Charlie waited to hear what was coming.
“Then Eliza came in. She was furious she’d been left out… I remember… The room was busy, everyone was chattering away, and they all went quiet when she swept in. Of course Mrs Evans was really apologetic about the whole thing. She cut Eliza a bit of cake but Eliza was still fuming. She came and sat next to me. ‘So,’ she said, ‘I see they invited you.’ Her face was thin and shrivelled and her mouth was pulled tight.
“‘Oh, Eliza, don’t make a scene,’ I told her. ‘It’s not that important.’
“‘They’ll pay,’ she whispered.
“‘Don’t be ridiculous. You know the rules: “Magic mustn’t harm”.’
“Eliza laughed bitterly. ‘I can’t believe you are quoting that to me! How many fellow witches have been hurt over the years? How many of our ancestors suffered for their powers?’
“‘Shush, Eliza,’ I said. ‘That was long ago. People don’t hurt witches anymore. Things are different now.’
“Eliza shook with anger. ‘Different? Huh! We witches still hide our gifts. We’re still not welcome. Still not open. And you, you just let it happen. You pretend to fit in, Agatha. I wouldn’t stoop so low.’
“‘I’m not pretending; I’m just being friendly.’
“‘Liar!’ she spat. ‘How many people here know you’re a witch?’
“I tried to shush her, but she kept on.
“‘None of them! Because you are a coward! You smile at them, go to their parties, and all the time you know what people have done to witches in the past, what they might do again. I bet you gave the baby a nice sweet gift for her birth! What did you give her? Beauty? Wit? Grace?’
“‘Singing,’ I said.
“‘Ah, the classic,’ she said bitterly.
“‘Eliza. Please. Come and see me. Let’s talk. It’s been ages.’ I put my hand over hers. But she snatched it away.”
Agatha turned to Charlie. “I was still reaching out to her, you see. Foolishly I thought it wasn’t too late. I thought she would come back to white magic; come back to me.”
Charlie stared open-mouthed. Dark magic? White magic? She felt an odd dip in her tummy and her heart was thumping in excitement.
“Then Eliza stood up. She leaned over the cradle and pulled a small bottle from her handbag. I tried to stop her, but she was so fast! And so angry. She was angry with the world, angry with the Evans family and angry with me. The dark magic had hold of her by then and nothing was going to stand in her way. She whispered her curse to the baby.”
Agatha clenched her fists. Her voice was tight. “She did it to hurt me, I know.” She closed her eyes and quickly opened them again. “Eliza deliberately chose a curse that would undo the gift I’d given. And she bound it tight with the old words:
‘Let it be done, as I foretell,
No witch alive can break my spell!’
“Then she swept out of the room. No one saw what had happened, of course, but I knew.”
There was a long silence.
“Wh-wh-what happened to Eliza?” Charlie asked.
“She’s dead,” Agatha answered. “The havoc got her.”
Charlie looked puzzled.
“Havoc,” Agatha said again. “It’s a side product of dark magic. The more dark magic you use, the more unlucky you are.”
“H-h-how did she die?” Charlie was almost too scared to ask.
“She choked on an apple.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Only a week or so after the christening. Witches might be magic, but we can be stupid too. Anyway,” Agatha said, making her voice lighter, “that’s what comes of dark magic. Bad luck – bad luck and havoc.”
Charlie rubbed her eyes. She clung to one thought. “No-no w-w-witch can take off the spell?” Was that why Agatha needed Charlie, a non-witch, to do it?
“Dark curses are tricksy, and Eliza bound this one tight. I knew I couldn’t take it off but after Eliza’s death I tried anyway…” Agatha slowly drew off her left glove. Charlie gasped. Her little finger! The top bit of Agatha’s little finger was missing.
“H-h-how? Wh-what hap-p— happened?” Charlie was falling over her words to get them out fast enough.
“The curse fought back,” Agatha said simply. “You can feel it, you know, when you try and draw it out. It’s like a force pulling, like you’re playing tug of war. Anyway,” she shrugged, “the curse won. The binding knew I was a witch.”
Charlie’s breath caught in her throat.
