Then I hear a scream from inside.
“I guess the ghosts went into the house,” Titus says. So Temp, Ernest, Justice and I walk into the house, with Adhan, Kean, Elliot and Sly, who come running to join us.
It takes a while,but we stop all the ghosts and murdering dolls. I mean, seriously that Callum has a weird imagination.
We’re chatting about the dark magic and who could be sending their dark magic to the fair.
Sly shakes his head. “I’ve not had contact with my family or other dark witch families since before meeting Ebby. But the magic isn’t family magic,” he pauses for a moment. “My father keeps emailing me, asking me to come to a family gathering. I can go if you want me to. I’m the true witch of the family and can protect myself if needed.”
I grab his hand and give it a squeeze. I am not so happy with his offer, but don’t want to call him out about it now, in front of everyone.
Adhan shakes his head. “No, whoever it is will make themselves known in time, they always do.”
Sly nods. “Well, the offer's there.”
“You would think the dark witches would have given up by now, wouldn’t you?” Temp says. “I mean, it’s not as if they have won any encounter, we’ve had with them.”
“Well, no one said dark witches were very bright,” Nix comments.
I burst out laughing.
“I wasn’t including you in that, only the dark witches trying to kill us,” Nix quickly clarifies, looking at Sly.
Sly grins. “I knew what you meant.”
CHAPTER 16
I’m tired when I wake up the next morning. The rest of the evening was fun, and thankfully, nothing further happened. We gave out all the soup, which everyone loved. I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed cackling around the cauldron.
John returned with Nora asleep in his arms and the boys smiling happily and laughing.
Enoch spied us. “We had so much fun,” he said, rushing over. “John took us on so many rides and we had hot dogs, but he wouldn’t let us have any candy floss because we had hot donuts when we first got there. The spinning teacups were fun, and we went forwards and backwards. But... are you both okay? Did the dark witches do something again?”
Sly and I laughed at him.
“The dark witches made the skeletons and ghosts come alive, plus some killer dolls, but they were all stopped, and peace was restored,” Sly told him.
“Thank you, John,” I said to the older man.
“Think nothing of it. We all had fun. I’m sure there are other things I can do with the boys,” John replied.
“Really?” Xander asked, looking at him happily.
“Yep, really,” he replied, touching his shoulder.
“Thank you,” Xander said.
I can see the boys genuinely liked spending time with John. Maybe he can provide a nice, safe grandfather-type figure for them.
Everyone split up after that, and we decided to call it a night and head back to the B&B.
I lay in bed, sighing happily and thinking about my brothers and how happy they seem here. It took a while for them to start smiling again, to be happy again and to realise they are safe again. I wish I had thought about using the protection rune on them, but I’m glad they have it now.
I think back to the day we discovered what my father was doing to my brothers. I’d been away on honeymoon with Sly. Our wedding had been amazing. Father and the boys were there, as were a splattering of relatives. Sly had no family attending, but all our friends turned up. My father and the boys stayed out of our way. Father barely managed a hello, and the boys were strangely quiet. They both looked pale. I wondered if they were sick, but then I got lost in the wedding and forgot all about them.
I’d been phoning home once a week, even when I was away on courses and on honeymoon, but father always said the same thing. Everything was fine, and the boys were busy and couldn’t come to the phone.
“I’m worried about my brothers,” I said to Sly, the day we got back from our honeymoon. “Father, never lets me talk to them anymore, and something feels wrong.”
