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Blackbeard raised his hand to shield his eyes; he didn’t know the liquid was barely lukewarm When he realised he’d been fooled, he snarled and abandoned his bid to kill Eve in favour of facing this new threat Me
He swiped the blade forward Surprise, surprise, I wasn’t fast enough to dodge it and it sliced through my arm I cried out involuntarily Blackbeard’s eyes widened as he recognised me A small, dull voice nibbled at the back of my mind: use this, Ivy You can use this
I threwonto my knees in front of him ‘I’ic at all!’
Blackbeard paused, the knife held aloft He frowned atto decide what to do Then he lowered his arlanced around Eve was out cold and the crèche witches had vanished To all intents and purposes, it was just him and me
‘You ht not be a witch,’ he spat, ‘but you sleep itches You are here itches As a collaborator, you are as bad as they are Worse even’
‘It’s not my fault,’ I babbled ‘I’m not smart I don’t have any special skills I’ around witches would make my life better Instead it’s much, much worse Now I’rabbed hold of his trouser legs ‘You can help me’
He kicked ’
‘I’m not!’ I held up my hands ‘My ID is in my pocket’ I pulled it out and tossed it over to him ‘See?’ I said ‘I’m a taxi driver I’m like you I’m not a witch, I don’t want to be a witch I think they bewitched me because they wanted a chauffeur I’m no other use to them But…’ my voice dropped ‘…I think they want to use ic stuff They want s’
When it ca, Blackbeard was a clever man but even clever men have blind spots Prejudice can blind even the sainst witches All I needed was to cast soain some time
He shook his large head ‘I’ the truth’
‘You know I’m not a witch,’ I pleaded ‘You know from my ID that I’m just a taxi driver I don’t knohat else I can do to prove that I’m not like them’
‘Tough I’ve already let you escape once I was kind then but I can’t afford to be kind now You had your chance’
I sagged ‘Fine,’ I whispered ‘In truth, anything will be better than re here with these bastards But … are we the same? Do we hate the thee I was already defeated; I was already prepared to die
‘All witches are evil All witches are unnatural’ Blackbeard said the words as if by rote He’d been taught to believe this More fool him
‘Why did you kill the coven?’ I asked ‘Why not coht here first? Raphael, the witch I ith on Dartmoor? He learned about you because you destroyed that coven Without their deaths, no one would have known you existed Why them?’
He gave me a blank look ‘They were there and I needed the practice I had to know if I was capable of murder Not everyone is’ He rubbed his ear where Eve had bitten it, then pulled his hands away and gazed at the blood as if seeing it for the first tiht it would be I knew that having ended them, I could end anyone’ He raised his , as if surprised by himself and his ability to kill, in the same way that I would be surprised if I discovered soed underneath a sofa cushion ‘How did the witch find out about them anyway?’
Ah ha Maybe I’d piqued his curiosity A glie this properly; I had to give a good enough answer to keep hi The closer I stayed to the truth, the ic I think…’ I hesitated ‘I think he’s been talking to corpses and they talk back’
‘Unnatural,’ Blackbeard muttered
Tell me about it ‘Why didn’t you just burn all their bodies at once? Why not get rid of theo?’