by Sophia Stone
‘I am going to get in so much trouble for this,’ a male voice said.
I open my eyes and I am no longer in the tunnel but outside of it. I get myself up from the floor and can see someone pacing around in front of me.
‘I’ll get expelled for this,’ the voice doesn’t sound like that of an older man.
‘Excu-excuse me.’
‘What?’ the person snaps.
‘Did you see my glasses?’
‘Glasses? Why do you-? Never mind,’ the person mumbles something at the end of the sentence. ‘You won’t need them now.’
‘I do need them. I need them to see things clear…ly,’ I blinked a few times trying to adjust my eyes and rubbed them with my sleeve. I could see clearly. ‘How did you do that?’
‘Did you learn nothing in Early Magical Studies? That’s pre-school magic.’
With my eyesight restored, I could see that the person was a boy, not much older than me. He had longer hair than I had seen on a boy and it stopped at his shoulders. From behind, he could easily have been mistaken for a blonde young woman. He was the person who walked past me.
‘Did you say Magic Studies?’
‘Yes. And you know you shouldn’t use magic in front of the ungifted.’
‘The Ungifted?’
'Really? That kick to the head must have been pretty hard. The normies, the civilians, those that are not us. Did you learn nothing in school?’
‘I’m dreaming again. I must be. I will be waking up in a few minutes and this will a bad dream.’
‘It isn’t a dream. And I’d expect you to be a little more grateful of me saving you. I’m going to get in such trouble for this.’
‘Don’t worry girls, we’ll find her. She can’t keep disappearing forever,’ Laura’s voice echoed below me.
Wait, why was she below me?
I walked slowly towards the sound of her voice before being pulled back.
‘Are you nuts?’ the boy said.
‘How did I get so high up? I was down there now I am up here.’
The boy gave me a quizzical look. ‘You don’t seem okay; you should really get checked out for your head.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Harry Rook. Do you know who you are? How many fingers am I holding up?’ he raised his hand and lifted three fingers in front of my face.
‘Of course, I know who I am. I’m Lizzie Castle,’ I push his hand down from in front of my face.
‘Castle,’ Harry took an inhale of breath. ‘Then you really should have known how to behave.’ A sarcastic smile crept across his face.
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘You had to not use magic for one more day. A day. If the assembly finds out….’
‘Assembly? Magic? You aren’t making any sense at all.’
‘The Assembly. You know, the old people who can strip you of your powers? Ring any bells?’
‘I don’t have any powers.’
‘Yes, because classrooms just blow up and wind only happens around certain people.’
‘How did you know about that?’
‘Umm everyone does. The famous Lizzie Castle is coming to Merlyn Academy tomorrow. The papers have been following you for months.’
‘I’m not famous. None of this makes any sense.’
‘Look, I’d love to stay and chat, but I am really busy. I’ve got to pack for tomorrow- you know how it is.’
‘No, I-.’
‘Whatever. Just be ready for the bus at 8am. The driver gets pissy if you aren’t ready.’
Before I could respond Harry had gone, and I was left stuck on top of a tunnel in the dark trying to decide if I was dreaming, hallucinating or going mad.
5
After what felt like hours stumbling in the dark, I found my way off the subway roof by sliding down the side of the wet bank. My jeans offered little protection from the brambles and allowed mud to seep into the fresh cuts left behind. Clinging on the old brick structure, I pulled myself up and used my hands to scrape excess mud from clothing on the floor. Apart from the intermittent ‘plop’ from mud dropping off my clothes, the tunnel was silent. There were no hushed voices or the sound of feet on tarmac that would indicate that Laura and her friends were still around. With this knowledge, I made the bold move to peer around the brick wall to confirm the girls had gone.
You can breathe now.
The only distinguishable object in the tunnel was my bag. Laura and the girls had gone, but I was still apprehensive that they may return. I ran to my satchel, scooped up what belongings I could find and chucked them into the bag. I don’t want to hang around.
I got home before Amanda started one of her parties and tossed my ripped jeans and muddy t-shirt into the washing basket. Amanda rarely did the laundry, so she was unlikely to notice the damage. I take only fifteen minutes to shower and make a sandwich for dinner before I am sitting at my desk conducting research.
I open the search engine and start typing.
Merlin academy. No results found. Do you mean: Merlyn Academy?
Merlyn Academy. No results found.
I can find nothing about the school. I research the magic trick Harry must have used to get me on that roof. Pages and pages of magic tricks and optical illusions give suggestions on how to perform a disappearing act. To conduct one in the manner Harry had used would require studio equipment. I would have also had to have known what was going on to help with the illusion.
How on earth did he do it?
I enter Harry’s name into the search engine. Maybe he’s a famous magician or trickster?
Harry Rook: 8,000,000 Results.
The first few pages are obituaries of a well-respected Police Officer from London. The rest are of a Falcon called Harry in a Californian zoo. Nothing about a magician called Harry Rook.
That bump on the head must have been hard.
My eyes burn with tiredness and confusion, so I close my laptop down and then gingerly get into my bed. Sleeping off the mild concussion I am likely experiencing feels like the most sensible idea I’ve had in a long time.