“And that was the day I gave up magic.”
“I didn’t know it was so-so-so dangerous.”
Agatha’s eyes flashed. “Never,” she snapped, “never underestimate magic!” She breathed in and out to calm herself. “That’s why I’m being careful with you,” she said eventually. “Like I told you, the spells you are trying, they can help a bit. They can slow down the curse. But they’re not strong enough to take the curse off completely.”
Something in Charlie took over. “G-g-give me something stronger,” she said. “Please. M-m-maybe I can take the curse off.”
Agatha breathed in through her nose deeply. “I have wondered,” she said. “The binding said ‘no witch alive…’” She looked away and seemed to drift off.
Charlie nodded in encouragement. Surely, if she wasn’t a witch, then the binding didn’t apply to her?
“Well,” Agatha said slowly, “there is something stronger you could try. Do you know what a poppet doll is?”
Charlie shook her head.
“It’s a small figure used for healing. You make a doll of the person you want to help; it focuses the healing spell you cast.” Agatha leaned in. “This is difficult magic, Charlie. It probably won’t work.”
Charlie rolled her eyes.
Agatha wagged her finger back at her. “If wishes were broomsticks, devils would fly. We can’t always get what we want. Believe me. I should know.” Agatha cleared her throat. “Right. You need to make a doll of Suzy. It can be out of cloth or clay or anything just as long as you think of Suzy when you make it. Wrap it in something Suzy has recently touched. Then you need to make a chalk circle and sit right in the middle of it. Do you still have that blue candle?”
“Yes.”
“Light it. Hold the doll and say these words:
‘Light, light, work your charm,
Keep our Suzy safe from harm.’
“You have to really focus on the words. Say them slowly and concentrate, otherwise this won’t work.”
Charlie made the doll from some old curtains Mum was throwing out. They had a faded cherry pattern on them that looked just right for Suzy. She sewed yellow wool for hair. Due to her rubbish sewing skills, the doll barely looked like a girl, let alone like Suzy. Still. Agatha had said that wouldn’t matter, as long as Charlie thought about Suzy while she was making it.
It was getting late, and the moon shone through Charlie’s window and on to the doll. As she sewed, she had one last practice of the lines:
‘Light, light, work your charm,
Keep our Suzy safe from harm.’
In her room, by herself, her voice rang out clear and true.
Carefully Charlie put the doll and the candle into her school bag. Now all she had to do was to get something Suzy had touched to wrap up the doll.
As she put her head on the pillow, the words were still floating around her head. She could see the moon shining down and, closing her eyes, her last thought was that it was glowing strangely bright.
Early the next morning Charlie was woken by loud voices.
Mum was having a row with Matt in the room next door. Their voices were muffled but the occasional phrase rose up.
Matt’s stroppy: “Aw, Mum, I already told you I’ll do it tonight.”
And Mum’s softer: “Daddy and I are just worried…”
Charlie pulled her pillow over her head. It must be about the science project again. Matt was late handing it in and Mum had been nagging him about it since Mond
ay.
Actually, it was kind of a relief to have Mum and Dad focusing on Matt. It made it much easier for Charlie to get away with sneaking off into the woods, or staying up late to make poppet dolls. Already she was beginning to run out of excuses. She’d used the “I’m just off for firewood” one a few too many times, along with “Oh, I fancy a little walk”. Mum’s radar would be on to her by now if it weren’t for Matt giving her something else to worry about.
They were still listening out for her stutter, though. Charlie had heard Mum and Dad talking about it after dinner last night, when they thought she couldn’t hear. Mum was “keeping an eye on it”, she said. It was true, Charlie admitted to herself as she got dressed: her stutter was bad. And she still didn’t have any proper friends at school. But, what Mum didn’t know was that Charlie was dealing with something way more important! Today was Thursday. There were only two school days left till the weekend. Two days to help Suzy. And, for now, that had to take priority.
There was a loud Caw! from outside. Charlie opened her window. Hopfoot was sitting on the highest branch of the apple tree. Charlie waved to him and for a moment it looked like he bowed his head in return. Charlie grinned.
