The Broken Spell (17 page)

There she was, on the opposite side of the river, that now
familiar sneer curling her lip, and her eyes colder than Grace had ever seen. Before either of them could move, there was a screeching sound as something sailed towards them in the rain, stopping to spin in the air above them. Another of Ms Gold’s distractions. It looked like the wheel of a wooden cart but, as it spun, Grace could see sharp-edged, star-shaped objects spitting from its spokes. One of them shot towards her, glancing off her shoulder.

‘Ow!’ she yelled, as a ripple of pain spread across her back and down her body.

Across the river, she could see Jenny buckling over with the same pain. But Grace was the first to recover. She
straightened
and turned just in time to see a creeping weed rush out of the undergrowth and snatch her ankle. Two more stars glanced off her knee and right arm, but as Grace began to fall, one of the stars ricocheted, slicing through the plant that held her leg. She scrambled to her feet.

From across the river, it looked like Jenny had gained control of every tree, plant and weed. There was a massive rustling of foliage before what looked like the entire bank reared up and lunged for Grace. She launched herself into the sky, reeling against the impact of more shooting stars, before diving headfirst into the river.

The pressure of the water felt like a protective cushion. Grace jerked horizontal to skim speedily along the river bottom, planning to stay under for as long as her breath would
allow. Within seconds, though, the pressure had changed; she felt the river pushing at her from behind. Something massive was forming in the water. She turned around to face a giant set of jaws, lined with jagged teeth.

The creature behind her had a huge serpent-like body that moved through the water at terrific speed. Grace looked up. In a flash she had opened the sphere of a brand new companion above the surface of the river. Through the glassy murkiness, she could see its pointed head and enormous scaly body readying itself, before it sliced down through the water, plunging its teeth into the neck of Jenny’s serpent.

Grace’s lungs were now screaming for oxygen, but she was swept, powerless, in the surging water as the dragon and
serpent
battled each other. Churning in the raging rapids, her head felt heavy, spots were appearing before her eyes, and she knew she was losing consciousness. With her last clear thought, she begged for help…

The very next moment, she was rocketing out of the water, the wonderful relief of cool air filling her lungs, and her dragon at her back. Remaining airborne for a moment, she turned to see her scaly companion dropping beneath her, his eyes fixed on hers. Suddenly, he shrieked in pain as Jenny’s serpent clenched its jaws around his scaly tail, almost tearing it from his body. Shakily raising her hand, Grace waved over the shrieking dragon, and he popped into nothing, revealing the gaping mouth of the serpent beneath. Now almost numb
with weakness, Grace pushed herself back into the air,
narrowly
avoiding the snapping jaws and, with one last effort, threw herself onto the far shore. She hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop. With the wind knocked out of her, she could do nothing for a moment but gasp for breath and feel the soreness that pulsed from her head to her feet.

When she could breathe again, Grace turned onto her back and grimaced. She reached behind her and pulled out the Balau Dowser that had managed to stay lodged in her waistband during the whole ordeal. She held it up to her face, but her eyes focused past it on a figure in the sky,
silhouetted
against the moon. It was Jenny – and she was plunging headfirst towards her.

With lightning speed, Grace wrenched the hair bobbin from her hair and snatched a pebble from the ground. Jenny was just metres away when Grace snapped the bobbin over the dowser, and fired the pebble from the makeshift
slingshot
. The stone struck Jenny’s cheek and she fell to the bank, screaming and clutching her face. Before she could recover, Grace scrambled over, on her hands and knees, and snapped the ribbon from her neck.

Collapsing onto her heels, she heaved a sigh of relief. It was over.

Ms Gold and the others joined them on the far bank.

‘She cheated,’ Jenny hissed, as Grace tucked the dowser out of sight.

‘There were no rules to break, remember?’ she said.

Ms Gold took a long look at Jenny, still curled on the ground, nursing the deep cut on her cheek.

‘Tomorrow,’ the teacher said. ‘We will eliminate him tomorrow.’

19

A RUDE AWAKENING

‘Grace! Wake up!’

Grace’s eyes were sticky with sleep as they blinked open.

‘Grace!’ her mum called again.

Her bedroom curtains were closed, but there was plenty of light. Grace guessed it was late morning or early afternoon.

‘Yeah, Mum?’ she croaked.

‘Your friend’s here to see you…’ She heard her mum’s voice quieten before she shouted again. ‘It’s Delilah.’

Grace frowned. Delilah had never called to her house before. For a split second she saw the Delilah from her
nightmare
– at Vera’s side, stabbing her with a dagger. She shivered and tipped her feet onto the floor.

‘Hurry up, love,’ her mum called. ‘I’m not spending all day shouting at you from down here.’

