by E. M. Cooper
‘They don’t have computer games,’ Seb said in a disappointed tone.
‘That’s because you need creative or physical pursuits to counter the effects of magic,’ said Muriel, who had suddenly appeared directly behind Marnie, Seb and Lissa. She kept walking past them to observe the other students.
‘She’s got the hearing of a bat,’ Seb whispered.
‘I know, she’s spooky,’ Marnie said. ‘You look around and she appears out of nowhere.’
‘I’m going to try photography,’ said Lissa holding up a camera.
‘As long as you keep it away from me.’ Seb ducked as she tried to snap a picture of him.
‘What have you got?’ Marnie peered over his shoulder.
Seb looked sheepish. ‘Coloured paper for folding and dioramas. How about you?’
‘I’m not sure what to choose. We never got to try sport or hobbies at the orphanage.’
‘What about books?’ Lissa said.
Marnie groaned.
Muriel stood on her toes in the doorway and bellowed, ‘Remember, this is a serious business. Whatever you choose, no magic allowed!’
As Charlie hurried out of the room with a fishing rod tucked under his arm, he pushed past students near the door who were signing out the equipment they were going to borrow.
‘These might be okay for you, Marnie.’ Seb lifted a cardboard box from a shelf loaded with books. ‘Numbers, equations, geometry,’ he said as he examined their covers.
‘But we’re not allowed to do magic.’
‘No, they’re just ordinary maths books.’
‘Yes, he’s right,’ Muriel said stepping up behind them to inspect the books. ‘Nothing in this room is touched by magic and if you love numbers, I’m sure these will be fine.’ She picked up one volume and flicked through the pages. ‘Actually, most believe the best mathematicians and scientists from your world, like Newton and Einstein, were wizards. As long as you don’t delve into numerical divination while dabbling in these, it won’t be a problem for you.’
Marnie gathered the treasured books hoping one day she might be able to blend her love of numbers with Fanglewick’s magic.
* * *
Later that evening, Marnie and Seb met with Lissa in Muriel Crawfoot’s evening class. She had arranged a pile of kites decorated with luminescent paint at her feet and was directing students to take one each.
‘Come on, don’t be shy. I’ve brought plenty for all of you,’ she said.
Marnie had a flashback to her boring days in the orphanage and smiled to herself at how different her life had become. Every day had been the same—meagre meals, boring chores and dull classes, but now every day was different and filled with the unexpected, even though she wasn’t a proper student.
‘Everyone’s here,’ Seb said. ‘Except Charlie.’
‘And Eudora and Callie told me they weren’t coming,’ Lissa said.
‘Are we all ready?’ Muriel was wearing a torch on a band around her forehead and a shaggy dressing gown over her day clothes. ‘Remember, when we’re done for the night, bring your kites back here.’ She grinned like a happy child. ‘Tally ho! Let’s go!’
Around twenty students hurried after her as she sprinted across a field in the shadows of Fanglewick. Marnie could hear her singing in a high wobbly voice as she ran towards the top of a grassy hill with her kite dangling and lifting in the night breeze.
‘This is fun,’ Lissa yelled and giggled.
For over an hour they talked and laughed as they watched their glowing kites bob and soar in the night air over Fanglewick, catching currents and almost reaching to the moon. When they’d tired of the kites, they lay on the grass and watched shooting stars and spotted night birds flitting across the sky. Finally, Muriel called everyone back to a table set up with cocoa and biscuits and gathered the kites.
‘Look over there,’ Marnie said quietly to Seb and Lissa.
Dressed in dark clothes and a cloak, Charlie was striding up the hill on the path from Andromeda to Fanglewick.
‘Do you want to find out what he’s up to?’ Marnie said.
‘No, definitely not if he’s going anywhere near Fanglewick,’ Lissa said in a nervous tone.
‘She’s joking,’ Seb said as he steered Marnie toward Andromeda House. ‘You go back to Gemini and we’ll see you tomorrow, Lissa.’
Lissa relaxed and waved them goodbye, but once she was out of sight, Marnie stopped on the path and turned to Seb. ‘Let’s go.’
He raised his eyebrows.
