Witch You Weren't Here

by Emma Jackson

Genres: General Fiction; Magical Realism; Witches

Synopsis

'It has everything I love in a romantasy. I absolutely adored it' CARRIE ELKS

'Fun, sweet and sexy' SARAH HAWLEY

'A magical rollercoaster which will charm the hex out of the hardest of hearts' JESSICA THORNE

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One hurricane. Two stranded witches.
Sparks are bound to fly...

Kay knows three things to be true: a witch who cannot control their powers is dangerous, she needs to make it home for her brother's wedding, and Harry Ashworth is the last person she ever wants to see...

But after visiting the witching community's equivalent of IT support to try to fix her misbehaving magic, a hurricane hits and her flight home is cancelled!

Not only is Kay stranded, but she's stranded with Harry - her infuriatingly handsome and charming childhood friend, who broke her heart when they were teenagers.

Except Harry is a frustratingly powerful witch so working together might be their only way to get back home. And the more time they spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore what is simmering under the surface.

Soon it becomes clear that Kay's magic isn't the only thing she doesn't have control of...

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YOUR FAVOURITE AUTHORS LOVE WITCH YOU WEREN'T HERE!

'It cast a spell on me from the first page with its bewitching brew of angst, charm and romance' M.A. KUZNIAR

'As effervescent as an Aperol Spritz' LUNA MCNAMARA

'As warm and gently soothing as a magicked cup of tea - this is the perfect witchy comfort read' LAURA WOOD

(P)2023 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Publisher: Orion

Print pages: 336

Sample

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that when a group of teenage witches are gathered, magical mischief soon follows.

Well, not universally acknowledged, since the existence of magic is a secret to the majority of the human race … but certainly throughout the witching community.

Which was why Kay Hendrix and her two friends, Tina and Jaz, were currently creeping down the corridor at Ashworth Hall, seeking escape from the annual May Day party.

Their families, along with many of the other local witches and non-magical residents of Biddicote, were out, either on the patio or freshly cut lawn, mingling. Staff were offering silver trays full of smoked salmon canapés, rolled up to look like roses, and bite-size vegetable tarts, and topping up their glasses with the dandelion wine, which Mrs Ashworth had made herself, infusing it with optimism and light-heartedness. That touch of magic helped to ensure the party had exactly the right vibe of renewal and positivity to suit the Beltane festival. It was why witches travelled miles to attend any of the festivities at Ashworth Hall – that and its famous legacy.

Ashworth Hall was over three hundred years old, built by legendary witches who layered protective spells over charms, over runes, as they founded the manor and much of the surrounding village. It was a unique community even within the witching world, and one of the only places in the UK where witches could mingle among non-magical neighbours and know that if they had a little slip-up with their magic, it would go unnoticed, dismissed or forgotten.

‘No public displays of magic’ was the second WWT (Worldwide Witches Tenet) and, in general, it wasn’t too hard to obey, but having to repress your natural instincts every day would make any witch frustrated. Kay’s gift had yet to emerge fully, despite puberty being painfully well established, but even with her remedial-level powers, she could appreciate how hard it would be, given that she went to an ordinary secondary school and had to make sure she wasn’t tempted to access her magic around the other students.

But, honestly, who wanted to travel miles away to board at one of the few, tiny secret magical schools? She would have missed her family and her friends. And Biddicote offered enough of a sanctuary to her. Returning to the village after school was like taking off a pair of skinny jeans that she’d nearly outgrown.

The chatter of voices and strains of the string quartet out in the gardens faded further into the background as the teenage witches moved into the oldest part of the huge manor house, the shuffling of their feet absorbed by thick carpets and antique rugs displaying scenes almost like tapestries. Night skies and rituals and runes. Things that non-magical visitors would probably never even look at and notice were supernatural.

Kay was in the lead because her brother, Joe, had told her there was a side door in the East Wing which took you right to the edge of the woodland that made up part of the family estate. You had to go past Mr Ashworth’s study, down a small stairwell, and it brought you into a vestibule with a wooden floor and bare brick walls. Even though Kay had never explored that part of the house – she’d only ever been there for seasonal celebrations, like Samhain, in the gardens or the ballroom – she knew exactly where she needed to go. Sometimes it was very handy that her older brother’s particular gift as a magical influencer gave him the ability to explain things easily to people. Other times it just felt like he was the supernatural embodiment of a mansplainer.

