The Broken Spell (14 page)
Authors: Erika McGann
Clickety-click-click
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‘What happens?’ said Beth. ‘Will you just disappear?’
‘Promise, Beth.
Promise me!
’
Beth’s face illuminated in a flash, and beneath the foghorn blast Grace could just make out the words she was mouthing.
‘I promise.’
After the surprising events in the library, Beth left, hugging her books and walking with her head down. Her satchel hung over one shoulder but she liked the comfort of having something to hold in front of her body as she walked the corridors alone. Even now, in her final year, she felt
intimidated
by other students, especially those in groups.
She gave herself a mental shake and tried to focus on what to do about the girl in the library. She caught up with Vera as their chemistry class filed into the lab. They took the desk at the back on the left-hand side, the one farthest from the teacher’s desk.
‘Hey V, did ya check out that new band,
The Clash
?
They’re slammin’, huh?’ A boy with a short Mohawk stood awkwardly in front of their desk, his hands shoved into his pockets as he swayed from side to side. Beth blushed for him as he faked a bored look around the room.
‘Yeah,’ replied Vera.
The boy nodded as if she had given a long and interesting critique.
‘Yeah,’ he said, still nodding. ‘Did you get their new record?’
‘Yeah.’
‘’Cos I can record it for you, if you didn’t get it.’
‘Got it.’
‘Right, right,’ the boy replied, filling the silence with more nodding. ‘Yeah, so anyway… see ya later.’
‘See ya.’
Beth smiled as Vera unpacked her bag, oblivious. Boys always hung around Vera, but she never paid attention to them. Maybe they hung around her
because
she never paid attention to them. They were always asking her opinion on the latest band or the latest film, or even trying to sneak a compliment from her on their latest hair-do. The girls thought she was cool too and, inevitably, if Vera dyed her hair or came to school with a new piercing, a dozen girls would copy it within the week. Vera was so cool, she didn’t even know she was cool. She didn’t care; and that made her the coolest girl in school.
‘I met someone in the library today,’ said Beth as she
dragged a high stool across the floor and sat down.
‘Really?’ said Vera with interest. ‘That nerdy fella who stares at you in English, by any chance?’
Beth’s face flushed and she shook her head.
‘No, no. A girl.’ She paused, ‘Another
witch
.’
Vera stared at her with narrowed eyes. Beth wondered if she was thinking of Vivienne.
‘
What
other witch?’
‘She says she’s from the future. From
this
school. Has our school crest on her jumper and everything,’ said Beth. ‘I guess they add that to the uniform.’
‘Did she pull the other one?’ Vera asked, opening her copybook as the teacher began scribbling with white chalk on the blackboard.
‘Pull the other what?’
‘
Leg
, my dear Bethany. She’s pulling your leg. You know, your gullibility is one of the reasons I love you.’
‘She
proved
it,’ Beth replied. She pretended to ignore the reaction that got from Vera, and got on with her
chemistry
notes. She felt Vera’s eyes boring into her, until the girl grunted impatiently.
‘Go on, then,’ she said. ‘You have my full attention. How did she prove it?’
‘Originated a little frog, then and there, on her first go.’
‘Hmm,’ said Vera nodding. ‘Not bad.’
‘She’s young too,’ Beth continued. ‘Only about fourteen,
I’d say. She asked for our help. Apparently she brought
someone
back to her time by accident. She needs to return him to our time, but she doesn’t know how.’
‘Brought back who?’
‘She didn’t say. What do you think? Should we help?’
‘I’ll think about it,’ replied Vera.
‘We’ll need Meredith. She’s good at sourcing spells.’
When Vera didn’t answer, Beth said gently, ‘Are you two going to work this out?’
‘Meredith’s getting too big for her boots,’ said Vera. ‘I don’t want her knowing there’s another witch around while we’re still working on the anomaly. Let’s keep this to ourselves for now.’
