“Right,” said Joel, laughing bitterly. “And they use a hell of a lot of dark witchcraft to get it.”
Quite Old Aunt Ruby flipped her wrinkled palms skyward. “They do what they must to achieve such dizzying heights.”
Joel rubbed his forehead tiredly. “So what exactly are you getting at here, Ruby? That my mother skipped out on us and pledged her allegiance to the Fallows coven instead because she was a power-hungry sycophant? Our power wasn’t enough for her, so she went to the dark side?”
Quite Old Aunt Ruby nodded again. “In a word, yes.”
“And they just welcomed her with open arms?” Joel scoffed. “A human with no power and a whole load of Tomlins baggage?”
Outside, the wind howled through the trees as though it were responding to his pained comments.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby laced her fingers together on the table top. “Evangeline could offer Jefferson Fallows something he wanted.”
Joel swallowed, remembering the domineering head of the Fallows clan who had dined with them on Erridox.
What could Jefferson possibly want from my mother? he thought.
And then the answer came to him.
“A human child?” he said grimly.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby’s silence was answer enough.
“But. . .” Joel thought back to the Erridox dinner. “He recruited a bunch of human sons through the Erridox ritual, didn’t he? They all seemed so. . . out of it, except for Kaden.”
“Yes,” replied Quite Old Aunt Ruby. “All six Fallows sons were Erridox recruits. And yet Kaden, the oldest, was the only one who wasn’t hostile to the process—and hence he embraced witchcraft so readily. Which leads me to believe Kaden was raised with knowledge. Raised by a human who knew witchcraft inside and out—a human who had studied it, who was infatuated by it, who was. . .”
“My mother,” Joel murmured.
Ruby nodded. “Not long after you were born, Evangeline surmised that her only way of infiltrating a higher power was to provide a human. So, she found a human man and had a human baby and—”
“Abandoned us for the first time?” Joel guessed. The realisation stung.
Ruby lowered her eyes. “She raised the child, conditioned him, and offered him to Jefferson Fallows when he was of age.”
Joel exhaled in a broken breath. “You’re talking about Kaden, right?” he said distantly. Then something inside his mind clicked.
“Kaden is your half-brother,” Quite Old Aunt Ruby confirmed.
For a moment, Joel was speechless.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby went on, “The other aunts and I have been tracking her over the years. She tried to come back to you, around the time Ainsley was conceived, but by then she was in too deep with the Fallows. She tried, Joel. But, in her heart, the higher power still called to her.”
“Why?” Joel choked out.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby shrugged. “I do not know.”
“And Ainsley?” Joel questioned. “Does he know about this?”
“Ainsley is intuitive,” was Quite Old Aunt Ruby’s response. “He knows what he knows, and he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”
“So that’s how she had sway over Kaden,” Joel pieced together in a daze. “Because Kaden is her son?”
“Her son, yes,” Quite Old Aunt Ruby agreed with a touch of distain. “And also her key to infiltrating a higher power.”
“Where is she now?” Joel pressed. “What happened that night?”
It was a question that had never been far from his mind since the moment he’d heard that blood-curdling scream echoing through the Haunted House.
“She is out there, somewhere,” Quite Old Aunt Ruby offered vaguely. “And Kaden. . . well, we cannot be sure what happened to him. Whether or not Evangeline would harm her best asset is unclear. But I’m sure Maximus believes she destroyed him out of devotion to the Tomlins family—and that she has since gone into hiding to save herself from Jefferson’s wrath.”
“Is that what you think, too?” Joel asked her.
“Perhaps. Or perhaps she merely struck a deal with Kaden and they are still in with the Fallows, paying penance for their weakness.”
Joel looked to the window, lost in his thoughts. Outside, the new day was beginning to dawn and the forest was coming alight with a soft violet hue.
Quite Old Aunt Ruby rose to her feet. “You deserve clarity, what little comfort that may be.”
Joel bowed his head and stared down at his hands. “I guess this explains why Maximus is so hell-bent on making a name for our coven.” He paused, vulnerable. “Do you think he’ll come back?”
“Oh, I have no doubt.”
“And my mother?”
“I have no doubt,” Ruby repeated with a gentle smile. “Rest now, my angel,” she said fondly. “In daylight, all becomes easier.”
A small laugh escaped Joel’s lips. “If that’s the case, then how come you only come out at night?”
“Ah,” she clucked, shooting him a gummy smile. “I am not one to choose the easy path. After all, my dear Joel, aren’t life’s challenges what make us who we are?”
Joel’s expression gave way to a reluctant smile. “And who are we?”
“We are who we are,” Quite Old Aunt Ruby concluded. She began to walk away, but paused in the doorway. “You will get through this and come out stronger than ever, my dear Joel. I promise you that.”
Joel sighed. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I don’t know the drill.”
“And this time,” said Quite Old Aunt Ruby, “you’ll have her, too.”
“Who?”
“Your golden girl,” said Quite Old Aunt Ruby with a wide, toothless grin.
Maggie, Joel realised.
“Life gives and it takes, my boy,” Quite Old Aunt Ruby was saying now. “Your only task is to enjoy what is given as much as you mourn what is taken. And remember, Joel,” she added. “Your story does not end here.”
And on that note, she disappeared into the unlit corridor.
“WHAT DO YOU know about the Tomlins family?” Officer Bryant asked, folding his hands on the table as he scrutinised the girl in the seat opposite him.
