“How was the summer with your parents?” he smirked.
“Hell,” I grimaced.
He laughed. “That bad? Well I’d hate to rub mine in your face. It was great to go home again,” he looked up into the ceiling and smiled, then blinked. “Tina says they gave you trouble? You had to escape and live in the Percevius’ Den Inn, in Gnippoh’s?”
“Yep…”
“Avis, that place is dangerous, lots of unsavoury characters,”
I sniffed. “Yeah that’s why I didn’t go out. Didn't want them spotting me, they’d recognise me wouldn’t they? And tell my parents immediately. Anyway, I didn’t know where else to go.”
“You could have come to ours?”
“I could, except I don’t know where you live.”
Ernie frowned again. “Did Tina not give you our address?” I shook my head. “She must have forgotten,” he said looking over towards her on the Hubris table. “Weird coming back to life after ten or whatever years… all the friends I had are gone, moved on with their lives, had children, working and all that,” he smiled meekly.
It must be hard to lose all those people and have them grow up and forget about you. “Even went and saw my own grave. Next to Mother’s. So, that was strange.”
“I bet.”
“Anyway, if you want or need anything just come find me, my dorm is on south wing, room 33y.” He got up, then just as he went to go, turned back. “And er a little drop of mango perry will help ease the pain. Promise.”
“Cheers,” I smiled, before grimacing. “Oh but there’s no mango perry at lunch.”
Ernie leaned in closer and whispered: “Just tap the table three times and ask for it, you might just get some,” he winked.
As Ernie went back to his table, I turned to Robin, my neck turning stiffly. “Did you hear that?”
Hunter leant a hand forward and wrapped the table three times. “Mango perry please,” he said. “Literally, I will do anything to get rid of this pain.”
After lunch half our form limped upstairs to another new class with Magisteer Wasp. Trust it to be up about a hundred flights of stairs! Robin, Hunter, Joanna, Grettle, Ellen and I limped up each one as if it were a mountain peak, a grunt and moan after each hurdle. The other half of our form, who hadn’t had the most gruelling physical workout of their lives (yet), had got bored of waiting for us and zoomed off ahead.
We finally made it, up to the very topmost point of the tallest spire in the school. We held each other, panting and wheezing as we came through a huge midnight blue drape at the top of the widening stairs. Through that was a small hallway with a moss covered glass roof. It didn’t help my stomach knowing that we were so high up in the school, it made my knees go giddy again just thinking about it. We stumbled forwards through big oak doors.
“Aha, here are the late ones!” called a flittish voice. “And what are your excuses? Too many steps I presume? Well, your compatriots managed just fine.” The voice was coming from a small man dressed immaculately in the middle of the room. He had curly blonde hair with greying sides and a boyish complexion — the overall look could have easily likened him to a Cherub in a suit. He stood with an expectant look, fingering his lapels.
I saw Jake, Graham and Simon giggling to one another at our apparent uncomfortableness. “Sorry Sir…” said Grettle, stepping forwards. “We had a lesson… with… Magisteer Simone… this morning,” she panted.
“Oh I see,” said the tiny man, understanding suddenly. “You poor things, come in and take a seat wherever you like. I’ll fetch up some Mango Perry for you,” he said kindly. I was a little taken aback at the kindness after having the evil Magisteer Simone, that now I wondered if Magisteer Wasp was playing some horrible trick. But sure enough, after sitting down gingerly, Magisteer Wasp returned with a big bottle of chilled mango perry and a large tray of glasses.
The room was huge and round, above was a giant blue glass dome with markings that were hard to make out in the daylight. Their were no seats as such, but cushions that were spaced apart around the circular stone steps that went right around the room. In the middle was a tall wooden plinth that Magisteer Wasp took. Tall wooden rafters reached all around the top of the room. Goodness knows how high up we were and no way would I intentionally try and think about it.
