The Curse in the Candlelight

by Sophie Cleverly

  A hush descended. Nobody raised their hand. But Miss Charlett looked around and said, “Ah, how about you, Miss McCloud?”

  Ebony stood up with a smirk that implied it was exactly what she’d intended. Of course she should play the first witch.

  Well, I was fed up with her being so smug. I put my hand up. “I’ll be the second witch, Miss,” I said.

  Miss Charlett nodded. “Come up, then. Now, just one more …” She looked around at the class. “How about you, Miss Fitzwarren?”

  For a moment, Rose didn’t react. I didn’t think she was used to hearing her name. But then she looked up and her face had gone white.

  “Um, Miss,” I whispered as I got to the front of the class. “I don’t think Rose is a fan of talking in front of people.”

  “Oh, right.” Miss Charlett turned.

  “We should have another new pupil, shouldn’t we?” Ebony suggested. She looked a little devious.

  Miss Charlett nodded at the suggestion. “Let’s have another new pupil for the third witch, then. What’s your name?” She pointed at Muriel.

  “Muriel Witherspoon,” said Muriel. She stood up reluctantly and came to the front to stand beside us.

  Our English teacher handed us all a playbook. She sat on her desk and grinned as she began reading. “Macbeth, Act One, Scene One. A desert place. Thunder and lightning. Enter three witches.”

  Ebony’s expression turned dark and twisted, her voice high-pitched and threatening. “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”

  I glanced down at my page and tried to put on my best crackly crone voice. “When the hurlyburly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won.”

  Muriel didn’t say anything for a moment, until Ebony elbowed her sharply in the ribs. A glare fell over her features. “That will be ere the set of sun,” she read.

  “Where the place?” Ebony turned her head between us both.

  “Upon the heath,” I replied.

  “There to meet with Macbeth,” Muriel said, not looking happy about it.

  Ebony took hold of her skirt and swished it sideways, as if it were a vast black cloak. “I come, graymalkin!”

  “Paddock calls,” I said, half wondering if I was supposed to be looking for a horse.

  “Anon!” read Muriel.

  Now we all chanted together, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair: hover through the fog and filthy air.”

  Miss Charlett clapped enthusiastically and the rest of the class soon followed suit.

  I blushed a bit. I had to admit, Ebony was the most witchy of all of us. She not only looked the part, but she sounded it too. She read those lines as if it was the sort of thing she went about saying all the time. Muriel, however, was tall and blonde and just sounded uncomfortable. And as for me, well … I should probably just stick to ballet.

  “Well done, girls,” Miss Charlett called. “Head back to your seats now, please. We’re going to be taking a look at the beginning of the play and thinking about how this scene … sets the scene, as it were.”

  As we wandered back to our seats, I saw Rose give me a relieved smile. Muriel, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at Ebony.

  “Let’s get started, then,” the English teacher said. She rubbed her hands together with glee. “Something wicked this way comes …”

  At half past three the bell rang, signalling that our first full day of lessons was over. Nobody seemed more relieved by this than Muriel. She practically ran back to her room, leaving Ariadne shuffling along beside us.

  “I feel sorry for her,” Ariadne said. Then she stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor. “Oh gosh, I can’t believe I just said that. Me! Sorry for her!”

  “She doesn’t seem to be getting on very well, does she?” Ivy said, taking Ariadne’s hand and pulling her along with us.

  “And Ebony’s got it in for her already. Not a good start.” I hated bullies.

  Ivy’s expression fell into a frown. “We should do something,” she said. “Otherwise Ebony’s going to turn into the new Penny, and one Penny was enough.”

  We waved goodbye to Ariadne at the top of the stairs and headed for room thirteen. I pulled my tie from round my neck and threw it at the desk, where I had an already mounting pile of prep work from just two days of school. My stomach rumbled. I wondered why I was starving, until I realised that we’d barely eaten because we’d been too busy talking about Ebony’s … trick. Her cards spun through my head. It was all so strange.

  And of course, it was about to get stranger.

