12

‘A curse is just returning evil,’ Wanda said, pressing oats and honey into a baking tray.

Teddy had left for Holland with Joel and Wanda was distracting herself by indulging her baking habit again; we already had enough bread to feed half of Whitby, now she’d moved on to the sweet stuff.

‘And what’s the only antidote to evil?’ she went on, scraping the last of the flapjack mixture out of the bowl.

‘Yes, I know - love.’ It was almost midnight and I was exhausted - after all, with the trip back in time that afternoon, I’d managed to squeeze about thirty six hours out of the last twenty four.

‘So there’s your answer - the curse can only be lifted with love,’ she said.

‘But whose love and how does that work?’ I mean, it was one thing for me to love Joel on a ‘love thy neighbour’ type of level but, no offence to Joel, if Wanda was expecting me to go beyond the bounds of your average platonic friendship, this curse could be hanging around for a long, long time.

She pulled open the door of the old cooking range, took out a tray of baklava and replaced them with the flapjacks. ‘The Chapman family have to embrace the Proudfoots and show them love and forgiveness.’

I had a mental image of Joel embracing Eddy Proudfoot - eewww! Gross! Not for the first time I questioned what on earth had possessed a self-respecting girl like Milly to go out with him. I could only think that she’d either been hypnotised or had a temporary bout of insanity.

I picked a crumb of baklava off the table and sighed. ‘If it’s that easy, why hasn’t the curse been lifted before now?’

Wanda looked at me as though I’d taken leave of my senses. ‘Easy? Oh, sweetie, you should know that showing love and forgiveness is far from easy. Can you honestly say that Joel loves Eva’s son?’

I almost choked on the baklava. ‘Yeah, right! Like that’s ever going to happen.’

‘Well, there you have the problem - until he and his mother can do that, the curse is stuck to their family like super glue. They’re the only ones who can lift it.’

How depressing was that? ‘But there must be something I can do to help.’

‘Well,’ she said, eyeing the bread mountain that used to be the table. ‘You can take Joel’s mother some more food and offer to do a house cleansing. And, if she’s up for it, give her some healing on her bad back.’ Then as an afterthought she added, ‘In fact, I might come with you.’

Which had seemed like a good idea when Wanda had suggested it but, in the harsh light of the following morning, she was definitely having second thoughts.

‘I...don’t know... how you... manage it...sweetie,’ she gasped as she pushed the old mountain bike that Teddy had given her up towards Kathy Chapman’s house. ‘All...these...hills...

‘It’s probably best if you don’t talk,’ I suggested, as her face turned a disturbing shade of puce.

Of course, it didn’t help that there was quite a wind getting up - plus, Wanda hadn’t exactly chosen the best clothing for a bike ride. She was wearing her multicoloured cheesecloth skirt under her purple velvet cloak, and when she wasn’t trying to extract one or other garment from the spokes of the front wheel, her cape was billowing out behind her so that she looked like a cross between a galleon in full sail and a psychedelic Batwoman. If she’d been hoping to use this visit as a way of re-establishing her reputation and drumming up a few more clients, I wasn’t sure she was going the right way about it.

‘OK... leave...,’ she panted, as she leaned against the Chapmans’ gate post. ‘ ...the talking.....’ A drop of sweat trickled down her forehead, and plopped off the end of her nose. ‘...to me.’

To be honest, in her present state, even breathing seemed like a pretty tall order, but I’ve learned over the years not to argue. And, as it turned out, Kathy Chapman was amazingly compliant when we told her our mission. In fact, she was positively grateful. So much so, that I called in reinforcements to help out and, by lunchtime, Milly, Amanpreet, Kameran and Kevin were all hard at work, clearing the garden, tidying Joel’s room, dusting and vacuum-cleaning everywhere and, finally, washing down the paintwork with lemon and rosemary scented water. When the house was clean and tidy, I lit joss sticks in every room while Wanda went round ringing her Burmese bell in all the corners and lighting white candles to get rid of all the negativity in the house. Then Wanda and I both gave Kathy a Reiki healing session while the others prepared some of the food we’d brought.

