by R K Dreaming
And the more Bella spoke, the more people muttered.
Because there was a slightly desperate look in Bella’s eyes, and had Bella not been trying so hard to joke the whole thing off, to palm it off on Percy’s craziness, perhaps people would have let it slide.
Percy’s heart began thundering. It was now or never. This was the moment to make people stop and think. She tried to snatch the microphone back from Bella, but Bella would not let her have it.
“I mean love potion!” scoffed Bella, her voice high pitched now. “Puh-lease! As if there’s any such thing!”
And then even Bella blanched. Because she had looked into the crowd, the eldritch half, and realized that she had said the exact wrong thing.
22. The Showdown
Headmistress Glory stalked onto the stage and took the microphone away from Bella, who handed it over limply, almost as if stunned by the realization of the mistake she had made.
The headmistress smiled at the crowd, and coolly said, “Thanks for being such a wonderful audience tonight. Please bear with us a few moments while the judge’s tally up their final scores and we will return to you shortly to announce the winner.”
The eldritch half of the crowd, sensing the matter had been put into the hands of somebody they could trust, did not protest. Not much anyway — although Bella’s mother and father did hurry up towards the stage in a manner of much agitation.
To Percy’s surprise, Bella’s parents were intercepted by two people who were not teachers. Two people who Percy recognized from Tuesday night, when Judge Emma had died. They were a witch and wizard from the Conclave of Magic.
Percy raised her eyebrows at Headmistress Glory, who gave her a small nod. Percy’s heart swelled. The headmistress had listened to her! She had asked the Conclave of Magic to keep an eye on the show.
This was wonderful news. There was no one better to test the judge’s drinks for love potion.
Heart thundering, Percy looked towards Lucifer. She was glad to see he was still in the crowd and well away from the witches and wizards from the conclave.
He was lounging in the seat where she had left him, a tiny frown marring his perfectly handsome face.
He looked at her enquiringly, and Percy tightened her shoulders in a tiny shrug. “Sorry,” she mouthed.
To her surprise, he did not look angry or hurt or betrayed. A little smile quirked the corners of his mouth. He said something she could not hear, but she was pretty sure it was, “May the best demon win.”
He wasn’t giving up. It wasn’t over yet.
And then the curtain dropped over the stage, and Percy lost sight of him.
The pageant competitors had all been milling around at the edges of the stage, eager to see what all the fuss was about. Mrs Gooding began herding them towards the practice room.
“Daisy,” said Headmistress Glory, calling her back. “I shall require all of the girls to stay here on stage where we can see them. Especially you, Arabella,” the headmistress added sharply.
Because Bella and both her parents had been slinking towards the stage curtain, trying to make an exit down the stairs on one side.
They glared at the headmistress, and when Octavia Smythe-Smith and Felix Fiori blocked their escape route, they muttered in complaint. They eyed the stage curtain as if they were considering making a break for it.
The side of the curtain rippled a little, and Councilor Strickt came through. “What is going on here?” he demanded.
He bustled over to the judges’ table, where all three judges were protesting.
“Of course our marking is completely unbiased,” snapped Judge Georgie.
“I simply cannot understand why all these people are taking an accusation about a love potion seriously!” scoffed Head Judge Alice.
But the witch and wizard from the Conclave of Magic were now examining the orange juice. The witch poured a small amount of juice from the jug into a plastic cup, and swirled her wand around in it.
Her face darkened. She turned towards the headmistress and nodded.
Councilor Strickt’s face went dark as thunder. “Love potion?” he said incredulously.
“Rather a good one too,” said the witch. “It’s definitely that young lady over there in that frilly swan costume that is the subject of their affections. She’s the culprit.”
“It’s a tutu,” shrieked Bella. “Not a silly swan costume!”
“Frilly,” said the witch.
“You said silly. I heard you,” screeched Bella. “You just don’t like me. This isn’t fair!”
