‘Yes… gift.’
‘Tommy, we—’ Jenna went to explain but was interrupted.
‘It appears to me that your friends aren’t as honest as you think they are, Tommy. Your friends have magical abilities and they can’t even tell you that.’
‘Is it true? Are you really magical?’ said Tommy, shocked.
‘Yes,’ answered Jenna, looking to the ground.
‘So you can do things other people can’t?’
‘Yes.’
‘You can make things appear and disappear?’
‘Yes.’
‘Like sweets… and money?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s awesome! I don’t care what you are. You’re my friends, and friends stick together! Magic or not!’ said Tommy, but suddenly he stopped when Miss Snippings edged a little closer.
‘Oh, but what a shame it is,’ she sneered, ‘because now the whole world will know all about it.’
‘How do you work that one out?’ snapped Jessica, edging back slightly from Miss Snippings, who was coming closer still.
‘Well… you’ve just shown the entire school what you can do. I saw you lifting kids into the air when you shouted, though it does make me laugh that you call it a gift. Why, you’re nothing but a pair of witches.’
‘Witches?’ Jenna and Jessica asked.
‘Yes… witches. Don’t you know about our history? I’ve been trying to teach it to you in school. About the Salem witch trials. Notice the similarities? The animals that appeared… the birds? And all gifted people, as you put it, got killed!’
‘No, that’s wrong! We were made to dance in the air!’ argued Jessica, which caused Miss Snippings to let out thunderous laughter.
‘And what do you think being “made to dance in the air” is? It’s being hung, that’s what it is!’ Miss Snippings said, as if with great pleasure.
‘You’re lying!’ bellowed the twins together.
‘No, no, I’m not. Go home and ask your mum and dad… I dare you.’
‘She’ll just tell us the story of the floating woman! The one where—’
‘I know that story, Jessica! I’m the floating woman! It was me that was caught! It was me that was made to dance in the air because I got hung! Why do you think I have to wear this scarf around my neck?’ Miss Snippings shrieked before whipping off the scarf and revealing a scar behind it. ‘And it was my twin that sat right back and let it happen! That’s why I hate twins!’
‘Because you died and she didn’t?’ asked a puzzled Jenna.
‘No, because she watched me die and did nothing about it! I see all these other twins having a bond… this special bond everybody talks about. Why didn’t we have that? And it makes me sick to watch it. And then you and your sister go and make it worse, because not only do you two have a special bond, but it appears that you also have one with your older sister… Caitlyn!’
‘Where is she? What have you done with her?’ Jenna demanded, but Miss Snippings was too wrapped up in her own tantrum to listen.
‘Stupid Caitlyn went and saved you. Stupid Caitlyn put herself in the firing line to save you both. Stupid Caitlyn this, stupid Caitlyn that! I went to your house at night to get you two! But you both went and woke up your big sister because you were scared of the noises outside… and what does Caitlyn do? When all three of you decide to sneak outside to see what all the fuss was about, Caitlyn knew the minute she saw me and ran straight towards me to save you both! Do you remember her crying out, telling you both to run?’
‘Well, yes, but…’ said Jenna and Jessica together, now wiping tears from their eyes.
‘And do you know what really got on my wick?’ Miss Snippings snapped further. ‘Your stupid letters to Father Christmas… Dear Father Christmas, please can you bring back our sister, Caitlyn. We promise to be good and won’t argue with her any more… Dear Father Christmas, even though you couldn’t bring Caitlyn home last year, we still think you might be able to this year. We promise to be extra, extra good and might be allowed to give you an extra mince pie. We won’t even ask for presents this year, just our sister—’
‘Where is she!’ shrieked Jessica. She no longer cared what Miss Snippings might do. Jessica was losing control. She was no longer bottling it up, hiding.
‘Oh, for God’s sake! She’s not here! She’s not anywhere! Caitlyn no longer exists!’
‘What are you saying?’ said Jenna, holding back the tears.
‘I killed her!’
‘How can you do this to us?’ Jenna and Jessica shouted, now sobbing into their runner’s T-shirts.
‘Quite easily actually. Just as I haunted you in the school. That presence you felt – that was… me,’ said Miss Snippings, raising her finger proudly. ‘Me appearing as you in the corridor when that girl collapsed and said it was you two… That was me too… Turning up in other pupils’ bedrooms, also appearing as you both… Do you see where this is going? I couldn’t snatch you because your sister saved you, but I could torment you both. Been feeling a bit peculiar recently, Jessica? I’ve been trying to make you feel unwell so you can’t do twinny little things together, like going to bed at the same time, getting dressed at the same time, and it started to work until…’ Miss Snippings shot an evil look at Tommy, who was edging towards a pile of stones. ‘Until this one!’ Miss Snippings threw Tommy into the air and whacked him against a wall. ‘Until this one threw a hissy fit and actually stood up to me! And what can I say? Now we are here.’
‘Tommy! Are you all right?’ the twins shouted, rushing to his rescue.
‘I’m f-fine,’ Tommy said, plucking up the strength to stand up. ‘Face it, Miss Snippings! You’ve been caught. You won’t get away with it. We won’t let you!’ he said, barely able to stand.
‘Let’s see about that, shall we! I’ll take everything you own! I’ll ruin you all!’ Miss Snippings said, clapping her hands together and causing the stone walls around them to crumble and crash…
*
Meanwhile, in the Tipple house, Aunt Maud was telling Mrs Tipple about how she could change her appearance to look like PC Dilks and pretend she was him at work. ‘I’ll just trot into the station and be him. No one will even question it… and who knows… I might get some inside gossip about Caitlyn’s case.’ It was at that moment when the walls of the Tipple house began caving in as well.
