by Katie M John
She’d spent a self-surprising amount of time thinking about what it would be like to be Will’s girlfriend, and how the school-bitches would react. She guessed it wouldn’t go down well. She’d tried to convince herself that she had no real interest in being Will’s girlfriend. After all, what on Earth would a school rugby jock and a white Witch really have in common? She couldn’t imagine filling their time with shared conversation. Which would leave a lot of time for… the internal piped up. By the time that she reached the door of the English classroom, it didn’t stand a chance against her rising irritation. It flew back with a crack and a bang, causing her teacher, Miss Parry, to jump from her skin. She scanned Fox, reading her student. She had an unnerving habit of this – almost to the point Fox had idly wondered if she wasn’t one of her kind.
“Is everything okay, Fox?” she asked in her lyrical voice.
Fox didn’t get a chance to answer before Jeremiah came bounding in behind her and sent her flying.
“Jeez, what is it with you?” she snapped at him.
He was bent over, with his hand on his stomach, acting out like he was exhausted from the chase. He was laughing, which by this point, Fox found intensely irritating.
“What’s with me? I’ve been chasing you down that corridor for miles! Are you hard of hearing?”
Out the corner of her eye, Fox could see Miss Parry watching the interaction between her and Jeremiah with bemused curiosity. Even she thinks you’re batting out of your league! the internal said snarkily.
“What do you want? I’ve got class!” she said, turning her back on him and heading over to her desk.
“Me, too!” he said in a ridiculously cheery voice. He walked up to Miss Parry and extended a hand before turning on the Chase Charm.
“Nice to meet you, M’am. I’m Jeremiah Chase, the new boy!” He flashed her a smile and Fox saw Miss Pearson’s impeccable professionalism slip as she blushed and faltered.
I guess his effect on female teachers is universal, Fox thought, remembering what she had read about the New York scandal of Jeremiah and his pretty teacher of Philosophy.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Chase. Please take a seat. The one next to Fox is free!”
He turned and flashed Fox a look of triumph and Fox dived into her rucksack, rolling her eyes. What is your problem with him? the internal asked innocently. Fox was surprised by the question. She looked over her bag at him as he headed towards her desk, smiling. He’s been nothing but polite and charming.
He sat down and dropped his battered leather school-satchel onto the desk. Clearly, he thought native accessories were ironic and cool. Thankfully, he seemed at last to have got the idea that Fox didn’t want to make small chat and he busily set about pulling out his notebooks and pens. Now Fox knew just how wealthy he was, she became conscious of how everything about him was expensive, including his trendy-rustic-alternative-Amish look. She noted the tablet in his bag and for one scornful moment thought he might be a flashy enough prat to pull it out and use it to make his class notes. She watched him out of the corner of her eye and tried to reason what it was about him that affected her so negatively. He really hadn’t given her any reason to be so cold. She pulled out her chocolate bar and snapped off a square. Chocolate always offered some form of answer. Impulsively, she handed out the chocolate to him and offered him a piece. It was a small token but one which he noted. He dropped his shoulders and smiled at her.
“Thank you!”
“I guess we’d better arrange a time to start this History project,” she said with little enthusiasm.
“How about after school today? I’m getting the school bus back so we could do coffee at that place in the village.”
“Sara’s?” Fox asked, taking a deep breath. It was bad enough having been witnessed on one non-date that week let alone two.
“Is that a problem?” he asked.
“No, I suppose not!” she said with resignation.
“Cool. I’ve got loads of material from the tourist office.”
“Cool,” she repeated raising her eyebrows and nodding. See he’s not such a jerk after all! the internal concluded.
At lunch, Bunny came skittering over with a big lip-glossed smile. “Hey, big sis!”
“Hi, Bunny. Are you having lunch with me?”
“Nope, just a swing by, I’ve got choir.”
“Can I help you?”
Bunny was almost bubbling over with excitement. Her hazel eyes were dazzling. “Is it true? Oh, tell me it’s true! I mean, obviously I’ll hate you, but it would still be cool and anyway he’s not the only…”
Fox raised her hand in the air instructing her to halt the ridiculous babble coming out of her mouth. “What are you on about?”
“You and Will Harrington! It’s all over the school that you and him got a ‘thang going on,’” she sidled her shoulders in a move she’d learned from watching far too much import T.V.
Fox put her sandwich down, suddenly losing her appetite, and rolled her eyes. It had been an eye-rolling kind of day. “Bunny, listen and listen carefully – there is nothing, I repeat, nothing, going on between Will Harrington and me. We have a project to do together and so we are hanging out. That is all!”
“I thought your ‘project’ was with Jeremiah Chase?” She eyeballed Fox letting her know she wasn’t going to be fobbed off. “I have to say, I didn’t have you down as the two ‘project’ kind of girl.” She laughed loudly at her own genius.
“Well, that is how it is. Let’s just say, I lucked out on the project partner front!” she replied snappily. “Hadn’t you better go to choir?”
“I heard you and Will bunked lessons yesterday afternoon.”
