The Language Of Spells Part 41

'Everyone around here knows you're unstable. Doesn't matter what the police say, half the town thinks you had something to do with your niece going missing. I made sure of that. And now she's so poorly, too.' Lily's mouth twisted. 'When she dies it won't take much to convince everyone that you killed yourself out of guilt.'

'n.o.body will believe a word from you.' Good job, Gwen. Insult the crazy woman.

'But the herbs that Katie took are right here, in your kitchen.' Lily's blue eyes were like marbles. The whites showing all the way around. 'And the flask that Katie drank from belongs to you.'

'What are you talking about?'

'You really should have checked the contents list for the house when I told you to, Gwen. Iris had a pretty little flask and you inherited it along with the house. Such a shame you decided to brew such a nasty concoction to feed to poor little Katie.' Lily shook her head in mock sadness. 'It's truly tragic when someone turns on their own family like that. I tried to warn everyone that you were trouble and now they'll know how right I was.'

Gwen's insides were like ice. 'What did you give Katie? Tell me.'

Lily ignored her. 'I'm doing you a favour, really. You don't know what it's like in this place. You make one little mistake and they never forgive you. Never let you forget.' Lily produced a knife. 'You're the crazy one. Everyone knows it. And now you're suicidal, too.'

Gwen's fingers closed around the handle of something. She brought it out in one deft movement, hoping for a knife or the steak mallet. It was a spatula.

Lily laughed happily. 'What are you going to do? Spread me?'

d.a.m.n.

Lily was moving slowly to one side, stealthily. A look more dangerous than Gwen had ever seen crossed her face. Her voice was quiet, insidious. 'You'll never belong in Pendleford. You may as well give up. Give me the evidence and you can leave. I don't mean you any harm.'

Gwen forced herself to pause, to look as though she were seriously contemplating Lily's words. Then she ran for the doorway. She made it into the hallway, but could feel Lily right behind her. Everything seemed to have slowed down; she was hyper-aware of everything: the slippery tiles on the hall floor, the sound of her desperate breathing, the scent of oak and earth and, underneath those, something foul.

The knife slashed down to her left, slicing through her sleeve. She dived through the nearest open door in the hope she'd be able to shut it behind her.

She was too late. Lily was halfway through into the dining room. Her hand grasped the back of Gwen's s.h.i.+rt and she yanked, pulling Gwen backwards. She stumbled, almost toppling over.

Gwen managed to pull away in one panicked movement. She stumbled forwards, picking up the only portable item on the vast expanse of the unused dining table. A plant pot. She edged behind the table and hefted the ceramic in her hands, getting ready to throw it.

Lily was still talking, varying in volume like a radio being tuned in and out. 'I am never going to stop, you know. You may as well leave. I am never going to let you have End House. It's just not yours. Not by rights. And you're just like her. Sitting in your big house, laughing at me, thinking you're better than me.'

'I don't want to be like Iris. I don't want people to visit me; I want a quiet life.' Gwen tried to sound reasonable. Soothing.

Lily shook her head violently, the knife waving. 'It's all just words. You should know better. Action is what counts.'

Gwen thought about screaming, but knew no one was close enough to hear. d.a.m.n the stupid isolated house and d.a.m.n her pathetic witchy powers. What good was the ability to 'find things' now? She needed super-strength or the ability to shoot lasers from her eyes.

Lily was creeping forwards, circling the table. 'I tried to tell your niece that. You've got to go after what you want in life. No one's going to hand you anything on a plate.'

Gwen felt sick. 'When did you speak to Katie? Tell me what you did to her. Please.'

Lily paused, looking outraged. 'I gave her what she wanted. I gave her power, which is more than you, her so-called aunt, did. You and Iris. You're selfish. You want to keep everything for yourselves.'

Oh G.o.d. Katie.

Lily started moving again, taking tiny steps and moving on the b.a.l.l.s of her feet like a parody of a ballet dancer.

Gwen moved crab-wise in the other direction, but she knew it wasn't going to be much longer. She was trapped behind the table and as soon as Lily got close enough to use that knife, it was all over. She was unarmed and no match for the ball of insane fury advancing towards her.

Without warning, the crack in the ceiling wrenched apart. To Gwen, it looked as if invisible fingers had hooked themselves either side and pulled. But, of course, that wasn't possible.

A split second later, and a large chunk of plaster fell squarely onto the top of Lily's head. She went down in one movement, hard. Smaller pieces of plaster and an unholy amount of white dust rained down from the hole and within a split second Gwen couldn't see anything. The dust was in her eyes, up her nose, and in her throat. Then she heard it. Cam's voice.

'Help!' she yelled and coughed, her voice coming out thick and strange.

'Gwen?' Cam's voice and the sound of a door opening. Gwen almost wept with relief. Instead, she had a coughing fit.