  We were first in line at dinner time, which was definitely a rare occurrence. Usually we arrived fashionably late and ended up at the back of the queue. In fact, we were so early that the cook hadn’t even opened the serving hatch yet. When she did, she gave me a very suspicious look.

  “You up to something?” she said.

  “Why would I be?” I asked innocently.

  Her squint narrowed even further. “Nobody’s that keen for stew,” she said.

  “If you know that,” I said, holding out my plate, “why do you keep making it?”

  The cook said nothing and just stared at me in a thoroughly unimpressed fashion as she ladled a steaming pile of the stuff on to my plate, where some of it promptly slipped off the sides.

  Ivy wisely kept quiet and got a much neater helping than me. We headed for our table, where Madame Zelda had just arrived with a plate of food that looked much nicer than anything we’d been given.

  “You are keen, girls,” she said with a smile.

  “Hungry,” was all I could say before shovelling the stew into my mouth. “Ow. Hot.” Ivy laughed at me.

  We’d almost finished by the time Ariadne appeared, the hall now filled with bustling bodies. We waved to her as she walked in, but instead of going to queue up as I thought she would, she made a beeline for us.

  “You came down early?” she asked, twiddling her thumbs nervously. “I knocked on your door, but there was no answer.”

  “Sorry,” said Ivy. “I was afraid Scarlet was going to eat her pillow if I didn’t get her to the dining hall.”

  I whacked her on the arm and she laughed.

  Ariadne gave a weak smile. “All right,” she said, before heading to get her dinner.

  The Rookwood School dining hall was always noisy, no matter what the teachers tried to do about it. But just as I ate the final mouthful of my stew, I noticed the noise starting to get louder. Something was happening.

  I turned round to see Ebony standing on the table over Muriel.

  I jumped up and ran across, hearing the teachers start to shout, which wouldn’t do any good.

  “You won’t tell anyone,” Ebony said, her eyes burning, her body coiled like a spring.

  Muriel was trying to protest, but the words weren’t really getting out.

  “You won’t tell anyone!” Ebony repeated.

  In seconds, Madame Zelda was beside me. She pointed at Ebony. “Get down, this instant!”

  Slowly, Ebony turned her head and just smiled. She didn’t move.

  Madame Zelda gaped at her and then walked away, muttering to herself.

  I couldn’t believe it – was Madame Zelda afraid of Ebony?

  Chapter Ten

  IVY

  fter dinner, no one could forget the incident that had taken place. Ebony may have eventually climbed off the table, but the image of her facing down Madame Zelda had stuck in everyone’s minds. And she hadn’t even been given a detention! I knew Rookwood was a little different now, but I was sure shouting at people from the dining-room tables was still against the rules.

  Not long after everyone had been ejected from the hall, we went to knock on Ariadne’s door. “Come in!” she called.

  She was sitting on her bed, talking to Muriel.

  “What happened?” Scarlet asked. She was always direct.

  Ariadne looked up at us. “Muriel saw something in Ebony’s room.”

  Muriel nodded. “She has a cat!�
�

  “What?” I said.

  “Really?” Scarlet said. “I thought that was just another stupid rumour.”

  Muriel’s expression turned a little sour. “I’m not lying,” she said. “She has a cat. A black one. Her door was ajar and I saw it walking in. I was just telling someone about it at dinner and I suppose she must have heard me. And the next thing I knew, she was screaming in my face.”

  I wrinkled my nose. Ebony hadn’t exactly been screaming, but it wasn’t really a gentle whisper either.

  “Well,” Scarlet said, “there’s a rule about pets. We’re not allowed them.”

  Ariadne sighed. “There are rules about everything.”

  “It’s more than that,” Muriel insisted. “You saw the way she stood over me. She wanted to silence me. Can’t you see it yet?” Muriel got to her feet, an imposing sight given how tall she was. “What she really is?”

  Scarlet and I shared a glance. “We heard the rumours …” I started.

