Startled by her interruption, Kaden stopped his incantation and glowered at her. “What do you want?” he snapped, just like she hoped he would.
“Why Isla?” Maggie asked calmly.
For a moment, Kaden’s face softened. His expression grew fond, gentle. “Because she is perfect.”
In the background, barely audible, Joel’s chanting continued. But it, too, was growing weaker, Maggie noticed. She had to keep stalling.
“Then why give up on her so easily?” she called, her stomach knotting as she said the treacherous words.
Kaden smirked. “Believe me,” he breathed. “I haven’t given up.”
Maggie’s stomach lurched. “But you made a deal, right?” As she spoke, her voice began to quaver. “Isla in exchange for Evan, right? You can’t have both.”
“Not yet, no. But once I have the Chosen One’s power, who knows what I’ll be capable of?”
Maggie could almost hear him salivate as he spoke.
She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “So that’s it? You kill Evan, then take Isla too?”
“Ah, so you’re smarter than your boyfriend, I see.” His smile made the hairs on her arms stand on end.
“But. . .” she began, unable to find the words. “But that’s not fair.”
“I’m tired of you,” was all he said, flicking his wrist towards her. “Go!”
All of a sudden Maggie felt a surge of bitterly cold air swell around her. But before it could engulf her, the swell rebounded and rushed back at Kaden, sending him stumbling backwards.
“She’s protected, remember?” Joel reminded Kaden with the last shreds of satisfaction he could muster.
Before Kaden could regain his footing, there was a heavy clunking sound and he suddenly dropped to the ground, stunned.
Now, in the space where Kaden had stood just moments ago, was Ainsley. The younger boy was gripping a piece of wood proudly.
“Yeah!” Ainsley cheered, bouncing on his toes and peppering the night with a string of colourful profanities.
“Ainsley!” Joel half-scolded, half-rejoiced.
The celebration was short lived, however, as Kaden started to recover his composure.
“Run!” Ainsley cried, grabbing Evan’s arm and dragging him towards the Haunted House. Evan followed along behind him, too tired to resist.
Maggie ran to Joel, and with their hands clasped tightly together they set off after the other two Tomlins boys. Clambering over the turnstile, the foursome scrambled along the train tracks into the Haunted House.
In the pitch black, Maggie clung to Joel’s hand as though her life depended on it—which, she supposed, wasn’t far from the truth. She followed the boys’ lead as they raced down the tracks for what seemed like forever before climbing up into an unseen nook in the wall.
Breathless, they huddled silently in their crammed hiding place, listening for the inevitable sounds of Kaden’s pursuit.
It was Joel who spoke first. “This was a stupid idea,” he hissed under his breath. “Now we’re trapped in here.”
Ainsley’s hand reached out in the dark to punch Joel’s arm. “You’re a fine one to talk about stupid ideas,” he hissed back.
“We shouldn’t have run in the first place,” Evan pointed out resignedly. “He’s owed a life. That was the deal.”
“I’m not going to let you die, Evan,” Joel snapped.
“Same,” Evan whispered.
“Why did you have to interfere?” Joel went on heatedly. “I had everything under control before you came along—”
“Everything under control?” Evan echoed incredulously. “You’re kidding, right? You were about to let Kaden kill you!”
“Yeah, and you ruined it.”
The brothers fell silent again.
Blinded by the darkness, Maggie swatted fake Haunted House cobwebs away from her face. “I’m not sure it even matters anymore,” she told them. “Didn’t you hear? Kaden admitted he wasn’t planning on honouring the deal anyway. He’s going to take Isla regardless.”
“Not if he doesn’t have actual Chosen One powers,” Joel pointed out, exasperated. “He’s only got tonight to figure out how un-block himself. Unfortunately, Chosen One over here”—he thumbed towards Evan—“is offering him super-powers on a plate.”
Evan exhaled tautly. “I don’t care, Joel. I won’t let you die. End of story.”
Beside her, Maggie felt Joel tense.