The truth was, it wasn’t all about Suzy. Charlie did want Suzy to be able to sing again, but it was more than that. For the first time in her life, Charlie felt like she was doing something useful.
As she tied her shoelaces she wondered what would happen if Agatha’s spell worked. Would it all be over? Would she stop going to see Agatha? Stop helping her with her magic? Surely she couldn’t go back to the way she was before. Back to when she didn’t know about magic, didn’t know about the old cottage in the woods. Charlie couldn’t bear the thought of that! She was desperate to learn more about Agatha’s world. Maybe she could keep helping Agatha. Didn’t witches have assistants sometimes? A non-magical person who helped them? Maybe Charlie could volunteer for that role. If she managed to help Suzy, maybe Agatha would let her run errands for her, or … or … clean out her cauldron. Anything. Charlie didn’t care what she did so long as she could still hear about witches and white magic and dark magic and spells and charms and Eliza and Agatha and… Oh, there was so much to know! She had to persuade Agatha to let her help!
In maths, while everyone was concentrating on nth term numbers, Charlie went over the plan in her head. She had the wonky-looking poppet doll in her bag. Now she needed something of Suzy’s to wrap it in. Agatha had said the spell had to be done with something Suzy had recently touched. The stronger the link between Suzy and the object, the better the spell would work. On a spare bit of paper, Charlie made a list of examples Agatha had mentioned:
The object could be a treasured possession of Suzy’s. (Might be hard to get this. And to make sure I give it back again.)
Something Suzy has dropped fluid on. (Fluid? Does that mean blood? Snot? Tears? I can’t hurt her. Maybe if she has a nosebleed?)
The spell has to be done as soon as possible after Suzy has touched the item. (Note: find somewhere to light the candle. Spare music room? Additional note: get chalk.)
“Ah, Charlotte, you look like you know the answer.” Mr Wyatt had his eyebrows raised.
Oh no! What was the question? Um… She panicked.
“Don’t be shy.” Mr Wyatt looked at her kindly. “Why don’t you just show me what you’ve been writing down?”
Frantically Charlie covered her list with her arms. There was no way she could let anyone see it. Her heart was beating fast. She had to say something. There were numbers on the whiteboard:
5, 8, 14, 23
Quickly she worked out the sequence. It was adding the three times table. Three then six then nine, so that meant the answer had to be:
“Thirty-five,” she said, surprising herself with how clear her voice sounded.
“Yes.” Mr Wyatt smiled and nodded.
Charlie grinned back. She folded up her list and hid it in her bag.
At first break, Charlie looked for Suzy. She wasn’t in the common room, she wasn’t by her locker and she wasn’t in the corridor. She carried on looking for as long as possible, ducking into a doorway now and then to avoid Kat. (Seriously, Charlie thought in annoyance, that girl has the hunting skills of a lioness.) There were only five minutes to go before the next class and Charlie desperately needed the loo. She gave up looking and dashed into the nearest girls’ toilet.
In the cubicle next door, someone was singing softly. There was a loud croooaaak and then a sob. Charlie drew in a breath – it was Suzy! She winced as Suzy cried and cried. She felt awful for her. The Wizard of Oz show was on Monday. Suzy couldn’t possibly sing up on stage in front of everyone.
When the bell went, Suzy opened her cubicle door. Charlie could hear her pulling a paper towel from the machine. She peered through a tiny crack in the door and watched as Suzy dried her tears and put the towel in the bin. Suzy took a deep breath, like she was gathering up courage, opened the door and left the bathroom.
Charlie dashed to the bin and pulled out the damp paper towel. It still had drips from her tears. It felt a bit like she was stealing something personal from Suzy, but, Charlie reasoned, that was kind of the point. She pushed the towel down into her bag. She needed to do the spell the first chance she had. She opened her timetable. Art was next.
Charlie rushed down the corridor and into the art room.
“So I want you to walk around the school and choose something to draw,” Ms Bradley was saying. “It could be a bit of pavement. It could be a view. It could be a section of the canteen or the gym. Think creatively! I want something different – something from an unusual viewpoint. Try not to disturb other lessons. We’ll all meet back here in one hour.”
