Free Alchemy, Book Two of the Mercian Trilogy by K. J. Wignall Page A

soon as darkness had fallen. The moon was already above the horizon, approaching its full state and creating a small amount of discomfort on Will’s skin, but he didn’t care, such was the liberation of being out on the frozen landscape after being trapped since the beginning of the day.
    He walked about the woods for a couple of hours and once night had firmly established itself, he strolled towards the school. He knew that Eloise was busy thisevening, but he had to go, if only to see her from afar, to be near her.
    Even as he came close to the school, he could hear music, but the hall it came from wasn’t visible from the outside. He returned to his usual spot, looking into the Dangrave House common room from a safe distance.
    It was half empty tonight, but there was Marcus Jenkins, sitting at a table playing chess with his friend. Marcus picked up the black queen, hesitated for a moment and then used it to take one of his opponent’s pieces. His friend said something, shaking his head in irritation, but also acknowledging the skill of the move.
    Marcus answered, smiling, but then turned and looked directly at Will, returning to the pattern that had been broken only the previous night outside his bedroom. It was unnerving, his eyes appearing to reach out beyond the window, and even if Marcus could only see his own reflection, Will wondered what it was exactly that he saw there.
    Marcus turned away again, but it left Will uneasy, thinking back on the empty book, the sleepwalker’s stare. Marcus was Wyndham’s spy, but it was more than that, some mysterious quality that lay within the boy, something Will had sensed even the first time they’d met.
    Will watched for a few moments more before headingoff into the woods that bordered the drive, exploring them for anything that might explain the attack of the previous evening. He could hear crows roosting in the branches high above him now, but they seemed to pay no attention to him, just as they had failed to notice him the night before.
    By the time he headed back to the school, the night was drawing on. He came within a hundred paces of a female teacher standing by one of the doors, huddled against the cold as she whispered into a phone, talking to a boyfriend. Will caught the scent of her on the crisp air and veered to the right to escape the ever-present temptation – she was young, and healthy.
    The common room was empty now and as he stood there, a male teacher came in, did a quick check of the room and turned off the light before leaving again. There were some lights on upstairs, though not Marcus’s, and the evening was drawing to a close for Marland Abbey School, just as it was beginning for Will.
    He remained for a minute longer, as if the common room was still full of people, but then got the uncomfortable sense once more that someone was watching him. He looked up – the same darkened window on the top floor – making a mental note of which room it was.
    He took a few more backward steps, and a littlewhile later, as more lights died in the windows and sleep descended, he accepted he wouldn’t see Eloise tonight. It was for the best – he worried that he was depriving her of sleep as it was. Reluctantly he turned and strolled back towards the new house, heading for the stand of trees that obscured each from the other.
    And he’d almost reached the trees before he realised he was not walking alone. Silently and without ceremony, robed figures had appeared a little way to the left and right of him – two of the witches Eloise had asked about only the night before.
    Will stopped and turned. Four more of the witches followed behind, but stopped now at a slight distance, their heads bowed, obscuring the absent faces.
    “What do you want of me?”
    At first there was no response, and when it did come, it was from behind him. “To do your duty, nothing more.”
    He turned to see the seventh standing facing him, close to the trees he’d been approaching just a