“Lovely to have you all here and to meet a new class,” said Magisteer Wasp who had a slight twang to his voice that was hard to place. “My name is Magisteer Wasp and we will be learning the AstroMagical chart together. A little about me — I am born of an Outsider Italian father and a Golandrian mother. My first job was an apprentice to the now famed Wizard author and explorer Arthur Hape-Heath. I became Heath’s trusted AstroMagical Chart advisor over the twelve years I worked for him. But in the end, I found a love for teaching in an environment I found more tailored to my advancing years, giving me time to study other things. Now, enough about me, who do we have in here?”
I found Magisteer Wasp very pleasant and AstroMagic interesting. I imagined that it could have been really boring if someone other than Magisteer Wasp was teaching. Robin found him really funny and laughed as Wasp squeaked the full table of signs out in one breath. AstroMagic, he explained, was basically the effect of the gravitational pulls of planets, stars and moons on our Magic. He said that there are certain infusions you can only make in the sign of Kreller, which is in November and December, or Spells that work better under certain signs. And once one knows fully the AstroMagical chart, then you can tailor your magic to these unseen forces.
“It reaches such an extent,” said Wasp. “That one could perform a Spell and it be utterly ineffectual, for the sign you are in, renders it useless. Of course it depends when you are born yourself of course.”
It was already a very long first day and with two lessons left and a mountain of stairs to climb back down, I sighed. Don’t get me wrong it was good to be back, great in fact, but with my muscles already hurting, the fact that my brother might be teaching at the school, as well as lots of new magic to process — made my poor brain feel like a heavy drooping weight at the top of my spine. The Mango Perry seemed to be working, it felt as if it were greasing my creaking bones, rendering them slightly useful again.
Half way down the stairs Robin turned to me. “I just thought,” he said, frowning so hard that his round glasses nearly disappeared into his cheeks. “You didn’t get your channeller back last year from… thingy. So… did you buy a new one?”
I looked around to make sure no one was listening, Graham and Simon had shot ahead, while Hunter and Ellen were still at the top of the stairs looking down at them feebly. “I forgot to tell you,” I whispered, for in all the fuss and excitement of seeing Robin and Tina in Gnippoh’s and then returning to school, I had completely forgotten about the meeting with my Granddad. “I’ll tell you when we see Tina. Two more lesson’s first.” Robin groaned, he, like me, just wanted to go to bed.
“This must be a joke,” said Robin. “The classrooms are so far apart! How do they expect us to get to each lesson on time?” he was really grumpy now and shuffled along scuffing his feet, I hated that.
“Pick your feet up!” I said. Mind you I had to agree with him, the next lesson was Numerology with Magisteer Commonside, back down all those stairs and all the way over to the other side of the school, on the first floor! Pushing our way through about fifty heavy drapes, down numerous corridors that looked identical, we finally found classroom number one-hundred-and-eleven.
“Oi, wait for us!” called Hunter, trailing behind with Ellen.
“We’re here now anyway,” I said, getting rather annoyed with Hunter calling after us all the whole way. I didn’t want to be late again.
“COME IN!” boomed a voice from behind the door. I looked at Robin.
“Why do I have push the door?” he said. I sighed and pushed, ducking inside the new room. Graham, Simon and the others were already waiting.
“You’re not late,” said Commonside with as little expressio
n as a person can. He stared dreamily as we crossed the threshold into this rather cramped room with a raised seating area and tiny desks. “Yes, the room is a little cramped, used to be a broom cupboard I think, anyway it was number one-hundred-and-one, so I couldn’t resist,” he said, not looking at anyone in particular. Robin and I took the last remaining desk near the front as they were the only seats remaining. All around the tiny room were numbers, plastered to the ceiling, the walls, the seats and chairs. They covered everything. Numbers were not really my thing, words were, so I had to force myself to take an interest. Robin eased himself into his chair very slowly, causing Dawn and Jess to laugh.
Robin huffed. “It’s not funny!” he called, levering himself in sideways.
