by Fiona Horne
I held the stone in my left hand and concentrated on the back of Matt’s head again.
Matt, turn around and look at me, I commanded silently.
The amethyst in my hand started to feel really hot, but still Matt didn’t move.
Maybe the magic (if that’s what it really was) that had changed the feather had come from Bryce and not me. I was kind of disappointed, but then again perhaps it was better if I didn’t mess with this stuff too much on my own anyway. A vision of Bryce filled my head instead, his eyes so clear and green it was like I was looking at him in real life.
Then I snapped out of it and realised I wasn’t looking into Bryce’s eyes – I was looking into Matt’s.
Matt’s eyes were a deep blue, and I felt myself being sucked into them. The moment seemed to stretch on forever, until he made a sound like he was clearing his throat . . . and spat in my face!
I slowly reached up to my cheek, wiping the spit away, my eyes still locked with his. I started to feel the black, boiling fury deep in the pit of my stomach and I knew I had to control it before something really bad happened, because right now I wanted to hurt Matt Rock.
The bus came to a stop and I grabbed my bag and made for the door.
‘Freak,’ Matt called after me.
I watched the bus pull away. I knew who the freak was, and it wasn’t me. What a loser. Clearly looks only went so far. I wiped my hand on the grass to get rid of the spit. Matt Rock was a creep who deserved to be punished.
I started to plot my revenge.
As soon as I got home I called Dean.
‘Dean, what are you doing?’
‘Just messing with the computer,’ he said, sounding preoccupied. I could hear the sounds of World of Warcraft in the background. That was another thing I’d learned about Dean: he was a total video-game nerd.
‘Good. After you kill your next demon, do me a favour and google infatuation spells. I need something that will make a person worship the ground I walk on.’ I giggled a little but was deadly serious.
‘Are you sure? Brenda told us not to get spells from the internet until you know how to cast them properly.’
‘She’s changed her mind,’ I said. I felt bad lying to Dean, but I really wanted to get back at Matt and this was definitely the best way to do it.
‘Why do you need an infatuation spell anyway?’ Dean asked.
‘Because Matt Rock spat on me,’ I answered.
‘No way! Why?’ Dean said, his voice full of horror.
‘He’s just an arse and I’m going to get him back,’ I said angrily.
‘Got it. But why do you want to do a love spell on him then?’
‘Because he should know how it feels to be embarrassed in front of everyone. Trust me. I know what I’m doing,’ I said decisively.
There was a pause.
‘Um . . . okay . . . I’ll see what I can do,’ he said at last.
The next day at school Dean slipped me a piece of paper.
‘If this backfires don’t blame me,’ he said.
I read what he’d printed out.
A SPELL TO POSSESS ANOTHER’S HEART
Procure thus:
A lock of hair from the head of your love –
their thoughts be only of you
A handful of soil from the print of their foot –
they shall follow only you
Place these treasures in a bag with blood
drawn from your palm
And you shall hold their heart in your hand
Forever
‘Yikes. I have to draw blood?’ I’d had enough of people’s body fluids.
‘I spent two hours researching this, Vania, and from what I can tell that spell is the most powerful.’
‘Sorry, Dean. I really appreciate you going to all this trouble for me. I’m sure this spell is perfect, and I totally trust you.’ I fixed an innocent smile on my face. ‘Which is why I’m asking you to get the soil from his footprint. I’ll get the hair.’
‘Vania, he’s a senior. I can’t follow him around – he’ll beat me up!’
‘I don’t think he’d go that far. And he spat on me, remember? Please help me?’
‘All right, all right,’ Dean said.
A rush of goosebumps came over me.
‘Awesome! You rock, Dean. Let’s not tell the others. Brenda told me it’s fine to do stuff like this but that talking about spells is like planting a seed and then digging it up to see how it’s growing. We have to keep this on the down-low for now,’ I said. I felt a brief pang of guilt for lying to a friend but ruthlessly squashed it. This would teach Matt to be a nicer person, so it was for the greater good, wasn’t it?