  “But Rookwood and rumours go together like Rookwood and stew,” Scarlet finished. “You should hear the rumours about me.”

  “I did,” Muriel blinked. “Apparently you smashed a piano and got locked in a loony bin.”

  “Now listen here,” Scarlet said, holding a finger up to Muriel.

  I batted her hand down again. “Scarlet, calm down.”

  She glared at me. “Right, well, the point has been made.”

  “They’re right, Muriel,” Ariadne said from her bed. “People say a lot of silly things at this school. Just because they say Ebony is a wi—”

  “Ssh!” Muriel waved her hands to silence her. “Don’t say it!”

  Ariadne floundered uselessly for a moment. “Well … well just because they say that about her, it doesn’t mean it’s true.”

  “And you believe that?” asked Muriel, folding her arms. She was looking at us as if we were slow.

  I went and sat down beside Ariadne, my muscles still aching from the previous day’s ballet. “If she really is –” Muriel shot me a look – “what people say she is, then shouldn’t she be making potions and casting spells, and things like that?”

  Scarlet nodded in agreement. “Exactly. All she’s done so far is been a bit of a scary bully and done a card trick. And possibly owned a cat.”

  Ariadne started picking at her blankets thoughtfully. “It was an impressive trick, though. And there is something spooky about her. That performance in English was certainly strange.”

  “But she’s just a person, isn’t she?” I began. “There’s nothing—”

  I was going to continue, but I was interrupted by Muriel sobbing.

  We all looked at each other, unsure how to react. It was strange to see this tall girl crying, especially knowing her past.

  “Muriel?” Ariadne asked. “What is it?”

  Muriel sniffed and wiped her eyes. “I just – I just wanted a fresh start! And she’s ruining it!” She sat down heavily on her bed again, the slats creaking beneath her. “She won’t stop picking on me. It’s not fair – I don’t even know her! I’ve never done anything to her!” Her sobs echoed around the small room.

  “Well …” Ariadne said quietly, “that was how you made me feel.”

  Muriel choked back her final sob and looked up at Ariadne. “And I’m so sorry,” she said. “I was beastly. I truly was. I know that now and hope you can forgive me, even though I don’t deserve it.” There was something hopeful in her eyes.

  My friend bit her lip. She clearly hadn’t been expecting that, I could tell. And neither had I, to be honest. After a long pause, she said, “All right. I can forgive you, Muriel. If you’re really sorry and you’ve changed.”

  Muriel nodded gratefully and wiped away another tear. “Everything’s changed.”

  A small smile shimmered on Ariadne’s face. She’d clearly dreamt of this moment for a long time. A stain on her past had been wiped away.

  “I meant what I said,” Muriel sniffed. “There’s something really wrong with Ebony. And I’m scared she won’t stop torturing me.”

  Scarlet folded her arms. “We’ll stop her.”

  Ariadne nodded. She looked a little more fierce than usual. “We’ll stand up to her.”

  I said nothing. We’d tried standing up to bullies in the past. Sometimes it had worked, but sometimes it had just made things worse. I didn’t know if Ebony really had magic powers, or if she was just another bully – but who was to say what would happen if we got in her way?

  That night, I thought that I would never go to sleep for the thoughts racing around my head. But it wasn’t long before the curtain of darkness fell over my eyes and I slipped into a dream.

  I was in a forest, the wind whipping around me. Everything seemed grey, as though the colour had seeped out of the world. But I could see something up ahead: a fire. It was burning brightly. I couldn’t feel the heat, but I knew in my mind that it was there, that I could feel it brushing my skin as I moved closer.

  When I set foot in the clearing, I realised that it wasn’t just a fire. It was hundreds, maybe thousands of candles, burning all around me. There was someone standing among them. I saw the shadow of a tall hat, a long black dress, sinister sharp fingernails. She was chanting words in a language I couldn’t understand.

  She turned to me and her face was a blur. But it was Ebony. It felt like Ebony. The figure wore Ebony’s boots and had her black and battered suitcase at her feet. The girl’s features shifted like someone was crafting them out of clay, and soon the face was Ebony’s too.