A familiar zing of excitement and fear bubbled up in Kay’s stomach, like a potion brewing in a crock-pot at the family healers. Would she get a gift within the influencer designation like Joe and end up taking after their dad, too? Or would she fall within the empath affinity, like their mum? Or maybe it would end up being something completely different, like an elemental gift. Whatever it was, she hoped it emerged soon.

She turned the next corner and walked straight into a statue of Cernunnos on a plinth, automatically reaching out and grabbing him by the antlers and another of his … protrusions to stop it from toppling off and smashing. She gave a little squeak of horror and hastily pulled her hands away, cheeks flaming, as Tina and Jaz burst into laughter behind her.

‘Shh …’ she tried her best to hush them around her own giggles. ‘We’re almost there.’

Jaz pressed her face into Tina’s back, her shoulders heaving, and Tina clapped her hands over her mouth. Kay plucked at the soft breeze bringing the sweet scent of blossom down the corridor, using her meagre level of magic to channel it towards her friends like her aunt had taught her, hoping it would work to cool them down and shock them out of their hysterics.

She could hear voices nearby.

As they wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes, she pressed her finger to her lips and tilted her head towards the door up ahead. It stood slightly ajar, allowing low male voices to carry out towards them. Were they about to get caught? It was most likely to be Mr Ashworth in his study, but who was he talking to? Maybe his son, Harry? Kay’s belly turned over with that mixture of nerves and anticipation again, although it was for an entirely different reason.

Only one way to find out.

She crept closer.

‘Kay,’ Tina hissed behind her, tugging at the bow on the back of Kay’s dress. It unravelled, allowing her to carry on down the hall. She crossed to the opposite wall so she was on the same side of the door, edging along as though she was in a James Bond film.

‘You promise there’ll be no more stories like the one that our media coven found?’ a gruff male voice, bordering on elderly, asked.

‘Not about Biddicote,’ Adrian Ashworth’s rich baritone rolled the three words out with the calm inevitability of the tide. Even without being in the same room or knowing what they were talking about, Kay felt the conviction of his words. She believed him. The Ashworths were a powerful line of influencers and Mr Ashworth’s gift was the art of oral persuasion. A formidable ability.

‘I’m looking into the breach,’ he continued, ‘and will shore up any charms that may have lapsed.’

‘Perhaps something overgrew, or deteriorated?’ The other man already sounded mollified.

‘Perhaps. These things happen. Working with magic this established is a delicate business.’

‘If it’s becoming too painstaking or complicated a task, the Council will be happy to step in,’ a third, younger voice joined the conversation. Not infused with magic but no less self-assured. ‘With the concentration of witches here, failures are no small matter.’

There was a silence, then another tsunami of conviction sent goosebumps racing over Kay’s shoulders: ‘The Ashworth family is more than capable of maintaining its legacy.’

‘Indeed, indeed,’ the older man blustered. ‘How about a drink?’

Kay’s eyes widened. Mr Ashworth might have a bar in his study, but equally they might be planning to go back out to the party. She gestured quickly at Tina and Jaz to run for the stairwell. As they scurried past, Kay took one quick peek inside the study. She doubted Harry was in there but couldn’t resist checking. Nothing was visible except the back of a man in a grey suit.

She followed her friends, wincing at the pounding of their feet down the short set of steps at the end of the corridor. Goddess, did they think they were auditioning for Riverdance? When she got there herself, she leapt from the top, using a brief levitation spell to stop herself from landing heavily. Since she’d only tried it with small objects before, she came down a lot quicker than she was expecting and barrelled into Tina and Jaz, sending them all tumbling into a rack of coats.

Giggles erupted again, so Kay untangled herself and leapt for the big door. It had an old iron latch, that she had to twist the metal hoop to lift. Please be unlocked. She yanked and the door swung open, allowing them all to escape outside. They looked at each other, then at the path leading into the woods and set off again.

‘What was that all about?’ Tina asked as they moved past the treeline into the shelter of the tall ash trees and pale-barked silver birches.