“Look at these score sheets,” said the wizard. “They gave her three hundred marks out of ten! It must have been powerful stuff. They’re completely besotted.”
“We’ll need to take the judges with us,” said the witch. “We’ll have to get them dis-enchanted, and they’ll need a memory modification too.”
“Did you want to ask any questions before we take them, councilor?” said the wizard.
Councilor Strickt shook his head, and the wizard led the three protesting judges towards the back stage door. His assurances that this is what Bella wanted them to do rendered them a bit more compliant to his wishes, though all three kept throwing longing glances over their shoulders at her.
The witch paused long enough to say disapprovingly, “It is completely unacceptable to use a love potion on Humbles. And in a public setting too! Unbelievable! The arrogance! The irresponsibility. The girl is a succubus, I believe? Your jurisdiction, councilor. But I shall be sending a strongly worded letter to your superiors. I trust you’ll make sure she gets the adequate punishment!”
She charged off after her colleague.
Councilor Strickt looked furious at having been spoken to publicly in this way by someone from the Conclave of Magic, an organization the Eldritch Council considered their arch rivals.
He rounded on Bella and her parents furiously. “Explain yourselves!”
“How dare you speak to me in this manner?” blustered Mr Osterich.
“Our daughter is innocent!” shouted Mrs Osterich.
“So what if I did it?” shrieked Bella. “It was only a stupid love potion. And it’s only a stupid school pageant. It’s not like it’s breaking the law!”
Both of her parents stared, their mouths opening and closing like flabbergasted fish.
“But Bella, you didn’t!” wailed Mrs Osterich. “You would have won anyway!”
“Blanche was conspiring to cheat me out of my win!” wailed Bella.
“Not conspiring,” said Blanche hurriedly. “Just training!”
Bella threw her a furious look.
“Anyway,” said Mrs Osterich. “You all heard what Bella said. She didn’t break any laws! And no one was hurt!”
“What about Judge Emma?” demanded Percy.
“I think you will find,” said Octavia loudly, “That Bella has broken the international magical secrecy pact! Eldritch beings are not permitted to reveal the existence of magic to Humbles through any means, including feeding them potions!”
“But! But!” Bella looked astonished to hear this. “It wasn’t even me,” she wailed.
Councilor Strickt glared at her. “We have proof it was you. You are the subject of the potion! Do you deny this?”
Her eyes went wide. “No, I mean that was me. I mean, only the love potion part was me…”
“What other parts are there?” he demanded ominously.
“The murder part,” said Percy quickly.
Bella’s mouth snapped shut.
Octavia sneered at Percy. “Will you stop harping on about Judge Emma? This is a matter of a love potion being used to sabotage a beauty pageant. It’s hardly murder!”
“A love potion that you, who was supposed to be keeping an eye on this pageant, wouldn’t even know about if it wasn’t for me!” said Percy.
“And now we do,” snapped Octavia. “What of it? At least I haven’t been gallivanting around the school yapping about murder conspiracy t
heories the whole week. You’ve made yourself look like a fool. And you’re still doing it!”
She gave a shriek of contemptuous laughter, and turned to Councilor Strickt. “You said she should be expelled and put back in her mother’s custody, didn’t you, Councilor Strickt? What more proof do we need that this girl is a liar, completely irresponsible, and probably not safe to be around her fellow students?”
Councilor Strickt was nodding. “That is quite enough, Miss Prince. I have contacted your mother, and she is due to arrive back into the country this weekend. We will deal with you then.”
He put his hand on Percy’s shoulder, and turned to speak to two of his counsel minions. “You two. I need you to escort this girl off the stage.”
The minions grabbed Percy by each arm and began marching her towards the stage curtain. They were going to make her do a perp walk in front of the entire audience!
“Stop it!” Percy snapped. “Hey! What are you doing?”
But the two men were much stronger than her, and Percy was nearly at the curtain.
