“Oh look,” said Graham. “We start our first match against the Happerbats in our year, then the fourth year Jaloofia’s in the cup a week later!”
“I see,” said Jake inspecting the paper closely. “The leagues are now split up into year groups, so we will play our year only. But the cup…”
“We play all years!” said Gret excitedly.
I was not really concentrating. I was thinking more about the book in my bag I had stolen from the Library which had step by step instructions for raising a spirit from an artefact. Robin wasn't talking to me properly, he’d made himself perfectly clear — he wanted nothing to do with it.
As the crowd dispersed from assembly, I used the cover to sneak away. Up the stairs and into the Big Walk. I jogged ahead, along the free corridor, down a route I knew well. Along to the winding staircase and up. Up, up and up.
I pushed open the hatch to the clock tower and sneezed immediately as the dust plumed around my face. It smelt exactly the same — dusty, old and cold. I put my bag down and sat cross legged with a view out of the clock face. I pulled out the incense holder and the book. Then, I pulled out a large drape and covered them both before repeating the Riptide chameleon spell Goaternut over them until the drape turned the same colour and shade as the wooden floor. My incense holder and book were now invisible, just in case anyone did come up here they were properly hidden. I desperately wanted to raise it now, but I had lessons and it would raise eyebrows if I skipped them. But the incense holder and book were safer up here than they were with me. No one ever came up here. Ever.
“We didn't have any homework on unlocking spells you liar!” called Jasper, standing stony-faced with Henry the other side of the corridor, as I tried to sneak out of the spiral staircase.
“Oh really?” I said innocently.
“Yeah!” said Henry. “We just went there to hand it in. He said he had no idea what we were on about!”
I grimaced as they got closer. “Oh, must have been my imagination, what am I like?”
“What were you doing up there?” said Henry pointing up at the winding staircase.
“Nothing to do with you,” I said as they exchanged a suspicious look. “Handing in some work to Partington. Thought I’d go the back way, that okay with you?”
Jasper leaned in closer. “I know your up to something Blackthorn, whatever it is, I will find out.”
I grinned. “And I know your up to something. Or you already have been up to something…” I said as menacingly as I could as he towered over me.
“Whats that supposed to mean?”
I didn't reply, I left them both with a curious raise of my eyebrows, before slipping away round the corner. As soon as I was out of their vision I tapped the shoes and sped off back to my dorm — that was close.
***
In the middle of the night I was zooming through the school in a blaze of gold light. Shooting up the spiral staircase I landed in a dusty, dirty mess on the clock tower floor. I sealed the hatch shut. There was no moon tonight, only twinkling stars behind sparse clouds, watching me curiously behind the long iron hands of the clock face.
Excitement about what I was going to do dribbled through me, tinged with the anxiousness of unpredictability. I had no idea what to expect. Sitting cross legged on the floor I undid the Goaternut spell so I could see the vanished things. I drew the big book towards me and flicked to the right page. I cracked my knuckles and took a deep breath. Was I really about to do this? Raise a spirit? My mind was filled, like an obsession, I had to get my wish. I would do anything for my wish.
Place the ornament so it faces north, sit south of it. It took some working where north was before I did as it asked. Put the protective charm around you… I read aloud the incantation: “Omu-nama, duoma-camer, humda-narda…” for five minutes I repeated the incantation without a pause. The incense holder began to knock again, this time less frequent, a calmer knocking in time with my incantations. Perhaps it knew what I was doing. “Loomer-yelder, jarder-zernarder…” then I stopped as a feint white light pulsed out of me, expanding like a big balloon until I was encompassed by a thin reflective bubble. Place your hand upon the ornament — I did. And say… exsolvo-dissolvo-catena-vanesco…
My heart was hammering a hundred miles an hour, I took a deep breath — “Exsolvo-dissolvo-catena-vanesco…”
A choking smell lit the room as pink smoke puffed out of the top of the incense holder. The thick sandalwood scent burned my nostrils, creating a thick haze. I leaned back as smoke billowed outwards like a steam train.
