A Witch Like No Other (31 page)

“
Why so
late?”

“
Dad’
s home by then,”
Marlon answered for his mother. “We can all have dinner together-
ooh, he
’
s going to love it when he finds out James is
staying.”

“
I’
m going upstairs for a
nap.”

“
Ok.”

“
Now?”

“
Give it
another half hour,” said Cruise, checking himself in the mirror.
The uniform they wore represented an electricity company from
somewhere in the city. Cruise licked his lips, nervous. He was
about to enter the witch’
s
home. He couldn
’
t guarantee they
’
d come out alive. He was
terrified of Agnes and Paul, Dreamer even more. Everyone he knew
had an account at NoNonsense.Com, everyone shared stories about the
sorcerer and sorceress. But with Dreamer, stories were limited. All
they knew was that she came back from the dead. This made her even
more dangerous because nobody knew much about her. She seemed nice
enough on TV, but looks can be deceiving. Everyone read Sergeant
Brown
’
s blog: she
’
d threatened mass murder on a whole prison.

Nobody cared about her children, because they knew their
father was one of them. Normal. That meant the
kids
’
powers were restricted.

“
Ready,
Jules?”

“
Yes
boss.”

“
Ok,
let’
s go.”

“
I’
ll get it,” said
Marlon, as she walked in the living room. James smiled at her as he
got up. Pandora hesitated, then she smiled back.

“
Hello young
man,” Cruise said pleasantly. “We’
re from Vivid Electricity- a company from the city. Perhaps
you
’
ve
heard of us?”

“
No,” shrugged
Marlon, staring down at the toolbox. “Who’
re they?”

“
Electric
company,” Jules said earnestly. “Can we come in?”

“
Dad’
s not home right
now,” Marlon answered, looking at his watch. “Come back in about an
hour, ok?”

Cruise used his foot a wedge, wincing in pain as he said
“We only want to check if everything
’
s in working order, and
you to fill in a survey-”

“
I said
Dad’
s not home,” Marlon
repeated, growing angry. “Move your foot, ok?
There
’
s nobody home!”

“
Come on kid,
be reasonable,” said Cruise desperately. “We’
ll only have to come back from such a long way-
we
’
re
here now.”

Pandora walked into the passageway, saying
“What
’
s wrong, Marlon?”

“
These guys!
They wont let me shut the door.”

“
I’
m calling Mum,” Pandora
answered, going upstairs. “Mum!”

Dreamer
’
s eyes opened at the sound of her
child
’
s voice.

“
Mum,
there’
s these guys at the door
and they wont get lost!”

“
I
don’
t know,” said Pandora,
“But they
’
re trying to come inside!”

“
All right,
I’
m coming.”

Cruise
’
s eyes widened as Pandora came back downstairs,
Dreamer behind her. He couldn
’
t believe it. He was
actually looking at the witch everyone was going mad over. And she
looked so ordinary in those jeans and t-shirt, even if they were
black. Ordinary and beautiful.

“
D-Dreamer
Black,” he stuttered, Jules’
s
mouth hanging open.

“
Can I help
you?” Dreamer asked curiously, and Cruise nodded.

“
We need to
check everything is in working order, Miss. We’
re from an electricity company.”

“
Really,” said
Dreamer coolly, looking at the toolbox Jules was holding.
“Where’
s the base of your
company? Who are you representing?”

“
I- I…” Cruise
swallowed, Marlon glaring at him as he let the door go and stood
behind his mother. Dreamer waited, James coming out of the living
room to join Marlon’
s side.
Cruise cleared his throat.

“
We represent
Vivid Electricity-”

“
Never heard of
you,” Dreamer said breezily, tapping her wand against her thigh
forebodingly. Cruise eyed it warily before he said “And our branch
is in London city.”

“
London city,”
Dreamer repeated evenly. “Why come all the way out here to this
town?”

“
We’
re trying to get other
towns involved in-”

“
There’
s at least three
more towns before this one,” Dreamer cut across. “Did you go to
those before you came to this one?”

“
Uh… your
address was selected especially. Three from each town we pass-
we’
ve got the papers back at
the branch.”

“
You must have
a terrific memory,” Dreamer said icily, making him step backwards
with Jules in alarm. The sudden coldness in her voice frightened
them. Was she going to curse them?

“
Why do you say
that, Miss Black?” Jules said nervously, Dreamer answering “Because
I cant see you remembering over twelve addresses on your way here,
or you knowing exactly where to go each time.”