“Now then,” said Magisteer Commonside who was gazing into the ceiling. He was incredibly plain looking — with plain beige clothes, half a head of fair hair and about as much charisma as a chewed pencil. His face, while plastered with absentness, was beige too: a long beige nose, beady beige eyes and thin beige lips. He was just so plain, he had no redeeming features whatsoever. “Numerology is the study of numbers. Obviously,” he said, and I felt a sigh echo inside me. “While it’s hard to prove their effects magically, they have sure popped up throughout the centuries and shown their worth to those fortunate enough to be allowed to study them properly.”
Robin leaned towards me, ever so slightly and mouthed: “What a load of waffle.”
Magisteer Commonside was immensely boring. As we left the class, I was still none the wiser as to what Numerology actually was. “One more lesson!” said Hunter whizzing past us in the corridor. At least the next lesson wasn’t too far away.
“We’re with another two forms in this next lesson,” I heard Joanna say to Ellen, just ahead of us.
“Do you know who?” I called. Joanna turned and shook her head.
“Good luck,” called Gret, giggling as half our form including Jake, Simon and Graham turned away down a corridor towards Magisteer Simone’s — it was their turn.
We carried on along the biggest corridor in the school, dubbed ‘The Big Walk’ as it was the longest and most used. It connected the Hall and the Chamber and numerous classrooms and corridors. It was lined with all the most important paintings, donated to the school over the years. Partington said we will study them in a few years with the Magical Art Teacher — Magisteer O’Connell. That didn’t fill me with excitement, they were just boring paintings.
As we passed the Hall to the left below, over the wooden bannisters we saw some unfortunate people going out to practice Riptide already.
“They’re keen!” I said to Robin. And then I spotted the white haired girl, dressed in a green and black Riptide kit. My heart leapt into my throat with utter shock. Not because of her, but because of someone else — she was right. My brother Harold was standing ahead of the line. His dark eyes still and focused on his form. This was a dream, I was sure of it.
“Watch it!” said someone behind me as I stopped stock still gorping down into the Hall at him. Surely my eyes were playing a trick on me? Was it an illusion? A trick? But then, his dark eyes drifted upwards, ever so slowly to me. And he smiled. A vicious, evil Blackthorn smile.
“Right, come on Snares, let’s go practice!” he called. His form, the Snares, including the white haired girl, cheering.
Then I felt Robin tapping me on the shoulder. “Avis? Earth calling Avis! Come on we’re gonna be late… What’s up?” he said.
“My brother, Harold. He’s here,” I said. Robin’s face dropped.
“So that girl was right? What you gonna do?”
“What can I do?”
“Go tell the Lily?” said Robin clicking his fingers.
I scoffed. “He was the one who employed him?”
“Oh yeah…”
I sighed, nothing was ever simple was it? “Come on, let’s get to lessons.”
As me and Robin approached Magisteer Yearlove’s, me in a dream with my stomach churning with anxiety about my brother being a Magisteer at the school, I heard Robin suddenly call out.
“Tina?” he said.
“Robin? Avis?” I looked up now as Tina was waiting outside the same classroom with half her form. “Are you with Yearlove now too?” she said, her excitement rising.
“Yes, we are!” said Robin and Tina jumped on him causing her form to look on perplexed. Then she launched herself at me.
“You ok?” she said. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!” she laughed.
Robin grimaced as he whispered. “He’s just found out properly that his brother now works here as a Magisteer.”
“No way!” she said. “Who?”
Robin raised his eyebrows. “Magisteer Blackthorn of course, of the Snare’s form.”
Tina looked guilty now. “Not that tall, dark, handsome new Magisteer?” she laughed. “Oh god, it is isn’t it? Avis, I’m so sorry. What do you think he’s gonna do?”
I shrugged as another half of a form came round the corner. “I just want this day to be over.” I said.
“Come sit with us at dinner,” Robin said. “Avis has something else to tell us that he forgot in Gnippoh’s.”
Tina’s beautiful face lit up with excitement again. “What? Tell me now, go on, pleeeease!”
“Not here,” I said, as a man’s head poked out of the classroom door, piece of paper in hand.
