Chapter 3

I ris flicked her hands and clothes flew into her suitcase.

‘I'm not living with a bunch of witches,' Ness said, grumpily.

‘Nan! Don't be like that. Lynx is a good man and from what I know of Midnight, the people there are just normal, good witches too, just trying to live private, decent lives. You don't need to be all anti-witch just because…'

She trailed off, not wanting to bring that up again.

‘Just because my great-great-grandmother was enslaved by one.'

Iris sighed. She'd heard the stories of course. How a handsome witch had tricked Marisa, how he'd charmed his way into her heart and, after they had slept together, while she was fast asleep, he'd slipped some kind of magical collar around her neck and enslaved her for the rest of his life, which thankfully had been rather short. After six months of being her keeper, he had met a very nasty death which had freed her from her bonds to him. The story had been passed down through the generations, told as a stark reminder never to trust witches. Although a lot of their family had ignored that sage advice.

‘You're half-witch yourself,' Iris reminded her nan.

‘Not the good half,' Ness said, folding her arms across her chest.

‘You can't deny who you are. Your son-in-law, my father, was a witch too.'

‘I never liked him.'

Iris shook her head, knowing that wasn't true. Ness had adored her son-in-law, but she'd often said, he was the exception to the rule. Iris had been raised with her grandmother constantly reminding her that she could never trust a witch and for the most part Iris had avoided them like the plague. But Lynx Oakwood had got under her skin, she couldn't stop thinking about him and that incredible kiss. Although he had rather proven the point when he'd betrayed her by stealing the locket.

‘And what about Morag? You can't leave her.'

‘I was going to bring her with us.'

‘I don't think she'll like that. This is her home.'

‘Morag is very good at making new friends,' Iris said. Unlike some people, although she kept that thought to herself.

She understood why her nan was dragging her feet. This had been the only home Ness had ever known. This house had been in their family for hundreds of years. Memories were etched into every corner, every crevice. There were marks on the furniture and scratches in the floors that held memories, too. The place had seen births, deaths and marriages and all the highs and lows of several generations. It had weathered harsh storms and basked in fierce sunshine. Children had grown up here, their laughter filling every room. It had seen pet dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits come and go, and most recently a pet fox – although Iris could never call Morag a pet, she'd never talk to her again if she did. And Scotland was in their blood, the lochs, the rivers, the hills and mountains. That wonderful smell of the moors and lochs was something she loved when she stepped outside the house every morning. She and Ness would swim in the lochs and rivers every day. There was nothing that could replace that feeling. This was home.

‘Is this all because you think this witch who's caught your eye is some part of your future?' Ness asked.

Iris waved her hand and more clothes flew into the case. She wished she'd never told her nan that. Her gift, if that was what you could call it – to see things, to know things, to see people's future – had never extended to herself. She couldn't see what was going to happen to her in an hour's time, let alone ten years from now. But when she'd kissed Lynx, she'd seen flashes of his future and, inexplicably, she'd been a part of it. She wasn't sure if it was romantically but she'd seen them laughing and talking together. She'd seen him holding her hand. Maybe they would just be friends but she knew that her future was tied to him somehow.

She pushed that thought away.

‘I'm doing this because Christopher is a dangerous man, because I think he will stop at nothing to get that locket back. I did this. I brought him into your life and you lost your locket because of it. Now this threat is hanging over us and I'm not going to let him hurt you again, emotionally or physically.'

‘Why has he got you so rattled? The Iris I know is brave and fiery and powerful, you're not afraid of anything.'

‘I'm afraid of losing you. If he came here I could raise a tsunami to take him out, I could fill a room with water in minutes and drown him. But that kind of magic takes time and what if I'm not here?'

‘Let him come, I'm not scared of him,' Ness said, waggling her fingers and making a blue shimmer sparkle in the air.

Iris knelt down in front of her nan. ‘He had a gun. He knew I'd come for the locket and he'd brought a gun to stop me. You'd have to be pretty fast with your magic to stop a speeding bullet. I need to know you're safe, so we're going to Midnight just for a few months until all this blows over. And if I have to magically enslave you to drag you there, then I'll do it.'

‘OK, OK, no need to be quite so dramatic. You don't even know if they'll let us in. Don't they have strict rules about only allowing witches in there?'

‘They'll let us in.'

