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“
I’m not sorry
to disturb you!” Ayden barked from the doorway.

Cora jumped as
Quinn sighed and moved so her body was no longer pinned to the
bed.

“
You will
sigh, young man, because I will stop you each and every time. That
will not happen in this house.”

“
Ayden,” Cora
warned as her cheeks flushed.

“
No, Cora,
your mother left me in charge which means I’m in charge of your sex
life-”

“
Oh my god,
Ayden! That wasn’t... don’t say...” Cora stuttered.

“
You will not
do that in this house.”

“
We could go
somewhere else,” Quinn muttered.

Cora had to
stand up very quickly to stop Ayden barrelling into Quinn. “No.”
She held her arms out trying to stop the two of them from fighting.
She was starting to feel tired of all the arguments. Why couldn’t
people just get along?

Ayden’s face
held a look that would usually make most people crumble, but she
was standing her ground.

“
What is it
you want, Ayden?”

“
I’m here to
tell you that I’m leaving for a few days.”

She felt the
jolt and couldn’t control it. Ayden was leaving? But she’d grown so
used to his presence in the house. As much as they hadn’t gotten
along in the past week or so, she would miss him walking around
growling at her.

“
It’s just a
few days,” Ayden mumbled. She assumed he felt just as awkward as
her.

“
Right, okay,
so where are you going?” She hadn’t realised Ayden had needed to be
anywhere other than here. This made her feel more out of the loop
than ever. Usually she knew everything about her coven.

“
Eli thought
it would be a good idea to have a few days away... for
Jack.”

She
experienced a second jolt. Why would Jack need a few days away?
What had happened to him? Was he okay? She remembered that he had
been injured by Alastair. Was that to blame? She still couldn’t
believe her entire coven had attacked Quinn because they’d wanted
to. Tabitha hadn’t even stopped it.

“
Is he okay?”
she whispered, aware that Quinn was staring at her.

Ayden was
glaring at Quinn. “What do you think?”

She didn’t
reply. Anything she said would only make things worse between the
two of them. She took a deep breath and decided to say something
neutral and nice. “Well, have a good time. I hope the weather is
nice wherever you are going. I’m sure I will be fine
here.”

“
Oh, I know
you will fine because Tabitha is coming to stay whilst I’m away,”
Ayden said with a wicked grin.

She sighed, it
was just like him to do something like this. Tabitha was going to
be a nightmare to live with.

“
When do you
leave?”

“
Early doors
tomorrow morning.”

“
Right.”

Ayden shocked
her by leaning in and gently kissing her cheek. She saw the ice
melting in his eyes. She sighed. Moments like this made her realise
how terribly she missed him. Things were only ever okay when Quinn
wasn’t present but she still missed the easy, comfortable silence
between them. She just wished everything would go back to the way
it was.

She wanted
everyone to accept Quinn as someone who was in her life now. He was
forever trying to prove himself and no one paid him any
attention.

Ayden left her
bedroom shooting one last glare at Quinn. Quinn squeezed her hand
and didn’t say a word as he turned and continued to paint the wall.
She looked at the closed door and sighed. She missed her coven.
Looking at the green on her wall, her coven colour, made her think
of them more. She was painting the wall hoping that it would send a
message to her coven, one that said she was still willing to fight
for them. She wanted them to know she still believed in their
friendship, still believed they could overcome this
obstacle.

She just
didn’t know how to fix things. Talking didn’t help them. In fact it
made things worse. Picking up the roller, she continued painting.
Whilst she did, she was thinking of ways to pull her coven back
together and talk things through with them. She was just unsure
whether Jack wanted to be a part of her coven anymore. He’d told
her that he was no longer part of her coven, but she’d assumed
they’d been words said in the heat of the moment.

If Jack didn’t
want to be a member of her coven, would Eli and Clay leave? Who was
she kidding? Her coven would never be the same again. Things had
changed. Now she just to had to figure out a way to move on from
this point. Did she want to move on, though? That was the
question.

40

EDINBURGH-

AGAIN

The ice cold
wind smacked up against his face, forcing him to grit his teeth
before he cursed really loudly. Christ, what was wrong with this
place? It was April, spring according to all the calendars, and
still this place didn’t feel any warmer. Was Scotland always this
cold all year around?

They walked
quickly out of the train station and pushed their bodies against
the wind that was bashing up against them. The sun gleamed high in
the sky giving out the false impression that it was warm. Pulling
his hat down over his cold ears, he pushed his head and neck down
into his coat.

They turned
towards the main street, the Royal Mile that they now knew led to
all the main shops and the castle. Thinking of their previous visit
made him want to curse more. They’d been sure that the meeting with
all the covens would put them in a bad situation. It had been worse
than they’d ever imagined, but they were back to put it
right.

Eli walked up
front with Ayden. Ayden had been acting rather strangely on the
train ride up which made Jack feel nervous. Did Ayden know that
Jack was withholding the Varick thing? How could Ayden know that?
If it wasn’t that then Jack had deduced that something had happened
with Cora before leaving, and Ayden didn’t want him to
know.

This made him
want to know all the more, even if it would hurt. But he couldn’t
find the words to ask. Every time he opened his mouth, the words
wouldn’t form and he looked like a gawping fish above water
level.

“
Which hotel
are we staying in?” Ember asked as she walked beside
him.

