Page 59 of Black and White, Twice the Might

“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 goingoff 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 leastand 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 darkwitch. 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.”