‘I think they were from the Witches Council or something,’ Kay said.

‘Ugh, boring. But not what I meant.’ Tina pulled a bottle of dandelion wine from inside the kangaroo pocket of her oversized sweatshirt. Her parents never made her wear dresses if she didn’t want to. ‘I meant you trying to eavesdrop and nearly getting us caught.’

Kay shrugged. ‘All part of the fun.’

‘All part of your obsession with sniffing out Harry Ashworth at every given opportunity,’ Jaz accused, raising her eyebrows as though daring Kay to contradict her.

Was she obsessed with Harry Ashworth? Probably a bit. Had she been crushing on him for … ever? Pretty much. Had that crush reached terminal velocity over the last year, as he spent more and more time over at Kay’s actual house, studying for his A levels with her brother? Yes, absolutely, because if she’d thought he was fascinating at a distance when she attended the seasonal parties at the Hall, getting to know him in person had blown her mind and fried her hormones simultaneously.

But she wasn’t going to admit that. What she was going to do was poke her tongue out at her friend who knew her too well and coax the breeze again so the hawthorn bush Jaz was walking beside sprayed blossom up into her face.

‘Is that all you’ve got,’ Jaz teased as she shook petals out of her braids. ‘You don’t want to come at me with flowers, you know. I’ll have to ask Tina to hold my beer.’

‘Yeah, watch out, she’s about to give you the worst bout of hay fever ever.’ Tina snorted.

The sun was going down by the time they reached the small clearing and it was filled with green and golden light, pollen from the trees dancing above their heads like glitter in a snow globe. The mouth of the cave was only eight-foot square, heavy with encroaching foliage at this time of year, so it would have been easy to miss it. Exactly as any wandering non-magical people were supposed to. For witches, though, there was a tell-tale prickle of magic that tiptoed over their skin. Magic wasn’t always detectable, nor did it always leave a mark, but the intensity of the energy that had been used there over the years made this place special. As special and important as Ashworth Hall.

This was where it had all started. Where Biddi – the namesake of Biddicote village – had once lived and practised. What was a colourful folkloric story to non-magical people, with an imaginary cave and a handful of places in Surrey it ‘might’ refer to, was witch history and Kay couldn’t help being fascinated by it.

Even Tina and Jaz stopped joking for a few minutes as they all went up to the cave and peered inside. Beyond a couple of feet at the entrance, it was pitch black. There was no way of knowing how far it went back, if it went down, had twists and turns, or ended after a few long strides.

Jaz took out her phone and turned the flashlight on, trying to penetrate the darkness, but the beam was swallowed up.

‘Cloaking spell?’ Kay suggested.

‘Probably. Do you think they’re hiding something in there?’ Tina bounced the big bottle of wine she’d stolen off the side of her thigh as she stared.

‘Oooh, like what? Gold? Jewels?’ Jaz switched off her phone.

‘Maybe there are, like, really old runic signs and art on the walls depicting magical scenes or something?’ Kay pushed at some of the ivy, leaning a little further in.

‘Only you could act like that’s more exciting than treasure,’ Jaz scoffed. ‘C’mon, let’s get this wine open and get our party started.’

They took seats on the fallen logs outside the cave and then realised they didn’t have a corkscrew and would have to figure out the best way of removing a cork from a bottle with magic. Tina was all for dispersing it, but since matter didn’t ever truly vanish, Kay was worried that the particles would get into the wine and contaminate it. Jaz suggested an attraction spell, but none of them could conjure anything precise enough that didn’t have the bottle and its contents straining towards their hands with it.

It was getting darker now and they competed at creating orbs of light after striking flint – catching the sparks in air bubbles and floating them above their heads until the oxygen inside the bubble ran out and the flame died – seeing who could make the biggest bubble and last the longest. Then Jaz picked bluebells, weaving them into a crown for Kay’s hair as Tina pulled out her tarot cards and started doing a reading to tell her whether she was going to pass her GCSEs. It was only the seventh time Tina had done this in the last two weeks.

‘Thank you,’ Kay said as Jaz set the crown on her head and started threading her hair into a plait around the stems to hold it in place. ‘Are we allowed to pick these, though? Aren’t they endangered?’

