The Curse in the Candlelight

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“That’s normal,” Scarlet remarked. We didn’t even need to whisper. Madame Lovelace was rather deaf at the best of times. I didn’t think even a speeding train could wake her up once she’d nodded off.

“So what do we do now, then?” another new girl asked.

“I have an idea.” A voice came from behind me.

I gulped. That Scottish accent was becoming familiar to me now. The way Ebony spoke … it was like she was inviting you into a dream.

Or a nightmare.

“Why don’t I demonstrate something for you?” she said. Before anyone could say a word, she was striding to the front of the class. She turned to face us. There was a strange, far-off look in her stormy eyes.

“Just ignore her,” Scarlet muttered, looking for the page in her textbook. “Then maybe she’ll go away.”

“I’ll need a volunteer,” said Ebony, raising her voice. Madame Lovelace continued to snore in the chair.

Ebony looked around the room slowly, her eyes falling on each of us in turn, holding our gaze for just a little too long.

“You!” she said suddenly, pointing a long, white finger at Muriel Witherspoon.

Muriel pointed at herself. “Me? What do you want with me?”

“I want you to come up to the front,” said Ebony in a singsong voice.

Muriel sat back and folded her arms. “Why should I get involved with this, exactly?”

There was a hush, broken only by Madame Lovelace, who occasionally snorted in her sleep.

Ebony was staring at Muriel, giving nothing away. “We wouldn’t want you to have another accident, now, would we?”

Muriel’s face paled. She seemed to be trying to hide the fact that Ebony scared her, but she was no longer doing a very good job of it. She stood up slowly and then rolled her eyes, bringing down the curtain of false bravado again. “Right,” she said. “If you insist.”

She approached the desk and Ebony waved her hands over it. And then suddenly, as if from nowhere, a deck of cards appeared in her palm.

Muriel blinked down at it. “I … what?”

Ebony held up the deck in her long, thin fingers and displayed it to all of us. The back of each card was black, with an intricate pattern etched into it. Then she flipped it to show us the front, and I saw that each suit was decorated with skulls, and the Kings and Queens and Jacks were all skeletons. How cheerful.

“Pick a card,” Ebony ordered.

Muriel reached down gingerly, as if she thought the cards might singe her fingers. The look on Ebony’s face was expectant, almost hungry.

Muriel’s hand came to rest on one of the cards. She didn’t meet Ebony’s eye.

“Show the class,” said Ebony, with a flicker of her eyelashes.

Muriel slipped the card from the pack and then held it out to all of us, so that only we could see. The three of Hearts. I shared a look with Scarlet. What was this about?

“Now, return the card.” Ebony watched as Muriel turned the card face down and put it back.

In the corner, Madame Lovelace snorted in her sleep and a cloud of chalk dust floated up from her dress.

A slow smile crept across Ebony’s face. She shuffled the cards, her hands moving in a blur. “Open your palms,” she instructed.

“I really don’t see why—” Muriel started, but faltered under Ebony’s gaze. She sighed and did as she was told.

The entire class seemed to be holding their breath. Everyone had leant forward in their seats. I expected Scarlet to tell them to sit down and shut up, but even she appeared to be fascinated.

With a strange grace, Ebony started moving her hands over the deck of cards, her fingers curling. She kept doing it, over and over, in a circular motion.

“Nothing’s happening,” someone whispered, but everyone shushed her. Because just then, the cards began to move – at a snail’s pace, but moving nonetheless. The deck began to slice in two, the two halves shifting apart, leaving a card in the middle.

And then … the card shot out of the deck.

Everyone gasped. I blinked. Had that really just happened?

Muriel was clutching her arm. “Ow!” she said. “You cut me!” She pulled her hand away and there was indeed a small flash of blood on her skin – a paper cut.

Ebony just laughed, and her laugh was like a misty mountain stream. “Never mind that,” she said. “Pick up the card. Show them.”

Scowling, Muriel bent down and picked up the card from the floor. I watched as she cautiously turned it over and then picked it up. She held it out to the class.

The three of Hearts.

There was a hush, followed by a ripple of hesitant applause. But Madame Lovelace chose that moment to wake up, and the spell was broken.