“YOU FREE ME?” — a deep rumbling voice echoed terrifyingly close.
I looked through the smoke. “Y-y-yes,” my heart beat fast, stuck somewhere in my throat.
“THANK YOU,” it chuckled. Then, I saw it. Part smoke, part translucent light, like a ghost. It sat cross legged in mid air facing me. A long blue chain around its ankle connecting it to the incense holder. The spirit was big. And it was a he. He was black with long dreadlocks with metal fastenings and feathers. His deep, dark stare froze me to the spot. “CHILD?” he said in a deep accent. He licked his lips and stretched out his long powerful arms. I was scared of him, very, very scared and I didn't know what to do.
“To finalise my freedom, this Djinn may grant you a return favour of any proportion. I must reciprocate your kindness as set out in the rules of magical spirit…” he said, voice deep. “Forgive me, it took me a while to get used to speaking again,” he chuckled. “Now please, what is your name?”
“Avis… Blackthorn,” I managed.
“You know the rules of raising spirits, or you do so by accident?”
“I knew.”
The Djinn nodded once. “Then you know about the reciprocation? Did you have something in mind? For instance a large pile of gold, secret knowledge or…” he looked at me up and down. “Love, even?”
“Love?” I said.
“I can grant you anything,” he said tantalisingly.
“I just want to be…” images of the forth year attacking me, the glares and the accusations, just because I was a Blackthorn. “All my problems would go away if I wasn't a Blackthorn.”
The spirit shook his big head. “Can’t change you, that’s a rule. Cannot change who you are.”
“Ok… well, I suppose what I want really, is to be liked. By everyone. You know, so people have no prior judgements, to see all my best sides, not the bad…” I trailed off feeling embarrassed.
“You want to be liked, popular, that’s a reasonable request. You want to finalise? Once you’ve chosen, it cannot be undone,” he said ominously through the pink haze.
“Yes finalise it,” I sat straight, shoulders raised in anticipation to what he was going to do.
“I cannot spell you directly… but I can do this…” with a click of his fingers balls of all different colour wool burst into his lap. In flashes of rainbow colour he began knitting! A full length multicolour jumper began to take shape in front of my eyes. There were small flashes and pops of light as he knitted spells into the jumper. Every so often he would hold it up to me to see if the fit was right. Then, finally, he stopped. He held it at arms length, it was the most colourful jumper I had ever seen — every conceivable colour was in it.
“Use it wisely,” he said before placing it over my head.
“Thanks.”
“No, the thanks are mine to give. You’ve done me a great duty.” The blue pulsing chain that connected him to the incense holder snapped, then vanished with a pop. “Now I am… FREE,” he said wistfully. “At last.”
The trail of light that connected him to the incense holder morphed into legs. Now, he stood, tall and translucent. He smiled and then jumped backwards out of the clock face window. There was no shattering, he just jumped clean through it as if it wasn't there.
The bubble around me popped and I blinked, standing up feeling giddy. The jumper felt wonderful and warm, but I wondered what would happen now? I picked the book and incense holder
up and put them back in my bag. I’d better get out of here.
CHAPTER NINE
The Riptide Advantage
No one suspected a thing. I daren’t take off the jumper that night, sleeping with it on. When the clock chimed at seven o’clock I sat up in bed immediately, feeling spectacular.
“Good morning!” I stretched.
Robin sat up in bed, reaching for his glasses and peering around. “You’re in a good mood. Woah…” he said, catching a glimpse of me. “Nice jumper. I’ve never seen it before?”
“Yeah, had it ages, it’s old, I just never wore it…” I lied.
“Very nice,” he said longingly. “We have Numerology this morning,”
Hunter let out a long moan from under his covers. “What is the point of that lesson?”
