Almost, that is, until breakfast.
The first thing that happened was that Mrs Knight came over to our table looking concerned. She took Madame Zelda aside and I heard her muttering something. The words “front door” and “unlocked” reached my ears.
I bit my lip. So they had noticed. But if they didn’t know who had done it, that meant we hadn’t been seen. There was no way they could know who had been outside – or at least, that’s what I tried to tell myself.
The next thing was that Ebony walked in, looking surprisingly bright-eyed for someone who had been conjuring black magic in a cemetery the night before. She almost seemed … excited. And so did her little group of girls, who were all whispering to each other. I watched them with narrowed eyes. How was Ebony managing to string them all along?
But the final thing, and the thing that mattered most, was that Ariadne came running into the hall. Her mousy hair was springing around her ears and her blazer was done up wrong. She ran straight for our table.
“Slow down a little, Miss Flitworth—” Mrs Knight began.
“It’s Muriel!” Ariadne cried. “She’s disappeared!”
Chapter Sixteen
IVY
looked at Ariadne in shock. In my mind, she and Muriel had been about to wander in together,and we would all have laughed over breakfast about Ebony’s strange theatrics in the middle of the night. I didn’t know what to say. Scarlet appeared to be speechless as well. Was this what the curse had done?
Most of our table had stopped eating and were now staring at Ariadne, who was breathless and flustered.
“What do you mean?” Mrs Knight asked.
“I woke up and she was just gone,” Ariadne said. She gave me a fleeting worried glance. “I’ve looked everywhere. She wasn’t anywhere on our floor, not in the lavatories or the bathrooms! And –” She looked around desperately, just in case Muriel was hiding somewhere in the dining hall – “she’s not here either!”
Mrs Knight walked over and put a gentle hand on Ariadne’s shoulder. “Don’t fret yourself, dear. I expect she’ll be around somewhere. Have some breakfast. If she doesn’t arrive at her lessons, we’ll look for her.”
Ariadne bit her lip and stared at the floor. “All right. Thank you, Miss.”
Mrs Knight gestured to Madame Zelda and they walked off together.
Our friend sat down beside us and brushed her hair back from her face where it had fallen.
“Stop staring!” Scarlet hissed at the rest of the table. Penny laughed, while the others went back to their porridge and tried to pretend they hadn’t been looking.
“She’s gone,” Ariadne said. “I don’t know how, but she’s completely gone.”
“Maybe she just went to lessons extra early,” I suggested limply. “Or to the library.”
Ariadne’s face crumpled. “I didn’t try the library! But she isn’t really much of a fan of reading. Oh gosh …” She looked as though she was about to faint. Scarlet slid her a bowl of almost untouched porridge and she began to tuck in gratefully.
My twin watched her for a few moments before putting her foot in it, as usual.
“Why are you so worried? You don’t even like her that much.”
Ariadne’s eyes rose and glinted with tears. “It’s my fault,” she whispered.
Oh no. I reached out and took her hand. “No, it’s not! How could it be your fault?”
“I was supposed to keep an eye on her, in case anything happened!” Ariadne sobbed.
“Well, yes,” Scarlet agreed, “but not for the entire night! You couldn’t stay awake that whole time. And who knows, maybe Muriel’s just wandered off somewhere. Perhaps she fancied having a look around Rookwood. Perhaps she heard about what happened last night and—”
I gave her a warning look, but it was too late. The words were already out.
“What happened last night?” Ariadne asked, her voice shaking.
Scarlet put her hands on the table and had a quick glance around, I guessed to make sure Ebony was nowhere nearby. “We followed Ebony and her cronies at midnight. They went to the graveyard by the chapel. And they … well, they tried to put a curse on Muriel.”
Ariadne gasped and dropped her spoon with a clang. “A curse? What sort of curse?”
The strange scene replayed in my mind, the unknown language spilling from Ebony’s lips. “I don’t know,” I said. “We couldn’t understand what she was saying.”
“It didn’t look good,” Scarlet said, subtle as usual. “They all lit candles and they said it was dark magic.”
