“Something I’m sure you were all thankful for,” I say.
“Yep. Alfred is our happy puppy,” Temp says, grinning.
We all burst out laughing.
“Smell that,” Temp suddenly says, “Kean has the burgers cooking.”
“They smell amazing,” Sly says, sniffing the air.
“While they are cooking, we can tell you everything else,” Sal says.
CHAPTER 22
“These burgers are amazing,” Sly says, as he munches on his second one.
I laugh to myself. Honestly, Sly would live on burgers if he could.
“They really are. Before I had one of these Stone burgers, I wasn’t really a fan of them. I hear the others filled you in on everything earlier,” Ernest says.
Sly nods. “Yeah, we picked up a lot looking at the website you guys created, but hearing all the stories was eye-opening. I couldn’t figure out why my father kept emailing me to come to a family meeting. I’ve not spoken to him for over five years. That’s the reason we came to town. We heard rumblings of Cadenbury and Little Welling, but we chose to come here first and see what we could discover.”
“Little Welling is a place we hope we never have to go back to. Hopefully, it’s now deserted. The ley lines there are dark,” Ernest replies.
Sly perks up at that. “Really?”
“You want to go and play with the ley lines, don’t you?” Ernest asks him.
Sly shrugs. “Just because they’re dark doesn’t necessarily mean they are evil. It’s always good to know where dark ley lines are.”
“It’s a good job I like you, otherwise I’d be scared by you saying that,” Ernest points out.
Sly laughs. “Sometimes to deal with dark magic, you need dark magic.”
“Yeah, like that dream. I wonder if that’s why the dark witches did that?”
“Because you don’t have any dark witches, they are all now grey. Mind you, saying that, I was surprised how dark Justice’s magic could go and not turn black.”
“Yeah, he can go almost black, dark grey. We found that out when his biologicals kidnapped Alfred.”
“I’m glad he made a life away from his family. He looks truly happy,” Sly says, looking over at him.
We turn to look as well. Justice is laughing at Ben as theJengablocks fall.
“He really is. He was a bit of a grump, to be honest, but Alfred brings out the best in him.”
“You all helped as well, Pops,” Alfred says, walking over and joining us, a drink in his hand.
“You know, calling me Ernest works just as well, right?”
“Where’s the fun in that? You did claim me as your stepson, and there are no take-backs.”
Sly and I burst out laughing.
“Fine,” Ernest says on a sigh.
“So, the true witches didn’t scare you off with all their dark witch encounters?” Alfred asks.
Sly laughs. “No indeed. Different planes, a magical birdcage, the Witchfinder General, burning at the stake, flying toxic killer puppies. Seriously, no running away for us.”
