Page 15 of Witch's Spark

Penny stood there for a moment, stunned. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. Part of her still felt guilty for not being around sooner, even if that was a ridiculous thing to think. It wasn’t her fault, just like it wasn’t Reese or Faye’s faults either. All it was, was bad luck.

“Okay,” she muttered softly.

“Good, now let’s go see Isabella,” she said, striding the remaining few paces between them and the door, and rapping her knuckles against it firmly. Penny hurried so she was standing behind her, with an uneasy looking Reese next to her. He really wasn’t a fan of this Isabella person then. She wondered what had gone on between them for him to be so uneasy. But that was a question for another day. It probably wasn’t best to ask for the down low on the person they hoped would give them answers.

“Hello?” a sleepy voice said from the door. Ah, at least Isabella looked like what Penny expected of a necromancer. She had pale skin, with long dark hair and bright eyes that seemed to swirl with colour. There was also something a little off about her, but she couldn’t put her finger on what. Maybe it was just the banshee reaction to her necromancer magic. The two couldn’t mix well given necromancers could interrupt the banshee warning system by simply bringing the dead back to life.

Not that she imagined it would be simply. She knew nothing about necromancers, and didn’t want to cast any aspersions without knowing the truth about them.

“Isabella!” Faye chirped, sticking her hand on the door frame so the other woman wouldn’t close it on them. Well, she could still close it on them, but it’d be terribly rude, even if they were their uninvited.

“I see you brought bird brain.” Isabella narrowed her eyes at Reese, who made a weird, almost part growling noise. Faye held a hand out behind her, trying to touch him and likely ground him, but failing. Instead, Penny placed her hand on his arm, and squeezed gently. He looked in her direction, and his expression softened, leaving the path clear for the Reese she’d come to know.

“Good evening, Isabella,” he said through gritted teeth. Pride welled up in Penny. She hoped he’d always be so reasonable.

“We need some help,” Faye said, ignoring Rees

e. Probably for the best, Penny wasn’t too sure how much longer he could actually stay quiet for.

“Of course you do,” Isabella snarled. “Why else would you be here?” Okay, so she clearly wasn’t happy about this. And that wasn’t helping with how nervous Penny was feeling about the whole situation.

“We just have some questions about death magic. Our mate, Penny....”

“What?” Isabella demanded, her eyes meeting Penny’s and turning into a death glare that could only be rivaled by one from the devil himself. “Why have you brought that here?” she spat out. Penny swallowed loudly. This wasn’t good at all.

“She’s our mate.”

“Shut up, Faye,” Isabella growled. Then, with a surprising amount of speed and grace given she’d just appeared to wake up, Penny found herself pinned against the wall of the house. She was facing in the opposite direction with a hand around her neck, and angry eyes boring into her. “Why are you here?” Isabella demanded.

“A-a-answers,” she stuttered out, her words inhibited by her windpipe being crushed. That was inconvenient to say the least.

“And you think I’ll give them to a banshee?” The venom in her voice wasn’t like anything Penny had ever heard. She wondered if the problem was between Isabella and banshees, or necromancers and banshees, but she imagined she’d find out fairly soon.

“Enough, Isabella,” Reese growled, pulling the hand away from Penny’s neck. She gasped in relief, sucking in deep gulps of air in an attempt to regain her composure.

“How dare you bring her here!” Isabella kicked and tried to scratch at Reese’s face.

“Why?” Faye asked softly.

“Do you seriously not know?” The shock seemed to stop the dark-haired woman’s attack, and Reese let go of her.

“No, that’s why we’re asking.” Penny could hear the lack of patience in Faye’s voice, but, thankfully, the other two hadn’t caught on. Reese caught her eye. Okay then, just Isabella hadn’t caught on.

“Fine. But only cause I want her gone. Maybe when you understand why, you’ll do something about her.” The menace was plain, but at least she knew two people had her backs. “Better come in then.”

Chapter Twelve

Isabella’s glare was really getting on Faye’s nerves. There was no real need for it. She’d never met Penny before, and even if she had, Faye was sure that Penny had never done anything to hurt the necromancer, that just wasn’t part of her inherent nature. She knew she shouldn’t feel like that already, after all, she barely knew the other woman, but there was still something about her that made Faye so certain.

“What are you after, Faye?” Isabella broke the silence with a snarl.

“We need to know about death magic.”

“And what makes you think I’ll tell you and bird brain about that?”

Faye scowled. She knew Isabella and Reese hadn’t got on in school, though she’d never known why that was. However, she had thought that the two of them would have moved on from whatever the disagreement was. The scowl on Reese’s face, and Isabella’s entire demeanor, suggested otherwise though.

“Please, Isabella. We know nothing, and Penny screamed earlier. We need to properly know what it’s about.”

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