Page 116 of Black and White, Twice the Might

“We can bury them in Little Welling if you want. There’s a graveyard there we can send them to,” Temp suggests. “Tim is buried there.”

Sly nods. “Let’s do that then.”

“Hold hands, witchlings, Elliot and let’s send these poor souls off. Set the intention of burying them in the Little Welling graveyard,” Molly instructs.

We all hold hands, including Sly and for the moment, grey magic surrounds the bodies as they vanish from sight.

We drop hands, well, I keep hold of Sly’s. I look around and see the wolves are searching the area. No walls are standing, but burnt wood is scattered everywhere along with burnt straw. The air is filled with the scent of fire.

“It was a good plan of your family’s, Sly,” Sal says. “Kidnap you, knowing we’d all come to rescue you and then try to blow us all up.”

I hear a couple of the wolves growl.

“How would they know, though?” Nix asks, looking confused.

“Swayne would have told them. He met you all at the storage lockers. He would have rushed back to the family and told them everything,” Sly explains.

“Sal is right, it was a good plan,” Temp comments, kicking a bit of wood out of the way.

“We know the dark witches are working with demon magic. Do you think they used that to escape?” Elliot asks. “By the way, I love your website.”

Ernest flashes a quick grin. “Yeah, we love it as well. Adhan’s found something strange.” Ernest announces, walking over to where Adhan has been sniffing.

It’s quite close to where Sly’s parents had been standing.

“What is it?” Elliot asks, walking closer.

I see Ernest send some magic out. “Some kind of portal. Pretty sure your family escaped through it.”

“So do we try to reopen the portal and follow them, or leave it?” Nix asks.

“I’m inclined to say we leave it for now, we have no idea what could be waiting for us on the other side,” Titus replies, but I see him send some magic out and surround the portal.

I do the same, recording the findings.

“I agree, Sonny. Let’s leave here and go home. We can formulate a plan and go in prepared.”

I nod. “Yeah, we should go and reassure Xander and Enoch that you’re safe.”

Sly is staring at the area.

“You want to open it, don’t you?” I surmise.

“I do, but we need to see the boys. Like Molly says, we should go in prepared,” he pauses. “I’m sure a quick peek wouldn’t hurt, though.” He drops my hand and steps forward.

Elliot touches his arm. “I know you want to have a look, and any other time I would be first in line to accompany you, but ifyou get caught again, what are you going to tell your brothers? Little brothers can be brutal.”

Sly barks out a laugh. “That’s true. Okay, I’ll wait.”

“Good, let’s get you back to your brothers,” a now dressed Adhan says. “Sly, Ebby, you can ride with Ernest and me.”

“Thanks, Adhan. I’ll message John from the car and say we’re on our way home,” I say, as we walk over burnt wood on our way back to the cars.

I have a look behind us and see the farmhouse about a mile down the drive. Why didn’t anyone come running when the barn exploded?

I stop walking and turn around, sending my magic out to have a look at the house and see what it can find.

“Wanna take bets, something weird is going on in that house,” Temp mutters from beside me, as if he didn’t want the others to hear him.