by Cari Thomas
‘I’ve been living in a magical household all my life but it never occurred to me that magic could apply to hair and make-up. Then again you’ve met my mum. She thinks a manicure is scrubbing the dirt from under your fingernails.’
‘You do know there are magical beauty salons in London?’ said Effie.
Rowan’s jaw dropped. ‘This is why I need you in my life.’
Effie clicked her fingers at Anna. ‘You’re up.’
‘I don’t really wear make-up—’
‘Just trust me,’ said Effie, sitting her down and retrieving a tube of beige liquid from the pile. ‘Same colour skin as me – this foundation gets rid of spots as you put it on.’ She took a sponge-like object and began rubbing it into Anna’s face. A pimple that had been gathering speed on Anna’s forehead disappeared as the sponge brushed over it. Anna leant forward and found no hint that the spot had ever existed.
‘I need to get some of this stuff.’
‘Sit back. Now do you want bigger eyes? I have some contact lenses that double their size.’ Effie rummaged through the pile.
‘I think I’m OK with my own eyes.’
Effie studied her. ‘You’re right – they’re already pretty. Just a little of this …’ She added some soft eyeshadow and darkened Anna’s eyebrows. ‘This mascara makes new eyelashes grow.’
The next moment Anna was pinioned in place by a torturous-looking contraption Effie referred to as an eyelash curler. Anna struggled to keep her eyes open as Effie gripped her chin and applied mascara. Anna watched as new eyelashes sprouted along her eyelid and her existing ones separated and lengthened. The effect was immediate: her almond eyes were suddenly black-lashed explosions, the green in them flaring.
Effie dusted blush across her cheeks. ‘Anti-blush blush – it’ll stop you going bright red when Peter talks to you.’ Anna gave Effie a withering look, but she was too busy perusing a collection of lipsticks. ‘How about this one? It makes your lips grow bigger with every kiss? Or this one makes your lips taste like your lover’s favourite dessert …’
‘Anything not to do with kissing?’
‘This one enhances your natural colour.’
‘That one.’
‘Go on, you do it, you need to learn.’
Anna took the lipstick and opened it; it was completely translucent like a solid stick of water. As she followed the line of her lips in the mirror their hue did not change, but simply grew richer, more concentrated, collecting colour like the centre of a rose.
‘Sinfully red,’ said Effie, taking a comb to Anna’s hair. It had a similar effect to the one Selene had given her, smoothing her hair and drawing it into curls, only with added volume. Anna moved and her hair bounced. Without the frizz she could see its colour – it still wasn’t the golden red of her younger years, but there was more life in it than there had been for a long time. She could hardly believe she was looking at herself in the mirror.
‘Anna!’ Rowan spun her round. ‘Wow. Is that you? You look smoking.’
Manda nodded enthusiastically.
‘Still me, just heavier eyelids.’ Anna grinned. ‘You two look incred—’
‘OK, can we stop the flattery party now? It’s my handiwork anyway.’ Effie broke into a smile. ‘You do all look better than I ever imagined was possible.’
Rowan laughed. ‘I think that’s as close as she’s ever going to get to a compliment.’
Rowan and Manda disappeared to show themselves off to Selene while Effie stripped off her T-shirt and jeans. Underneath she was wearing a black bra and thong. Anna went to look away, but noticed something on Effie’s shoulder blade.
‘What’s that?’ she said, peering more closely. It was a tattoo of a spider, just as Darcey had described, only Darcey had said it was on her arm …
‘Touch it,’ said Effie. Anna put her fingers out to touch the spider on her back, but as she did so it moved, climbing higher up her shoulder blade.
‘What the—’ said Anna, moving to touch the spider again. It crawled to the base of Effie’s neck.
‘It moves.’
‘Darcey …’
Effie laughed. ‘That was brilliant. The look on her face when she found nothing there.’ It was a strange tattoo to have – a spider creeping all over your body – but somehow it suited Effie.
Anna guiltily picked up her green dress; the velvet was shamefully soft. She turned away from Effie and changed into it.
‘Nice underwear,’ Effie snorted at Anna’s white polka-dot pants and unmatching pink bra. Anna made a face at Effie and zipped up her dress.
