FOOTAGE

In capture we must never confess. By blood or flame, may silence be our only salvation, may death be our only freedom.

The Return, The Book of the Binders

Anna must have only slept a few hours when she woke. Effie was fast asleep. Anna remembered the events of the night before as if they had been a dream; then she looked down at her dress, the blood on her hands and the curse symbol staining the floor. She counted seven. She felt distinctly less invincible in the light of day, not helped by the groggy feeling in her head.

There was no sign of Manda, but her bed was made. She must have gone home, hopefully looking as if she’d enjoyed a night of heavy studying rather than partying. The kitchen was a bomb scene of empty bottles and glasses and pizza. The house was quiet except for the distant sound of hammering. Selene was meant to be back already. Where is she? Though Anna wanted to run back into the fun and freedom of the night – she had to talk to Selene.

Anna padded downstairs to Attis’s floor. The door to his forge was ajar. She took a deep breath and went in. He was hammering at the anvil, shoulder blades opening and closing through his T-shirt. She watched him for a while, making his music, just as he watched her make hers. She smiled at his concentration face, brow furrowed and tongue resting on his lower lip.

He turned around and jumped. ‘Anna.’

She laughed. ‘Who’s the creep now?’

He broke into a smile.

‘Do you ever sleep?’ she asked.

‘Not really. Though you’ve only had about three hours yourself.’

‘I wake early.’

‘Quite a night.’

Anna nodded, feeling self-conscious as she remembered the blur of the club, the wild dancing, the blood pact. ‘What’s going on there?’ she said, pointing at a mess of wood on the floor behind him – what looked like piano keys.

‘Oh, that.’ He scratched his head. ‘It’s part of a piano. I took it apart.’

‘Why?’

‘I wanted to see how it worked. They’re incredibly complex instruments. Do you know there are over ten thousand moving parts in a grand piano? Over a hundred in every single key.’

Anna nodded, bewildered. She knew the theory but she hadn’t really thought much about how a piano actually worked; the sound of it had been enough for her and the rest was magic. ‘And have you worked it out then, how they work?’

‘Yes and no.’ He kicked at some of the debris.

‘Do you know when Selene is due back?’

Attis dried his face off with a towel. ‘Do I ever know anything about Selene’s movements? The woman barely speaks to me.’

‘Yeah, I’ve noticed. Why?’

Attis shrugged. ‘I’m just another man to her. Disposable.’

‘You’re not just another man though, you’re Effie’s …’

‘Effie’s what?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Well, in that case I still only exist in relation to Effie, don’t I?’

‘That’s not what I meant.’

He sighed. ‘I know.’

Anna walked closer to the furnace, the heat of the fire on her face.

‘Don’t get too close,’ he cautioned.

‘What are you working on?’

‘Just finishing my blade. I’m shaping it at the moment.’

‘Can you show me how it works?’

His tension disappeared at her request. He smiled and rubbed a hand through his hair, sending it flying in different directions. ‘Of course. If you want to see?’

‘I do.’

He leapt over to the furnace. ‘Blacksmithery is a combination of tools, techniques, chemistry and artistry – but in many ways it is simple. It all begins with this.’ He ran a hand through the flames. ‘A true blacksmith knows how to speak with fire. Listening is the most important thing. The fire shouldn’t be too large or burn too quickly – you want a clean, concentrated flame. You have to listen to its music, the colours of its flames, the shades of its smoke, the patterns of its sparks.’ He raised his hands up and the flames grew taller. ‘I do have the advantage of magic, however.’

He drew the long piece of metal he’d been working on from the fire, its tip orange and angry. He beckoned Anna over to the anvil, placing the metal onto it. He began to beat it with a hammer – working quickly and skilfully – turning the blade on its side and hammering down, turning it again and flattening it out, a clear and steady rhythm. ‘I’m shaping it,’ he shouted, moving it from the flat part of the anvil to the horn-like end of it, twisting, turning, hammer singing, sparks flaring. He rubbed a bristled brush along it, hot scales peeling off the blade. ‘Want a go?’

‘No. I don’t think—’

‘Go on,’ he encouraged.

‘OK,’ said Anna, stepping towards the anvil. He picked up the metal again and showed her how to hold it steady. She took the hammer from him and brought it down onto the metal, feeling the shudder up her arm. Sparks skittered. Attis waved a hand, dispersing them away from her. She smiled. ‘I admit, hammering is fun.’