‘This is absolutely amazing,’ Kathy laughed, cutting herself a second slice of curd tart. ‘I’ve got the landlord coming round tomorrow and I was dreading it - she’s a right old boot! With Joel away I didn’t think I’d have the strength to tidy the place up on my own and the last thing I wanted was to give her any more ammunition to kick us out. In fact, with the place looking this good, she might even be persuaded to let us stay on - at least until the house is sold.’ She looked round and beamed. ‘Even my back feels better. Who’d have thought it?’

‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned since I’ve known Mimosa, it’s to expect the unexpected,’ Kameran remarked, taking a piece of baklava.

Kathy smiled. ‘Well this was definitely unexpected - I’d have needed a crystal ball to have foreseen this.’

‘Funny you should mention crystal balls...’ Uh oh! I knew Wanda had had an ulterior motive when she’d offered to come with me to help Kathy. She reached into the pocket of her purple cape and extracted a velvet covered box. ‘I just happen to have one with me,’ she said, pulling a pack of tarots from her other pocket. ‘Or the cards - whichever floats your boat.’

‘Oh my goodness!’ Kathy said. ‘Joel told me that Mimosa had read his tarot cards at school, but I’ve never had my fortune told. How exciting! I think I’ll go for the crystal ball - it’s more mystical, don’t you think.’

‘Wonderful choice,’ Wanda purred, opening the box and unwrapping the piece of lint that protected the crystal ball. Then she gently placed it on its little tripod in front of Kathy.

I turned to the others. ‘You lot will have to go into the kitchen, I’m afraid. This stuff’s personal.’

Kathy waved her hand. ‘No. Don’t worry about that. After all it’s just a bit of fun, isn’t it?’

I heard Wanda’s sharp intake of breath but I gave her a slight kick under the table before she could say anything. Even though Wanda’s psychic ability was distinctly suspect after the Eva Proudfoot debacle, I knew she certainly never thought of it as ‘only a bit of fun’. Everything had gone really well so far; the last thing I wanted was for Wanda to go into one and spoil all our hard work.

‘Ouch!’ she said, glowering at me and bending down to rub her shin.

‘Sorry, did I catch your leg?’

‘Mimosa - sweetie!’ Wanda narrowed her eyes as she spoke. ‘Bring a candle over here, will you?’ Then she addressed the others. ‘And the curtains will need to be drawn.’

She sounded a bit terse so I had all my fingers crossed that she didn’t blow it.

I knew from watching Wanda at sittings that she liked to have a candle nearby, although not so close that the light reflected in the crystal, so I placed one of the white candles that we’d brought with us at the edge of the table. I’ve tried just about everything else but, scrying, as reading crystal balls and other glossy surfaces is called, has never really drawn me, so I was happy to sit back and watch.

When the room was dark, Milly and Amanpreet went across and sat on the old settee at the other end of the room with the boys. Kameran was resting his head on his hands and gazing intently towards the table where Wanda, Kathy and I were sitting. Milly and Amanpreet were looking distinctly dubious but Kevin had a grin like a half moon. I knew that if the adults hadn’t been there, he’d have been rolling around on the floor with laughter.

Ignoring him, Wanda took a deep breath, cupped her hands around the ball and peered into it - for ages! Honestly, I’ve never known her take so long to see anything. I wasn’t surprised that, after about twenty minutes, Kathy Chapman was wriggling in her chair. I must admit, even my back was starting to ache. I decided that if the Chapmans did get a reprieve from eviction, my next project would be to raise money to buy them something decent to sit on.

