Mathilda, SuperWitch (48 page)

My magic!

Gabriel was beside me, his hand behind me…

…
slipping me my wand!

Agatha turned dismissively from Althea and nodded to a couple henchmen who’d trained guns on Althea and Josie.

“You can kill them now,” then she looked at me, “but leave that one for the sacrifice.”

“
No!”
I screamed, pulled out my wand and I zapped a killer flash of electric blue, hot pink and sliver magic that hit Agatha Darling slap in the middle of her chest, blew her straight into the air and twenty feet away… to the very edge of The Tor.

Just as Althea lifted her wand straight to the sky and shot an enormous lime green spark that exploded in a mushroom of blue and green pixie dust that covered the entire Tor.

* * * * *

That’s when it happened.

That’s when it really began.

The Supernatural War.

There hadn’t been one since recorded time.

And it started that night… on The Tor.

* * * * *

The atmosphere exploded in a dazzling and fiery array as Althea’s spell broke the magical cloak mere moments before the Modernists flooded the top of The Tor.

There was confusion amongst the Traditionalists; The Chosen One still had her power as did the already stripped Edwards Oracle.

Surprise gave the Modernists the upper hand.

Witches, vampires, sorceresses, wizards, banshees and unicorns flooded the scene.

Faeries flew in, zipping this way and that, flashing white, salmon, pistachio and lemon zaps everywhere.

Vermillion, sunset orange, grass green, bruised peach, Prussian blue, crocus purple – you name it, you saw it – every color known to human and not-so-humankind flooded the arena in flashes and jolts.

There were shouts, screams, stamping, flying… utter mayhem.

“See you later,” Gabriel said to Ash.

Then Gabriel grabbed my head roughly, kissed me on the top of my hair (!!!!) and then he jumped over us, landed by Josie and picked her up, jumped again and disappeared over the side of The Tor.

“Get them!” Agatha shouted in her best Cruella DeVille impersonation, pointing at where Gabriel and Josie disappeared.

She was not bored anymore.

She turned to me, wand raised.

But before she could get off a single zing, her wand exploded in a blaze of lilac, powder blue, butter yellow, gold, scarlet and copper – a spell simultaneously cast from the Triumvirate of Mavis, Mom and Gran.

“Let’s go.” Ash took me by the arm, pulled me from the altar and we ran.

I zapped the offending “human sacrifice” goblin (who was about to hurl a ball of flame at Ash and me) and then I constructed a shield of sparkling pixie dust that twirled unceasingly around Ash and I. It deflected the spells of two witches and a sorcerer.

We just about made it to the edge of The Tor when I heard Althea shout, “Girl! Watch out!”

I turned in time to see Althea throw herself in front of Ash and I, just as Addison’s bat swooped low and transformed.

And then the fuckity, fuck, fucking bullet fired at close range hit Althea and ripped straight through her then lodged into Addison who simply (being undead and it not being a silver bullet or piercing his heart) leapt away, transforming into a bat again.

I didn’t scream.

I also didn’t hesitate.

I just lifted my wand and zapped the gunman (who was now aiming at us) so violently that he flew through the air and over the side of The Tor.

(I didn’t notice that this dramatic event was helped a tiny bit by the bullet that came from Ash’s gun.)

I ran to Althea and dropped down to my knees at her side.

“Althea!” I cried as I watched the dark stain spreading across the excruciatingly ugly, pilled oatmeal of her jumper (if I told her once, I told her a million times, she should wear jewel tones). I looked up at Ash. “We have to get her to the hospital.”

Althea grabbed my hand. “No, this is my death.”

She said it in a quiet, calm voice and I watched the magical explosions that were filling the air above us reflected in her eyes.

I barely noticed the turquoise, sage green, grape and bronze shield that Viv and Su generated over us.

“Matty, sweetheart, we have to go,” Ash said quietly, gently but urgently.

I ignored him and spoke to Althea. “Althea, I can get you down with a levitation spell then we’ll get you to the hospital.”

She weakly shook her head against the grass. “I’ve seen enough in my visions, girl, to know my own death. Follow your man.”

“Althea.”

“Go, child. It was always my destiny. The Chosen One would give me back my most precious gift so I could die with dignity. Then I would help her with her work. Destiny.”

“Destiny, shmestiny,” I said.

She laughed an icky, shuttering cackle and blood trickled out of her mouth.

Oh goddess!

“Althea!” I exclaimed.

She clutched my hand. “It was an honor to die for you, girl.” She looked at Ash then whispered to me, “Choose well, sweet child, and remember to be true only to you.”

And that was it.

Then she died.

She didn’t close her eyes serenely but the light went out of them all the same.

My stomach clutched and my throat closed.

“We have to go.” Ash was firmly but gently trying to pull me up.

“I can’t leave her here!” I cried, struggling against his efforts.

“You won’t,” Ash whispered.

And I didn’t.

All Obi-Wan Kenobi (save with a shitload of lime green and robin’s egg blue sparks, flashes and pixie dust), Althea disappeared, her beautiful sparks, flashes and pixie dust scattering to the stars, the earth and the wind.

Until nothing remained of her but a soft blue twinkle that seemed to wink at me before it flashed out.

