Mathilda, SuperWitch (33 page)

When I reached him, I threw my arms around him and gave him a happy shake. Then I grabbed his face, kissed his left cheek, his right cheek and then right smack on the lips. His arms started to slide around me when I felt Ash’s hand curl into the waistband of my jeans and he pulled me back.

Not very far back since, due to the crush, there wasn’t far to go.

So there we were, me caught in the middle of an Aidan-Ash Gorgeous Hunk Sandwich while they did another of their testosterone-induced staring matches.

I sighed.

“Are we gonna get donuts or what? I’m starved,” I blurted to interrupt the contest and so I could get my dang donut.

“No,” Ash said.

Um.

What?

“What do you mean, ‘no’? These are Krispie Kremes!” I gestured to the hundreds of donuts traversing the conveyor belt, floating through the vat of hot fat and being swathed by a solid sheet of liquefied sugar. “I am a lonesome traveler far from home and this is the food of my people!”

I stopped the drama queen tantrum as Ash turned me around and steered me out while Aidan followed us.

No Krispie Kremes.

No reciprocal hug from Aidan.

Not even a moment at the Lalique counter (just to look).

Cruel, cruel world.

I slumped down the pavement through the throngs, dragged along by Ash pulling me by the hand, my disappointment huge that I was turned away from a hot-out-of-the fat glazed donut and probably toward a fry-up or worse, some health-food crapola.

Ack!

As I passed, I stared dejectedly into shop windows that I would normally have been noting for future after-breakfast shopping reference.

And then I saw it.

Oh… my… goddess!

I stopped dead (so dead, Ash stopped with me) and pressed my face against the window.

There, in front of me, were rows and rows of mouth-watering pastries: mini-tiramisus, éclairs, thick cream slices, shiny, sugar-glazed fruit tarts, Danishes galore, cakes with fancy, fanned sheets of chocolate that were utter works of art.

And, the most beautiful of all: custard filled donuts that were the size of my hand.

Do not mistake me, not my palm,
my hand
, from the tip of my middle finger to my wrist and then some.

I pressed my nose against the glass hoping it would absorb me so I could fall, face first, into the cream, the chocolate, the…

“Matty?” It was Aidan.

“Here, here, I wanna eat breakfast here,” I breathed and pointed at the display.

“We are… come inside so we can get a table.”

Patisserie Valerie.

The new love of my life.

I wanted to buy a house across the street so when I wasn’t eating there, I could stare at the windows with binoculars.

A short wait and we were at a table (or, more to the point, a table that both Ash and Aidan found acceptable).

Ash sat with his back against one wall, Aidan with is back against the other wall and I faced them.

All I can say is, thank the goddess we didn’t live in the Wild West or these two would have gunned each other down in the street long ago.

Okay then.

Coffee.

Check.

Big-ass custard donut.

Check.

There I was, me and my boys and the promise of a huge donut.

Yay!

And.

Ack!

Mm, not the greatest conversationalists, these two.

“Okay,” I started. “So… bombs?”

Ash gazed at me, Aidan watched, I waited.

This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Obviously, they were trying to take you two out,” I noted. “Why would they do that?”

“What makes you think they wanted to take us out?” Ash asked.

“
I had a vision… you were coming one way, Aidan the other and… then… er,
kablam!
”

“
They weren’t trying to take us out. They were trying to take
you
out.” Ash, as usual not sugar-coating it, explained.

Um.

“Me?”

Ack!

“What else would you do after having that vision but run to try to save us and then, there you’d be…” Aidan broke in then trailed off.

“You and the bomb,” Ash finished.

Holy fucking shit.

Holy… fucking…
shit!

“But you two –” I started.

“Just motivation to get you there,” Aidan explained.

“And, undoubtedly, a bonus,” Ash finished.

Holy fucking shit.

I wanted to cry but it was too late, the coffee and donuts arrived.

Well, not donuts per se as Ash had a salmon and cream cheese bagel and Aidan had eggs, bacon and toast. I was the only who ordered a donut.

“So, they aren’t after Josie? They’re after me?” I asked then I asked more, “I thought Josie and Rory were the targets… why were they after me?”

“With you out of the way, Josie won’t be a problem,” Aidan explained.

“
And, Mathilda, you’re
always
the target,” Ash added.

Great. I had, in fact, forgotten that part.

I thought back to crazy Josie who was at her wits end, screaming at Rory, seriously underweight and nearly poisoned by the time I came on the scene.

This was ruining the enjoyment of my donut and that was pissing me off.

“What the hell does she do that it’s worth blowing up a fricking street and anyone on it?”

Silence.

Okay, I’d had enough. I mean, bombs were exploding.

“Oh for goddess’s sake! Just tell me. I’m tired of this secret prophesies crap. What am I risking my ass, not to mention your asses for here? Hunh?”

More silence.

“
Dammit!
”

Okay, I shouted, and maybe that isn’t the thing to do in Patisserie Valerie as the trendy Londoners (because, make no mistake, this was
not
a tourist trap) started to stare… but tell me, what would you do?

