Chapter 24
Ican’t believe my mother is in town. Why is she here? Please don’t say she knows about my boys. How would she even know about them?
I stop behind her. “Mother,” I say, to her back.
She spins around, and I try not to gasp in shock. Since I last saw her, she has aged considerably. Is that what a loss of magic does to you?
“Titus, it’s about time you arrived,” she says, in her normal disapproval tone, looking at me up and down with a sneer on her face.
I’m dressed in jeans and a polo shirt, not clothing my mother usually sees me wearing. Not that I care, she can disapprove all she likes. “I didn’t know we were supposed to be meeting today. Why are you here?”
“I’m here because...,” she starts to say, but stops as Ernest suddenly comes and stands next to me.
“Lizzie, welcome to Cadenbury,” he says, with laughter in his voice.
“My name is Elizabeth,” she spits out, glaring at Ernest, before looking back at me. “The reason I am here is because I’ve found out you have children. Hand them over to me now, or I’ll make you wish you had never been born.”
I feel anger suddenly race through me.
“And just what, Lizzie, are you planning to do to those sweet children?” Molly asks, stepping in front of me.
My mother pales and takes a step back, as I hear running footsteps and cars racing down the road and screeching to a halt. The next moment, I feel Kean next to me, taking my hand.
Lizzie wants our boys. I tell him through our mind link.
Hell will freeze over first. He growls back.
“This conversation is between my son, Titus, and myself,” she shouts.
“Not if it involves our children, it doesn’t,” Kean spits out.
“Why don’t we take this into the tearoom?” Adhan suggests.
We’re probably gathering a crowd, not that I currently care. I also have no idea when Adhan arrived, but then I’ve not taken my eyes off my mother.
“No, we will have the conversation here and now,” she demands.
A red, angry haze covers me. “Fine,” I say, dropping Kean’s hand and stepping forward. I touch Molly’s shoulder, and she moves out of my way.
I stare at my mother. “You will never get your hands on our children, and if you try anything against our boys, against my family, against this town or against me, I will make you wish you had never been born. I will find the darkest spells imaginable and cast them on you, and if by some miracle you survive, I will have every piece of flesh stripped off your body. I will cut out your organs and throw them into a fire, and finally, I will break every bone in your body and grind them down, scattering them to the four winds. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. ME?” I thunder.
My mother gasps and looks horrified, a hand clutching her chest.
There is stunned silence around us, literally no sound whatsoever.
“Damn, and I thought I was the dark witch. Remind me never to piss you off, Titus,” Sly comments a moment later.
I hear a few chuckles, but I continue staring at her.
“This isn’t over, Titus,” she says hatefully, standing up straighter.
“What can you actually do, mother?” I hear Cassie ask as he comes and stands next to me.
“You have practically no magic inside of you. The small remaining bit of Septamus’s magic is bound, and Father’s magic is gone.
So I ask again, Mother what can you actually do?
And just so you know, if you try and fight my brother, you’ll not only be fighting him, but me, the original line true light witches, two original line true grey witches, one original line true dark witch, plus Mollyanne and all the Cadenbury Town witches, and for your information Mother one of those true light witches is Titus. ”
My mother takes another step back. “That’s not possible!” she exclaims, looking shocked. “We have no original line true witches in the family.”
“It is very possible, Lizzie. Titus was gifted the Porter true light magic, but even without it, he could stop you blindfolded. Boys leave Lizzie with me,” Molly says, moving in front of me again.
I take a step back.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” my mother shouts angrily at her.
I hear a click of fingers, and a magical rope appears around my mother, binding her arms to her side.
“Now you don’t have a choice, Lizzie,” Ernest says.
“My name is Elizabeth,” she yells out.
“Thank you, young’un. I’ll take it from here,” Molly says, ignoring my yelling mother.
I watch Molly pick up the end of the rope and pull my mother away, who is still shouting her head off.
I hear another click of fingers, and she is silenced.
“Just click your fingers to unmute her, Molly,” Sal calls out.
“Thank you, Darkling,” she calls back without stopping.
I feel Kean walk to my side, pulling me into his arms. I wrap mine around him and lean into him, closing my eyes, resting my forehead on his shoulder for a moment.
I feel another hand on my back.
“You were awesome, bro,” Temp says.
I pull out of Kean’s arms and look around. Pretty much the whole family is here, and yes, there are people stood around watching, looking concerned.
“She threatened the boys; no one does that.”
“Talking of the boys, we should get back to them,” Kean says, taking my hand.
“Yes, I need to see them,” I reply. I so, so need to see them.
Kean leads me to his car. Not that I remember getting there. I don’t think I have ever been so angry in my life. I thought the red anger haze was just something made up for people with anger issues, but no, it’s very real, oh, so real.
I’m startled when I hear my car door open and see Kean leaning in to help me out, concern etched on his face.
I stand up, and he touches my cheek. “Come back, honey. I promise the boys are safe; you’ll see that in just a minute. Lyric might be crying because he couldn’t find us, but they’re safe.”
I give my head a shake and take a breath. “I’m okay, handsome. I’ve never been so angry, but I’m okay now.”
