A Witch In Winter (26 page)

‘I can think of a few people,’ Sienna put in, ‘and there are others, who might come just to see fair play.’

‘I’ll contact the Dean at my university,’ Simon said. ‘He’s no friend to the Ealdwitan and he’ll know of others. I just wish … I just wish we knew what their intentions were and when they’ll make contact.’

Some two hours later we found out. There wasouta’s a quiet knock at the street door and we all looked up; Seth and I from cooking supper, which had been delegated to us as the most useless members of the party, and the rest from their various methods of contacting their friends, colleagues and contacts.

‘Who’s that?’ Emmaline said sharply. ‘Is anyone expecting visitors?’

All heads shook, and Maya straightened from the map she had been poring over and stood, stiffly.

‘Everyone, keep calm and stay here. I’ll go and see.’

She left, and Emmaline stood up and went to the window to look out. Her face, when she turned back to the room, was frightened.

‘It’s the car. The one I saw, with blacked-out windows. It’s in the street outside.’

Just then we heard footsteps on the stairs and Maya’s voice saying, ‘This way, please.’ The door opened, and in came a small, balding man in his fifties, wearing a grey suit and holding a briefcase. He looked like nothing so much as a solicitor, or a middle-ranking civil servant. Behind him was a woman, slightly younger but similarly dressed, and behind her a very tall man wearing black jeans, a pullover and impenetrable dark glasses. They made an incongruous trio.

‘Please sit.’ Maya gestured to a group of chairs. The two civil servants sat, though the tall man remained standing behind them. His manner, I realized suddenly, was that of a bodyguard.

‘Let me introduce myself,’ the little man said, in a dry nasal voice. ‘Mr Peterson, and Ms Revere.’ He held out a small, very stiff card. It bore the name Peterson. But it was not the name that made my heart jump. It was embossed with the silhouette of a black crow.

‘From which organization?’ Emmaline asked, pointedly, tapping the card. The man shot her a weary glance.

‘Please, Miss Peller. Let’s not play games. We are fully aware that you were expecting contact. Ms Revere and myself have come to set out our employers’ position. The girl—’

‘Her name is Anna,’ Maya interrupted acerbically,

‘Quite so. The girl has been given ample opportunities to join the organization freely and of her own will. Unfortunately she has chosen not to take advantage of these offers, so my employers must now press the point. Should she refuse again, they will be compelled to avail themselves of her powers by, ahem,’ he coughed and continued, almost under his breath, ‘by force.’

I gasped, and the sound was echoed around the table by the others. I saw Seth’s fists clench and – was it my imagination? – a tiny satirical smile break out on the woman’s face at the sight of his anger.

Mr Peterson did not smile, he looked pained.

‘It is of course a highly undesirable situation – very painful, I do appreciate. But there are larger issues at stake, matters which I am not permitted to reveal.’

‘Issues? What issues!’ Emmaline scoffed. The little man spread his hands with what looked like real regret.

‘Unfortunately I cannot disclose more. Suffice to say that my employers would like your co-operation, Miss Winterson. I have been tasked with securing that cooperation.’

‘And if I refuse?’ I whispered. He spread his hands again, and his face was more regretful than ever.

‘Then they will be compelled to take action. Against you, and against any members of our community who collude in your refusal. Unfortunately the collateral damage to the outwith bystanders is also likely to be considerable and unavoidable.’

‘By collateral damage, I take it you mean deaths?’ Abe said brutally. Mr Peterson said nothing, but he inclined his head in acquiescence.

‘No!’ I could not suppress the sobbing, outraged gasp that escaped my lips.

‘I very much wish it were otherwise. But may I emphasise that my employers are as eager as you to avoid this – they would be happy to accept a change of decision at any point.’

‘So what you’re saying …’ I said slowly, ‘is that unless I come over to your side you’ll harm my friends and family?’