“
Hey, my wife
and kids and James.”

“
Dad!” said
Marlon and Pandora happily, Marlon saying “Back
already?”

“
The case went
smoothly,” Ted said, smiling broadly at them. “I won.”

“
You always
win,” Pandora said impressively, Ted frowning as he noticed the
expression on Dreamer’
s face,
then the two men.

“
Who’
re you?”

“
Some people
who tried to force their way in,” Dreamer answered, when Cruise and
Jules remained quiet. Ted was no man to mess about with.

Ted
’
s eyes narrowed.
“Force
their way
in?”

“
They
wouldn’
t let me shut the
door,” Marlon said angrily. “This guy-” He pointed at Cruise.
“-stuck his foot in the door so I couldn
’
t close it.”

“
We
didn’
t mean anything by
it-”

“
Ted, go inside
with the rest,” Dreamer said smoothly, and Ted scowled at her. “Go
on, I want to ask them about this company.”

“
Nice try, cop.
You’
re lucky
I
’
m
feeling very mellow today, or I would have turned your friend into
a frog and let you take him to Brown.”

“
Tread
carefully,” Dreamer said quietly, before she closed the
door.

Alice called Pandora happily, asking
“How
’
s
it going?”

“
All right,”
Pandora said carefully. “James is staying over.”

“
Oh,” said
Alice, unable to stop a smile forming. “How come?”

“
Marlon blew
his nose off, and he’
s scared
to stay at home alone.”

“
Marlon
what?”

“
He was messing
about with my wand, and it went off when he pointed it at
James’
face.”

“
You’
re
kidding.”

“
I’
m dead serious- even
Mum was shocked. It looked so cool, though.”

“
Pandora,
you’
re so freaky sometimes. I
swear you
’
re a Goth.”

“
So what if I
am?” Pandora said amusedly. “I wish Mum filmed it- you
should’
ve seen
James
’
face when he tried to feel his nose- hilarious!”

“
Boy,” said
Alice, shaking her head. “You really are weird
sometimes.”

“
I know,” said
Pandora, suddenly wary. “Um… you’
re ok with that?”

“
What?”

“
It’
s just that a lot of
people realise I
’
m weird and then they stay away.”

“
Not me,” said
Alice fiercely. “I like weird.”

“
Promise?”

“
I promise,”
Alice said firmly. “Can I come over?”

“
Tomorrow,”
Pandora said with a small sigh. “I have to deal with James today-
hopefully he’
ll stay out of my
way. He normally picks up Marlon and they go off somewhere- and if
he stays around I
’
m usually gone. The last time he stayed over… I think
I was in Year Seven.”

“
Go do your
stuff,” Alice said, amused. “Hopefully you two go out.”

“
No
way!”

“
Pandora,
you’
ve got a crush on this
guy!”

“
I have not!”
lied Pandora, then she sighed. “Not a giant one anyway.”

“
Talk to him,”
Alice said firmly, stroking Barclays. “Tell me everything when I
come tomorrow, ok?”

“
Ok.”

“
See you
tomorrow, then.”

“
Bye.”

“
Are you ok?”
they whispered, and Pandora turned to look at them.

“
James!” she
hissed. “What are you doing?”

“
I had to see
you,” he whispered back, letting go of her. “And you?”

“
Bathroom,” she
lied, wringing her hands. “Um…”

James raised an eyebrow, whispering “You sure
it
’
s
the bathroom?”

“
What,
then?”

“
I was coming
to watch you sleep.” Heat stung her cheeks as she spoke. “I
didn’
t think
you
’
d
be awake- it
’
s two in the morning.”

“
What
now?”

“
Come in my
room,” Pandora whispered, looking at her parent’
s door, then her brother
’
s.
“They
’
ll hear us out here.”

“
Or I can come
to your room…” she trailed off nervously, for he
hadn’
t reacted to her words.
“Are you ok?”

“
Let’
s go downstairs,”
James said slowly. “We can have a hot drink.”

“
Ok.”

Pandora kept her eyes on the screen, though she hardly saw
a thing. They were watching her grandmother
’
s show. James seemed
calm enough as he drank his hot chocolate, but
Pandora
’
s fidgeting proved she was anything but calm. James sensed
she wasn
’
t used to this kind of thing, not since that jerk Jonathan
anyway.