“Hmm?” she said loudly, one rheumy eye shooting open before the other. She looked around and wrenched herself up straight. “You two! What are you up to? Back to your seats, this instant!” She picked a ruler up off her desk and waved it at them threateningly.

Muriel dashed back to her seat, still frowning and clutching her arm. Ebony just swept up her cards and sauntered back, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Madame Lovelace coughed and then fixed us with a steely gaze. “Have you even got your books out? Anyone would think you didn’t have a teacher! Get on with it!”

It was lunchtime before we finally got a chance to talk about what had happened. I knew, as soon as I stepped into the dining hall, that everyone was talking about it. The new girl did magic in class. She made cards move all by themselves. How did she do it?

The whispers rushed past us like the wind. And the moment Ebony entered the hall, all eyes were on her. She smiled. I knew then that it was exactly what she’d wanted. She was relishing the attention.

“That was quite a trick,” said Ariadne as we sat at the table.

“You think it was a trick?” Scarlet asked. She hadn’t even bothered to touch her food. This was too exciting.

“As opposed to what?” I turned to my twin.

“Real magic,” Scarlet said. “I mean, did you see her touch those cards? I didn’t.”

Ariadne put her thinking face on, the one where you could almost see the cogs turning. “She probably had the cards up her sleeve to start with,” she said.

“But after that?” Scarlet shook her head. I had to admit, I hadn’t seen her touch the cards either, and I’d been concentrating hard. “It was too weird. And did you see the way everyone just stared?”

“It was creepy,” I admitted. It wasn’t the Rookwood I knew, where show-offs were usually quickly dispatched by bullies. People had just sat and watched. Ebony was like a ticking time bomb, it seemed, and you felt like you had to keep an eye on her in case she went off.

And why had she involved Muriel in her prank? She seemed determined to single her out. “Where’s Muriel?” I wondered aloud.

“She ran off.” Someone from further down the table spoke. I looked up to see Penny, who looked distinctly fed up. She was poking her sandwiches – Mrs Knight had altered the menu somewhat, and we had cheese and ham sandwiches instead of the usual stew. “I saw her,” she said in a flat tone. “She got her food, took one look at Miss Mystic over there and headed outside.”

“Is something wrong, Penny?” Scarlet asked, although there was no real concern in her voice. Penny had always been the school’s worst bully. “Are you not getting all the attention for once?”

“Ha!” Penny laughed drily. “That’s rich coming from you.” I could tell her heart wasn’t in the insult, though. “I’m just … tired, that’s all.” She smiled a weak smile. “Tired of all this.”

Although talking to Penny was usually the last thing I wanted to do, I felt a little intrigued – she wasn’t being actively horrible. “What do you mean?” I asked.

Penny hesitated for a moment, as if she wasn’t sure whether to set the words free. She ran a hand through her copper hair and sighed. “Violet’s gone. Josie’s gone. I don’t think Nadia likes me. And my parents, well …”

“I’m sorry,” I said. And I meant it. It must be tough for her, not having her friends around.

Penny just shrugged.

But Scarlet wasn’t going to be as soft on her. “Thinking of giving up the bullying business, then?” she asked.

I expected Penny to get angry at that, but there was no explosion – just a quiet resignation. “Maybe I just can’t count on things being the same any more,” she said as she picked up her sandwich and began to chew thoughtfully.

I hated to admit it, but I thought I knew how she felt. I turned to my twin. “Things are certainly changing around here,” I said.

“But we’ll always have each other.” She grinned.

Ariadne was silent for a moment, her cogs still spinning. Then she stood up. “I … I’m going to see if Muriel is all right,” she said, “… again.” She took her plate and wandered off outside.

I watched her go. “Do you think Ariadne’s starting to forgive Muriel?”

“It’s Rookwood School,” said Scarlet. “Anything could happen.”

Chapter Nine (#ulink_16dc4531-ddc8-5b2f-88bc-6eeccbe91553)

SCARLET (#ulink_16dc4531-ddc8-5b2f-88bc-6eeccbe91553)

he rumours about Ebony were flying around the school faster than I could follow them. I heard someone swearing that they’d seen a black cat coming out of her dorm room, followed by someone else insisting they’d seen her turn into a black cat.

It was ridiculous. Her magic had been convincing, and maybe, maybe