Page 6 of Destiny of the Witch

She clung to me just as fiercely. ‘My Amber, you are every inch the woman I dreamed you would be.’

‘Bastion is my familiar,’ I blurted.

She grinned. ‘I know – and I’m glad you do, too.’ She looked at him. ‘Keep her safe, Bastion.’

‘You know I will.’

‘I know you will,’ she agreed. She turned back to me, tucking stray hairs around my ears in a gesture universal to mothers. ‘There are dark times ahead, Amber, but you can do it. You must.’ She pressed a kiss to my cheek. ‘I love you so much.’

‘I love you, too.’ My voice was almost frantic. ‘I miss you so much and so does Oscar.’ I desperately needed her to know how much I loved her, though words couldn’t really express the feelings in my heart. She had done so much for me, more than I had ever known.

Her arms dropped away from me and her eyes fixed on the painting behind me. ‘It’s in the painting,’ she said impatiently, frustration in her tone. Then she blinked once and she was gone, her eyes blurry and vacant. She turned and walked back into the room with Charlize without so much as a goodbye.

Bastion’s arms wrapped around me. ‘I’m okay,’ I whispered as grief crushed me. My mother’s brief moment of clarity was all the worse for the confusion that followed.

‘No, you’re not,’ he said softly.

I wasn’t, but what choice did I have? The weight of the world was on my shoulders and we didn’t have time for me to throw a wobbly. But by the Goddess, I wanted to wail and gnash my teeth and complain that it wasn’t fair. I even wanted to throw in a stamp of my foot.

Instead, I took a deep breath and studied the painting she’d referred to. It was a landscape like most of her work, showing rolling hills and a lake, the Lake District or Wales, perhaps. ‘Do you know where this is?’ I asked Bastion.

He studied the painting then shook his head before taking a picture of it with his phone. ‘I can find out. We’d better leave it here – no doubt she’s painted wards into it.’

‘You’re right!’ I said excitedly. Maybe she wanted me to see some runes she’d worked into the painting. I touched the wall and pulled my magic forward. As I’d hoped, bright warding runes leapt up and beamed through the picture. I felt rather than saw the connecting runes in the other rooms. Mum might be losing her marbles but she still knew how to rune like a protective mama bear. This house was locked down.

Disappointment welled. Was that all she’d meant, that the wards were in the paintings? Somehow her comment had felt more important, more pointed, than that.

I let my magic fade and the runes disappeared. ‘I didn’t ask her about the code,’ I said with a soft sigh.

‘My hacker contact is on his way back to the US. Inc will be ready for business soon so we’ll shoot this to him ASAP. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t ask first, don’t add that to the millstone around your neck.’

‘Ink?’ I asked.

‘Inc with a c. It stands for Incognito. It’s his hacker handle.’

‘Do you know his real identity?’ I asked curiously.

‘No. I doubt even he does,’ he said wryly. ‘Come on, Bambi. We need to see a man about some truth.’

Chapter 4

Dick insisted on total privacy, so of course Frogmatch scurried into his house to create havoc. I watched with a faint frown as his forked tail disappeared through an open window. ‘I’m beginning to think I have no control over his actions.’

Bastion grinned. ‘What was your first clue?’

I sighed. Benji and Oscar were far more obedient and happily stayed in the car. They were listening to some classic rock and Oscar was teaching Benji to play air guitar. Their burgeoning friendship was as unlikely as my friendship with Benji, but no less beautiful. Oscar didn’t have many friends; as my guard and enforcer, he had to stay at arm’s length from most of my Coven. For all he was a wizard, everyone knew that he had my ear.

The stress of the visit with Mum was still visible on his face, but the tension started to loosen in his shoulders ashe talked animatedly with Benji and a smile crept in. I was beginning to realise that friendship is one of life’s greatest treasures; I’d been a fool to avoid it for so long.

I was about to knock on Dick’s door when my phone rang. I didn’t recognise the number but I swiped to answer the call. ‘DeLea.’

‘Amber!’

I instantly recognised Jinx’s exuberant tone and the dark shadow over my heart lifted a little. ‘Jinx, how are you?’

‘I’m good,’ she answered warmly. ‘How are you?’

I opened my mouth and imagined telling her all about the evil Coven and Abigay and my ascension to Crone-hood. Then I closed it again. She was on herhoneymoon;she deserved to relax for once.

---