Iris had seen that too – in the flashes of her life with Lynx, she'd known they were in Midnight, despite never having been there herself. She'd got back from London the night before and had phoned Wolf, the mayor of the village, first thing that morning to tell him she'd take the house he was just about to place the advert for. If he'd been surprised that she'd known about the advert, he hadn't shown it. She was sure, with a village full of witches, he was used to magical irregularities. He'd insisted that she and her nan each provide a drop of blood to prove their witchiness. Iris had already done that and it was on its way to deepest Cornwall at this very moment via a magical courier company – or ‘more bloody witches' as her nan had called them. But with their own abilities, she and Ness would probably arrive around the same time. Wolf could test their blood while he made them a welcome-to-the-village cup of tea.

‘We need to go and get your locket back anyway,' Iris said.

‘I need that locket. It's a part of me and I need it back.'

‘I know, I'm sorry.'

‘It's not your fault. I was the one that let Christopher see it for what it really was. I was the one that forgot to charm it so he didn't see it. It's my fault. But I really have to get that locket back. How do we know they'll give it to us?'

‘Because we have proof it belongs to us. The list of Great-Great-Aunty Edith's possessions. The vintage book of pressed flowers with the diagram of it on one of the pages. Plus the photo of you and Pops inside the locket. Once we show them those things, they'll have to hand it back.'

Ness looked at her sceptically but Iris knew they would; she trusted Lynx, at least in that regard. They just had to get there. She certainly didn't want to wait around for Christopher to catch up with them. Another hour packing up their home and they'd be gone and it couldn't come soon enough. And that urgency had nothing to do with seeing Lynx Oakwood again, absolutely nothing at all.

Lynx, Wolf and Star stared at the two drops of blood on the piece of paper, one of them Iris's, one of them her grandmother's. This was the only entry requirement for anyone who wanted to live in the private village of Midnight: a drop of blood to see if they were a witch or not.

‘Well?' Lynx said, as they sat around Wolf's dining table.

Wolf shook his head. ‘Honestly, I have no idea. There's magic there, I can feel that, both of them have a lot of magic running through their veins. And like you said, the magic feels different to any other magic I've felt before. But I can't say whether they're kelpies. I've never met one. I thought it would be obvious when I touched their blood but it's not. If I had to guess, I'd say they're both part witch, part… something else.'

‘Does it matter?' Star said. ‘This rule was put in place to stop non-magical people from coming to the village and exposing our secret way of life. Iris and her grandmother are magical, they know about witches and how important it is to keep that way of life a secret. Isn't that enough?'

‘From a personal point of view, I'm fascinated with all kinds of magic and if they are kelpies, or part kelpies, I'd love to know more about them and what they can do,' Wolf said. ‘But, from a professional perspective, I'm not sure bringing kelpies into the village is the right thing to do.'

‘Why not?' Star said.

‘I don't know if we can trust them.'

‘My gut says we can,' Lynx said.

‘I'm not sure that's your gut talking.' Wolf pointedly looked at Lynx's crotch.

Lynx rolled his eyes, although his brother had a point. He really wanted to see Iris again and he knew it wasn't anything to do with a professional fascination. From the moment she had held his hand, he had felt a connection to her he'd never had to anyone else before. He wasn't sure what that connection was but he wanted to know more about her.

‘We have a lot of families and children arriving in the next few days for the summer solstice celebrations next week. I have a responsibility to them too,' Wolf said.

‘You said the horror stories surrounding the kelpies were just that, stories to keep the mundanes away,' Star said. ‘They are hardly likely to come here for our help and then systematically start picking us off one by one.'

Wolf looked at his wife, a smile spreading on his face. ‘Why are you fighting their corner? You don't even know them.'

‘When I first came here there was a lot of concern because I'm a weather witch, and history has shown weather witches in a very negative light. There were those in the village that were concerned I might kill them all with a tornado or a massive lightning strike that would wipe out the entire place. But in the end the villagers supported me, voted for me to stay. This village has always been about giving a home to someone who needs it, no matter what their background is. Iris and her grandmother need our help and I don't want to turn our backs on them just because they aren't strictly witchkind.'

Lynx grinned. He loved Star's passion to help those in need. ‘I agree.'

Viktor jumped up on the table and sniffed the drops of blood. ‘I have concerns.'

‘You have concerns because you know they're bringing a talking fox with them and you like being the only talking animal in the village,' Star said.

‘A fox has no business in this village. And where is the fox's blood in all of this? Shouldn't we be testing that for witchiness too?'

‘It's not a condition of entry that our pets are witches, most of the pets here aren't,' Wolf said. ‘You're the only witch cat in the village, is that not unique enough for you?'

‘Half those pets could end up dead with a dangerous fox walking the streets.'

