Zara

by Mary Hooper

  ‘Did you find out what Poppy’s putting in?’ she went on. ‘I saw you chatting away to her.’

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘We were just talking.’

  ‘About me, was it? I could see her looking over, and then you both started laughing.’

  ‘I can’t remember what we were talking about,’ I said. I felt my face turn red because I could remember exactly. Poppy and I had been laughing because she’d said that she wasn’t surprised at what Zara was doing because she’d always thought she was a bit of a gypsy. ‘Expect she’ll be selling us lucky white heather next,’ she’d whispered, and before I could stop myself I’d giggled and added, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised – you should see the state of her mum!’

  I’d felt awful after. It was just one of those things that you come out with for the sake of being funny, though, and to carry on the conversation.

  There were eight of us in our tutor room the following lunchtime: me and Zara, The Four, plus India and Chloe. I was intending to put something in the box too, as further proof of Zara’s psychic powers.

  Lois was late coming in and while we were waiting for her – with Zara sitting quietly meditating, head bowed and eyes closed – everyone else was talking about Sky’s boyfriend. This, apparently, was the boy we’d seen them chatting to in the shopping mall a few weeks before. He was a DJ, and French, and wanted Sky to go to Paris with him for the weekend. They were discussing what she should tell her mum and dad, and whether they would let her go or not.

  I thought I wouldn’t have minded having her dilemma. Imagine having a proper boyfriend, someone really fit, let alone one who was French, a DJ, and who invited you to Paris. I’d been to a funfair once with a boy, and met another on holiday who’d taken me to the cinema, but that had been about as exciting as it had got. We didn’t exactly see a lot of boys. There was a boys’ school just down the road from ours, but the ones in our year were unbelievably childish and we usually saw them rolling around the ground having play-fights. Perversely, the boys in the year above that, the ones we fancied, didn’t sniff in our direction. At least, what I mean is, they didn’t sniff in mine.

  Listening to everyone talk that lunchtime, I thought that it was true what Zara had said about picking stuff up by just listening. People dropped all sorts of things into conversations when they were talking trivia; gave away lots of information about themselves. I knew that Zara, whilst pretending to be meditating, would be listening hard to all the chat going on.

  ‘Just tell them you’re going away with us!’ Poppy said finally to Sky. ‘We’ll cover for you, won’t we girls?’

  India nodded. ‘Course we will!’

  Sophie didn’t agree, though. ‘Not that I wouldn’t cover for you, Sky,’ she said, ‘but I don’t think you should lie to your mum about something so big.’

  ‘But I know she won’t let me go if I tell the truth!’ Sky said, her blue eyes clouding over.

  ‘Well, there’ll be other times,’ Sophie said. ‘If you don’t go with him this time he’s sure to ask you again.’

  ‘But he wants me to go now!’ Sky wailed.

  At this point Lois came in. She was late, apparently, because she’d forgotten her object and had had to go home for it.

  ‘OK, shall we start?’ Zara said. ‘Could you go round with the bell, please, Ella?’

  This was a new refinement which I’d read about in one of Zara’s books, and which gave me something important to do. I’d read that if you were going to do any psychic task in a room, then first you had to cleanse it of stale air and any harmful influences by going around its perimeter ringing a bell. Luckily, Zara already owned a Tibetan bell which she said made the right sort of noise, so I went to each corner of the room in turn and shook it. It all sounded a bit potty and I think I might have started giggling if anyone else had, but no one even smirked; they all just looked serious and expectant. When I’d finished the cleansing ritual, Zara looked the other way and we all put our chosen objects in a box.

  ‘Bet you’ve already told Zara what you’re putting in!’ Sophie said to me in an undertone.

  I shook my head. ‘I haven’t. Honestly!’ I said, and I was speaking the truth – even though I knew Zara would recognise the sparkly purse I was putting in because it had been her who’d given it to me.

