The Broken Spell (7 page)

‘Right, everyone sit down and be quiet!’ shouted the same skinny teacher, now wearing old-fashioned, thin-rimmed glasses. ‘Who are you two?’

Grace gulped.

‘We’re new,’ said Una, dragging Grace to a free desk.

The teacher stared at them for a long moment.

‘Then sit down and pay attention.’

Grace sat sweating in the front row. She could feel Una’s foot jiggling nervously beside her.

‘They can’t have just disappeared,’ Una whispered.

‘Well, they did. They were there one minute and gone the next.’

‘Detention for talking! See me after school!’ The teacher glared at them above her spectacles. When she turned back to the board Una whispered again.

‘We have to get out of here. We have to find them.’

‘It’s going to look a bit suspicious if we just get up and run out of the class.’

‘Then we’ll do it stealthy-like.’

‘We can’t,’ said Grace.

‘We’ve no choice. Ready?’

‘What? Wait, what are–’

‘Now!’

Grace watched in horror as Una slid beneath the desk and commando-crawled across the floor. Leaping to her feet, she swung the door open.

‘Code red, Grace! Move, move,
move
!’ she yelled as she threw herself into the hallway and started running.

Grace went puce as the entire class turned to look at her. She glanced up at the open-mouthed teacher apologetically.

‘Em…’

Not knowing what else to do, she launched herself over the desk, landing painfully on her right ankle, and scrambled through the open door.

‘What took you so long?’ Una was panting at the end of
the corridor.

Grace fought to catch her breath, then gasped and pointed as the teacher came thundering towards them.

‘Fudge!’ said Una, pushing through the exit. ‘Run!’

They tripped over each other as they raced back to the grassy area that would one day become the P block. There was still no sign of their friends, and the teacher wasn’t giving up the chase.

‘What do we do, Grace?’

‘I don’t know. Just let me think. Maybe they got pushed into one of the classrooms, like we did. Maybe–’

‘What’s that noise?’ Una interrupted. ‘Do you hear that?’

Grace didn’t hear the question. The dark clouds above them were threatening a storm, and the first of the rain had begun to fall. Blinking through the downpour she could see a dark figure standing at the edge of the woods, watching them. She felt Una tug at her arm and somewhere in the distance there was the metallic sound of a train coming…

Clickety-click-click

Clickety-click-click

The figure stood, cloaked in a black slicker with the hood low. Grace squinted in the rain, trying to see the face.

Clickety-click-click

Clickety-click-click

She could make out the screech of the teacher behind her and Una’s panicked voice begging her to run, but she
couldn’t take her eyes from the hooded figure.

Clickety-click-click

Clickety-click-click

Grace felt a rush through her body as the sound of the train filled her ears and a light began to grow in the air around her. The figure lifted its head and the hood pulled back just enough to reveal what was underneath.

Grace sucked in a breath, too terrified to scream. She felt Una grab hold of her as the light flashed bright, illuminating the man beneath the hood for a split second. Enough time for Grace to take in the pallid, withered face, with one blue eye, and one white.

BAAAAAAARM!

Grace’s skull pulsed with pain as the foghorn sound blared and faded. She felt warm arms wrap around her.

‘Thank God!’ said Adie. ‘We didn’t know where you guys were!’

Blinking against her headache, Grace opened her eyes to see Adie’s brow furrowed with worry. Una was fending off the coddling embraces of Rachel and Jenny.

‘Where’ve you been?’ said Jenny. ‘We bounced back here and you were just… gone.’

They were back in the safety of the P block lab with the dusty remains of the incense sticks scattered across the floor.

‘It was totally mad,’ said Una. ‘We saw a young Ms Lemon and a young Cat Lady Quinlan with spiky red hair!’

‘We were there for that bit, Una,’ said Jenny.

‘Oh yeah, sorry. Well, Grace and I got pushed into this classroom and then we had to make a break for it. Then we got chased by that teacher. She nearly had us. She was, like… and then we were… and then I could hear this train sound and then we totally disappeared! Bet she’s freaking out right about now. Is it raining in here?’

‘It
was
raining,’ Grace said, staring into space, ‘
there
.’

‘Grace?’ Adie rubbed her arm. ‘Are you okay?’

‘He was there. How was he there?’

‘Who?’

Grace felt her hands tremble.

‘The Mirrorman.’

6

A BLONDE BOMBSHELL

‘Is it Cat Lady or Lemon tonight? I can’t remember,’ Jenny sighed as the girls headed to class.

‘Mrs Quinlan, I think,’ said Adie. ‘I’ll check with Ms Lemon on the way to Irish.’