‘Are they? Huh. Well, luckily I can repair the damage.’ Jaz dropped Kay’s hair and went over to the patch where she’d picked the flowers. Grabbing a handful of grass, she rubbed it in between her hands, releasing the scent and sap, before murmuring a spell and pressing her hands into the soil.

Kay moved closer, watching quietly as petals began to bloom. Pale indigo blue unfurling slowly. ‘That’s so awesome.’

Jaz sent her a quick smile and looked back at the ground, her dark eyes alight with wonder and pride at what she was achieving with her elemental magic. Kay pressed her lips together, forcing down her desperation to have her own gift. It was like waiting for Christmas, but having no calendar available to see whether it was a whole year away or just a week.

‘My magic is pretty awesome too, y’know,’ Tina said conversationally, as she squinted at a card she’d pulled from the deck. ‘I could make your ears smaller if you wanted. Or your nose.’

‘Hey, what’s wrong with my ears? Or my nose?’ Kay stood up, putting her hand to it, as though it might have expanded suddenly like Pinocchio’s when she wasn’t looking.

Tina shook her head and held her hands up with a laugh. ‘Nothing—’

‘It’s enormous,’ a familiar voice said from the other side of the clearing. ‘Honestly, Kay, you could hang washing from it.’

‘Urgh, Joe,’ she started to groan, as her brother stepped out. But just as she was about to pick some choice insults to fling back, Harry Ashworth came into view and all the air vanished from her lungs. Tall and lean, his crisp white polo shirt as bright as the coppery perfection of his tousled hair, he walked into the clearing alongside her brother. Joe could have turned green and sprouted feathers and she wouldn’t have noticed.

‘Ignore him – there is nothing wrong with your nose,’ Harry said, in that husky voice that made her stomach flip.

She dropped her arms to her sides and twitched her nose, as if she could shake off all the attention it was getting. His mouth hitched up at the side like he was trying to repress a smile and her heart did a little flutter in her chest.

Fine, it wasn’t a declaration that he found her stunningly beautiful, but Kay would definitely take it.

‘He didn’t say anything about your ears.’ Joe held his hands up on either side of his head and flapped them like Dumbo.

Harry shook his head, his beautiful blue eyes still on hers, eyebrows quirking in a way that said: I don’t even have to say anything for you to know that’s not true, right? And she treasured that even more than the smile. It implied that they knew each other. Properly. Like they had an understanding of one another that went beyond having to say the obvious.

And maybe they did. Sometimes, they would have a late-night study snack in her kitchen, their voices hushed to avoid waking the rest of her family. Or they’d watch Game of Thrones together in the mornings in their pyjamas after he’d stayed over, before Joe was even up. Or he’d be there sketching while she was reading, and she’d get distracted, watching him experiment with how his gift to influence through artwork truly worked, while Joe obsessed in the background about the car he was saving up for.

OK, that wasn’t exactly getting to know each other – that was more her being a bit stalkerish. Maybe she was just imagining it all, amplifying every small kindness into something more, like her brain was made entirely of dragon’s eye stone, because, oh my Goddess, it was wishful thinking. Of all the wishes Kay had in the world, that was probably the biggest. That Harry Ashworth liked her as much as she liked him. That he wasn’t only being nice to her because she was Joe’s little sister. After all, Joe might tease and insult her, but he’d never let anyone else be rude to her.

‘You know, tarot isn’t actually magical unless you’re a seer. Otherwise, they’re just a deck of pretty playing cards,’ Joe said, crossing his arms and looking down at Tina and the mix of major and minor arcana she had in front of her.

‘You know, no one actually invited you.’ Tina mirrored his crossed arms.

Kay didn’t feel guilty about not applying the same sibling rules when it came to Tina arguing with Joe. She loved her brother, but it was almost always valid self-defence when he was being a pompous pain in the arse.

‘Gutting.’ He laughed. ‘This is the lamest illicit party I’ve ever been to.’

‘Feel free to leave. Don’t let a tree topple on your head as you go.’

‘No,’ Kay blurted out. Her heart ricocheted around her chest and she sent a little look of pleading to Jaz. Help me. Distract them from that desperate plea. But, also, don’t let Harry leave.

