Cadenbury Town Does Halloween (Cadenbury Town #7)

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

A lfred tried to be grumpy for the rest of the afternoon, but he kept forgetting and we’d laugh and joke and then he’d scowl at me.

Adhan came in to pick me up and the annoying puppy tattled on me and told him Justice’s revenge.

He just smiled at me and said, “Well we do have a lot of moments. We’ll survive whatever he does and you can always get them back.”

“A moment's war, I like it and on that happy note we’re off,” I say grinning at Alfred, repeating Justice’s words, and taking my coat off the coat stand, I slip it on and walk around the counter.

“Now wait, we should talk about this,” Alfred protested. “Daddy you wouldn’t,” the puppy says, pulling out puppy eyes.

Adhan grins at him. “Yep, I most certainly would. Come, sweetheart, let's go home.”

We leave the shop laughing at Alfred.

“I thought we could walk home,” Adhan says, taking my hand and linking our fingers together.

I sigh happily. “Good idea. How did you get on showing the brothers around?”

“They love the house. I still think they have some reservations about the town and being surrounded by so many light witches, but hopefully, we can show them that light witches can be trusted. Enoch’s a little chatterbox, he uses his arms a lot when he’s talking.”

I laugh. “He did earlier when he was telling me about the bear Sly made. Did you talk to them about tonight?”

Adhan nods. “I did. I reassured the younger two that they would be perfectly safe at our house. I also invited them all around for dinner.”

“I wondered why they hadn’t come back into the shop, they said they would.”

“I told them I would let you know. I can’t believe you squirted Alfred and Justice,” he says grinning at me.

I laugh. “I had to cool them down. Justice and I will do the haunted walk tonight. He threatened me with killer ghosts. I threatened him with bats.”

“At least the public will have fun watching that,” Adhan replied grinning.

“Me too.” Have I ever mentioned I love playing with magic?

It doesn’t take us long to get home and walk into the kitchen to see almost everyone is home and the brothers have arrived.

I look towards Enoch and Xander to see how they are doing, but they are happily chatting with Temp, Cassie and Sion. Sly and Ebby are sat at the table talking with the others.

“Hey family, friends,” I say as we enter.

We get greetings from everyone and a smile and wave from Enoch.

“Boys, dinner is ready, can you set the table, please? Xander, Enoch, join your brothers at the table.” Emily says.

“We can help,” Sly says standing up.

Emily shakes her head. “The boys will do it, but thank you.”

Adhan touches his shoulder. “There’s enough of us to get it done quickly.”

Sly nods and sits back down, just as Nix, Cam and Nora walk in.

Nora sits at the table while Nix and Cam help us set the table and start bringing food over.

In no time at all the table is full of food and as we sit Sal and Justice arrive.

“Evening,” they both say.

They get a round of ‘ hellos’ and sit down. Sal kissing Jude hello, before taking Connie out of his arms and chatting to her, sitting her on his lap.

Food gets passed around and there is happy chatter around the table.

“How was the second viewing?” Cam asks the brothers.

“Even better than the first one. We had more time to look around and the house hugged us again,” Xander tells us before the others can say anything.

“It is the perfect house, but there are things we need to discuss before we can make a firm decision,” Ebby replies.

“That’s okay, take as long as you need to decide, and if you decide against it, that’s completely fine,” Adhan tells them.

“Enoch, do you want to come and see the injured animals tomorrow? Elaine and I are busy in the morning, but we’ll be at her house all afternoon. I promise Elaine is lovely, but I’ll be there to protect you the whole time,” Temp says, giving him a gentle smile.

Enoch looks at Ebby and Sly.

“I can come with you as well if you want,” Ebby offers.

Enoch turns back to look at Temp. “Do you mind?”

Temp shakes his head. “I don’t mind, neither will Elaine,” he looked at Ebby. “I’ll get your mobile number later and we can arrange everything.”

“Thank you for understanding,” Ebby says to him.

“Seriously think nothing of it. You don’t know the town or us, it’s all good.” Temp assures him.

Ebby nods.

“How are you feeling Nora?” Justice asks her.

“Okay. Nix gave me the tablets and I slept like a lot, but my bad head is almost better,” she replies.

Justice nods. “Good, your colour is looking better as well.”

