Chapter One
The smell of sizzling meat drifted through Avery and Alex’s walled garden, and their guests chatted and laughed as they filled their plates with the food spread out on the patio table.
It was a Saturday night in early June, and they had gathered to celebrate Cassie, Dylan, and Ben finishing their post-grad studies, and Dan completing his master’s degree. The White Haven witches, plus Newton, Sally, and Shadow were there too, the drinks were flowing, and the weather was balmy.
Reuben was wearing his loudest pink Hawaiian shirt that clashed with his yellow board shorts, and despite the fact that his clothes were partially covered by an apron stuffed with barbeque tools, Avery still winced when she looked at him.
“Who wants more sausages?” he asked, as he placed another dozen on a plate and ferried it to the large wooden table, setting them down next to some steaks and chicken wings.
“Good grief, Reuben! Are you trying to fatten us up?” Cassie asked.
“Don’t complain!” Dylan said, already leaning forward to top his plate up. “This is brilliant! You’re doing a great job!”
Reuben grinned and pulled up a chair. “I aim to please. Besides, it’s the least I can do, since I’ll eat most of it.”
Alex raised his beer bottle. “Cheers, Reuben. Saves me some work, seeing as I’ve been slaving away all afternoon!”
Avery just looked at him, knowing he’d spent a couple of hours on the preparations, at most. “Exaggerator! Besides, you were enjoying yourself. I could hear music blasting!”
“It’s still work, Ave!” Alex leaned over and kissed her cheek, looking very smug, and eased back in his seat again. “So now that your studies are over, what’s the plan?”
Ben groaned. “A couple of weeks off would be nice. I’m knackered!”
“I wish,” Dan said, laughing. “Avery is a hard task master.”
“I’m not,” she said, mock-outraged. “I’m very generous! If you want a holiday, just say so!”
He winked. “I’m kidding! But maybe in early July, before the school hols begin and the place is inundated with hoards of kids.”
“Yeah, I might need some time off for the school holidays,” Sally said. She raised an eyebrow at Dan. “Are you going away with Caroline?” She was referring to Dan’s girlfriend of only a few weeks.
Dan winced. “Maybe? It might be too soon.”
“Why didn’t you bring her tonight?” Shadow asked, finishing her conversation with El. They had been leaning close in an animated exchange, and Avery wondered what they had been talking about. “I was hoping to meet her!”
“That’s precisely why I didn’t bring her. The poor woman would have been interrogated by all of you! Besides, I haven’t shared some of the more interesting things about you yet, so I wasn’t sure it would be wise.”
Briar laughed. “Did you think we’d get a bit witchy and start casting spells? We’re very discreet, you know!”
Dan gave Shadow a knowing look. “It was more Shadow’s habit of pulling a knife at any minute that had me worried.”
Shadow looked affronted. “I don’t attack people at random!”
“But you do carry weapons—always!” Dan pointed out. “Regular people don’t do that.”
She shrugged, a mischievous glint in her eye, and a ripple of glamour made her hair shimmer. “I like to be prepared. Besides, they’re hidden, most of the time.”
“That’s worse,” Briar said. “You whip them out of thin air. It’s so unnerving!”
Newton just shook his head. He was sitting next to Briar, and Avery was pleased to see their old friendship had resumed. “Twelve months ago I can honestly say I didn’t think I’d be sitting at a barbeque with five witches, one fey, and three paranormal investigators.” He shot Sally and Dan a grateful look. “Thanks for being normal!”
“I hate to break it to you, Newton,” Sally said, smiling, “but seeing as you’re the head of paranormal investigations for the Devon and Cornwall Police, you’re not that normal anymore.”
“Yeah, well, I keep trying to forget about that.” He looked at Shadow. “Your friend, Maggie Milne, has phoned a couple of times.”
Shadow looked suspicious. “Maggie is not my friend! Was she asking about me or the boys?” By ‘boys’ she meant the Nephilim—and they were far from boys.
“No, don’t worry. Whatever you’ve been up to lately seems to have escaped her. Although, she did mention something about a missing necromancer.”
Shadow shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. “He’s dead, not missing, and we reported that.”
“Dead?” Avery asked, shocked. “A necromancer? Did one of his demons kill him?”
Shadow looked up at the darkening sky where the faint pinpricks of stars were already appearing, and grimaced. When she looked at Avery again her eyes were wide. “It’s sort of complicated—but essentially, it was a test of sorts and he failed.”
Avery crossed her arms, sensing more to this story than Shadow was sharing. “Ah! That’s the thing you needed Alex and El for, in the Mendips!”
She nodded. “We were on the trail of an unusual tomb. He was the competition.”
Cassie leaned forward, intrigued. “What sort of tomb?”
Alex gave a short laugh. “They were hunting for angels.”
“Angels?” Cassie’s face filled with disbelief. “I know we’ve been busy swotting, but how did that happen?”
“Long story,” Shadow explained, “to do with lost maps and weird visions, and Harlan’s boss.” By now, the clusters of separate conversations had dwindled as everyone looked at Shadow, and she appeared uncomfortable as everyone watched her. “What? The necromancer’s death had nothing to do with me! But, there are many, many occult organisations out there.” She gestured wildly. “Far more than I thought. No wonder Maggie is kept busy in London. You’ve got it easy here, Newton.” She took a slug of her beer as she watched his reaction.