‘To follow Charlie, of course.’
He laughed. ‘I thought you’d never ask.’
After ducking away from the rest of the group, Marnie and Seb sprinted back along the path until they had almost caught up with Charlie. They hid behind a hedge watching him glance around before disappearing into a side entrance of Fanglewick.
‘He’s going in!’ Seb said.
‘Do you think we should follow him?’
‘I want to know what the snake’s up to, but—’
‘We could sneak in for a quick look. The rooms are safe on the ground floor.’
‘We were warned not to go in there after dark.’
‘Who’d know? Aren’t you curious?’
Seb looked doubtful.
‘Any sign of danger and we’re out.’
‘Okay, but we need to be careful.’
Marnie’s heart pounded as they crept into the building only to catch sight of Charlie at the top of a wooden staircase two floors above them.
‘He must be crazy,’ Seb whispered.
Charlie opened a door and disappeared into a room.
Marnie heard breath sounds and creaking coming from the walls. ‘Do you hear that?’
‘Aye. I wish I didn’t.’
A crashing sound and a high-pitched scream from the room upstairs startled them. Silence followed. Without thinking, Marnie rushed to the stairs and tore up them towards the disturbance. Seb hesitated for a few moments before following her.
‘What are you doing?’ Seb whispered when he caught her. ‘This is dangerous. Come on, we have to leave.’
‘We can’t. Charlie might be hurt.’
Seb groaned as Marnie took off again up the stairs.
When they reached the landing, Marnie heard footsteps below from the ground floor. ‘Shh.’
‘It’s probably Meeb or Grib doing their rounds.’
Marnie saw light shining through the partially open door where Charlie had entered.
Creeping closer, they sidled along the wall towards the door and crouched.
In the middle of the room, Charlie was standing on a chair over a large table with his wand poised. He was swearing under his breath, his face red and contorted.
‘What’s he doing?’ Seb said.
‘It’s a scrying table,’ Marnie whispered after seeing the blue liquid swirl and splash Charlie.
Charlie wiped his face and raised his wand with a deranged expression. ‘I, Charles Arnold break your ancient bonds and command you to reveal yourself, red djinn of the demonic halo.’ Charlie waved his wand in a complex series of slashes and swishes.
The table flashed dark and light like a television flickering. Inside the long room, the walls and high ceiling groaned and cracked as though they were being buffeted by high winds in a storm. Pieces of plaster from the ceiling rained on Charlie and fell into the turbulent water on the table. Ignoring the danger, Charlie seemed encouraged and repeated his demand louder and with more authority. The water in the scrying table frothed and spat at him as though it were boiling and the room sighed and moaned.
‘The walls are moving,’ Seb said. ‘We have to get out of here.’
‘What about Charlie?’
‘The ceiling’s collapsing—towards the floor. We’ll all be crushed if we stay.’
‘No, look, the ceiling’s fine out here. It’s only falling in there. We can’t leave him like this.’
‘He can look after himself.’
‘No, he can’t. He’s too focused on the table. We have to rescue him.’
A lantern flashed below them from the ground floor and they could hear footsteps approaching.
‘Hide,’ said Marnie retreating behind a series of grey statues on the landing.
Jax appeared at the top of the stairs with his face lit by the lantern. ‘Who’s there?’
The sound of furniture crashing in the room drew Jax. ‘What the blazes?’ He gasped when he reached the doorway. ‘What’s going on here? Idiot boy, what have you done?’
Marnie crept to the door a few steps behind Jax and saw the scrying table on its side and the room shrunk to half its size. Fine sparks erupted from the table and a waft of smoke and sulphur drifted from the room. A huge red creature with leathery scales and deep black eyes crawled from the table and thumped to the floor. Its talons scratched at the floorboards as it edged closer to the boy. It towered over Charlie, who was shaking but trying to hold his nerve.
Jax seemed frozen in horror at the sight of the menacing creature but eventually took a few shaky steps into the room and whispered, ‘What is it?’
‘What is it? My, one could ask the same of you.’ The creature mimicked Jax’s cultivated tone perfectly.