In the midst of battle, it was a beautiful thing to behold.

“Now!” Ash yelled, pulling me up and we were gone.

* * * * *

The fight was in full swing on top of The Tor, down its sides and in the skies above it.

Witches were zapping witches.

Vampire bats swooping down and transforming into men, flipping their capes and flashing their teeth.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Lucy kick a baddie in the crotch then link her hands together and nail him one in the face as he bent forward in pain.

“You go girl!” I shouted.

I saw Prunella, the Hag, blaze one of the witches who escorted me to the bathroom.

I saw Mavis and Endora in what looked like a battle to the death, wands slicing through the air, pixie dust shooting out like lasers, shields erecting then exploding.

Ash led, running swiftly, leaping with agility over holes or mounds or prone supernatural beings all the while holding my hand.

I followed, tripping and skipping, zinging and flaring with my wand here and there to protect Ash and I and to help any of our allies that I could see.

BecBec zoomed in, trailing us, zipping away in a flash to trip up a baddie or deflect a spell.

Chaos.

* * * * *

The whole thing was pretty mind-blowing if you got right down to it.

And kinda all my fault.

It appeared that Ash and I were running
away
from the action rather than participating
in
it which didn’t sit well with me.

It wasn’t lost on me that a whole lotta people went out of their way to keep me safe and alive.

And two of them had just put themselves in front of a bullet for me.

I was The Chosen One, SuperWitch and Glamour Girl.

And I wasn’t just gonna run away.

* * * * *

I skidded to a halt and pulled free of Ash.

“What the fuck are you doing!” he snapped, urgency in his voice.

I put my wand to my lips and winked.

He raised his face to the heavens and said, “Oh for fuck’s sake.”

(Not sure which deity would appreciate
that
prayer.)

Then I took three deep breaths.

I turned around three times and stopped at North.

I said out loud to my tree, “Okay, tree. Here goes nothing!”

And I… let…
fly
.

A soft pink laser of pixie dust shot out of my wand, winding swiftly and fully around The Tor looking like the strawberry swirl on a lollipop.

I saw an offshoot of the pink beam strike out, wrap itself around Endora’s ankle and knock her off balance so that she dropped her wand and Mavis leapt forward to grab it.

I saw another beam shoot around the waist of the bathroom witch so she was tugged backward, whatever spell she’d thrown going off its mark and missing Prunella.

I saw up above a vampire sliding down the beam like he was surfing a wave, leaping off in a double somersault and landing behind a troll who was about to bring his hammer onto the horn of a unicorn. The vampire kicked the troll in the back of the knee. The troll went down. The unicorn leapt forward, magic surging from its still healthy horn. The vampire transformed into a bat and flew away.

(Don’t be too impressed, vampires are known to be show-offs.)

Everywhere my beam touched you could hear screams, cries or cheers.

It was just my little bit.

I put my hand out to Ash and he was watching me with what looked like pride gleaming in his eye (Yes! Pride!).

My fingers closed around his then I declared, “Okay,
now
we can go.”

* * * * *

We made it to the bottom of the hill though I didn’t see it as I was looking behind me to watch my twirly spell. I kept on going after Ash stopped and ran smack into something solid.

I took a good look at the something solid.

Aidan.

Ohmygoddess!

Yay!

Yay!

Yay!

I shouted for joy and jumped on him, flinging my arms and legs around him and kissing him all over his face.

He gave me a tight squeeze then gently lowered me to the ground, kissing me on the tip of my nose.

It was his turn to hold my hand.

“You ready?” he said to Ash.

“Yes, let’s go,” Ash replied, not looking at me but behind us, still holding his gun.

“If I could have just one moment.”

Jeremy Bligh
and
Scary Faerie appeared from nowhere out of the night and was Bligh who was talking.

They had to have had a glamour to shield them because none of us had seen them.

Fucking Agatha.

Bligh was holding a gun pointed at me.

Ash raised his gun and pointed it at Bligh.

Aidan raised
his
(!) gun and pointed it at the Scary Faerie.

I raised my wand and pointed it generally in the direction of the baddies.

But the Faerie was holding an orb o’ magic that was much like my orb o’ magic but I think all of us standing there knew the difference.

Which meant that BecBec was forced to build an orb of her own.

Holy Mutually-Assured Destruction, Batman!

Yikes!

* * * * *

By the way, faeries may be small but they’d been here far longer than humans, their magic was far older and far,
far
more powerful.

So much so, they were not allowed to use their magic near to its full potential in the human realm (only in the faerie realm). If they did, there could be pretty fucking serious consequences when they answered to their higher powers.

One zing from Scary Faerie and we were all toast (and so was half of Glastonbury).

A reciprocal zing from BecBec, even as a young faerie, and there was a good possibility The Tor
and
most of Somerset would explode.

Fuck.

* * * * *

Just then, there was a strange but definite rumble in the ground.

What now?

* * * * *

Bligh was too intent on aiming to notice the rumble and I felt it best, for once, to keep my mouth shut.

I noticed both Aidan and Ash were steady but Bligh was shaking and looked nervous.

Cocky but nervous.

I didn’t like nervous. In moments like that, nervous was not good.