Page 52 of Familiar of the Witch

We bolted for the walls. Skidding to a stop in front of all of that magnolia, my heart hammered as I reached out and touched it. Benji had to be here. He had to be! But the walls stayed cool and flat.

I turned to face the approaching Inspectors, my mind blank. I had no plan. I couldn’t use my potion bomb on them; they didn’t deserve death because they were just doing their job.

I was so screwed.

Chapter 41

Before I could descend into total panic, familiar hands grabbed me around my waist. I had a moment to take a deep breath and then Benji pulled me into the walls. The walls were thin; when I’d set up this plan, I had envisaged that he would simply pop me through this wall and into another corridor from which I could make my escape.

But he did not. After he dragged me into the wall, I lost all sense of where we were or how we were moving. My chest was straining and I was dying to take a breath, even though it would be full of brick and dust and would almost certainly kill me. I held my breath and strained not to give in to the urge just to breathe.

Thank the Goddess, just when I thought I was going to pass out, we burst from the walls. I gratefully choked down gulps of air, my lungs screaming at me for my idiocy.

‘Crikey, Benji,’ I said when I’d recovered a little. ‘Warn a lady before you do that to her!’

‘I’m sorry, Am Bam,’ he whispered contritely, ‘but there was no time. The Coven Council knows about the Connection raid and they are trying to catalogue the whereabouts of every witch in the city. If anyone appears to be missing, they will be added to a master list of black-witch suspects. I couldn’t have you on that list. All over the UK, all of the Coven bodyguards are undertaking Coven-wide sweeps. They’ll be here any second.’

It was gratifying that the lumbering Coven Council appeared to be making some fast moves for once. I wondered how much Kass had had to yell to get them moving.

Bastion stepped out of the walls with the other golem, David. Unlike me, Bastion simply took in a shallow breath like his lungs weren’t on fire. Show off.

‘Cloaks, quickly!’ Benji said urgently.

We both whipped them off and threw them at him. He balled them up and shoved them into the wall. ‘That’s a handy storage space,’ I remarked drily. A small corner of the cloak poked out of the wall and David pushed it until it disappeared.

‘Sit!’ Benji said urgently, his eyes glowing white as he tapped into some magic of his own that I didn’t understand. He blinked and his eyes cleared.

I looked around. We appeared to be in a bedsit, sitting at a dining-room table. It was dimly lit with only one naked bulb hanging from the ceiling. Industrial chic.

The walls had posters of Nirvana and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, which made me smile. I knew then without a doubt that we were in Benji’s room; he had taken to rock music like a selkie to water.

The single bed in the corner was neatly made, but I grimaced at the thought that the only room Benji had was a lousy underground bedsit. I vowed to improve his living conditions. He might have returned for David, but that didn’t mean he had to live in a hovel. It reminded me uncomfortably of the jail cell Mack had shoved me into.

The door burst open and, as if summoned by my thoughts, none other than Mack, walked in. When he saw me, he let out a growl. ‘Dammit! I don’t care if you’re here. Iknowyou’re evil.’

I stared at him like I had no idea what he was talking about. ‘Did you get hit on the head?’ I asked, exasperated. I looked at the men behind him. ‘He should see a medicalprofessional.’

‘There has been a raid on a black Coven,’ one of the men behind Mack said. ‘Any missing witches are suspect. We’re here to get the golems to help in the search.’

‘Then what in the Goddess’s name are you waiting for? Go! Search the whole damned catacombs as fast as you can! You’re wasting time – they’ll be able to get back through. You have to hurry!’ My urgency broke through and everyone whirled out, including Benji and David.

At the exit, Mack paused. ‘Just because you’re here doesn’t exempt you. You just missed this meeting for whatever reason. Iknowyou’re evil.’

‘So you keep saying,’ I sighed. ‘But frankly, of the two of us Iknowwho is evil and it isn’t me. The worst thing of all is that you don’t know that you are.’

Bad people make bad choices all over the world and have no idea that they are the villains in the story. They have their own narratives to justify their heinous actions, as no doubt Mack did.

With one last glower, he left.

Chapter 42

Benji and David returned soon afterwards. I had spent the intervening period wringing my hands and envisaging horrific things happening to Frogmatch. I shouldn’t have let the little – large? – guy come along for the ride. Why had I done that? I prayed with all my might that he was fine and he’d escaped from the witches. I hoped he’d pop up any second now but, no matter how hard I looked around, I didn’t see a flash of red skin and a cheeky grin. My stomach clenched.

Bastion laid his hand on mine, sending soothing vibes down our bond. I shook them off and glared at him. I didn’t want to be soothed; in my fear for Frogmatch, I was as prickly as a hedgehog. I was at least partially responsible for him and I’d failed him. We’d left him, and now he was who knew where.

I tried to reign in my agitation when the two golems returned. I was pleased to see that Benji and David had become friends and Benji was clearly showing David the ropes. Usually there was only one golem awake at once. The Council didn’t need to have more because, despite the bed in his room, Benji didn’t need to sleep. He liked lying down, though, and pretending.

‘I’ll make us all some tea,’ Benji said as he lumbered in. He froze. ‘I’m sorry, Am, that was insensitive of me, wasn’t it? After the poisoning…’ He trailed off uncomfortably.

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