Kean leans in and kisses me, pulling back, he smiles and takes my hand. “Come on, stinky Tus.”
I laugh. It might not be full on, but it’s a laugh nonetheless.
We walk into the kitchen and it’s full. Even Ebby and the boys are here. I smile at them, but I'm looking for my sons.
Sion is holding Lyric, who is sniffing, his little face and nose red. He sees Kean and me and smiles. “Tus, Clean,” he says happily, holding his arms out.
I pick him up and settle him in my arms, dropping a kiss on his head. “Hey, little man, have you been crying?”
He nods. “Oou Clean go. Unk Ion hug.”
I smile at Sion. “Thanks.”
He smiles at me and gives a nod.
“We’re back now. Sorry we both left you,” I carry him over to Kean, who drops a kiss on his head. He’s currently holding a sleeping River. I kiss the baby’s head and stroke his little hand.
“See, honey, they are both here and both safe,” Kean says softly.
“I know,” I reply, looking at them.
“Stinky Tus,” Lyric suddenly yells.
I snort out a laugh. Goddess, I love Lyric. I’m not the only one who laughs at that, and I feel the last of my anger fall away. “Thank you, little man, I love you, too,” I say, sitting down, Lyric snuggling in. “Thank you for coming,” I say, looking around the table. “You should all be at work.”
“No way bro. I don’t know about the others, but as soon as the magical call went out, I shouted to Elaine I had to go, and ran as fast as I could to get to you,” Temp says.
“Who put the call out?” I ask.
“I did,” Sly says. “I hated leaving you like that. As soon as you walked away, I called all the witches, then phoned Kean.”
“And I shouted to Adhan that you were in trouble. We were just leaving when Cam, Sly and River came back. Sion and Emily offered to look after the boys and Connie, so after making sure River was safe, we came running,” Kean says.
I look at Ernest. “That’s how you were suddenly at my side.”
“Yeah. I know you could have taken your mother on by yourself, but that’s not how we do things in this family.”
“Thanks, Sion, Emily,” I say, smiling at them.
“Yeah, thanks, Mum, Sion,” Kean adds.
“What I don’t understand is why Mother wants your boys,” Cassie says.
“That is the question, isn’t it?” Kean replies. “Whatever the reason, I can guarantee Molly will find out.”
“I would also just like to echo Sly’s comment from earlier,” Nix says. “Damn Titus. Remind me never to piss you off.”
“They were honestly words I never thought I would say, but I’ve never been that angry.”
“Well if you decide to go down that route, pretty sure Sly and I can inflict the punishment for you,” Justice adds.
“Yep, I’m totally up for that,” Sly says happily.
“What did you say to your mum? Emily asks.
“I threatened her with dark spells,” I say, not wanting to say the rest in front of Lyric. Something Cassie said earlier hits me. “Cass, what happened to Norris’ magic?”
Cass looks uncomfortable. “Nothing,” he mutters.
“Cass,” I say again.
“I took it from him,” Temp tells us.
I look at him in shock.
“You did?” Ben queries. “When did you do that, Tink?”
“Not long after we took the curse off Norris. I didn’t want him coming after Tie or Cass, so I took his magic and gave it to Cass. He didn’t know what I’d done until I gave it to him.”
I’m shocked, but also touched. “Thanks, Temp.”
“What if your mother thinks you have all the magic Tie and wants to use the boys as leverage to get it back?” Ebby asks.
I look at him for a moment. “It could be that. I know after our final visit to Halloween House, she was blowing up Cass' phone then mine, demanding we give her back her magic.”
“What happened to her magic?” Xander asks.
“Septamus and Tarek stole it,” I reply.
“We need to sort out the town protection,” Adhan says. “Do you need to use the temple, or can you do it from here?”
“We can do it from here,” I say. “We’re all here, so let’s do it now. Hey, little man. Can you go and sit on Uncle Addy’s lap for a moment? I need to do some magic.”
“I see?” he asks.
I nod. “Yep,” I reply, putting him down.
He walks to Adhan and holds his arms up. “Up Unk Addy.”
Adhan laughs and picks him up, settling him on his lap. “Can you see?”
Lyric nods and snuggles back against Adhan.
I look at Xander and Enoch. “Do you both want to join in?”
“Yes,” Enoch says, grinning.
“Totally,’ Xander adds.
“I’ll go and stand by the door and send mine out,” Sly says, standing up and walking to the door.
We found out that if Sly holds a grey or light witch's hand, his dark magic will turn grey. So, he always sends his out separately.
“Okay, everyone, shuffle around so us witches can all hold hands,” I say, staying where I am.
The other witches change seats, so it’s easier to take hands.
“Nix you call North, Ernest, you call South, Justice you call East and Ebby you call West. Temp, you can say the protection spell. Just make sure that Lizzie isn’t banished until after we’re completely finished with her.
Sly, just do whatever you want,” I tell him.
He grins and rubs his hands.
I see Ebby roll his eyes at him.
I hold my hands out to Enoch and Sion. I look at Nix. “Whenever you’re ready.”
And so, sat around the kitchen table we update the wards around town, making sure neither Norris nor Septamus can enter.