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

W e leave the tearoom sometime later. We have time to eat something proper before we head to the Haunted Farm.

“So now we know why your father keeps emailing you,” I say to Sly.

Ernest, Adhan and Molly filled us in on what has been happening with the dark witches. Ernest even emailed us a link to a website, where they mark each encounter out of ten. We can look at it later, but it sounds like flying toxic killer puppies is one of their favourites.

It would also seem like Sly knows the town doctor. I’ll ask him more about Rhett/Justice later.

“Yeah. I can’t believe the dark witches are trying to destroy the light witches,” he says. “I’ll tell you more about dark witches of days gone by later.”

I nod and change the subject. “So where to for dinner?”

“The Haunted Farm,” the three of them say at the same time.

“But that’s burgers, donuts and sweets,” I protest, after having pizza last night, not sure we should have more junk food today.

“Yeah, but it’s funfair food, Eb,” Xander says.

“And I never got my donuts,” Enoch puts in.

“Plus, they have burgers,” Sly adds, grinning like a loon.

I heave a fake sigh. “Fine, but tomorrow we'll find some healthy food.”

“We’ll chat,” Xander says.

“And you’ll lose,” I tell him.

He looks at Sly as if he would give a different answer. He better not.

“Crap for today, proper healthy food tomorrow,” Sly agrees.

“Gah,” Xander stomps off towards the car.

I look at Enoch. “When you become a teenager, no getting stroppy.”

Enoch grins. “I make no promises,” and with that, he walks off to join his brother.

“Remind me again why we’re looking after them,” I say, looking at Sly.

“Because your dad is a complete shit.”

“Yeah, that’s why.” Truthfully, we’re lucky Xander isn’t really a stroppy teenager, and Enoch is too cheeky to be stroppy.

We pay our money and walk into the Haunted Farm. It’s late afternoon and starting to get dark, so I’m surprised to see so many people walking around.

“Where to first?” Sly asks.

“The Haunted Walk,” Enoch says.

“Okay,” Sly agrees, and we look at the sign to see the way.

We follow the signs and reach a large entrance.

Hanging from an arch is a sign saying Haunted Walk .

Both sides of the signposts are scary-faced scarecrows.

I shudder a little. Not many things scare me, but scarecrows do.

I always think that when darkness comes, they come alive and kill everyone, and these ones are carrying swords. Just why?

Sly laughs and nudges my shoulder. “I’ll protect you from the evil scarecrows.”

“My hero,” I say, fluttering my eyes at him.

I hear my brothers groan and ignore them, walking under the sign and into the Haunted Walk.

Jack-o'-lanterns are lining both sides of the path, with poles wrapped in orange fairy lights, on either side of the path, intermingled with more scary scarecrows.

This path leads us through some trees, oaks and willows, with their long branches gently swaying, adding to the creepiness.

I expect that at any moment, one of those said long branches will try to capture us, holding us captive forever.

Okay, that sounds a bit dramatic, but in my defence, there is magic in the air. Witches were used to create everything here, so I’ll just stay on my guard.

As we walk, I hear screams of agony and terror and groans of pain.

I would be worried, but I spot some speakers dotted around, carefully hidden.

But then I’ve been looking for them. I don’t think anyone would notice them otherwise.

“There are speakers dotted around,” I tell the boys, in case they were getting scared.

“Way to spoil things, Eb,” Xander says, turning back to glare at me.

“Yeah, Ebby,” Sly says, grinning at me.

“Fine, I’ll shut up,” I grump out and shake my head.

Sly grabs my hand and kisses the back.

“Look at that,” Enoch says, pointing to a clearing in the trees, where there is a holographic projection of a headless horseman riding through the forest, swinging a sword.

The hologram is on a loop, so when he reaches the end, straight away, he comes riding back in from the start.

We watch it for a few minutes, but this time the rider stops.

The horse rears back, kicking his front legs in the air, and once it lands, starts running again, but doesn’t reappear.

“That was amazeballs,” Xander says.

Enoch nods. “It was. We’ll have to keep an eye out for other holograms.”

We start walking again, and two wolves run out in front of us. One howls; the other growls, and they stand there.