‘Ugh. Let’s just skip it and go see Ms Gold instead.’

Grace didn’t have the energy to explain why they couldn’t skip their theory lessons. The withered face of the
Mirrorman
was burned on her memory and she just couldn’t stop picturing the black slicker at the edge of the woods.

‘Whoops, sorry.’

She barely noticed when James O’Connor bumped into her, but blushed a bright pink when he smiled in apology before moving on.

‘Hee, hee, hee,’ said Una. ‘Still hung up on him then?’

‘Shut up, Una.’ Grace elbowed her arm and Una’s carton of orange juice squirted all over her jumper, making her squeal.

‘Sorry,’ said Grace.

‘No bother. Gives me a good reason to be late for class.’

‘Why don’t you do a Glamour spell?’ said Rachel.

‘Me?’ said Grace. ‘What for?’

‘To get his attention. James’s. You could make yourself look like Marilyn Monroe. He’d definitely ask you out then. Men go mad for the Marilyn Monroe look. All blonde hair and red lips.’

‘Why would I want to look like Marilyn Monroe? Then he wouldn’t know it was me.’

‘Wonder if we can do that,’ Rachel mused. ‘Look
exactly
like someone else, I mean.’

‘See you, guys,’ said Adie, veering off to the A block.

‘Tell Mr Kilroy I’ll be late,’ said Una. ‘Had an incident with my orange juice. Make it sound like a disaster.’

‘Will do!’

Adie ducked past Mr Kilroy as she headed to Ms Lemon’s classroom first. The door was slightly ajar and there were no students waiting outside. She tipped open the door and was about to call out when she caught sight of a small figure in school uniform standing at the desk. The figure was rifling through an open drawer. Even stooped over, with her hair covering her face, Adie easily recognised Delilah’s tiny frame. She watched as the small girl rummaged through papers,
pulling out a wooden object on a leather cord, staring intently at it, then throwing it back in.

‘Waiting for me, Adie?’

Adie jumped at the sound of Ms Lemon’s voice behind her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Delilah do the same and quickly close the drawer.

‘Em, yes, Miss. I was just checking if… if we’ve got a lesson later with you or–’

‘You’re with Vera this evening,’ the teacher replied, turning as Delilah walked out of her room with a timid smile. ‘Were you looking for me too?’

‘Mr Owens will be late for your department meeting today,’ Delilah almost whispered in her soft accent. ‘He said for me to tell you.’

‘Oh, well, thank you. You can head off to class now. You too, Adie.’

Adie nodded in reply, catching the small girl’s brown eyes for a moment as Delilah hurried down the corridor.

Grace watched the seconds ticking by on the clock on the wall. Three minutes left. She hated Irish. Well, she didn’t
hate
it. But she didn’t
like
it. It was one subject she wasn’t
particularly
good at, and that bothered her. She was mostly an A student, but in Irish she was a B. Stupid Irish.

‘Erp!’ Jenny slapped her hand over her own mouth.

Some heads turned their way.

‘What is it?’ Grace whispered.

‘Don’t look back.’

Grace instinctively turned her head.

‘I said
don’t
look back!’ Jenny hissed. ‘Okay, look back, but don’t let anyone see you.’

Confused, Grace pretended to scratch her neck, glancing towards the back of the classroom just long enough to catch a glimpse of platinum blonde curls and ruby lips.

‘Oh my
God
.’

Sitting in the back row, with a pen held between her teeth and one hand absentmindedly twisting a strand of hair, was Marilyn Monroe.

‘Why did she do that?’ Grace gasped.

‘Don’t know,’ said Jenny. ‘But she’s getting awesome at Glamour.’

‘Yeah, but why
now
? People are going to notice.’

‘She mustn’t realise.’

‘We’ll have to signal her somehow.’

‘How?’ Jenny asked. ‘Without making anyone else look back?’

Grace pulled a hair bobbin from her pocket, and twisted the eraser off the end of her pencil.

‘You’ll have to create a distraction,’ she said, ‘while I get her attention.’

‘What kind of distraction?’

‘Anything. Just make sure you get people looking forward, not back.
Hurry
.’

Grace tucked the eraser into one end of the bobbin and readied it to fire. There was a sudden whoosh of air beside her and a loud bang as Jenny leapt up onto the desk, pointing at a spot in front or her and shrieking.

‘Rat! There’s a rat!’

She stared and pointed frantically, as if following the
creature
to the front of the class. Other students began to squeal and a few climbed on tables.