That night, under the moonless sky, Beth stood shivering against the cold, holding her coat collar closed over her neck. She could just make out Vera’s spiky-haired silhouette near the entrance of the C block, and the glowing butt of her
cigarette
as she put it out against the wall. Beth shook her head. She hated the smell of cigarette smoke, and Vera reeked of it.
Turning away, she gazed into the blackness of the woods, listening to the eerie whistling of the wind as it blew through the trees. Meredith had once told her the woods were haunted. She had scoffed at the idea, but every time they came out to this place she felt a shiver up her spine that was more than just the cold and wind. The feeling had grown after they came across the anomaly. They had studied
it, watched it, taken aura readings from its edge, and all they knew was that it was fit to burst with magical force, as if the tiniest pinprick would cause it to explode into the world, expelling whatever it held in a supernatural firework display.
As she watched the woods, Beth could imagine herself lost in there – it was so black and so dense. She wondered if there really was a ghost, the trapped spirit of someone who had wandered into the trees and never found their way out. She felt the shiver again. Then something else. The creep of cold fingers along her cheek. She jumped and screamed.
‘Every time,’ said Meredith, laughing. ‘You’re so easy.’
‘Don’t
do
that!’ Beth said, backing off and pulling her collar tight again. ‘Don’t sneak up like that.’
‘Thinking about the ghost in the woods? You know, Mrs Allan says it’s a boy who was imprisoned by a witch in the woods, and now he can never leave. Imagine that. Being trapped in there forever, tormented and alone.’
Beth turned away to walk towards the anomaly, and
Meredith
snuck up a hand to touch the back of her neck.
‘Stop!’ Beth squealed again as Meredith dissolved into more giggles.
‘There’s no such thing as a ghost in the woods,’ Vera said flatly as she joined them by the anomaly.
‘How do
you
know?’ asked Meredith, her tone suddenly gone cold.
Vera ignored the question, pulling several skinny candles
from her pocket and pushing them into the ground, forming a circle. She lit each one in turn.
‘Take your places,’ she said finally.
‘This is a waste of time,’ said Meredith. ‘So what if the energy pattern here differs from our world. What will that tell us? It’s obviously a portal to something, we know that. All we have to do is look inside.’
‘Stop being a child, Meredith, and take your place,’ replied Vera.
Meredith stared at her in silence.
‘Meredith,’ said Beth gently, ‘it’s safer to work it out this way, if we can. We don’t know what’s on the other side. It could be dangerous.’
‘We can handle it,’ said Meredith, still holding Vera’s gaze.
‘Enough,’ said Vera, waving her hand dismissively. ‘Just do what you’re told.’
Meredith stared at her again, her jaw grinding from side to side. After a few moments her face lifted.
‘Fine,’ she said, settling herself at one side of the circle with her legs crossed.
Beth pulled a small shaker from her coat pocket and
sprinkled
the contents between the candles. When the shaker was empty, Vera grabbed handfuls of grass, wrenching it from the ground and tossing it all over the circle.
‘Hands out,’ she said. ‘Concentrate.’
She and Beth held their arms out, palms down, and closed
their eyes. Beth could feel the heat from the candle in front, almost close enough to burn her. In the quiet, she heard a shuffling to her left. Sneaking a look with one eye, she saw Meredith pull something from her satchel and roll it into the circle. Vera’s eyes snapped open as the object hit her boot and stopped. A cool breeze swept over them as Beth realised what lay at Vera’s feet.
‘A crystal ball?’ said Beth, as Vera leaned in for a closer look. ‘Vera! Don’t go near it!’
As she spoke, a wisp of black mist shot from the ground, forming a clawed hand, and grabbed Vera by the neck. As she began to choke, the black claws sank into her skin, not drawing blood, but disappearing into her. Beth watched in horror as a second arm formed in the mist, the hand gripping Vera’s face and pushing into her flesh. Vera gasped against the onslaught and her eyes began glow an unnatural shade of violet.
