Spellbound 8/14 + Epilogue

[madbottoms]

Title: Spellbound - Chapter 8
Author: Madbottoms
Prompt: Practical Magic
Pairing(s)/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Donna, John (Smith), Gwen/Adam, Owen, Tosh, OC’s.
Rating: PG
Length: 25k +
Warnings: Magic, dark themes, minor character death.

A/N 1: Written for reel_torchwood  See chapter 1 for disclaimer and full author notes. I feel like I don't have an audience...anyone...anyone???

---

8
 

 

Gwen was in her attic bedroom, sitting in the lotus position, wearing headphones and humming as Ianto ran in.

“Gwen! Gwen!”

Gwen didn’t hear him so Ianto yanked the headphones off her head, making Gwen shriek in surprise.

Ianto was breathless as he spoke, “Gwen! There’s a policeman downstairs and he’s looking for Adam and he wants to talk to you, and... I think I’m having a heart attack.” He clapped a hand over his chest and started pacing nervously.

“Okay, just calm down. Caaaaaalm down, Ianto,” Gwen soothed.

“What is the question?” he asked oddly.

“The question is, how much can he know?”

“Oh, gosh. Well, he seems to know an awful lot, because he came all the way from Scotland Yard. And I know this sounds really strange, but - I don’t think I can lie to him.”

Gwen stood up quickly. “Oh, my god, of course you can lie to him! Wait, wait. Here’s the story. Here’s the story. I left him. I left him because he hit me and we haven’t seen him since.” Ianto nodded vigorously. “And it’s as simple as that. You just let me handle the rest.

“Okay, good.”

As they turned to leave the attic, Ianto muttered the story to himself, reciting it to memory.  

“Alright. Hey Ianto, is he cute?”

“Yeah, he’s ... nice ... in a very penal code sort of way, yeah.” Very cute indeed. What was he saying? He was starting to fantasise about the man who was going to lock them up and take his children away. And yet, he couldn’t stop it and he really didn’t think he could lie to this man.

He could feel something inside him telling him that he could trust this man and he had to tell him the truth, no matter the consequences.

  Ianto returned downstairs and found Jack inspecting the greenery in the conservatory. He slowly and cautiously eased around the doorframe, his arms crossed defensively. Jack had picked up a jar full of plant-life and was rotating it reflectively.

“Just herbs.” Jack looked around at him startled. “You know, from the garden,” he continued.

“Oh. Uh ...” Jack placed the jar back on the bench.

“So, what brings you to the island?”

Jack looked at Ianto for a moment. “This.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the letter Ianto had sent to Gwen.

Ianto was annoyed. “You read my letter.”

“Yes, I did.”

“It was a very personal letter.”

“Yes, it was. Um...”

“I...” Ianto started then stopped.

“What?”

“I’m sorry, you seem very...” Ianto started again but the conversation was stopped from going any further with the arrival of Gwen, who was slinking down the stairs, having changed into an equally slinky dress.

“Hello, there,” Gwen greeted.

“Morning, Miss...” Jack started.

Ianto turned quickly and hit his head on the wall.

Jack stopped, looked at him, then continued, “Morning, Miss Jones.”

In an over-the-top sexy purr, Gwen said, “Good morning, Mr...?”

“Mr Harkness.”

“...Harkness,” she finished, still purring. Ianto rolled his eyes.

Looking slightly uncomfortable at her blatant display of sexuality, he said, “I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I need to find your boyfriend, Adam Smith.”

“I don't know where he is. I wouldn't exactly call him my boyfriend. Gwen looked Harkness up and down coyly. “He's more, uh... He’s more like a big mistake.”

“Is that his handiwork there?” Jack asked about the bruise on her face.

“Uh-huh. If a man hits me, he only does it once. Can I, uh, take a peek at your...?”

Ianto turned away from the sink, where he’d been standing, to watch this exchange. Gwen took Jack’s hand and looked at his palm, reading it. She flirtatiously ran her fingers over the lines. Ianto couldn’t stand to watch anymore and left the room.

“Wow! Now, um, I can tell that you’ve never touched a woman in anger all your life.”

Jack was unimpressed by Gwen’s attempted seduction. “May I have my hand back, please?”

Gwen was a little stunned at the rebuff, usually her flirting worked better. “Oh. Sure.”

Jack removed his hand from her grip and got out a small notepad and pen. “So what you’re trying to tell me is you have no idea where he is?”