“Dumbass,” Evan muttered. “You’re my little brother. No one gets to hurt you.”
“So, what?” Joel spoke again. “You think I don’t feel the same way about you, dumbass? No one gets to hurt you, either. You need to stand down. This has nothing to do with you. Tell Kaden that I’m the Chosen One.”
“No,” said Evan.
Joel groaned. “Just do it, okay, Evan?”
“No.”
From across the nook, Ainsley feigned a retch. “You guys,” he chided. “Enough with the dying-for-each-other crap already. It’s so lame.”
Joel and Evan huffed under their breath.
“Listen, losers,” Ainsley went on. “You wanna know why I’m not offering to croak for either of you numbskulls?”
“Because you’re precious?” Joel offered.
“Nuh-uh, blockhead. It’s because I actually have a plan. A real plan, not this weak let’s-all-just-curl-up-and-die junk that you guys keep putting on the table.”
The others held their breath in the darkness, waiting for him to continue.
“She’s coming to stop him. And I made it happen.” Even though his features were concealed by the cavernous blackness, Ainsley’s proud smile was evident in his voice.
“Who’s she?” Evan asked.
“You’ll see,” answered Ainsley smugly.
Joel snorted. “I know that Topaz tells you she’s a red-hot super witch, and I hate to break it to you, buddy, but she’s lying.”
“I’m not talking about Toppy,” Ainsley bit back. “Toppy is just here to summon her. You wait. She’s coming. I know she is. We just have to hold out a little while longer and she’ll be here.”
Maggie squeezed Joel’s hand tighter. Whatever Ainsley had planned, she hoped with all her heart that it was something—or someone—worth waiting for.
INSIDE THE DARK Haunted House, seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours. So, when they finally heard the hammering of Kaden’s feet starting to pound down the train tracks, Joel couldn’t put a figure on how much time had passed. But he could hazard a guess that it hadn’t been long.
The real confusion came when Kaden’s footsteps neared the nook in the wall where they were hiding. Instead of just one set of footsteps echoing along the tracks, there were two.
Dad? Joel wondered. Charlie? Or was it someone else?
“Kaden?” a woman’s voice called out, floating through the channels of the Haunted House as if on an eerie breeze.
Joel’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of the voice, and for a second he couldn’t breathe.
Say my name, was the first thought that crossed his mind. Say my name, too.
And as if by magic, it happened.
“Joel?” the woman called.
Joel felt his eyes begin to sting. He longed to call back to her, but he had no words. Hearing her voice had dragged every part of his being outside of himself. It had left him empty and whole, all at the same time.
Vaguely he felt Maggie’s fingers entwined safely with his own. And from his other side, another hand reached out and grabbed his sleeve.
Evan.
“See?” Ainsley whispered. “I told you she’d come.”
“Who?” Maggie whispered back.
“Mum,” Evan murmured.
Now they heard Kaden’s voice, closer than his footsteps had suggested.
“Evangeline,” Kaden called out. “What are you doing here?”
She did not answer his question. “You will not harm these boys, Kaden. Do you hear me?”
Joel?
??s heart was pounding wildly in his chest now. He wanted to run to her. He wanted to hold onto her, to see her, to have her be his mother again. It was only in that moment that he realised he wasn’t okay without her. He still needed her. He still loved her.
“The Chosen One is mine,” Kaden replied. But the conviction that had previously steeled his voice was gone. In its place was something else. Something that sounded almost. . . purple.
Fear, Joel realised, listening to the vibrations in the darkness.
For the first time that night, Kaden was afraid. But what power could their mother possibly have over him?
Joel listened again to the hum of her energy. She was resolute and angry at the same time.
“You obey me,” she said to Kaden, her voice showing no trace of the anger Joel had detected.
“But we made a deal,” Kaden snapped in response. “I will be powerful.”
Suddenly Joel wasn’t sure if the deal Kaden was referring to was the pact made with him—or a different one made with his mother.
