Chapter Twenty-Eight
CHAPTER
Twenty-Eight
How did you get in?’ Jasper snarled.
Rose bristled. ‘I will not be spoken to so rudely by a fate-weaver of all things!’
Jasper stood. ‘This is my apothecary.’ His voice glittered with menace. ‘There are protections in place to prohibit entering uninvited, magically or not.’
Rose patted the apple tree fondly. ‘I have my ways.’
They all looked at the apple tree. Its single midnight-blue apple wobbled.
Thea’s heart-spell lurched in her chest. ‘Nobody look at my apple tree!’ she shrieked, panicking on its behalf.
It had been proudly growing that apple for the past month and she couldn’t bear it falling from fright.
Standing between Jasper and Rose, who were still glowering at each other, she lowered her voice to a whisper her tree wouldn’t hear.
‘You told me this apple tree was a welcome gift, not that it was a portal you could sneak through whenever you felt like it.’
Rose gave a haughty sniff. ‘Well, I wouldn’t have had to if you’d answered a single raven.
Most of the Hunters have left, we’re all waiting for to see what he’ – she poked Jasper in his chest – or at least, appeared to aim for his chest, but being significantly shorter than the fate-weaver, ended up poking him in the stomach – ‘has to say for himself after ordering us all to stand down.’ Her glower turned fiercer.
‘We all had to suffer the injustice, the indignity of watching the Hunters search our homes while you ran away and hid.’
Talibah and Gretel remained silent. Zofka was rapt. Thea’s heart-spell pattered weakly as Jasper drew himself to his full height, glaring down at the garden-witch in her nightie, her nightcap hanging on for dear life.
‘And did they take anything from anyone?’ he asked, his tone sharper than broken glass. ‘Or did you all conceal anything of worth with spells and charms and carefully placed distractions?’
Rose scowled.
‘As I thought,’ Jasper said.
‘Gloat away, fate-weaver.’ Rose leant forwards, jabbing Jasper with that same finger. ‘You’ll have to answer to the rest of the Quarter now, and they’re every bit as peeved as I am. Our Quarter is endangered and it’s time to step up and save it.’
When Jasper uncloaked the apothecary, they were greeted with an unkindness of ravens lining up to deliver notes. Rose gave Jasper a pointed look, which he ignored. ‘If she pokes him again, I think he’s going to break her finger,’ Zofka whispered seriously.
Thea nodded. The main street of the Quarter was thronged with most of the magical folk who lived there, congregating in gossiping huddles.
A few were casting spells at the void, which deflected any magic tossed its way.
It gave an ominous growl. A pair of Hunters were stationed at the far end of the Quarter, preventing anyone from leaving.
Talibah’s hand found Thea’s. ‘However it came to happen, what you told us you did, nobody will hold it against you,’ she told her.
Guilt dredged Thea’s stomach. She stared miserably at the void. Something deep below crackled and gurgled. It was an open jaw, threatening to devour the Magic Quarter in one hungry bite. ‘I think they just might hold it against me.’
Zofka scoffed. ‘I’ve set half the Quarter on fire, and nobody cared. Twice.’ She nudged Gretel, ‘Right?’
‘Right,’ Gretel answered, her gaze flitting uncertainly between Zofka and the gaping chasm.
Rose’s voice boomed out across the street, silencing everyone.
A nearby weather-witch startled into action, throwing up a quick fog to obscure and muffle Rose from the pair of Hunters watching at the end of the street.
‘My fellow witches, shape-shifters, pixies, gifted humans and spirit,’ Rose began, speaking into the tallest sunflower, plucked from one of her window baskets.
Wojslav cleared his throat pointedly.
‘And vampire,’ Rose added. ‘The time has come to fight back. Some might say, we had the opportunity to vanquish our enemies already tonight, but we were assured that was a foolhardy plan,’ she looked at Jasper.
A couple of weather-witches cast distrusting glances at Jasper.
A shape-shifter on the other side of the void backed away on noticing his presence.
Thea sighed inwardly. ‘Whether or not that will be seen to be true remains,’ Rose continued. ‘However!’
‘Goddess take me away now; I cannot listen to another of Rose’s soliloquies,’ Zofka groaned.
‘However!’ Rose resumed, ‘We must work together to defend our beloved Magic Quarter. We can’t swat this danger away as if it poses no more threat to us than a particularly stubborn fly – we must form a united front, or it will be our undoing.’
‘I agree.’ Zdenka, the fortune teller, stepped forward. Their hair was wrapped in indigo silk, and they’d bundled up in an oversized cloak. ‘It’s time to fight back. Where are we having our proper meeting?’