Fox didn’t dignify the statement with a response. Frustrated that Fox wasn’t letting her in on what she clearly believed to be the hot new romance of the school year, Bunny struck the low and vicious blow. “I can’t imagine how much trouble you’d be in if Mum found out.”
Fox stared her down. She loved Bunny dearly but there were times Fox could quite happily smack her one. “Don’t try and be clever, Bunny, it isn’t your strong point!”
Bunny’s hand flew to her chest in mock pain. Then turning on her heels, she clicked her fingers in the air causing the bottle of water on the table to lift into the air and fall over, pouring water all over the table and narrowly missing Fox’s jeans. “Bitch!” Fox muttered under her breath, but she was too busy mopping up to retaliate.
Swan appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Did I just see Bunny…” she dropped her voice, “use magic in the school canteen!” It was clear from her tone that this breach in protocol was so going to get back to Mum. As much as Fox relished the idea of Bunny being for it when they got home, she knew Bunny was always keen to pull whoever she could into the hot water with her for company. She could really do without that being her. She was already in mum’s bad books for the incident with Prim.
“No, I think I must have jogged the table.”
Swan shot her a look and said, I don’t believe you for one second but I’m going to let it pass. She smiled. “Are you okay? I guess you’re having a tough day being the daily news!”
Fox sighed heavily. “Why doesn’t anybody have anything better to think about then who’s going out with who – or not in my case? It does my head in!”
Swan laughed. “You should be flattered they think you have your claws into both of them! ”
“Not you, too?”
“What?” Swan asked.
“Thinking I couldn’t get a boy like Harrington or Chase if I wanted to.”
Swan was taken aback by the sudden twist in conversation and couldn’t organise a response before Fox continued to vent, “I mean, what if Will and I were going out? Why would that be such big news? Why would everybody feel the need to comment on it? Is it because I’m so unattractive that for a slightly handsome boy to fancy me, it’s worthy of a national news broadcast?”
Swan raised both of her hands. “Whoa, Fox, take
it easy. You know that’s not how I think.”
“No, but others do!”
“This isn’t really about Will or Jeremiah, is it? There’s something else eating you up. This is just a convenient annoyance to hang your hat on. What is it?” Swan sat down, indicating that whatever plans she’d had, she’d changed.
Fox looked at her and bit down on her lip. “Not here! I can’t talk about it here.”
“Where then? Shall we meet after school?”
“No, I’ve got a study date with Mr. Chase.”
Swan couldn’t help but slip a smile and Fox shot her a warning glance. “Okay, so I’ll see you afterwards. Mum wants some nettle nectar and you know how particular she is about it being gathered on the waxing. We can go together. It’ll give us a chance to talk.”
Fox nodded, but she didn’t much relish the idea of a moonlit walk through the woods with a crazy abductor on the loose. She mangled the last few bites of her sandwich. It tasted like cardboard but deep down she knew she should start building her strength. She was coming to terms with the visions but they hinted that a greater darkness was rising. There was a reason the Goddess had sent her them – and she guessed she was expected to act on them. Only she had no idea what course of action she was meant to be taking. She’d been hoping for the mysterious and convenient appearance of a Vision’s Manual, but nothing had turned up – and Prim had been as much use as a chocolate tea-pot. All the visit to Prim had achieved was to draw attention to her newly established insanity. Martha had been missing for too long and there really wasn’t much more time to get her shit together – that was if it wasn’t already too late. She refused to believe it was, surely the visions would have stopped if Martha was … You’ve not had a vision in nearly twelve hours! the internal offered.
As if on cue, Fox felt her body rushing through a tunnel of black and became vaguely aware of her body hitting the ground. Her last conscious thought was the absurd idea that she could summon the visions when she wanted.
*
It’s the kind of darkness that hides your hands from your eyes. There is the crunching of gravel underneath foot. The night is screaming. Speeding, navy clouds mostly block the light of the full moon. She can smell the rich metallic tang of blood and wishes she could see her hands because she wants to check they are clean. Part of her fears they are not. The terrible sound of invocations travel on the cool eddies of air. The words shake her bones and cool her blood. They are calling the Ancient Ones: those who move without substance or soul. Fox looks to the moon and the tears of the Goddess fall to Earth like salted rain. It is the beginning of the end.
Way out in the grey and swirling distance of the sky, Fox hears the voice of her sister, Swan. It is soft and beautiful. She becomes aware of his sister’s touch and it feels like the touch of an angel. Warmth and light spread through her, replacing the dark stain of the vision.
“Fox? Are you okay? Take it steady. You fainted.”
Fox feels her body lifted into the air but it feels like her spirit is still pinned down to the floor. When her eyes finally come into focus, it is to find herself surrounded by a cast of actors who all look like somebody she knows from her real life, but in that moment, she can’t be entirely sure they are who they say they are. Everything looks different. Whatever knowledge she has brought back from the vision, it has skewed the way she sees her world, and she isn’t sure that it will ever look straight again.
“I need to speak to Will!” she muttered. “Please, somebody find Will!”
*
By the time Will made it to the canteen, Fox felt incredibly foolish. She had no idea what she wanted with him now he’d actually arrived. The afternoon lesson bell had gone and the canteen was at least empty of spectators, which was good because he looked about as awkward about his summoning as she felt.