“Your deal is broken,” she murmured.
“And if not?” Kaden answered darkly.
“Leave now, Kaden. That is my final word.”
“No,” he spat, his voice quavering.
That was the last word spoken between them. What followed was a blood-curdling scream—though from whose lungs it had escaped, Joel could not possibly say.
IT WAS A long while before Maggie and the Tomlins boys moved. The Haunted House was quiet again, apart from their own raspy breathing.
Once again, they were alone.
Ainsley was the first to speak. “I told you she’d come.”
The statement was met by silence.
Finally, Joel asked hoarsely, “How did you know where to find her?” His father had spent years looking for her, and he’d never been able to find her. He’d tried when she’d left after Joel was born, and again after Ainsley, and then again after Pippin was abandoned on the doorstep. One thing Joel knew for sure about his mother, was that she only returned when she wanted to return.
“Toppy told me a while ago,” Ainsley said softly. “She said that our mother’s been living here, in Blackheath, with the Fallows—”
Joel almost choked at the revelation. Beside him, he heard Evan inhale sharply.
“Have you seen her?” Joel pressed, whispering in the darkness.
“No,” Ainsley admitted. “But I can feel her presence. . .” he trailed off. When he spoke again, his voice cracked. “I can always feel her close to me.”
Joel wished so much that he could say the same—that he could feel his mother near him, too. But to him, she was just gone.
“Does Dad know?” he managed.
“No,” Ainsley replied. “Only the aunts and me. And now you guys.”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Joel murmured. “Why didn’t you tell Dad?”
“Because I know how it feels to know this. And I wish to god I didn’t know.”
They fell silent again, listening to the stillness inside the Haunted House.
At long last, Maggie broke the hush. “We should get out of here,” she said gently.
Joel slackened his grip on her hand, realising for the first time how hard he must have been squeezing it. Maggie tightened her grip in response.
Joel smiled into the darkness and tugged on the sleeve of Evan’s jacket. “You okay, Ev?” he asked.
His question was met with silence.
“Evan?” Joel tried again, with more urgency this time.
“Yes,” Evan responded at last. “I’m. . . okay.”
“And I’m okay, too,” Ainsley put in. “Are you okay, girl?”
“Yeah,” Maggie said delicately. “I’m okay.”
Joel cleared his throat. “And I’m okay. So we’re all. . . okay.”
In what seemed like one choreographed movement, the foursome rose to their feet and climbed stiffly down from their hiding place and onto the train tracks. As if fused together, they made their way as one back to the Haunted House’s entrance. Joel’s pulse was racing the whole way, scared of what he might see along the tracks—and terrified of what he might not see.
Where was Kaden? And, more importantly, where was his mother?
After what felt like an eternity, they stepped out of the Haunted House and into the quiet carnival grounds. Joel could see Maggie and his brothers now. He could see their dazed expressions striped with shadows. He noticed that Evan’s eyes were glassy with tears, and his heart gave a tug. He wanted to comfort him—to hug him or something.
But for some reason he couldn’t.
So instead, he simply said, “Hi, Evan.” His voice choked on the three short syllables.
“Hi, Joel,” Evan whispered.
Across the carnival, Maximus and Charlie came racing towards them.
But where’s Kaden? Joel wondered again. If his entrancements were broken, did that mean that he was. . .
“You’re alive!” Maximus shouted, grabbing all three of his boys in an embrace. “What happened in there?”
Joel leaned against his father’s shoulder, unsure of what to say. It was a question he didn’t know the answer to. He didn’t know what had happened, or if it was even over. There was only one thing he was sure of.
“I’m glad you’re here, Dad.”
And that was something he never thought he’d say.
AS THE DAYS passed and the threat of what had transpired between Kaden and the Tomlinses grew distant, Joel’s relationship with Maximus changed immeasurably.