The following afternoon I was waiting for Dean at the cliffs above the beach after school. There was going to be a full moon later, and The Sixth Sense and Us said this was when spell casting worked best.
Dean hurried towards me, a plastic bag clutched to his chest.
‘What’s up, Dean?’ I called out. I could see him sweating profusely from twenty feet away.
‘I just had to run for my life,’ he spluttered. ‘I hope sand’s okay – I couldn’t get dirt. I followed him to the beach; they’re surfing. I had to run through a group of his friends to make sure I got the right footprint. They called me gay and chased me back to the car park. One of them tripped me over, but I got away.’ He held out a grazed elbow.
I suddenly felt terrible. What was I doing? I didn’t even really know how to do this spell, and I’d put my friend at risk of being made into mincemeat by a bunch of morons. But this ball was rolling now, and there was no way to push it back up the hill.
‘Ouch, sorry,’ I said. ‘At least you got away, though. And if it makes you feel better, I had a horror experience getting Matt’s hair, too.’
‘What did you do?’ Dean sat down next to me on the rocks, wiping his forehead with an arm of the jumper he’d tied around his waist.
‘I grabbed his hair gel from his gym bag. He was on the field playing football and I snuck into the locker room. His coach caught me and nearly ripped my arm out of its socket. He said I was trying to steal stuff. I told him I was looking for my brother and he eventually let me go.’
‘You don’t have a brother.’
‘I know! I only got three hairs out of the gel, but it’s better than nothing.’ I dug my hand into my pocket and took out the tissue in which I’d wrapped the precious hairs.
‘What do we do now?’ Dean looked over his shoulder nervously, no doubt expecting a pack of surfing hyenas to come running up the path at any second.
‘Well, I checked the moon chart and it’s supposed to rise at exactly 5.55 p.m. So I guess when it does I’ll cut my hand and put everything we’ve collected in the bag.’
I pulled out a steak knife and a drawstring silk pouch that had once contained a bottle of Britney Spears Curious perfume – a birthday gift from my mother that I’d quickly disposed of. I hadn’t had the heart to tell her it wasn’t my style; that I’d have preferred a perfume called Smart, but no one made one. I had a feeling that what I was doing now wasn’t that smart anyway.
‘Are you going to disinfect the knife?’ Dean asked. He looked queasy.
That hadn’t occurred to me. ‘Let’s get a fire going,’ I said, walking towards a pile of dried-out branches under the scrubby bushes hugging the crest of the cliff. I knew I could disinfect the metal in that.
Half an hour later Dean and I had a cosy circle of flames crackling away. It was mellow and peaceful and we sat in silence, gazing at the grey waves that curled and foamed, breaking gently on the sand below. Eventually the sun set in glorious swirls of pink and orange before sizzling away to a glowing red band stretched taut across the horizon.
When the moon began to rise from behind a craggy ridge in the far distance, I carefully poured the sand Dean had collected from the plastic bag onto a flat stone. I unfolded the tissue revealing the hairs.
‘Gross,’ said Dean.
‘Uh h
uh.’ I nodded and grabbed the knife. ‘Here goes.’
‘How are you going to draw blood?’ Dean asked.
‘Quickly,’ I said, and he looked even more uncomfortable.‘Don’t worry, Dean, I have the desert sage you gave me in my pocket. It will protect me, right?’
‘Not from septicaemia,’ he said dryly.
I smiled and held the blade of the knife over the flames. I felt the handle start to warm as I watched the flames flicker. They were mesmerising, and a heavy, calm sensation came over me.
‘It’s time,’ Dean whispered.
I looked up and the moon had revealed herself: an enormous luminescent pearl floating up over the mountains.
‘Dean, can you please hold the bag open for me?’
He grabbed the bag and stretched the neck wide.
I scooped up a handful of the sand from the stone’s surface and let the grains slowly trickle in. The hairs were harder to get in there because they were sticky. In the end Dean helped me scrape them off the tissue with a stick.
All that was left to put in was my blood.
Focus.
I looked at my right palm, and as quickly as I could I drew the knife across the edge of it.