“Temp and Elaine gave Nora some healing this morning,” Nix told him.

“Good. I’ll give you some later as well.”

Xander looks confused. “Can you not fix her up properly?”

“We could, but a lot of people saw Nora get injured. We’ll make sure she heals up quickly, but it will still take a few weeks.” Justice replies.

We finish eating and the table is cleared in a matter of moments and cake and coffee is brought to the table.

“The plan for tonight is that all you witches are out and about tonight. Ernest and Justice are covering the haunted walk. Nix and Sal will cover the fair. Temp and Titus will cover the house. Sly, Ebby, where do you want to cover?” Adhan asks.

“We can do a general walk around the whole area if you want,” Ebby says.

“Perfect, thank you. Brothers, we’ll be out and about in wolf form for the haunted walk and normally for the fair and house. Cam, Sion, Cassie, can you stay here with Mum and the children?”

“We can do that,” Cassie says.

“Is that okay with you two?” Cam asks Enoch and Xander.

They both nod.

Cam grins. “Good, we’ll load up films and pump you full of E numbers, then send you back to your brothers.”

“Yay,” the brothers say, grinning at Ebby.

“Tomorrow is pure healthy food,” he tells them.

I laugh as the smile falls off their faces.

“Alright people, let's head out,” Adhan says.

We arrive at the Haunted Farm and split up with Justice and I going to the Haunted Walk.

I notice all the scarecrows are back in place, this time minus weapons.

“Do you really think the dark witches will hit the walk again tonight?” I ask Justice.

“I would. I mean who would think that they would hit it a second evening in a row.”

“True. Let’s send our magic out to see if it can find anything,” I suggest.

Justice nods and I see both our magic going off to do its thing.

“So, you know Sly?” I ask him.

“Knew. I met him a few times when I was still with my biologicals. He looks the same, just older.”

“What was his family like?” I enquire because I want to know.

Justice grimaces. “Not quite as bad as mine, but nearly so.”

“Well, thankfully the town is protected. I think we are as well.”

Justice stops walking and looks at me. “What do you mean?”

“Sly managed to blow both Sal and me off our feet, and by blow I mean, blew breath. Our protection didn’t stop it.”

“I don’t think any of us thought of including wind.”

“And it’s all about being specific,” I say with a groan and start walking.

Justice nods. “We can add that to the family protection and the town witches next time we see them.”

“We can,” I reply.

As we’re talking we are walking along the path and I spy the straw bear and walk over to look at it. “It really is a good bear.”

Justice nods looking it over. “The detail on it is amazing.”

I see our magic coming back and we both hold our hands out to see what it found.

“Dark magic is wrapped around the apple tree,” Justice says.

“It is,” I say, as we hear yelps of pain coming from further up the path.

We hurry along the path to the apple tree and are instantly pelted with apples. Rock hard apples. We’re being hit over and over, as are a few teenagers trying to get past the tree to safety.

I throw my magic out to stop the tree, but nothing happens.

I see Justice trying to wrap the tree with magic. My magic joins his and after a few moments, the tree is surrounded by our magic, it’s limbs frozen, the apples now staying on the branches.

Justice runs to the other side to check on those hit by the rock apples.

I join them.

“Is anyone injured?” he asks looking at the walkers.

“That was awesome,” a young man said. “Last night we were attacked by killer scarecrows, this evening killer apples. I can’t wait and see what happens tomorrow.”

“Try the haunted house tomorrow, you might get a surprise there as well,” I suggest.

“This Haunted Farm is awesome, so much better than the normal haunted house,” another one said.

They all pull out scorecards and give it tens.

We burst out laughing.

“Hey look, is that a leprechaun?” and with that the four young men run off after Shamus.

I look at Justice and grin. “Least they’re not put off by these incidents.”

Justice laughs. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone happy to be hit with rocks.”

I laugh. “Let’s see if we can undo that magic, shall we?”

We both turn and look at the tree.

“Gather your magic and I’ll gather mine and throw it at the tree, that should shatter the magic,” I say.

“It should, on the count of three,” Justice replies.

I pull my magic close. “One.”

“Two,” Justice says.

“Throw,” I say, flinging my magic out.

I see Justice do the same and the dark magic shatters.

