Seven—the number of days since my loved ones and I had saved ourselves from an exploding house. Also the number of days I’d been in home detention because of the megaprice on my head, put there by a criminal organisation because I’d killed the leader’s brother. Which meant it was also the number of days I’d had to train my squirrel army.
How much could you teach a squirrel in seven days? I was about to find out.
I stood on the grass in Angelica’s backyard, about twenty feet from a squishy wrestling dummy that I’d dressed in T-shirt and shorts. My magic held it upright in the mid-morning sunshine. Ted lay at my feet, dozing. Abby, who’d made herself my 2IC, sat on the top of the timber picnic table and kept an eye on proceedings.
Before I turned around to look down at the squirrels, I smiled, then schooled my features to a businesslike façade—if I wanted the squirrels to take this seriously, I had to act the part. Once I had my face under control, I turned and surveyed the cuteness overload on the grass. I bit my top lip to keep from giggling. Why did they have to be so dang floofy? I cleared my throat. “Okay, so you all know the signal?” Thirty tiny heads nodded, and I bit my lip again. One little paw went up—a grey squirrel with a torn right ear. “Yes, Lefty?”
She chittered, which roughly translated in my mind to, Two nuts, not one?
“Yes. All the squirrels who get this right will get two nuts. If you get it wrong, no nuts.” She nodded, and I surveyed all of them. “Any other questions before we start?” The smallest squirrel put up his hand. “Yes, Nano?”
A few little squeaks came out. Nut now?
“No. When you’ve done what we practised, you can have two nuts, but none now.” I did my best to stay calm. If I showed frustration, they might balk and scatter. This was way harder than I assumed it would be. Although, I’d done pretty well to have them all standing together this still for as long as I had. I was sure I’d regret my next question, but I wanted to make sure they were okay with everything. “Any other questions?” A larger squirrel at the back, a grey with white tail, stood on her hind legs and waved her arm… or leg, or whatever. “Yes, Dusty.” I hadn’t told her that she was named after a feather duster, on account of her tail. Not that she’d probably care, but you never knew.
I love nuts.
Abby looked at me and rolled her eyes. Huh, I had no idea cats could do that. She shook her head. Stupid squirrels. They’re cute but not too bright. Cats are far superior. She lifted her front paw to her mouth and licked.
I looked back at Dusty. “Yes, I know you do. All of you do. Right, no more questions. Wait for my signal.” If I didn’t just jump in and do this, we’d be here all night.
I turned back to face the dummy and held up my fist. I let my thumb unfurl for one, then my pointer finger for two, and when I released my middle finger, they took off in a bounding, leaping rush.
The back door opened, and Will, always sexy and dangerous-looking in his work suit, strode out. “Hey, Lily. What are you do—"
Nearly as one, my soldiers stopped and froze. Dusty was the first to break ranks and bolt for the nearest tree. That was all it took for the mass to bound and leap every which way for safety. Argh. Epic fail. My squirrel team had turned into a turmoil of squirrels—which really should be the collective noun for them. Maybe I should name my army Team Turmoil. I stared at Will, frustration pouring off me.
His eyebrows lifted. “What?” While trying not to smile, his gaze flicked to one remaining squirrel who, despite his comrades’ freak out, had resumed his course. He’d climbed to the dummy’s stomach and was biting the hell out of it.
“Argh. I was so close to success, and you ruined it with your ill-timed exit.”
“It’s good training for them, and better for you to deal with this now. Out in the field”—he snorted a quick laugh before pressing his lips together to stop it—“they’re going to come up against surprises. If they freak out every time, they’re going to be useless.”
I hated that he was right. Why was there always more work to do?
The squirrel who’d succeeded didn’t have a name yet. “You can stop biting now.” He looked at me from his perch on the dummy’s stomach and cocked his head to the side. “I think I’ll call you Grey the Brave. Do you like that name?” He chittered, and a feeling of joy invaded my brain. They didn’t always communicate in words or pictures; sometimes it was just emotion. I smiled. “Well, Grey the Brave, you get two nuts.” His boofy tail twitched, and he leaped off the dummy and scampered to the table.