‘What in the…’ Mrs Tipple said. ‘Maud, if this is your way of transforming this house into a mansion, stop! Stop it at once!’
‘But I’m not doing anything!’
‘Well where’s Patrick? It must be him then.’
‘Patrick!’ they both screamed
‘I’m on the toilet!’ wailed Patrick from upstairs.
‘See, he’s on the toilet. It’s got nothing to do with us!’
‘Maud!’ Patrick shouted from the toilet. ‘Maud, stop it, will you! You said you weren’t going to transform the house until we were out of the doghouse about the stolen goods.’
‘Maud, if this is you I’m going to kill you,’ Mrs Tipple said, now holding onto the wall of the kitchen as the house wobbled violently. Aunt Maud, saying nothing, held onto Mrs Tipple with one arm and clutched Oliver under the other.
‘We’re under attack! We’re under attack!’ said Boo, as he came fleeing in, dodging bits of brick and dust that were falling from the ceiling.
The birds that surrounded the Tipple house took off from the roof and the steps and headed towards Chumsworth.
*
Miss Snippings cackled as she watched Jenna, Jessica and Tommy dodging stones that fell from above. Weaving in and out of plenty of near misses, it wasn’t their only problem. Miss Snippings was now creating what looked like bolts of lightning aimed at Jenna, Jessica and Tommy.
‘Do something!’ Tommy yelled, and Jenna and Jessica realised they had no choice but to u
se the force they’d tried so long to tame and hide. They each pointed at Miss Snippings but only managed to create a few frogs.
‘What are you two doing?’ Tommy screeched.
‘We can’t control it! I think it’s because we think she’s slimey,’ yelled Jenna while pulling a frog from her wrist.
‘Exactly, Tommy, can’t you see? She’s… she’s drenched in the stuff.’
‘Well try harder,’ said Tommy, diving out of the way of yet another attempt to be hit by Miss Snippings’ magic.
It was at that moment that Jenna and Jessica, for the first time, used their magic accordingly and emitted something that wasn’t like electricity but was more like a bolt of red fire. It struck Miss Snippings on her toes first, which were still dangling in the air, but when they went for a second hit, something was coming from behind them… the blackbirds from their home.
The blackbirds flooded in, followed by Miss Snippings’ ghostly birds, and they covered her until Miss Snippings was nothing but a mass of birds, each of them pecking at her while the ghostlike ones tried to fight them off. There was only one bird that didn’t join in the fight and that was the one that had tried to stop them leaving home on the first day they started Chumsworth, the one that took shelter in their room when Aunt Maud and Uncle Patrick dumped Beatrice at their home. It pecked at Jenna’s and Jessica’s shoulders, attacking them until they had no choice but to leave, but before they did, Jessica grabbed the bird and threw it across the room. They ran towards the exit of room thirteen and Chumsworth with Tommy. At any minute Chumsworth was going to collapse into nothing but a heap of rubble and the twins and Tommy had to get out.
As they made their escape back through the entrance of room thirteen, they didn’t dare look to see Miss Snippings’ fate, but they could hear the cries of the blackbirds that attacked her.
Finally breathing fresh air, they found themselves outside the building and they rushed to join the rest of the pupils on one of the playgrounds. The teachers and pupils were stunned with what they were witnessing, that the great Chumsworth was crumbling in front of them. Chumsworth’s walls and emerald-green carpet were nothing more than a pile of dust and thick smoke. Moments later, blackbirds flew up from the remains of the building and flocked around the children in a protective manner. The ghostlike ones didn’t reappear.
The twins that had been released earlier gazed around at the sight; some were children, some adults.
‘You know what this means, don’t you?’ said Tommy, covered in dust from top to toe.
‘What?’ asked Jenna.
‘Well, this gift you have… this thing you’ve hidden… it’s all going to come out now. You do know that, don’t you? All those people captured by Miss Snippings, they’re probably going to know she had powers like you too.’
Jenna and Jessica didn’t answer, but they did nearly make a run for it when a dusty and angry Mr Smith came over with PC Dilks.
Then, to the twins’ pleasure, more police turned up and took the girls home… to what was left of it, anyway.
*
Aunt Maud answered the door sheepishly, still holding onto Oliver, who was covered in toilet roll and a helping of brick dust. The Tipple house had nearly no roof and with many of its windows broken.
With the twins safe and sound at home, the blackbirds huddled outside on the steps, with the only exception being the one that usually stayed in the house.
‘No doubt we will be in touch with all of you,’ said a policeman who was busy stepping over the birds that squawked around his feet. ‘Until then, may I advise you not to talk to anybody about what happened today, and you’ll need to start writing statements as soon as you find it possible.’
Aunt Maud nodded and closed the door hastily. With Uncle Patrick now stuck on the toilet and Mrs Tipple supporting a kitchen cupboard with an arm, it took at least two hours after Mr Tipple arrived home for them to start mending their house.
But of course that wasn’t their only problem. Jenna and Jessica had the sad news to break to their mum and dad about Caitlyn being dead. Not to mention the fact they had used their magic in public. But now, with Miss Snippings gone, they could at least go to sleep at night not worrying about whether they were going to be snatched or not. But with Chumsworth destroyed, what were people going to think of them now? For who would have thought that such destruction could come from the Tipple twins and their gift.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Witch Hunt, by Marc Aronson
The Salem Witch Trials, by Marilyn K. Roach
The Tipple Twins and the Gift Page 10