“Nice,” Justice says. “That should do the trick.”

I make an apple hit Justice, it splats on his chest before sliding down his jumper and hitting the ground.

I snort out a laugh before I yell, as I’m hit with a barrage of apples. I hold my arms up to cover my face as Justice laughs like a loon.

“Sorry Pops, but it had to be done,” he says, still laughing at me.

I lower my arms and shake my head at him. “So mean.”

“But fun,” he replies.

I call forth a lot of bats and have them swarming around him. I laugh as he tries to bat them away. I finally take pity on him and call them off. “Now that was fun.”

Justice laughs.

I look to the waterfall and see two people dressed as merfolk, laughing and splashing their tails. I look and see there are already coins in the bottom. I wave to them, and we carry on walking.

“What I want to know is, how is this dark magic getting in? I mean the town is protected. This space is protected.”

Justice stops and looks at me. “No idea, but we can try and find out.”

We carry on walking and I’m suddenly hit with the perfect idea.

“I see you plotting something. What are you planning?” Justice asks, looking cautious.

“I was thinking how amazing it would be if we all dressed as proper witches and cackled around a cauldron. We could make a warming soup or something,” I tell him.

“We don’t need to dress like proper witches, we are proper witches,” he points out.

“Alright then, Halloween witches. It will be fun,” I say, loving the idea more and more.

“For whom? Pretty sure you’d be the only one wanting to dress up.”

I suddenly burst out laughing. “Titus can dress up as the Scarlet Witch, Temp as Winifred, they already have the outfits. I need to find outfits for the rest of us.”

I see Justice on his phone and glare at him. “You didn’t!?”

My phone starts pinging with messages and I pull it out to have a look. Sure enough, Justice sent a message in our witches' chat about the costumes.

Cassie and Sion are the only two so far who are up for it, the others are a big fat no. I bet I could get Ebby and Sly to agree.

We walk further through the forest. Wolf Kean and Jude are running around and having fun playing. They run around and between us.

“Having fun?” Justice asks them.

They both stop a little away from us and nod.

He clicks his fingers, and a stick appears in his hand, he throws it into the trees. “Fetch,” he says grinning at them.

The brothers glare at him and start running for him.

Justice laughs and runs off through the trees, the brothers chasing him.

Shamus steps out of the trees, his crock of gold in one hand, a staff in the other.

“Having fun?” I ask him, smiling.

“I am actually. This is much more fun than just a haunted house. Plus, no-one’s caught me yet.”

“What will happen if someone does?” I ask curious.

“No idea. I’ll think of something though. Looks like the brothers have stopped chasing the doctor,” he says nodding to the side.

I see a grinning, rumpled Justice walking back with the brothers by his side. I notice something behind one of them. Is that seriously a zombie? “Guys, lookout,” I call out as another comes into view.

They stop and spin around as Shamus and I rush over to them.

“They were holograms,” Shamus tells us.

“Like the headless horseman,” Justice says.

I hear a yelp from behind. “Justice, Jude, Kean deal with them. I’ll go and see what that yelp was about.”

“I’ll come with you,” Shamus says as we run off in the direction of the yelp.

I skid to a halt when I see more zombies and are they vampires converging on some walkers?

I throw my magic out to stop them. My magic hits them, it slows them down but doesn’t stop them.

“Shamus, can you get the walkers out of here?” I ask him.

He nods. “Leave it with me, you focus on them.”

“Thanks,” I say.

“Catch me if you can,” Shamus calls out. He points his staff and golden sparkles shoot out.

The walkers laugh and run off after him. Which is all well and good for them, but now I have zombies and vampires to deal with all on my own.

I flick my magic out hoping to blow them up. Nothing happens. I send my magic out to the other witches, hoping that someone is free and can come and help.

The zombies I can ignore for a moment as they are walking slowly and some in circles, it’s the vampires I need to watch out for. I call on bright light balls and send them the vampires’ way, hoping that would do something. I mean vampires and light don’t mix right?

It seems to slow them down but doesn’t do anything.

These vampires are in human form with sharp looking teeth and long talons for fingers. Some are flying and some walking towards me.

I hear a noise behind me but before I can spin round, I hear a growl. I know that growl. I turn and see wolf Adhan jump a vampire who was creeping up behind me.