She glared at Bella. Stupid Bella, who had got caught only for her stupid love potion thing. Not anything else. By the way she was smirking at Percy she knew full well that all she would get was some hefty fine that her father would pay.
And that meant that Bella would be free to come back to school. Bella would be free to walk the streets. And Lucifer Darkwing would be waiting for her.
“Are you going to do something?” shouted Percy at Headmistress Glory.
For a moment she thought the headmistress would do nothing.
And then the headmistress said, “Stop! I want to hear what Miss Prince has to say.”
Her voice was full of such authority that the two council minions stopped dragging Percy immediately.
Percy yanked her arms out of their grip. She charged over to Bella, who tried to take refuge behind her father, but Percy blocked the way.
“Where is your handbag?” she demanded.
Bella’s face went pale. “None of your business!” she squeaked.
Percy looked at the headmistress and Councilor Strickt. “It’s probably in her locker. You need to look inside that handbag. I am telling you she has that love potion in it and the ingredients for… for other stuff too! Stuff she’s not allowed to have.”
“I do not,” shrieked Bella.
But Headmistress Glory was already dispatching Mrs Delancey to find Bella’s locker, and Bella now looked desperate.
“You can’t touch my stuff!” she yelled.
“You know what they’re going to find inside there,” taunted Percy. “You might as well tell them what you’ve done.”
Bella looked terrified. She was trembling.
Percy felt the rush of victory surge through her veins. This was it. Everyone was about to find out Bella was a murderer. And that Percy had been right all along. Councilor Strickt and Octavia and Felix and everyone who had doubted her would be proved wrong.
“Mrs Delancey is going to your locker, Bella,” she goaded her. “She’s going to come back with your handbag. And then it’s going to be opened in front of everyone, and we’ll see if you’re telling the truth or if I’m telling the truth.”
Over to the side of the stage Barbie had started crying. Blanche and Eleanor looked horrified.
It should have been Bella crying, Bella who looked horrified. Like she wanted the floor to open up and swallow her. Like she couldn’t bear for all those people to be looking at her like she was a cheater, a liar and a saboteur, and worse, a murderer. Instead she looked like her mind was scrambling for an explanation.
And then a look of utter relief came onto Bella’s face. And Bella laughed! She actually laughed.
“So what if I’ve got some stuff in my bag?” she said. “So what if you might be able to use it to make some bad potions? I haven’t got any bad potions in my bag. Nobody can prove that I used any bad potions on anybody!”
Percy’s hopes came crashing down. She couldn’t believe it.
Because what Bella said was true. Judge Emma had been killed with the Draught of Doom, but there was no way of proving it. Percy had not been able to make Councilor Strickt believe her, and now it was too late. The evidence was gone.
Percy felt the blood drain from her face. She couldn’t prove it. Bella was going to get away with everything.
Except she wasn’t going to get away. She was going to face a fate worse than death. Lucifer Darkwing was going to get what he wanted, and Percy was going to lose the father that she had so badly hoped to keep.
Percy, who had grabbed hold of Bella’s arm in her intensity, now dropped it. She took a step away from Bella. She felt defeated. She couldn’t believe that she had not seen this coming. Bella was never going to admit what she had done. Never.
Felix cleared his throat, and Percy looked at him numbly.
“Actually,” said Felix, “there is evidence. We can prove it.”
Percy stared at him. What was he talking about? If he was talking about the green juice that Percy had stolen to test, that was gone. It was all used up by Mr Bramble’s hegwitch friend. And there was no way that Percy would tell anyone about Mr Bramble and his friend, not even to save Bella. Not even to stop her father from eating a soul and heading into a direction that might be unstoppable. She could never betray Mr Bramble.
“What evidence?” snapped Octavia.
Felix looked guiltily at Percy, then at Councilor Strickt. “I, er, I took that bottle of green juice from Judge Emma’s handbag like Percy said we should and I sent it to our lab witch for testing,” he said. “I’m still awaiting the results, but if what Percy says is true, then we should find what we are looking for in it.”
