Page 57 of Secrets of the Eternal Flame

I yanked myself away, but my eyes remained closed, terrified of what I would see if I opened them. It was only when I felt his hands squeeze mine that I peeked through my eyelashes.

‘It’s alright,’ Ernie said gently. ‘You did good. I’m fine. You saw the truth?’

‘Yes. You love me.’

He smiled. ‘I love you.’

I threw myself into my grandfather’s arms and let him comfort me. He was my dad’s father, the last connection to him that I hadn’t known I had. Ernie wasfamily.

We hugged for a long minute until I finally pulled back. For the first time that I recall, Ernie looked happy. Truly radiant. ‘Let’s do this,’ he said. ‘You enjoy the tea and biscuits while I mix up the protection potion. It won’t take long.’ He paused and grimaced. ‘It’s a bit horrible, but you have to ingest a bit of me.’

‘What?’ I said, horrified.

‘I know – it sounds gross. We could do a toenail clipping, hair, or saliva? Whichever you choose will melt into the mixture – you won’t even notice it.’

Melted or not, a toenail was still a toenail. ‘Ugh. Go for hair,’ I said.

Eva’s hair got absolutely everywhere, including in my meals, and though I didn’t want to think about it toodeeply I must have swallowed plenty since she’d joined me. One more of Ernie’s really wasn’t that much to add to the count.

He went to the kitchen to prepare the potion with Eva trotting nosily behind him, leaving Fraser and I alone. I fell into his arms. ‘I’m sorry that was so heavy.’

‘Don’t ever apologise for sharing anything with me,’ he said firmly. ‘I know more now, and I’m grateful for that.’ He looked at me fiercely. ‘If that bitch eventriesto touch a hair on your head, I will drown her in the ocean.’

I smiled. ‘You say the sweetest things.’

‘I mean it, Bea. I won’t let her hurt you. I won’t let her take you.’

Mum and Dad had felt the same, but though they’d prevented my grandmother from taking me the cost had been too high. I didn’t say any of that to Fraser; he had enough to worry about already. Instead, I snuggled in his arms and enjoyed tea and triple-chocolate cookies.

We’d drained the whole teapot and snaffled all the biscuits by the time Ernie reappeared with a steaming mug of potion. As he brought it over to me, there was a waft of something somewhere between mouldy fish and rancid olives.

He grimaced. ‘You should have saved a cookie for afterwards.’ He held the potion out to me. ‘It’s probablybest if you down it in one,’ he suggested, visibly stifling a gag.

I swallowed hard, pinched my nose and did exactly that.

Chapter Thirty-Five

The moment it hit my stomach, I got all the feels – not the fun kind of feels I got around Fraser, but the ‘oh my God, this is going to come straight up and go all over my grandfather’s carpet’ kind of feels.

‘Beatrix?’ Ernie crouched beside me as I half-fell onto the sofa. ‘Are you okay? Give yourself a minute or two – there’s some pretty potent stuff in there. Let your body adjust to the magic.’

‘I don’t have time,’ I huffed. ‘I need to contact Yanni. Tell her what’s happening.’

‘She can wait five minutes until you feel better.’

I nodded: he was right. My stomach was still very pissed off with me and if I moved there was a good chance I’d vomit everywhere.

Ernie stood and looked down at me, his wrinkled face even more creased than usual. ‘I was going to make a salad for lunch,’ he said. ‘Would you like some, too?’

My stomach roiled even more at the thought of food. I shook my head. ‘Just water, please. A very big glass of water.’

‘Coming right up.’

I turned to Fraser. ‘You need to go, right? To the restaurant?’

He shook his head. ‘I can do it another day.’

‘No – this is your job! Go on. As I said before, my grandmother has been alive a whole decade and there’s no evidence she’s linked to theft. Plus, I have Ernie’s magic now. You go to your meeting.’

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