Raven smiled, his bright, wicked smile, and leaned casually against the fence, one hand on the rim of his hat. “I figured you could use another year of training before I let you take my place as head prankster,” he said gleefully.
Max glowered at him. “You could have told me,” he said. But, honestly, he was relieved. School was boring without Raven. However, his relief was tainted with slight disappointment. No matter how much he hated to admit it, he was not the greatest prankster he knew. That title belonged to Raven. The string bound book in Max’s bag was already beginning to feel like amateur work. He had spent so long putting it together, as well.
“But I would have missed your priceless reaction,” Raven pointed out.
Max considered hexing him.
But, by now, the gate in the golden fence was swinging open, and students had begun to pour inside. Max observed a group of tiny year sevens, all gazing at the school in a mixture of awe, excitement and anxiety. Maybe the book wouldn’t go to waste after all. He began walking after Raven, pleased that Scarlet had disappeared inside with her own friends. Even if it meant getting his lunch from her later, at least she wasn’t there to nag him now. It seemed she was keeping to her word to stay away from him.
The field didn’t seem to know, or care that it was autumn. As Max took in the view of purple flowers all around them, their familiar scent filled his nose. It was strong and sweet, almost like honey, infused with the smell of wild berries. Here and there he saw flecks of silver, a colour which belonged to smaller, delicate looking flowers he did not know the name of. Scattered almost as randomly as the flowers were a number of heavily eroded head stones. Most were too far from the path to read, but Max was able to make out the name of one close to the wall of the old block; Humphrey Dumpkins. He gave it a respectful nod.
The path gave way to a narrow, cobbled street between the newer buildings of the school, and here, it seemed to remember that it wasn’t spring. The cold, misty air returned, and the students had to squint slightly to properly see the figure waiting for them. He was a man with dark, curly hair and glasses, whom Max recognized as Mr. Grimm. It seemed Mr. Grimm had been utilizing the hair dye to his advantage, as there didn’t appear to be a single speck of grey on his head.
Mr. Grimm cleared his throat. “Welcome back for another year,” he greeted them with a half smile. “If you’ll co-operate for a moment while I call out the year seven registers, this will hopefully go much smoother than last year.” His smile faded into a look of dislike as his eyes travelled over Max’s face. Max smiled back in mock innocence. Clearing his throat again, Mr. Grimm pulled a large slate out from seemingly nowhere, and began to call the register of the first class.
Max watched in boredom, along with the others who had had to stand through this tedious ritual before, as the year sevens hurried to stand in their respective classes, and then as they were handed maps of the school. Eventually, the last class was called out, and Max watched as a stout boy with long, bat-like ears, a froggish face and a devilish tail hopped up to Mr. Grimm, holding out his webbed hand to receive his map.
“May I just say,” he said politely. “It is an honour to finally be studying at this prestigious school.” A few of the older students, Max included, laughed.
Mr. Grimm was taken a back, but smiled back at the boy. “We’re very glad to have you here,” he said, handing the map over. When he withdrew his hand, he made an audible sound of disgust, and looked down. Green slime was now oozing from between his fingers, and the boy was cackling evilly as he took his place in line.
“It’s always an honour to meet new suckers!” he called out, proud of his work.
Max’s amusement at the boy’s expense quickly changed to interest.
“Detention,” Mr. Grimm said, trying to remain calm. But he was obviously annoyed.
“You may have competition~” Raven sang in Max’s ear, his dark eyes gleaming.
The rest of the register went more smoothly. Year eights were next, then year nines. When it finally came to year tens, Max parted from Raven and joined his class, standing behind the pixie he had seen earlier. So, she had transferred into his class.
He was shortly joined by a girl with golden ringlets that put Scarlet’s hair to shame. She smiled awkwardly at him.
“How was your summer?” she whispered.
“Uneventful,” Max shrugged dismissively. His interest was elsewhere. He was wondering, again, whether to start a conversation with the pixie.
The year elevens were given a long, boring speech about exams, before they were allowed to have their names called out. And then came the sixth formers. Scarlet stepped into her line behind Raven, her hood firmly over her ruined hair, and deliberately avoided eye contact with her brother. Max could tell Raven was contemplating sending a spell to remove her hood, but he was probably weighing up whether it was worth the painful hex she would retaliate with. Evidently, he decided it wasn’t worth it. Shame, Max thought. It would have been nice to have his handy work shown off.
*
The lessons were definitely much more demanding this year. Raven had warned Max that they would be, but he hadn’t taken him seriously. Now, as he sat at his desk, staring at the formula scrawled on his slate, he wished he had done at least some revision over the summer.
“It would suit me just fine if the only lesson was history,” Max complained as he and Raven sat by the wall of the old block at break time. He put his hand on the crumbling bricks of the wall. “We’re finally learning about Humphrey Dumpkins.”
Raven yawned. “Fascinating,” he said in disinterest. “What have you got?”
Max turned his attention to his bag. “I got this thing -- I think it’s called a whoops cushion,” he said, pulling out a round object made from cold, stretchy purple material. “They’re super popular in the mortal world, and I rigged this one to explode when someone sits on it. They’ll be dyed blue from head to toe for days!” He smiled proudly, waiting for Raven’s enthusiastic response. But it didn’t come.