Grace pulled on a pair of jeans and a hoody, and quickly brushed her teeth in the bathroom. Almost as an
afterthought
, she shoved the dowser into the waistband of her jeans. Downstairs, Delilah was standing just inside the front door.

‘Your friend insisted on waiting for you at the door,’ Grace’s mum smiled. ‘And won’t let me tempt her with some cookies or orange juice. Are you sure there’s nothing you’d like, pet?’

Delilah shook her head shyly and Grace’s mum shrugged.

‘Oh, well, I tried,’ she said. ‘I’m heading out the back now to put those azaleas in. Lovely to meet you, Delilah.’

When they were alone, Delilah grabbed Grace’s sleeve and looked up at her earnestly.

‘I have to show you something,’ she whispered.

Grace could feel her hand shaking on her hoody, and her eyes were even wider than usual. She was nervous.

‘What is it?’

The small girl shook her head.

‘I can’t tell you. I have to show you.’

Twenty minutes later, and Grace could barely keep up with her young friend as they raced across the rickety wooden bridge and down the road that led to Delilah’s house. They turned in to the muddy path between trees that blocked out most of the daylight. Even in the early
afternoon
sunshine, the run-down house looked just as dark
as it had the first time Grace had seen it.

‘I can’t stay long,’ Grace said breathlessly. ‘Ms Gold says we’re going after the Mirrorman tonight, and I still haven’t gotten the dowser to Beth and Meredith. It’s going to be a close one.’

The other girl didn’t reply, but lit the oil lamp on the porch and hurried inside. At the back of the house the
familiar
mouldy smell permeated the kitchen, but the table had been pushed to one side and a single chair remained in the centre of the room.

‘Sit down,’ the girl said, ‘and I’ll be right back.’

Puzzled, Grace took the offered seat and waited. A few minutes passed.

‘Delilah,’ she called impatiently. ‘I told you I can’t wait around. Ms Gold–’

‘Ms Gold, what?’

Grace jumped. In the darkness of the far corner she saw something move, and a figure emerge from the shadows.

‘Ms Gold!’ said Grace, perplexed.

‘It’s good to see you again so soon, Grace,’ the teacher said. ‘I was very impressed with your performance yesterday. Impressed and, I have to say, rather surprised.’

‘But what are you–’

Suddenly, an odd sensation shot through Grace’s mouth, and her tongue stopped moving. The same feeling crept from her toes and her fingertips – a stinging numbness like she’d
just come in out of the freezing cold and her hands and feet were warming up too quickly.

‘You’re a fast thinker,’ the woman went on, ignoring Grace’s distress, ‘and your reflexes aren’t bad. It’s a shame, really.’

The numbness had spread throughout Grace’s body, as far as her neck. She willed her arms to move, but they were
useless
. Her head tipped to one side, and she could see Delilah standing frozen, just outside the kitchen door, with a silk scarf in her hands. Grace tried to signal for her to run, but the rest of her face had succumbed to the stinging paralysis.

‘I’m afraid you’ll be staying here for a while.’ Ms Gold sauntered in front of her chair, examining her fingernails. ‘The lash, Delilah.’

Ms Gold looked up, as if talking to the wall behind Grace.

‘The
lash
, child!’

‘Yes, Mother,’ the tiny voice replied.

Mother?
A gurgled cry of disbelief escaped Grace’s throat. Delilah approached her with the scarf and, avoiding her gaze, wrapped it around her shoulders and secured it at her back. The silk felt solid, like a steel chain cutting into Grace’s arms.

‘There,’ Ms Gold said. ‘We can be a little more civilised now.’

The numbness lifted and Grace could feel her limbs again, but she remained firmly tied to the chair. Struggling to speak, she found she could barely mumble.

‘Why? Why are you doing this?’

The woman smiled.

‘I would have liked for you to join your friends in our little adventure this evening,’ she said, her wide grin revealing her perfect, white teeth, ‘but I have a terrible feeling you’ve been keeping something from me. You see, Creepy Bob was a thorn in my side many years ago. But I removed that thorn. So tell me this, little one…’

She leaned over and gazed into Grace’s eyes, that horrible grin still lighting up her face.

‘…who set him free?’

Grace glanced at Delilah, but the girl stared fixedly at the floor. Ms Gold gently swept a stray strand of hair behind Grace’s ear.

‘She can’t help you, little one. Just tell me the truth, and I’ll let you go. I promise.’

The woman stood up and drew a glowing ‘X’ over her heart with one finger.

‘Cross. My. Heart.’

‘I don’t know.’ Grace’s voice cracked.

‘Was it Beth?’

Grace shook her head.

‘Vera?’

Another shake of the head.

‘
You
?’

