The Broken Spell (8 page)
Authors: Erika McGann
The following afternoon, the girls were with Ms Gold.
‘Higher, girls, higher!’ Ms Gold cheered. ‘Don’t stop now, you’re doing so well!’
Grace couldn’t watch. Every time she opened her eyes and saw the ground falling away beneath her, she had a flashback to that awful moment on the gabled roof of the shop that she and Adie had almost fallen from last year, the first time they’d tried to fly. Now she was flying again, as high as she dared – almost to the top branches of a sycamore – but she kept one arm outstretched, waiting to grab the branches if she should suddenly drop. Adie was just a few feet from her, also keeping her fingertips in amongst the leaves of a branch. Flying had been the most wonderful thing they had ever experienced, but it had already very nearly killed them both.
‘Don’t be so afraid, Grace and Adie,’ Ms Gold called from the floor of the woods. ‘Let yourselves go. Be free!’
Grace pushed herself a little further from the tree, but refused to go any further. Una, despite her best efforts, hadn’t gotten any higher than Grace and Adie. She flipped and swung awkwardly, grabbing at Grace’s ankles as she tried to right herself.
‘How do you get up straight?’ she squealed. ‘I keep falling over.’
‘Tighten those core muscles,’ Ms Gold called, ‘and keep your feet hip-width apart until you can hold your position.’
As Una flailed below her, Grace could hear the happy shouts of Jenny and Rachel above. They’d flown very high into the sky and Grace was nervous for them. They swooped and somersaulted, swinging each other around and letting go with shrieks of delight. She hoped the lesson would be over soon.
‘Right, girls,’ their teacher shouted as Rachel and Jenny dropped down lower to listen. ‘I want to see how high you can go. Don’t hold back, don’t be afraid, just shoot as high as you dare.’
Grace drifted a little above the sycamore tree before
gliding
down to the ground. She felt Adie land gently beside her, and Una land in a heap at her feet. Above them, Rachel and Jenny were going higher and higher. They were so far away she could barely make them out, they were just specks in the
sky. Silently, she begged them to come back down. After a few minutes she could see Rachel moving smoothly down towards them, her dark hair fluttering in the wind.
‘Couldn’t beat her,’ she said as she landed with a grin. ‘She just kept on going.’
Grace’s stomach tightened in a knot. She looked at Ms Gold, but the woman was staring up at the sky, a smile spreading across her luminous face.
Eventually, the tiny black dot in the sky grew and grew until Grace could make out Jenny’s shape. But something was wrong. She was going far too fast. She was no longer flying. She was falling.
Grace’s heart leapt into her throat and she grabbed hold of Ms Gold’s wrist. Above her, Jenny was plummeting, her hair whipping above her as she fell. Grace could hear screaming.
‘No, Jenny, no!’ Grace shook Ms Gold’s arm. ‘Do
something
! Save her!’
‘Wait,’ the woman said, a smile still playing on her lips. ‘Just wait.’
Grace looked up again in horror, Jenny’s screams getting louder and louder. Until she realised they weren’t screams. Jenny was whooping and shouting as she fell. She was
dropping
on purpose.
‘Stop, Jenny! Slow down!’
The falling girl laughed, and waited until the very last second before pulling up, only a few feet from the ground.
She whooshed past her friends, sending torn plants and weeds flying in her wake. Then, soaring up into a wide
back-flip
, she lowered herself gently to the ground.
‘Brilliant!’ Ms Gold was clapping feverishly. ‘Absolutely brilliant! You’re fearless, Jenny, just fearless.’ She cupped
Jenny’s
face in her hands. ‘A true witch.’
Jenny blushed and grinned up at the golden teacher’s smile.
Grace was silent as they trudged home through the woods. She felt physically sick after the shock of watching Jenny fall, and every time her friend laughed and joked about it she fought the urge to reach out and slap her. She hurried past Ms Gold and the others, afraid she might actually throw up.
