A Little Touch of Magic | The Callers #1

Chapter Sixteen

'You can't seriously expect me to convince him,' I said. It was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. 'He gave me up!'

The sad look that came over Mr Ravencroft's eyes told me there was something he wasn't tell me. I narrowed my eyes but didn't say anything else. I didn't want to push it because they all had a nasty habit of going quiet when I tried to push things too early. Instead, I decided to take a different tactic.

'How will I even know who he is?' I asked, twisting the hem of my tshirt between my fingers. 'I've never met the man.'

'Here,' Mr Ravencroft said, picking up a book from the small table beside him. 'His picture is in here.'

I took the book carefully, like I was holding something precious. I was about to see a picture of my father. My actual, biological father. I opened it to the first page and almost dropped it.

'No,' I said in a harsh whisper.

'What? What's wrong?' Peter asked, hurrying across the room to us.

Mr Ravencroft gave me a questioning glance and took the book from my hands.

'Is that him?' I asked, not looking at the book.

'Yes,' Mr Ravencroft said. 'Is something wrong?'

'Wrong?' I almost laughed at the absurdity of his question. 'There's no way he's going to join our side again.'

'You can't know that for sure,' Mr Ravencroft replied, tucking the book back into its place on the table.

I knew. I wasn't sure how to phrase it though. The man I had seen lurking in the gardens of the Home for so long. The one who had told me he had no need for me. How could my own father say something like that to me? Or perhaps he didn't recognise me. There was always that. Perhaps I had been taken away before he ever got the chance to see me. I shook the thoughts away. I didn't even know why I was trying to cling to the thought that he might want me. The man was the stuff of nightmares, and he literally gave them to me using that dust.

'He's Mr Shadow,' I said flatly.

A dark cloud passed over Mr Ravencroft's face. I wondered what he was thinking about. Mr Shadow may have been my father by blood, but the things he had said to me meant there was no chance he would ever want to be my father by choice. He didn't want me. It was as simple as that. I tried not to feel too hurt about it. He was preying on my friends at the Home and I had managed to stop him, every time. There was no way I was going to let him continue to scare them, or myself. I was going to confront him, the same way I had that day back in the woods, and I was going to make him tell me why he had done it.

'We'll think of something,' Mr Ravencroft said. 'I still think you can persuade him.'

I snorted and crossed my arms. He might think that - wish that - but I wanted nothing to do with the man after he'd told me what I wanted to know. He was a traitor who didn't deserve a second chance as far as I was concerned.

'Ilaina,' Mr Ravencroft said, fixing his gaze on me. 'Promise me, you'll try.'

I sighed. 'Alright, fine. I promise.'

An explosion sounded overhead, the floor beneath our feet shaking. I didn't know who to look at for comfort as they all dashed around the room collecting supplies and shouting instructions to each other. I stayed out of their way, letting them work.

Mr Ravencroft had the screens flickering to different parts of the house, but he finally found them.

'They're trying to break into the vault,' he shouted.

'Is that bad?' I asked, looking around for someone who could answer.

'They won't get in,' Connor said, squeezing my shoulder as he passed me. 'The place is called the vault for a reason.'

I felt myself relax when he winked and moved away. Despite being trapped in an underground room, I started to feel normal again. I watched Mr Ravencroft fiddle with buttons on the console in front of him. Fires flared to life in front of the men on the screens, fireworks bursting into life and things clattering around. I didn't understand how he could control all of that from the buttons in front of him, but it was rather amusing to watch the men on the screen dance around trying to avoid being lit on fire.

'They won't get in here, right?' I asked when one of the men started smashing furniture in the room he was in. I could see the rage on his face even from the distance.

'Don't worry, child,' Mr Ravencroft said, pushing a few more buttons. 'They're tried this before and they will try it again, but they always leave with their tails between their legs.'

I turned back to the screens and watched as the group became more agitated as they were hindered by more of Mr Ravencroft's tricks. They didn't seem to want to leave to me. All I could think about was how trapped we were in that room. Those men didn't have to leave, they could sit and wait for us to starve. Food supplies don't last forever, even I knew that.

'They'll leave,' Peter said, pulling me away from the screens. 'It might not be for a while yet, but they will.'

'How can you be so sure?' I asked.

They were all far too calm for what was happening. My insides were churning and I just wanted to run away, be somewhere safe like the Home.

'Just have faith, kid,' Peter said. 'We know what we're talking about.'

I nodded and he left me to my own devices again. I sat down on one of the cot beds and watched them shout orders to each other and push buttons. They knew what they were doing. They would keep me safe.

But I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if they didn't.

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