do something drastic,” Ernest adds.

“But what if that makes things worse? You know what Molly is always saying about the brain,” Cam says. He had been sat at the back with the other non-participants of tonight’s playtime.

“I’m going to try to get a message to Constance and see if she can help.”

“Is that wise, sweetheart?” Adhan asks him.

“We need to do something,” Ernest says softly. “Especially if it’s serious.”

Adhan wraps an arm around his shoulder. “If he wants help, I’m sure he’ll ask.”

“We can remind him we’re all here for him,” Nix adds.

“Fine,” Ernest huffs out.

“If we can help, let us know, but we need to get back to the boys,” Sly says.

“They stayed at the house on their own?” Titus asks in surprise.

I shake my head. “They said they would, but John was going to pop in, so the boys could show him the house.”

“Nice,” Adhan says. “How to have someone protect the boys without them realising. Over dinner, Ben told us about your run-in with the good reverend. Are you two alright, and Xander?”

Elliot shrugs a shoulder. “It’s not the first time I’ve had religious people shout at me. You’d be surprised how many times that happens.”

“Xander was more shocked about the comb-over. He also can’t understand why people can’t let everyone just live their lives, though,” I say.

“One day,” pretty much everyone says.

“And on that happy note, we’re off. See you for the fireworks,” Sly says, taking my hand, and after a round of nights, we leave the bunker.