‘You okay?’ Una said, catching up to her.
‘Fine.’
‘You don’t look fine. You’re really white.’
Grace bit back tears and kept walking.
‘Is it because Jenny’s doing really well at the magic stuff?’ said Una. ‘You don’t have to worry about that.
You’re
good at loads of stuff. And you’ll get better, we all will. Sure, look at me. I spent the whole lesson with my feet in the air!’
‘Una, it’s not that–’
Grace stopped suddenly. She could hear something in the distance. It was getting closer. A metallic sound.
Clickety-click-click
Clickety-click-click
‘Do you hear that?’ said Grace. ‘Sounds like a train.’
Una shook her head.
‘It’s getting closer.’
Clickety-click-click
Clickety-click-click
‘Oh no!’
‘Grace? No, it can’t be.’ Una put her hands to her face and kept shaking her head.
‘Una, I’m scared.’ She reached out to grab her friend, but suddenly the sound was upon her.
Clickety-click-click
Clickety-click-click
Grace squinted against the bright flash of light and the thunderous foghorn blast, covering her ears as she fell to her knees. When she opened her eyes, she was alone in the dark.
The air was cold and she was breathing mist. She could feel the crackling of twigs and leaves beneath her as she slowly got to her feet. The woods were so quiet even her breath seemed too loud. She fought to slow her breathing and mute the sound, but that made the silence even worse. Stepping in the direction of the school, she winced at the noise she made. It seemed like every creature in the woods was listening to her, watching her. In the dim light of the stars even the trees looked sinister, stretching their black branches out to catch her hair and scratch her skin. She remembered her
frightening
experience in the stone house, when she had waited in the dark for the trapped souls that had whispered and
screamed. Alone in the derelict bungalow, she remembered the punches coming out of nowhere, invisible hands and fists that beat her and drew blood.
Grace moved as quickly as she dared. But as she neared the edge of the woods there was a flicker of movement to her right. She froze. There, not too far from her, was something blacker than the dark. She stared and stared until… there, it moved again. It wasn’t an animal. Its surface was black and glossy. A black slicker. With a hood.
Grace ran. She ran as if her life depended on it. The entrance to the woods was just ahead of her. Beyond that she could see the outline of the school building. She could hear the Mirrorman behind her. His feet pounded in time with hers, his breathing was loud and coarse. His slicker made a
shish shish
sound as he chased her.
Her legs were burning as she rounded the school gates. Through the glass corridor there was a hint of light. There was someone still in the school. If she could get there, she’d be safe.
There was a grunt in his breathing now as they sprinted towards the door. Grace ignored the increasing pain in her legs and smacked through the doorway, turning just in time to avoid his grasping hand, and bolting towards the light.
The light was coming from the library. As she burst through the door, she threw a glance over her shoulder.
Nothing. He was gone.
‘This isn’t a game,’ a voice was saying from deep inside the library. ‘This
anomaly
of yours – we don’t know what force we could pull out of there. It could kill us all!’
Grace ducked down to her hunkers and peeked around a bookcase. The young Mrs Quinlan – Vera – sat on a desk with one foot on a chair, and one elbow leaning on her knee. Grace was back in 1977.
‘So what, we just ignore it?’ Meredith Gold was opposite her, pacing impatiently. ‘It’s an area of
intense
magic, right here in the school! We were
meant
to find it, Vera, don’t you get it? This is what we’re here for.’
‘
Meant
to find it? Would you listen to yourself? God, Meredith, you’re such a child.’
‘We don’t even know what’s down there.’ Grace had almost missed Beth Lemon, who sat half-hidden behind Vera, with her long fringe covering one eye. ‘The edge is burning with energy.’
‘Then let’s find out!’ Meredith threw her hands in the air in exasperation.
‘We
are
finding out,’ said Vera.
‘With stupid Parsing spells and energy enchantments? Why not just sit there with a clipboard and a pen for all
that’s
worth?’