“Form’s… Hubris, Condor and Swillow?” he said and we all nodded. “Right, in you all come then…”
“Too many men Magisteers if you ask me,” Tina whispered under her breath as we all filed in. As my eyes adjudged I saw with amazement, that this room was different to the others. Compared to Simone’s grey room, Wasp’s circular dome, or Commonside’s tiny broom cupboard — Magisteers Yearlove’s room was magnificent. It looked like a cathedral. Golden beams stretched from ceiling to floor propping up a colossally high pitched roof. Stone arches held up a second floor, which ran around the outside of the room. Under these stone archways, stuffed into the shadows were piles of old stuff: battered books, silvery instruments and old paintings, mostly covered in large cloths.
The ceiling was decorated with the most elaborate magical paintings of the scenes of the magical war and the Jermain and Shaun-John magical revolution. The images were so cool, popping out of the ceiling whenever you looked at them — like real cool magical art should be — not like those boring paintings in the corridors. Colour streamed in through the stain glass windows, casting a rainbow of light across the white stone floor. Stairs floated in mid air at the far end of the room, in a spiral with no hand rails — right to the very top of the ceiling. It was so magical and awe inspiring that it made me completely forget about Harold.
At the very end of the room was a miniature version of Hailing Hall. A life-size model of the entire school complete with Riptide pitch, floating island and grounds — and it was moving! The trees swayed, the statues moved and the sun beat down upon it. The top of the centre spire of the model was complete with a blue glass dome — where we had our lesson with Magisteer Wasp.
“Hmm…” hummed Magisteer Yearlove looking about with the rest of us. “I suppose it is rather special isn't it? Have you seen the Magiexempla?” he pointed to the model of Hailing Hall. As we moved closer to it, we realised it was behind a thin, nearly invisible, glass dome. Magisteer Yearlove, who was tall, with short black hair and a black beard flecked with grey, approached the, whatever he called it, and waved his arms. It gave a small cracking sound as the miniature school split in half and opened outwards.
“Woah…” we chorused. Inside were tiny paper models of everyone in the school. It was incredible. I saw the Chamber, just below the school, with it’s domed roof and circular tables with a sparse amount of people eating or working. Their little papery form busy with eating, writing or messing about. And the Library, all the way over on the third floor with its own cathedral like room, with huge tottering walls of books and the river right in the middle complete wit
h mini boats. I spotted Magisteer Simone with the rest of our form lining up in a very straight line. The paper models of our form mates moving ever so slowly. High up in the spire was Partington sitting at his desk eating an apple. A blue fizz of light erupted from the Riptide stadium, and I saw the green and black kit of the Snare’s jumping around the Habitat, which looked like a sandy desert — my brother Harold in the stands, stood arms crossed. Yearlove pointed a long finger to the middle of the school, where, in a big cathedral room, twenty or so paper models were staring ahead at a tiny life size model of Hailing Hall.
“Incredible isn’t it?” he said. And we all sort of nodded, open mouthed. “If you get a magnifying glass, you can see you looking at models of yourself, and the models of models… makes your brain hurt after a while…”
After getting over the glory of the room and its many distractions, Yearlove summoned twenty comfortable leather chairs into a horse shoe around him. The girls were paying a lot of attention to Yearlove, their eyes swimming with dreamy adoration. “We try to keep things informal here. I am not going to push you to learn, that’s up to you. If you want to do well and learn what can be one of the most complicated and dangerous magics then you’ll do well to take in as much as you can. But, if it’s not for you, please take yourself away — I have no problem with that. There’s nothing worse than one person infecting the rest with apathy,” he paused for dramatic effect. “With Spell-craft, your imagination is the only limit. There are an infinite amount of combinations, some mix well, others don’t, they come with trial and error. That Magiexemplar,” he pointed. “Was made with the forging of hundreds of Spells, which enchanted it, giving it life.”
Avis Blackthorn and the Magical Multicolour Jumper (The Wizard Magic School Series, Book 2) Page 7