In her shock, Beth barely registered the whoosh of
movement
beside her as Meredith leapt forward, kicking the crystal ball as far as she could, dropping a porcelain cup on the ground and smashing it with her foot. Something in the cup sublimated into smoke, and Meredith jumped on Vera’s back, holding her over the smoke and hissing the words,
‘
Exitus, Exitus, Exitus
.’
Vera shook her head, refusing to breathe in the smoke, until Meredith grabbed a handful of her spiky hair and
pulled sharply. Finally, Vera sucked in a breath, and the neon violet of her eyes faded. Meredith sank to one side, shaking with the rush of adrenalin in her system, and smiling broadly.
‘It
is
,’ she said, panting. ‘It’s a demon well!’
Seconds later Vera had Meredith on the ground, her hands around her throat.
‘You rat!’ she screamed. ‘You filthy rat! How dare you? I could destroy you! I could finish you off right here.’
Meredith struggled against the vice-like grip on her neck.
‘I…’ The words were choked in her throat. ‘I knew what I was doing! I… I had it all worked out!’
‘Vera!’ Beth gasped as Meredith’s eyes rolled back in her head. ‘Let go!’
Vera only leaned harder onto her hands, pushing her face right up to Meredith’s.
‘You think you’re better than me?’ she hissed. ‘You think you’re stronger? If it weren’t for me you’d still be pulling childish pranks and bouncing from school to school.
Without
me, you’re
nothing
! I run this coven. It’s
mine
!’
Meredith was losing consciousness, her hands scrabbling ever more weakly at Vera’s shoulders.
‘Vera!’ Tears streamed down Beth’s face as she begged. ‘Please stop! You’re killing her!
Please
!’
Vera ignored her. Beth saw the change of colour in
Meredith’s
face, and the light fading from her eyes. Springing behind them, she looped her arms around Vera’s and pulled
as hard as she could.
‘Stop it! That’s enough! Stop it!’
Vera, startled, loosened her arms, letting herself and Beth tumble backwards. Beth heard the sound of Meredith
coughing
, followed by a loud gasp as she sucked the air back into her lungs. She crawled over to the gasping girl, instinctively stroking the golden blonde hair and saying soothing words. But Meredith pushed Beth’s hands away, and struggled unsteadily to her feet, her face red and her eyes watering. She turned to Vera, who was glaring at her with fury.
‘I knew what it was.’ The words sounded painful coming from Meredith’s bruised throat. ‘I knew what to do. But you wouldn’t listen to me. You
never
listen to me!’
Vera didn’t answer, but held her icy stare.
‘I had it all prepared,’ Meredith went on. ‘You were safe. I would have kept you safe, no matter what happened. You’re like sisters to me, both of you. I would never have let you come to harm.’
Vera walked slowly forward until she stood right in front of Meredith’s shaking frame.
‘Well,
sister
,’ she whispered. ‘Your time in this coven is over. Walk away… and don’t look back.’
She stepped back and gripped Beth’s shoulder. Meredith’s face crumpled. The blonde girl stood there for a moment, her face streaked with tears, before Vera dismissed her with a lift of her chin. Beth watched Meredith’s unsteady exit
through the back gates, and leaned against the support of Vera’s hand as she stifled a sob.
‘It’ll be alright,’ Vera whispered. ‘There’s a replacement – we’ll still have a third. I’ve taken care of it.’
But Vivienne would be no replacement for Meredith, and Vera’s unsteady voice told Beth that, deep down, she knew it too. Their family was broken. It was all over.
Still in the guise of ‘Grayanna’, Grace sat in the library,
nervously
twisting a strand of short, sandy hair around her fingers, avoiding the young Vera’s gaze. She’d gone back specifically to ask for her help, and now she was wondering how the teenager could already have the same terrifying presence that she would have later, as a middle-aged woman. Her pale eyes were unblinking, and Grace began to sweat like she was in the interrogation room of a Garda station. Self-consciously, she rubbed at her chin, but carefully, so as not to
inadvertently
shake off any of the Glamour spell. If her appearance suddenly changed into the Grace that Vera Quinlan tutored, she feared the consequences in her own time.