The light bulb overhead flickered, casting strips of fluorescent light across the police station’s cold, grey interrogation room.
On the other side of the table, Maggie Ellmes sat rigid in her chair. “Same as everyone else,” she replied without missing a beat.
Bryant leaned back in his seat and smirked. “And what exactly is it that everyone else knows?”
Maggie swallowed. “Everyone in Blackheath knows the Tomlins family.”
“Maximus Tomlins,” Officer Bryant recounted as though he were reading from a personal ad. “Single dad, raising four boys all on his own . . .” The fractured bursts of light reflected in his eyes as he spoke.
Maggie nodded her head, dark blonde waves creeping like ivy over her school sweater.
“Blackheath High kids, right?” Bryant pressed.
Maggie nodded again.
“Tell me about them,” Bryant prompted. Beads of perspiration had formed on his brow now; he needed more than this.
“Evan’s the oldest,” Maggie began. “He’s eighteen and a senior. Then there’s Joel, who’s seventeen. Then Ainsley, who’s thirteen, I think. And Pippin, of course. But he’s only four or something.”
“And Mrs Tomlins? What does everyone know about her?” Bryant was leaning forward now, pressing both palms flat against the table.
“No one knows what happened to Mrs Tomlins,” Maggie answered. “Only that she cut and run. She left after Joel was born. I heard she came back for a while, but then left again not long after Ainsley was born.”
“And?” Bryant pushed.
“And Mr Tomlins went to look for her.”
“And then?”
Maggie shrugged. “And he never found her, I guess, so he just came home.”
“What about Mrs Tomlins? Did she ever reappear?” Bryant’s eyes bore into Maggie acr
oss the table. “She must have if there’s a fourth child in the picture.”
“She came back for a couple of months a few years ago, then disappeared again.”
“And, lo and behold, a baby gets left on the Tomlins’ doorstep nine months later,” Bryant added.
“Pippin,” said Maggie.
“How do you know all this?”
“I told you already. Everyone in Blackheath knows all this.” Now it was Maggie’s turn to lean forward. “And I know you know all this too, Officer. So I can’t help but wonder why you’re asking me.”
Another lazy smirk. “Everyone knows the Tomlins are witches, too, don’t they?” he suggested coolly. “That’s why people are afraid of them, isn’t it?”
Maggie held his gaze. “Are you afraid of them?”
He smiled darkly. “I think a more interesting question is, are you?”
Maggie smiled back, musing silently over the question.
“No,” she replied honestly. “Not even slightly.” She contemplated the so-called curse that she had once feared. The fact was, she was protected by Joel. And now, she would protect him, and his family, too.
Bryant closed his file and leaned back in his seat. “Well, I suppose if that’s everything. . .” He drew out the statement as though waiting for her to add something of her own accord. To divulge a key piece of evidence about the disappearance of Kaden Fallows.
But she said nothing.
“If that’s everything,” Bryant repeated, “thenyou’re free to go. Oh, and if you happen to see Maximus Tomlins about town, tell him we’re looking for him.””
Maggie rose to her feet and didn’t look back as she walked out of the bleak interrogation room.
What’s the point, anyway? she thought as she left the station.
They could interview every person in town—and they practically had—but they would never be able to pin anything on the Tomlins family because there was no evidence to pin. There were no clues, no forensics to unpick. Kaden and his entire Fallows family had simply. . . evaporated.
As for Joel . . . Well, after what had happened with his mum, the revelations about Kaden’s connection to the family, and with his dad leaving too, Maggie had often wondered how Joel would cope. But he was . . . okay, actually. They’d talked, and reflected, and talked some more. They’d gone to parties with Evan and Charlie, and Isla, Blonde Lauren and Hilary. And even cleaned the house on a few slow Sundays. And now things were as close to normal as they’d ever been.
As close to normal as Maggie would ever want them to be.
This was her life.
And it was good.
SOME WAY AWAYfrom the little town of Blackheath, Evangeline waited for Maximus to appear. She knew, if she waited long enough, he would find her. He always did, no matter what. And she loved him for it.
Unfortunately, the Fallows would be looking for her, too.
For that reason, it was not safe for her to be with her boys right now—any of them. But she knew that wherever they were, they were protected by family. Evan, Joel, Ainsley, Pippin…
And Kaden.
They were safe. She was sure of that. But she could not be sure if they would forgive her—for abandoning them, and for hurting them, and for using her powers on them…
For no one but Maximus knew of the particular set of powers that Evangeline had.
In fact, no one knew she had powers at all.
But she did. She had many
Evanescent
How I Found You
Secrets in Phoenix
The Witches of the Glass Castle
The Witches of the Glass Castle: Uprising
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Huge thanks to everyone in the book community. I’m so grateful for your support; Jaspreet, Isa, Evie, Sasha, Ben, and so many more!
Thanks, as always, to my family and friends: Lepores, Nelsons, Carters, Oystens/Wynne-Jones (you don’t), Team Chadwick, Xerri, Nikki, Rachel, the Fabulous Saunders of Whaley Bridge, and Westley!
Thanks to my parents, for so much… and so much more.
Thanks to Elizabeth, editor extraordinaire and incredible friend.
Thanks to James, for highlighting the importance of spreadsheets and rounded plans!
Last but not least, a very big thanks to YOU, for reading this book I hope you enjoyed it!
Love,
Gabriella xxx
Gabriella Lepore, Blackheath
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