Robin frowned towards him. “Then AstroMagic…” Hunter made a loud snoring sound, before Robin turned to look towards me, his eyes swimming with colours as he gazed at the jumper. “Listen, I am really sorry about what I said before about not wanting to help you. I was out of order I shouldn't have stormed out like that, it was out of character and I apologise profusely!”
“Calm down Robin. Wait, you’re joking aren’t you?”
“Joking?” he said as if it hadn't been invented yet. “No, not joking. Do you accept my apology?” he looked close to tears, weird.
“Yeah, course I do mate.”
“Phew,” he puffed, looking genuinely better.
After being complimented several times about my jumper by Graham and Jake who were next up, I went down to breakfast with Robin. I still had the jumper on and bubbles of excitement rippled through me now as I entered the Chamber. What would happen? I wondered, sitting down to butter some toast.
“What do you think Avis?” said Dawn staring intently at me.
“About what?” I said, everyone around the table looked at me quizzically, eyes fixed greedily on me.
“About the homework? I know your really good at homework and we were all wondering what you would write about?”
I swallowed, a little taken a back. “Well, I wrote about the correlation between Mars and the star sign Ziffers, which has some interesting effects upon the behaviour of hubris.”
“Wow yeah!” said Graham in awe. “I never thought of that!”
Jess smiled. “What a great idea, you’re so clever.”
“He’s amazing,” said Dawn dreamily. “I never saw it before.”
“—Thank you.” I smiled, as they all gazed at me wondrously. Some part of me felt like this was all a big practical joke and that they would all start laughing any second. But they didn't. Every conversation we had, people talked to me, included me, asked for my opinion. It was great, but weird.
***
For the first couple of days everything was great. But then, slowly but surely, things began ramping up. First of all was a lesson with Magisteer Wasp. It started off normal enough, but then as we were all talking about star signs of the fifth quarter, I noticed Hunter staring dreamily at me.
“You have a lovely voice…” he said.
“Ok… thanks.” I said perturbed.
Magisteer Wasp came over to our corner of the steps. “You my dear, have a wonderful aura today,” he said excitedly. “This must mean that Venus and Saturn are in conjunction with your birth house, very interesting and rare!” he said to himself before turning back.
“But my Birthday is in March Sir?” I said.
“Then it’s even more rare! Congratulation my boy, the stars love you!” He twirled on the spot, causing the class to laugh.
On the way out of the lesson, David Starlight of all people was waiting for me and insisted on talking privately. Robin wasn't very happy and stood as close as he could, snarling like a Wolfraptor. Some of the others like Hunter and Jake stood waiting too, their beady eyes watching a nervous David.
“I’ll er, catch you guys up,” I said before turning to David who looked to be struggling internally with something. “You didn't come all the way up here to see me did you?”
“Erm, yeah…” said David, panting and looking sheepish. “Well, the thing is I’ve been doing some thinking and well… I was really mean to you last year and I… I just want you to know there’s no hard feelings. I didn't mean those things and I hope we can be friends?” he looked at me pleadingly. This was incredible strange — this jumper was even more powerful than I had ever thought — but the thought of being friends with David Starlight turned my stomach.
“You want to be my friend?”
David twisted his tie round his fingers. “Yeah…”
“But, I thought you hated me?”
David shook his head violently. “No way! I mean, I even suspect that you saved my life. You told Ernie that Malakai was after me and well, he ended him right? Well, that means I owe you. I was too proud to say anything before.”
“Right, okay. Thanks.” I managed.
“So… we can be friends?” his eyes were lit up like a toddler.
“Maybe, let’s just see how it goes yeah?” I started walking down the stairs as he followed.
“It’s just… everyone really likes you, and I do too, don't get me wrong…”
I managed to finally get rid of David by pretending to have to go to the toilet and insisting that he couldn't follow me. As I stepped out of the toilets, faces leered out of the shadows.
“Riptide tonight?” said Hunter, causing me to jump. “In the grounds again?”
“Yeah you up for it?” said Joanna.