He placed his hands over the top of hers. ‘You want to draw it out. Keep turning it like this.’ He showed her how to move the piece of metal. ‘And easy with the hammer, firm but gentle …’

Anna tensed up at the proximity of his body, the closeness of his touch, but his attention was so entirely on the fire and teaching her that she became lost in it too. She was amazed at how malleable the metal was, how easily it responded to the hammer and yet how hard it was to get it to do quite what you wanted it to. She couldn’t imagine moving with the speed and precision Attis had. Slowly, the blade began to take form.

‘You’re picking it up quickly,’ he said, beaming.

Anna brought the hammer down again and, this time, as the sparks leapt into the air, Attis brought up his hand and froze them mid flight. Not quite frozen – they moved in slow motion – a suspended eruption. Anna laughed. Attis smiled at her delight and moved his hands again: the sparks began to turn in a fast spiral around her. She wanted to reach out and touch them but she knew they’d burn.

‘Show off,’ she teased.

He smiled. ‘I’m just a man who likes to flex my sparks.’ He took the blade and put it back in the fire to heat again.

Anna reluctantly handed him the hammer, wanting to learn more, to understand what every tool did, the different techniques, how to speak with fire. Her yearning didn’t stop there – it extended to all the magic that had woven its way through her life, a desire that burned within her as never before. She had nowhere to put it. She walked along the room to distract herself, surveying the horseshoes on the walls, the shelves heavy with curiosities – hammers and tongs and pliers – weighing his life down as if he was worried it might float off at any moment.

Her eyes landed on the jar of keys again – the white was one among them. ‘Attis,’ she began tentatively. ‘Could I borrow your skeleton key?’

Attis walked over. ‘Why?’

‘There’s a room in my house I need to get into. Aunt keeps it locked. I just need to know what’s in there,’ she said, downplaying the desperation within her.

‘It’s probably just where your aunt keeps her items belonging to her secret rubber fetish.’

Anna gave him a withering look. ‘Attis, come on.’

‘Or she’s secretly into miniature railways? Or owns a ferret collection? Some people love ferrets.’

She wrenched her eyes from the key, irritated now. ‘Attis, why do you have to make a joke out of everything? Like all my questions are just punchlines – they’re not, this is my life. Please, I need your help.’

‘All I’m saying is – ferrets require a lot of space.’

‘Stop it. I’m serious. How can I know who I am without knowing who I came from? I have to. I’m running out of time!’

‘I don’t know my parents. Do you see me going around putting myself in danger?’ The joking edge had faded from his voice.

‘You knew your father …’

‘He wasn’t my real father.’

‘Well, you never told me that,’ she snapped. It was aggravating how little she knew about him, how much of himself he kept a secret. ‘But why would you? You don’t tell anyone who you are.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘You’re a different person to everyone – no one really knows you.’ She stepped closer to him. ‘You know what the worst part is? You act like nothing matters to you, like everything’s a big joke, but I don’t buy it. You always ask me what I want but what the hell do you want? What do you want from this life? What are you? Who are you?’

‘You wouldn’t understand, Anna.’ The way he said her name, almost dismissively, made her angrier.

‘You know what I think?’

‘What?’

They were shouting now.

‘You don’t know who you are or what you want and you hide behind this mask, pretending to everyone you’re just fine, happy-go-lucky, when really, if you took it off, we’d all see you are nothing at all.’ Her words came out in a tumble, red and hot, hands shaking.

‘Well, I’m glad you’ve got me all worked out!’ He fired in return. ‘I’m glad you’ve realized what I’ve been trying to tell you – I AM NOTHING!’ His face was inches from hers, contorted, his features twisted, but his eyes were shot with pain. It caught her off guard.

She wasn’t sure what to do next. They were so close. The room so hot. Their anger alive and temporarily frozen like the sparks of only moments ago; Attis’s breath fast and heavy and the scent of him suddenly dizzying. Anna looked down. He stepped closer and lifted her chin, his eyes a smoke behind which fire burned—

‘What’s going on?’ Effie opened the door and they jumped apart.

Attis stalked to the anvil. ‘Nothing.’

Anna felt her face burning red. ‘Yeah, nothing. Just discussing keys.’