‘You’re talking about opening up this world to another
realm
.’
‘I’m talking about picking up the box and giving it a
shake!’ said Meredith. ‘Let’s see what comes out.’
Vera kicked her boot off the chair and stood, turning her back to Meredith as she adjusted her piercings and pulled her denim jacket closed.
‘We’ll keep going with Beth’s invocations and get as much information as we can. End of story.’
Meredith stared coldly at the back of Vera’s head and didn’t reply. Grace was so intent on the scene in front of her, she almost didn’t hear it. A gentle
shish shish
sound behind her.
Slowly Grace looked back over her shoulder. There he was, just a few metres away behind a bookcase, his hooded coat blacker than the dark.
Grace jumped to her feet and ran out of the door towards the Main Hall. She could hear her own heart thudding and the sound of the slicker right behind her. But there was that other noise again – that familiar metallic sound…
Clickety-click-click
Clickety-click-click
Grace rounded the corner into the hall, skidding on the linoleum and sliding onto all fours. She yelped as she felt a rush of air at the back of her neck, and his hand just missing her as she lunged forward in the dimness.
Clickety-click-click
Clickety-click-click
Where was the foghorn? She wasn’t safe until it sounded. Ahead of her, Grace could see the turn-off to the staff room.
She swerved to make the corner and felt hands grabbing her and tightening around her waist. She was wrenched
backwards
and spun around. The Mirrorman grabbed a handful of her collar and she was forced to look up into the pasty, withered face. In the gloom his white eye glowed. His thin lips parted to reveal blackened teeth and gums.
‘You don’t belong here,’ said a dead, flat voice.
Grace’s scream mingled with the blasting foghorn sound, and she was blinded by piercing white light. Then she was falling.
Grace smacked onto the floor, face-first, and pain gushed through her. She groaned, cupping her sore cheek, then looked up. On the wall there were framed pictures of the school that she recognised. They were of kids she recognised, in uniforms she recognised. She was back in her own time. And she was alone.
Except that she wasn’t. As Grace climbed to her feet, using a bench to steady her weak knees, a withered hand gripped the corner of the wall. As she pushed off the bench and headed, limping, for the exit, a pair of eyes watched her leave, one blue, one white.
‘La circulation.’
‘La circulation, traffic. Very good, Grace.’
Ms Lemon turned to scrawl the words across the board.
‘Hey,’ Jenny hissed, giving Grace a nudge. ‘Are you not talking to me?’
Grace feigned a casual indifference and shook her head.
‘’Course not. I mean, of course I’m talking to you.’
She didn’t look at Jenny, just pretended to concentrate on the whiteboard. She hadn’t told the others about the
Mirrorman
and she was jumpy. Why
her
? Why was
she
the one hurtling back in time? And when was it going to happen again? When Adie had clicked her pencil-case shut, Grace practically leapt out of her skin.
‘You haven’t talked to me at all since yesterday,’ Jenny went
on. ‘Are you mad at me, or something?’
‘I’m not mad,’ Grace finally turned to look at her, ‘I’m just… Wait, where’d you get that necklace?’
Jenny grinned and fingered the bronze charm at her neck.
‘Ms Gold gave it to me. Cool, isn’t it?’
Grace bit back a pang of jealousy. After all, it had been Jenny who’d insisted on doing the stupid time-travel spell in the first place. And now she was getting rewards for flying dangerously.
‘Did you get that because you won the flying game?’
‘No, just ’cause. She says I’ve got great potential. That I’m fearless – the most important trait a witch can have.’ Jenny fingered the pendant again. ‘She says I’m meant for great things.’
Grace didn’t answer. Jenny dropped the charm and frowned.
‘I
knew
it. You
are
mad at me.’
‘I’m not!’
‘Because of the flying, is that it? Because I’m better at it than you?’
‘No, because you scared me.’
‘It’s because I was better than you,’ said Jenny. ‘You’re just jealous because I’m the best at witchcraft!’