The dust cleared, settling around the room like a sprinkling of fake snow and, suddenly, wonderfully, Cam appeared. He looked at Lily's crumpled form and sprang forward.

'Careful! She's got a knife.' Gwen made her way from behind the table.

'Christ. Are you all right?'

Gwen nodded. Her eyes were streaming and she pulled up the tail of her s.h.i.+rt to wipe them.

Cam bent over Lily, felt for a pulse in her neck. Her eyes were open, lips parted in an expression of furious surprise. She looked like a gargoyle and even before Cam said, 'Call an ambulance,' Gwen knew she was dead. He kicked out and something went skidding across the floor. The knife.

Gwen made it into the hall and called for an ambulance. Then Cam was there and she leaned into the solid weight of him, burying her face in his s.h.i.+rt and blocking everything out.

'What happened?' Cam was asking, his hands stroking her back rhythmically as if she were Cat.

'The ceiling came down,' Gwen said into his chest. 'It was so fast, she didn't have a chance to move.'

'It's okay,' Cam said. 'It wasn't your fault.'

She felt a weight bash into her calves and looked down. Cat stared plaintively up at her and let out an unearthly shriek. Gwen had never been so pleased to hear it. She bent down and stroked Cat, scratching him under his chin and feeling her heart swell with love and relief.

Katie. 'I need to go to the hospital,' Gwen said. 'Now.'

'Are you hurt?' Cam said quickly.

'No. It's Katie. I think I know what's wrong with her.'

Cam looked around. 'We should really wait for the ambulance. And I need to call Harry.'

'I think Lily might have hexed her. Or she told her to try a spell and it hurt her. It's dangerous if you're not strong enough. I swear it's true. I know you don't-'

Cam handed her his car keys. 'You go. I'll wait five minutes before I call Harry. And I won't tell him where you are.'

In the car, Gwen used Cam's fancy hands-free kit. 'Gloria?'

'h.e.l.lo, sweetie.' Gloria's voice was sleepy. 'What time is it?'

'When Ruby got sick that time, how did you make her better?'

'What's happened?' Gloria's voice was instantly alert.

'It's Katie. I think she did some magic. Something big. Now she won't wake up.'

Gloria took a sharp breath in. Then she said, 'What kind of magic?'

'I don't know.' Gwen rubbed her face in frustration.

'When your sister got ill, she'd used one of my spells. Something she'd overheard me doing for a client. It took me a while to work it out, but I needed to give her something of mine. Everything has to be balanced, remember.'

'What did you give her?'

'It has to be something really personal. And something powerful.'

'What did you use?' Gwen was out of Pendleford and on the main road to Bath. She pressed the accelerator.

After a pause, Gloria said, 'Pain. Do you remember my broken thumb? I smashed it with a hammer to wake your sister up.'

'Oh.' Gwen swallowed. 'Thank you.'

Gwen rang End House and spoke to Cam. She knew that Lily was beyond feeling pain, but she wasn't about to give up. She told him what she needed and he agreed immediately. No argument. No horror. Gwen turned the car around at the first available place and headed back to Pendleford. Gwen saw strobing lights as she neared her road, but thankfully Cam was waiting. She pulled up beside him and wound down her window, but he was already crossing to the pa.s.senger side and opening the door.

'Aren't the police here? Don't you have to stay?'

'I don't care,' Cam said. 'Harry can arrest me later if he feels like it.'

'Did you-'

He held up a small bundle. 'Got it.'

Gwen concentrated on driving carefully all the way to Bath. The last thing they needed was to get stopped by a traffic cop.

'Thank you,' Gwen said. She knew Cam must be wondering what the h.e.l.l was going on.

'No problem. Just to warn you, it's an offence to mess with a crime scene so it might be best you don't mention this to Harry.'

He was helping her; he deserved an explanation. Gwen took a deep breath. 'Lily gave Katie some magic. A spell or a potion, I don't know exactly, and she used it. If you use magic that's too strong then it can hurt you really badly.' She swallowed, waiting for Cam to argue, call her crazy, grab the steering wheel and attempt a citizen's arrest.

'And you need Lily's blood, why?'

'It's like there's an almighty fight going on inside Katie. Lily's magic wasn't balanced by Katie's, because Katie isn't strong enough. That's why she's knocked out. While there's an imbalance, while the fight is going on, she'll stay like that. I need something really personal to Lily to help even the odds a bit. And you can't get much more personal than blood.' Gwen didn't add that pain was even better. She wasn't sure how much of this information Cam was ready to hear.

'What happens if Lily's magic wins the fight?' Cam said.

Gwen didn't want to answer him, didn't want to say the words out loud. 'She'll die.'

At the hospital, Gwen asked Cam to distract Ruby and David. 'Get them out of the room, if you can.'

'I'll try,' he said.

David was asleep in a chair, his legs stretched out, a pillow tucked under his head and Ruby was in the same position Gwen had seen her every time; her chair pulled up to the bed and holding Katie's hand.

