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Part 1: Before Wulfram
Chapter 1
Romy
I suppose my part of the story really begins around lunchtime, that day in early July. I was sitting in the living room of our little house in Bartonbrook, on the edge of the Lake District. My boyfriend Johnnie and I were being grudgingly polite to his old friend, Simon, who’d turned up on our doorstep not five minutes after we’d arrived home, after a week away at a hotel in the Scottish Borders.
We hadn’t even had time to make a cup of tea before he’d arrived, and since we’d spent several hours during our time away discussing his increasing intrusion upon our lives, I don’t think either of us was best pleased about it. Still, I made him tea and we sat with him and told him about our break.
We exchanged several puzzled looks, though, realising that he wasn’t his usual self. He seemed distracted, as if there was something far more important on his mind than our little holiday in Scotland. Which begged the question, why had he even bothered to come round?
As I caught John’s eye and saw the apologetic look on his face, I thought the time had come for us to be firmer with Simon. Yes, he’d been helpful to Johnnie in his studies, and yes, they’d been friends for many years, but we needed time alone as a couple. Simon was becoming the third wheel in our relationship, and we needed to make it clear that certain days were going to be just for us.
The question was, which of us would have the nerve to do the deed?
It seems funny now that, at the time, that was the biggest dilemma facing me. I had no idea what was to come. No idea that, at any moment, my life was going to be thrown into chaos.
There was a knock on the front door.
We all looked at each other.
‘Were you expecting company?’ Simon asked politely.
‘No, not at all.’ Johnnie raised an eyebrow at me, and I shook my head, confirming I had no idea who it was.
‘I’ll go,’ he said, and got to his feet.
I heard him opening the front door. I heard a jumble of voices. I recognised a note of panic in them, even as I realised who our unexpected arrivals were.
Then Keely and Harley, my younger sisters, barged into the living room, wide-eyed and red-faced.
And that was the moment my life changed forever.
***
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, startled to see their anxious expressions. ‘What’s happened?’
As a thought occurred to me I held out my hand to Harley.
‘Is it Killian? His family…’
In my anxiety I’d quite forgotten that Johnnie and Simon were sitting there, listening to every word. I blushed. ‘I mean—’
‘Romy, you’ve got to come with us now,’ Keely said, grasping my arm.
‘What for?’ I shrugged her off and gave my boyfriend a nervous look before turning to the twins, my eyes flashing a warning. ‘I can’t just drop everything and go with you. Go with you where, anyway? Have you lost the plot?’
What were they thinking?
John cleared his throat. ‘Why don’t you sit down, both of you? Would you like a cup of tea? I’m sure whatever it is you need Romy for can wait a while.’
‘I’m sure it can’t,’ Keely said, giving him a filthy look which made him rear back in astonishment. She turned to me and said, ‘Either you come with us now or we’ll just take you!’
‘Keely!’
What the hell had got into her? Honestly, she’d always been a bit of a handful but right now I could throttle her. She knew I had to be careful where John was concerned, since he had no idea my sisters were witches, and here she was causing such a scene that he was clearly on alert.
‘I’m sorry,’ John said, hitching up his glasses and trying, bless his heart, to be all masterful and manly, ‘I know you’re her sister but please don’t speak to Romy like that. And what do you mean, you’ll just take her? Have you lost your minds?’
