Mathilda, SuperWitch (Mathilda's Book of Shadows #1)(49)

With the wand, came a cord – a long, electrical cord.

“One more moment of your time,” Dr. Bennett said and then bent again, rose with some difficulty and then threaded a long cord through the arm of his coat. It ended in a plug.

All of this, he handed to Ash.

“In her tête-à-tête with Miss Honeycutt, Mrs. Darling had a little manmade magical assistance,” Dr. Bennett declared.

Everyone was stunned speechless, except Ash.

“How did Seymour get this wand?”

“We are trained watchers, Mr. Wilding. There isn’t much we don’t see. Even, perhaps especially, what we aren’t supposed to see. Dr. Seymour noticed that she hid it before disappearing. No doubt she didn’t want to be seen unplugging it or the like. Dr. Seymour went back to get it before she could return to do so.”

“Agatha Darling harnessed electricity in that… thing… and used it on another witch?” Myra asked in a hushed and disgusted tone.

“Yes,” Ash answered.

“Damn tootin’,” I muttered.

Now everyone in the room looked horrified and offended.

Except me, I was thrilled Darling didn’t have the power to strike me with lightning.

The bitch cheated.

I hadn’t.

Woo hoo!

That means I kicked magical ass!

“Well, my work here is done,” Dr. Bennett declared and started to the door.

I decided to walk him out, it was the least I could do after my rude greeting. I mean, he did come all the way out here in the middle of the night to present evidence on my behalf, evidence that showed I kicked magical ass!

And, (bonus) I could find out how Aidan was doing.

“Sorry to be… well, I wasn’t expecting to see you,” I told him as we made our way to the front door.

“Please, don’t worry, Miss Honeycutt. Your attitude is not a surprise. You’re in quite a predicament.”

Mm.

He could say that again.

“How’s Aidan?” I asked.

“He’s well.”

“Where is Aidan?”

“Family commitments he couldn’t avoid.” Dr. Bennett stopped, paused, sighed and looked at me (this all took a lot of time). Then he said, “Although, you must know, he very much wished to be here.”

Oh Aidan.

What on earth was I going to do about him?

He kept looking at me for awhile – always spooky watching, these watchers. Then he shook his head and started on his slow path to the front door.

Outside was a Rolls Royce with a man standing beside it staring up at The Gables wearing night vision goggles.

What the hell?

These guys were freaks.

“What’s he doing?”

Dr. Bennett stopped and looked this way then that.

“Always strange goings-on at The Honeycutt Gables,” he paused, “always.”

Er, what? Strange goings-on? Baking cookies? Eating Indian takeaway while watching a Coen Brothers marathon? Those weren’t strange (to me, of course, they could be strange to an old dude, I was thinking the Coen Brothers were probably not big with old dudes).

Still, minus the serious magical force (natural anyway), it was (relatively) wholesome (not counting Su’s criminal tendencies and my lusting after every gorgeous male in the South West (and, er, the South East) and Gran’s possible political extremism.

Okay, so not wholesome but still, not strange either.

There was no way around it; Dr. Bennett was the King Freak. How Aidan got caught up with these guys, I would never know.

The other dude opened the backdoor of the Rolls.

“Wait.” I put my hand on the doctor’s arm. “What’s going to happen to Aidan?”

Again, Dr. Bennett looked at me for awhile before he spoke.

“Miss Honeycutt, we are not unaware of what The Prophesies say about you and Dr. Seymour. It isn’t as if we didn’t have several centuries of forewarning that a member of The Institute would become, let’s say, involved with a witch.”

“What does that mean, ‘involved’?”

Dr. Bennett shook his head again then patted my arm, not unkindly.

“No, no, my dear. Let’s just see how it all turns out, shall we?”

Fuck!

He kept speaking. “Needless to say, we can’t punish Dr. Seymour for doing what he’s destined to do. I, er… that is, we, the Directors, need to minimize the tumult it will cause. Now,” he said when I started to say something else, “you take care, Miss Honeycutt. Keep sharp. Study. Read. I daresay we at The Institute would like to see many Valentine’s Day tins of cookies coming our way.”

Wow.

That was a nice thing to say.

He may be strange but maybe he was a cool strange.

And then he was off.

And I was left wondering – again. Wonder, wonder, wonder.

Must say, I’m beginning to get sick of wondering. In fact, I wonder if I should bother wondering anymore and just let it all happen. Since it is all gonna happen anyway – why not stop wondering and just…

I stopped wondering about stopping wondering when:

A bat.

A big, huge, shiny, scary bat flew through the clearing, following the Rolls down the driveway.

How is that for weird?