The brothers finally made the decision to tell Maximus about their mother’s connection with the Fallows clan, and in the days that followed, Joel felt himself drawn closer to Maximus. Perhaps he’d felt sorry for his heartbroken father. Or perhaps, on some level, Joel knew something was coming. Something that, deep down, he didn’t want to happen. Nevertheless, that something was—just like fate—inevitable.
As it were, it happened in the middle of the night. Joel awoke suddenly from his sleep, his eyes popping open with a start. He jumped out of bed and paced quickly downstairs, just in time to see Maximus hovering in the open doorway, looking down the front porch steps. A swell of cold winter air funnelled into the entrance hall, reaching Joel in an icy burst.
Maximus flinched at the sight of his son. His aged body went rigid as his hand tightened around his rucksack’s shoulder strap.
Joel swallowed. “Are you leaving?”
Maximus cast his eyes down to the floor. “I have to.”
Joel stayed where he was, poised on the staircase, unable to take another step.
“No,” he told his father emphatically. “You don’t have to.”
Maximus looked up at that, meeting his son’s beseeching gaze. “I have to find her,” he choked out. “She wants me to find her. I know it.”
Joel had no response. “What about us?” he asked at last.
Now it was Maximus’s gaze that turned beseeching. “It won’t be forever,” he assured Joel. “She’s close, I know it. She came back here, right under our noses! And she came to save you. She loves us, I know it. . .”
Joel bowed his head. And when he looked up again, Maximus was gone.
JOEL COULDN’T SLEEP for the rest of the night. He didn’t even try.
How could he do this to us again? Joel thought furiously.
He sat numbly at the kitchen table, staring out the window into the dark forest beyond. He dreaded sunrise. When dawn broke, there would be no return. Maximus would officially be gone. And Joel would have to break the news to his brothers.
He dropped his head into his hands, breathing steadily onto the table top.
“He loves you, you know,” came a voice from behind him.
Joel looked up and glanced over his shoulder into the shadows to find Quite Old Aunt Ruby standing there, watching him with her tiny amber eyes. Her long grey hair caught a sliver of moonlight that was creeping in through the window.
“Love?” Joe
l echoed. “That man doesn’t know the meaning of the word.”
Quite Old Aunt Ruby stepped into the kitchen and took a seat beside Joel at the table. She placed her aged hand on top of his.
“Maximus does love you boys,” she said in her quiet, mousy voice. “But he loves your mother, too. He always has. . . and he can’t stop. Neither of them can, and they both suffer because of it.”
Joel’s eyes narrowed and he withdrew his hand. “Pity the children they dragged into their twisted romance,” he muttered. “Because it’s us who are suffering from it. We’re the goddamn roadkill in their car-crash love story.”
Quite Old Aunt Ruby’s gaze wandered to the window where the night breeze tapped at the glass. “What do you know of your mother?” she asked distantly.
Joel tensed. “Only that she was human, fell for my deadbeat dad, and then bailed each time she spawned another freak.”
Quite Old Aunt Ruby turned to meet his eyes in the dim light. “Evangeline was not put off by her witch children,” she said firmly. “In fact, that is the life she sought.”
Joel frowned. “Oh, really? She ditched us pretty quick, remember? As near as I can figure, every time she had one of us, she walked away the very next day.” He cringed at the pain that was evident in his voice, angry at himself for letting it show.
“Did you ever wonder why she came back?” Quite Old Aunt Ruby asked, raising a silver eyebrow. “Why she ended up pregnant with Ainsley, and then Pippin, too?”
“Because she and Maximus have this screwed up destructive relationship and they thrive off their own misery,” Joel muttered.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby mused over his remark. “No,” she said, calmly. “They thrive off their love.”
Joel rolled his eyes.
“They are in love, Joel,” Quite Old Aunt Ruby went on. “They have been from the moment they met. But Evangeline. . . well, your mother seeks the highest power, and the Tomlins clan is just not it.”
“Cue the Fallows coven,” Joel put in wryly.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby nodded her head. “The Fallows family have power and numbers that the Tomlins clan can only dream of.”