There was a mad rush as everyone gathered up their things to head out. Charlie’s heart leaped. Yes! She was free for an hour. Maybe, if she found a quiet room, she could quickly do the spell and then do her drawing. Ms Bradley would never know!
Charlie went straight to the music corridor. There was a row of practice rooms. She listened at each door until she found an empty one. There! She snuck in and closed the door behind her.
With trembling hands, she pulled her things out of her bag. She drew a wobbly chalk circle on the floor and stepped inside it. She felt a little silly, but there was no one there to see, so she took her place, sitting right in the middle as Agatha had told her.
Carefully, she wrapped the poppet doll in Suzy’s paper towel. She made it look neat, as if mini-Suzy was wearing a nice towel-blanket. Then she took out a box of matches and lit the blue candle.
Charlie closed her eyes, breathing slowly, and focused on Suzy. She pictured Suzy’s face, imagining her voice singing out clear. A calmness swept over her. She felt a strange pressure building up in her chest. It wasn’t a horrible, pressing force; it felt warm and soft and dreamy.
“Light, light, work your charm,”she began to say, concentrating on every syllable, every letter.
There was a whoosh of air from the music-room door.
Charlie’s eyes snapped open and she registered Kat standing in the doorway, staring at her.
From then on things seemed to happen very sluggishly, like a film in slow motion. Charlie reached to shield the poppet doll from view. Her arm hit the candle and it toppled over, setting fire to the paper towel. The doll shot into flames. Those old curtains must have been dry as a bone. She watched in horror as smoke hit the ceiling and:
Drrrinnnnng! Drrrinnnnnng!
It was the fire alarm. Charlie stood up in shock. Suddenly the sprinklers came on.
She looked up and met Kat’s bright eyes. To her surprise, the girl moved swiftly into the room. She stamped on the doll to put out the remaining flames. Outside people were thundering past in a panic to get out of the building. Kat turned to Charlie. In the rain of the sprinkler she said, “I don’t know what you are up to but you need to stop, now.”
Charlie’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. Kat went on, “I’ve seen the glow
around Suzy. There’s something wrong with her and it’s all your fault.”
“No,” Charlie said at last. “No… I mean … yes th-th-there is something wrong with S… with S … S…”
Kat waited patiently for Charlie to say the name. She didn’t interrupt, or try to fill in the letters. She just waited until finally Charlie could say, “… with Suzy. I d-d-don’t know about any glow but she’s losing her v-voice.”
“I noticed,” said Kat. Her voice sounded less cross now. She raised her eyebrows in interest.
“I’m trying to h-help her,” Charlie said. She let out a long breath.
There was a silence. Kat tilted her head to the side and stared into Charlie’s eyes. Then she stepped forward.
“I don’t know why, but I believe you,” she said, and she touched Charlie’s hand.
A bolt of electricity shot along Charlie’s veins. For a split second she saw herself through Kat’s eyes, as if she was inside Kat’s head. She saw a curly-haired girl, with a gap between her front teeth, standing soaking wet in a scruffy school uniform. It wasn’t like looking in the mirror – it was more than that. For a brief moment, Charlie saw herself as Kat saw her. Kat’s Charlie looked scared and anxious. Her brow was furrowed in thought. Her face was smoky from the candle.
The feeling passed a moment later.
Charlie stepped back in shock. Kat’s face was pale. “Did you just see… ? I mean, I saw inside your head … or… What happened?” Kat’s voice trembled.
Charlie’s mouth silently opened and shut. She had no answer.
“I’ll help you,” said Kat suddenly. “With Suzy, I mean.”
“What are you two girls doing?” Miss Robbins was in the doorway. She sounded furious. “Get out of here now! You should be lining up in the playground with the others.” Her eyes swept around the room. Kat quickly stepped in front of the candle to hide it.
“Out! Now!” Miss Robbins shouted and headed on to check the next room.
Charlie hurriedly pushed the candle into her bag and grabbed the sodden, half-burned doll. Then she followed Kat out of the door and into the playground.
How to Catch a Witch Page 6