‘So you’re
Grayanna
. From the future,’ Vera said.
‘Um-hm.’ Grace cleared the frog in her throat. ‘Yes, I am.’
‘And who exactly have you pulled from our time to yours?’
Grace had considered lying about this – not knowing if Vera’s coven had yet encountered the Mirrorman for what he really was – but they’d find out eventually, so she went with the truth. Kind of.
‘The groundskeeper here.’
‘Creepy Bob?’ said Beth. She and Vera exchanged a look of surprise.
‘Hmm,’ Vera murmured. ‘He’s no great loss to us, but I suppose we don’t want to muck up the timeline. No more than you already have, that is.’
Grace gulped.
‘We’ve found a spell that could work,’ said Vera, ‘and we’ll help you perform it. But we’re missing a vital piece of
equipment
and we can’t get hold of one here.’
She unfolded a yellowing sheet of paper and smoothed it out on the desk, displaying a detailed sketch of what looked like a slingshot without the sling.
‘It’s a Balau Dowser,’ she said. ‘They’re difficult to get, and sourcing one will cost a fortune.’
‘I’ve seen one of these before,’ Grace said excitedly,
recognising
it from the awful scavenger hunt in Mrs Quinlan’s attic. ‘In your – em, it’s in the attic of a house in my time.’
‘Good. Then you can get it.’
‘Can I?’ Grace suddenly very much regretted
mentioning
it. ‘I don’t know. It belongs to this crabby old witch, and
there’s no way I can ask her for it, even to borrow.’
‘So don’t ask for it. Just take it.’
‘You mean steal it? I couldn’t!’ Grace exclaimed. ‘She’ll find out and go mental.’
‘Don’t be so chicken,’ said Vera. ‘Just sneak in and grab it. Stuff the old lady.’
The irony of the young Mrs Quinlan unwittingly
speaking
of herself like this made Grace pause for a moment.
‘We can’t do the casting without it,’ said Beth.
‘Alright,’ replied Grace. ‘I’ll do my best.’
‘And we need something of Creepy Bob’s. Something personal,’ said Vera.
Grace wasn’t going to budge on this one.
‘No, I can’t get you that. I… I don’t even know where he is.’
‘Hey Squirt, we’re not doing this for ourselves. We’re being nice and helping you out, remember? So how about a little cooperation?’
‘I would,’ Grace stammered, ‘but I really don’t know where he is. I wouldn’t know where to start looking.’
Vera emitted something close to a growl and shook her head.
‘Then the casting’s off. It won’t work if we can’t pinpoint his energy.’
‘Wait,’ said Grace. ‘I might know where he lives in
this
time. It’s out in the woods. If we can find where he camps
out, there’s bound to be something there we can use.’
Grace tried to look as confident as possible, hoping that she would be able to find the spot where Jenny’s hound had pounced on her in her own time, near the Mirrorman’s camp. He’d remained in and around the woods all his life – he was a creature of habit. With luck, Grace could lead them to his permanent dwelling amongst the trees.
Grace stood. ‘Let’s go.’
The woods were filled with flitting shadows and
creaking
branches straining against the wind. Grace could hear Vera’s breath behind her, laboured and somehow
threatening
. There was a constant air of suspicion about her, and Grace felt under pressure to locate the Mirrorman’s camp as quickly as possible. However, the further they went into the dense woodland, the less sure she became of her
whereabouts
. After nearly an hour’s trekking, Vera gripped her arm roughly.
‘Where are you taking us, Grayanna? We’ve been walking for ages.’
‘It’s around here somewhere,’ Grace replied. ‘I’m sure we’re really close.’
