Free A Witch In Winter by Ruth Warburton

going to come with you, so you won’t be alone.’
    ‘He’s not …’ I tried to say through thick lips, but the words were slurred.
    ‘I’m just a friend,’ I heard Seth say, but the paramedics weren’t listening. They were speaking into their radios, discussing what route to take to the hospital.
    Cl.
    In the ambulance they tucked a blanket around me. I shut my eyes, and everything, even the wail of the siren, began to take on an oddly distant quality. Even Seth’s hand gripping mine wasn’t enough to anchor me, and I slipped slowly into sleep.
    When I woke up again Dad was sitting beside me, gently stroking my hair on the pillow, and Seth was nowhere to be seen. My throat was burningly dry and everything hurt, including my head.
    ‘Thirsty,’ I whispered, and Dad jumped.
    ‘Anna! Oh sweetie, thank goodness.’ He got up and reached for a jug of water, holding a paper cup to my lips. Most of it spilled down my front but I managed to sip enough to ease the hoarseness in my throat and I smiled up at Dad with weak relief.
    ‘What happened?’ I croaked. Dad gave a shaky laugh.
    ‘I should be asking you that! All I know is what your friend Seth told me. You’ve got a lot to thank him for. Do you remember the thunderstorm?’
    ‘Not sure,’ I whispered.
    ‘Seth said that you forgot something on the way to school and had to go back. He was waiting at the end of the lane and heard a clap of thunder followed by an almighty crash. When you didn’t reappear he was worried enough to go after you. It looks like the living room chimney collapsed – God knows how – and some of the stones ricocheted down the flue. One of them hit you on the head and knocked you out. When Seth found you, you were unconscious in a pool of blood. He called the ambulance – and here we are.’
    Memories were starting to come back. One of them was so unbearable I shut my eyes. Yes, I was lying in a pool of blood, in my bra . I moaned again and Dad put a concerned hand on my cheek.
    ‘Oh, sweetie, is it very painful? I could ask for some more painkillers if you need them.’
    ‘It’s OK,’ I whispered huskily. I felt surreptitiously under the sheets. I seemed to be wearing a hospital gown now, from what I could make out. Would I ever live this down at school?
    ‘Well, they’ve done an X-ray and some other scans and it looks like you’re fine, but they want to keep you in overnight in case there’s concussion.’
    At least it looked like I wouldn’t have to face Caroline for another day or two. Every cloud, and all that.
    ‘I’m furious with the surveyors,’ Dad was saying. ‘They said the house was perfectly structurally sound. I know there was a thunderstorm but there’s no evidence of charring or anything to indicate a lightning hit, that I could see. From what I can make out, the tremors of the thunder just caused half the stack to collapse spontaneously. And there’s a huge crack down the side of the house.’
     
    ‘Will it cost a lot?’
    ‘Probably, but it’ll be covered by insurance. It’s mainly the risk to you I’m angry about. The stack went right through your bedroom roof. If you’d been upstairs you’d almost certainly have been killed! As it was it’s a miracle there’s no skull fracture. You’ve got a lot to thank Seth for, you know. If he hadn’t dragged you clear and called the paramedics when he did, things could have been a lot worse.’
    ‘Has he gone?’ I wasn’t sure what answer I was hoping for.
    ‘Yes, he stayed with you until I turned up and then left. But he must have been here a good five or six hours. I’ll have to speak to the school to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble for missing classes. He’s been a very good friend to you, Anna.’
    ‘I know,’ I whispered.
    It was almost a relief when Dad was gone. I asked the nurses to pull the curtains around my cubicle and lay on my unhurt side, letting my tears leak into the pillow.
    Seth didn’t deserve this. He deserved real