‘I'm not turning them away because of a pet fox. Don't forget we have pet snakes here too.'

Viktor mumbled something under his breath and jumped down from the table, clearly in a strop.

Wolf sighed. ‘Well apparently they're here, outside the gates.'

‘Iris is here,' Lynx said, standing up.

‘Stay here. I want to talk to them without you getting in the way or influencing my decision. I need to make a decision that's best for the village, not for you or for them.'

Lynx wasn't happy about that. His brother was known for being very straightlaced and by the book. He took his responsibilities as mayor very seriously.

But Lynx knew he couldn't exactly be impartial when it came to Iris. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about that kiss.

‘I'll come with you too,' Star said. ‘As mayoress of the village, I should have some say as well.'

Wolf smirked and shook his head. ‘Come on then. Lynx can you stay here in case Blaze wakes up?'

Lynx nodded and watched them walk out, hoping that Star could work her magic, maybe literally, to help Wolf reach the right decision.

Iris sat in the car chewing her lip as she stared at the armed guards manning the gate into Midnight Village. Morag had barely said a word during their journey down – she wasn't happy about their new living arrangements and Iris didn't blame her. Her nan had been a lot more vocal about it all, grumbling in the seat next to her about the journey, about leaving her home, about the over-the-top security, but at least they would be safe in there. If they let them in. She wasn't quite sure where she would go if they didn't.

She understood this was a wrench for her nan. Ness had never left Scotland before, let alone the tiny village she had called home for her entire life. Even Iris had spent most of her life in that farmhouse. Her parents had raised her in that farmhouse with her nan and it had been the four of them until she was twenty-two. She'd moved into her own tiny cottage just a mile away, but when her parents were killed in a car accident, Iris hadn't wanted her nan to be alone so she'd moved back in with her. It had been the two of them ever since. And now they were here and everything was so new and different, it was understandably daunting.

She saw a man and a woman approaching the gates and knew, from having seen inside Lynx's head, that this was his brother Wolf and his sister-in-law Star, the mayor and mayoress of the tiny village.

The gates opened but only enough to let them out, certainly not enough to let a car in.

Iris sighed. The blood clearly had not been enough to convince them.

‘Stay here, let me go and talk to them for a moment,' she said, getting out of the car.

Ness grumbled under her breath that she didn't want to talk to witches anyway.

Iris walked up to Wolf and Star.

Wolf held his hand out. ‘You must be Iris, Lynx has told us a lot about you. I'm Wolf and this is my wife Star.'

Iris shook both their hands. ‘Good to meet you.'

‘Have we met before?' Star asked, gazing at her curiously.

Iris looked at her in confusion. ‘I don't think so.'

‘You look really familiar. Especially the red hair. Maybe I'm confusing you with someone else,' Star shrugged. ‘Although Lynx did say you have the ability to shapeshift so I don't even know if this is the real you.'

Iris smiled. ‘This is the real me. You all have been so kind to let us stay, I couldn't then lie to you about who we are and what we look like. And I just want to thank you so much for letting us stay. I was an idiot and brought this man into both our lives and not only did he turn out to be the biggest shitbag I've ever met, but a very dangerous one too. Lynx said if we came here, you'd protect us and I'm so grateful. Finding people we can trust is a lot harder than it should be.'

She hoped she'd laid it on thick enough.

‘It's not a done deal, I'm afraid, not yet,' Wolf said, seriously. ‘And trust works both ways. Your blood shows a kind of magic I've never seen before and, based on what Lynx told us about what happened in London and your extraordinary metamorphic abilities, I'm wondering if you're a kelpie.'

Iris's mouth went dry. She'd had no intention of sharing that information. There were many dark, horrifying stories that preceded the kelpies and because of that she'd never told anyone what she truly was before. But if Wolf suspected she was lying, there was no way he would let her in.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘My nan is half-kelpie and so am I. Although if you want to be truly accurate, I'm probably around thirty-seven-and-a-half-percent kelpie.'

Wolf's eyes lit up in a way she hadn't expected. No one who knew anything about the kelpies was happy to meet one. Witches tended to be the exception, but it was more a wary acceptance than excitement.

‘I have to say, I've never met a kelpie before,' he said. ‘And as someone who is fascinated with all kinds of magic, I would love to have you here so I can talk to you about your heritage. But kelpies are not known for their… positivity.'

She laughed. ‘That's a nice way of saying, "I've heard about the child-eating rumours and I'm a tad concerned."'

