Chapter 23

I was near the door so I could watch Stan and also keep an eye out for Anissa's arrival but Connor arrived first. The diner wasn't far away; he'd either heard some commotion or Sidnee had called him when she couldn't get through to me. My money was on Sidnee.

He saw me and relief washed over his face. ‘You're okay?' He scanned me over.

‘Peachy,' I promised with a thumbs-up.

‘Where is he?' he asked.

I pointed inside and Connor took a step toward the door. I put my hand on his arm. ‘He's unconscious now. We don't want to wake him until Anissa gets here.'

‘Has Anissa prepared the cure already?' He sounded impressed.

At that moment, my mum jogged up the street, tottering on her heels. She believed a fit body equalled a fit mind and she often used the gym equipment at home, but even so I was impressed. ‘Elizabeth! Are you okay?' she panted. ‘What is going on? Connor said something about an out-of-control bear?'

‘He's not a bear; he's a polar bear shifter. It's Stan, the shifter leader who was cursed at dinner. He's in there, so stand away from the door.' I made sure she was behind the wall.

‘Anything else we need to know?' Connor asked.

‘He's destroyed the office like a tornado. And,' I hesitated, ‘his eyes are red.'

Connor grimaced. ‘Never a good sign.'

He wasn't wrong. Luckily, Anissa arrived only a minute after Mum and Connor. However, I couldn't let her go in until I was sure Stan was staying down. It wouldn't be cool if our shaman got eaten. ‘What do you want us to do?' I asked her when she joined us.

Anissa had a large bag over her shoulder stuffed full of items. She looked tired. ‘I need him calm and still long enough for me to complete the ritual, and I have to get some of this potion into him.'

We looked at each other: no one wanted to volunteer to plug the bear's nose and chuck a potion down his throat.

‘I could restrain him with magic, but I can't do that and the ritual at the same time,' she continued. ‘We need some powerful magic users to hold him still. He won't last long if he's burning through his reserves this fast.'

A frisson of fear ran through me. I couldn't let Stan die: he was a sort of son to Gunnar and a sort of brother to Sidnee. He was the shifter leader and, for all his goofiness, he was my friend.

‘He's passed out right now. Do you think he'll stay down?' Connor asked.

Anissa shook her head. ‘I don't know. I wouldn't have thought he'd have the strength to break the stasis, shift and run through town – but he did. We're lucky he came here without hurting anyone or causing any damage.' She hadn't seen the office yet.

‘I can hold him,' Mum volunteered.

I looked at her in surprise. ‘You can?'

‘Darling, I'm the High Priestix of the United Kingdom! Of course I can hold him long enough for your shaman to break the curse.'

Right. High Priestix equalled powerful fire witch. It was hard to build that into my view of my charity-lunching, social-climbing mother. The truth was that all of this was showing me that I didn't know her at all, any more than she knew me.

‘How long can you hold him?' Anissa asked. ‘I need at least half an hour.' She didn't seem to doubt my mum's witchy powers, which settled my nerves a bit.

Mum nodded briskly. ‘I can do that.'

‘What if he wakes up and fights your bindings?' Connor asked, frowning.

‘I can handle it,' she said calmly. ‘Trust me. But let's get a move on. It will be easier if we do it while he's unconscious.' She was right.

As we moved into the office, I stifled a curse. My trusty bin lid hadn't struck hard enough because the bear was awake.