Grace’s face felt hot.
‘I’m
not
jealous! And it was only the flying you were good at. Rachel’s a much stronger Glamourer than you. We’ll all
be good at different things, we just haven’t tried them all yet.’
‘And what if there isn’t even one thing you’re good at?’ Jenny whispered. ‘What if you’re
never
a great witch? Will you stop talking to all of us? You’ll be a right little Mrs
Quinlan
then, won’t you?’
Grace sucked in breath and opened her mouth to retort, but the words stuck in her throat.
‘Jenny,’ Ms Lemon said suddenly. ‘Repeat what I just said.’
Jenny didn’t answer, but continued to stare at Grace.
‘Jenny!’ the teacher said, louder this time. ‘I asked you to repeat what I just said to the class.’
‘I wasn’t listening,’ Jenny replied, slowly looking forward and folding her arms.
‘Excuse me?’
‘I said I wasn’t listening.’
There was silence as Ms Lemon waited for more. Finally, her cheeks flushed a little and she frowned.
‘Right, then get to Mr Collins’s office,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to see you for the rest of the class.’
Jenny gave her a pointed look, then pushed her chair back, stood up and left the room. Grace’s eyes were too full of tears to see properly, but she could feel the teacher’s gaze on her.
Delilah sat on the stones steps at one side of the school
building and chewed quietly on half of Grace’s sandwich.
‘She thinks I’m mad at her over… something,’ said Grace from the step above. ‘But I’m not. And I’m not jealous either.’
The small girl looked up at her with her puppy-dog eyes and said nothing.
‘Well, maybe just a
little
bit jealous. A
tiny
bit. She always jumps in feet first, and I’m always a bit more scared and really careful. But you have to be careful, otherwise…’
Grace sighed and looked down at the girl perched below. It was easy to talk to someone who hardly said anything at all. She smiled and handed Delilah the other half of her sandwich.
‘Do you want it? I don’t feel like eating it right now.’
The girl took it and smiled. Watching her eat hungrily with her head down and her hair covering her face, Grace wondered.
‘Delilah,’ she said, ‘you were there when Jenny broke the window, weren’t you?’
The small girl’s jaw stopped moving and she stared into her sandwich.
‘Did you…?’ Grace wasn’t sure how to ask. ‘Did you see what happened?’
Delilah began chewing again, picking off tiny pieces of crust and dropping them on the ground.
‘You saw, didn’t you?’ said Grace.
The small girl nodded.
‘You didn’t say anything to us.’
The girl shook her head.
‘Did you tell anyone else?’
Another shake of the head.
‘Weren’t you curious? Don’t you know want to know about Ms Gold? And us?’
Delilah shrugged shyly and continued picking at the
sandwich
. Grace thought that felt like a
yes
, but didn’t know how to reply. Finally, Delilah lifted her chin and said,
‘It’s like magic.’
Grace smiled and nodded, but the girl suddenly
shouldered
her bag and stood up.
‘I have to go,’ she said.
‘What? But lunch isn’t over yet. We’ve still got another ten minutes.’
‘I have to go,’ Delilah said again, turning and hurrying away, leaving Grace staring after her.
‘Hey, you okay?’
Grace looked behind her to see Adie’s friendly smile.
‘Yeah, I’m fine. Just wanted some fresh air, that’s all.’
‘How come she took off so fast?’ Adie said, nodding in Delilah’s direction.
‘Don’t know,’ Grace replied. ‘Did Jenny ask you to find me?’
‘No. But we all missed you at lunch. We haven’t really talked since you got bounced back in time again. Are you
sure you’re okay?’
Grace nodded quickly.
‘Poor Una really freaked out.’ Adie smiled. ‘Must be the remnants of the spell wearing off or something. I don’t know why it’s just you, but I’m sure it won’t happen again. Jenny and the others really want to hear about it. Why don’t you come back in before the bell goes?’
‘No. Thank you.’
Adie sighed.
