Page 75 of Uncharmed

‘It’s on, it’s on. The blasted thing is itching my neck and keeps getting caught on my shoelaces, but it’s on. Couldn’t Selcouth have gone for something a bit more streamlined and aerodynamic than billowing velvet?’

‘You’d like some skintight celestial Lycra as your coven uniform, would you?’

Their bickering stopped when they heard Hal whistle from outside. Annie hurriedly spooned a full ladle of the healing brew into a flask and Maeve practically bundled her out onto the porch, slamming the door behind them and running towards Hal and Mage. The horse rallied onto its hind legs and gave a loud, proud neigh, shaking out its mane as it landed.

‘They’re close by. Mage can sense it, too,’ Hal said matter-of-factly as he jumped down from the horse’s back to adjust the saddle and reins.

‘How did they find us?’ Annie gasped, rushing to help.

‘I think we probably sent enough protective magic into the air to alert anyone of a magical persuasion in the United Kingdom as to our rough whereabouts. On the plus side, it’ll help the coven locate whatever is about to unfold.’

‘But they won’t be the ones to find us first,’ Maeve said grimly.

‘Mage, transference is off the cards, so you’re in charge of my girls,’ Hal said, giving the horse a gentle stroke down his velvety muzzle. Maeve wasted no time, a glint in her eye as she seized the front of the saddle, threw a foot into the stirrups and launched herself up. Hal tossed a red apple up for her to catch and she presented it to Mage as a thank you.

‘But what about you? We can’t all fit on Mage,’ Annie said, realizing that the logistics didn’t work. ‘Will you be able to keep up?’

‘I’ll meet you there. I stumbled across the witches’ ring once; it’ll show me the way again.’ Hal spoke with determination, but Annie knew his face well enough by now to recognize the almost imperceptible but unconvinced furrow in his brow. ‘I’m lucky enough to be loved by this woodland and, by default, that means you are, too. They’ll keep you safe until I get there.’

‘I’m not leaving you behind.’

‘Yes, you are. These people have no interest in someone like me. I’ll be alright.’

‘Hal . . .’

‘Please don’t kiss,’ Maeve grumbled from above.

Annie wasn’t entirely sure how she managed to make her body move away from him, but her place was by Maeve’s side. She felt Hal’s rough hands find her waist and squeeze, before he gave her a lift up behind Maeve. With one last, lingering look up at both of them, Hal patted his beloved familiar decisively on his back leg.

‘Away, boy. You know what to do.’

‘You okay back there?’ Maeve called, holding onto the reins as tightly as she could. Annie could just about make out the tops of Karma’s ears, white fur sticking out over the flap of Maeve’s satchel as the cat burrowed herself down into the bag.

Under the moonlight, Mage tore through the meadow in a streak of bronze and billowing pink cloak trailing from Annie’s shoulders. She glanced back just in time to see the shape of the cottage and the faint silhouette of Hal disappear from her view. She had to trust that he would be okay and surrender to the unfolding of however this would end. She couldn’t fix everything herself. They all had a part to play.

‘No, I am not alright. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to brush my hair again. Are you?’ Annie shouted back, fighting against the tearing wind. In return, she earned an unbridled, joyful cackle of a laugh from Maeve.

‘This is the best night of my life. You know, aside from the imminent death that’s hanging over us. Kind of just ignoring that part. I’m having a blast.’

Annie, despite herself, found that she cackled back. A big, loud laugh that caught on the trailing wind and surrounded them like a superpower, their laughter combining as it always did into something greater and better and stronger. Maeve’s euphoric reaction was insane, all things considered, but it made a certain amount of sense that she’d be feeling even more untouchable than she normally did. There was so much magic in the air on Halloween night and Maeve had a proven track record of pulling the stuff like a tide to the shore. It was bolstering her, making her believe in herself. Her enchanted excitement was infectious.

‘You are such a weirdo.’ Annie had to yell to be heard.

‘I thought we’d established that we both are,’ Maeve yelled back. ‘Together.’

Maeve whooped at the top of her voice and Annie had to smile at the absurdity of it all. This girl was braver than anybody she had ever known.

Eventually, having traversed what felt like the entire expanse of British woodland, Mage’s pace slowed to a steady but alert trot. Picking up his hooves more cautiously through the leaves, he led Maeve and Annie into the very same clearing that they had stumbled across all those weeks ago. Detecting the same scent of concentrated magic that the horse was drawn to, Karma’s fluffy head sprung up through the gap in Maeve’s bag. She gave an inquisitive chirp of recognition.

They had found it. Well, Mage had found it. Annie was sure to conjure another red apple in the palm of her hand for him to snaffle as a reward. The toadstools lay in a pristine arc, untouched and unmoved, in splashes of garnet red and milky white that reminded Annie for one heart-tugging moment of jam and cream and Celeste. If she could return to that day when Morena had so unexpectedly summoned her from there, she wondered whether she would still accept the invitation so readily, if she could know then what she knew now.

She would, in every universe. It had led her to where she was supposed to be.

Feet firmly back on the ground, Maeve glanced uncertainly at Annie. ‘Last time we were here, the golden rule was not to step inside it. Something about dance moves so dodgy that you literally die?’

‘It’s actually more a case of dancing for eternity even through death, a terribly lonely and unspeakably tragic demise,’ Annie said lightly.

‘Fantastic,’ Maeve grimaced.