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Aveline had never known relief like it. Opening her eyes, it felt like she was seeing the world for the first time and she gulped down the sweet, summer night air like water. The treetops swayed in the breeze, the birds sang melodiously and a hand gently touched her forehead. It felt like the cool flannel her mum placed on her skin when she had a fever. As she struggled up on her elbows, she saw Hazel staring back at her. Immediately, she pushed her away.

“What did you do to me?”

“Nothing. I just showed you what happened to us, many years ago. You felt it, too. Turns out you’re sensitive to things, Aveline, like me. Do you ever get feelings about people and places that you just can’t explain, as if a voice in your head is whispering secrets to you?”

Aveline nodded. She had. She did. But right now, her thoughts turned to her friend.

“Where’s Harold?” Even as she clambered to her feet, she could see him still gently swaying in the ruins, like a scarecrow stuck on a pole in a summer breeze. Tears blurred her vision, but she didn’t know why she was so upset. It felt as if someone very precious had been taken away from her.

“I want to go now,” Aveline said. “Can you make Harold normal again, please, so that we can leave?”

“I thought you promised not to hate me,” Hazel said softly.

“I don’t hate you,” Aveline gasped. “I’m scared of what you’ve done to Harold.”

“There’s no need to be,” Hazel said. “I thought you trusted me?”

Blinking the tears away, Aveline pulled off her glasses and gave them a wipe, trying to clear her thoughts. “I don’t know what to think any more,” she said. “But I’m sorry something horrible happened to you.”

Hazel took Aveline by the arms. Her distinctive eyes glistened as tears brimmed in them. “It’s okay, don’t be upset. I’ve had a few hundred years to get over it.”

A loud giggle broke through Aveline’s tears. She couldn’t believe she was laughing. By rights she should have been screaming. Curious, she squeezed Hazel’s arms. They were as real and warm as her own.

“But if something bad happened to you hundreds of years ago,” Aveline said, carefully avoiding the word died, “what are you doing here, today, standing in front of me?”

“We’re trapped here,” Hazel hissed, a spark of anger flashing across her face. “It wasn’t enough that they executed us, just for having a little knowledge of the old ways. Our punishment continued after we were dead, too, so after they dragged our bodies from the stone circle, they buried us in the bad soil, at the north of the church. Rest is for others, but not for us.”

“So that was your grave you showed me?”

“Yes. Not much to look at, is it?”

Aveline thought back to what she now knew was a witch bottle. She remembered Hazel’s yelp of pain when she’d first come to the cottage and her eagerness to make Aveline get rid of it; the way she’d leaped gleefully into the garden the minute it’d been smashed.

“So…you are a witch?”

“Some might call us that – those who are afraid of things they don’t understand.”

“Who’s the other woman, Hazel? The one I saw in the water? You keep referring to us all the time.” Even as she asked the question, the answer presented itself in Aveline’s mind. “It’s Alice, isn’t it?” she said. “You’re Hazel Browne and she’s Alice Browne…she’s your mother!”

“Almost right, Aveline, but not quite. She’s my sister.”

“Sisters?” Aveline said, her eyes wide behind her glasses. “But Alice looks so different now? And why do you always say horrible things about her if she’s your family?”

“Yes, strange, isn’t it? I mean, why would you cut all your hair off and start wearing a bowler hat?” Hazel snorted, her top lip curling in disdain. “Especially when she could take on any appearance she liked, if she really wanted. You see, I’m afraid our sisterly love quickly turned sour after what happened. We want different things. And now she chooses to spend all her time creeping around a church, polishing candlesticks and singing dreary hymns. More fool her. Anyway, now you know it all. So tell me, why did you come looking for me at the house?”

“We wanted to make sure you were alright. I thought you were being left on your own, neglected. Silly, I suppose.”

Hazel touched her again on the arm. “No, it’s kind – but you needn’t have worried. Despite Alice sticking her nose in occasionally, I’ve been on my own for a long time. Almost longer than I care to remember. Still, you’re here now, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Aveline said, her voice a little shaky. She couldn’t think about this any more. She just wanted to get herself and Harold back to the cottage and normality, where mums made hot drinks and aunts watched TV and witches only existed in books. She needed time and space to take all of this in. “I don’t suppose you could wake Harold up now, could you? We really should be getting back.”

Shaking her long black hair, Hazel walked slowly over to where Harold still snoozed. With one hand she flicked at his fringe. Something about the way Hazel treated Harold as a plaything made Aveline nervous.

“You know, Aveline, I think I prefer him like this. I could use him to hang my coats on.”

“Please, Hazel,” Aveline insisted.

“I’ll do it,” Hazel said. “Only…” Pausing, she wound a finger through Harold’s hair, which was something Harold would often do himself. “I want you to do something for me in return.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Stay with me.”

“I can’t right now, we need to get home,” Aveline stammered. “My mum will be getting worried.”

“I don’t mean right now. I mean stay with me, here, in Norton Wick. I’m lonely, Aveline. You don’t know what it’s like. Imagine being all alone for hundreds of years, nobody to talk to, nowhere to go. I can never leave this village and I don’t want to be here on my own any more.”

“But you’ve got your sister Alice – why do you need me?” Aveline cried, shaking her head as if to shut out these words that made no sense. “I can’t just wander off and spend my days running around with you.”

“Alice might as well be dead to me. But you wouldn’t believe the sort of life we could have together, Aveline. We can do anything we want. Live in total luxury, eat and drink what we like, wear beautiful clothes, ride horses and eat rhubarb ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner – whatever we like, and I mean that. I can make you the happiest girl alive.”

“But you’re not really…alive, are you?”

Hazel paused.

“I am and I’m not. But it isn’t a problem, it’s an advantage. And I can make you the same as me.”

“What?”

“You give something up and you get something in return. Just like at the stones. And that’s what we’ll do. If you give up your normal, boring life, you can live for ever, here, with me.”

“I don’t want to give up my life! I want to live and grow up. I don’t want to be twelve for ever.” Aveline couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Hazel made it all sound so casual.

“You don’t have to be. We can be any age we like. You can still see your mum and your aunt and the old bookseller. You can even see Harold if you really have to. We’ll make the rules up as we go along.”

“Honestly, Hazel, I just want to be normal, like everybody else. Now, please will you wake Harold up?”

“Suit yourself.” Hazel gave a flick of her hand, as if she was swatting away a fly. Then, turning to Aveline, she seemed to grow larger and taller, her raven hair flowing upwards and outwards as if lifted by a strong breeze. “You know, I can make your life wonderful, Aveline. But maybe I need to change your mind another way.”

“What do you mean?” Aveline asked, sensing the unmistakeable threat in Hazel’s words.

“Oh, you know, make you see what life’s like when you can’t rely on the people you trust the most. Anyway, I’ll see you soon. Please don’t mention our little conversation to anyone. And thanks for popping over to the house. Sorry I didn’t have time to clean up.”

Laughing, Hazel walked away into the trees, leaving Aveline shivering despite the late evening warmth. Not long ago, the thought of being best friends for ever with Hazel would have delighted her. Now it made her skin ripple with fear.

“Well, there’s nothing much going on here. I suppose we should be getting home.” Harold stood in the ruins, looking as wide awake as she’d ever seen him. Shrugging his shoulders, he walked towards her. “Come on, let’s go before it gets dark. This place gives me the creeps.”