Page 9 of Black and White, Twice the Might (Cadenbury Town #8)

W e had fun walking the rest of the Haunted Walk, with nothing out of the ordinary happening. We were pelted with soft apples, spoke to merfolk and danced at the disco. Who even thinks of having a disco in the middle of a haunted walk? Well, whoever it was, we had fun.

The four of us are sitting around the breakfast table, and it seems all anyone can talk about is the events of last night.

“How come everyone knows what happened last night? There weren’t many people who saw what happened?” Enoch asks, looking confused.

Larry, walking by the table, stops to answer.

“Even though we are called a town, we think of ourselves as more of a village, meaning that if something happens, you can guarantee the whole town knows. Those teenagers that were caught in the willow trees told everyone what happened to them, as did some of the others who saw it.”

“That makes sense,” Sly says, putting his cutlery down on his empty plate.

“I hear you were involved in last night’s adventures.”

“We were,” Enoch says, sounding excited. “There were killer scarecrows, and a headless horseman. So fun.”

Larry grins. “I can imagine. We can’t wait to see what happens tonight.”

Xander puts his glass down. “Neither can we.”

We watch Larry walk off.

Enoch fiddles with his knife. “Temp seemed nice, as did his brother. Plus, Titus saved you from having your head cut off.”

I grin. “Always a plus. But yeah, they seem nice.”

“Can we look at the house again today?” Enoch asks.

I look at Sly, who is happily nodding. “We can find Cam and see if he has time to show us around, and hopefully, we can take longer looking around this time.”

“How do we find Cam?” Xander asks.

“Pretty sure someone at the bookshop can point us in the right direction,” I reply.

So that is our plan for today, after seeing the house, who knows what else.

We go to the bookshop and ask about finding Cam. Ernest tells us he has the day off, but Adhan offers to show us around. So, we make our way to the house, the boys happily chatting as we wait for Adhan, who shows up a few minutes later.

“Thanks for this,” Sly says, as Adhan unlocks the front door. “We could have waited until Cam was back at work.”

Adhan opens the door and moves out of the way. “I honestly don’t mind showing you all around. I don’t like the thought of this house standing empty.”

We all walk in. Again, the house seemed to hug me.

Enoch gasps. “It hugged me again.”

“And me,” Xander tells us.

“I know Cam showed you around quickly the other day. But did he show you all the original features?” Adhan asks.

“He pointed out the sconces and original mouldings,” Sly replies, walking into one of the front rooms.

“The Myers liked to keep as much of the original features as they could, while making sure the electrics, plumbing, etc. were modern,” Adhan walks to a wall. “They kept the original light switches.”

I look, and yep, the switch is a round black old-fashioned type.

“Why is there a doorbell in here?” Xander asks, pointing at a golden button.

“That’s a throwback from when the owners of this house had servants. Instead of going searching for said servants, they would ring that bell, which would ring in the hallway by the kitchen,” Adhan tells us.

Enoch gives a wide grin. “Does it still work?”

“Please say no,” Sly practically begs.

Not that I blame him. If it does work, the boys will have fun pressing it all the time.

Adhan laughs. “You’re safe. None of the bell’s work.”

“Thank goodness,” Sly replies.

“Well, that’s no fun,” Xander grumbles.

We leave the room, and as we’re by the stairs, we head up them. The boys run off as soon as we get to the top.

“I don’t know if Ernest spoke to you about tonight, but we’ll be out and about at the fair, haunted walk and haunted house if you’d like to join us.”

I nod as we walk to the master suite. “Ernest mentioned it earlier. Sly and I will be happy to come and help.”

“Thanks. Come for dinner tonight, and the boys can then stay at ours while we’re out. Nix, Cam, my mum, and possibly Cassie and Sion will be there, so the boys will be safe.”

“We’ll check with the boys. They seem to have lost their fear of Ernest and didn’t seem freaked out with Temp or Titus last night,” Sly says.

“Are there more witches in the town, outside of your family?” I ask.

Adhan nods. “Probably more than half the town are witches.”

“Really?” Xander asks, looking a little concerned, having come in and joined us, Enoch by his side.

“I can personally vouch for every witch in town if that helps,” he tells them, giving them a gentle smile.

“Well, the ones we’ve met so far seem nice,” Enoch says, before smiling. “But have you checked out the whole of the upstairs? The family bathroom looks like something from history, and my room has a secret door that leads to a large room.” As always, his arms are flying around as he talks.

Adhan laughs. “They designed that for their granddaughter. She had that as her reading room.”

“So unfair,” Xander gripes, stomping off.

Enoch follows him out. “We could set it up as a secret den or games room.”

I shake my head at them.

“This really is a lovely room,” Sly says, looking around.

It is. At the moment, it’s a massive empty space, but all our bedroom furniture will fit in here with room to spare. It even has a large walk-in wardrobe that looks like a mini shopping mall and a huge bathroom with a shower and bath, both of which can fit us both with room to spare.

“All the plumbing and electrics have been recently checked. We have the certificates for everything. There is nothing structurally that needs doing. We had a full survey done,” Adhan tells us as we look around the other rooms upstairs.

“I can’t imagine how upset the previous owners must have been leaving here,” I say as we walk down the stairs. If it wasn’t for being surrounded by so many witches, I could see this being our forever home.

“Tom and Evie lived here for nearly fifty years. They are both in their mid-eighties and have health issues. The house got too much for them. They thought about putting a chair lift in to help them get upstairs, but Evie had dementia and Tom was concerned for her safety. They are happily living in an assisted living flat near their family.”

“That’s sad,” Sly says, “but I’m glad they’re happy.”

We wander around the rest of the downstairs and notice the small golden bells by the kitchen. I can’t believe we missed them last time.

Sly really does love the study, and we both love the kitchen.

Adhan shows us the massive garage and then the business building. My potential chocolate-making building.

“Tom was a baker. He made custom cakes and was very popular, which is why he had this built. Everything was bespoke and of the best quality he could buy. Again, it’s all been checked and is in working order. Would you need to change much for your chocolate making to work here?”

I shake my head, looking at him. “I wouldn’t have to change much at all. I would just need to add a CoolBot to bring the temperature down in here, but that shouldn’t be too complicated.”

“Alfred will be delighted to hear that,” Adhan says with a laugh. “I don’t know if you noticed, but this building has air conditioning, if that helps.”

“I hadn’t noticed, but it does help. I’ll have to see how well it keeps cool.” I give a happy sigh as we walk outside. “It will be nice to have a permanent chocolate space.”

“And house,” Sly adds, “but we need to discuss everything first.”

“Understandable,” Adhan says.

We finally find the boys laughing together in the garden and walk out with Adhan hours later.

“Dinner will be at six. At the end of the High Street, turn right, and my house is literally at the end of the road.” He looks at the boys.

“My mum and some brothers will be home, keeping you safe. There will be two wolves and three witches looking after you and the girls. Connie is only a few months old, and Nora is seven. I promise you’ll be perfectly safe at our house tonight. ”

The boys nod, but don’t say anything.

“Thanks, and thanks for showing us around. We need to let Ernest know we’re helping out tonight,” Sly says.

“I’m off to see him now, so I can tell him for you if you want.”

I nod. “Please, thanks.”

“Enjoy the rest of your afternoon and see you at dinner,” and with that, Adhan strides off.

“The house really is perfect,” Xander says.

“Yeah,” Enoch agrees. “But the town is full of witches.”

I wrap an arm around him, hugging him close. “It is. That is what we need to think about.”