Page 43 of Ascension of the Pack

‘I am. Will you let her do it? It’s important to me.’

‘My chakras? What does she need to do?’ he asked cautiously.

‘Just paint some runes on your forehead.’

He studied me then looked at Ben with an ‘I’ll humour her’ expression, which faded when he took in my brother’s serious face. He cleared his throat, ‘Oh-kay. As long as it’s not in henna or permanent marker, I guess there’s no harm in trying.’

I threw my arms around him. ‘Thank you, Dad!’ I looked around. ‘Where’s Mum?’

‘She’s sleeping. She’s coming off night shifts.’

That actually made things easier. At least this way, when she woke he’d either remember magic or not, but she wouldn’t have had her hopes raised.

The doorbell rang and Greg went to answer it. A moment later he showed Leyla in.

Dad offered her a hesitant smile. ‘You’re the chakra healer, are you?’

‘That’s me,’ Leyla said without missing a beat. ‘This won’t take long.’ She set her black backpack on the floor and pulled out a couple jars of thick potion and some paintbrushes. She snapped on gloves, which made Dad slide me a nervous glance. I gave him a bright smile and a thumbs-up.

There was no point warning him that it was going to hurt: firstly, he wouldn’t believe in chakra aligning, and secondly it would make him tense beforehand. I couldn’tgain his informed consent without him knowing about magic, so we might as well just bash on.

Leyla dunked her paintbrush in the darker liquid and turned to my father. ‘Hold still, please.’ She started painting intricate squiggles on his forehead and he stood stoically, half-amused and half-perplexed that Ben and I both thought this was a good idea.

The witch touched his hand lightly and the runes lit up.

Dad let out a strangled cry and collapsed to the floor.

Chapter 27

‘Dad!’ I shouted and threw myself down on the carpet next to him.

He’s okay,Esme reassured me.He’s just processing.She was right. His eyelids were flickering rapidly, like he was in REM sleep.

‘He’s going to need painkillers,’ Leyla said clinically. ‘Potions don’t work on clearing removal. You’ll need some good old Common-realm paracetamol and ibuprofen.’

‘I’ll get some,’ Greg said.

‘Kitchen,’ Ben directed distractedly, eyes on our father. ‘The cupboard over the sink.’

Greg stalked out and Ben dropped down next to me. We both waited anxiously for our Dad to come out of whatever trance he was in. A few moments later he let out a low groan and pressed a hand to his head. ‘I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,’ he complained. His eyes opened and focused on Ben andme.

His eyes widened in alarm. ‘I forgot! They made me forget!’ He lurched upright. ‘I didn’t mean to!’ he promised hastily. ‘I’d ruled it out, I swear. I wasn’t going to forget about magic, I was just going to try to acclimatise slowly.’ He gave a low groan. ‘God, it hurts. Fuck me.’ He lifted a shaking hand to his head and winced in pain.

Greg came back in with some pills and water. ‘Here,’ he said, passing them to my dad. ‘For the pain, sir. They won’t take it away completely but they’ll lessen the impact.’

Dad knocked back the pills and gratefully gulped down some water.

Greg turned to Leyla. ‘Thank you, you can go.’

She packed up her things and turned to me. ‘I’ll send an invoice.’

‘Thank you,’ I replied. ‘I’ll pay it when it lands.’ As an accountant, I believed in being a prompt payer of bills to help with others’ cashflow.

We all waited until she’d gone before turning back to Dad. ‘What happened?’ I asked urgently.

‘One of the chaps in black – she was a chap-ess, actually.’

‘A woman?’

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