Effie looked at Anna with intensity. ‘Selene is back. I thought you wanted to speak to her.’

‘Yes.’ Anna quickly made for the door, deciding the best thing she could do was to leave.

‘You look more like your mother every day!’ Selene cried when she saw her, taking her face in her hands. Anna’s increasingly thumping head was still reeling from what had just happened. ‘Effie said you wanted to talk with me. I’ve just deposited a client in the back room so I can’t be long. Need to get a few ingredients prepared.’

‘I only need a moment.’ Anna tried to gather her thoughts – she didn’t know how she could fit everything into a moment. ‘I don’t know if Effie has told you anything, but there are these horrible girls at school—’

‘Effie tells me nothing.’

‘Well, they are the worst. Bullies, through and through.’

‘I abhor bullies,’ said Selene, walking over to her shelves.

‘They were threatening to do this awful thing to Rowan so we stepped in. Effie found a spell which would spread rumours about them that wouldn’t go away. It worked. Only I’m worried they’re working too well. It feels as if they’re becoming real.’

‘Sounds like they’re getting their comeuppance.’ Selene selected various bottles from her shelves.

‘But the spell is getting stronger. It doesn’t seem to be ending. What if it doesn’t end?

‘Darling, you do worry too much about everything. You’re a new coven, you wouldn’t have the power to do something that would get that out of hand. If you’re really worried, then I’ll talk to Effie, find out a bit more about it.’

Anna bit her lip. ‘It’s just’ – say it – ‘it’s just my magic, it feels like there’s something not right with it. This symbol keeps appearing, seven circles – the curse symbol. Perhaps it’s me, perhaps I’m what’s caused the spell to get out of hand … to become so dark …’

Effie entered the kitchen with Attis. Selene began to laugh. ‘Cursed.’ A high falling laugh, as if it were jumping off the edge of something. ‘Anna, you’re not cursed and, anyway, curses don’t work that way – they don’t affect spells like that.’

Anna breathed out, more frustrated than ever. ‘But the symbol—’

‘You’re making patterns out of nothing.’

‘I saw the symbol,’ said Effie. ‘It’s not nothing. Anna’s magic does seem a little … twisted.’ Effie smiled at her coldly.

‘Anna’s magic is not twisted,’ said Attis. ‘There’s no firm evidence that it’s cursed in any way.’

‘Attis is right,’ Selene agreed, although she seemed to resent admitting it. ‘There are no curses in your family’s magic. If there were, I’d know about them. How could you simply become cursed? Who would be cursing you? Come on now, Vivienne is just getting into your head. We know she does that. Why don’t you spend the day here? You and Effie can join my client session now. It’ll be delicious fun.’

‘What’s the spell?’ said Effie.

‘A revenge spell. Her husband cheated on her with another woman. We’re going to make him pay.’

‘Aren’t you currently seeing a married man?’ Effie pointed out.

‘All’s fair in love and magic.’

‘I thought you were with the man in the bath? Henry?’ said Anna.

Selene waved a hand. ‘Oh, I had to end it, he was falling in love with me and it was all getting rather dull.’

‘Right.’ Anna was growing tired of all this talk of love. ‘Does this other man really deserve this punishment?’

‘He’s a man, Anna. They have done us enough harm across the ages that any harm we do to them now is insignificant.’

‘String me up now,’ said Attis darkly.

Selene looked at him and somehow looked right through him at the same time. ‘Oh, come on, girls. It’s just a little love spell.’

‘Sure.’ Effie joined Selene.

‘Anna?’

Anna laughed incredulously. ‘You really don’t get it, do you, Selene?’ She stormed from the room. She did not make dramatic exits but she couldn’t help it. Selene was meant to be there for her, wasn’t she? She grabbed at her bag and her coat, trying to untangle them.

Selene appeared in the doorway, full of sighs. ‘Anna.’

Anna successfully wrenched them apart. ‘I have to go.’

‘Would you look at me?’

Anna spun to look at Selene, into the dazzling violet of her eyes. Too dazzling.

‘I’m sorry, darling. I just think—’

‘I’m going to become a Binder, Selene. Do you understand? Do you care?’

Selene closed her eyes, pained. ‘Of course I care. It’s difficult. I don’t know how—’

‘I guess we’re both afraid of Vivienne then,’ Anna spat.