Wolf Adhan slashes the vampire and it vanishes.

“Thanks, babe,” I say quickly sending magic out to injure the closest vampire. I use a slashing motion and the vampire vanishes.

I still ignore the zombies and concentrate on the other vampires. Slashing out at each of them with my magic as they fly around us. Between wolf Adhan and me we destroy all the vampires.

I turn to look at the zombies to start work on them and burst out laughing. They appear to be walking on treadmills.

I look around to see who helped and spy Ebby and Sly just to the side of me. “Nice,” I say waving my hand towards the zombies.

Sly laughed. “I saw it in a meme once and wondered if it would work.”

Just then we hear running footsteps and Justice and Temp come rushing over, Jude and Kean with them.

Temp bursts out laughing when he sees the zombies on treadmills. “Nice, I wish I’d thought of that.”

I feel the air shimmer and Adhan shifts. I click my fingers and clothe him.

“Thanks, babe,” I say, taking his hand. “You came just in time.”

“I was talking with Ebby, Sly and Temp when they felt your magic’s call. Temp went off to help Justice and we came this way.”

Elliot comes walking through the trees, laughing as he passes the zombies. “You should keep them on the treadmills. I take it, this was your idea Sly?”

Sly nodded. “Yep.”

“This is so going on the website,” Temp says happily.

“Did you battle vampires as well?” I ask him and Justice.

The smile falls off Temp’s face. “You had vampires as well?”

I laugh. “Yep, and Shamus helped, he got the walkers to follow him to safety.”

“He’s drowning his sorrows with my mother at the moment. He was caught,” Elliot tells us, shaking his head.

“Oh dear,” I say.

“I got side-tracked today, I need to catch up with Molly and Cleo and see what was decided,” Adhan says

While he is talking, I drop his hand and walk towards the zombies. I know we stopped the vampires, but would they really have hurt anyone? I wonder if the zombies would really eat anyone, or are they just holograms?

I walk to the nearest one and stop at his side. I poke it with my finger and my finger goes through it. I try and touch it with my hand and my hand goes through it as well. I turn to look at the others. “I think the zombies are still holograms.”

I start walking back to the others when I feel something slam into me from behind and with a startled yelp I fall to the ground, something heavy on top of me.

I see Adhan quickly shift and he and his brothers run towards me.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, the other hand yanks my head to the side and I feel something biting into my neck.

There is magic heading my way, but Adhan reaches me first and jumps, and whatever was pinning me down is now gone. I hear a tearing sound and growls.

“Everyone down,” Sly yells, and I watch those I can see drop to the ground as Sly sends his magic out. I hear a boom and look towards the zombies and they have all gone.

I flop my head down onto the ground and groan before I move my hand to my neck. I lift my head and look at my hand, it’s covered in blood.

Suddenly Adhan is kneeling beside me, helping me sit up. Someone clicks their fingers and Adhan is again clothed. I lean into his side.

Justice and Temp drop down next to me. Ebby, Sly and Elliot are kneeling close. Kean and Jude still in wolf form, are standing guard.

“Please tell me a zombie didn’t just chomp me,” I say generally.

“Yeah, it did, Pops. We need to get you back to the manor and sorted out,” Justice said, looking at the bite mark. He clicks his fingers and covers my bite with a pad and uses tape to secure it in place.

“How could a hologram chomp me?” I ask. “My hand went through him.”

“Dark magic. When I destroyed the zombies, I broke all other dark magic left in this forest,” Sly tells us.

Adhan looks at him. “Thank you. Can you stand sweetheart?” Adhan asks me gently.

“I can,” I say moving and Ebby and Sly help me up.

“Shall we go to Winchester?” Ebby says grinning.

“We should..,” I start to say when a thought hits me. “Wait, am I about to turn into a zombie?”

Silence suddenly descends as everyone looks at me.

“Temp, call Molly, Elaine and the other witchlings back. Have everyone meet at the manor,” Adhan practically orders.

I was joking about the zombie thing and maybe it’s all in my head, but suddenly I don’t feel so good.

“Ernest ..,” I hear Ebby say to me.

I think I answer, but I’m honestly not sure. I think I turn towards Adhan, but everything goes black.