Page 2 of Witch You Weren't Here

She followed her friends, wincing at the pounding of their feet down the short set of steps at the end of the corridor. Goddess, did they think they were auditioning for Riverdance? When she got there herself, she leapt from the top, using a brief levitation spell to stop herself from landing heavily. Since she’d only tried it with small objects before, she came down a lot quicker than she was expecting and barrelled into Tina and Jaz, sending them all tumbling into a rack of coats.

Giggles erupted again, so Kay untangled herself and leapt for the big door. It had an old iron latch, that she had to twist the metal hoop to lift. Please be unlocked. She yanked and the door swung open, allowing them all to escape outside. They looked at each other, then at the path leading into the woods and set off again.

‘What was that all about?’ Tina asked as they moved past the treeline into the shelter of the tall ash trees and pale-barked silver birches.

‘I think they were from the Witches Council or something,’ Kay said.

‘Ugh, boring. But not what I meant.’ Tina pulled a bottle of dandelion wine from inside the kangaroo pocket of her oversized sweatshirt. Her parents never made her wear dresses if she didn’t want to. ‘I meant you trying to eavesdrop and nearly getting us caught.’

Kay shrugged. ‘All part of the fun.’

‘All part of your obsession with sniffing out Harry Ashworth at every given opportunity,’ Jaz accused, raising her eyebrows as though daring Kay to contradict her.

Was she obsessed with Harry Ashworth? Probably a bit. Had she been crushing on him for … ever? Pretty much. Had that crush reached terminal velocity over the last year, as he spent more and more time over at Kay’s actual house, studying for his A levels with her brother? Yes, absolutely, because if she’d thought he was fascinating at a distance when she attended the seasonal parties at the Hall, getting to know him in person had blown her mind and fried her hormones simultaneously.

But she wasn’t going to admit that. What she was going to do was poke her tongue out at her friend who knew her too well and coax the breeze again so the hawthorn bush Jaz was walking beside sprayed blossom up into her face.

‘Is that all you’ve got,’ Jaz teased as she shook petals out of her braids. ‘You don’t want to come at me with flowers, you know. I’ll have to ask Tina to hold my beer.’

‘Yeah, watch out, she’s about to give you the worst bout of hay fever ever.’ Tina snorted.

The sun was going down by the time they reached the small clearing and it was filled with green and golden light, pollen from the trees dancing above their heads like glitter in a snow globe. The mouth of the cave was only eight-foot square, heavy with encroaching foliage at this time of year, so it would have been easy to miss it. Exactly as any wandering non-magical people were supposed to. For witches, though, there was a tell-tale prickle of magic that tiptoed over their skin. Magic wasn’t always detectable, nor did it always leave a mark, but the intensity of the energy that had been used there over the years made this place special. As special and important as Ashworth Hall.

This was where it had all started. Where Biddi – the namesake of Biddicote village – had once lived and practised. What was a colourful folkloric story to non-magical people, with an imaginary cave and a handful of places in Surrey it ‘might’ refer to, was witch history and Kay couldn’t help being fascinated by it.

Even Tina and Jaz stopped joking for a few minutes as they all went up to the cave and peered inside. Beyond a couple of feet at the entrance, it was pitch black. There was no way of knowing how far it went back, if it went down, had twists and turns, or ended after a few long strides.

Jaz took out her phone and turned the flashlight on, trying to penetrate the darkness, but the beam was swallowed up.

‘Cloaking spell?’ Kay suggested.

‘Probably. Do you think they’re hiding something in there?’ Tina bounced the big bottle of wine she’d stolen off the side of her thigh as she stared.

‘Oooh, like what? Gold? Jewels?’ Jaz switched off her phone.

‘Maybe there are, like, really old runic signs and art on the walls depicting magical scenes or something?’ Kay pushed at some of the ivy, leaning a little further in.

‘Only you could act like that’s more exciting than treasure,’ Jaz scoffed. ‘C’mon, let’s get this wine open and get our party started.’

They took seats on the fallen logs outside the cave and then realised they didn’t have a corkscrew and would have to figure out the best way of removing a cork from a bottle with magic. Tina was all for dispersing it, but since matter didn’t ever truly vanish, Kay was worried that the particles would get into the wine and contaminate it. Jaz suggested an attraction spell, but none of them could conjure anything precise enough that didn’t have the bottle and its contents straining towards their hands with it.

It was getting darker now and they competed at creating orbs of light after striking flint – catching the sparks in air bubbles and floating them above their heads until the oxygen inside the bubble ran out and the flame died – seeing who could make the biggest bubble and last the longest. Then Jaz picked bluebells, weaving them into a crown for Kay’s hair as Tina pulled out her tarot cards and started doing a reading to tell her whether she was going to pass her GCSEs. It was only the seventh time Tina had done this in the last two weeks.

‘Thank you,’ Kay said as Jaz set the crown on her head and started threading her hair into a plait around the stems to hold it in place. ‘Are we allowed to pick these, though? Aren’t they endangered?’

‘Are they? Huh. Well, luckily I can repair the damage.’ Jaz dropped Kay’s hair and went over to the patch where she’d picked the flowers. Grabbing a handful of grass, she rubbed it in between her hands, releasing the scent and sap, before murmuring a spell and pressing her hands into the soil.

Kay moved closer, watching quietly as petals began to bloom. Pale indigo blue unfurling slowly. ‘That’s so awesome.’

Jaz sent her a quick smile and looked back at the ground, her dark eyes alight with wonder and pride at what she was achieving with her elemental magic. Kay pressed her lips together, forcing down her desperation to have her own gift. It was like waiting for Christmas, but having no calendar available to see whether it was a whole year away or just a week.

‘My magic is pretty awesome too, y’know,’ Tina said conversationally, as she squinted at a card she’d pulled from the deck. ‘I could make your ears smaller if you wanted. Or your nose.’

‘Hey, what’s wrong with my ears? Or my nose?’ Kay stood up, putting her hand to it, as though it might have expanded suddenly like Pinocchio’s when she wasn’t looking.

Tina shook her head and held her hands up with a laugh. ‘Nothing—’

‘It’s enormous,’ a familiar voice said from the other side of the clearing. ‘Honestly, Kay, you could hang washing from it.’

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