‘Certainly not!’ The little man looked almost comically shocked. He adjusted his tie fussily. ‘Any collateral damage would be deplorable and entirely accidental. But my employers might be compelled to remove certain … privileges that this community has enjoyed. Certain … protections. And it would be dishonest of me to deny that there may be …’ He coughed again. ‘How shall I put it?
Unfortunate
consequences as a result.’

He turned to Maya and her family.

‘My employers would like me to make clear that they have no quarrel with you, Ms Peller. If you care for this girl then may I suggest that you do your best to persuade her into a more sensible course of action. Or of course,’ he shrugged, ‘you may simply wish to relocate for the near future.’

‘How dare you,’ Maya crackled, visibly, with fury. There was a hum in the air like the sound of angry bees. ‘We stand with Anna, in spite of all your threats.’

He shrugged again.

‘Very laudable, I’m sure.’ His voice did not give any impression that he thought it laudable in the least; it was dry and had an unpleasant note of bored sarcasm. ‘I would caution you, however, not to make the mistake of relying on her protection. Her power is admittedly impressive for one so young but it’s certainly not extraordinary in any way.’ Heanyn y nodded at Emmaline. ‘Your own daughter could probably do as much, given time.’

‘Really?’ Abe said sarcastically. ‘Then why are you so anxious to recruit Anna and not the rest of us?’

‘Oh,’ he waved a dismissive hand, ‘our interest is purely … technical. An operational specific, nothing more.’

‘Care to elaborate?’ Abe smiled.

The little man made a small, apologetic moue. ‘Would that I could, but service protocol, you know …’

‘And what about
him
?’ Abe nodded at Seth. ‘Haven’t you got anything to say about his role?’

I hissed through my teeth at Abe, too furious to speak. But the little man only shrugged.

‘He’s of no importance. Loose ends will be tidied up after the main business is concluded.’

He looked at his female colleague and they exchanged a glance.

Both stood up.

‘Well, I can see that this discussion has covered all that may profitably be said for the moment. My employers would like to give you until midnight tonight, Miss Winterson, to consider your position. After that point they will regretfully have to take enforcement action. Ms Peller, I suggest that you and your family would be safer elsewhere, but no doubt you will take your own views upon that point. Well, if there are no further questions?’

He looked at his watch like someone concluding a board meeting.

‘Get out!’ Maya said, with magnificent anger.

‘Certainly.’ The little man extended his hand and then, with a small, secretive smile, dropped it. ‘Well, perhaps it was not to be expected. Good day.’

And they left, shadowed by the man in black.

As soon as he was gone, Maya burst into tears, and Emmaline and Sienna crowded round to try to comfort her. I felt a fierce stab of jealousy of their cosy family unit and that mother-daughter relationship that I’d never know. I heard Maya saying, ‘Oh darlings, darlings, it’ll be OK, it’ll be OK, I promise,’ and I longed for even that false reassurance, for someone to love me so much they’d lie in the face of all the evidence, just to try to protect me.

I could remember the last time I’d whinged about not having a mother; it had been school sports day, when I was ten, and I had no one to run with me in the motherand-daughter three-legged race. The sight of Dad’s face as I moaned had shut me up; I had one amazing parent. That was a lot luckier than some of my friends, and I’d vowed never to make Dad suffer over what I’d never miI000000"ssed, never to harp on pointless might-have-beens.

But I’d never felt my loss so strongly before today. If only, if
only
my mother were here. This whole mess might never …

But there was no point in wishing, or in blaming my own mistakes on someone long-gone. Instead, I put my head in my hands and shut my eyes against the horror of what I’d caused.

All this – all this I’d brought on the people I loved, just by being here. And I could do nothing but wait as the clock ticked towards midnight, while that horrible phrase, ‘collateral damage’ echoed and scrabbled inside my head.