She felt self-conscious even looking at herself in the mirror; let alone other people looking at her. The dress was not particularly revealing but it attracted attention, the way it hugged her figure, the shimmer of its deep emerald. Anna could hear Aunt. Just like those who wield magic openly and flagrantly – women who wear short skirts and redden their lips are asking for trouble!
Effie threw a see-through top on, her bra showing through beneath. She belted her high-waisted black shorts, stepped into clompy heels and pulled her hair into a high ponytail, tendrils falling around her face and neck. Anna felt even more awkward in her dress next to Effie – it was too much, it tried too hard; Effie’s outfit didn’t care at all, it was rebelliously sexy.
‘I never even knew you had curves,’ Effie joked, poking at Anna’s hips. ‘And boobs!’ Anna crossed her arms over her chest and Effie laughed. ‘You’re going to attract attention tonight! Come on.’ She grabbed Anna’s hand. ‘Let’s find Attis.’
Effie led them all to the lowest floor of the house, below ground, into a bedroom which seemed absurdly tidy compared to everywhere else. Anna had never thought of Attis being particularly neat and then she realized it wasn’t that the room was impeccably organized, but that it had almost nothing in it. A bed, a table next to it with an iron lamp, a picture of Attis with a grey-haired man Anna presumed must be his father, a wardrobe and shelves stacked with books – so many books; Anna would like to have looked through them all. The room smelt like him, smoke and warmth, clean soap and pine.
‘He must be in the forge,’ said Effie, leading them down the corridor, the smell of smoke growing stronger.
‘The what, sorry?’ said Rowan. ‘Whoa …’
Anna followed Rowan into what was definitely … a forge. It was brick-walled and smoke-stained; vivid flames came from a furnace on the far side. Attis was hammering in front of it, shaping a curved piece of metal on a large block, sparks erupting. He was wearing jeans and a blackened white top rolled up at the sleeves, the muscles in his arms flexing like a cable as the hammer slammed down. Equipment hung from the ceilings and weighed down the shelves; the remaining patches of wall were hung with horseshoes of varying sizes and shapes. The far side was open to the garden, a breeze pulling the smoke outwards.
‘Attis!’ Effie shouted. ‘ATTIS! He hates it if I get too close or surprise him.’
He looked up, his face lighting up, sweat dripping through his smoke-smudged visage. Anna finally understood why his fingernails were always so black. He stopped hammering and put the piece of metal into a bucket of water next to him. It sizzled and steamed.
‘I think I need to lie down,’ Rowan whispered and Anna had to admit it was hard to take her eyes off him. She’d never seen him look so alive, as alive as the fire itself.
Attis walked towards them, looking Effie up and down, the grey in his eyes sparking like the metal he’d been hammering. ‘Well, you look sensational.’ Anna felt Attis’s eyes land on her next. That look like he’s already undressed you and he’s deciding what to do with you. She tried to hide away in the darkness of the room but his gaze rebounded off her curves. It was unnerving. ‘I’ll be damned, I really get to walk into the party with you four on my arm? When are we leaving?’
‘Ten minutes ago, get ready.’
‘Give me thirty very long seconds.’ He rushed past them, smoke lingering around his body.
They explored th
e forge and then headed out of the door, up a set of stone stairs into the garden. A strange sound startled Anna – a bleat. Two horns and a white blur came at her from the hedge. ‘Gahhh,’ she cried, but the creature stopped before it reached her and began sniffing her shoe. It was a goat.
Anna steadied herself. ‘You should probably let guests know before they go into the garden that a goat might run at them from the darkness.’
Effie laughed. ‘It’s not mine.’ She nodded towards the house where Attis was. Of course. Anna reached out and patted it on the nose; it nuzzled into her hand, then tried to chew at her dress.
‘So this is where Dallington School’s mascot has got to. I knew Attis had stolen it!’ Rowan cried.
‘His name is Mr Ramsden,’ said Attis pointedly, jumping up the stairs two at a time. He was wearing the same jeans, still pock-marked with black stains, and an unironed T-shirt; his hair was dripping wet.
‘Good to know you put as much effort into getting ready as we did,’ said Effie.