It didn’t hurt – I felt like I was in another world as the blood oozed up.
I held my hand over the pouch and watched the blood drip in as a tingling sensation started to pulse from my feet, moving up my legs and through my body.
I looked to the moon, which was now really bright, and took a deep breath. ‘Matt Rock is in love with me,’ I said solemnly.
I wiped my hand on my black jeans – the bloodstain wouldn’t show. Dean handed me the bag and I pulled the drawstring shut tight.
We sat in silence until I heard Dean sniggering.
‘What?’ I said.
Dean just laughed harder and collapsed to the ground, holding his sides. ‘Vania! This is nuts!’ he said between fits of laughter.
I burst out laughing, too. Was it nuts? Tomorrow would tell.
Eight
I was woken by sunlight streaming through my bedroom curtains. I dragged myself out of bed, wondering if any light would be shed on the success of my spell from last night.
I pulled on a pair of jeans and then procrastinated about which T-shirt to wear.
‘Vania! You’ll miss your bus,’ my mother said, sticking her head around my door.
‘It’s cool, Mum, I’m ready now.’
I’d chosen a tight, bright-blue T-shirt with sparkling magenta lips stencilled on it. Not my usual style, but if I was going to cast manipulative love spells I figured I might as well dress the part.
I was excited as I approached the bus stop. I couldn’t wait to see if my spell had worked. But when I got on the bus I was disappointed to see that Matt wasn’t there. What had I been expecting anyway – that he’d be sitting there waiting for me with a bunch of roses?
When the bus pulled up at school Bryce was standing out the front waiting for me. I pulled my hair over my eyes to mask how happy I was to see him. But he didn’t even try to hide the smile that lit up his face when he saw me, and my heart leapt and my legs started to feel shaky as I stopped in front of him. I worried that the tight T-shirt was too much.
‘Vania, you are not going to believe this,’ he said in an excited rush. ‘I spoke to a ghost last night!’
I pulled myself together, relieved but also a bit disappointed; I guess I’d been hoping that he would comment on my T-shirt, even though if he had I would have just dismissed him. I knew I was a mess of contradictions.
I fiddled with the shoulder strap on my backpack. ‘Actually, I do believe you,’ I said. ‘Was it your great-grandmother?’
‘No. It was someone I didn’t know. I had been ghost-calling—’
‘Ghost-calling? What on earth is that?’ I interrupted.
‘Um, you stare at one spot and make your mind really still and then when you are totally focused you say inside your head, “Is there anyone out there who wants to speak to me?” Well, I had been ghost-calling for ages, over an hour at least, and I was tired and actually starting to fall asleep when I realised someone was standing at the foot of my bed. A man.’
‘Argh!’ I squealed. ‘You’re freaking me out. Did he say anything?’
‘Not at first— Oh, I’m sorry . . .’ Bryce’s voice trailed away, and I felt a tap on my shoulder.
‘Vania!’
Matt Rock was standing there, all spiky hair, blue eyes, brown skin and . . . red roses!
I looked back to Bryce, but he wasn’t saying anything. It was his turn to look shocked.
‘I hope you like these,’ Matt said.
‘Umm, thanks,’ I replied, taking the roses.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t see you on the bus this morning,’ he said. ‘I got up early to find these for you. See you on the bus this afternoon?’ He was smiling, but his eyes looked a little glazed, like he wasn’t quite all there. I figured I could stop wondering whether the spell had worked.
I glanced back at Bryce nervously, but he’d turned away.
‘Sure,’ I said to Matt. ‘See you later.’
Matt smiled and practically skipped away towards the senior hall.
Cassidy Walters was standing on our school steps staring at me. She obviously couldn’t believe what she’d just witnessed. I felt a tingle of pleasure. Her horror alone would make the whole thing worthwhile.
I shrugged and clasped the flowers to my chest, smiling in a way that I hoped was a mixture of innocence and surprise. No doubt the entire school would be talking about this for the rest of the day: Matt Rock giving Fish Lips a bunch of red roses!
