Mathilda, SuperWitch (Mathilda's Book of Shadows #1)(80)

Ambrose?

Then he said, “I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.”

“Wait!” I stopped him and jumped off the bed, completely forgetting my scary sleeping attire. “What did you find out tonight? Anything?”

“Only that Jeremy Bligh has apparently dropped off the face of the earth.”

“Shit.”

“You can say that again.”

“Shit.”

“Nice outfit.” He smiled, stepping back to take a good look at me.

“Shit,” I said it with real feeling that time. “Anything else?” I asked.

“Just that he may be with Darling, so much for him wanting to keep the traditional watcher-witch distance.”

Hmm.

“We forgot Jack,” I told him.

“We didn’t forget Jack. Wilding and I went back to London, tracked him down. The bomb was imported. Not a local job.”

“So Jack used his twenty-four hours wisely.”

Aidan shook his head.

“Hardly. Let’s just say Wilding can be,” Aidan pulled a hand through his hair and finished, “persuasive.”

Ack!

He grabbed me by the neck, pulled me forward and kissed my nose. “I have to go find somewhere to sleep. I’m shattered.”

“Wait!” I said again.

Aidan hesitated.

I kept talking. “I have to ask you a couple of things. I know you’re tired but… I don’t know when I’ll have time alone with you again.”

That got his attention.

* * * * *

Okay, so I was going to share some the things that kept me awake at night.

Might as well, right?

Nothing to lose, right?

Ding ding ding… wrong answer!

Believe me, ignorance, my Book of Shadows, is bliss.

* * * * *

He studied me for a bit then walked into the room, sat on the edge of the bed and looked at me.

“Shoot,” he said.

Here goes…

“Okay,” I hopped on the bed next to him and sat cross-legged, “you’re the Mathilda Expert, yes?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve read The Prophesies, yes?”

“Yes.”

“So, way back, when you were telling me who you were, you didn’t know Josie. That’s bugged me for awhile. If you know The Prophesies, why didn’t you know Josie when you met her at the plumbers?”

“I study Mathilda, not her Spellbounds.”

“So?”

“I’m interested in you, Matty, only you, not your Spellbounds. And anyway, they’re rarely named, only described. I knew there was someone in town you’d bind yourself to but I didn’t exactly care who.”

“Oh.”

Well, that explained that.

And was kinda nice.

Interested in me and only me and all that.

“Is that it?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He nodded and then made to get up.

“No,” I amended.

He sat back down with a sigh.

Oh man, was I gonna do what I thought I was gonna do?

Yeah, I was.

“Aidan.”

He looked at me and then must have seen something in my face because he looked less tired, more concerned and leaned closer. “Yes?”

“Um, Althea Appleton told me… well, uh, she told me that, uh… Ash is a traitor.”

He stared at me, all tiredness gone.

Then he pushed off the bed.

I thought, He’s going say yes, if he was going to say no he would have said no already so he’s going say yes.

Oh no. Oh no. I shouldn’t have asked.

How could I even trust Aidan to answer me? They’re at war or whatever.

“Don’t!” I shouted, “Don’t answer that! I don’t want to know.”

“This is a bit… complicated, Matty.”

Ack!

Complicated?

He said no more.

Okay, I was getting annoyed.

Okay, no, I was getting more than annoyed.

So, more than annoyed, I started to have a tantrum. “Why do they keep everything from me? Why? I don’t get it.” I slammed my fists into the bedclothes. “I know it sounds stupid but it’s… not… fair!”

Aidan walked to the window and looked out.

I wasn’t particularly fond of this response.

Therefore, I kept with my tantrum. “I’m a grown woman! I can handle it!”

Well, I couldn’t actually. But I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“There’s a reason, Matty,” he finally said.

“Whatever it is, it’s stupid,” I declared.

“No, actually, it isn’t,” he said and I shut up. “You know the vision you had where Wilding and I were caught in the bomb?”

“Of course.”

Like I’d ever forget.

“Well, that wasn’t planted in your head, that was a real vision. That was meant to happen. You changed the future. It’s part of your powers, part of being The Chosen One.”

Whoa!

“Really?” I said to his back.

“Yes, really.” He sighed and turned to me. “If it wasn’t, Josie would be dead by now. Poisoned. That’s the point. By saving Josie, in a way, you saved the world.”