Milly and Amanpreet were nudging each other and making head movements towards the door and Kevin looked so bored, it was as though he’d had his brain removed. I was beginning to wonder if Wanda was dragging it out just to make it seem more dramatic. I caught Milly’s eye and she pointed to her watch and then to the door. I nodded and put my little finger to my mouth and my thumb to my ear like a phone, to let her know that I’d ring her later. She and Amanpreet stood up and, with an audible sigh of relief, Kevin joined them. Kameran, however, remained rooted to the settee, firmly focused on what was going on, (or not going on) at the table.

As the other three tiptoed towards the door, they waved goodbye. Kathy Chapman gave them the thumbs up and mouthed, ‘Thank you’, then gave me a half hearted smile. I must admit, I was in danger of nodding off myself, when Wanda gasped and reared back from the table.

‘Oh my God! Look! Look, sweetie! Look into the glass!’ she whimpered.

The colour drained from Kathy’s face. ‘What is it? What can you see?’

Milly and Amanpreet rushed back from the door and Kameran leapt up from the settee and came over to the table.

‘What’s happening?’ Milly asked, looking terrified.

‘Mimosa, sweetie.’ Wanda’s voice had dropped to an anxious whisper. ‘See what you can see. I’d like a second opinion.’

‘I don’t suppose I’ll be able to see anything; I’ve never done this before.’ Flattered as I was that Wanda was asking my opinion, I wasn’t sure I wanted to start my training in front of all my friends. Plus, I was starting to pick up on everyone’s fear, which doesn’t help anyone’s powers of divination.

Oh boy! I needn’t have worried about not being able to see anything. As I peered into the crystal, the normally clear quartz was swirling with thick, dark grey clouds. It didn’t require an expert scrier to know instantly that it was predicting something dreadful.

I nibbled my bottom lip nervously and looked to Wanda for some sort of guidance. ‘What does it mean?’

She shook her head, more as a warning to me not to say too much, than because she didn’t know. ‘Look closer.’

Again, I gazed into the crystal and, through the mist, I could just make out Kathy Chapman, dressed from head to toe in black and crying. She was holding a white flower to her lips, then she tossed it away. Was this some reference to when her husband had died? Again I looked to Wanda.

‘An image to the left signifies a future event,’ Wanda replied to my unspoken question.

Uh oh! I was getting a very bad feeling about this. The image of Kathy was standing to the left of the sphere, so there was no way this could be a scene from her past.

‘And the size of the image tells you how far in the future, ’Wanda went on. ‘The bigger the vision, the sooner it’s going to happen.’

I gave an involuntary shudder - Kathy’s figure took up over half the globe! Whoever she was mourning in the crystal, it was going to happen pretty soon. I just hoped she’d got some long lost ancient auntie who was going to pass over in the next few hours.

‘Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?’ Kathy asked.

Neither Wanda nor I answered. I leaned forward again and continued to peer into the ball. Now I could see waves crashing against rocks. The scene looked very familiar, although I couldn’t place it at first. And then I remembered - it was Saltwick Bay, the remote cove just round the headland where Teddy had dropped off Wanda and me when he first brought us to Whitby. It was also the place where he unloads the alcohol he brings over from Holland. Then into the picture came a boat. I could see Teddy on board - but he was alone. There was no sign of Joel.

As the images faded, a needle of icy dread ran down my spine. I could feel my heart beating faster and my breathing had almost stopped.

My eyes darted from Kathy to Wanda. I don’t know who looked the more terrified.

Kathy stood up and backed away from the table. ‘Stop it. You’re starting to scare me.’

Then Wanda stood up. ‘OK,’ she said, in this ridiculously false voice, trying to sound calm. ‘We’ll go then. Sorry to have bothered you. Do enjoy the rest of the bread and sweetmeats.’

‘No!’ I put out my hand to stop her packing up the crystal.

I didn’t know what I was going to say to Kathy but I knew I had a duty to tell her the truth. Wanda’s eyes widened until I thought they’d fall out of their sockets. She began shaking her head wildly. Everyone else in the room was staring at me in terrified anticipation.

