Page 4 of Witch You Weren't Here

‘Jaz said you wanted me to give you a tour?’ Harry spoke from nearby and her eyes flew open. He was inside the entrance too, close enough to touch. ‘That you wanted to see – and I quote – “boring historical shit”.’

Kay winced. ‘I don’t want to pull you away from the party because of my geekiness.’

‘I don’t mind.’ He put his hands in his pockets, his eyes lit with mischief. Or maybe it was affection? ‘It takes all sorts.’

OK, definitely mischief; that lovely, gentle kind of teasing she never minded coming from him.

‘What about the others?’ Kay chewed her lip, not wanting to ask, but, also, not wanting to appear like she was trying to separate him from the herd and attack. ‘D’you think they’d be interested?’

‘Well, Jaz has Tina and your brother handcuffed with bark she grew from one of the logs and is refusing to let them go until they’ve resolved things. Reminds me of what my parents used to do to make me resolve conflicts with …’ His brows knitted for a second. ‘Other kids. Or maybe it was a teacher? Either way, I doubt they are getting off that log anytime soon.’

‘I can’t imagine you arguing with other kids.’

‘Hey, I’m a redhead.’ He gave his hair a quick ruffle and sent her another lopsided grin. ‘You know what we’re like, hot-tempered … mercurial.’

She laughed, shaking her head, because it was far from the truth, and he knew it.

His smile widened and then he turned, reaching up to grab a small piece of chalk from a little ledge she hadn’t noticed. Then he stepped into the inky black. She made an involuntary squeak as he disappeared, but, seconds later, a warm light eased into the cave, diffusing from a torch further in and more lights in the distance she couldn’t see clearly. He rubbed his thumb over the chalk in his hand and she saw the small rune he’d drawn on the wall. A simple arrowhead pointing left.

‘Wow,’ she breathed. Runes were old magic and they required a lot of energy and intention to get them to work, otherwise you were just drawing lines like any other person. Maybe it was his affinity for influential drawing which made him capable of invoking them despite being such a young witch.

‘Don’t be too impressed. I just drew over the marking Biddi worked into the wall. It’s the equivalent of turning on a light switch. She did all the wiring.’

‘You think that makes it less impressive?’ Kay moved closer so she could see the groove in the wall. She wanted to touch it but didn’t want to rub off the chalk. She was where Biddi had crafted a light and warmth spell, embellished it to anchor to objects. It always gave her a thrill to see the evidence of where someone had gone before.

‘Definitely less impressive on my part. But there’s no denying how powerful and clever Biddi was.’ Their eyes caught as Kay looked up from the rune and Harry tilted his head towards the rest of the cave. ‘It’s safe. You can go ahead and explore.’

She couldn’t help grinning as she walked deeper inside, Harry just behind her. If her gift emerging was going to be like Christmas Day finally arriving, this was surely her birthday.

At the end of the entrance passage, just past the old wooden torch, propped against the wall, there was a turn, which brought them into another chamber. In the centre, with a circle of stone seats surrounding it, was a small fire. Small shelves and cubbyholes were carved into the walls and there was a wide alcove that she imagined might have once had a bed in it.

‘It’s amazing, but it’s just a home too,’ she said, her voice breathy. ‘Is there any evidence that people did come, asking for her to help them find lost things, like the legend says?’

‘Nothing you can see here. But she kept a sort-of journal. It’s part ledger, part diary really and she noted down all the things people living nearby would ask her to find, and the offering they brought for the service.’

‘You’re kidding me? You’ve got that at Ashworth Hall?’ Kay spun around, her hand sliding over one of the shelves.

‘No. I mean, I’m not kidding you.’ He laughed, the light from the fire playing over his cheekbones. ‘It’s locked up in a physical and charmed safe. I wish I could show it to you, but that’s one I really can’t sneak out. Maybe one day.’

‘When you’re in charge?’ she wiggled her eyebrows. He gave an awkward shrug and she sensed somehow she’d put her foot in it, so she changed the subject. A bit. ‘Have you read it?’

‘Oh, Goddess, no.’ He sat down on one of the stone seats around the fire, any tension in his face disappearing. ‘Normal history textbooks are hard enough for me, let alone ones with itty-bitty writing. And f’s instead of s’s, or whatever it was they did back then. My parents have shown it to me, though.’

She came over to sit next to him. ‘What do you remember most about it?’

‘It’s small.’ He held out his hand and traced a rectangular shape from the heel of his palm to the furthest joint of his long fingers. ‘About this big. The cover is brown leather hide, with runes tooled along the spine. As well as the squiggly writing, there are little drawings through it, like … like doodles really, illustrating her entries.’

‘That’s so cool.’ She rested her chin on her fist. ‘So … did she draw “the devil”?’

Harry’s eyes crinkled at the edges as he laughed. ‘What, great-great-granddad times nine?’

Kay laughed too, because how ridiculous would it be to think that Harry had anything demonic about him. Not that non-magical people – even in the village – had any idea that the Ashworth family was linked to the legend of Biddicote. For them, the story went that the devil himself had come to visit Biddi, disguised as a rich nobleman, leaving such a pile of jewels, she accepted the bargain before bothering to ask what he wanted. When he told her he had to find a woman who wielded unnatural powers, Biddi had to leave the cave and stand in the entrance, for that woman was her. And she was never seen after that.

Of course, the truth was, that although a rich man had come calling to her cave, it had been multiple times and he’d offered her nothing more than his love and a home up on the land overlooking the cave. She’d married him, taking his name and starting a family, and when the witch-hunters combed the country for people to persecute, the story that the devil had already taken that evil witch away had been extremely convenient. That, coupled with the protection of the Ashworths’ magic, ended up inadvertently creating a safe haven.

‘It’s very handy that people never linked Biddi and the Ashworths,’ Kay mused – wondering how they were able to keep locals from recognising her, or connecting the story to the truth, when it happened. Had that been why they had started laying the protective magic? Had they used the kind of magic Tina had – linked to the healing affinity – where you could change people’s appearances? Kay desperately wanted to get into the library at Ashworth Hall and go through every old source record they had, then compare them to local non-magical records. She really was an utter geek.

‘I guess I wouldn’t be here if they had.’ Harry picked up a dry leaf from the floor and twirled it by the stem before throwing it onto the small fire. ‘The witch-hunters probably would have burned down the Hall.’

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