Bombs… were… exploding.

Aidan was the first to speak.

“Josie will one day be Prime Minister. She’ll introduce radical and extremely controversial reforms that will shake up industries, economies, entire nations. These reforms will be social, educational and environmental. These reforms will make the rich less rich and will, most frightening to some, work.”

Whoa.

Hold on.

Our Josie?

Angry at trash collectors one day and Robin Hood in Parliament the next?

Aidan went on, “Other countries will adopt these reforms, more people will work, more people will go to school, they’ll have more, starve less and be healthy. The earth will begin to heal itself. Josephine McShane is going to change the world.”

Whoa, part deux.

“Fuckin’ A Bubba,” I muttered.

Sorry, but that was all I could think to say.

“Indeed.” Aidan smiled at me. “She’ll also be the first leader to recognize the magical and supernatural world in any official public capacity. She’ll guide the two worlds into living together in peace.”

“Go, Josie, go Josie,” I cheered, my donut was looking good again so I took a big bite.

Please note: this was not a custard donut. This donut was stuffed with crème patisserie. This donut was
divine
. There were probably entire populations on earth that would worship this donut. I knew this for a fact because I was considering being the founding member of the cult.

“That will be after the war, of course,” Ash interjected breaking my donut reverie.

I choked on cream and dough.

“Uh, wha’?” I said with my mouth full.

Silence again before Aidan broke it.

“The thing is,” Aidan explained, “we’re headed to war. Man and witch, mostly, but the sides are blurred.”

Man oh man. I swallowed passed the lump in my throat.

Then I asked, “Why are we here, in London? It has to be safer at home.”

“You’re safe with me,” Ash said. “And I’d been called to London. So you had to come to London.”

“I would have been safe at The Gables.”

Ash just looked at me.

“There are protection spells… an entire coven with loads of magic,” I reminded him.

“I made a vow to keep you alive and I’m going to do that the way I think it should be done. So you’re to stay with me.”

He said it like that was it.

No discussion.

I had no choice in the matter.

I opened my mouth to say something but Aidan interjected.

“The Directors and Elders wanted to see both Wilding and I, we had to come to London. Things have changed, Matty.”

I stopped glaring at Ash and glanced at Aidan. “What things?”

“The Directors and Elders have made an alliance. Controversial but suffice it to say that, right now, the alliance is to be represented through Wilding and myself. We’re working together now.”

Holy fucking shit.

No way.

I did not think this meant good things for me.

“Working together on what?” I asked.

“On you,” Ash answered.

Ack!

Ackity ack ack.

Holy Three-Way, Batman!

“Just a second here… what does that mean ‘on me’?”

Ash again answered, “Protecting you, guarding you, helping you… whatever it takes to keep you safe and let you do your work.”

I looked at one and then the other.

The world was already changing and I was in the eye of the storm.

“Uh, this is kind of big news isn’t it? Isn’t the Institute Switzerland?” I said to Aidan.

“What?” Aidan asked.

“As in neutral, non-committal, all that?”

“Not anymore, Mathilda,” Ash answered.

“I can’t believe –” I started.

“Enough talk, eat. We’ve got work to do.” Of course, that was Ash.

“What work?”

“
Eat, we’ll fill you in while we work.” Ash, being bossy,
again
.

“Aidan?” I asked.

I’m not beneath playing one against the other, especially when I’m being bossed around.

“Just finish your breakfast, Matty. We’ve got a busy day,” Aidan sighed.

Fucking men.

* * * * *

In the taxi to wherever-we-were-going, my mobile rang.

It was Josie.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Kind of,” she replied.

“Was anyone hurt?”

“No, thank God,” she answered and went on, “The police are here to talk to you.”

Wonderful.

“Well, I’m in London,” I told her.

“I know that, they know that, they don’t like that. When will you be home?”

“Just a sec.” I looked at Aidan. “When will I be home?”

“Soon,” he said.

That helps.

“Soon,” I said to Josie.

“I don’t think ‘soon’ is the answer they’re looking for but leave it to me.”

She disconnected and I flipped the phone shut.

I wasn’t going to save the world.

Josie was.

Wow.

Try to get your head around that.

Then my mobile rang again.

It was Nerissa.

“Hey Miss Rissa,” I answered.

“Hello Mathilda, my dear, I’m sorry to say but the police are here for you.”

Good goddess and all things leafy and flowery.

“I know, tell them I’m in London and I’ll be home soon.”

“One other thing, there’s a woman here who says she paid for a donut and she’s not leaving until she gets it.”

Oh for crap’s sake.

“Tell her I’ll be home soon too.”

“All right, dear, take care.”

The “take care” was loaded. Poor Nerissa, dealing with blue-haired old ladies and men in blue while bombs exploded in the street.

Good to know, though, that the bomb didn’t drive customers away.

But, it was England and they’d had nearly seventy years of bombs exploding.

It was the “Never Mind Mentality” in action.

You know: “The pipes have burst.” English person response: “Yes? Oh well then, never mind.”

And: “The roof has caved in.” English person Response: “Really? Never mind.”