“Depends on your definition of busy,” Newton said, caustically. “But Inez’s brother-in-law works with Maggie, so I know what you mean. Besides, Maggie has a bigger team than me. She certainly needs it.”
Shadow nodded. “I remember him. He took my statement.”
Ben, Dylan, and Cassie glanced at each other, clearly baffled, and Ben said, “I feel we have some catching up to do!”
“So, now that you’re going full-time with the business,” Reuben said to them, “what are you going to call yourselves?”
Cassie groaned. “Don’t ask. We can’t decide. Ben wants to keep it simple, but I think it should have more of a ring to it!”
Ben glared at her. “We don’t want to put people off by having them think we’re fruit loops! We need to sound professional.”
“But we don’t want to sound boring!” Dylan put in.
Reuben laughed. “Is Ghostbusters too obvious?”
El rolled her eyes. “Yes!”
“I thought you had a name?” Avery asked, confused. “You set up last year, didn’t you?”
Dylan shrugged. “Sort of. We capitalised on the Walk of the Spirits,” he said, referring to Samhain. “But we still didn’t really name ourselves, and of course now we have to for what is essentially our re-launch.”
“Are you still based out of your flat?” Alex asked. Ben and Dylan were renting together in Falmouth, and they had moved all of their equipment there the previous year when they could no longer use the university campus.
Dylan nodded. “Yep. I think we need to clean it up over the next couple of weeks, sort out an office for clients.”
Cassie sniggered. “And maybe just stop living in squalor?”
“It’s not squalor!” Ben said, crossly. “It’s just slightly messy!”
“Yeah right,” Cassie said, shooting Avery an amused look.
Avery laughed. “So, you’re still living with your friends in Harbour Village, Cassie?”
“Yep. They’ve got local jobs, so that works out for me.”
Briar sipped her wine and said, “I can give you some hours in my shop again, if you need extra money.”
“Cheers, I might take you up on that,” Cassie said gratefully. “I take it things have settled down here after all the excitement of Beltane?”
The witches glanced at each other, relieved, as Alex said, “Yes, fortunately. The Goddess seems to have gone, and we’re just left with the Green Man doing his usual thing.”
Dylan topped up his plate and asked, “What do you consider usual?”
“I guess my definition would be that he’s a regular presence now,” Briar explained. “I feel him all the time, especially in all the green spaces, and particularly in Ravens’ Wood. Although, thankfully, that place doesn’t feel anywhere near as weird as it did on Beltane.” She turned to Shadow. “I keep meaning to ask—did you go that night?”
Shadow looked wistful as she turned her beer glass in her hand. “I did…on my own. It was both amazing and heart-breaking.”
“What else did we miss?” Ben asked, confused.
“The Otherworld was allowed through—but I couldn’t cross.” Shadow shrugged, frustrated. “It was a taste of home. But, I can’t complain. This is home now. It’s different, but it’s fun.” She grinned mischievously and winked. “Very fun.”
“Don’t tell me anything else,” Newton warned her as he put his empty plate on the table. “The less I know, the better.”
Shadow had a fixed smile on her face. “You really need to learn to trust me!”
“No, I really don’t.” Newton’s phone started to ring, and he groaned. “Damn it. Excuse me.”
He stood and walked to the far side of the garden, and Avery watched him with a sinking feeling. He’d said he was off that night, but she knew that meant nothing. If something really odd happened, he could get a call. With luck, this call wouldn’t be the police.
They all fell into an easy conversation while Newton was absent, and Avery started to stack the plates. It was fully dark now, and the fairy lights that were strung around the trees and the candles she’d placed in lanterns gave them enough light to chat by. Reuben had lit the fire in the small brazier at the centre of the gravelled area, and Alex added some logs, sending the flames flaring. They all rearranged their chairs as they topped up drinks, and settled themselves closer to the fire.
“What will you do for the Litha celebrations?” Cassie asked, as she took a sip of her wine.
El spoke up first. “We’re celebrating with the coven at Rasmus’s place in Newquay.” She looked a bit guilty. “We sort of blew them off for Beltane.”
“Yeah,” Briar grimaced. “We should keep our coven happy. Besides, it was fun with them at Imbolc.”
“As long as I don’t have to run around a circle with a broom,” Reuben complained.
Avery was so busy laughing at her memory of Reuben holding a besom broom she almost didn’t notice the faint shimmer of movement at the edge of the seating area. She turned to look at it, wondering if she’d had too much wine, and with horror realised the disturbance in the air was expanding.
“Shit!” she shouted. “Something’s coming!”
She dropped the plates on the table and raised her hands, summoning her magic, and heard the clatter of chairs as the others turned to look.
Alex started to speak. “Avery, what are—”
A wave of power flashed out from the centre of the disturbance, and something flew at her.
Avery sent a blast of air ripping through whatever was manifesting, and the window in her shed beyond smashed with its impact. But whatever it was counterattacked, knocking Avery off her feet.
With lightning-quick reflexes, she threw air around her, cushioning the impact so that she floated rather than crashed into the ground, and simultaneously heard a disembodied shout. A shower of coins rocketed towards her, bouncing off Avery’s protection and ricocheting across the garden, and then a face emerged in the darkness.
Helena.
