Page 4 of Destiny of the Witch

‘Youcan do it next time,’ Bastion promised with an indulgent smile.

Benji beamed. ‘Thanks!’

Benji had control of the radio so we listened to some classic rock on the way to Mum’s current house. He nodded his head in time to the music; he was turning into a proper headbanger.

When we arrived, Charlize smiled as she opened the door. ‘Hello, lady and gentlemen, come on in. Luna is painting in the conservatory.’

We trooped in. As she’d said, Mum was at her easel. She looked frailer today, and my heart gave a painful twist. It had been too long since I’d last visited. Oscar was right: hard as it was when she didn’t know me, I should still have come. Even so, it cut deeply as her gaze passed over us without a hint of recognition, not for me, not for Oscar, not for Bastion.

My stomach lurched. She was getting worse, so much worse. Why had her condition deteriorated so sharply?

I pulled out the vial but hesitated. Quite rightly, she wouldn’t take medication from a stranger. Charlize saw the thoughts dance across my face and grimaced in sympathy. ‘Pass it to me,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll giveit to her.’

I handed her the vial. ‘Luna,’ she said as she approached my mum. ‘I have a new medicine for you.’ She unstoppered the vial and passed it over.

Without comment, Mum drank the contents down in one. I hated that some petty part of me was jealous of Charlize; it didn’t matter who Mum trusted to deliver her medicine as long as she trustedsomeone. All that mattered was that she didn’t feel alone and scared. I wouldn’t ever wish her to feel that, even if it felt a little like Charlize had replaced me.

I had suffered solitude for so much of my life, but what Mum was going through was so much worse. Losing your faculties must be so hard to bear. If she was comfortable with Charlize, that was agoodthing.

I smiled hopefully and braced myself for some visible effect, some sign that the potion had worked. A minute passed. Two. Nothing.

Gutting disappointment wrenched through me and the smile slid off my face. The potion had done what it was supposed to do – healed temporal displacement. Liyana had confirmed that it would. Yet it had no effect on Mum at all.

Confused, I looked at Oscar and saw the resignation in his eyes. ‘Dad?’ I said softly. He turned to me. ‘It hasn’t worked, has it?’ My voice caught.

He shook his head. ‘No, kid, it hasn’t. I’m sorry.’

I knew he was doubly sorry: sorry it hadn’t worked, and sorry that he couldn’t tell me why it hadn’t.

I just wanted my mum back. I closed my eyes and tried to shove the heartbreak down.It wasn’t just about me, I told myself firmly. Without Mum’s help, I couldn’t get into the encrypted CD any time soon. Without the CD, I couldn’t learn what Mum had known about my father and how she had kept him from coming after us for all this time. I couldn’t hunt down the leader of the evil witches. To do that, I needed the code to the damned CD, and the code was locked in her brain.

I consoled myself with the knowledge that Bastion had a hacker friend who would no doubt be back from his mysterious business soon, then we’d get into the CD one way or another. If I was honest with myself, what I’d wanted more than anything was to bring my mother back to me, to see her look at me andseeme. Her blank eyes crushed me.

Hot tears rose but I blinked them away. I searched her frail face for something – anything. Just one hint, one micromovement to show that she was still in there.

But there was nothing. I looked into Mum’s unseeing eyes and despaired.

Chapter 3

When I saw the incoming call from Dick Symes, I was almost relieved. It was hard to sit there seeing the polite smile on Mum’s face that she reserved for strangers. I excused myself and went into the hall to take the call.

‘DeLea,’ I answered brusquely as I stared at the painting that hung in the hallway. I would recognise Mum’s brushstrokes anywhere. She’d been here a matter of days, yet already she’d made this new house her home. She may be down, but she’s not out.

‘It’s time for favour two.’ Dick got right to the point.

‘What do you need?’

‘Some truth runes. Bring the griffin.’ He hung up.

I despised being summoned like I was a lackey. Dick might not be aware of my promotion yet, but I was now one of the most important witches in British society and being summoned like an acolyte set my teeth on edge.Nevertheless, I owed him a favour and it was time sensitive so I could hardly refuse. Besides, I’d rather have the debt squared off. And – I could admit it to myself, if no one else – I wanted an excuse to leave. I couldn’t stand seeing my mum like this. It was breaking something fragile within me.

I checked my tote bag; sure enough, I had a truth potion in its confines. It had seemed a sensible addition to the daily supplies that I carried around at all times; after all, I was hunting down evil witches and you couldn’t expect them all to spill their guts like Jeb had done. Figurativelyandliterally.

I repacked my bag and turned to re-enter the room. I paused at the sight of Mum’s familiar, Lucille, stretched out on the bottom stair, her chest rising and falling slowly.

Fear wracked me as I knelt next to her. ‘Lucille?’ I called, stroking her gently. Her eyes snapped open but she didn’t try to move. ‘Something is really wrong with you,’ I breathed, more to myself than her. ‘What can I do?’

She lightly batted her head against my hand. Her energy levels were at an all-time low. I was sure that she was helping Mum somehow, but whatever she was doing was draining her completely.

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