Page 79 of Cadenbury Town Does Halloween

“I told you, baby boy, that there would be a simple reason why it didn’t work,” Clarence says, smiling at him.

Cal beams at him. “You did.”

“Right, I’m back to work, catch you later,” I say, walking back into the bookshop.

About half an hourbefore closing Adhan comes strolling into the bookshop.

I smile when I see him and as I’m not serving anyone, I walk over and hug him. I feel him drop a kiss on my head.

“How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m okay,” I reply, pulling back. “How’s the BBQ going?”

“Kean has just started the burgers. Games have been played and Sly and Ebby are up to date on everything the dark witches have done.”

“Did they run away screaming?”

Adhan chuckles. “No, shocked but they were still at the manor when I left to come here,” he pulls back and looks towards my Pa. “Hi John.”

“Adhan. Ernest can tidy up, let’s grab a coffee.”

I watch as they both walk away and internally sigh and start tidying up. I bet Pa is going to tell Adhan how I deal with nightmares. Seriously, he is a snitch. I was going to tell Adhan myself. I pause, would I actually have told him? I know earlier I thought I would, but honestly, I’m not sure I would have done it. Maybe it’s just as well Pa is telling him.

CHAPTER 31

Igive a happy groan as I bite into my perfect burger.

“These burgers are amazing,” Sly says, as he munches on his second one.

I swallow my bite before answering. “They really are. Before I had one of these Stone burgers, I wasn’t really a fan of them. I hear the others filled you in on everything earlier.”

Sly nods. “Yeah, we picked up a lot looking at the website you guys created, but hearing all the stories was eye-opening. I couldn’t figure out why my father kept emailing me to come to a family meeting. I’ve not spoken to him for over five years. That’s the reason we came to town. We heard rumblings of Cadenbury and Little Welling, but we chose to come here first and see what we could discover.”

“Little Welling is a place we hope we never have to go back to. Hopefully, it’s now deserted. The ley lines there are dark,” I tell him.

“Really?” Sly perks up at that.

I look at him. “You want to go and play with the ley lines, don’t you?”

Sly shrugs. “Just because they’re dark doesn’t mean they are evil. It’s always good to know where dark ley lines are.”

“It’s a good job I like you, otherwise I’d be scared by you saying that,” I point out.

Sly laughs. “Sometimes to deal with dark magic you need dark magic.”

“Yeah, like that dream. I wonder if that was why the dark witches did that?”

“Because you don’t have any dark witches, they are all now grey. Mind you saying that, I was surprised how dark Justice’s magic could go and not turn black.”

“Yeah, he can go almost black dark grey, we found that out when his biologicals kidnapped Alfred.”

“He said. I’m glad he made a life away from his family. He looks truly happy,” Sly says looking over at him.

I turn to look as well. Justice is laughing at Ben as theJengablocks fall down.

“He really is. He was a bit of a grump to be honest, but Alfred brings out the best in him.”

“You all helped as well, Pops,” Alfred says, walking over and joining us.