Her cheeks
were flushed from the cold wind. Her full lips shimmered as her
light grey eyes slitted angrily at the frigid gusts. However, the
rest of her body would no doubt be toasty warm. On her feet
were
Ugg
boots,
undoubtedly the rather expensive ones. Her jeans hugged her slim
figure, but all other parts of her body were hidden under the large
beige coat. The hand knitted scarf and the lovely cream bobble hat
covered her head as wisps of her grey hair cupped her
face.

“
We chose a
hotel on the Royal Mile because Eli thought it would be a good idea
to stay away from a more obvious place, like the last hotel we
stayed in. We know Alastair is in Edinburgh, we don’t want to bring
his attention to anything out of the ordinary.”

“
That is a
wise decision,” Ember said nodding. “How are you feeling about this
trip?”

Jack shrugged.
“I don’t know... I know we need to do this, but I hate being back
here, you know...”

“
Yes, I
understand that. I know this has been hard for you, but we are so
close. We just need to get through this last part of the
plan.”

He nodded.
Yes, the last part of the plan was important, but it wouldn’t be
easy if they went about it the wrong way.

They turned
onto the Royal Mile and huddled together to look at the map.
Despite the weather, he could see that there were still plenty of
people milling around looking at the items spewing out of the
shops, or entering them just for the warmth. He didn’t pay
attention to the map, but Eli pointed towards a large, castle- like
building and led the way.

Jack followed
the group into their hotel, feeling the warmth envelope him. He
sighed pulling off his hat and sat down on a large, high back
tartan style chair.

The reception
area was a touch more modern than the previous hotel which went for
the classic, rich look. This hotel reception was a mixture of dark
black and pristine white. The desks where the immaculately dressed
staff worked, gleamed under the spotlights, the black acting as
mirror.

Ember was sat
talking quietly on her phone in one of the small seating areas away
from him. She was no doubt updating Tabitha, and she wouldn’t want
to do it whilst sitting next to him. He watched Eli talking to a
tall man with thinning grey hair at the desk. Keys and paperwork
were handed over with a small smile, and Eli turned and walked
towards him. Ember stood up, having finished on her phone, and
walked towards them. Ayden also appeared his side. Where had Ayden
been? He really did feel the distinct impression that he was
avoiding him.

“
Okay, we have
rooms that join together just in case of an emergency.”

Eli meant just
in case they got caught and needed to make a quick exit. That was
the kind of emergency they were dealing with.

They made
their way to their rooms in silence. He could already feel the
tension knotting his shoulders. This didn’t help his arm which was
still sore after Evander had snapped it. Thankfully, Tabitha had
worked her magic yet again. He really did hate broken bones. “So,
do we have a plan?” he asked no one in particular.

“
Let’s all
meet in your room in ten minutes after we’ve freshened up,” Eli
suggested.

Jack walked
into his room and dropped down onto his bed face first. He hardly
had time to fall asleep before the rest of them arrived through the
connecting door. Jack moved back against the wooden headboard
allowing them room to sit on the bed. This hotel didn’t have a
seating area like the last one.

Ember started
arranging photographs on the bed. Ember had taken snap shots of the
area under the castle. He didn’t know when she had found the time
to do it, but it really made him appreciate her gift. He wished he
could go to a place in a split second. He’d have quite a few
holidays to start with.

*

“
So, there is
no way of going through that water stuff like last time?” Ayden
asked.

“
I don’t
believe there is,” Ember replied. “I think only the Scottish coven
has a specific way to get in there.”

“
So how do we
get in?” Jack asked, trying to hold back the sigh.

They’d been
back and forth over this issue for near on two hours and still they
hadn’t got any further.

“
I’ve been
talking through this with Tabitha and...” Ember took a breath. This
was unusual for her because she was rather blunt and open about her
thoughts. Jack leaned closer, eager to hear what plan she had come
up with.

“
We think I
can use my gift.”

This was
greeted with silence. She used her gift all the time, why was it
any different now?

“
You’ve never
been able to do it before. You have to remember what happened last
time, surely?” Ayden asked.

Jack had
noticed that Ayden’s face had gone sheet white.

“
Yes, that is
true, but I could try again. I have experience on my side this
time. Last time I tried this was years after I found out I was a
witch and I wasn’t very good.”

“
What happened
last time?” Jack asked.

Ember actually
looked embarrassed. “I tried it on one of the Ayden’s when I first
joined the coven. Tabitha felt I should push my gift. I tried to
move Ayden with me but-”

“
She left the
whole of my left leg at home!” Ayden interjected.

Jack’s mouth
dropped in shock. “You didn’t have a leg?”

Ayden’s
expression changed and suddenly he was laughing. “No, I didn’t. I
got to the other side and was profusely bleeding. Of course, Ember
panicked and left me there with blood leaking all over the place, I
was dying-”

“
Ayden,” Ember
warned with a smile on her face.

“
Okay, she
went back for my leg and some of Tabitha’s magical juice. I walked
with a limp for a week and I’m not ashamed to say that it hurt,
like hell.”

“
And you want
to try this again?” Eli asked incredulously.

“
Tabitha and I
both feel that after all these years I can do this.”

“
And you can
get us into the coven meeting place doing this?” Jack
asked.

“
Yes.”

Jack looked
around at everyone’s faces. Eli looked nervous, but he always did
when trying something new. Ayden was smiling. If he was that
bothered about losing a leg he would say something, surely? He
wouldn’t sit on the bed smiling.

“
Fine, we will
give it a go,” he said nodding. “Now, I’ve had enough of this
meeting so let’s try this tomorrow. The meeting isn’t until
Thursday, we have two days and at the moment I just want to
sleep.”