I moved to the picnic table with the little squirrel version on top, grabbed two nuts out of my pocket, and placed them there. A few of the deserter squirrels came down from their hiding places and slowly converged on the table. I shook my head. “Nope, sorry. You’ll have to attack that dummy before you get your treats.” I gave a nod at their target, then turned my gaze on Will. “Stay still, please.”
He answered with a smirk.
Haphazardly, the squirrels rushed the dummy, reaching it a few at a time. Some ran up to the face and bit or scratched it, some attacked its back, some its arms, and some its legs. One enterprising squirrel even bit the dummy’s bottom. I couldn’t help giggling. Once they were all done, each presented to the tabletop, waiting patiently on their hind legs. Pride came through our bond loud and clear. Well, at least they’d done it eventually. It was a start.
I smiled. “Nuts for all. Good job!” I took some more nuts from the bags in my bulging shorts pockets and handed two to each squirrel. Once everyone was fed, I magicked the bags back to the kitchen cupboard.
“Are you finished now?”
“Yes. How was work?” Even though I was stuck at home, didn’t mean anyone else was. Will, Angelica, and everyone else still had a job to do, so Will had started work at six this morning. We were pretty sure the directors knew we knew they were up to something, so Ma’am had given up the ruse that Chadiot was still in charge. It was only a matter of time till the directors cut the PIB off moneywise, and we were all in danger anyway, so four days ago, Ma’am told them that Chad had done a runner and she had no idea where he’d gone. Even if they figured we had him trapped, it didn’t matter. Since then, they’d stayed quiet. The consensus was that they weren’t ready to act yet, but they could be within days or weeks, so it was business as usual as far as crime-fighting was concerned. As far as surviving was concerned, Angelica was waiting for them to play their hand—she hinted she had a plan, but I wasn’t so sure. Whatever happened, though, Chadiot was our insurance when it all went down. He was a witness to the directors’ duplicity, and we needed him alive.
His amused expression fell. “We survived another morning, but I’ll have to go back to work later. I thought I’d get away and have an early lunch with you.”
“Why so busy?” Will had been working a couple of smaller assignments, but I didn’t think Angelica had given him anything new to start on.
“I’m helping out with as many cases as I can—we all are.” He made a bubble of silence. “Ma’am wants as many crimes solved and perpetrators arrested as possible. The timelines of a few missions have been moved up. A couple of instances of fraud, a recent drug bust in London, and a human trafficking case are all ones we were close to solving. She’s almost given up on ones that we’re not close to tying up. And since we don’t know when we’ll be cut off from our resources, she’s decided to go this route.”
I frowned and gave him a hug. “I suppose a few solved cases is better than leaving it all undone.”
“Yes.”
If only we could go back to the days where law enforcement was guaranteed. This whole thing was crazy. I cocked my head to the side. “Hmm, maybe Angelica could petition her contacts in parliament to fund a new agency. Then you could all quit—saving the directors from having you killed—and go straight to the new agency.”
He gave me a sad smile. “Whilst that sounds good, the whole idea is that the crims behind everything get a free pass to run their illegal operations. Whoever they can’t buy off, they’ll kill. We’d still be in danger.”
“So we need to take them all out?” First Regula Pythonissam, now this. It really was never-ending. How had these criminal entities managed to put aside their differences to bribe the PIB? “How many groups are supporting the directors?”
“Two that we know of, maybe three. That’s a lot of evil to disband and destroy. It could take us years and years, and that’s doing it illegally. We can’t just go around killing people, no matter how much better the world would be.” His downcast expression made it obvious how disappointing he found that fact. For once, I had to agree that not being able to kill these evil crapheads was a bad thing.