The vision I’d just seen in the crystal didn’t add up with the reading I’d done for Joel a couple of weeks ago. I know a person’s destiny can change depending on the choices they make, but I was sure Joel needed to have had a child before he died. How else would the Chapman line continue, if he didn’t have a son to carry on the family name - and the family curse?

I turned to Joel’s mum. ‘I need to ask you some questions about Joel’s dad and his family.’

‘Just tell me what you saw.’ Her voice was quavering. ‘I know it was something awful.’ She slumped on to the chair again and began crying. ‘I didn’t think it was possible to have any more bad luck. I don’t think I can bear it.’

Milly and Amanpreet began to whimper as well - even Kevin wasn’t grinning any more.

‘Does Joel have any older brothers?’ I persisted. ‘It’s really important.’

Kathy shook her head. ‘No - he’s all I’ve got left.’ Kameran, who’d been chewing his lip nervously, let out a sigh of relief. Kathy looked at me with wide eyes. ‘Please don’t tell me something’s going to happen to him.’

‘I don’t know at the moment,’ I told her. ‘But I’ll be honest with you - it doesn’t look good.’

She let out a wail of despair, then looked up eagerly. ‘He’s got a half brother. Will that help? Jack was married before and he had a son called John. His ex wife moved down south somewhere. Joel’s never met them.’ There was desperation in her voice. ‘If it’ll help I can try to trace them.’

My heart sank. I looked at Kameran and he closed his eyes as though trying to blot out reality. It was the news we’d both dreaded hearing. As long as there was an older brother to carry on the Chapman line, Joel could die at any time; he didn’t have to have had children.

‘I don’t think it’ll help,’ I said quietly.

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. No one spoke. Then Kathy rubbed her hands up and down her arms. ‘I’ll put the heating on,’ she said, quietly. ‘It’s turned very cold in here.’

Oh great! I’d learned to recognise Quill’s calling card by now. This was all I needed.

‘Ah needs thi ti come wi’ me.’ His voice sounded from somewhere above my head.

Talk about lousy timing!

‘Would you excuse me a minute,’ I said to Kathy. ‘I really need to go to the loo.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Kameran said - obviously picking up on the Quill factor too.

‘What?’ Milly and Amanpreet chorused.

Do you see what I mean about him being the most indiscreet person in the world?

Wanda shrugged. ‘So what’s the big deal? We’ve lived in places where a couple of dozen people have had to share one hole in the ground.’

‘Eewwww!’ Milly screwed up her face.

‘Gross!’ Amanpreet looked as though she might faint any second.

‘A little too much information, thanks Wanda.’ I glared at her. OK - maybe Kameran isn’t the most indiscreet person in the world after all. ‘I think Kameran meant he wanted to go after me - didn’t you?’ I said, pointedly looking at Kameran.

‘I’ll wait outside,’ he said. At least he had the decency to make an apologetic grimace before he followed me out of the room.

As we went upstairs I could just hear Milly saying, ‘I knew something was going on between those two!’

But right now, there were more pressing things on my mind than Milly and Kameran’s love life. Once upstairs, I pulled Kameran into the bathroom with me and locked the door.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ I asked, crossly.

‘Whatever’s happening to my friend, I want to be in on it,’ he said in a hoarse whisper.

‘No way!’

But before the conversation could continue, Quill materialised in front of us.

I tried to keep my voice low but I was pretty annoyed with him for wanting to take me back in time at such a crucial moment. ‘How can you even think of wanting me to go back in time with you? Don’t you know what’s going to happen? Joel’s going to die very soon if I don’t do something.’

‘Ah baint asking thi ti go back in time,’ he said, dryly. ‘Ah needs thi ti go forward, into t’future.’ He raised an eyebrow and looked directly at me. ‘Tis thy fault Joel Chapman’s destiny’s bin altered.’

Oh great - my day was getting better and better!