Witch's Bell Book One

first day of police work.
    He hadn't said a great deal to her yet. He had always been a man of few words – great words, when he spoke them – but he never said anything needlessly.
    When she finally piled into the car, accidentally banging her shoulder on the door mirror, she heard him take a sharp hiss. He sounded like a steam-pipe ready to burst. And sure enough, as he started the engine and drove the car slowly out of the hospital grounds, the pipe began to rupture: 'you should have been more careful,' he said off-hand, as if he was lecturing the traffic ahead.
    She just grinned, her lips pressing into her teeth. Unlike her mother, Ebony's father always meant well. Not to say that Avery Bell was malicious, but you couldn't always be sure what she was thinking, let alone planning. So reading her was like reading the weather a year in advance: a pointless exercise that always underestimated just how much rain there would be.
    Ebony's father was obvious: he said what he meant, and he meant what he said. He was plain and open in his intentions. And right now, he intended to give Ebony a piece of his mind. 'I don't get it, I've taught you about combat – what were you thinking letting that guy get a hold of his knife?'
    'I wasn't thinking, dad,' she said in a small, but somehow cheerful voice. There was something truly amazing about parents – no matter how old you were, they would always still be older than you – and thus fully capable of showing you the rashness of youth. Putting you in your place was the perennial right of all parents everywhere. 'It all happened too fast, in the dark, and with Death in the room.'
    'No excuse,' he said briskly, as if he were talking to a recruit. 'If the guy has a weapon, you get the weapon off him. None of this letting it fall to the floor – you hurl it across the room, if you have to, but you get it out of their reach.'
    She sighed, breath rattling but somehow refreshing. 'I know, I know. Things just happened too quickly. I'll do better next time.'
    'Yes, you will,' he agreed. And that was the great thing about Ebony's dad: yes he had rules, yes he had standards – but he never set them at a height you couldn't reach. And what's more, he never once doubted you had the courage to leap that high. He believed in Ebony, with the type of strong, hard, well-learned belief that only an ex-detective-inspector could muster.
    Ebony waited for the question that she knew was coming.
    'So, you want to go home? You know... your mother would like to see you.'
    Ebony just stared ahead, pretending she was more interested in the traffic. It was a curious thing, for sure, but her parents still lived together, were still happily married, despite the fact Avery Bell was a witch of the Coven. You make choices, her mother had always told her, and sometimes they seem ridiculous and unattainable to other people – but you still make them, and they're still yours.
    And her mother had made the choice. Even though she was always on call for the duties of the Coven, she always came home to Ebony's father. They didn't go out to the movies, to restaurants, or take short walks in the park any more, though. Avery Bell was far too powerful a witch, with too much magic coursing through her veins, to be able to walk down an ordinary street. No, her mother's skin, eyes, expression – the lot of it – all showed the magic within. Symbols were etched into her skin with magical glowing runes. Her once-dark hair now shone as if each strand was made of pure strings of light. Her eyes glinted too – sometimes blue, sometimes, red, sometimes white.
    There was simply no way Avery Bell would not be recognized for what she was – a witch – and as such, just didn't go out much. But that didn't matter for Ebony's father, he'd go out to do his shopping in the morning, and come back to Avery's stories at night.
    They were happy, and somehow it worked out. But as for whether Ebony would like to go home now? There wasn't a chance.
    'No, I'm busy,' she said, voice stiff.
    'Busy?' her dad looked over at her with the same piercing gaze that had cut through more criminal lies than Ebony had sucked down sweets. 'You got great plans to sit on your couch and mope for the next month?'
    'Look,' Ebony didn't fancy having her intentions pried apart by the ex-detective, 'she almost let me bleed to death,' Ebony's voice peaked. 'And she shackled me,' Ebony brought up both her wrists. 'I can't say I'm looking forward to having a