‘Can’t it wait till morning?’ Wojslav grumbled.
‘What, when you’ll be sleeping safe and sound in your coffin?’ Rose’s voice boomed out. ‘No, you’re not getting out of this one, you old bat.’
‘Takes one to know one,’ Zofka whispered into Thea’s ear. Thea smiled weakly, unable to think of anything but what awaited her. Her confession to the rest of the Quarter.
‘The Crypt has plenty of furniture,’ Zdenka began, before catching Wojslav’s look of abject horror and falling silent.
‘You are all welcome at the Gingerbread House again,’ Gretel offered.
She laid a hand on Zofka’s arm. ‘We have enough space for you all, and it’s the warmest place in the Quarter.
’ She cast a dubious glance at the Hunters, peering at the magical fog with suspicion.
‘We need to get inside, where it’s safer. ’
‘And cake?’ Rose piped up, eyeing Zofka with eager speculation. ‘Have you got any leftover treats? I smelt you baking all morning, and we haven’t had many customers . . .’
Zofka scoffed. ‘Of course I have cake.’ Thea and Talibah shared a smile; Zofka was a feeder.
As the crowd made their way to the café, some crossing the ice bridge over the void with squeaks of alarm – and one full-throated scream of terror as it let out an ominous creak – Jasper went to retrieve his horse.
Thea waited for him to return. I found her behind the Rose Basket,’ he chuckled, patting Eclipse’s onyx neck.
Buttery daffodil petals clung to the horse’s nose.
Thea’s eyes widened, unaccustomed to seeing Jasper’s softer side.
Soft like the way he had kissed her, slow and feeling. With a start, she gathered herself.
Jasper left Eclipse outside. ‘Keep an eye on those Hunters,’ he whispered to his horse, who huffed in response. He cast a dark look at Thea. ‘Make the most of this; you won’t witness it again.’
‘I’m too nervous to enjoy your first Magic Quarter meeting,’ Thea confessed, worrying at her lip again.
Jasper pressed a thumb to her bottom lip. ‘Stop,’ he said gently. ‘You’re making yourself bleed.’
‘I’ve spent the past seven years trying to make myself fit here, forcing myself in where I don’t belong.
’ Thea’s chest squeezed tight, her emotions a dam threatening to break loose.
She shored them tighter, desperate not to reveal any cracks they might pour through.
‘Now I’m going to walk in there and prove that I don’t belong, to all of them. ’
‘I thought you didn’t wish to belong here?’ Jasper’s gaze was a dangerous thing. It drew her in, despite herself.
‘I have nowhere else to go, Jasper.’ Thea leant against the gingerbread door, glancing down the street. The whimsical decorations sparkling through the Quarter were jarring against the void. ‘For all intents and purposes, I have no choice but to make the best of this. Make a home here.’
Bending down, Jasper placed his hands on Thea’s shoulders.
‘You are the bravest person I have had the honour of meeting, and you can do this.’ This time his glare was fierce on her behalf.
He offered a pained smile. ‘Do not forget, you will be entering at my side, and I am much more hated than you.’
Thea brightened a little. ‘Well, that’s true.’
The Gingerbread House was crammed with almost everyone who lived in the Magic Quarter.
As usual, Rose was holding court at the front, while Zofka handed out huge slabs of gingerbread cake, sticky with cinnamon frosting.
Snow was piled in drifts against the glazed sugar windows, slowly melting into puddles.
A nervous energy hummed through the café.
Smoke curled up from the void, and the Hunters had inched a step closer, as if they had been ordered to keep tabs on what the Quarter was up to before Heloise made her grand entrance.
Thea swallowed thickly. They were running out of time.
Gretel waved Thea and Jasper over. She and Talibah had saved them seats at their table.
A thick slice of cake already waited at each of their spots.
Her stomach grumbling a reminder that she hadn’t eaten for hours, Thea took a hungry bite.
‘Don’t . . .’ Talibah began, too late, as the spiced gingerbread warmed Thea.
When she opened her mouth, steam hissed out.
‘ . . . eat it in one bite,’ Talibah finished, laughing with Gretel as more steam coiled out from Thea’s nostrils. Jasper chuckled, declining his slice.
Thea shrugged off her cloak and took a more cautious nibble as Zofka flumped down in the other empty chair beside her. ‘What did we miss?’ Thea asked, glancing at the melting snowdrifts. ‘We were right on your heels.’
Talibah adjusted her headscarf, forest green tonight. ‘Not much. It snowed inside for a minute until Rose made a pair of weather-witches go home until they could control their emotions, then Zofka handed out her gingerbread cake to warm everybody up.’