Speechless, Jax held the lantern up with a wobbling hand.
‘I take it you haven’t had the fortune to mix with my ilk before?’ said the djinn spraying the air in a more guttural voice.
‘Get rid of this abomination, now, and get out of here,’ Jax said to Charlie in a furious voice. ‘The room’s collapsing, and you’re forbidden to be here.’
Switching to a higher voice, the creature imitated him again.
Charlie took a step forward while glaring at Jax. ‘I was just about to when you interrupted, goblin.’
Jax bristled with a mixture of fear and anger.
‘Are you going to let him talk to us this way, young master?’ the red creature said in a conniving tone.
Charlie thrust his chest forwards but flinched and ducked moments later when the ceiling fell another metre or so.
The beast sprawled on the floorboards and crossed one gigantic muscled thigh over the other to avoid the ceiling scraping the massive horns on his ugly head. ‘No rushing you, young master, but you’d better get a move on before we run out of space and time.’
Jax spluttered. ‘Get rid of him, you stupid, stupid boy.’
‘Very well.’ Charlie flashed a wicked grin as he raised his wand and in a low tone said, ‘I wish you to disappear and infuse your being into this idiot goblin.’
‘Nice touch.’ The red creature cackled. ‘As you wish, young master.’
Jax startled and inched backwards as the ceiling fell another metre and the back wall rushed several metres towards the door.
The red creature smiled.
‘You will be known as Jax and will answer to me,’ Charlie said to the djinn.
‘Of course, as you wish.’ The djinn shrank to the height of Charlie’s knees before evaporating into a red haze.
Not waiting to see anymore, Marnie and Seb scurried to the ground floor while listening to Jax’s anguished screams. As they sprinted down the path to Andromeda House, they kept glancing back at Fanglewick. Eventually the window with the light on the second floor vanished and revealed the stars it had hidden on the far horizon.
‘I don’t know what we should do,’ Marnie said.
Seb nodded. ‘If we tell the teachers, we’ll all be expelled for being in Fanglewick at night, including Charlie. We can’t tell anyone what we’ve seen.’
‘Poor Jax,’ Marnie said.
When they could see the gate to Andromeda, Seb slowed. ‘You took a crazy risk tonight following Charlie into Fanglewick.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry?’ Seb was angry. ‘With you acting the maggot, we could’ve been killed.’
‘Maggot?’
‘Fool.’
Marnie nodded. ‘I know, but it’s part of me. I’ve always jumped in without thinking too hard, even before I came here.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. I suppose I didn’t want to be like the kids at the orphanage.’
‘Huh?’
‘They didn’t take risks and never saw beyond the walls.’ She smiled wryly at the memory. ‘One day I sneaked out with two kids and we caught a bus to the beach and swam in our clothes. Another time we raided the staff kitchen and got to taste ice cream for the first time. The kids who were too scared never did anything.’
Seb opened the gate quietly and they crept into the garden. ‘Weren’t you punished?’
‘Sure, but it was worth it.’
‘Fanglewick isn’t like an English orphanage.’
Marnie nodded. ‘I’m starting to understand that.’
‘I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. I care—’
‘I know.’
After Marnie crawled into bed that night, she couldn’t sleep worrying about Jax. Her conscience plagued her. Finally she decided, she would tell Professor Crabwinkle in the morning. She wasn’t a student yet and hadn’t gone to the assembly where everyone was warned about not visiting Fanglewick at night. She wouldn’t mention Seb and as for Charlie—she would pretend she couldn’t identify the boy who had summoned the creature.
* * *
CHAPTER 13
Winds of change
Marnie woke to the deep tolling of the great bell in Fanglewick’s clock tower ringing across the grounds. It was the first time she had heard it since she’d been at the school. At once she knew something was wrong. Given what had happened last night, she wasn’t surprised but dreaded what it might mean. She could hear someone running down the corridor outside her room banging on doors, so she jumped out of bed, grabbed her dressing gown and hurried into the corridor.
‘Get dressed and go to the great hall,’ a senior girl called.
Grace emerged in her pyjamas scratching her hair. ‘Why? What’s going on?’