“I told you. He hit me, and... and I haven’t seen him since.

Ianto re-entered the kitchen, glancing Jack’s way.

“And when was that?”

“Three days ago,” she answered and looked over her shoulder. “Right, Ianto? Yeah, three... three days.”

“Three days,” Jack repeated to Gwen, then turned to Ianto. “Excuse me. Um, Ianto?”

Ianto looked up. “Mm?”

“Whose car is that in the driveway? The one with the London plates?”

Gwen answered, “Uh, it’s my car.” Ianto nodded enthusiastically.

Jack knew she was lying, how stupid do they think he is? “Oh, that’s your car? Plate number SY51 ZSL? Uh-huh. That’s Adam Smith’s car.” The siblings looked to the floor. “Come on, now.”

Thinking fast and speaking even faster, Ianto blurted out, “We - we stole it, and it’s a crime, I know this, but - but he basically kidnapped her and it...”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. He kidnapped you?” Jack interrupted and looked at Gwen. Gwen didn’t know what to say. Ianto had royally stuffed it.

Ianto stammered, “Well, he didn’t really kidnap her, he just, he sort of... it was just a little nap.” To emphasise this, he held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart, in an ‘It was this tiny’ gesture. “No, she was... there was a car... and he w... and you know... then she... what... what happened was, she... she just...” Ianto babbled incoherently before he gave up, “oh, you should know she has the worst taste in men.”

Jack, who had been staring at Ianto throughout this incredible display of blathering nonsense, turned to Gwen, who was also staring.

“Well, you do,” Ianto said to Gwen. “So... so, anyway, I... I picked her up, and I drove her right back here, and... and, we would be so happy to give him back his car, because it is a crime, and, as you say, you... you just don’t know where he is...”

Jack reached forward to wipe blood gently off his collarbone, oozing from a scratch caused by the rosebush. “You’ve just got a little something...”

“Oh,” Ianto said absentmindedly, distracted by Jack’s action, then continued from before, “... to give him back that car.”

“So, basically nobody knows where he is?”

Ianto was slightly out of breath from his speech and not really listening. “I’m sorry, what?”

“So you don’t have any idea where he is.”

Ianto made noises to imply that no, he had no idea where Smith was.

“Do you mind if I just took a look around?”

Ianto made more noises that Jack took to mean, ‘okay’. He walked past him and out of the room. Gwen and Ianto looked at each other.

Gwen silently but fiercely, mouthed, “What is wrong with you?”

Ianto, also silent, but heatedly, replied, “I don’t know!”

A short time later, Jack sat at a table in the Manor with Ianto and Gwen. Jack was holding several photographs, the top one is of a young woman, about Gwen’s’ age. Jack passed the photo to Gwen.

“This young lady’s name was Phoebe Stone. Two years ago, she was found strangled, lying on the side of the motorway. Her body had been marked with a kind of a brand, burned right into the flesh. Any help you can give me in locating this ex-friend of yours would sure be appreciated.”

Gwen and Ianto avoided his eyes.

After talking to them a bit longer, Jack left them to inspect Smith’s car. He scraped a sample of something from the driver’s seat, unsure what it is. However, he was sure a toxicology report will be able to let him know soon enough.

“It’s all yours,” Jack informed the driver of the tow truck and then returned to his own car, having finished with the Jones’, for now.  

*~*

Jack’s investigation took him into the town centre, where he met a bunch of very interesting, if not very strange people. They certainly had very strange ideas about the Jones’. They had plenty to say, especially about the elder Jones siblings.

One old woman ordered, “Go arrest them! The nephew owns a shop where they cook up a special placenta. And that’s why their Aunt and Uncle don’t age! I tell you, they just don’t age!

Ianto walked by on the way to his shop, looking curiously at Jack and the woman.

Jack looked doubtful. “He’s selling placentas?”

The old woman said with gleeful conviction, “A placenta bar!”

 A little boy added, “On Halloween they all jump off the roof and fly!”

Another boy, his face covered in chicken pox told him, “When they get mad at you, they hex you!”

Mary, the boy’s mother added, “I don’t know about that man, but I would not be surprised if he turned up in a ditch somewhere.”

Patty, one of the nicer woman in town said, “Mary that is not true! She’s not saying they murdered him, just that maybe they shook his hand, and then ... he died. It’s very mysterious.”