Jaz’s eyes widened and she cleared her throat, dusting soil off her hands. ‘Yeah, er, stay. The more, the merrier.’

‘You are aware that this is actually Harry’s land, it’s not really for you to say whether he can stay or leave,’ Joe pointed out.

Harry blushed, the pale skin beneath his freckles turning adorably pink. ‘Joe, it’s not like that—’ he began to protest, but Tina interrupted.

‘We weren’t talking to Harry, obviously.’

‘Quit flirting, you two, or I’ll be forced to invent a new version of seven minutes in heaven. “Misbehave in the cave”.’ Jaz waved her hand through the air like she was envisioning a banner with the words written across it. Then she pointed her finger. ‘And you two will be the first ones I send in.’

Joe rolled his eyes and Tina mimed gagging. Because the idea made Kay want to do the same, she grabbed the bottle from where they’d propped it against one of the logs and handed it to her brother. ‘Why don’t you make yourself useful. Know how to get a bottle of wine open without a corkscrew?’

‘Sure we could figure it out.’ He cocked his head to consider the bottle, never lacking for confidence, and Harry came over to examine it too.

Jaz set some music playing from her phone and the girls upended one of the logs and danced around it as though it was a maypole, only to the sound of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s ‘Can’t Hold Us’, and whenever it came to the chorus, they shot different colour sparks up from their fingers.

When Kay glanced out the corner of her eyes, it looked like the boys had frozen the liquid in the bottle and then decided to give it a bang of energy on the bottom. There was a loud pop and the cork sailed into the air, with them all cheering. They thawed the dandelion wine out again with a small handheld fire and then the bottle was passed around, with them all taking swigs of warm alcohol as they continued dancing.

‘Go inside and wait for Harry,’ Jaz whispered as she twirled Kay around.

‘What?’ Kay hadn’t noticed the fact her friend had danced her over to the cave’s entrance.

‘I’ve got a plan. Trust me.’ And before Kay could ask what exactly that meant, Jaz was pushing her through the ivy into the cave.

Kay’s mouth went dry as the cool air washed additional tingles of magical awareness over her, unsure whether to be more nervous about the fact she was in a dark cave or that Jaz might be trying to launch ‘misbehave in the cave’ using her and Harry. She swallowed and turned on the spot, staying inside the curtain of ivy and out of the darkness, peeking out through the gaps between leaves to see what was happening.

Tina and Joe were sitting on one of the logs arguing again, backs to the cave, as Jaz refereed. She paused to say something to Harry and he nodded and …

And he was coming over.

Kay drew in a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

‘Jaz said you wanted me to give you a tour?’ Harry spoke from nearby and her eyes flew open. He was inside the entrance too, close enough to touch. ‘That you wanted to see – and I quote – “boring historical shit”.’

Kay winced. ‘I don’t want to pull you away from the party because of my geekiness.’

‘I don’t mind.’ He put his hands in his pockets, his eyes lit with mischief. Or maybe it was affection? ‘It takes all sorts.’

OK, definitely mischief; that lovely, gentle kind of teasing she never minded coming from him.

‘What about the others?’ Kay chewed her lip, not wanting to ask, but, also, not wanting to appear like she was trying to separate him from the herd and attack. ‘D’you think they’d be interested?’

‘Well, Jaz has Tina and your brother handcuffed with bark she grew from one of the logs and is refusing to let them go until they’ve resolved things. Reminds me of what my parents used to do to make me resolve conflicts with …’ His brows knitted for a second. ‘Other kids. Or maybe it was a teacher? Either way, I doubt they are getting off that log anytime soon.’

‘I can’t imagine you arguing with other kids.’

‘Hey, I’m a redhead.’ He gave his hair a quick ruffle and sent her another lopsided grin. ‘You know what we’re like, hot-tempered … mercurial.’

She laughed, shaking her head, because it was far from the truth, and he knew it.