  I watched as everyone else put their things in. Chloe put in the signet ring, Lois a framed photograph, Poppy a key, India a watch she didn’t usually wear and Sky a charm bracelet. Sophie put her object in last, but to my surprise it wasn’t a silver bangle, but a cross and chain.

  ‘Oh, you changed your mind,’ I said.

  She looked at me and raised her eyebrows. ‘So I have. Is that OK, or will it present difficulties?’

  I looked away, my face flaming. She’d guessed! She’d guessed I would have told Zara about any objects I’d found out about.

  ‘Is that OK?’ she asked again.

  ‘Course it is,’ I said carelessly, calming down a little. The fact that she’d put in something different didn’t really matter: Zara would see that there wasn’t a child’s silver bangle there, and when Sophie’s cross and chain came out I could signal to her who’d put it in anyway.

  Zara pulled out the first object, which was India’s watch. I was all ready to signal with my eyes who it belonged to, but Zara, cleverly, didn’t even glance at me, just held the watch clasped in her hands with her head lowered, as if thinking deeply.

  We were all silent. The class door was shut and outside it you could hear the life of the school going on, but here we were in our own closed little world. So far, I thought, it was all going brilliantly. Everything Zara and I had planned had worked. We had The Four here with us, eager for information, and even if Sophie suspected something there was no way she was going to find out the truth.

  Zara lifted her head and, breathing in deeply, looked round the room. I quickly flashed my eyes towards India.

  ‘This watch belongs to someone with a bubbly personality,’ Zara began slowly. ‘Someone who loves animals and who would speak out strongly if she ever felt one was being mistreated. Here is someone who loves the simple things in life, but also enjoys going out and about and having fun.’ She looked round at us. ‘Don’t tell me yet whose it is, but am I right about her character?’

  Someone – Poppy, I think – said yes.

  ‘This person probably owns an animal or two. Maybe more!’ Zara said, and there was an affirmative murmur from India, whose family had a handful of dogs. ‘She comes from a friendly, rough-and-tumble sort of home and is one very happy girl.’

  ‘What about this person’s love life?’ India asked.

  Zara smiled. ‘I think that she’s already been madly in love once in her life,’ she said, ‘but has yet to meet that special person. In the meantime she’s going to enjoy playing the field.’

  India beamed, well pleased with this, but didn’t say anything about it being her object. Zara put the watch down on the table and pulled out the next thing, which was Poppy’s key. She hesitated for a moment, as if considering what she held, and then – without even glancing at me – began speaking.

  Cleverly, all the things she said at the start, before she’d looked at me, were just general sorts of things. She said that the owner of the key loved dancing, sitting in the sun, shopping and going out – and of course, all those could have applied to any one of us. And when she looked round the group and I signalled to her whose key it was, then she added all the personal stuff, a few little extra things to make everyone’s jaw drop at the accuracy of what she was saying.

  Three more objects were brought out after Poppy’s: mine and Sky’s – these were quite straightforward – and then came Chloe’s ring. Zara already knew who this belonged to, of course, so didn’t even glance at me. She started off by saying that the ring was owned by someone very sentimental and romantic. Someone caring, thoughtful … a nice girl.

  No one said anything but the others were grinning, because she’d described Chloe ex
actly.

  ‘This girl likes sports, she’s dead keen on football and mad on one particular player in the England team,’ she went on, and of course these things were true as well, because she knew full well the ring belonged to Chloe. She rolled the ring round and round in her fingers, ‘The other important thing about this ring, though, is that the person who gave it to its present owner is, sadly, not with us.’

  Listening to Zara, I thought she must have forgotten that I’d told her that it had been given to Chloe by her brother, and was guessing that a granddad or someone who’d died had given it. Chloe didn’t say anything about this, though, just held out her hand for the ring.

  ‘Spot on,’ she said, and she put it back in her pocket.

  I forgot about it then because the framed photograph came out next and I flicked my eyes towards Lois.