‘What do you want, my little matchstick?’

‘I want to know the truth. Was there more to my mother’s death?’

Selene stepped forwards and took her by the hands. ‘No. Your parents’ death was the greatest sadness of my life but it was not a mystery, no more than any love is. There is no secret. There is no hidden story.’ Her eyes were as dark as the skin of a plum now. Serious. Urging.

Anna looked away, confused.

‘I know how Vivienne is with you, matchstick. I can’t imagine how hard it must be—’

‘She wants me bound,’ said Anna.

Selene’s hands trembled in hers. ‘I know. But I can’t decide your future for you.’

‘You really think I have a choice?’

‘If you ever feel like the choice isn’t yours then come to me. I promise you, I will help you. I’m not as afraid of Vivienne as you think.’

Anna gripped her hands tighter, holding onto Selene’s words. ‘Do you really promise?’

‘By the waxing of my heart, by the waning of my life, I promise on the moon. A witch’s promise. I will always be here for you.’

Anna watched as the flies crawled into the hair of the girl in the row in front of her. The prefects squirmed and shivered with them on stage. The hall smelt of rot, decaying flies and festering rumour. Headmaster Connaughty had looked defeated for weeks but this morning there was a new expression in his eye, something ravenous. His small eyes consumed the rows before him.

‘I must start today’s assembly with some troubling news. It appears that on Friday night the school grounds were broken into. We have obtained CCTV footage—’

Anna’s heart stopped.

‘—showing a group of five people – four girls and one boy – trespassing on school grounds. They lit a fire and …’ He coughed. ‘… danced around it.’

Furious whispers rippled across the pupils. And walked through it. He’s not going to share that part …

‘QUIET, ALL. This is a serious matter. It was a disturbing display that flirted with extreme danger.’ He leant forward threateningly. ‘The perpetrators will be found.’

Anna clasped her hands together. They don’t know! They don’t know it was us!

‘We’ll be studying the footage in greater detail and are in discussion with local police. As the trespassers appear to come from inside the school we suspect they are students.’ He scoured the hall again. Anna heard Manda whimper quietly next to her. Darcey glowered from the stage, eyes fixed on Effie. ‘If anyone has any information they must come forward at once.’

At lunchtime it was all anyone could talk about.

‘We’re dead! When they study the CCTV they’ll see it was us.’ Manda cried.

Effie laughed. ‘They’ve got nothing. He’s just trying to scare us into coming forward.’

‘Attis brought the fire to life within seconds. We ran through fire. We made it rain,’ said Anna, berating herself for being so stupid. If they were caught it would not be for trespassing but for carrying out impossible feats. Magic. They would expose magic to the world. The Binders’ worst nightmare.

‘The CCTV is too far away. They won’t be able to make anything out,’ said Attis.

‘Have you guys seen the playing field today?’ said Rowan. ‘The grass has grown a foot tall and it’s covered in flowers – we didn’t exactly cover our tracks …’

‘Cowans have a peculiar way of explaining away the impossible. I wouldn’t worry,’ Effie said dismissively. ‘The earth is flourishing and so are we.’

She was right. Whether it was their growing notoriety or the Beltane face wash, Anna had never received so much attention in her life. Before, any attention had always been at her expense, now it seemed as if people were simply … interested. They were drawing looks from all over the common room.

‘Does this mean I have a chance of getting a date for the ball?’ said Rowan. ‘I never anticipated this – do I need to buy a dress? Do I need to shave? Karim is definitely going to ask you, Manda.’

‘No way, I’ll die. Do you think he will?’

‘Probably,’ said Effie, ‘but let’s get a few more options on the table. Yoo-hoo.’ She called to a group of boys who had just entered – Peter, Tom, Andrew and a few others. ‘Peter, you haven’t asked me to the ball yet. I’m devastated.’

Peter scowled at her. ‘If I had all the choice in the world, you’d be the last person I’d ask.’

Effie put a hand to her chest in mock shock. ‘Oh no. How will I ever get through this?’

‘I’ll take you.’ Tom took a seat next to her. ‘I’ll take you all the way, any way you want to go.’

She made a disgusted noise. ‘If I had all the choice in the world, I still wouldn’t go with you. So, Peter, are you saving yourself for Anna, then?’