“Surely the Queen and other leaders in this country won’t want total chaos. That’s what’ll happen when they have free rein. That’s another point in our favour to getting funding. Even if we’ll all still be in danger, we’ll have something positive. Maybe with the government’s support and the directors out of the way, we can make a difference and stay alive.”
Will’s brow furrowed. “We can hope, Lily, but whatever happens, our path out of this is going to be the most dangerous thing the PIB agents have ever faced, and I have an inkling we’ll need to be honest with the staff about what’s going on. Which will be easier now that the directors know we know.” He must’ve seen the distress on my face because he caressed my cheek. “Try not to worry. If there’s a way out, I have no doubt that our team under Angelica’s leadership can find it.”
Abby had jumped down from her perch and did a figure eight around my legs, rubbing herself against me. Don’t worry. You are smart… for humans. You’ll work it out. Will must’ve heard, too, because we both chuckled.
I crouched down and picked her up. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She nudged her head under my chin and purred.
Loud chittering came from the picnic table. We turned. All thirty of my students were on hindlegs, tails twitching, as they stared at the sky. I tilted my head back and looked up.
A congealed mass of charcoal cloud blacked out the sun and blue sky. The roiling darkness got bigger, and flashes of lightning illuminated within it, setting off eerie green in the near blackness. Goosebumps cascaded along my arms, and I shivered.
That did not look good.
Will scooped up Ted and grabbed my arm. “Get inside. Now.”
I wasn’t going to ask questions, but before I ran inside, I made sure my friends were safe. I looked at my squirrel army. “Run! Get as far away as you can.” I sent them a mental image of running away from a fox. I figured if they hadn’t understood my words, they would understand that. “Go!” I waved my arms to scare them off. Grey the brave nodded—I swore it wasn’t random—and he was off. The others followed in a streak of grey, up the large tree next to the back fence and over the other side to the reserve.
Will jerked my arm, and we sprinted inside. Being the last one in, I slammed the door, and not a moment too soon.
A sonic boom exploded outside. I jumped, and the windows rattled. Ted howled. A loud clunk reverberated through the kitchen as something hit the outside of the back wall. Ted, whining, scrambled out of Will’s hold and slunk under the table. My eyes widened, and I jerked around, searching for any damage inside.
I sniffed. “It smells of magic.” I blinked. I didn’t know how it smelled of magic, and I’d never experienced it before, but I just knew. It was almost like the scent of ozone after a rainstorm, but sharper. A distinct wisp of acrid smoke stung my nose.
Lines indented Will’s forehead. “We’re under attack. The fact that you can smell it is something we’ll talk about later. They must be nearby.” He pulled out his phone. Right, so another unusual skill for me. At this point, I wasn’t surprised. Not that smelling magic was helpful when the magic was already doing the damage. It was like not being able to smell a cowpat until you were stepping in it.
Thunder shook the house again, like literally shook it, and after a couple of seconds, a thud came from the back garden. I gripped the kitchen counter until the vibrations subsided.
Another explosion replete with blinding flash rocked the house. I dropped to the ground and pressed my back to the kitchen cupboards. Will, who stood with his legs wide and steady, looked down at me. “Make a shield, like you did at the house the other day.”
“Okay.” I’d expended a ridiculous amount of energy protecting myself and my loved ones from the leave-kill spell, but I’d recovered within a few days. The power I could wield without dying was increasing, and my recovery time was improving. So making a shield now was a cinch. I crawled under the table and placed a hand on Ted’s back. “Abby, come here. I’ll shield all of us.” She calmly strutted to me and sat. Cats were so nonchalant. If only I could access some of her attitude.
“Good idea.” Will gave a nod and sat on the floor, his aura bright with magic. “I’ll call Angelica. I can’t check the house-protection spells from here, and I don’t want to go outside. Either she can come here, or we’ll evacuate to your brother’s.”