To think I thought he used actual magic!
‘Let me take you with me. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.’ Sweeping my hair from my eyes, Harry cups his hands around my face and leans in towards me. His lips graze mine as-
Beep. Beep.
Why am I always woken up just before the kiss?
Beep. Beep.
My head is pounding but I think I’ve slept off the concussion. The beeping noise along with pulsating tension in my brain makes it hard to get up. My room also seems unusually bright today so I use my hands to shield my eyes to turn over onto my side. In my haste to get to bed last night, I forgot to close the curtains. Great.
Shame Harry and his magic was just a dream.
Beep. Beeeeeeeeep.
I put my pillow around my head to dull the sound of the car horn. Why people can’t just ring bells like everyone else is beyond me.
Beep. Beep.Beep.Beep.
I lay in bed with the pillow around my head contemplating my next move.
Shout at them or stay in my nice, warm bed?
Bee-
I can’t sleep through the noise anymore and go with the first option; shout at them. I kick my covers off the bed and storm towards my window. I remove the latch from the window and take a deep breath.
‘Shut up! People are trying to sleep you selfish old-.’
I expect to see my neighbors battered old red car but parked directly outside my house, is a black bus. It’s the gold writing on the side of the bus that forces me to stop shouting.
Merlyn Academy
This isn’t real. I am still dreaming.
I close my temples and rub my eyes.
When I open my eyes, the bus will be gone.
Beep. Beep.
I open my eyes and see the black bus still parked outside my house. I can even see the driver banging his palm on to the horn in the steering wheel. He appea
rs so transparent that I can see through him to the unmown lawn of the house opposite.
Wizards and now ghosts. Yes, you are dreaming!
My head is still not right. I need to sleep this dream or hallucination off soon or I will end up in hospital. I shake my head and I close the window and pull the curtains making my room dim. I climb into bed and pull the covers over my head so that the room is as dark as possible to help me drift back to sleep. Hopefully, I’ll wake up and this will all stop. No more magic and no more passive aggressive driving ghosts.
As soon as I close my eyes, the noise stops. No more beeping. Silence.
Maybe I wasn’t fully awake?
Sleeping in a little longer wouldn’t hurt me. I pull the covers off from my head and turn on my side to face my wardrobe. I always get to sleep quicker on my side.
‘Oh, her highness is finally awake.’
My eyes shoot open as I hear someone in my room. Going through my wardrobe is a man I can see through.
The ghost on the bus?
‘It’s always the famous ones that cause me problems. The nobodies never cause this much hassle.’ The ghost moans.
I throw myself out of bed and push my back against the window. I scan my room for something to use as a weapon.
What hurts a ghost?
‘We have a schedule, so you need to get ready quickly. You’ve already made me late,’ the ghost grumbles. He pulls clothes from my wardrobe and throws them onto my bed. They instantly fold into neat piles. ‘Do you have a case?’ he asks.
‘N..No.’
‘Very well. Case Appera.’ An old-fashioned trunk-style case appears from above him and gently drops on to my bed. The ghost points a wand at the clothes, and they start, one by one, to drop into the case which seems to never get full no matter how many piles disappear into it.
‘W-Who are you?’ I ask.
‘I’m the driver and we need to go. I’ve just put all of your clothes into the case. I know how girlies are, but we really don’t have time to sort the latest fashions. It’s school not a fashion show,’ He rolls his eyes and continues. ‘Do you need to pack anything else?’
‘I don’t even know where we are going.’
‘Are you simple love? We are going to Mer-lyn A-Cad-emy,’ he emphasis the last part like I am five. ‘You know, the big school for wizards and witches. I thought you Castles were elite. Maybe not in the brains department.’
‘But I’m not a wizard, nor am I a witch. I may not know my family, but I am pretty sure they aren’t witches and wizards.’ I try to edge closer to the door but the ghost darts towards it. He chuckles.
‘I’ve not heard that one before girlie. Ten out of ten for imagination! Sure beats “The werewolves ate my case”. Last chance love, do you need anything else?’
‘What will my family… I mean Amanda and Martin say. They’ll want to know if I leave.’
The ghost looks around at my room. The wardrobe door is on its hinges, none of the furniture in my room matches and I have very few possessions minus my clothes. He doesn’t have to say anything else; his point is obvious.
‘Are you sure they’ll care that much?’ The driver moves from the door. I know I should at least let Amanda and Martin know before going. I check the livingroom first, finding Amanda half-dressed and sprawled across the floor. A beer can still dribbling liquid from its opening and pooling on my small pile of library books. I turn around and walk back to the driver. I don’t bother to go look for Martin.
Anything is better than this hellhole.
I walk back to my room where the ghost is sitting on my bed tapping his fingers onto the mattress.
‘So, are we ready?’ he asks.
‘Yes, I’m ready,’ I grab my stuffed teddy from my bed and take one last look at my room; I won’t miss it. I head towards the door when the ghost stops me.
‘We use magic from now on,’ he gives the biggest grin before pointing his wand upwards. ‘Teleporta.’
6
‘I love doing that,’ the driver said as he brushes invisible dust off himself.