  ‘This is someone’s mother and she’s in the spirit world,’ Zara said solemnly, after holding the frame for just a moment. There was a muffled gasp from a couple of the girls, although actually we all knew that Lois’s mum had died a while back, and this was obviously a photograph of someone’s mother, so Zara only had to put two and two together. But it was that that she was so good at. She could put two and two together and make six.

  ‘This is a photograph of someone who passed away nearly three years ago,’ she added, ‘and it may be that the anniversary of this death is quite close.’

  The next few things she said … well, they startled Lois and they startled me as well.

  ‘The person who owns this usually has it in full view,’ Zara went on quietly. ‘Her mum’s favourite flower was anemones and there’s a small bunch of artificial ones in a blue vase kept right next to it.’

  Lois started and gave a little cry which Zara didn’t appear to hear. She went on, ‘Whoever of you it is, is looking after her mum’s cat, even though she’s allergic to its fur.’

  Lois now gave the game away completely. ‘Yes, I am!’ she said. ‘How could you possibly have known that?’ She looked round at everyone and her eyes were bright with tears. ‘My mum loved her old cat,’ she said. ‘He misses her nearly as much as I do.’

  I think everyone was a bit awestruck and choked at this, and no one spoke for a while.

  ‘D’you think you’d be able to contact my mum for me, Zara?’ Lois suddenly burst out. ‘Would I be able to speak to her?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Zara said. ‘Maybe. Another time.’

  A shiver went right down my spine. We were getting into something else now. Something I didn’t much like the sound of.

  No one spoke for a couple of moments, then Sophie said, ‘The bell’s going to go soon. Shall we have the last object?’ Her cross and chain was the only thing which hadn’t yet come out.

  ‘OK,’ Zara said, and she reached into the box and took it out, swinging the cross gently between her fingers for a moment or two. ‘This object,’ she said, ‘doesn’t belong to a member of this group. Someone’s put in something that is not owned by them.’

  No one said a word.

  ‘And the reason they’ve done this is because they’re scared I’ll hold their object and find out something that I shouldn’t.’ Zara paused, ‘Especially that big secret of theirs!’

  There was a moment’s silence, then Sophie gave a laugh. A funny, forced sort of laugh. ‘OK, I own up!’ she said, flicking her hair out of her face. ‘It’s my sister’s cross and chain. I just thought I’d see if I could catch you out.’

  ‘You’ll have to try harder than that!’ Zara said.

  Sophie reached for the cross and chain.

  ‘Hang on,’ Zara said, holding it just out of her reach, ‘Your sister was given this when she was a bridesmaid. She usually keeps it hanging over the mirror in her room.’

  Sophie smiled. ‘Good try, but not right,’ she said, and then the bell went, everyone took their objects back and we went to sit in our own seats.

  I felt vaguely uneasy. Why was Zara being odd with Sophie, so difficult, when the whole object of the game was to try and be popular and become special friends with her and Sky?

  Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what. As we sat down, though, Zara was smiling. She said to me in a whisper, ‘Sophie’s lying. Just you wait and see.’

  Chapter Five

  The following Saturday Zara and I were shopping, as usual.

  In one of the little roads on the old side of town, away from the shopping mall, Zara had discovered a shop called Dreaming which sold all sorts of spooky stuff like crystals and healing herbs, coloured candles, dream-catcher nets and Tarot cards. Going into this shop was like entering a grotto: cobwebby stuff was hanging from the ceiling and there were weird pictures on the walls, while little statues of gnomes and mystic indoor water-features stood on the shelves. I thought it was a bit creepy but Zara loved it; she kept saying she wanted to turn her bedroom into a miniature version of it.

  We looked around in there for ages and she bought a couple of crystals which she said had spoken to her and asked to be bought. What she really, really wanted was a crystal ball, like witches have, but they were huge and cost nearly a hundred pounds. When she spoke to the man behind the counter, though, who was a real hippy, he told her that if she was psychic she didn’t need a crystal ball but could scry in a bowl of clean water.

  ‘What’s scry?’ I asked.