“Oh, I never thought I’d see real wolves or shifter wolves, that should be. You’re both amazing,” Enoch says, with a touch of awe in his voice.

I send my magic out to check them. One is Cam, but it doesn’t know the other, only that they are brothers.

The wolves slowly walk over to us. Wolf Cam licks Enoch’s hand.

“Can I stroke you?” Wolf Cam nods, and Enoch strokes his head. “You’re so soft. Thank you,” and with a last lick and nod, the two wolves are just turning around when a scream of terror sounds, and not one we have heard before.

The wolves start running as more screams are heard.

“We should go and help,” Xander suggests.

“Agreed,” Sly says. “Stay close and protect yourselves,” and with that, we take off after the wolves.

I’m not sure what I was expecting, but scarecrows walking around swinging weapons at people and the headless horseman riding amongst them wasn't it. Somehow, the hologram has become real. I send my magic out to see what has happened; I see Sly’s magic go off as well.

One of the scarecrows starts walking towards the people held in the willow’s branches. I can't believe I missed them. Not Wolf Cam runs at the scarecrow and attacks it. I see the scarecrow slash at the wolf and hear a yelp of pain before the wolf bites the straw arm off.

“Help those people,” I say to the others, as I send magic towards the one-armed scarecrow. As my magic hits it, the scarecrows blow up, and a shower of straw and clothes falls around us.

I send my magic out to the other scarecrows with the intention of stopping them, but nothing happens. Gah, dark magic is infused all the way through them. I wonder if they need to be injured before we can kill them.

I look at the hurt wolf and send a burst of healing into him, and then look round. Wolf Cam is attacking another scarecrow and bites its leg. I see Sly send some magic out, and the scarecrow explodes.

I’m suddenly tackled to the ground by a man, just as a sword sweeps over me. If I’d still be standing, I’d be headless by now. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” the man says, standing up and holding out his hand to help me up. I can feel his strong magic.

“They are all infused with dark magic. The scarecrows can only die if they are injured,” I tell him, taking his hand and standing up.

“So, let’s injure them,” he says, throwing his magic out and hitting them. I go behind and blow them up. I see Sly scowl my way and let him blow a few up. Honestly, he is such a baby sometimes.

“Focus on the headless horseman,” I call to him.

Another younger man comes running towards us. “Ben,” he shouts at the fallen wolf, and runs to stand by him. “A headless horseman, seriously?” he says, sounding way too happy.

I look for my brothers, and they are helping the trapped people in the willow limbs. The other walkers have gone.

“Everyone down,” Sly yells.

I throw protection around the people in the trees as I drop to the ground? The others don’t hesitate, and as soon as we’re down, Sly sends his magic out, and with a boom, the headless horseman vanishes, and the final scarecrows explode.

I stand up and look him over, making sure he’s alright, as I head towards the boys and people in the trees. Thankfully, I notice they have been released and look fine.

“So cool,” one of the boys says. “I can’t wait to see how they top this on the rest of the walk, and when we come back tomorrow,” and with that, he and his friends carry on the walk laughing and chatting as they go.

“Are you both alright?” I ask my brothers.

“We are,” Xander says.

I touch their shoulders and then walk towards Sly. I take his hand and we walk to the others.

The young man is kneeling down, stroking the wolf that got injured, who is still lying on his side, with his eyes closed. Wolf Cam is sitting by the downed wolf’s side.

“Is he alright?” I ask. “He was slashed by the scarecrow’s sword. I sent him some healing, but didn’t see how badly he was injured.”

“He’s fine. When Ben gets injured, he likes to stay in his wolf form for sympathy,” the man says.

I turn to look at my rescuer. “Thank you for your timely save.”

“You’re welcome. I was waiting at the entrance to meet my brothers when I felt something weird and then heard the screaming. I’m glad I came in to investigate. I’m Titus, and that is my brother Temp.”

“Ebby, Sly, Xander and Enoch,” I reply.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Temp says, smiling our way while still stroking the wolf.

“I was talking to Molly earlier. She said at Sunday’s BBQ, I should meet you, Enoch, as you have an affinity with animals.

I don’t know if she told you, but I’m an apprentice with the town’s head healer, and we look after sick and injured animals as well as humans. ”

While we were in the bookshop, Ernest invited us to a BBQ on Sunday to meet the rest of the true witches and play games.