I felt victorious until I saw the angry look on Bryce’s face. This wasn’t supposed to happen! I wanted Bryce to be jealous, not angry. He shook his head and walked away.
Well, it had definitely worked, but it looked like this love spell had got off to a rocky start.
And Bryce was nowhere to be found at lunchtime.
‘Vania!’ Amelia squealed as soon as she got to our table in the cafeteria. ‘Everyone’s talking about Matt giving you roses. Do you like him, too?’ She was tripping over herself with excitement.
I looked at her carefully. Surely their psychic ability would tell the twins I’d cast a spell to make this happen? But no, she and Alyssa seemed completely clueless. Maybe when it came to enchanted situations their psychic powers didn’t apply? I glanced at Dean, but he was burrowing into a meatball sandwich and wasn’t saying a word, just as we’d agreed. I had to keep up the charade, too.
‘Well, you know I catch the same bus as Matt now, and we’ve gotten to know each other recently,’ I said casually.
‘He is so hot,’ Alyssa gushed, ‘almost hotter than Bryce. It’s so exciting that a senior likes you! Are you going to introduce him to your parents?’
‘Hey, slow down.’ I laughed. Was everyone coming under the power of this spell and getting carried away with it? ‘It’s very early days.’
‘Wow, you’re so strong to be able to resist Bryce and now Matt,’ Amelia said admiringly.
‘I don’t know about resisting Bryce.’ I shrugged. ‘He doesn’t like me in that way.’
‘Well, we thought he did,’ the twins said.
‘But now that you have Matt you don’t need him,’ Dean spoke up between mouthfuls.
I glared at him. It was time to change the subject.
‘Speaking of Bryce, he was telling me he saw a ghost last night,’ I said brightly.
‘Yeah, he told us, too,’ Amelia said. ‘Talk about horrifying.’
‘Why? What happened?’ I immediately felt bad – Bryce had been in the middle of telling me his story when Matt had turned up with the flowers.
‘Well, it started out okay,’ Alyssa explained. ‘He said the man was just standing there, and Bryce wasn’t scared – he had been hoping to connect with a ghost, after all.’ Alyssa paused, looking to her sister.
‘I’ll finish the story,’ Amelia said. ‘The n
ext bit freaks Alyssa out too much.’
I felt a little sick. If I was honest, I didn’t think I’d have the courage to communicate with ghosts. I thought Bryce was really brave for trying it. Dean was sitting, up straighter, too, his attention now off the meatball sandwich and totally focused on Amelia.
‘Bryce said the guy was moving his mouth like he was talking to him, but he couldn’t hear any words. And then the guy grabbed his foot.’ I gasped. ‘And he kept tugging on it. Bryce was trying to shake him off, and all of a sudden he could hear what the man was saying . . .’
She paused dramatically.
‘C’mon, Amelia, spit it out,’ Dean urged her.
Amelia’s hands gripped the table. ‘He was saying, “COME WITH ME.”’
‘Urgh.’ Alyssa shuddered. ‘That’s so creepy!’
‘So what did Bryce do?’ I asked, trying not to show that this was totally spooking me.
‘He just said no,’ Amelia said seriously. ‘He had to say it about twenty times, but eventually the ghost let go of him, and then it just faded away.’
I felt chilled. What can of worms had I opened? I was doing love spells with blood, and Bryce was being told by ghosts to go with them! Where did they want him to go? Where were we all going with this?
The afternoon classes passed in a blur. I passed Bryce once in the hallway but he looked the other way, which was incredibly depressing. I couldn’t wait for the day to be over so that I could go home and put this love-spell drama behind me. But there was no such luck – Matt was standing at the top of the school steps waiting for me.
‘Vania! Vania! Vania!’
I tried to avoid him by slipping around the side of the building, but he came running over to me. I was shocked to see that he had a huge black eye.
‘Matt! What happened?’
He looked at the ground sheepishly and then grinned. ‘Some of the guys gave me a hard time for buying you flowers, but I stood up for you!’ He rubbed at his eye. ‘It hurt, but you’re worth it.’