Vera’s grip tightened. In the dark, her spiky hair made an eerie silhouette.
‘If this is some sort of set-up,’ she warned, her breath close. ‘If you’ve been playing us–’
‘It’s here!’ Beth said suddenly, to Grace’s great relief. ‘It’s
just over there, do you see it?’
She pointed to the outline of a dome, just metres ahead.
The Mirrorman’s home was a small circular wall of crumbling stone covered with an intricate domed roof of woven branches. A few feet from the hut’s entrance were the scorched remains of a campfire, ringed with large pebbles. A black pot hung from a wrought-iron stand over the ashes, and a hand-made fishing rod rested on a three-legged stool nearby. It seemed an unlikely domestic situation for a Wiccan legend that terrified hunters and chased fishermen from the woods. Grace couldn’t help feeling a small pang of pity for such a lonely and meagre existence.
‘There’s sod all inside,’ said Vera, the flame of her lighter glowing through the woven roof as she poked her head inside the hut. ‘How does this guy live with
nothing
?’
‘Guess we could take the pot, or the fishing rod,’ replied Beth. ‘They’re a bit big though. Awkward.’
‘We could just take the fishing fly,’ said Grace, lifting the fishing rod and handling it with interest.
‘The what?’ said Vera.
Grace pulled on the line of the fishing rod, lifting the lure that hung on the end to eye level. It was strange. Everything the Mirrorman owned was minimal and functional, ugly and fit for one purpose only – but the lure on his fishing rod was something else. It was an object of beauty. The main feather came from no bird she knew of – its silver and purple vane
almost glowing, though there was no light in the woods. And in the head of the fly was a tiny jewel, like a sparkling eye. Grace twisted the line in her fingertips and the fly spun slowly, showing off its stunning colours and delicate design. The hut, the stool, the fishing rod were not made by magic, but the fly looked too extraordinary to be anything other than magical. She detached the lure from the line with a sharp
snap
.
‘We’ll take this,’ she said.
‘Hold on,’ said Vera, flicking on her lighter again and
peering
at something shiny sticking from the ground by the wall of the hut. ‘What’s this?’
Puzzled, Grace and Beth looked at the metal object that seemed to be out of place in its surroundings. It was a
polished
brass ornament, partially buried in the soil. Using her lighter to illuminate the object, Vera dug her fingers around it and pulled it free. She froze. It was a figure, with hands bound behind his back, and sticks of brass piercing his head and body.
‘Vera, drop it!’ Beth screamed, but it was too late.
Vera’s whole body spasmed and she collapsed to the ground, still gripping the brass figure in her right hand. Beth raced forward, trying the prise the ornament from her
fingers
, but it was no use. Vera lay unconscious, her eyes open and rolling back in her head, her arm jerking occasionally, as if the figure was sending shocks through her system.
‘Vera!’ Beth yelled, gripping her shoulders and shaking her, ‘Vera, wake up!’
Vera’s head lolled from side to side as Beth continued to shake her in a panic. Grace pulled her away.
‘Stop it,’ she said. ‘You’ll hurt her.’
Beth leaned against her and sobbed uncontrollably.
‘What
is
that thing?’ Grace whispered.
‘A Muerte figurine,’ Beth said through shaky breaths. ‘A binding ornament. Creepy Bob must have left it here to
protect
his home.’
‘What’s it doing to Vera? Is she alive?’
‘Yes, but barely. They’re so powerful they can bind your powers, your mind for…
forever
.’
‘How do we undo it?’ said Grace.
‘We can’t,’ wept Beth. ‘It would take an extremely
powerful
Wiccan to break a binding like this – there’s no witch with that kind of force around here. The caster himself would have to break the spell.’
Grace looked mournfully at Vera’s twitching body, so
horrible
in the dark with her flat, unseeing eyes. The Mirrorman hunted witches on his land, and this one had invaded his actual home. There was no way he would release the
binding
. This was all Grace’s fault.