‘You know it’s important for me not to try too hard or it becomes overwhelming for the women. Now come on. Mr Ramsden should be sleeping. I’m driving.’
‘You’re not old enough to drive,’ said Manda.
‘It’s fine. I have a way with the police.’
Manda narrowed her eyes. ‘A way that involves magic?’
Attis smirked. ‘I can’t reveal my tricks, but I can promise you a very smooth ride. Just don’t judge a car by its cover …’
They walked around to the front of the house where a small, dilapidated Peugeot 206 was waiting. They clambered inside and sped off into the London traffic – windows down, radio on – Anna wedged in the back seat, enjoying her first taste of freedom in the cold night air.
All going well. Going to bed now. Night x.
Anna sent the text to Aunt. It was half past ten: bedtime. She was far from bed.
PARTY OR DIE
Any activities that excite the emotions should be avoided or detached from their emotional connection. This includes storytelling, singing, music, dancing, indulgent feasting and sexual pleasures.
Binders’ Training, The Book of the Binders
They ascended the steps to Lydia’s vast, double fronted house. Effie banged on the door. After several further, impatient knocks, it swung open. Lydia stood in front of them, eyes popping like a mouse caught in a trap. ‘Oh, Effie – hi – I—’
‘Can we come in?’ said Effie, stepping inside.
‘Er, of course, yes, come in. Wait, these guys too?’ She looked at Rowan, Manda and Anna with unmasked disdain.
‘Yes,’ said Effie coolly. ‘That a problem?’
‘It’s just it was an invites-only party …’ Lydia replied, weakly making her point while they stepped past her into the hallway.
‘Ours must have got lost in the post.’
The hallway was crammed. Faces turned towards them – assessing, judging, greedily drinking in Effie and Attis. Attis raised a plastic bag above his head. ‘I bring beer,’ he bellowed and the crowd swallowed him up, carrying him off in a wave of noise and laughter.
Effie turned to them. ‘Remember, parties are do or die. You make a name for yourself or you sink forever. I’ll get the drinks; you guys hang.’ She cut a line through the bodies like a hot knife into butter and was gone.
‘She’s left us. I’m sinking already,’ said Rowan, backing up against the wall to make way for another group of people entering. She leant into Anna and whispered, ‘I’ve never been in a room with so many people I’ve stalked online before.’
‘What are we meant to do?’ said Manda, looking around in panic. ‘How do we hang? I’m not going to survive this.’
‘We could start by going inside.’ Anna moved them towards the stairs. She recognized some faces from school, but there were many she didn’t know at all; eyes watched them pass, questioning, frosty, faintly curious. What’s the Nobody doing at a party …
‘Manda. MANDA,’ Rowan called. ‘Five o’clock. Don’t freak out but it’s Karim.’
Manda squealed. Two girls in front of them turned around, recognition dawning in their eyes. ‘Oh my God, it’s Miranda Richards. Shouldn’t you be, like, in church or something?’
‘I will be in the morning, praying for your salvation.’
They laughed in her face and wandered off – towards Karim. One of them hooked arms with him and Manda glowered.
‘Manda, you’re going to have to tone down the prayer chat, OK?’ said Rowan. ‘We’re at a party. We’re hanging.’
A loud rumble came from behind them. Anna looked back to see a group of guys storming down the stairs, chanting and whooping, beers in hand. She was caught in their path. A particularly drunken one fell against her as he passed, knocking her head against the wall.
‘Are you OK?’ Eyes blue as winter skies. Peter. Peter was talking to her.
Anna reminded herself how to speak. ‘The stairway may not have been the most sensible place to stand.’ She stood up and their eyes met. Peter’s showed a flicker of recognition.
He went to say something but Digby jumped over the banister and hit him on the head. ‘Come on, apparently girls are taking their clothes off and jumping in the pool. It’s heated!’
‘All right, all right.’ Peter started down the stairs. ‘Make sure you put some ice on that,’ he said firmly, his eyes lingering on her again.
Once he’d left, Rowan’s face bulged between the banisters. ‘Well, thirteen moons, Peter Nowell just exchanged words with you! Real-life words! Feeling the passion?’