'Hi,' Ruby whispered, glancing at David. 'He's only just gone off.'

Gwen looked at Katie, so pale and still. Now that Lily had lifted the scales from her eyes, Katie looked exactly like Ruby all those years ago. Gwen couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before. She remembered how still Ruby had been. The long days and weeks while Gloria became increasingly frantic.

Gwen took the bundle from Cam and unfolded it. Cam had done a good job, soaking his handkerchief in the blood from Lily's head wound. It was dark red in the centre and already turning to brown at the edges, but Gwen did her best. She smeared some on Katie's forehead, whispering every anti-hex incantation she'd ever learned. Words came to her that she'd long forgotten, bubbling up from her subconscious. She rubbed the blood-soaked cloth across the back of each of Katie's hands and then, lifting the blankets, on the soles of her feet, too. The words were coming thick and fast now. She felt them flowing through her, from Gloria, from Iris, from generations of Harper women.

Gwen was vaguely aware, at the very periphery of her attention, that Ruby was speaking, David was awake and shouting, and Cam was trying to calm them both down. She felt hands on her arm, trying to pull her away from Katie, but she shrugged them off easily. She leaned in close and whispered the final words directly into Katie's right ear. Then she dabbed Lily's blood onto Katie's lips.

David succeeded in pulling her away then. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the cloth from Gwen. 'Have you lost your f.u.c.king mind?' His face was white with anger, his eyes wet with tears.

'Wait a minute,' Cam said, stepping between them, his hands up.

'Daddy?'

Everyone looked at the bed.

Katie's eyes fluttered open. Ruby and David flew to her.

'Hey, baby,' David said, and the love and relief in his voice made Gwen's eyes p.r.i.c.k.

Katie moved her head slowly, looking at the faces. She looked deathly serious and utterly unlike herself. Her eyes seemed almost blank and, for an awful moment, Gwen considered the possibility that she had some kind of brain damage.

'You gave us a scare, kiddo.' Ruby spoke so softly Gwen could hardly make out the words.

Tears leaked from Katie's eyes. 'I'm sorry, Mum,' she whispered, her voice cracked and even quieter than Ruby's. 'I'm so sorry.' At once she was enveloped by Ruby and they were both crying. Cam shot a horrified look at Gwen, who squeezed his hand. She grabbed a box of tissues and placed them on the bed next to the Ruby-and-Katie-and-David huddle.

'I'll call a nurse,' Gwen said and they backed out to the corridor.

Thirty minutes later, Katie had been checked by the doctor and the ponytailed nurse informed them that visiting hours were over. Cam had gone in search of hot drinks and Gwen went in to say goodbye. Ruby and David were back in their guard positions, sitting on either side of the bed. Katie was sitting up, sipping a cup of water.

'The nurse says we have to go,' Gwen said. She stepped closer to the bed, drinking in the sight of her niece. Alive. Awake.

'Okay,' Ruby said. She stood up suddenly and hugged Gwen. 'Thank you.'

Gwen didn't trust herself to answer, so she just squeezed Ruby back.

Back at End House, after the professionals had taken Lily's body away and Harry had come with another officer and taken photographs of the ceiling and the floor and the cracks in the walls, Gwen walked through the house. In each room she studied the ceiling for cracks and paused, listening, in case Iris had anything to tell her. She didn't care if she was acting like a lunatic. She didn't even care if Cam heard her muttering to herself. After completing the upstairs, the living room with its diseased walls and her beloved kitchen, she paused by the door to the dining room. She surveyed the mess of plaster dust and the hole in the ceiling that was like a gaping wound. Perhaps it was her imagination, but the whole place felt lighter. The room was a d.a.m.n sight uglier, but the bad feeling, the slowness in the air that she'd only been vaguely aware of, had gone. She whispered goodbye to Iris and closed the door.

Cam was making tea in the kitchen. He handed her a mug and Gwen wrapped both hands around it, breathing in the steam. The adrenaline was ebbing out of her body, leaving her weak and slightly sick. Cam was watching her warily, and Gwen closed her eyes. Here it comes, she thought, this is when he makes a graceful exit.

'I don't know what to say,' Cam began. 'I was so sure-'

Gwen shook her head,;she didn't blame him. Magic had been hard for her to accept, and she'd grown up with it. 'It doesn't matter.' She was numb, but she knew that wouldn't last. Later, the pain would hit her. She had the childish sense that if she didn't open her eyes and look at Cam then he couldn't leave, couldn't say goodbye.

'I can't believe I got things so wrong,' Cam said. 'You told me but I wouldn't listen.'

Gwen opened her eyes.

'I'll make it up to you,' he said, looking wretched. 'Tell me what I can do.'

'You already have.' Gwen put her mug down, reached out for him. 'You helped me. You believed me. Or, if you didn't believe exactly-'