Page 21 of The Book of Unwritten Stories

In the meeting room, there was a long table and sitting behind it were Arnie from the phone shop in Witch City Mall, Pennywise aka Brandon and a grey-haired woman with bright orange lipstick who looked almost as old as the vintage portraits adorning the walls behind her. Dora couldn’t have been more surprised to see Arnie and Brandon.

Arnie grinned at them. ‘Ladies, it’s good to see you.’

‘Where is Lenora?’ asked the woman, cutting to the chase, no smiles or introductions given.

‘In London, she isn’t due back until tomorrow evening, Clara. We didn’t get much notice that we were desperately needed to attend a meeting until you summoned us so abruptly.’

Clara nodded. Her short grey hair and matching grey eyes were iridescent under the light.

‘That’s a fair comment.’

Brandon pointed to some chairs. ‘Please, sit down.’

Sephy sat, Dora followed her aunt.

‘May I enquire just what is the nature of this meeting?’ Sephy’s voice was bold; she wasn’t nervous, unlike Dora whose stomach was churning so fast she felt as if she was going to throw up on the carpet at any moment.

‘An incident involving a certain George Corwin has come to light and something else that we need to discuss, too.’

Brandon, who was still wearing his full Pennywise costume, was hard to look away from; it was the bloodstained, pointed teeth that held Dora’s eyes.

‘It took this long?’ Sephy was incredulous.

Clara nodded. ‘We knew something had happened, there are ripples through the equilibrium when something of that nature happens, though we weren’t sure exactly what. Is it true what the gossips are saying? You summoned Hecate in Howard Street Cemetery, a public space, and she bound Corwin to the light?’

Arnie winked at Dora who had managed to tear her gaze away from Brandon, and she couldn’t help smiling back at him.

‘We did. It was a matter of urgency, he gave us no time to prepare or seek counsel. It was most terrifying and Dora here fought him on her own terms with barely any protection. You know for a fact his sole mission in all his lifetimes is to annihilate the bloodline witches, especially the English women. I do not see us putting an end to him of such a great problem, especially when he was going to do far worse than upset the equilibrium, Clara.’

‘I see, but the fact that you took this upon yourselves and you chose to do this without consulting the council first is unacceptable.’

‘There wasn’t time to call a meeting, it was us or him. This time we chose us and won. Do you truly have a problem with that?’

Arnie was grinning now, and Brandon was nodding his head in agreement with Sephy until Clara turned and gave them both a glaring look that could have turned milk sour. Both sat straighter, no more smiling, their lips now set in tight, straight lines.

‘My problem, or should I say our problem, is that you or your niece had a very public battle using magic in a cemetery of all places with no concern for any innocent person who could have been caught up in the crossfire or indeed the dead that preside there. It was disrespectful and dangerous.’

Dora didn’t like Clara’s attitude. Enough was enough. She leaned towards the woman.

‘Excuse me, I’m standing in front of you, there is no need to talk about me as if I’m an inanimate object. There were no people around living or dead. Corwin had kidnapped my aunt Lenny, and she was being crushed to death under a heavy slab of stone. Were we supposed to come find all three of you and ask your permission to save her life? Because first of all I had no idea there was a council of witches or a code of conduct to adhere to and secondly, I barely even knew that I was a witch. Trust me, no one was more surprised than I was. So, can we chalk it up to inexperience and put all of this behind us? I’m sure there’s no need for everyone to be so upset about it. It’s not as if he was a good guy, I mean he’s killed me so many times I can’t even remember them all I’m so traumatised by him. In fact, while we’re discussing this why did you not drag him in front of you all to answer to you about his questionable morals? He was allowed to cause hurt to innocent people, lifetime after lifetime and bore no consequences for that. It seems to me you’re picking on the wrong people.’

Clara’s eyes narrowed into two slits, and Dora, who had always been good at reading people, knew the woman was furious and stopped herself from saying anything else.

Arnie intervened. ‘Clara, she has a point. Why have we never brought Corwin in to question him or put a stop to his abhorrent behaviour towards women of a witchy disposition?’

Clara snapped her head in his direction. ‘Because he’s not a witch, he does not answer to us, he answers to no one. We have never had control over that man; he has walked his own path for a very long time. Don’t forget I’ve only dealt with him in this life; perhaps blame my ancestors for not leaving enough notes.’

Brandon gave Dora a quick shrug. ‘She is right though, why have we let him get away with persecuting women for so many centuries? What if it was you or your family he was hunting down every lifetime?’

Clara let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Yes, I would want to stop him, but I would have spoken with the council first.’

Arnie shook his head. ‘Look, Clara, what’s done is done. Nobody got hurt except for Corwin, who has been a pain in our ass since the seventeenth century. And you’ve made your point. Can we focus on the other matter then it can all be put to bed and everyone can go home? Brandon hasn’t even had time to take that damn awful make-up off yet.’

The woman nodded. ‘The matter of Corwin is finished. If he rears his ugly head again, next time you must come and speak with us first before doing anything rash. Is that understood?’

Sephy bowed her head and nodded. ‘Yes, Clara, it is fully understood.’ She elbowed Dora gently in the ribs.

‘Yes, we will. Sorry.’