Anna smiled at her dreamily.
‘I bring sustenance.’ Effie returned with a handful of paper cups, ushering them further into the party. Anna had only taken one sip of the sickly concoction when Darcey rounded the corner – ravishing in a small sequinned dress and impossibly high heels – abruptly reminding Anna that she had no chance with Peter.
‘Oh, look, it’s the Whore, the Virgin, the Beast and the … dear God, the Nobody is at a party.’
‘I love your dress,’ said Corinne, stroking down the front of Anna’s dress.
‘Are we all having fun?’ said Darcey with deep condescension.
‘It’s dull. I imagine this is the sort of thing you live for though? Getting to walk around, feeling important at a school party, reminding everyone you have breasts.’ Effie looked down at Darcey’s on-display cleavage.
‘Attis was looking just as intently as you are – perhaps I’ll go find him …’
Effie laughed. ‘By all means.’
Darcey looked past her to Manda. ‘Miranda Richards, I do wonder if your mother knows you’re here. I’m not sure she would entirely approve.’
Manda looked immediately stricken. Darcey smiled and walked off with Corinne.
‘You don’t think she would do anything, do you?’
‘No, Manda, she’s just messing with you. She wouldn’t have your mum’s number! Come on.’ Effie dragged them into the crowd.
The next hour was a blur, Effie attracting waves of attention – both good and bad – and Anna speaking to more people than she’d done in her entire life. Not everyone knew her, which meant she wasn’t always a nobody but a friend of Effie’s, although plenty of people made it clear they were unwanted there too. There were catty stares, whispers, laughter; one girl pushed past, coughing slut not so quietly in Effie’s ear.
Nose-job Lucie approached them with a group of girls and splurged on the party gossip. Apparently Darcey wouldn’t leave Attis alone and now she and Peter had got into a fight, and Darcey had stormed off and Peter hadn’t bothered to follow! Effie smiled at Anna and Anna read her thoughts exactly.
Before long they were dancing in a hot and crowded room, music booming from mammoth speakers.
‘I FEEL LIKE I’M BEING WATERBOARDED BY MUSIC,’ Manda shouted. ‘I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DANCE. LIKE PHYSICALLY.’
Anna had never danced outside her bedroom before, but Effie forced her into it, pulling her forwa
rds and backwards, shimmying against her – Come on, when Peter sees you shaking it in that dress he won’t be able to resist! Effie topped Anna’s drink up with something that made her head swim and before long she was dancing with abandon. They all were, Rowan threatening to take eyes out. Effie beckoned Laurence over. Head swirling, Anna realized she was going to be sick. She needed some air … or a bathroom …
‘I’ll be back in a minute,’ she said, but Effie was too busy kissing Laurence to notice.
Anna wandered into the crowd, finding that the doorway ahead was not staying still. She managed to get to the stairway and pulled herself up it, stumbling over a couple who were making out. ‘Sssorry,’ she muttered. The upstairs smelt strongly of smoke and sweat and something sour. It made her feel worse.
She opened a door which she thought was the bathroom but revealed itself to be a bedroom. It was dark; a lava lamp vomited bubbles in the corner. There were shadows on the bed, tangled in each other.
‘I’m sorry—’ she stammered, backing out.
A giggle and then Attis appeared above the sheets. A girl’s head popped up behind him. Then another. A messy-haired Attis grinned. ‘Do feel free to join,’ he said as nonchalantly as if he had been asking Anna to take a spare seat next to him in a taxi.
Anna slammed the door shut, her stomach rolling more than before.
‘A real gentleman, isn’t he?’
A voice behind her – smooth and flat, like a calm sea stretching out to meet the horizon. It balanced her. She turned slowly to Peter.
‘I hope you’re not one of those girls who finds him utterly irresistible? I suspect you’ve more sense than that, unlike those two in there.’
‘I’m managing to control myself.’ Anna made sure there was an appropriate level of sarcasm in her reply. How could the girls in there not see he was just using them? She pushed herself away from the wall, feeling steadier under Peter’s unfaltering gaze while still completely unable to comprehend that Peter – was – gazing – at – her. Her dress had no pockets otherwise she’d have reached for her Knotted Cord.