‘I don't believe those rumours. There is nothing in our history books that shows any kind of malevolence from kelpies, just a general grumpiness and a desire to be left alone.'

Iris nodded. That kind of summed her and her nan up perfectly.

‘The rumours aren't true, and if it helps, I'm a vegetarian so children tend to be off the menu. Kelpies are a private people, just like you are. You must understand that need for privacy, your kind built a whole village so you'd be left alone and no one would ever be able to bother you again. The rumours about dragging children to their watery graves were kind of the same thing – they meant we'd be left alone.'

‘I understand but what we've built here is a community and I worry about how your isolated way of life will fit in.'

Iris was wondering that herself, especially her nan, who wasn't the most… sociable person, especially when it came to witches.

‘My dad was a witch, so I do understand that way of life too. And we don't need to be the life and soul of the party, this arrangement will only be for a few months and then we'll be out of your hair. If any of the residents are wary of us because of our heritage, I'm sure they'll appreciate that we keep to ourselves.'

Wolf rubbed his hand across his jaw as he seemed to consider the matter. He glanced at his wife and Star gave him a little nod. He smirked.

‘Welcome to Midnight Village.'

Iris practically sagged in relief. ‘Thank you so much. Listen, my nan has had a rough day. She's left the only home she's ever had, to live with witches who she doesn't particularly like, so please be kind.'

‘Oh, Wolf can be very charming if he wants to be,' Star said.

‘Why doesn't she like witches?' Wolf said.

‘Because her great-great-grandmother was enslaved by one, she's never forgiven them.'

Wolf's mouth pulled into a thin line. ‘Sadly there are bad people in all walks of life, witches, mundanes, and I'm sure kelpies also have bad apples. But I can assure you that nothing like that has ever happened here.'

‘I believe you.'

‘I'll go and introduce myself,' Wolf said.

Wolf walked off to the car and Iris willed her nan to be polite, even if she couldn't be friendly.

‘I think Lynx is looking forward to seeing you again,' Star said, with a smirk.

‘Oh, he told you how he cheated me out of the locket?' Iris said. It still didn't sit well with her but then the kiss had just been a cover, a distraction if the guards caught them, and he'd known that. If the kiss hadn't been real for him, then she could hardly blame him for taking advantage of it to win the locket. It was something she probably would have done herself. But the kiss had been real for her, which was silly – she didn't know Lynx, so how could a kiss from a complete stranger mean something? But she couldn't deny that there had been a connection she had never felt before.

‘I know he feels bad about that,' Star said.

‘Hmm, it might just be best if we stay away from each other,' Iris said.

She really didn't need any complications. She intended to keep to herself, do her time and get out as soon as it was safe to do so. Obviously she wanted to explore her new home but she wasn't going to get roped in to doing flower-arranging at the village fete or making cakes for her neighbours or whatever else a village of witches got up to. She'd always been better off on her own. Her classmates growing up, even her boyfriends when she'd been older, had all been mundanes and she had never been able to truly be herself with them. She'd met a few witches in her time but, as her nan had always told her witches couldn't be trusted, she'd kept her distance from them, despite being half-witch herself.

‘I can't see Lynx agreeing to that. He wanted to come down here to meet you but Wolf talked him out of it.'

Iris wondered what would have happened if he had come down to see her. Would he have kissed her again? No of course not, so why was her stupid heart racing at the idea? He might not even find the real her attractive. She needed to get Lynx out of her head, though that was going to be hard, living in the same place as him.

Suddenly she heard her nan laugh and Iris couldn't help smiling. That was something she very rarely heard. Wolf really did have the charm and unfortunately so did his brother.

Wolf came back to her. ‘Well I'll let you two get settled in. Your road is second on the left, Hazel Lane, number sixteen. When you're ready, and that doesn't have to be today, we'll have a chat about the locket. If we feel you have a legitimate claim to it, of course it will be returned to you.'

‘Just like that?'

Wolf shrugged. ‘We have no reason to keep the locket, the only reason we wanted it was to stop it falling into mundane hands or anyone that might use it for nefarious means. But let's have a chat about it tomorrow.'

He waved his hand and the gate opened wide enough to let the car through.

She nodded. ‘Thank you. Honestly, this means so much.'

Wolf smiled and she got back in her car and drove through, feeling a huge sense of relief as the gates closed behind her.

She glanced over at her nan who had a smile on her face.

‘Your attitude has changed.'

‘That Wolf seems like a nice man.'

Iris smiled and shook her head as she drove towards the centre of the village. It was time to get a look at her new home.