Page 74 of Uncharmed

‘And I look after folks, protect them. That’s what I do,’ said Hal. ‘Granted, they’re normally animals, but . . .’

‘And I have extraordinary powers, the kind that haven’t been seen among your average wicchekind for centuries. Granted, I might be even more talented and unrivalled than any of us could possibly come to terms with, but . . .’

‘Maeve,’ Annie said with a warning look.

‘Kidding, kidding,’ Maeve snorted. ‘What I meant to say was that we’re kind of a triple threat, right? Fixing, protection, ability . . . What kind of stupid, secret underground society could possibly stand a chance? Honestly, their whole vibe seems kind of embarrassing anyway. Like, just calm down and have a nice time, will you?’

Annie rubbed her hands together, pleased with the positivity. ‘I like it. Less panic, more planning. Honing in on what we have to our advantage, playing to our strengths. Does anyone have any useful suggestions as to where we start with guarding ourselves against . . . well, whatever it is that might be coming?’

She could hear the desperation in her voice, even though she was doing her best to remain level-headed. She looked to Hal, who was frowning with determined thought. Maeve simply shrugged.

‘Don’t look at me. I’m the kid. Mostly here for quippy remarks.’

‘We start by securing the cottage and the meadow, to make sure they can’t surprise us,’ Hal said at last, his voice decisive. ‘Annie, you and I can work on strengthening the protection charms that I strung around the place. It’s been a few weeks; they’ll need bolstering. We can knit them fresh.’

‘And while you two pull up the drawbridge, I’ll do what I do best and dive into the books,’ Maeve said, heading straight to the bookshelves to trail her fingers over the titles and pull out the ones that spoke to her. ‘Anything around protection or talismans or lucky charms could be useful right about now.’

Hal threw his biggest coat to Annie. They hurried out into the pitch-black meadow and stood side by side, the woodland’s rusty orange tones asleep and hidden under the cover of night. The pair shared a shy glance and Hal nodded for Annie to begin first. She tossed back her hair and shut her eyes, bringing her concentration to such an acuteness that it could have passed through the finest eye of a needle.

Keep Maeve safe. Keep her safe. Protect her. The motive was enough to feel her powers firing up, boiling with a ferocity that had no choice but to burst from her. Hot pink sparks flew from her fingers in jets and laced in intricate knots before her, like walls of chainmail. Hal’s arms raised in the same way to mirror her spellwork.

‘You don’t have to do this, you know. You don’t owe us anything,’ Annie said quietly to Hal, keeping her gaze firmly on the magic as she worked.

A collision of pink and bronze sparks burst as their protective enchantments entwined.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head in disbelief. ‘Thought you’d know by now. I care more about her than I’ve ever cared about myself. And you, Annie. You are my priority – and you have been since you both tried to take me out in the middle of the night in my own house. The minute I saw the two of you in that living room, it was like I knew you were supposed to be there.’ He swallowed as though steeling himself. ‘This magic, it’s . . . it’s strange stuff. But it’s usually right about these things.’

They moved around the circumference of the cottage, following the path of the stream and, before long, a complicated tangle of magic had walled Arden Place, holding the house, the meadow and the surrounding woodland in a watchful embrace. The protection would block any and all transference spells into the area, buying them precious time. Annie felt her shoulders sink with relief that they had made progress, any kind of progress, and the feeling grew when a rough hand slid itself into hers. Hal cleared his throat.

‘You think it’ll hold?’ he asked uncertainly.

‘For now,’ she nodded. ‘But it’s not enough with just the two of us. The Cinders, the Morningstars, the Whitlocks alone . . . You’ve never seen a wealth of magic like it.’

‘We have to alert the coven,’ Hal answered calmly with a slow nod. A strange sereneness had fallen over the scene, now that the protective magic was in place. Side by side, staring out into the woodland, they watched the inky trees, all studded with twinkles of their spellwork as though each was decorated with fairy lights.

Annie nodded, too. She had made peace with it. ‘I know.’

It would mean ripping open yet another secret, one so huge and raw that life would never be the same again. It would mean alerting Selcouth to the existence of the Sorciety, complicating the magic system in ways that it hadn’t faced for centuries. But none of that really mattered. It all came back to Maeve.

‘I’ll send a message right away.’ Hal turned to her and softly stroked her face. ‘It’s Halloween, after all. They’ll be ready for trouble.’

‘There must be more we can do,’ Annie said, frustrated.

‘I have a few more tricks up my sleeve. When I first found Arden Place, when I was sad all the time and determined to be on my own, one of the things that drew me so strongly towards it was the sense that it was always looking out for me,’ Hal said. ‘This place is flooded with folks who can help us; it’s like Maeve’s own personal circle of safety.’

A thought flashed so brightly across Annie’s mind that the words tumbled out of her mouth. And at the very same moment, Maeve spilled out of the front door of the cottage and practically levitated around the porch post, to leap down next to them onto the meadow. They spoke in unison.

‘The witches’ ring.’

Annie felt a flood of relief as she heard the canter of hooves approaching the cottage. It had only been minutes since Hal had run off towards the stables to gather Mage, but every moment she was uncertain of his safety had felt like a lifetime. She had, of course, refused to leave Maeve alone for a single second, following the poor girl around like a shadow.

‘Will you just back off for a minute? I’m going to start smelling like a vanilla cupcake if you get any closer to me,’ Maeve said crossly, peeved that she wasn’t being entrusted with much of the mission thus far.

‘Have you got at least two jumpers on? And your boots are comfortable? You can run if you need to?’ Annie asked, travelling from kitchen shelves to cauldron in a whirlwind. One last hurried draught of basic healing potion had felt like a sensible use of time while they waited for Hal’s return.

‘Yes, yes. I’m ready,’ Maeve groaned, her whole body charged with enough nervous energy that she could barely stay seated. Her knee jolted up and down so quickly that it shook the floorboards.

‘And you’ve got your cloak fastened properly? I know you don’t like wearing it, but it’ll help the coven find us. Instincts will be stronger if we . . .’