Peter ignored her and pulled up a chair beside Anna. The rest of them descended into stupid chatter. ‘I still don’t get why you tolerate her,’ he muttered.

‘She’s just teasing you.’ Anna smiled, hoping to soften the frown on his face.

‘She makes one good point though.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘Do you have a date yet for the ball?’

Anna choked on her lunch. She coughed, her eyes catching Attis’s who was looking their way. She turned back to Peter, flustered. ‘The ball? I mean, I’m – No, I don’t.’

‘Good to know.’ He flicked at a fly on the table. ‘That’s if the ball goes ahead; they’re talking about shutting down the school for a week, you know.’

‘Well, at least it’s a week off school …’

‘Who are you kidding, Everdell? You love school. You’re always reading away in the library. Or hiding away,’ he teased, his eyes intent on her. ‘No need to worry, my dad is a member of the London Library, very exclusive. I could probably get us in.’ He sat back. ‘Wow, did I just offer to take a girl to a library?’

Anna’s laugh died in her throat. Olivia entered the common room wearing dark glasses. She’d been away for a week and it was painfully clear why. Her lips were horrific – puffed up and inflated into a gruesome pout, the skin bright red and taut. They looked raw and painful. The room looked on in quiet horror. Olivia didn’t seem to notice, walking over to a group of girls who clearly did not want to engage with her. As she smiled at them, her lips split and started to bleed. She took a tissue from her pocket and dabbed it against them. Anna felt sick.

She looked at Effie, Rowan, Manda – none met her eye; Attis’s expression was grim.

Olivia was thinner again too, her bony face only making her lips seem more absurd. The girls turned away and she was left standing alone in the centre of the room.

‘What has she done to her face? To think she used to be hot,’ said Tom.

Andrew smirked. ‘Put a bag on her head and I probably still would.’

‘I heard she’s booked in for a boob job next week.’

Their table continued to dissect Olivia’s humiliation with Effie stoking the fires. Peter listened but didn’t join in. Anna made her excuses and left.

The gardener was out on the playing field mowing the grass that had grown wild. Anna saw them dancing around the fire, white dresses flowing and disappearing in the moonlight, binding themselves together forever … She’d hoped after that night things might get better.

Over the following days, they got worse.

Corinne was suspended for pushing a year ten pupil into oncoming traffic. Fortunately the girl had not been seriously harmed. Corinne claimed she’d fallen. The school was investigating.

‘We have to do something,’ Anna urged Attis. She’d gone to the music room to clear her head but found that the music wouldn’t come. Her fingers were tense, her mind tightly coiled. ‘This has gone too far. Now teachers are beginning to talk about the Darcey–Headmaster Connaughty situation. Next thing you know they’ll be calling for an investigation there too.’

‘Have you spoken to Effie? Perhaps—’ Attis began.

‘I’ve tried speaking to Effie several hundred times. She’s too distracted by her own triumph to care and the others are blinded too. Effie’s denying it all anyway; she just says it’s nothing to do with our spell any more, that if the rumours have taken hold then it’s because they were good rumours. She’s lying! I’ve hated Darcey longer than any of them. Losing her popularity is one thing but we’re destroying her life and Headmaster Connaughty’s.’

‘Anna, calm down.’ He walked over to her and put his hands on her arms. The warmth of them was comforting, grounding. ‘Let’s discuss it at the coven-meet tomorrow; everyone will be together.’

‘Fine, but I’m not sitting around any more. I’m going to stop this, one way or another.’

‘You can’t stop it on your own; we have to do it together. Magic is always a lot harder to get back into the jar once it’s out.’

They left the room and found Darcey on the other side of the hallway, watching. Anna looked at Attis. Did she hear? He shook his head a little as if he had read her thoughts. Darcey watched them go.

When Friday came Anna was more determined than ever to speak to the others – to put a stop to what they had started. Halfway through her first lesson of the day, it appeared she might be too late. A prefect knocked on the door and informed the teacher that Anna had to report to Headmaster Connaughty’s office.

Anna was exceptionally good at hiding her feelings but, as she walked towards his office, she knew her fear was showing. Her hands were shaking, her voice was tight in her throat, and when she saw Effie, Manda and Rowan sitting outside the office, she wasn’t comforted. They know. They know it was us. Manda was stripped of colour and Rowan didn’t look much better. Effie was smiling as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

The secretary led them through.

