Page 93 of Black and White, Twice the Might

Sly nods. “Yeah. I never thought I’d see any of my family again. I’m glad the town protection works, though.”

“Do they send you many messages?” Justice asks.

“A couple a week. I never reply to them, though.”

I try to hide my shock. I knew his family occasionally emailed him, but not this much.

Sly looks at me. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

“I get it, I do, but you should have told me,” I try to keep the hurt out of my voice, but I’m not sure I succeeded.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he replies, lifting my hand and kissing the back.

I sigh and nod. “I’ll help Ernest sort the burnt boxes. You help Adhan and the others with the furniture.”

I drop Sly’s hand and join Ernest and Sal by our burnt things.

“A lot of this is beyond repair,” Ernest tells us. “We can’t see how bad the boxes behind them are.”

I nod, not sure what to say.

“Ebby, we’re here for whatever you need,” Sal says gently.

I sigh. “Thanks. I’m okay, at least no one was hurt.”

Ernest laughs. “Except for that Swine guy.”

I grin. “Apart from him. Okay, let’s magic away anything that can’t be saved and see what’s left.”

We do just that, and a few moments later, there are only a couple of boxes left that look to be intact, and a few that look slightly singed.

“On the plus side, there is less box carrying today,” I say, trying to sound positive, but I’m not sure I succeed, still in shock that Sly kept things from me.

“I hid a lot of stuff about my family when I first came to town,” Sal suddenly says gently. “I know you and Sly have been together for years, but dark witches tend to keep family dealings a secret. It’s no reflection on you. It’s something we’re brought up with. He might not have wanted to worry you.”

“I get that, and I would have worried if I knew how much they were contacting him. But we’ve never kept things from each other before. What if he’s keeping other things from me?”

“I promise you I’m not. Keeping the emails a secret wasn’t intentional. I deleted all their messages and never answered any. Once I deleted the messages, I didn’t think about them again. It’s only been the past month that Father started talking about the family meeting and helping with their cause, which I told you about,” Sly says from behind us.

As soon as he started talking, I turned around and looked at him. “I understand, but no more keeping things from me.”

Sly nods. “Deal. Now, in the spirit of telling you everything, it’s break time.”

I laugh as he intended. “Then let’s hand out food.”

We’re again sittingon the ground eating our warm Cornish pasties and cakes, just chatting about this and that.

“So, we have about five boxes left to pack and then we’re done,” I announce.

“And the van is all packed up and ready to leave once we finish this break,” Adhan tells me.

I’m shocked by that. “How come?” I enquire and look at Sly. “You cheated and used magic, didn’t you?”

“Umm, well, magic might have been involved.”

I hear chuckles from the others.

“Plus, it means we get back to yours earlier than we thought and can help you unpack,” Temp adds, screwing up the empty Cornish pasty paper.