Unable to return to the wake below ground in the Catacombs, I walked back to the cottage. Not that I found any comfort there either, not in the place my grandmother had been murdered. Arden must have turned on the lamps in the living room and hallway so we didn't have to come home to somewhere cold and dark.
On my bed, where I knew they had not been before, lay my Jane Eyre essay from Mr Holloway's house and a rectangular parcel wrapped in pale brown paper. The edges of my essay were curled and worn in places. The paper was no longer crisp and bright white. I peeled at the wrappings of the parcel as if it was the shell of a delicate fruit in danger of bruising. A book bound in dark brown leather lay in the paper ruins. Boxed gold lettering bore the title 'Le Morte d'Arthur'. My first sob broke when I ran my fingers first across each letter, then the aged cover and down the weathered spine, feeling each and every one of its flaws and loving it more because of them. Templar crosses marked all four corners and a pattern of black Celtic knots and flowers repeated in the centre. It must have been hundreds of years old at least. The smell of history leaped off its pages.
I opened the hard cover and my heart sparked to find a message scrawled inside.
I know you covet books with stories of those who have held them within their hands, but there are not pages enough, not even in this book to tell you my tale. I have been an unexpected son, the soldier knight and the angel mortals fear. I do not know what I shall be next, but know this; whatever form I take, it will have been irrevocably shaped by you, heart and soul.
As I read, I sank to my knees making no effort to stop my tears. I wept until my vision blurred and I could read his words no more.
"You should be more concerned with your safety," said a familiar voice behind me.
With tears still soaking my face, I half-turned to find Callan in his armour and cape, his sword sheathed at his side. Somehow, he'd managed to squeeze his huge frame through the door. My first thought was he'd changed his mind and had come to take my life after all.
"The door was open," he said. "Wide open."
I clambered to my feet, hauling the large book onto the bed. Wiping any remaining tears from my cheeks, I faced the assassin. "What is it?"
"The angel," he said, quite matter-of-factly.
My mind went into overdrive, a chill tracing my spine. One deep breath to keep calm. "What about him?" I shouldn't have cared, but no-one had told my heart. "He was with me not so long ago, he seemed fine."
"They're coming. Those who would wish you harm. I've been told to warn you so you can prepare."
Another steady breath. "What else? What about Rafe?"
"The angel went to the school to see if he could stop them. I am yet to hear from him."
"You've seen Rafe?" Nausea crept up from my stomach, my face flushing. I staggered back, legs wobbling beneath me. Callan rushed to me, grabbing tight onto my arms.
"He's bought you time, witch. Use it wisely."
I sobered instantly at his words. What would Gran do? The right thing as she always seemed to. "They're coming?"
"Yes."
It seemed I would be a High Witch of firsts. I was the first High Witch to allow a Servant of Death into our midst and now I had returned to my grandmother's wake, to our sacred place with an assassin from Heaven.
There were expectant eyes on me as I stood on the dais before my grandmother's chair with an oversized denim jacket thrown over my mourning dress. My legs trembled, threatening to go from under me.
Guilt awakened inside me for abruptly stopping my grandmother's wake. It would wait until later. It would have to.. My tongue seemed to thicken as I grappled with the right words. What was I going to say and why should they listen to me anyway?
"What is it, Riles?" Arden asked, breaking both the tension and my train of thought.
"They're coming," my dry throat captured the words. I cleared it with a cough and started again. "They're coming, the witches who attacked us at the ball. Someone," I stopped, the possibilities of his fate unbearable to think about. "Rafe has bought us time, so we need to utilise it and prepare. It needs to end tonight or we're going to keep losing witches."
I scanned the crowd for the small, pixie-haired witch. She stood near the front, her daughter Daisy clutching one hand, the older Rowan by her side nearly matching his mother's height.
"Ms Tudor, can you get all the children out somewhere safe? The further away, the better."
"Of course, High Witch," she stepped forward, placing her free hand over her heart. "But please call me Marion from now on, you're not the child you once were."
"I think I can do that. Do you know of somewhere they can go?"
"There is the coven of the Coal Seams in South Yorkshire," said Dr Hastings. "Far enough away and we have strong ties to them."
"Good, go now. Everyone else, I trust you to do what needs to be done. Protection spells, magical barriers, whatever it takes. Arm yourselves." They were vague orders, but I hadn't done anything like this before. I wasn't the one made project leader, preferring instead to melt into the background.
A low rumble went through the witches, but they dispersed, hopefully to prepare. Only Arden, Fawn and Callan remained.
"And what do you intend to do?" Arden asked.