‘You both said things you didn’t mean.’
‘
I
didn’t,’ Grace exclaimed. ‘She was the one acting all full of herself.’
‘She’s just excited, that’s all. We all are. We’re doing
real
spells, and they’re actually working.’
Grace didn’t reply.
‘Please come in. You’re not going to sit out here every lunchtime on your own, are you?’
‘I wasn’t on my own.’
‘You should be with your friends.’
‘Delilah is our friend.’
Adie bit her lip and didn’t answer.
‘Why don’t you like her?’ said Grace. ‘She’s really nice, and she’s having a hard time at school.’
‘I know, it’s just, she’s a bit…’
‘A bit what?’
‘A bit strange, that’s all. I’m just not sure about her.’ Adie
held Grace’s eyes with a pleading look.
‘Well, I am,’ Grace said, getting to her feet. ‘You should go back to Jenny and the others. I’ll see you later.’
Grace pretended she didn’t see Adie’s hand reach for her as she walked away.
Shish shish, shish shish.
Grace could see the exit from the woods ahead. She was nearly there, just a few more metres.
Shish shish, shish shish.
There was light outside the woods, like daylight. But in among the trees she was still in the dark. Just a few steps more and she’d be safe. But her feet were sticky. She was slowing down. The ground was turning to treacle underneath her, sucking at her shoes and swallowing her ankles. She dropped to all fours, grabbing at the brown mulch and dragging her body forward. But it wasn’t enough. She sank deeper still, unable to pull her knees free. The daylight in front seemed miles away, the darkness stretching out further and further until the light was just a pinpoint in the distance. There was a rush of air, then a clawing at her neck. She looked back at the gilded frame, twisted around broken shards of glass. The Mirrorman leaned out of it, his mouth gaping horribly wide. His hands reached for her face…
‘No!’
Grace wrestled with the bedcovers until her arms were gently held down and she heard her mother’s voice.
‘It’s alright, sweetheart, it’s just a dream.’
Grace stopped struggling as her eyes focused in the dim light of her bedroom. Her hair was plastered to her forehead and her heart was racing.
‘It’s alright, sweetheart,’ her mum said again.
Sitting up, Grace stretched out her fingers that looked clean and white. But she could almost feel remnants of the sticky ground between them.
‘That must have been some nightmare,’ her mother said, tucking strands of damp hair behind her ears. ‘What was it about?’
The image of the Mirrorman stretching out of the broken mirror was still clear in Grace’s mind, his mouth distended and hideous, his clawed hands grasping for her. She
shuddered
and shook her head.
‘I don’t remember.’
When her mother had left the room, leaving a cup of warm milk by her bedside, Grace lay wide-awake. She
wriggled
her fingers, trying to dispel the grainy feeling of earth between them.
Shish
.
She stopped.
Shish shish.
Fear prickled her skin. The sound was coming from
somewhere in front of her, but all she could see was the dim outline of her desk.
Shish shish.
A book slid from the desk, all by itself, and hit the carpet with a soft thump. Minutes passed before Grace could move. Finally, she steeled her nerves. Slipping her feet onto the floor, she shuffled forward, placed trembling fingers on one corner of the book, and pulled it towards herself. It was Mrs Quinlan’s yearbook, open on a large photograph of the school football pitch.
Grace scrutinized the old photo. Boys in team jerseys hugged each other and punched their fists in the air in
victory
; one of them had been hoisted onto the others’
shoulders
. The ground beneath them was mucky, and their boots and socks and the ball at their feet were all covered in mud. The sky was overcast, but it didn’t look like it was raining. In the background she could see the hedge that led to Mrs Quinlan’s street. And something else. Some
one
else. Right at the end of the field. He held a rake in one hand, and a black bag in the other. A pile of leaves reached to his knees just below his black, hooded slicker. He was looking right into the camera, right at
her
.
Grace slammed the book shut and threw herself under the duvet, pulling it all the way over her head.