“You don’t think …” Ariadne started. Her lips were nearly white.
I kicked Scarlet gently under the table. Ariadne didn’t need to be any more upset than she already was. “I’m sure it’s all right. I expect Ebony was just messing around. We’ll find Muriel, I promise.”
As soon as we’d finished breakfast, we headed for the library. The rain was still pouring down and I thought it was very unlikely that Muriel was outside in it. The library was one of the few places, besides the dining hall, where Rookwood pupils gathered outside of lessons, so it seemed the most likely option.
Despite the fire that had ravaged the library last year, it was looking more or less back to normal. There were lots of new shelves and most of the books had been replaced – although it was still looking a little bare in places. All of the fire damage had been fixed and repainted.
The librarian, Miss Jones, looked as good as new as well. She was smiling and humming happily to herself at the desk as we walked in.
“Morning, girls,” she called. “Have you met my new assistant?”
A girl popped up from behind the desk, looking surprisingly like a miniature version of Miss Jones, with dark hair and dark eyes. “Hello,” she smiled. She had a neat little badge that read LIBRARY ASSISTANT. “Nice to meet you.”
“This is my little cousin, Jing.” Miss Jones smiled down at her and ruffled her hair. “She’s just started at Rookwood, in the first year.”
“Nice to meet you,” we chorused.
Jing looked like she was enjoying herself. “Where shall I put these, Auntie?” She held up a stack of heavy-looking books.
“In the history section, please,” Miss Jones said, watching proudly as her niece headed off to the stacks with them. “She’s wonderful!” Then she leant forward and whispered, “So much better than Anna. She used to get lost in Reference all the time.”
Scarlet laughed, but I could feel Ariadne fidgeting beside me. We couldn’t forget the pressing issue.
“Miss,” Ariadne started. “Have you seen Muriel Witherspoon today?”
“Great name,” said Miss Jones. “Almost as good as mine.” (Miss Jones’s real name was Catastrophe Jones, as we’d discovered last year.) “I’m afraid I haven’t yet made her acquaintance. What does she look like?”
“She’s very tall,” said Scarlet helpfully.
I thought the librarian might need a little more information than that. “She’s in our year, but she’s new. She has blonde curly hair and she sometimes wears a felt cap.”
Miss Jones tapped her nails on her desk while she thought about it. “I don’t think so. We’ve only had a few girls in so far this morning, and none of them fitted that description.”
Ariadne’s face fell. “Oh gosh. That’s not good.”
Miss Jones leant forward again and lowered her voice. “Is something the matter?”
“We’re just looking for her, that’s all,” Scarlet said. It was probably best not to mention the curse – Miss Jones was easily frightened.
“I haven’t seen her since last night,” said Ariadne weakly. “I’ve looked everywhere.”
Miss Jones gave us a gentle smile. “I expect she’ll turn up soon. I’ll keep an eye out for her. Have you told Mrs Knight?”
We all nodded.
“Perhaps she’s outside—” Miss Jones started, but she was interrupted by a roll of thunder and a brilliant white flash illuminating the libr
ary. “Perhaps not,” she finished. “Sorry I couldn’t be of more assistance.”
“Thank you anyway, Miss,” I said.
“She’ll turn up,” Miss Jones insisted, giving us a friendly wave as we turned to leave.
But Muriel hadn’t turned up by lunchtime.
Nor by dinner time.
She didn’t attend a single lesson, and by the evening, you could tell the teachers were beginning to panic, as much as they didn’t want to show it. We’d overheard Mrs Knight muttering about having to telephone her parents if she couldn’t be found soon. Of course students skipping a lesson or two was fairly common (Scarlet had managed it quite a few times in the past), but not even appearing for meal times was practically unheard of.
As we ate dinner, Ariadne barely touching hers because she was so worried, we watched the teachers talk to each other in hurried, hushed voices. The torrent outside had eased, but it was still raining and everyone was fairly certain that Muriel wouldn’t be out in it. Even so, there weren’t many more places to look.
