The enormous, heavy doors at the entrance of the cathedral burst open; the noise and sudden movement causing people to turn with shallow gasps. The candlelight in the large hall quivered and shrank away from the sudden, uninvited arrival of the outside storm.
Marley realised what they were witnessing before anyone else. For, standing in the entranceway was someone he had only ever heard stories about. Terrible stories.
She stood with a man who was gaunt and frightening, a man who made no attempts to hide the dark magic that so obviously resided in him.
When she smiled, Marley could see people in the rows closest to her smiling back and he knew the room was a barrel of powder merely awaiting a lit match.
“Good evening,” she said, her voice causing physical reactions from almost every person in the great hall. “Sorry I’m late.”
Porta. Portia had come to Edinburgh. A flame ready to burn everything down.
Marley was about to move when he felt someone grab his arm and haul him behind a pillar.
Freddy Melville. His cousin’s Siren friend. The boy he had seen sitting in the crowd.
“Are you a part of this?” Marley hissed, feeling indignant and scared all at once.
“No,” Freddy murmured, glancing out at the congregation and its newest arrival. “But I had a suspicion.”
“What do we do?”
“We get you out of here. Leanna and Cassandra are waiting outside.”
Marley’s mother and his aunt. Two of Edinburgh’s witches. The former mildly gifted with healing magic and the latter a rather fearsome commander of fire.
Then there was Aunt Opal. The most powerful witch Edinburgh had seen for some time. And his cousin Ramya was now Opal’s apprentice. She was the chosen one, Marley thought to himself. He was just the one who ran around behind her. Ramya could see through Glamour. Ramya could command water. Ramya could fly.
All Marley could do was stand by her side and be impressed by all of it.
There was no other reason for Portia’s arrival. She was clearly there for his cousin. His gifted cousin who would grow to be one of the most powerful witches of Scotland. And, thereby, was a threat to Portia and other supernatural creatures who wanted to overpower the Hidden Folk.
Marley’s eyes narrowed as he peered at the Siren boy. He was far more reluctant to trust Freddy than Ramya was.
“We need to sneak out the back,” Freddy said, ripping his eyes from Portia to direct Marley towards the exit behind them. Marley swallowed and started to crawl, careful to remain hidden from Portia, her henchmen and the rest of the congregation. He felt guilt and worry for all those innocent people fill him up, as he dragged himself to the door.
He knew what it felt like, to be under a Siren’s spell. He would not wish it on anyone.
As he reached the heavy wooden door, he realised Freddy was not beside him. He glanced back and froze. The other boy stood in the heart of the cathedral, staring down the other Siren with a defiance that made Marley feel ashamed. He slipped out of the door and dashed, slipping as his harried feet met the wet stone of the city.
Then he saw them. His mother and aunt, gesturing frantically from his aunt’s sophisticated car. He bolted for them, flying into the backseat with the speed of a bullet.
“Freddy’s still inside,” he panted, putting his seatbelt on without thinking and pressing his nose against the car window.
“He’s staying behind, sweets,” Leanna said softly.
Marley’s head snapped around to stare at the two witches. “What?”
His Aunt Cassandra was already driving, causing the car to rip away from the Royal Mile and the noble cathedral that had now fallen to a Siren. Marley bellowed a cry of despair for the Siren friend of his cousin, appalled at the abandonment.
But, a plan was in motion.
Freddy stared back at Portia inside of St. Giles. Two Sirens facing off. while humans watched on in fear and confusion.
“Ramya and Opal are gone,” he told her flatly. “But they will soon know that you’re here.”
Portia smiled and it was clearly not what Freddy had been expecting, as it knocked what little triumph he had been feeling clean out of him.
“Fabulous,” she said smoothly. “I’m relying on it.”
Then she opened her mouth and sang. So rich and compelling was the song, that all the humans were helpless.
The golden key around her neck caught the light, flashing showily as the city fell under a Siren’s spell.
Chapter One
The Oak Tree
I can see that the tree has moved. It’s a little closer to the house than it was yesterday.
“Ramya? Ramya!”
I know Gran is asking me something. Or telling me something. Yet I cannot stop staring at the tree. Pondering how it could possibly have moved since last night. It’s an oak tree and I noticed it when Mum and Dad first dropped me off here. Mum said it wasn’t there when she and her sisters were younger. Even Gran had seemed a bit puzzled by it.
“Ramya, stop daydreaming for five seconds and try the spell again.”
I’m sitting at the eating nook in Gran’s large kitchen. There’s an AGA stove and a large fireplace. I know what I’m supposed to be doing, but I’m not Mum. I’m not so good at fire.
Gran is pretending to be preoccupied with her mortar and pestle, getting the seasoning ready for dinner, but I can tell by the way her shoulders sit that she is concentrating on what I am about to do.