You’d think we’d evacuate to the PIB, but without knowing what was going on, it was too risky. One of the compromised agents could be waiting for us. I just hoped James, Millicent, and my mum were okay. They were at HQ today. I was pretty sure Imani was out on assignment with Beren and Angelica. I crossed my fingers that they weren’t in any danger. If they kept attacking us, Angelica and the others wouldn’t be able to tidy up the last of their cases. Argh, stop thinking. It’s getting you nowhere.
I took a deep breath, drew power, told the river what I wanted, and it materialised. A slight shimmer was the only evidence of the shield, like heat haze emanating from a bitumen road on a scorching summer day.
I wanted to ask Will how much longer he thought our protection spells would hold if they kept up the barrage, but he had the phone to his ear. And what would the neighbours think? My eyes widened. What if they went outside to look and got hurt? This was awful on so many levels.
“Hi, Ma’am. We have a problem.” Will explained what was happening. Just as he stopped speaking to listen to Angelica, a sizzle echoed through the house. The deafening crack that followed had me slapping my hands to my ears. The force of the magic was like a punch to the gut, and I sucked in a breath.
Ted trembled. I ignored the throb in my stomach and placed a comforting hand on his back. “It’s okay, boy. We’re safe. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Okay. Will do. Bye.” Will crouched and looked at me. “We’re out of here. Now. Bring Ted and Abby. I’ll follow you.”
“Shouldn’t we go and look for those pigs, put an end to the attack? You said they should be close by.”
“No. It’s too dangerous. We have no idea where they are. They could be hiding in any of the houses in this street, and we’d be sitting ducks trying to find them.” He must’ve seen the I’m-about-to-argue look on my face because he scowled. “No, no, and no. We’re leaving. Now!”
I blew out a breath. I wasn’t crazy enough to think I could take them on by myself—there could be a full circle of them—and I wasn’t about to put Will in danger because he had to run after me. “Okay.” I picked Abby up and looked at Ted. “You heard him. We’re going. I’ll have to stand up over there.” I nodded at the space near the kitchen door. “Come on.” I crawled out from under the table, and Ted slunk out after me. Poor puppy. I stood and made sure my doorway wasn’t going to take any pieces of furniture with me. I picked up Ted, just in case he wasn’t sure how to go through a doorway safely. Then I made one and stepped through to my brother’s reception room.
I’d been doing a fair bit of babysitting for James and Millicent lately, so they’d given me a key. I put the animals down and used the key to hurry in ahead of Will’s arrival. As soon as we were safely in the vestibule, I called out, “Is anyone home? It’s Lily.”
Millicent’s answering shout reached me at the same time Will came through his doorway. “I’m just in the kitchen feeding Annabelle. Come in.”
I headed for the kitchen, my tribe following. Millicent had Annabelle in a high chair and was feeding her some kind of orange goop. Mill smiled. “What are you guys doing here?” She glanced up at the wall clock. “Shouldn’t you be home having lunch?”
“Didn’t Angelica call you?”
Will looked at me. “She probably hasn’t had time. She was contacting James first and checking on HQ.” He looked at Mill. “Angelica’s house is under attack from a cloud concoction.”
Two divots appeared between her brows. “What?”
“A dark billowing cloud came out of nowhere. Lily’s squirrels noticed it first.” He glanced at me, an unreadable look on his face. His gaze moved back to Millicent. “They hit the house several times. I’m thinking they made their magic look like lightning bolts, so anyone seeing it had some rational way to explain it. From what we could tell, there’s damage to the outside of the house, but we couldn’t check. They were still firing at us when we left.”
I scratched the back of my neck. “I don’t know if the house will even be standing by the time we return.” I bit my lip. “Can they tell we’ve left?”
“No,” said Will. He closed his mouth, and his jaw muscles bunched. If I could guess, I’d say he was rather angry.
Annabelle waved her hands around. “Ga, ga, mmmm, mmmm.”