"Fawn, I need you to get Pendle and ask him to reinstate the dome. He might need Mrs Horton's help. I'm going after Rafe," I turned to Callan. "Let's go."
A hand hooked around my wrist. "You're needed here," said Arden. "You need to lead the coven."
I huffed. "Lead the coven? I don't know what I'm doing and I can't let anything happen to Rafe."
"Riley, he lied to you."
"Arden-" Fawn warned.
"I won't leave him to die, no matter what he did."
Callan chose that moment to pipe up. "I agree with the boy. Rafe would want you to stay here with your coven."
I could feel the anger and frustration rising from the pit of my stomach. "And what exactly am I expected to do?"
"You're our High Witch," said Fawn gently. "You must reinstate the dome. Like the one your grandmother had up. Protect Valestone. I'll get Pendle."
I wanted to argue back, but there was nothing I could say when she was right. I was High Witch and if I couldn't protect Valestone then who could.
Arden clasped his hands together. "Now that's settled, where are we headed?" he asked Callan.
"The angel is at the school."
"Wait, what?" I called as Arden passed me. I grabbed hold of his shirt but it easily slipped through my fingers. "I can't let you do this."
"I'm doing this for you. You need to have a clear head to get the dome back up, worrying about him isn't going to help. But I thought you'd worry less if one of us had gone for him."
Callan rolled his eyes. "I will make sure the boy returns to you. I cannot make such promises about the angel."
I didn't like the thought of Arden going with Callan either... I took a deep breath. "Give me an hour before you go in. One hour then you can get him the hell out of there. And be careful."
"One hour it is," Callan agreed, before he and Arden walked out of the room.
"I'll fetch my broom," said Fawn.
"We don't have time. I need him here now. We're going to create a portal. There should be everything we need here to make it."
Fawn raised an eyebrow. "Erm Riley, have you ever created a portal before?"
"Nope. First one, but I have seen Gran do it a few times and we don't have time for you to fly all the way to Derbyshire and back, besides it may be dangerous for you. They could already be out there. This way, I can guarantee your safety and Pendle's."
"Okay. What do we need?"
Glancing down at the midnight-coloured floor, I took in the white celestial images painted on it. A pentagram stretched across most of the surface, an intricately decorated five-pointed star. In the spaces between were thousands of tiny stars, just like the night sky. "We have our pentagram, looks like we may just need the candles."
Fawn flickered a smile at me. "Blue," she said. "For opening lines of communication, and we'll need words. The right words."
"Yes and from what I can remember in Gran's spellbook we need lavender oil and rosemary."
Fawn and I raided the supply cupboards in the Catacombs, locating everything we needed. I wouldn't have expected anything less for a coven headquarters. The words, however, we could not find and we didn't have the time to search the spell books in the library.
"I think I can remember most of the words, the rest I'll just have to make up."
"Can you do that?" Fawn asked, as we carried everything back into the Ceremony Room. "I mean, I know you can do that but will it work? You are High Witch now-" She pushed open one of the double doors, holding it open for me with her back.
"Thank you. It will work. It has to. We're running out of time."
On the pentagram, I placed a dark blue candle on each of the points of the star lighting it. Fawn followed, dressing each one in turn with the lavender ointment. It was as if my grandmother was in the room with us.
"What's next?".
"The rosemary," I answered. "We have to burn it."
Fawn took bundles of the green stems in her hand and held it to one of the candle flames until the fire took hold. As I knelt in the centre of the pentagram, she moved around me in a circle waving the minty-pine smelling herb.
In my head, I checked everything was in place, before I recited the words. I looked at Fawn.
"Ready?"
She nodded.
I closed my eyes. "With these words I open a gateway from me to you through space, time and air. Answer my call, accept my thread and merge the distance between here and there."
Why does everything with you witches have to rhyme?
A gentle breeze kissed my face and toyed with strands of my hair. Before I even opened my eyes I could feel the brightness of a blue haze illuminating the room.
"We did it," Fawn said with an air of triumph.
At her words, I allowed my eyelids to slide open and there in the middle of the room was a void framed by shifting shades of blue magic. It was much messier than whenever Rafe would carve a slit into another place. His was a neat line, this was more like an inkblot dotted onto the canvas of the Ceremony Room. It could have looked like an elephant for all I cared, as long as it allowed Fawn to travel safely from Valestone to Ladywyre.
Fawn knelt down and put the rosemary on the floor, smudging out the fire with the toe of her shoe. "Here goes." Without looking back once, she straightened her back, took a breath and walked straight into the portal.
And I watched, my eyes not wavering from her until I could see her no more.