  ‘Seeing pictures,’ Zara said. ‘Like when you stare into the fire and see pictures in the flames, or shapes in the clouds.’

  She persuaded me to buy a crystal. I didn’t actually want a crystal, would rather have put the money towards a new CD, but she said I must have a crystal and that it would protect me. She was so persuasive that I let her talk me into it, and then we spent about half an hour choosing the right one, getting them all out of their little straw baskets and holding them up to the light. I liked the look of a turquoise stone but she said a striped one called tiger’s eye would be better and suit my personality more. I paid for it and the hippy man told me I had to wash it in running water frequently and, if it was around any particularly negative influences, I should also sprinkle it with salt, pass it over the smoke of an incense stick and then put it into the flame of a silver candle. These, he said, stood for the four elements: water, earth, air and fire. I wanted to giggle when he told us all this, but Zara was looking very serious so I didn’t dare.

  From Dreaming we went into the mall and did a quick round of our usual shops. I still liked all the accessories shops with their sparkly hair grips and bungees with ribbons and flowers on, but Zara didn’t seem as interested in these as usual. She did ask me to make her a pair of earrings, though, and wanted them to be long, thin silver chains with black star-shapes on the end, so we spent some time in the bead shop.

  After this we were starving and went upstairs for something to eat, and it was only here that we got some quiet time to talk about the psychometry business. There were loads of things I wanted to ask her.

  ‘About that cross and chain,’ I said, once we were sitting down with our fishcakes and chips. ‘How did you know that it was Sophie’s?’

  ‘How did I know it wasn’t hers, you mean?’

  I nodded. ‘That as well.’

  ‘That was easy!’ she said scornfully. ‘Everyone’s object had come out of the box by then and I hadn’t found a child’s bangle, so I knew whatever was next must be Sophie’s. It was just a process of elimination.’

  ‘OK. But then you said straightaway that it wasn’t hers.’

  ‘Well, that’s because anyone can tell that Sophie isn’t the sort of person to own a silver cross and chain,’ she said. ‘And besides …’ her voice began to go all faraway, ‘… as I held it up I got a picture in my head. I saw it hanging over a mirror, and a girl looking at it who looked like Sophie but wasn’t; someone who was younger. And then I knew it really belonged to her sister and not her.’

  ‘But she said it didn’t hang over a mirror.’

  ‘I told you she’s a liar,’ Zara sai
d bluntly.

  I thought about this for a moment. ‘So if you know this for definite, you really are psychic, then?’

  She looked at me closely. ‘Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. What d’you think?’

  I shrugged. ‘I dunno. I mean … that automatic writing business you did – was that true?’

  ‘No!’ She shook her head, grinning. ‘Got you going though, didn’t it?’

  ‘And you needed my help with the astrology game.’

  ‘Only a bit. I could probably have done it on my own …’

  I was confused. I stared over the balcony down to where we’d seen The Four just a few weeks before. It was only October and still warm out, but Christmas decorations were already being strung along the walkways.

  ‘But you knew about those other things – about India’s dogs, for instance,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, everyone knows she’s got three dogs! I’ve even seen her dad waiting outside school with them. Things like that are simple to work out.’

  ‘So what about Lois’s mum and that vase of flowers?’

  ‘I guessed.’

  ‘Guessed the type of flower she had there? And the colour of the vase?!’

  ‘I know! Clever, eh? I just … dunno … seemed to see them in front of me clear as day.’

  ‘So you are, then. You really are psychic.’

  She shrugged. ‘Or maybe I’m just sensitive.’

  ‘Didn’t you say that was the same thing?’

  She raised her eyebrows. ‘Who knows. I’m whatever you want to think I am.’ She grinned at me. ‘It’s great, though, isn’t it? We’ve got them gagging for us. Everyone wants to be friends with us now.’

  ‘I guess,’ I said thoughtfully.

  ‘And I’m going to do a Tarot reading and then we’ll have a proper seance with a ouija board and everything.’