Raven gave the object a look of boredom. “Did you by any chance come up with that after I gave you the hair dye idea?” he asked.
Max’s smile faded. “Well, yes. But-“
“Then, it’s been done,” Raven said dismissively. “What else do you have?”
Max rummaged through his bag, pulling out the string bound book. “I wrote a whole list of pranks. Even when I’ll do them and tips on not getting caught.”
Wearing the same, bored expression, Raven took the book, unwound the string and flipped through it. “If you want to avoid getting caught, you probably shouldn’t carry around this blatantly incriminating evidence,” he said lazily, handing the book back. “That’s all cute, but I think we should go with these first.” Removing his hat, he dug his arm deep into it, first pulling out the skull of a small animal, two heavy, leather bound books, an eyeball, a gold mirror with the eerie depiction of a face carved into the back, and a ruffled looking live black cat. Finally, he produced a small burlap bag overflowing with what appeared to be coffee beans. Sighing as the cat scurried quickly between a small, cobweb ridden gap in the bricks and out of reach, he stuffed the other items back into his hat. Then he returned his attention to the bag. “I can guarantee these will get us a much better reaction.”
Max looked at the beans skeptically, rolling one between his fingers. “What do they do?” he asked suspiciously. “They’re not dangerous, are they?” He remembered Raven’s tendency to take things too far.
Raven plucked the bean from Max’s hand, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “You’ll see.”
From between the bricks, Max caught sight of the cat rolling her eyes, almost certainly validating his concerns. But he knew it was useless to keep questioning Raven. Instead, he listened as Raven thought over when and where to test out the beans, leaving out, of course, what they would actually do. Before he had come to a d
ecision, the sound of a hand bell rang through the air, signaling the end of break. They made their way back to their classes; Raven’s black cat marching after them, giving her master a disdainful look.
*
The next morning, Max set off to school ahead of Scarlet. She had been in such a foul mood at breakfast that he decided it was much safer this way. Apparently, her hair was drawing a lot of attention among the other students. And to top it off, the year seven who had pranked Mr. Grimm had planted stink bombs in the sixth form hang out area, making it inaccessible for at least a week.
There was quite a commotion as the stalls in the market were being set up that morning. It looked as though there was another new one. Before Max could stop to investigate, however, a shy voice called out behind him.
“Hello Max.” It was the girl with golden ringlets.
“Hey…” Max started, slightly guilty that he always forgot her name. Despite her apparent want to socialize at any given opportunity, she always managed to sink into the background, never really leaving an impact.
“Gilda,” she said with a timid smile. “Are you going to school?”
“I was going to check out that new stall,” Max said, turning in the direction of school. Maybe he would run into Raven on the way, and have an excuse not to continue this conversation, which was likely to be awkward. But his curiosity was still piqued, so he couldn’t stop himself from asking. “You know what they’re selling?”
Gilda shrugged, walking close behind him, clasping her hands together anxiously. “It looks like more mortal things,” she said quietly. “M-mortal…electricals, I think someone said. I’m not sure it will be in business long. There was a picture taking device that was smoking so badly, I’m sure whatever spell they used on it broke it.”
Max was barely listening. He had heard all he needed to know. He would be visiting that stall after school.
When they arrived at the golden fence, Max found his reason to part with Gilda. Raven was waiting there, mischief etched onto his face, and inspiration gleaming in his eyes. By the looks of things, he had decided on where and when to use the beans. Evidently, he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to return the cat to his hat, as she was perched on the fence above him, giving him a look of pure disapproval.
“I can’t be outshone by a year seven,” he said as Gilda awkwardly sidled past, aware that she was not wanted. “And you can’t afford to be in third place, can you? We’ll set them off at lunch time.”
If Max had had any idea of the trouble this seemingly harmless prank would cause, he would have put a stop to it then and there.
*
Lunch time seemed to take an age to arrive. Max spent the morning’s lessons distracted, staring out at the fluttering purple flowers outside the window. He just wanted to know what those beans would do. The constant droning of the teachers, and the awkward, shy conversation Gilda kept trying to drag him into faded into a buzz of noise, as his imagination carried him out of the classroom. Knowing Raven, this would be something big, But, surely not dangerous? He remembered the year before, when Raven thought it would be amusing to sneak into the kitchen and transform all the food into salt. Fortunately, the cooks had never found out who did it, as they had looked ready to kill someone.
The cooks, Sam and Ella, were the embodiment of unpleasant. The salt may have been an improvement on what they usually tried to pass off for ‘food’, and it was clear that they didn’t care much for hygiene. One time, Max had found multiple long, white hairs in what was supposed to be soup, but might have been water from the well outside. Another time, Scarlet swore she discovered an entire cockroach in her pudding. It was their constant complaints of the food that finally made their grandmother cave in and make them sandwiches each day. Now, Max hardly ever had to deal with the cook’s hideous attitudes and filthy appearances, except for the days when Scarlet was in such a bad mood with him that he didn’t dare get his sandwich from her basket. Now, he found himself wondering how they would react to Raven’s newest prank.