Percy shrieked and threw her arms around Felix and jumped up and down in joy. He looked very awkward indeed and hurriedly pushed her away.
Octavia was glaring at Felix as if she could not believe what he had done. As if he had betrayed her. Even Councilor Strickt was scowling.
But Percy’s heart was leaping. He had done it! He had believed her, and he had sent it for testing. She felt like throwing her arms around him again. But once was more than enough.
He offered her a tentative smile, and Percy smiled back. A smile that told him that he was going to find exactly what he was looking for in that green juice.
Bella Osterich screamed in outrage. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair! It wasn’t me!” She pointed her finger across the stage. “It was her! She was the one who told me about the Draught of Doom! She was the one who got a witch to make it for me!”
In shock, everyone looked to where Bella was pointing. Eleanor was trapped in the middle of the group of competitors, and she was backing away as if she wanted the ground to swallow her whole and hide her.
The girls quickly gathered to block her exit. Eleanor swallowed hard, her eyes widening in horror as she saw Councilor Strickt and Headmistress Glory and Percy and Nan all glaring at her in accusation.
And then she ran.
She darted across the stage towards the curtains. Quick as a flash, Felix went after her, and grabbed her with a flying tackle that sent her tumbling down. He pulled her up, restraining her by her arms.
“No!” Eleanor wailed. “You can’t prove it. It wasn’t me!”
“It was!” Bella shrieked. “I paid for the Draught of Doom, but she was the one who spiked Nilgun’s echinacea with it.”
“No, I didn’t!”
“I couldn’t do it myself, because Nilgun was too suspicious of me,” screamed Bella. “So Eleanor did it instead. And then when Judge Emma found out, she must have used the whole bottle of the potion on the judge. I never told her to use it on the judge. She did that herself. I never murdered anyone. It was her!”
“You horrid git!” Eleanor shrieked. “I did it for you. I did it all for you because you wanted to win. You said if you won, you would help me get a job in fashion when we finished school. That you would help me become famous!”
“You
stupid Meek!” shrieked Bella. “I only told you all that because that’s what you wanted to hear. As if a boring, ugly, talentless nobody like you could ever be famous!”
Eleanor was staring at Bella as if Bella was a stranger. “I would never have killed that judge if it wasn’t for you. The stupid interfering witch found out what I had done to Nilgun! She was going to tell everyone! She was going to spoil it all for me.”
Her face was flushed with furious defiance. She knew the magnitude of what she had done. She had taken a life. But she did not care.
“She should have stayed out of my business,” Eleanor spat. “She got what she deserved!”
The Eldritch Council minions who had tried to march Percy off the stage now put Eleanor into restraints and read out her rights.
Bella, who was looking very relieved, looked astonished when one of them walked over to her with a pair of handcuffs in their hands.
“Not me!” she said in shock.
“Yes you,” said Councilor Strickt mercilessly. “You both did it together. Take them away.” He looked disgusted.
Percy watched Bella and Eleanor both being marched away with an odd sort of feeling inside. Satisfaction mixed with something that felt suspiciously like sadness. How could it have been Eleanor of all people?
“Wait!” she said suddenly, and the minions marching Eleanor and Bella away stopped, and looked back at her enquiringly.
Percy walked up to Eleanor. “It was you who ambushed me that night and tried to kill me with that potion?” she asked.
“You deserved it too,” hissed Eleanor. “I nearly got away with it all but for you. It felt so good so see you helpless. Finally something I was good at. I never had magic, but I finally had power over fools like you. Rot in Hell!”
Percy took a disgusted step back from her. “I quite liked Hell,” she said. “I wonder if you will?”
A look of confusion crossed Eleanor’s face.
As they led Eleanor away, Percy no longer felt sad. It was over. It was finally over.
Somebody started clapping. Percy was astonished to see it was Headmistress Glory. Then Felix joined in, and so did Nan and Mrs Gooding and Shara and the two hosts.
