Page 96 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

Terry turned, startled, his face reddening. ‘What the bloody hell is it now?’

‘I’m not going with you.’

‘You’re... what?’

People pushed past us. We were blocking part of the entrance to the departures area.

‘I’m not going. Since you got here, all you’ve talked about is what you need. You haven’t given a single thought to what I need or want. You haven’t changed at all.’

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He closed it again.

I continued. ‘You might need me, Terry. Hell, I’m sure that you do. You need someone to cook and clean and look after you and pay the bills. But that person will not be me. That’s not what I want my life to be anymore. I want more than that.’

Terry’s eyes narrowed. ‘What’s this rubbish? Who’ve you been talking to? Your crazy aunt?’

‘Never you mind. I don’t want other people controlling me anymore. That’s what you do. Control me.’

‘I don’t. I might tell you what to do, but I don’t control you.’

‘Listen to yourself. You don’t even make sense.’

He grabbed at my arm, but I stepped back. ‘If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.’

‘What mumbo-jumbo is that nonsense? Did you make it up?’

‘No. It’s written on the sign behind you.’ I pointed. ‘The one saying, “Pack light or miss your flight.” I simply repurposed it. You’ve weighed me down, Terry. You’ve held me back since the day we were married. Well, now I want to make something of myself on my own.’

‘You’re crazy. You’ll come running back to me when you fail.’

I squeezed Raven’s note in my pocket. ‘I’m not going to fail. I’m going to succeed. I’m going to win.’

A surge of people bustled me from behind, trying to get past. I extricated myself with difficulty, squeezing against the flow. Terry tried to follow me, but the crowd swept him into the departures’ area with them. He called out to me futilely before he vanished around the corner.

Terry would fly home without me. My luggage would go with him, but I didn’t care. It’s only baggage. Part of my old life I don’t need any longer.

I turned and strode towards the tube station. I had a job to get back to, a stolen witch’s spell book to find and a murderer to catch.

It might be difficult, but I was going to give it a damn good try.

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