Chapter 18

M orag leapt off the sofa. She had to do something. She had to stop Iris or find Lynx, he could stop her, or at least go to Scotland with her.

She ran out onto the dark street and looked around. There was no sign of Iris or anyone. The car was still there so she wasn't planning on driving to Scotland. Would she use the rivers and lakes in the same way they had to travel down here? She'd need water for that and the stream was in the back garden and Iris had gone out the front. Where had she gone?

Movement caught her eye and she saw Viktor prowling down the road.

‘Viktor, have you seen Iris?'

‘No, I don't keep a tab on all the witches. If you've lost your owner that is your problem.' Viktor carried on walking past her.

‘Viktor, this is serious. She's gone back to Scotland to get the evidence she needs to prove the locket is hers and to stop the police coming back here. If her ex is there, he'll kill her.'

Viktor stopped. ‘Where is Lynx?'

‘I don't know.'

‘Have you checked Iris's bedroom?' Viktor said.

‘No, I'll do that.'

‘I'll check his bedroom,' Viktor said, taking off at a run.

Morag ran back into the house and up the stairs but the bed hadn't even been slept in. She ran back down again and across the street just as Viktor was running out of Lynx's house.

‘The house is empty, but the front door was open and the lights are on.'

Morag looked around, trying to think. Iris had talked about Lynx's key stones and how she could travel to Scotland in seconds using one of them. That must be how she planned to go.

‘The key stones. Lynx has stones that help him to travel to places. Do you know where he keeps them?'

Viktor gestured for her to follow him back inside the house and then jumped up onto the side. Morag did too. Viktor gestured to a bowl with two dark stones inside.

‘He has three key stones. One is missing, so I guess Iris took one.'

‘How do they work?'

‘You just hold them and think of the place you want to go and it takes you there.'

Morag reached out a paw to touch one of the stones but Viktor batted it away.

‘No, it's too dangerous. You have to hold the stone really tight in your hand and you don't have one of those. Touching it is not the same. If you drop the stone mid-travel, you'll be lost in the fabric of space forever.'

‘I could hold it in my mouth.'

‘No, it's too risky. I won't allow it.'

Morag felt the anger rise in her. ‘You won't allow it? I can't leave her there alone.'

‘We need to find Lynx and if we can't, we'll go and tell Wolf. He'll know what to do.'

Iris staggered a bit as she landed, caught her balance and opened her eyes. It was hard to tell where she was, it was dark, the only light coming from the moon above her. Her head was spinning, she felt sick. She closed her eyes again, taking deep breaths through her nose, and that's when the smell hit her: the smell of burning, the scent of smoke and fire. It overwhelmed her.

She opened her eyes again and looked around. She still couldn't see anything, the key stone must have made a mistake. There was no sign of any building, let alone the farmhouse. Sky spread out above her with no buildings at all blocking her view.

She conjured a light in her hands and floated it above her head so she could see where she was. There was a large pile of smouldering rubble in front of her, which was obviously where the burned smell was coming from. She looked around her in confusion, recognising the courtyard with the little pineapple-shaped birdbath that had always sat in front of her farmhouse, the pale pink paving slabs she had tripped on when playing on her roller-skates as a kid, the old willow tree she had spent many an hour lying under. She looked around again, not understanding what she was seeing. Her head was still spinning, she was still dizzy, none of this made sense.

The full horrific realisation hit her like a bus. The smouldering rubble was her home. She conjured a few more lights and they floated over the remains of her home. There was nothing left. The house that had sat there for hundreds of years was gone, her home was completely destroyed.

Acute, agonising pain sliced through her and she quickly let the lights wink out so she wouldn't have to look at the devastation anymore. She curled up in a ball and sobbed.

Lynx woke up with a start, feeling pain in his chest so severe he thought for a second he was having a heart attack. He leapt up and realised that Iris was gone and the pain he was feeling was coming from her. He didn't know how he knew that, he just did.

‘Iris!' he yelled.

There was no answer. Where was she and what had happened that was causing her so much pain?

He ran into the house and out onto the street just as Morag and Viktor were coming out of his house, looking very worried.

‘Where is she?' he demanded.

‘She's gone to Scotland,' said Morag. ‘She said she has to get the evidence to prove the locket is hers so the police don't come back here. She's taken one of your key stones.'

Lynx tore through the door. The pain still throbbed in his chest. He needed to get to her. He had never used the key stones to connect to a person before, just a place, but it had to be worth a try, despite the danger involved.

He quickly moved over to the bowl and grabbed one. He closed his eyes, thinking of her, her smile, her scent, her hair, and suddenly he was moving through the fabric of space, wind roaring past him, so hard he could barely breathe, spinning, falling, twisting, turning, until he landed with a thud on the other side. He opened his eyes. His head was still spinning but he had no idea where he was. The darkness around him was complete and it took him a second to get his eyes accustomed to the lack of light. He conjured a few balls of light that floated above him and frantically looked around. She had to be here.

He spotted the charred remains of a house, but this wasn't a recent fire, he could tell it had been put out a few days before.

