“This is so thoughtful of you,” she replies, taking a peek into each of the bags. I think I did well in interpreting her style and sizes, because she looks happy with what I’ve bought. Alvie goes to have a look in one of them, but Rita slaps his hand away. He folds his arms across his chest with a scowl.
Finn is leaning back against the kitchen counter, watching me silently. I shrug out of my coat, and sit down on the stool beside him.
“I had a bit of an eventful night,” I tell him, and I’m not referring to what I did with Ethan when we’d gone back to his house.
He quirks an eyebrow. “Oh yeah, what happened?”
“A few things, but I think the most important piece of information you need to know is that Whitfield seems convinced that his victory is already secured. According to the vampires, Pamphrock’s only a day or two away from surrendering.”
Finn sputters a laugh. “They fucking wish.”
“What’s all this about?” Alvie puts in.
I look to Finn for permission, and when he nods his acquiescence I quickly fill Rita and Alvie in on what I’ve been doing for the DOH, and about how I’ve been trying to find my missing father too. They both appear shocked for a few moments, before accepting the usual drama that normally follows me around like a plague.
I turn back to Finn. “Oh and apparently I’m going to be Ethan’s date to some big party celebrating Whitfield’s accession of the North side of the city.”
Finn stands up straight now. “When is this happening?”
“Not sure, in about two days I’d guess.”
“Did they say anything else about what they’re planning?”
“Nope, but you lot are definitely going to have to up your game. You need to get Rebecca away from Whitfield before he initiates whatever plans he’s got in that old head of his.”
Finn half smiles. “I’m going to call Pamphrock and let him know,” he says, pulling his phone from his pocket and leaving the room.
I drop down into one of the chairs beside Rita, who’s currently looking at me with shrewd, interested eyes. She sniffs ever so slightly, then asks, “Have you been talking to some other witch?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“I can smell magic on you, strong magic too. But it’s not your own, it belongs to somebody else.”
“Perhaps that’s because I held a dying witch in my arms last night.”
Rita’s dark, almost black eyes go wide, so I explain about the one eyed witch who’d come to me last night in the club, telling me she had information about my dad. Then I go on to describe the drama that ensued with the vampires and the car chase that ended with me almost drowning at the bottom of a lake.
“I don’t recognise any of those people by your description, but Gabriel might. He’s had more experience with the magical families than I have.” Rita tells me, after she and Alvie have exclaimed shock and surprise at my account of last night.
“I need to know who they were, they knew who took my dad, and they said some group was trying to use him for a ritual.”
“Sounds a lot like human sacrifice to me,” says Alvie in a quiet voice. “And that kind of magic never accomplishes anything good. We need to get your dad back before they get the chance to perform the ritual.”
Rita nods, and I can see a million different theories as to what these people might be up to flit across her face. “With rituals, normally you need to perform them at a particular time in a particular place. Which is good, because perhaps the time isn’t upon us yet. That gives us the chance to try and stop them from killing your father. The closest big event on the magical calendar is very near though, tomorrow night is the winter solstice. It’s highly probable that’s when they’ll be performing it.”
A brick settles itself at the pit of my stomach at the thoughts of it. I’m going to have to work fast. “What exactly is the winter solstice?” I ask.
“It’s the shortest day and the longest night of the year, it’s often a symbol of new beginnings and rebirth for magical folk.” Rita answers be
fore continuing, “Tegan, do you happen to have anything on you that belonged to your dad?”
I rub my forehead, too much information swirling within my brain. Then I remember. “Yes, I’ve got an old broken watch of his, he gave it to me to play with when I was a kid.”
“That’s perfect,” she exclaims. “I think I might be able to perform a locator spell with it.”
“Are you sure about this, Reet?” asks Alvie warily. “You’ve been under so much stress since the fire, perhaps you should rest for another while before you try any difficult spells.”
Rita scoffs. “I’ll be fine, have I not been taking clients since then anyway? And I healed Finn’s wound perfectly. Besides, the solstice is tomorrow, we don’t have the time to be waiting around.”