As loud drops of rain began to fall, they half-carried,
half-dragged
Vera’s body inside the hut. They would never be able to carry her out of the woods alone. As they laid her on a
flattened bed of dried leaves and ferns, Beth brushed spikes of dyed red hair off Vera’s forehead.
‘Do you think it’s safe to–’
‘
Shhh
,’ said Grace suddenly, lowering her voice to a
whisper
. ‘Did you hear that?’
Beth cocked her head to listen. There was a rustling
outside
. Something was moving through the undergrowth.
‘Could be a rat?’ Beth whispered. ‘Or a rabbit?’
‘Too big,’ said Grace, reaching up and quietly working a switch free from the woven roof.
She stepped towards the doorway, ready to whack
whatever
it was with the slender branch. The rustling got closer. It was almost to the doorway. Grace braced herself.
‘Aaahhh!’ she screamed, leaping outside and swiping left and right with the switch.
‘Stop!’ someone yelled as they fell to the ground, covering their head with their arms. ‘Stop it!’
Grace froze, mid-swat, and gazed down at the girl lying in the weeds, with her golden hair tangled around her slender arms.
‘
Meredith
?’
Meredith peeked out from under her elbow.
‘Who are you?’
‘Meredith!’ Beth gasped, running from the hut and
dropping
to her knees to hug her. ‘What are you doing here?’
Meredith looked between Beth and Grace for a moment,
then glanced quickly towards the hut.
‘I followed you here,’ she said. ‘Where’s Vera?’
‘Inside,’ replied Grace, leading the way.
Beth’s tears fell afresh as she took Meredith’s hand and followed Grace into the hut. Meredith started when she saw the pale, twitching figure on the ground. Her eyes went to the figurine still clenched in Vera’s hand and the blood drained from her face.
‘That’s not–’ she stopped mid-sentence.
‘A Muerte figure,’ Beth said, nodding. ‘We didn’t see it before she picked it up.’ She lunged forward and gripped the front of Meredith’s shirt. ‘You have to help us.
Please
. I’m so sorry about everything, I didn’t want it this way. Please don’t leave us alone!’
Meredith seemed unable to take her eyes from the
juddering
body on the ground. Each twitch was mirrored by a flinch in her own face. Her lip curled as she watched.
‘Only the caster can break this spell,’ she said. ‘Or a Wiccan virtuoso. Do you know of either?’
‘The caster is in my time, in the future,’ said Grace. ‘Beth and Vera promised to help me bring him back here.’
Meredith stared at her with a dubious smile.
‘The
future
?’
‘It’s true,’ said Beth. ‘Creepy Bob followed her to the future. This is his place – we came here to find something of his for a casting.’
There was a pregnant pause.
‘You kept all this from me?’
‘Not all of it,’ Beth stammered. ‘We had no idea about Creepy Bob. And all the future stuff, well, Vera felt…’
‘Vera had already decided it was time to start cutting me out of the picture,’ Meredith said coolly.
‘No! No, it wasn’t like that!’
‘Then tell me, Beth. What was it like?’
Beth faltered under Meredith’s intense gaze. Her eyes watered again and her voice became nothing more than a whisper.
‘Please help us bring Bob back here, Meredith. He’s the only one who can save Vera.
Please
.’
Grace watched the golden-haired girl as the faraway sound of a train began to build. Meredith let the silence go on for what felt like forever.
Come on
, Grace thought,
say yes. Beth can’t handle this alone
.
As the metallic crescendo swamped Grace’s ears, a
self-satisfied
smile spread across Meredith’s face.
‘Alright,’ she said, ‘I’ll help you.’
Grace heaved a sigh of relief as light swelled around her.
‘But I’m back in the coven,’ said Meredith. ‘And from now on, we’re gonna do things my way.’
And that was the last thing Grace heard before a foghorn blast sent her crashing into the future, leaving Beth, Meredith and an unconscious Vera far behind her.