“It will be fun!” said Ellen. “We don’t want to unless you come.”
I put my hands up to calm them. “All right, all right, if you’ll let me speak… yes I will come and play Riptide. How did you know I was here?” I said, indicating the empty corridor.
“Cool, is he coming?” called Gret walking out of an alcove. “We are meeting at five by the lake.”
Robin poked his head out from behind a statue. “I followed you,” he said. “To make sure David didn’t try anything.”
“Cheers… I think,” I said as we entered the Chamber for lunch.
“Hey Avis,” said Ernie, who was just leaving the Chamber with a pile of books floating behind him. “Did I hear you mention Riptide? Some of the lads and I are going to go and play down by the river later, do you want to come?”
“Ahh, I would, it’s just that… I’ve said I’d play with my form today.”
“Ok…” he smiled, before walking off looking put out.
“I really am… sorry…” I called. I kicked myself, I should have said yes. The seventh years offered me a chance to go and play Riptide with them? This was madness.
That night, I took the jumper off and placed it carefully at the top of my wardrobe. People liked me now, it was nice. The girl who had scratched my face had come back to school, when she saw me she came straight over. What followed was lot’s of crying and a begging of forgiveness before she leapt on me again, hugging tightly. The Magisteers stood close by, just in case she tried to murder me again. “…And it’s all turned out ok, I get to live with my Grandparents who are lovely so it’s all ok now…” she said in between sobs. When she finally relinquished her hold, the entire Chamber applauded.
No longer did I receive those horrible glowering glances from the forth years, nor anyone. In fact, quite the opposite — girls would giggle tweely as I passed and once or twice I heard: “Go talk to him…”—“No! You go!”
But the best thing of all was… I had Tina’s attention. In a lesson with Yearlove, as we took our seats and pulled our notes out, I saw Jasper and Tina sitting next to each other still, but with a gap between their chairs. And they weren't holding hands.
“Today, we are going to be talking about unlocking charms,” said Yearlove with a flurry. “Someone gave me the idea of this when they brought me some homework I hadn't asked for.” Jasper sat forwards smiling, ready to take the praise. “So well done Avis…” said Yearlove. I nodded my thanks as the class burst
into a smatter of applause.
“What?” said Jasper affronted. “It was me who gave that—”
“It was Avis’s ingenuity, his foresight, his entrepreneurial spirit that made him decide that he would set the agenda. We need more people like you Avis. People to cut a new path, not people who can tread the same old paths over and over. Now can someone name two door-unlocking spells?”
“Yes Sir…” said Jasper as if he couldn't believe his luck, leaning forward with his finger out.
“I think you’re trying to trick us Sir,” I butted in. “There is only one spell that unlocks a door, Partimo-Sesamea… however, there are countless charms.”
“Wow, excellent knowledge my boy!” Yearlove cried as another round of applause came my way, followed by a gold star which suddenly blazed on my chest. Tina’s gaze was fixed upon me. At last. Jasper slumped back in his chair, arms folded looking cross. The rest of the lesson was magnificent, I managed to persuade Yearlove to tell us all of the unlocking charms — which I wrote down as quick as I could in my workbook.
Jasper was suspicious, for some reason the jumper didn't seem to work on him. He left the lesson watching me curiously as Tina waved goodbye grinning before following her friends — going the opposite way as Jasper. It was working, it was really working.
***
In my dorm room that night, Robin and I were just finishing our homework. It had been a long, exhausting day. Simone had set us ten paragraphs on our experiences of rebuilding the Riptide stadium (the jumper didn’t seem to work on her either). I was into paragraph five, tutting as Robin told me three lines probably didn’t constitute as a paragraph.
“I might go down and get a snack,” I said.
“Me too,” Robin said putting his pen down and watching me fixedly, as if I might disappear at any moment. “Don’t go without me.”
Avis Blackthorn and the Magical Multicolour Jumper (The Wizard Magic School Series, Book 2) Page 18