His smile widened and then he turned, reaching up to grab a small piece of chalk from a little ledge she hadn’t noticed. Then he stepped into the inky black. She made an involuntary squeak as he disappeared, but, seconds later, a warm light eased into the cave, diffusing from a torch further in and more lights in the distance she couldn’t see clearly. He rubbed his thumb over the chalk in his hand and she saw the small rune he’d drawn on the wall. A simple arrowhead pointing left.

‘Wow,’ she breathed. Runes were old magic and they required a lot of energy and intention to get them to work, otherwise you were just drawing lines like any other person. Maybe it was his affinity for influential drawing which made him capable of invoking them despite being such a young witch.

‘Don’t be too impressed. I just drew over the marking Biddi worked into the wall. It’s the equivalent of turning on a light switch. She did all the wiring.’

‘You think that makes it less impressive?’ Kay moved closer so she could see the groove in the wall. She wanted to touch it but didn’t want to rub off the chalk. She was where Biddi had crafted a light and warmth spell, embellished it to anchor to objects. It always gave her a thrill to see the evidence of where someone had gone before.

‘Definitely less impressive on my part. But there’s no denying how powerful and clever Biddi was.’ Their eyes caught as Kay looked up from the rune and Harry tilted his head towards the rest of the cave. ‘It’s safe. You can go ahead and explore.’

She couldn’t help grinning as she walked deeper inside, Harry just behind her. If her gift emerging was going to be like Christmas Day finally arriving, this was surely her birthday.

At the end of the entrance passage, just past the old wooden torch, propped against the wall, there was a turn, which brought them into another chamber. In the centre, with a circle of stone seats surrounding it, was a small fire. Small shelves and cubbyholes were carved into the walls and there was a wide alcove that she imagined might have once had a bed in it.

‘It’s amazing, but it’s just a home too,’ she said, her voice breathy. ‘Is there any evidence that people did come, asking for her to help them find lost things, like the legend says?’

‘Nothing you can see here. But she kept a sort-of journal. It’s part ledger, part diary really and she noted down all the things people living nearby would ask her to find, and the offering they brought for the service.’

‘You’re kidding me? You’ve got that at Ashworth Hall?’ Kay spun around, her hand sliding over one of the shelves.

‘No. I mean, I’m not kidding you.’ He laughed, the light from the fire playing over his cheekbones. ‘It’s locked up in a physical and charmed safe. I wish I could show it to you, but that’s one I really can’t sneak out. Maybe one day.’

‘When you’re in charge?’ she wiggled her eyebrows. He gave an awkward shrug and she sensed somehow she’d put her foot in it, so she changed the subject. A bit. ‘Have you read it?’

‘Oh, Goddess, no.’ He sat down on one of the stone seats around the fire, any tension in his face disappearing. ‘Normal history textbooks are hard enough for me, let alone ones with itty-bitty writing. And f’s instead of s’s, or whatever it was they did back then. My parents have shown it to me, though.’

She came over to sit next to him. ‘What do you remember most about it?’

‘It’s small.’ He held out his hand and traced a rectangular shape from the heel of his palm to the furthest joint of his long fingers. ‘About this big. The cover is brown leather hide, with runes tooled along the spine. As well as the squiggly writing, there are little drawings through it, like … like doodles really, illustrating her entries.’

‘That’s so cool.’ She rested her chin on her fist. ‘So … did she draw “the devil”?’

Harry’s eyes crinkled at the edges as he laughed. ‘What, great-great-granddad times nine?’

Kay laughed too, because how ridiculous would it be to think that Harry had anything demonic about him. Not that non-magical people – even in the village – had any idea that the Ashworth family was linked to the legend of Biddicote. For them, the story went that the devil himself had come to visit Biddi, disguised as a rich nobleman, leaving such a pile of jewels, she accepted the bargain before bothering to ask what he wanted. When he told her he had to find a woman who wielded unnatural powers, Biddi had to leave the cave and stand in the entrance, for that woman was her. And she was never seen after that.

Of course, the truth was, that although a rich man had come calling to her cave, it had been multiple times and he’d offered her nothing more than his love and a home up on the land overlooking the cave. She’d married him, taking his name and starting a family, and when the witch-hunters combed the country for people to persecute, the story that the devil had already taken that evil witch away had been extremely convenient. That, coupled with the protection of the Ashworths’ magic, ended up inadvertent. . .