‘Jenny!’ Mrs Hennelly shouted. ‘Get down from there immediately.’

‘There’s a rat, Miss!’ Jenny’s voice was still a high-pitched screech. ‘Right there. It’s right near you, Miss!’

Mrs Hennelly opened her mouth to speak again but glanced nervously at the floor, eventually kneeling on her own chair, lifting both feet off the ground.

Grace swiftly turned, pulled the bobbin taut and let the eraser fly. It smacked into Rachel’s cheek and, luckily, the hysterical noise in the classroom covered her loud

‘Ow!’

She glared at Grace in confusion. Grace immediately pointed to her own face, pinched her cheeks, pouted her lips and tugged at handfuls of her hair. Rachel stared at her for a moment before starting to touch her own face and hair. She jumped in realisation and shook her head roughly to try
and shake off the Glamour spell. Grace could see just a few strands of straight dark hair spilling out through the yellow curls, and the ruby lips shrink a little, but that was it. The spell seemed stuck. Marilyn Monroe just wouldn’t leave.

‘More,’ Grace hissed at Jenny.

‘What?’

‘More,’ Grace repeated. ‘Give it loads. I’ve got to get Rach out of the classroom.’

Jenny shrieked even louder at their teacher.

‘Argh! Can’t you
see
it, Miss?’ she yelled.

By now, Mrs Hennelly was on all fours on top of her desk.

‘It’s foaming at the mouth! I think it’s got plague. Don’t let it bite me, Miss!’

That was the last straw for the class. A few students bolted for the door, followed by everyone else. In the confusion, Grace grabbed hold of Rachel, pulled her jumper over her head, started running and didn’t stop until they reached the girls’ toilets.

‘Shake it off, Rach!’ she said.

‘I’m trying!’ said Rachel, her face red from the exertion.

Slowly, but surely, the Marilyn curls disappeared beneath sprouting strands of Rachel’s dark hair, her lips lost their ruby tint and the dark beauty spot beside her mouth faded into her porcelain skin.

‘What was that?’ said Grace. ‘What did you do that in class for? We could’ve been caught.’

‘I didn’t know it had worked,’ Rachel replied, still catching her breath. ‘I just did it quick, I wasn’t even trying.’

The door burst open and Jenny marched in.

‘That was
amazing
,’ she said, grinning.

Rachel smiled bashfully and shook her head.

‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I was just trying it out and–’

‘Don’t apologize,’ Jenny interrupted. ‘That was
incredible
. You’re getting so good at it. You were totally Marilyn Monroe. Amazing!’

‘Not
amazing
,’ said Grace sternly. ‘Dangerous. There’s no way we could have explained that if anyone saw. Lucky you were stuck in the corner of class. I don’t know how Mrs Hennelly didn’t spot you.’

‘I know, I’m sorry,’ Rachel replied.

‘We have to be careful if we’re going to go on trying out spells. I’m starting to think Mrs Quinlan and Ms Lemon were right.’

‘Oh, here we go,’ said Jenny, rolling her eyes.

‘What?’

‘Siding with them again. They’re not right, Grace, they’re just nervous about letting us have any control. They’re afraid of what we can do.’

‘And they’re right to be!’ Grace’s voice rose. ‘Have you forgotten how much trouble we caused last time, by
summoning
a demon?’

‘No, I haven’t forgotten.’ Jenny pursed her lips. ‘But it
hasn’t terrified me out of doing magic altogether. We got through that with flying colours. No-one got hurt–’

‘No-one got
hurt
?’

‘Not really, no.’

‘We nearly
killed
the Beast!’

‘But we
didn’t
kill her!’ Jenny was shouting now. ‘We fixed it, the way we just fixed this. We’ll make mistakes, Grace, but have to make them so we can
learn
.’

‘This isn’t learning, this is messing around, and it’s really dangerous!’

‘
Please
stop fighting,’ Rachel said suddenly.

She looked from Grace to Jenny, as they stared at each other.

‘Look, you’re both right,’ she said. ‘Yeah, it worked out as quite a cool spell but there’s no way I should even have attempted it in class. It was silly. I could’ve got us all in a lot of trouble.’

Grace lowered her eyes and said softly,

‘I didn’t mean to give out to you, Rach, it’s just–’

‘I know. You’re looking out for us and that’s great. And Jenny just wants us to get better at magic, and that’s great too. But I won’t try any spells in class again, I promise.’

‘Well, just don’t try them out at Mrs Quinlan’s tonight anyway,’ Grace said with a grin.

The other two smiled at the thought.

‘No problem,’ said Rachel.