‘Not laughing any more, are we?’ said Connaughty, hands clasped together on his desk.

‘Depends on what you have to say, I guess,’ said Effie, taking a seat.

Shut up, Effie! You’re just going to make this worse.

Connaughty’s eyes widened and, with nowhere to go, disappeared into his face. ‘I thought I told each of you that if I saw you in my office again we would need to have a conversation about expulsion.’

Manda squeaked. Anna reached for her Knotted Cord and tried not to think of Aunt.

‘And yet, here you are, all four of you at once. So many bright futures with so far to fall.’ He relished the silence as he looked at each of them in turn, leering with smugness. ‘Now, can you all tell me where you were the night of the first of May?’

‘At home, sir.’

‘At home.’

‘At home.’

Effie smiled. ‘Visiting my sick grandmother.’

‘I have received a very serious allegation from a student who swears that you four along with one Mr Attis Lockerby were the ones who broke into the school grounds and lit a fire and—’ He stopped.

Effie sat back. ‘I’m sure I would remember if I’d been dancing around a fire. Besides, what evidence do you have?’

Connaughty clasped his hands tighter, looking as if he’d rather they were around her neck. ‘The student who has come forward is a highly respected, senior figure on the student council. Her word would be taken extremely seriously. She claims she was working late and saw the five of you walking the corridors after hours.’

‘She was at the school late, was she? Practising her ballet steps?’

Connaughty’s beetle eyes scurried around the room. ‘I will not reveal the identity of the student in question. However, I do have further questions—’

‘I’m sure it wasn’t Darcey but it would make sense if it was, wouldn’t it? She’s often here late at night, working hard on her ballet. Just yesterday I was here late and she was still going at it in the dance studio …’

Connaughty’s hands fell apart. His cheeks trembled.

‘I’m not entirely sure, but were you helping her, Headmaster?’

Anna looked back and forth between Effie and Headmaster Connaughty. The air was tense. The red of Connaughty’s large nose had begun to spread across his face as if it were melting. He dabbed his handkerchief at his forehead.

‘I was not there and I am not aware of Darcey Dulacey’s movements after hours.’

Effie frowned. ‘So funny, I swear I saw you—’

‘So.’ Connaughty squirmed in his seat, his eyes avoiding theirs. ‘You all say that you weren’t on the school grounds on the night of the first of May?’

They nodded their heads.

‘This will be taken into consideration. You may now leave. I will call you to my office again if any further questioning needs to take place.’

‘Looking forward to it.’ Effie stood up and took a sweet from the dish on his desk.

As soon as they were released they hurried to the empty toilets.

‘What in thirteen dark moons was that?’ Rowan cried.

Effie laughed. ‘Did you see how much he was sweating?’

‘How did we just get away with that? Did we just get away with that?’ Manda gripped the sink as if to stay upright.

‘Because of me. Watch what I filmed yesterday.’ Effie presented her phone. They gathered round and she pressed play.

Anna wished she hadn’t watched it. For the rest of the day she could not erase it from her mind. All she could see was Darcey and Headmaster Connaughty – together – against the wall, his hands around her, their mouths hungry for one another.

The sick feeling wouldn’t go away this time.

At lunchtime Darcey made her way towards them. Anna tried to shake her head at her, to warn her off, but Darcey would stick the knife in even while she was bleeding. ‘How was your trip to Connaughty’s office?’ Her smile was unbalanced, no Olivia or Corinne to laugh at her digs any more. ‘It’s time that everyone realized what you all are.’

‘And what is that, Darcey?’ said Effie with feigned interest.

Darcey’s mouth opened and closed, looking for a word that could give shape to her suspicions. ‘Sick. Twisted. Satanic. Strange things have started happening since you joined this school. Your disappearing tattoo. You broke my shoe heel – I know it was you! I’ve watched the party video over and over. Destroying my reputation; flies and lies – you’re all behind this and you’ve tricked everyone else into believing you—’

‘Darcey,’ said Attis appeasingly. ‘You know this makes no sense.’

Darcey snarled at him. ‘I’m the only one who makes sense in this whole school and don’t give me that smile of yours, Attis, you don’t fool me any more. I know you’re in on it too!’