“We could send Eunice,” I heard Mrs Knight say to Madame Zelda as she passed our table.
Scarlet snickered. “She won’t like that.” They were talking about Miss Bowler, who had already been sent out into a storm once this year, on the school trip.
“Scarlet,” Ariadne moaned. “It’s not a laughing matter.”
“Sorry, sorry. I know you’re worried.” Scarlet had another mouthful of her stew. “But I’m sure she’s fine. I do wonder, though …” She glanced over in the direction of where Ebony sat. “Miss McCloud has been looking smug all day. I mean, the curse—”
Ariadne squeezed her eyes shut. “Don’t say it! I don’t even want to think about it.”
“No,” said Scarlet, “I mean we can’t say whether it was real or not. If it was real, we don’t know what sort of awful thing might have happened.”
Our friend put her hands over her ears. “La la la! I can’t hear you!”
Scarlet swatted her arms back down. “BUT! What if Ebony was just pretending? Then she would still want everyone to believe that she had done it, wouldn’t she?”
I thought about it as I chewed a lacklustre piece of carrot. “Are you saying she’s trapped Muriel somewhere?”
Ariadne’s face relaxed a little. “Ooh. Good point.”
“Exactly!” My twin leant in closer to make sure no one else could hear. “What if she’s been locked in Ebony’s room or something, to make it look like the curse worked?”
Ariadne nodded. “Oh, Scarlet, you might be right. We have to look!”
That worried me a little. We were supposed to be avoiding trouble, but every step closer to Ebony felt like a step too deep. Before we knew it, we would be up to our necks. “What if she finds out?”
Scarlet stood up, craned her neck, then returned to her seat, gulped down the remains of her dinner and slammed the plate down on the table.
“Careful with the crockery, Miss Grey,” Madame Zelda said as she went back to her seat.
Scarlet leant in again. “Ebony’s too busy eating and bathing in admiration right now. She’ll never know if we peek into her room. I’m pretty certain she’s been leaving the door ajar for that cat!”
I thought about it, and it was the hopeful light in Ariadne’s eyes that convinced me. “All right. Just a quick look.”
We finished our dinner in a hurry and raced back upstairs. There were still some other girls bustling around the corridor, who had either finished dinner already or not yet been down, so we didn’t look too out of place.
We reached Ebony’s room and, sure enough, the door was open – just a crack. Scarlet and I leant against the wall and tried to look completely uninvolved in what was occurring, while Ariadne pushed the door a little wider and craned her neck round to peer in.
She reappeared with a sigh, her shoulders sagging. “Nothing. No Muriel, not even the cat. Just Ebony’s things and … well, whoever the other side of the room belongs to.”
Scarlet screwed her face up. “Really? I was so sure.” She scuffed her foot on the carpet, then raised her eyes towards us. “What if she’s in the wardrobe or something?”
“Scarlet,” I said, “Muriel’s very tall and our wardrobes aren’t that big. Besides, she would be shouting or banging, wouldn’t she?”
“I suppose,” my twin replied begrudgingly. “But I just ought to check.” She tipped her head towards the opening in the door. “Muriel! If you’re in there, make a noise!”
We all stood silently and listened, but there was no sound other than the footsteps and chatter of the girls walking around us in the corridor, and the rain lashing at the windows.
“Looking for something?”
We whirled round. And there behind us, tapping her boot and wearing a cruel smile, was Ebony.
Chapter Seventeen
SCARLET
folded my arms and squared up to her. “Good evening, Ebony,” I said, not bothering to hide the anger in my voice. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Muriel anywhere?”
She just smirked at me. “Oh yes. I did hear she’d gone. Perhaps she’s run off home. She didn’t really belong here, did she?”
“Oh, what is your problem?” I snapped. She didn’t seem to have any good reason to dislike Muriel so much. “Cut the nonsense. What have you done with her?”
Ebony laughed. Or maybe it was a cackle.
“Scarlet …” Ivy warned from behind me.
I turned round. “Calm down, Ivy, I’m not starting a fight, I’m just asking a question!”