The bell rang for lunch, and Max made his way to the dining hall to wait for Raven. He had been waiting there five minutes when Raven’s wicked voice called out behind him. “Are you ready?” he said, holding out the bag.
Max nodded, an evil grin spreading across his own face. Raven’s cat looked much less enthusiastic.
“Good,” Raven said, letting go of the bag. It continued to float in mid air, and the beans rose from it one by one, floating discreetly into the dining hall, hovering by the wood panelled ceiling. Max watched them curiously, wondering what they would do. But they just floated there, innocent and harmless. He raised his eyebrows at Raven.
“When-” he started.
“Mist charm,” Raven interrupted, his voice hushed. He pulled Max aside as a small group of people passed them on their way into the crowded hall. To Max’s delight, Scarlet was among them.
Nodding again, he lifted his hand and whispered the incantation, and the entire dining hall was flooded with steam. He continued until he could no longer see into the room, but he could hear the muffled shouts of confusion, and the enraged cries of shock. A damp, mouldy wood smell filled the air as beams and panels, floorboards and tables began to drip with water, mixing with the scent of wet clothes.
“I give it ten seconds before the screaming starts,” Raven whispered proudly.
But the screaming began almost instantly. Something black and spindly scuttled past them down the corridor, around the corner and out of sight, leading Max to assume the dining hall was being overrun with spiders the size of hands.
“Priceless,” Raven said, as the screaming grew in volume. “We should probably get out of here.” He turned to run down the corridor, just as a confused, dripping crowd burst from the dining hall, desperately shaking huge spiders from their clothes and hair.
Max tried to run after Raven, but an earth shattering shriek stopped him in his tracks.
“MAX!” Scarlet was making a beeline for him, even through the thick steam. A hand reached out and grabbed Max by the shoulder, digging its long nails into his skin. Yelping, he turned reluctantly to see his sister’s snarling face.
Scarlet looked angrier than he had ever seen her before. Her wet hair, still bright orange in places, clung to her face. “You. Are. In. So. Much. Trouble!”
Chapter three
“Two days!” Max hissed, trying hard to ignore the continuing glares that followed him wherever he went. “Two days of detention! I have to catch every one of those spiders. They won’t even let me use magic!”
“Good luck. They’re fast,” Raven said casually, as though that was somehow helpful. He caught the hate filled stare Max threw at him, and raised his hands in mock defense. His cat rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. It could have been worse. They could have made you clean the kitchen.” This did nothing to diffuse the situation.
“If that had happened, I would have turned you in,” Max said through gritted teeth.
“Look, if they’d caught us both, they would have taken my hat away, and then what would we have done?” Raven pointed out, trying to reason with the furious Max, as though he had made an honourable sacrifice for the greater good.
Raven really deserved to be pranked, but Max knew that it was not likely to happen. Raven was always able to outsmart him, and even if he would have fallen for one of Max’s tricks, his retaliation would be a hundred times worse.
But Max had barely the time or energy to despair over this fact. The spiders were indeed fast, and they had managed to spread throughout the school. He had miscalculated their size greatly. The smallest one he managed to catch, as it scuttled into a storage room filled with spare cauldrons, was no smaller than a cat. Despite his current resentment towards the teachers, he understood why they had to be captured. They were simply too big to be allowed to escape.
The only positive about his situation, was th
at he wasn’t alone. He was serving his detention with the year seven, who seemed less than happy to be chasing giant arachnids around the school. It turned out, the boy’s name was Rob Goblin, and the detention he had originally been supposed to serve was a much less daunting task than this.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to ban magic,” Rob complained, holding a large, fat spider by the leg, keeping it at arm’s length. “If they wanted these things gone, they’d at least let us slow them down.”
“Let’s get back at them,” Max suggested, wrestling a particularly hairy spider into a barrel. “All of them,” he added, thinking about Raven.
“Huh,” Rob grumbled, thinking the offer over for a moment. “I’d rather work alone,” he said eventually, as he laid flat on the floor, reaching under a dining room table to grab one of the five spiders seeking refuge there. “I’m no amateur.”
“Amateur?!” Max demanded, thoroughly offended. “I did this, you know. How is this the work of an amateur?”
“You don’t have to pretend this was your idea,” Rob said dismissively. “I know it wasn’t. You were just the fall guy.”
Max glared at him. The nerve of that kid! “Fine,” he said, eying the kitchen door. “Why don’t you come with me, and I’ll show you what I can do.”
“This ought to be good,” Rob said sarcastically, getting to his feet and brushing dust off his clothes. His tail flicked impatiently as Max gestured towards the kitchen.
Carefully, Max looked around to make sure no teachers were in the corridor outside, then he pushed open the kitchen door and crept inside. Rob followed, his frog eyes watching Max sceptically. Although Max was eager to show off his skills, the only prank that came to mind was Raven’s salt prank. Lucky this kid wasn’t around last year to see it. He’d think it was completely original, and then he’d be so impressed he would beg to be Max’s apprentice!
“I feel like someone was just here,” Rob said quietly, sniffing the air.
“The cooks probably rarely leave,” Max said dismissively.
On the Other Side Page 2