‘Why? Because he wouldn’t sleep with you?’ Effie laughed. ‘And neither will Peter now either. I heard he has his sights set elsewhere for the ball …’ She looked over at Anna pointedly.

‘Oh.’ Darcey smiled at last. ‘But I think Anna might be too busy with Attis. I thought he’d be taking you but they spend so much time together these days. The number of times I’ve seen them coming out of that music room alone …’

Anna felt her cheeks burn as Effie glanced between them, for the first time knocked off balance. But then Effie laughed. ‘I have many options, Darcey. I’m still thinking them all through.’

‘I think that’s the problem, isn’t it? Perhaps Attis is looking for something less used.’ Darcey looked Effie up and down. ‘Anna sure has that purity thing going for her. Pretty and sweet – everything you’re not. She might be a nobody but she’s got some sense of self-worth left, which is more than I can say for you – but you know already, don’t you? That you don’t deserve him …’

Stop talking, Darcey. Stop talking.

‘He’s not the one getting late-night ballet lessons from Headmaster Connaughty,’ said Effie – slowly, coldly. ‘Is he taking you to the ball?’

Darcey fell forward, her hands catching on the table to hold her up. Her eyes went wild, her rage temporarily unhinged and flailing; she searched for words but, finding nothing satisfactory, turned and ran.

Effie smiled and put her hand on Attis’s.

THESE ARE THE CULPRITS. THEY ARE MEMBERS OF A SATANIC CULT. DO NOT TRUST THEM.

Darcey had finally flipped. Rowan had showed Anna the posts in Biology – pictures of them, accusatory words emblazoned beneath, burning with fury. It had all gone too far – the rumours, their horrific consequences – and now Darcey was as good as calling them witches. Anna still couldn’t get the video out of her mind.

She paced outside the sewing room, drumming up the courage to go in. It reminded her of the first time she’d stood outside the door, trying to decide whether to join the coven or not. When she finally opened it, the room stank – the altar was ruined, overflowing with rot. No one even tried to clean it any more. The mannequins were turned away.

‘This spell will give her a bout of severe acne. Perfect. Karim won’t look at her twice.’ Manda showed Effie the book she was reading.

‘What’s that?’ Anna tried to get a look at it.

‘Karim’s girlfriend won’t stay away. Effie says it’s time to take care of her. We can cast it tonight before my date with him tomorrow. We’re going for a drive.’

Rowan’s mouth dropped open. ‘That sounds less like a date and more like a hook-up.’

Manda giggled. ‘We’ll see what happens.’

‘I’d get it over and done with,’ said Effie. ‘What do you think, Anna?’

‘I thought you said you wanted to wait, Manda?’

‘Love doesn’t wait,’ said Manda, as if Anna could not possibly understand. ‘So long as we get rid of his ex …’

‘I don’t think we should cast any more spells until we’ve stopped this one.’

Effie swatted at a fly, ignoring her. ‘It’s horrible in here. Shall we go somewhere else?’

‘No.’ Anna stood her ground. ‘Why don’t we stay here and deal with what we’ve done? This.’ She waved at the altar. ‘Out there. That video. It’s because of us. There was something wrong with that spell and we have to fix it.’

Effie went to speak but Anna stopped her. She had to get this all out.

‘It’s gone too far. You all can’t deny it any more; the rumours have become reality. Corinne pushed someone into a car!’

‘I heard they fell,’ muttered Manda.

‘We have a video of Headmaster Connaughty and Darcey – together. If that got out it would ruin their lives. It’s sick. They clearly don’t have any control over their actions. We’ve had our fun; we’ve scared the shit out of everyone, Darcey most of all. We have to delete that video—’

‘Why would we get rid of our one piece of leverage?’ Effie countered. ‘That video would bring Darcey down once and for all.’

‘We can’t really share it though,’ said Rowan. ‘If that’s our spell Headmaster Connaughty is implicated.’

‘IF?’ Anna cried. ‘It definitely is our spell. We need to erase it and stop the spell now before it spirals further out of control. If we started it, we can finish it.’

Manda looked down at her feet. Rowan winced. Effie continued to stare at Anna.

‘Anna’s right,’ said Attis, coming through the door to stand beside her. ‘The spell was darker than we thought. I’ve been looking into a few anti-rumour spells we can do and there’s—’

‘There was nothing wrong with the spell!’ Effie snapped. ‘If it’s out of hand, it’s because there was something wrong with the magic.’