Ebony tapped one of her nails against her pale face. I noticed she had painted it black. That was definitely breaking a rule. How did she get away with all this? “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Why would I have done anything with Muriel?” She was no longer laughing out loud, but her eyes were doing it for her.
“Oh come off it! We saw you—”
But I was interrupted by the arrival of Matron, striding down the corridor. “You girls! Stop dithering about in the hallway. If you’ve finished dinner, you should be getting ready for bed now, shouldn’t you?”
“But Matron—” I began.
“No buts!” She waggled a finger at me. “There’s a missing student, so I need to make sure everyone is in their rightful place. And I’ve been told you’re on thin ice anyway, young lady. No trouble from you, please.” She slid her gaze across the rest of us, but it stopped short at Ebony. It was as if she were invisible or something. “Or you, Ivy and Ariadne. Go and get your things.” And with that, she walked away.
“How are you doing this?” I hissed at Ebony. “Why don’t they tell you off?”
Ivy was tugging on my arm at this point. The warning was really getting to her.
Ebony just shrugged, and ignored the question. “Excuse me,” she said, “but you’re in the way.” She pushed past and slid through the door into her room, before closing it behind her with a click.
Ariadne looked distraught as we hurried back towards our dorms. “It’s getting dark!” she whispered. “And we still have no idea where Muriel is!”
I patted her on the arm. “The teachers will find her, I’m sure of it.”
Ariadne’s forehead crinkled with lines of concern. “I think we should look for her!”
I could tell from Ivy’s expression that she was very much against the idea, and I could immediately understand why. Matron was going to be making extra sure that we were all brushing our teeth and then getting tucked up in our beds this evening. And she clearly knew about Mrs Knight’s decision to expel us if we caused any more trouble.
Several realities immediately flashed through my head: one where we found Muriel and she’d just been hiding somewhere, staying away from the bullies. She would probably be grumpy and ungrateful, and we’d have risked getting kicked out of school for nothing. Another where there actually was some sort of curse, and we found her lying in a ditch somewhere, rain-soaked and black with mud, her eyes rolled back into her head
. And another where we got caught before we could find her. Where the teachers found us sneaking out, ignored our pleas and sent us packing to our stepmother. And what she would do to us, well … I couldn’t imagine, and that somehow made it much worse than the awful images that had gone before.
“Sorry, Ariadne,” I said with a heavy shrug of my shoulders. “It’s just not worth it.”
“Not worth helping to find her?” Ariadne gaped at me and then turned to Ivy. But I already knew Ivy wasn’t going to agree to help look either. “I … I think Scarlet’s right,” she said. “Unless we have some real proof that anything bad has happened to Muriel, I don’t think we can risk it.”
“But the curse …” Ariadne pleaded.
“… might just be made up,” Ivy finished. “And as for the other idea – that she’s trapped somewhere – well, if it’s somewhere in Rookwood, she’ll probably be all right and the teachers will find her soon enough.”
“How could it be anywhere else, really?” I pointed out. There was nowhere particularly near Rookwood, unless you walked all the way to the village or managed to catch the rare bus. I didn’t think Ebony was strong enough, nor that dedicated, to drag Muriel all that way.
Ariadne still didn’t look happy. “If it were me, then you’d look, wouldn’t you?” she said quietly.
“Of course!” we both replied.
“You know we would,” Ivy reassured her.
“And we chased a crazed man into a thunderstorm for Rose,” I pointed out. “But we knew something was wrong then. And besides, we’re friends. We don’t really know a jot about Muriel, except for the fact that she bullied you horribly.”
Ariadne’s voice had started to get quieter, and now she sounded all mousy again. “But she’s not so bad any more – she doesn’t deserve this.”
I couldn’t bear our friend looking so upset, so I pulled her and my sister into a hug. “Buck up, you lot! It’ll be fine! The teachers will find Muriel and Ebony will get what’s coming to her.”
“Promise?” There was hope in Ariadne’s eyes.
I swallowed. I didn’t know if that was something I could really promise. But if it would make her feel better …
The Curse in the Candlelight Page 9