  She smiled her unnerving smile at me. “Ivy,” she said. “You’re just in time.” The flames roared behind her.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She didn’t reply, but reached down towards the suitcase and flicked the catches open.

  I had no idea what was inside it, but I felt instant dread filling my entire body. I didn’t want to look. I couldn’t.

  “You really should look more closely,” her voice insisted, singsong and seductive.

  “Why?” I asked, my feet carrying me nearer, even though I urged them to turn and run.

  The smile remained. “Because I’m going to do a trick.”

  And as she said that, black plumes of smoke began rising from the suitcase, until they were enveloping me, filling my lungs, and I was pulled down inside …

  And I was falling …

  And falling …

  And I woke up.

  I sat bolt upright and started coughing, feeling like the smoke was still in my lungs. I fumbled for the mug of water I’d left next to the bed and gulped it down eagerly. The smoke cleared away and I blinked in the darkness.

  I wasn’t in a forest. I was in bed. At Rookwood.

  “She doesn’t scare me,” I whispered in the darkness.

  But I wasn’t entirely sure who I was trying to convince.

  Chapter Eleven

  SCARLET

  s the sun streamed in on another day at Rookwood, Ivy told me about the nightmare she’d had featuring Ebony. I didn’t know what to make of it, and it seemed that she didn’t either.

  “I was really frightened,” she said. “But it didn’t feel real. Certainly not after I’d woken up.”

  “It’s that nonsense Muriel was spouting,” I reassured her. “Don’t let it get into your head.” I said it was nonsense, but, well … Did I really believe that? I wasn’t sure.

  I was getting fed up with Ebony. Who did she think she was? Swanning about with her gaggle of little followers, picking on people, and now she was scaring my sister in her sleep as well. She needed to be taken down a peg or two.

  While Ivy was getting dressed, I decided to investigate Muriel’s theory that Ebony had a secret black cat by using my great detective skills – well, all right, I knocked on her door and then opened it when no one answered. I didn’t know who Ebony shared a room with – presumably another new girl – but as I peered in, you could easily see whose side was whose. Ebony had some sort of blac
k embroidered throw on her bed that was definitely not Rookwood regulation. She had a stack of books piled on her suitcase, some of them with mysterious engravings on the top. The other side of the room was plain, except for a teddy bear wearing a pink and frilly dress.

  But there was no cat.

  I tried cooing through the doorway and saying, “Here, Puss!” but absolutely nothing happened. If she really did have a cat, it was either hiding, or it was off stalking around the school. Hmm. I would have to keep an eye out.

  At breakfast, Ebony was already surrounded by the younger girls. She wasn’t even talking this time, just eating, but all of them were watching her as if flames were about to shoot out of her ears. I rolled my eyes at them, but I noticed Ivy took an unusually long route to our table to avoid Ebony. The nightmare was obviously staying with her.

  According to our timetable, we had a chemistry lesson first, with a new teacher – whose name was Mrs Ember, apparently. I wasn’t a fan of the chemistry lab. It always smelt like burning and formaldehyde in there, and it made my eyes sting.

  Ivy, Ariadne and I sat together on one of the long benches, all of which were covered with various items of scientific equipment, along with an occasional tap and gas pipe. These were accompanied by tall wooden stools, most of which wobbled; some girls couldn’t even touch the ground when they sat on them.

  The seats all filled and I thought everyone had arrived and that we were just waiting for the new teacher, but of course there was someone missing. Ebony floated in, not a hair out of place, and walked straight up to Muriel, who was in front of us.

  “I want to sit here,” she said, all matter-of-fact.

  Muriel had a look on her face that said, Oh no, not this again. “There’re no other seats,” she said quietly. I watched as the girls either side of her shuffled away, as if being targeted by Ebony was contagious.

  Ebony said nothing. She put her hands on her hips and just stood there, waiting expectantly.

  I had to say something. “Oh, come off it, Ebony! Go and find your own seat!”