‘I don’t know who set him free.’

The luminous cheeks flushed red for a split second.

‘Then you are going to be here for a very, very long time.’

Hours later, Ms Gold was gone, and the shadows had moved across the kitchen floor with the sun. It was twilight now, and there was very little light in the room.

Grace ached all over, still strapped into the chair, and was getting light-headed with hunger and worry. Once more, she focused on the rotting wooden table and tried to
originate
a new companion that could snap her silk binding. But, once again, the sphere fizzled to nothing before she could set the animal free.

‘It won’t work,’ a small voice said. ‘The lash won’t let you.’

Delilah’s brown eyes peeked from around the doorframe.

‘I thought you left with your…
mother
.’ Grace said bitterly. The small girl shook her head.

‘I’ve to keep an eye on you.’

Grace wriggled against the lash.

‘The least you could do is loosen it – just a little? It
hurts
.’

She gave an exaggerated look of pain, but dropped it when the girl didn’t budge from her spot outside the door. She tried another tack.

‘Delilah, you lied to her. You didn’t tell her where the Mirrorman came from,’ said Grace. ‘Why?’

‘She’s afraid of him.’

‘And you want her to be afraid?’

Delilah shrugged.

‘If you let me go, we can stop her from destroying him,’ said Grace. ‘Then she’ll stay afraid.’

‘I can’t let you go.’

‘Please!’ Grace begged.

‘I can’t break the lash.’

Grace’s shoulders sagged against the silk scarf, and the pressure made her head even lighter. A single tear dropped from her face and landed on her knee.

‘I really thought you were my friend.’

Delilah stood watching her from the door jamb, then turned away and disappeared into the house.

Grace drifted reluctantly into sleep, and dreamed. But not peacefully.

She was back in the scene the Mirrorman had shown her – Adie and Rachel on their knees with their hands bound, a momentary image of Una with her head bowed, screaming and crying. But Grace wasn’t just watching this time. She could
feel
everything, like she was really there. She could feel how terrified they were, she could hear their screams as if they were coming from inside her own head. But she was useless. She was so close to them, but she couldn’t reach them. Her arms wouldn’t move and her legs were frozen. Then Adie lifted her head and the look of horror on her face made Grace’s blood run cold. All at once, Grace was in front
of the enchanted mirror, watching the face with one blue eye and one staring white. His mouth stretched in a
discordant
scream, and his face launched at her.

‘Nooo!’ Grace screamed into the darkness.

She awoke. She was still in the kitchen, and it was night. Her neck was stiff and the muscles screamed when she lifted her head. As she stretched against the soreness, she heard the far off sound of a train.

Grace’s head snapped to attention, despite the wrenching pain, and she listened intently. The train kept coming.

Clickety-click-click

Clickety-click-click

She closed her eyes and crossed her fingers.

Clickety-click-click

Clickety-click-click

Her prayers were answered. The foghorn blast
reverberated
through the kitchen, the chair disappeared beneath her, and she landed in muck on the woodland floor.

Adie leaned against the wall of the P block, tugging
nervously
at the beaded bracelets around her wrists.

‘How do these keep us safe, Miss?’ she asked.

‘They’re a simple repellent, Adie,’ Ms Gold replied. ‘He won’t like to go near them, so please make sure you keep them on your wrists at all times.’

Adie glanced at Rachel who shrugged, tugging at her own bracelets. Una sat cross-legged on the floor, watching intently as Ms Gold finished drawing an oblong
diamond-shape
around the mouth of the demon well. One point was much higher than the others, and decorated with ornate swirls. When the symbol was complete, Jenny placed white stones at each of the plainer points.

‘Why is that one bit all fancy, Miss?’ asked Una.

‘It’s where I’ll stand, Una,’ replied Ms Gold, ‘as leader of the coven.’

‘And he’ll just come to us?’ said Adie.

‘Yes.’

‘How come there are only three other points?’

‘Jenny will stand behind me.’

‘How will she cast her part of the net over him if she’s behind you?’ Adie heard the teacher take a deep breath and exhale.

‘Miss?’ she asked again. ‘How–’

‘ENOUGH!’ Ms Gold’s voice echoed through the empty block.

Adie felt the prickle of goose-bumps down her arms.

‘Enough questions,’ the teacher said finally. ‘Everyone take your places.’

Una glanced nervously at Adie and Rachel before
hurrying
to take her spot on the diamond.

‘Where’s Grace?’ Rachel whispered to Adie as they made
their way towards the mouth of the well.

‘I don’t know,’ Adie whispered back. ‘I don’t like this.’

‘It’ll be okay.’ Rachel placed a comforting hand on her arm. ‘Ms Gold knows what she’s doing.’