“They said you had a turn and you…” he cleared his throat and blushed “…asked for me,” he said, flashing a look at Swan. He seemed to have difficulty looking Fox in the eye. “Are you alright?” he asked, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets.
Fox stared at Swan, urging her to leave them alone but Swan was purposefully refusing to read her sister’s demand. Instead, she compromised by shuffling off to the water cooler on the pretense of getting Fox a drink but they all knew that she was listening. Will pushed back the plaid cotton of his sleeves and bent down on his haunches. He lowered his voice and asked, “Was it another vision, Foxy?”
She looked at him and for the first time and saw something in him she’d never seen before – she saw the man he would become. This shift in her perspective was disturbing and yet at the same time strangely reassuring. Fox bit down on her lip and nodded before croaking,
“Yes!” She felt the threat of tears and forced them away. “What am I going to do?”
His eyes flicked to the floor as he thought for a moment and then back to her face. “You know what I think, I think we should try and find the place where your visions are set.”
“Really?” Fox gasped.
“And what if we…” Fox paused to let her mind cope with the tens of different scenarios.
“I guess we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get to it.” He stood up and looked back over his shoulder at Swan who was still fiddling with the water cooler. “Look, I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to do straight after school but shall I pick you up about seven?”
Fox nodded, relived that at last something seemed to be happening. Swan, approached with her eyebrows knitted together and her lips pressed tightly; she’d managed to hear, despite the distance. “What exactly do you have in mind? Driving around the countryside in the dark, looking for a murder house and then what? Breaking in, saving Martha and…?” Fox shrugged. “Don’t you think that all qualifies as being a little bit stupid?” She stopped to take a breath, but it wasn’t an invitation to respond.
She’d already formed her own answer. “The whole idea is ridiculous. You two aren’t Thelma and Scooby Doo; you have no idea what you could be getting yourselves into – and besides, it’s all a waste of time. Everybody, including the police, is quite convinced Martha and Jack have eloped. If that’s a good enough explanation for everybody else then, visions or no visions, why isn’t it…?” Swan stopped and pressed her hand to her mouth, “Oh, my – you’ve seen something more haven’t you? Something you haven’t told us?”
“Sssh, keep it down will you!” Fox warned.
Swan turned her attention to Will. “And you knew about this?” She looked at Fox with a look of vicious accusation. “You told him rather than your own sisters!”
Sensing an oncoming argument between the two of them, Will made a mumbled farewell and left.
“I didn’t think it was…” Fox shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She didn’t really know why she hadn’t told her sisters the whole truth about the visions. “I thought you would think I was crazy – or imagining it all.”
I wanted to protect you. I wanted to keep you safe. I didn’t want you stained by the darkness, said the internal.
“And what…? You thought Will Harrington would understand you more than your own sisterhood!” She dropped her voice but it sounded less like a whisper and more like the hiss of a serpent, “Does he know what you are?”
“Who!” Fox mumbled, correcting her sister. “Who I am. Not what I am!”
Swan shook her head and turned on her heel, running her hand through her hair with frustration. “I get it! This is some whacky rebellion. You don’t think we understand you; you feel different from us? You’ve seen Bunny and me gaining in powers and gifts and it’s making you feel…” Her voice pitched hysterically for the second time in two days.
Fox genuinely hadn’t had any of those thoughts, but now Swan had put such ideas into words, there was something that rang true about them. She was thrown into confusion with a whole set of new things to angst about. She shrugged. Swan hadn’t finished. “So what is it? An identity crisis? Hormones?” she paused and eyeballed Fox. “D
on’t tell me it’s love?”
Fox couldn’t help but burst out a laugh even though she knew it was probably the worst thing she could do at that moment. “For Will Harrington? Give me a break!” She rolled her eyes and snorted.
Swan was running out of steam. The events of the week had exhausted her and thrown her out of balance. Fox felt sorry for Swan and wanted desperately to offer her an answer, an apology to make things right between them, but she didn’t know the answers herself and she really wasn’t sure what she was meant to be apologising for. She started the sentence and hoped the Goddess would somehow end it for her.
“It’s not that I don’t love you all, or that I don’t feel I belong. I’m not rebelling. I have nothing to rebel against. I am loved and I am known. The visions – they’ve done something to me, Swan, and I really don’t know what it is…” she stopped, finding herself washed over with emotions she’d not previously acknowledged. Something Prim said flew back into her memory: They come with a responsibility. Seeing Fox upset, Swan softened and crouched down next to her, putting her arm around her shoulders. Fox snuffled, “They make me feel… polluted.”
“Polluted?”
“Yes. I know it sounds a funny kind of word, but the things I see in the visions are…” Fox trailed off. She didn’t want to relive them. “And it’s not just what I see, it’s what I hear and smell… and feel. That’s why I went to Prim. I thought she would help me understand and tell me how to deal with them.”
“And did she?”
“No,” Fox cracked a smile, “she just managed to freak me out more!”
Swan laughed, “Yep, she’s a little…” Swan twirled her finger alongside her forehead.