Another person added, “If any man or woman dared take on a Jones, they’d live briefly in the euphoria of their love ... until meeting an untimely death.”

“The curse?” Jack asked dubiously.

After hearing all that crazy talk, Jack made his way to Ianto’s shop to see if he could find anything interesting there where he interviewed Ianto’s friend and employee, Owen.

“...Warlock, yeah. Evil, no,” he said. “I mean, you get your psychos now and then... you now, animal slaughter, ritual human disembowelment, but that’s really not him. You see, it’s a Pagan label, but Ianto...” Speak of the devil and he walked in the door, carrying a cup of coffee. Unfazed, Owen carried on talking to Jack, “...he’s definitely not into that stuff.”

“He’s not, huh?”

“Nah, not our boy, Ianto, he’s too nice to get himself involved in anything like that.” Owen grinned mischievously. Jack didn’t know what to make of the smirk but took Owen’s word for.

So far Jack really couldn’t find anything untoward about Ianto and Gwen... Well other than all this crazy talk. He wasn’t sure he wanted to believe any of that bullshit. One fact was true though, the Jones’ were lying about something and he was determined to find out exactly what that was.

Ianto walked behind the counter as Huw, a customer, came in.

“Mr Jones, I have a bone to pick with you.”

Ianto sighed. “What can I do for you, Huw?”

“I could have gone to a qualified doctor to tend to this... health condition of mine. Huw held up a crumpled paper bag with the ‘product’ inside. “Now, the more I use, the less it works. The product doesn’t work!”

“Well, that’s because it doesn’t go on your head.”

The spoon in Ianto’s coffee stirred by itself. Jack noticed this and Ianto noticed him noticing and clapped his hand over the top of the cup before giving his attention back to the customer.

“Well, if I don’t put it on my head, where the hell else would it go?” Huw yelled.

Ianto looked down and then up again. “Try... to remember.” He looked down again. Up again. Ding! He finally got it.

“My mistake.” Huw grabbed his bag and hurried out of the store, embarrassed.  

Jack smiled. Owen handed him a bag. Thanking him, he then walked out the door muttering, “Strange town. I’ve never spent this much on shampoo before. In my life!”

Ianto followed him out of the store, and stopped behind him. Jack turned around feeling a presence behind him, instinctively knowing it was Ianto. Ianto certainly did have a presence. It swam all around him. Maybe there was something to all this talk of magic, but that was all just ridiculous talk. Wasn’t it?

“Am I under some kind of surveillance?”

“Should you be?”

“Well, if there’s something you want to know, ask me.”

Jack laughed humourlessly. “I already did. And all I can tell you is, there appears to be something missing from your stories. Now listen, I wanna talk to you some more, but I, uh, got to finish up some homework here. How about I come by your house tomorrow morning?”

“Fine.”

“Okay. 10 a.m.?”

“Fine.”

“Okay. It’s a date.”

Ianto looked sort of bewildered. A date? Did he just agree to a date with a policeman investigating them? Was Ianto digging a hole he couldn’t climb out of? All these questions were too much. And they were questions he couldn’t answer. And he didn’t like feeling like that.

Jack seemed pleased with himself, though. He could see Ianto battling with himself. But what was he battling? Was it fear of being caught or fear of Jack himself? Whatever it was, Jack smiled at Ianto, turned and walked away, a happy bounce to his step.

*~*

Gwen was asleep in the attic bedroom but she was not sleeping calmly, tossing and turning and moaning quietly awake. Getting out of bed she walked to the balcony and threw open the doors, surveying the empty night uneasily.

Gwen whispered, Adam, is that you?” Eerie silence was the only answer. “Adam?” Still nothing but the wind. “Go away. Go away.” She backed up, shutting the balcony doors and returned to bed.


 

 

 

Comments

[missthingsplace.livejournal.com]

Oooh, the tension builds nicely :)

[madbottoms.livejournal.com]

It certainly is.

I love how you are pacing yourself and commenting on each chapter. You're awesome!

[missthingsplace.livejournal.com]

I'm so behind with all my reading that I'm trying to give everything equal attention ... and if i read something, i like to comment :)

[madbottoms.livejournal.com]

Well thanks again. Sometimes I forget myself, but your comment prompts me to tell you how much I love Goodnight Sweetheart. I promise to comment on the next update, otherwise you have permission to come hunt me down. :)