“Sorry, sweetie. Mummy’s a bit distracted.” She slid another spoonful of food into Annabelle’s mouth, and my adorable niece kicked her legs in happiness. After Millicent gave Annabelle another spoonful, she said, “If the house is destroyed, you can stay here.”
I shook my head vehemently. “No way. They want me most of all, and I won’t bring that danger to your doorstep. We can stay in a hotel. If we travel there, they’ll have no idea where we are.” Since living at Angelica’s, Will had rented out his place, and even if he hadn’t, that was probably an obvious place to go, so there was no sense in going there.
Will’s phone rang. “Hello, Ma’am.” He nodded as he listened. “Okay. Yes.” He put one hand on his hip. “Right. Bye.” He hung up and slid his phone into his pocket. “She wants us to meet her at her country place… take the danger away from here.” He looked at Millicent. “James is coming home shortly, and your dad’s coming over. They’re going to upgrade your protections.”
“What about Angelica’s house?” Millicent wiped food off Annabelle’s face with the baby’s bib.
Will’s poker expression settled in place. “They’ll check on it later. Whatever will be, will be.”
I frowned, and Millicent met my sad gaze. “It’ll be okay, Lily. They won’t have levelled it, and any damage can be fixed. The most important things are safe.” She glanced at Ted and Abby, then up at me and Will and smiled. “You know I’m right.”
I sighed. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Still… that’s home. Argh, and you know who’s still at the country house?”
Millicent chuckled. “Our favourite person.”
“Yes.” I’d managed to avoid having to see Chadiot since everything had gone down a week ago. If I never saw him again, I wouldn’t shed a tear. Looked like I might just have to have a little cry later.
Will laughed. “It’s a big house. We’ll make sure to avoid the lounge room.”
Annabelle made gah, gah, gah noises and slammed her tiny hands on her high chair tray a few times. Millicent laughed. “Okay, missy, let’s free you from your confines, and you can have a play.” Ah, to be a baby again and have nothing to worry about. Although, did I want to suffer through everything again—losing my parents, James going missing, finding out witches existed, and the search and battle for my mother? Hmm, maybe not.
“Here, let me get her out. I want to give her a cuddle before we leave. I may not be back here for a while.” Millicent had already unclipped Annabelle’s seat belt thing, and I slid my hands under her armpits and lifted her out. She cooed at me, and I smiled. “You are the cutest thing ever.” I blew a raspberry on her chubby cheek, and she giggled.
Millicent cocked her head to the side, and she got a look. “You’re so good with her.”
“Ha, no way! I’m not close to being ready for one of these, no matter how cute they are or how much I love Annabelle. I can give her back when I’ve had enough.” I laughed.
Will wore a thoughtful expression. “But you do want them… one day.”
I shrugged. “Yes and no. I’d be so scared something would happen to them, and after what I went through with Mum and Dad…. Well….” I didn’t want to finish that because what if Millicent thought I was judging her and James. I blew another raspberry on my niece’s cheek. “She’s enough for now. Why don’t we talk about this when there’s no price on my head? Now’s not the ideal time to be thinking about the future.”
Millicent’s shoulders sagged. “You’re right. Sorry. I forget sometimes when I’m here in my safe cocoon. But we’ll all get through this. There’s no bunch of more capable witches. We all have your back, Lily, and there’s no way Angelica will let the PIB go without the fight of her life.”
I sighed and gave my niece a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you soon, sweetie. Be good for Mummy.” I handed her to Millicent, and gave Millicent a kiss on the cheek too.
“James and I will come and visit. We won’t let you get too bored.”
Will’s phone rang. He looked at the caller details, then at me. “Time to go. Angelica’s waiting.” He answered the phone. “We’re coming right now.” He hung up and made a doorway. I made mine, and with a wave to Mill and Annabelle, and sadness at having to run from a home I’d come to love, I stepped through. I hoped that one day my life would be simple and safe and normal. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.