Poor Dad – happily oblivious to all this and pottering at home, all unconscious of the sword over his head. I thought of him, sitting with his feet on the Aga, chewing his thumbnail and reading the paper, waiting for the axe to fall. I thought of Elaine, and June, Prue and Liz, of Caroline, Madeleine, all the kids and teachers at school, the fishermen at the harbour, everyone in Winter, all of them equally blameless, all of them innocently awaiting the carnage, all on my account.

Maybe I should just give in. It seemed as if giving myself to the Ealdwitan was the only way of averting disaster – and really, was it such a high price to pay? Not when weighed against the safety of everyone I loved.

Except, what did they want from me? Why were they so very desperate? I was scared to find out. I knew they’d want more from me than I was prepared to give. Not least, I was pretty certain that if I joined the Ealdwitan, I’d never see Seth again. Their contempt for the outwith was too strong, and he knew too much.

I raised my head from my arms and looked at Seth. He was sitting quite still, an expression of black rage on his face. There was no despair at all, he just looked furious. Somehow his anger pulled me back from my bleak acceptance of defeat. Seth didn’t look like someone facing destruction, he looked like someone preparing to fight.

Very well then. I would fight beside him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

T
o my surprise, the others felt the same way as Seth. There was no question of accepting defeat, or of persuading me to give myself up – they were ready, even eager, to fight. The only discussion was how and when.

‘You’d better stay here,’ Maya told me. ‘Call your dad and tell him some story to explain it.’

‘But I can’t abandon Dad,’ I said, thinking of him all alone and defenceless at home. ‘Who’ll protect him? I should be there in case something happens.’

‘At this stage I think your presence is only going to endanger him,’ Maya pointed out reasonably. ‘It’s you they’re after. They may even overlook your dad if you aren’t there.’

‘But then I’ll only be endangering all of you!’ I said despairingly.

‘We, at least, have ways of defending ourselves.’ Maya looked grim. ‘As for Seth, I think his safety is probably compromised whether he stays or goes, given what he knows, so it’s up to him.’

‘I’ll stay,’ Seth said flatly.

‘Do you need to call your mum?’ Maya asked.

‘I’ll tell her I’m staying with a friend. She won’t ask questions.’

Dad on the other hand did ask questions – a great many – but I told him that Emmaline had broken up with her boyfriend and was inconsolable, and had asked me to stay the night to have a shoulder to cry on. I made a mental note to tell Emmaline the story in case Dad ever mentioned it. Assuming, of course, we were all here in the morning to tell the tale.

And then, it was just a question of passing the interminable hours until midnight. The others spent the time in various ways – contacting friends and colleagues, cooking, drinking. Sienna was desperately scanning the future for some inkling of how the Ealdwitan were going to proceed. But she moved from runes, to tarot, to scrying water, and her expression grew more and more defeated.

‘Nothing,’ she said at last. ‘Nothing at all. It’s just darkness – chaos and darkness.’

‘Well that’s just super,’ Abe retorted. ‘Thanks for the morale booster.’

Out of everybody, Seth was the most cheerful, bossing me around the kitchen and knocking out a very creditable pasta sauce. The food was hard to force down at first, but while we ate the others started turning up, and whether it was the food or the company or both, the mood seemed suddenly to turn.

First came a crowd of Abe’s friends: half a dozen bikers who arrived, crashed into the flat reeking of smoke and petrol, then almost immediately left for the pub. Maya’s friends were more diverse; they ranged from a comfortable middle-aged couple who looked as if they might run a country tea-shop, to an extremely elderly man who walked with a stick and had the air of a retired librarian. Sienna’s friends were all young and very beautiful; and Simon introduced only two contacts, a professor and a research fellow, both from his university, and promptly went into a corner with them to conduct a deep academic discussion.

And all the while the clock ticked on. At eleven-thirty Abe’s crowd came back from the pub and the flat was suddenly filled with a crush of bodies, a haze of cigarette smoke, and a hum of talk and laughter. It felt like a grim New Year’s Eve party; all of us sitting round, watching the minute hand inch towards vertical and our remaining time tick away.