having bought into this obscenity.
So, Ellie could do magic, if that was what it really was and yes, that was completely insane, but he accepted it as fact. But where was her loyalty? She said all the right things, about helping them and sticking together, but when it came right down to it she was just too in love with her own importance. They had bought her just as if she were prostituting herself. Or at least that was the way Luke saw it.
He continued to stare out at the night, everything becoming quiet now, the last remnants of flame almost extinguished. The men that had survived had been sent packing, suitably chastised.
Luke hated it all. He felt a low ache of rage twisting inside. When it came time for him to make his move, he wouldn't make the same mistakes as those who had lost their lives tonight. He would have to be far more cunning.
Ellie let the counterfeit SpiritHeart fall from her fingers and back into the cabinet. Whatever the purpose of this deception she was determined not to be fazed by cheap theatrics.
Everything she had witnessed so far seemed designed to confuse and disorientate her. She would not give the perpetrator the satisfaction.
With a confident stride, she approached the doorway that had been opened to her and stepped inside, passing through into a long passageway with sleek metallic walls. Everything was silver here and had a reflective sheen. She continued on, her footsteps ringing out with a dull echo.
Despite everything that had already transpired, Ellie tried not to cloud her mind with unnecessary speculation. Whatever game was being played here, she would face her opponent and emerge the victor. Any sense of fear that might have lurked in her heart was fast diminishing.
Coming to a bend in the passage, she turned the corner to find a doorway, already open. Beyond dim light emanated from a shadowy chamber.
The possibility of more traps crossed Ellie's mind, but she brushed these ideas away. No turning back now.
She entered a room that was striking in its banality. Tastefully decorated with wooden panelled walls and paintings of various landscapes, there was no dominate colour as had been the case in every other part of the house. There was fire burning in a hearth, although for all Ellie knew it might well be an electric facsimile. Even so, it gave the place a pleasant golden glow. Before it were two high backed leather padded chairs. The girl stood and stared at them, wondering if it were possible that either were occupied. Her answer came soon enough.
"Why don't you come and join me," someone spoke to her, obviously from the chair to the right of the fire. Ellie started, not because the sound had taken her by surprise, but because she knew that voice.
Without hesitation she went forward to confront the speaker.
Margaret of the Black Coven sat comfortably relaxed in the flickering light of the flames, giving her an ethereal aspect. "Congratulations," she said affably, "You have passed your test. Very well done. Now please, sit and we can discuss the true assignment I have in mind for you."
There was a tentative knock on his door and Zack tensed, unsure what it could mean. He waited, trying to think who it might be and why they would come to him in the middle of the night. He was still dressed, laying back on his bed. Sleep would not be his companion on this terrible night.
He swung his legs around to sit on the side of the bed, staring anxiously at the door. "Who is it?" he ventured. Could it one of the men, come to question him or even perhaps to accuse him. Who knows how they would react to what had happened. The door opened slowly and even in the pale light Zack knew the slender form that entered. "Leonie," he said in a quiet kind of awe, hardly believing she were there despite the evidence of his eyes. She said nothing, only coming swiftly to him, burying herself in his arms and clutching him with such force and passion that Zack's breathing became noticeably faster. "I...," he began to say, but she stopped his lips with her own and as they kissed he knew that this was not a time for words.
He drew the girl onto the bed and pulled her closer still. And after this, the only sound he heard was a sweet murmuring, along with the drumming of his heart as it beat in perfect rhythm with Leonie's soft breath.
"You really should sit down, you have had a busy night."
Margaret's casual attitude was infuriating Ellie. "Are you completely out of your mind!?" the girl demanded to know, her eyes blazing.
"Is it so unreasonable to test our new Mothers if they show promise?"
Ellie was trying very hard to get her head around all of the implications of this latest revelation, but it was a struggle. "So what about Helen and Grace? Did they know all along?"
"Not at all," the old witch assured her, "they were as much at risk as you were. They proved themselves adequate to the task, at least until the end. Helen is in your debt."