In the nanosecond between teleporting from my bedroom to the bus, I have managed to trip and end up on the floor.
‘Don’t worry, happens to everyone once in a while. I’d lend you my hand, but…’
‘I’m fine, thanks,’ I pull myself up from the floor and I’m suddenly confronted with a sea of blinking eyes and hushed voices.
‘Will you hurry up? None of us will get the good rooms now.’ someone shouts down the bus.
‘I’d take a seat if I were you. It can be a bumpy ride,’ the driver floats to his seat and starts the engine as I scan the crowd looking for a spare seat.
‘Harry!’ On seeing me, Harry slumps lower into his seat. I don’t mean to sound overly excited but seeing a familiar face makes the last few minutes events easier to digest.
‘Oh. It’s you,’ Harry said as I sat next to him. ‘Thanks for holding us all up by the way.’
I lurch forward sharply as the bus pulls out from the front of my now former home.
‘Yes, it’s me and you’re welcome. I’m sorry if my life crisis held everyone up,’ I reply sarcastically.
‘Still think magic doesn’t exist?’ he can’t help but smirk at his question.
‘I don’t know. It either exists or I am having a very real lucid dream.’
‘What will it take for you to believe me?’
‘I don’t know. How would you prove it exists?’
‘I could disappear again.’
‘No, that could be an optical illusion. You need to do something-.’
‘Have you eaten?’ he asks.
‘No, but that’s not important thing right now. What was I saying?’
Harry pulls out his wand, points it at his lap and mutters a spell. ‘Lunch Appeara,’ On his lap, a picnic basket with a red and white patterned cloth over it appears. ‘I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got sandwiches. Cheese okay?’
‘How did you… do that?’ I ask as he passes me a cheese sandwich and starts eating his own.
‘Seriously, magic is real. I can’t believe you are going to Merlyn Academy and don’t believe in magic,’ he said between mouthfuls of cheese and bread.
A realisation suddenly dawns on me. ‘That means it did actually take me ages to get off that tunnel.’
‘Sorry about that. I can’t control where I go yet. That’s why I’m going to the Academy.’
‘Wait, a minute. You didn’t have a wand yesterday. How could you still do magic then?’
‘You don’t need a wand for magic. It just helps control your magic more easily. Most of it is in the spells and thinking what you want.’
‘Can I do magic?’
‘“Can I do magic?”’ He repeats. ‘I’ve seen you do magic.’
‘When?’
When did I use magic?
‘You used your Elements. It’s your strongest source of magic. You know, when you blew up your school?’
‘That wasn’t me,’ I shift in my seat which causes Harry to stare at me.
‘Of course not. A Castle who uses magic? Who would have thought?’
‘Why have you and the driver made a big deal about my name?’
‘Because having a Castle at the Academy is kind of a big kind of. You are part of one of the most powerful magical families. Has no one told you?’
‘No, my real parents died when I was a baby. I don’t know much about them,’ I drip my hand into the basket and feel around for something else to eat.
‘It’s not really my place to say…,’ Harry trailed off and I could sense his uncomfortableness.
Don’t piss off your only friend here.
‘It’s okay. I’m sure I’ll find out about them, eventually. So how do these power things work?’
‘Powers. They’re called Powers. “Power things”. You can tell you’ve been around the ungifted too long,’ he snorts. ‘Okay, so there are four basic types of powers: Elements which covers things such
as wind, fire, water and air. Teleportal which means you can move from one place to another, as we did in the subway. The third is invisible which kind of does what it says on the tin. And finally, shapeshifting. This means you can change shape into other objects.’
‘Like dogs and stuff?’
‘Well yeah. But why would you want to be a dog?’
‘I don’t know. You never know when it might be handy.’
‘Right… anyway. Every wizard and witch has the ability to use all of these powers, but they will have one that is their most powerful. Like their specialty. The main reason your family is so well known is that some of them can use all of these powers equally.’
‘Why is that so important?’
‘In theory, it makes you more powerful than other witches and wizards.’
‘How will I know if I have all four powers and they are equally strong?’
‘You won’t until your eighteen.’
‘I’ve got a few months to practice then.’
‘We will soon arrive at Merlyn Academy. Please make sure you take all of your belongings with you,’ the driver called out on the intercom.
In some ways, the journey had felt like it had taken hours and in others, that it had been merely minutes since I left my life. Harry’s revelations about my potential importance scared me. If what I had been using for all these years was magic, then I needed to make sure I could control it. I’d hurt enough people already and the idea of suddenly gaining more uncontrollable power was not something I wanted to think about right now.
It was now close to mid-morning when we arrived at the gates of the Academy. The driver stopped the bus as we approach the cast iron gates that looked like they hadn’t been opened for years. Thick gnarled rose stems had wound themselves around the bars of the gate and even through the keyhole, partial obscuring the intertwined initials of ‘M’ and ‘A’.
‘Bear with me, kids. Now where did I- ahh found it!’ The driver reached into himself and pulled out his wand. Placing the tip of the wood onto the gate, a spark appeared that cause the knotted rose bush to recede, leaving a path for the bus to travel down.
‘Was that a spell?’ I asked Harry.