Rowan put a hand on Effie’s arm. ‘Maybe we should hear out Attis’s options.’

‘Why?’ Effie snapped. ‘If they’re not hounded by rumours you know what’ll happen? The Juicers will re-form, they’ll take over, they’ll start making your lives hell again. You’ll lose everything you’ve gained. You think Darcey has learnt her lesson? You’re her number-one enemies now and she’ll be coming for you.’

‘Why should we feel guilty?’ spluttered Manda. ‘I suffered at her hands for years. If the video gets shared and she gets expelled and her perfect future is in tatters, well, so be it. Otherwise she’ll spend her whole life bullying people. We’ve done the world a service.’

‘Let’s not pretend like we’re trying to service anyone but ourselves,’ said Anna. ‘And what about Connaughty?’

‘But how do we know they won’t come after us? We could lose everything,’ said Rowan.

‘You mean lose our new so-called friends and – what? Getting noticed by boys? Is this really why we formed a coven and practised our magic so hard, so we could find dates to the GODDAMN SUMMER BALL? Don’t you see, we wanted to change the rules, but we’re playing by the same rules as everyone else!’

‘Calm down,’ said Effie. ‘Where is all this anger coming from?’

Anna spun round to her. ‘Stop pretending that everything’s fine, Effie. You know this spell is fucked up—’

‘Is it the spell that’s fucked up, or your magic?’ Effie began to circle Anna, wielding her words like a knife. ‘I mean, it’s your magic that’s shown signs of darkness. We’ve all seen the curse sign, more than once. Then there’s your family: your father killing your mother; your aunt making you give up magic, fearing it’s too dangerous. Everything you don’t understand about your mother’s death – that she may have been cursed too …’ Effie bared her secrets, just like that, as if they were nothing. ‘The flies, the rot, the rumours becoming real. How do we know it’s not all come from you? That you haven’t infected the spell? You’re the only one whose magic is, well, rotten. I think we all remember the seven circles in static …’

She twisted the knife and Anna could do nothing to remove it, because she was right. The shame of it flooded through her.

‘Effie, shut up, this isn’t helping,’ said Attis, his voice gruff.

‘Attis, you’ve been keeping these secrets of hers too. It’s not fair. We’re a coven, we’re meant to be honest with one another. She’s trying to blame us all for something that’s her fault.’

Anna found her voice. ‘If it is me – my magic – then I’m sorry. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put a stop to this. Let’s destroy that video and cast a spell to end the rumours. There must be a way.’

‘Fine,’ Effie relented. ‘I’ll get rid of the video, but we don’t have time to worry about ending spells, we’ve got new ones to cast. It’ll fade.’

‘No.’ Anna wanted to reach out and shake her. ‘We have to end this before it gets worse. Darcey’s not going to stop raving about us—’

‘So?’ Effie yelled, her eyes unyielding now. ‘No one cares what Darcey says. The only one I hear raving is you; I thought it was your aunt who was crazy but I’m not so sure any more. This spell is your mess, you clean it up.’

‘I need your help.’ Anna shouted back, looking to Rowan and Manda desperately. ‘Come on, who’s with me?’

‘If any of you agree to this, you’re out of the coven,’ Effie challenged. ‘Out.’

‘I’m leaving if you don’t help me,’ Anna threatened.

‘Perhaps that’s for the best,’ said Effie, suddenly gentle. ‘Your magic should probably be kept at a safe distance.’

Anna felt herself floating then, untethered. She reached for her Knotted Cord and twisted it around her fingers. ‘Rowan? Manda?’ she pleaded. ‘This is wrong. Come with me.’

Manda looked away. Rowan looked between Anna and Effie, dithering.

‘You’ll lose everything, Rowan,’ said Effie. ‘You want them to start up that game again? The Beast? And for what, to put Darcey back on her throne? To do magic with someone who’s been keeping secrets from you?’

‘This is madness. No one is leaving the coven.’ Attis stepped between them.

‘She is.’

‘I am.’

‘Go on then,’ Effie dared. ‘Attis, you stay here.’

Anna looked at him and then turned around and left. She fled down the yellow brick corridor, wiping angry tears from her eyes. No one followed her.