Enoch steps closer. “She mentioned that. I’m not sure if I do, but I would love to see the animals, but I thought your name was Tink.”

Temp laughs. “Molly likes giving people nicknames. She decided mine was Tink, but Temp or Tempest works just fine,” he says, before turning back to the wolf. “Greasy, stop looking for more sympathy and get up.”

“Greasy?” Xander asks with a small laugh.

“Yeah, he’s a mechanic, and it was better than oily,” Temp replies with his own laugh.

The wolf opens his eyes and gives a little growl before sitting up with a huff.

Temp strokes his head and drops a kiss on the wolf’s nose. “Do you want me to call one of your brothers to take over?”

“I’ve already called Kean. He’s on his way,” Titus tells him.

I didn’t see him pull his phone out.

“How did you call him?” Xander asks, looking confused.

“We have a mate mind link. It happens with witch/shifter pairings,” Titus explains.

We hear running feet and Adhan, and another man comes rushing into the area.

“Is anyone hurt?” Adhan asks, looking round.

“Only Ben, but he’s better now,” Temp replies.

“And the people caught up in the tree branches thought it was all part of the event and couldn’t wait to see what else would happen,” Titus says. “This is my partner, Kean.”

“Hi. It looks like a hay bale exploded in here,” Kean comments, looking around.

It really does. The straw from the scarecrows is all over the area. Suddenly, the straw is collected up and in its place is a large straw bear standing on two legs.

I laugh and look at Sly. “A bear?”

“What? You find bears in woods,” he points out.

“But not UK ones,” Enoch says, walking around the bear. “It’s a really good bear, though, Sly.”

“It is,” Adhan agrees. “Thanks, Sly and thank you all for your help with this little problem.”

Sly looks at him. “I don’t think this will be the only incident in these woods.”

I turn to look at him in surprise. “You don’t?”

He shakes his head. “No. This was done by dark witches. There is no way they will leave it as just tonight and just this.”

I hear Adhan sigh. “You might be right. I didn’t think of that when putting this event together. I just thought of making this event bigger and better than last year’s.” He runs a hand down his face. “Maybe I should close it.”

“Don’t do that,” a man says, walking through the trees towards us.

I do a double-take. The guy seriously looks like Chris Evans from the Avengers Endgame.

“Hey Elliot,” Adhan says. “I need to think of everyone’s safety. If dark witches are going to be trying to kill our visitors, then I need to be sensible and close this down.”

“You have enough witches and other paranormals in the town, and with my family, we can keep everyone safe. Indeed, my mother and Mollyanne are currently having a natter about what can be done to keep everyone safe.”

Adhan nods. “In that case, I’ll wait and see what they decide.”

“Besides, don’t forget you have two grey witches and one dark witch that you can call on for help,” Elliot points out.

Sly nods. “I don’t mind helping.”

Elliot looks at Sly and laughs. “I can’t wait to see what kind of help you produce.”

Sly grins. “Neither can I.”

“Ernest is gonna pout when he finds out he missed out on killer scarecrows and a headless horseman. I’m so adding this to the website,” Temp says, standing up.

“He really will,” Adhan agrees. He turns to Kean. “You okay to take over from Ben?”

Kean nods. “Yep, I can do that. We’re gonna need more scarecrows, though.”

“I can walk back and sort them out. Temp, are you and Ben going back to the manor? If so, I’ll grab Cass and we can go to the funfair and do the walk tomorrow,” Titus says.

“Yeah, we will. I want to make sure Greasy is properly healed,” he strokes Wolf Ben’s head. “Come on, Greasy.”

Wolf Ben gets up and walks beside Temp. As they pass Adhan, he strokes Ben’s head. Wolf Ben licks his hand, and they both leave.

“Are you four alright?” Adhan asks us.

“We are,” Sly replies, grinning. “Looking forward to the rest of the walk, though.”

Adhan and Elliot laugh.

“Good luck with that,” Elliot helpfully says. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be at the fair.”

“Thanks, Elliot, we’ll chat soon,” Adhan says.

“On that note, we’ll see you all around,” I say. “Come on, boys, let’s finish the walk.”