"I don't care," snapped the girl, "What's the point of this!?" She stood before the fire, glaring down at the seated woman. The orange glimmer of the flames made her dark eyes flash as if sparks lived within. This image was very close to how she was feeling. Ellie wanted to grab this arrogant old woman and shake her. But with an effort she calmed herself.
"I needed to make it real or there would have been no test. As I said, you did very well, after a hesitant start," Margaret explained, her expression revealing barely suppressed mirth.
Ellie folded her arms, her temper flaring again. "So how did you get here!? Steal a car! Get a bus!?" She was so irritated by Margaret's flippant manner and try as she might, her tongue would not be silenced.
"I have my ways," the elderly witch replied enigmatically. "But that is hardly important. You will need to get some rest. I'm sure you are tired. I have already arranged for your companions to take rooms here for the night."
"Sleep? Here? Why should I?" Ellie didn't want to do anything that Margaret suggested. Her determination to defy the woman was becoming very difficult to resist.
"So you are going to wander off into the night?" The idea obviously amused the witch a great deal
"Our driver, the man who brought us here, he could take me back?" The girl was speaking without thinking now. She just wanted to put distance between them.
"Back," Margaret queried, "to Witch Town? Or do you mean your home?"
This stopped Ellie in her tracks and sobered her. "You wouldn't let me," she voiced, her mind turning rapidly, thoughts of Zack, then her mother, the house where she had lived all of her life whirling through her brain.
"Your life has Changed, Ellie. You need to come to terms with that. I know that you recognise the truth of it. You may fight against it, but it remains the truth."
The girl wasn't sure what to say. She knew the woman was right. She hated herself for even thinking it. But it could not be pushed away. "What do you want me to do?" It was a just a question, but it meant a great deal. She sensed in herself that it was a turning point. One of acceptance and transformation. She was a witch. She and Margaret were alike. Maybe not in their characters, but in their kindred bond with the SpiritHeart. It terrified her and it thrilled her.
"There is something we need. Our Coven needs. It is kept secure in a protected place. You will need to travel to the city of London. There you must go to the great Tower and retrieve a document of significant value to us. And be sure," she added with grave severity, "this will be no test."
With a look of incredulity, the girl gave just the briefest shake of her head. "The Tower of London," she said, "you have got to be kidding me!"
When Zack awoke he was alone.
He turned slowly over onto his side and rested his head on the pillow. He felt strange. At once amazed and restless. Something inside him had altered. It was as if his senses had shifted, changing to incorporate new sensations and feelings.
If he tried to think all he saw was Leonie's face. Her eyes, her lips, her mouth on his.
He sat up and grinned. He tried to stop but couldn't.
But he couldn't be happy for very long after what had happened. His heart was heavy, despite the deep emotion he felt for Leonie.
/> Jeremiah was still dead, along with all of those other men. He was trapped in this dreadful town.
Zack wasn't smiling anymore. It was all so much like a deranged dream. And yet, despite the sense of loss, of anger that simmered within, threatening to erupt, he had found something truly beautiful and he was damned if he was going to let it go.
Leonie's father had died, trying his best to do something right. Jeremiah had said he loved his daughter and Zack believed it. He might not have been able to show it, but the boy knew that those feelings had been real. Now it was up to him to show her that what she had been taught, the conditioning she had been exposed to since her birth, was wrong. He owed it Jeremiah and it owed it Leonie.
Not all the women of Witch Town were the same. And one in particular had become a part of him now.
Although Beth knew something had happened, she had no idea what. But she understood it was serious. Serious enough to get the Black Coven witches in a flap anyway. But what was far more significant to her was it was her first day and already she was in trouble.
A witch with an unusually long, chiselled nose had obviously taken a dislike to her and made it very plain she was not welcome there.
Beth had to listen meekly while she was instructed that she should speak when she was spoken to and follow orders without question. Beth's response to this, at least in her own mind, was fat