The older girl shrugged. ‘Professor Thigimus ordered prefects to tell everyone about the meeting but didn’t give us a reason.’ She turned and continued down the hall to knock on more doors.
Sophie leaned against her doorway. ‘What do you suppose it’s about?’
Grace yawned. ‘Probably nothing. Remember last year when that first year kid from Lyra House got caught doodling pics of Muriel and Silas on Fanglewick walls? And the year before that a third year from here was suspended for lobbing rotten fruit into Lunaris Field.’
‘Reckon you’re right.’ Sophie pushed off the door frame and turned into her room. ‘Any excuse for a meeting, honestly they’re hooked on drama.’
After all the Andromeda students were ready, Thigimus ordered them to march together to the great hall.
‘Something’s not right,’ Oliver said. ‘Did you see Thigi’s face?’
Marnie longed to tell him about Charlie and Jax but caught Seb’s frown so remained silent.
When they reached the great hall, the teachers were standing in a huddle at the back of the room. One look at their faces and Marnie could see something was definitely wrong. Muriel looked as though she’d been crying while the others were grim and pale-faced. She glanced around the room and saw Jax with his brothers closer to the front stage. As usual Jax was wearing his fussy waistcoat and ridiculous breeches while his brothers were dressed in work overalls. Once the other houses had arrived, silence fell on the room until Thigimus stepped forwards to greet a man and woman before guiding them to the front stage.
An exhausted-looking Thigimus gripped the lectern with both hands. ‘Students, I have some serious, and I’m afraid, very tragic news to announce. There’s no easy way to say this.’ He took a long unsteady breath. ‘Professor Mae Crabwinkle was murdered in her study last night.’
Cries of horror erupted from the gathering and after a few moments, some students began to cry.
Thigimus talked over the top of the students. ‘Please, I understand how dreadful and
shocking this news is, but we must show strength. Professor Crabwinkle would have wanted and expected it.’
Still trembling from shock, Marnie leaned back in her seat and monitored Charlie further along the row. She could see him sitting forwards with his arms folded tightly and staring ahead. When he turned in her direction, she knew he hadn’t slept. To her left, Jax was leaning on the wall halfway up the hall, nonchalantly examining one of his long, manicured fingernails.
‘I would like to introduce you to Detective Crowsinger from Wandermere, who will be in charge of investigations.’
Marnie guessed the man with the droopy moustache who stepped onto the stage was a wizard from his overly formal cloak, bow tie and grey suit. The wizards seemed to favour conservative, less fussy clothing compared to the tight leather and black tulle loving witches.
‘Thank you, Professor. I understand how distressing this news is for all of you. If anyone has any information that might assist the investigation, please talk to me directly or to Professor Thigimus. While the investigation continues, teachers are required to stay in the student houses and no one is to enter Fanglewick unless directed. Classes will be cancelled for the next two days and will resume again on Monday.’
Thigimus thanked him before introducing a heavyset elfin woman with a self-important expression waiting to mount the stage. She was dressed in a glittery silver gown with stripes on her shoulders and her hair piled in a torturous brown bun. ‘Madam Honora Flay is an executive from the Imporium.’
Mage Mystilic and Seb had spoken of the magical government for the Old World. ‘What does she do at the Imporium?’ Marnie whispered to Oliver.
‘I think she works in the regulatory division from what I’ve heard. She’s very high up.’
‘I understand how brutal this might seem to most of you,’ Honora Flay said in a dull, matter-of-fact tone, but this morning we called for candidates from Alveria, Xenia, Earth and the Old World to replace Professor Crabwinkle. As is customary, we will select three candidates and issue them a challenge. The successful candidate will be Fanglewick’s new head.’
After resuming his position behind the lectern, Thigimus thanked Crowsinger and Flay. ‘The nature of the crime has not yet been established, so all students are to remain in their houses for the next two days or until notified. Although we’ll have Imporium officials patrolling, everyone is to exercise vigilance and caution. On another note, many of the housekeeping goblins are absent this week for their annual metallurgy festival. The goblins remaining here will be assisting incoming dignitaries from the external dimensions, so you’ll be expected to look after your houses.’