Suddenly he heard sobbing and looked around to see Iris, curled up in a ball, her shoulders heaving as she cried.

He rushed over to her, putting his arm round her. ‘Iris, are you hurt?'

She jolted with shock and looked at him through tear-filled eyes. ‘Lynx, what are you doing here?'

‘Are you hurt?' he said, urgently.

She shook her head and relief coursed through him.

‘Is this…' he gestured to the pile of bricks and wood but he had already guessed the answer.

‘My home,' Iris said, fresh tears filling her eyes once more.

Anger raged in him. Christopher had done this and that meant he could still be here, waiting for her.

‘We need to go.' Lynx scooped her up in his arms before she could argue and, holding her close, gripped the stone tightly. ‘Hold on and don't let go.'

She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck as he closed his eyes and thought of home. This connection was always so much easier than to anywhere else and within seconds he felt that rush of roaring wind, the spinning and twisting. Through it all, he held onto Iris like his life depended on it.

He stumbled out the other side and opened his eyes to see his lounge and Iris still in his arms. He sat down on the sofa with her on his lap as he tried to catch his breath. She cried against his shoulder and he stroked her hair.

Movement caught his eye at the door and he saw Viktor poking his head around.

‘Is she OK?'

How could Lynx even answer that question? He couldn't tell him what had happened because he was sure Iris would want to tell Morag herself. It shouldn't come from Viktor.

‘She's not hurt. Can you tell Morag she's safe and we'll talk to her tomorrow?'

Viktor nodded and disappeared.

Lynx was so angry right now, angry at Iris for putting herself at risk and for going home alone. But mostly he was angry at Christopher for doing this, for stealing the locket, for bringing the police into their lives, and now burning down Iris's home, either in some act of revenge or to stop her getting the proof of ownership for the locket. He was furious and he knew he had to get his revenge in some way, preferably one that would cause Christopher the most pain.

‘I can't believe my home is gone,' Iris said. ‘And everything I own. My photos of my parents, my nan's wedding album, my mum's jewellery, every memory I had there, completely destroyed.'

‘He can't take your memories, Iris.'

She lifted her head to look at him. ‘You think Christopher did this?'

‘I do.'

She let out a gasp. ‘Dear Gods, I slept with this man, he told me he loved me… How could he do this to me? Stealing the locket was bad enough, but this is… horrific.'

‘We're going to get him back for this,' Lynx said grimly. ‘And we're going to put a stop to this once and for all.'

‘What are you going to do?'

‘I don't know, but I'm sure I can find a couple of very painful curses.'

‘We can't hurt mundanes.'

‘Oh, I think we could make an exception.'

She shook her head and he could see the moment her sadness turned to anger. ‘Do you think he did this for revenge?'

‘Probably. I think he came up there to get the locket back from you, found you gone and no sign of the locket and he did that. Or he wanted to destroy the evidence of any connection between you and the locket.'

‘That's what I went up there for. I was going to go to the police and hope the evidence was enough.'

Lynx shook his head. ‘You should never have gone there alone, he could have been waiting for you, it was a huge risk. And going to the police, why the hell would you do that?'

‘I couldn't risk them coming back here. What you've created here, your ancestors and Wolf, is a safe haven for witches. Somewhere for them to create magic without fear or judgement. And what about Blaze and the other children? We might be able to warn all the villagers not to do their magic, but we can't stop the children from doing it.'

He sighed. ‘I understand why you did it but you should have told me. We're a team or at least we're supposed to be. You're not alone anymore, we'll face whatever troubles come our way together.'

‘Would you have let me go if I'd told you?'

‘That's not the point, we're supposed to talk to each other. And while I wouldn't have been happy about going back to your house, I would have come with you to protect you. We could have taken Wolf and Storm too if need be. But going to the police would have been unnecessary, which you'd have known if you'd talked to me. They can't get in here without a warrant and they can't get a warrant for four hundred houses.'

‘But they can keep coming back and harassing Wolf, causing worry and stress in the village. And with us being the only lead, no matter how flimsy it is, they aren't going to give up on us that easily.'

He sighed, knowing she was right about that. ‘You still need to talk to me, we don't have any hope of a future together unless we can communicate. There are two people in this relationship, that means we can't run around and do whatever the hell we want without discussing it with the other person. And with us being fated, our connection is deeper than I think you realise. I felt your pain tonight, this heartbreaking, agonising pain in my chest.'

Iris stared at him with wide eyes. ‘You felt that?'

‘It was that pain that woke me up. Your actions have consequences for me and for our future. We have to work together, in all things, or that beautiful future you've seen will never happen.'

She bit her lip and nodded. ‘OK, I'm sorry, you're right. I was trying to protect you and the village but I should have spoken to you about my plans. But what are we going to do now? There's no evidence to tie us to the locket. And I really want to see Christopher rot in jail for all of this.'

He looked at his watch. ‘It's gone half two in the morning. What we're going to do now is sleep. Tomorrow, we'll come up with a plan.'

She nodded. ‘OK.'

He stood up with her in his arms and carried her upstairs to bed.