The Midnight Moon [ONC 2024]

Chapter 13: From Out of the Dark

We all bolted in different directions. Darius slipped away to the building at the bottom of the garden, picking up Tomasina, who had been standing close by, as he went, throwing her over his shoulder. Jack flew up into the apple tree I had climbed earlier, and behind which I decided to conceal myself now. Bella ran off in the direction of The Green, leaping over the garden fence, I saw, just about, by the little light filtering down from the cloud-shrouded moon.

An eerie silence fell over Mistaria Heath's back garden. Minutes passed. Then finally, the sound of footsteps quietly tapping on the path could be made out. Whoever it was, they were moving slowly, in a way that sounded nervous and unsure, rather than with caution, as one might when approaching an enemy.

A moment later the silence was broken.

'Hereward? Where are you? I know you're here. I saw you in my scrying bowl.'

It was Vanteray.

I stepped out from behind the tree, confused, bemused, and completely taken by surprise.

'What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night,' I whispered forcefully.

'I was worried about you,' she said tenderly, as the others left their places of concealment.

Darius, probably using his above average for a werewolf sense of smell, quickly appeared at the side of the fortune teller. 'Vanteray. Long time no see,' I saw his eyes glinting with playfulness in the moonlight and had to swallow a rise in jealousy.

Vanteray offered him her hand, which he duly took and brushed against his lips. She giggled, and looked away coyly. 'My dear darling Darius. So my Hereward came to find you after all. I did not think he would.'

I was not her Hereward, I found myself fuming angrily. And this display between both her and the werewolf gave me an uncomfortable feeling suggesting they were well-acquainted with each other.

I turned away. I was not a jealous man, I told myself, hoping it was true. And then in that moment, I realised I was. Only I wasn't jealous of Darius. I was jealous of the man Annie had left me for. It wasn't until that point in time did I realise it. Why hadn't I fought harder to keep her with me? Would it have made a difference? Would it have been wrong? After all, she had already made up her mind to leave when she finally told me what was going on.

My mind was brought back to the presence as Vanteray stepped in front of me, and placed her hand softly against my cheek.

'I was worried about you,' she said again. 'My heart was troubled.'

'You should have stayed at home, Vanteray. It's dangerous to walk alone through the forest and the town at night. You know that.'

'My Hereward, my protector,' she whispered. 'Do not fear for me. I am here to protect you. At least a little. I have some more information to do with your case on the missing witch.'

'You do? Then let us return to the warmth of the agency, and you can tell us all about it.' I turned to the others. 'Is our work here concluded?'

Everyone said yes, that it was done, apart from Darius. He was now looking at me with a strange look in his eye, a look that flicked from me to Vanteray and back again.

'I'm going to see if I can pick up the trail of the second witch,' he announced. 'They came from somewhere. It would be useful to know in which direction at the very least they returned.'

Bella decided to go with him, on the off-chance the werewolf found something. Then he could continue observing while she came back to fetch Hereward.

'Splitting up should save us some time,' I conceded, though I was not happy about it. What if Darius chose to finish the case on his own? Although we had been getting along the best we ever had, I still couldn't decide if I could trust him or not. Yet there was little to be done about it and the most important thing was that the witch was found and the familiar spell, broken.

We waited as Darius, under the gaze of all those assembled, found what he thought was the second witch's trail and headed off over the garden fence, Bella only a few leaps behind.

A feeling of unease descended over me. Was it working with Darius? The case itself? Or maybe two meetings with Vanteray in one evening after not seeing her for so long? I did not know what was behind it, but I was certain I did not like it. As much as this case intrigued me (and I felt it my duty to find the missing Mistaria), I wouldn't be sad when it was over.

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Chapter word count: 789

Story word count: 15,945