Mr. Jenkinson was really boring too. He said everything as if I was five years old and sometimes he’d just fall asleep half way through talking. And if I woke him up he began the lesson from the beginning, so mostly I didn’t bother. The dungeon where I had my lessons with the ghosts was drab, dank and cold. It was a long walk from my room in the tower to the dungeons every day, past the offensive looks in the corridors, down into icy cold, damp dripping rooms with less light than a lit matchstick. It was only me in the lessons too. At least, I think it was.
Ernie taught me too, still bringing me up bits of work from Partington. He would relay things to me he had picked up as he flew around the castle hearing titbits. Lately he had taken to hiding in suits of armour near the Eagle boys dorm, but didn’t hear anything of value.
Spurned on again by Ernie’s talks in the clock tower about retribution, I gee’d myself up to go and talk to certain people. Like he said, I didn’t have anything to lose. I’d already decided that if I was kicked out of Hailing Hall, I wouldn’t be going home - I was never going back there.
On Sunday morning I spotted Hunter walking alone in the courtyard. I made my way down as quick as I could into the blistering sun, which I was not used to at the moment. Zooming out of the back entrance, my heart beating fast, I walked quickly to catch up with him. Expecting him to run away I slowed and tried to make myself small and unthreatening. I could see his scars properly now. He had two deep gashes across his face, on his left cheek, stretching up to his forehead. Like a giant sideways smile.
I swallowed. “Hunter, it’s me, Avis.”
He didn’t stop walking, but smiled. “I know,” he said smiling.
“Right… erm… god, this is so hard but I want you to know… I would never do anything to harm you, and I swear on my limited life, it was not me who did that to you.”
“I know,” he said.
I frowned. “What do you mean? Everyone thinks it’s me. Straker, Dodaline, the whole school…”
Hunter stopped and shook his head. “Even if it was you, I would forgive you. I’ve… seen things now that made me realise that life is too short for holding grudges, or worrying about being a loser. And I got a month in this sweet ass Healer’s room, take me back there any day! And a couple of weeks at home with the family. Ok, the demon was scary as hell… but I know that could never have been you. I know you Avis.” He looked at me, his left eye partially shut because of the scar. “You aint got it in ya’ to do something like that!”
He smiled, and something inside me breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Anyway, I saw him…”
“Saw who?”
“Malakai. Big shiny blue eyes, long fingers… saw him in the reflection of the armour mask. Not for long, but I saw him.”
“But… ” I was on the verge of tears. “Everyone hates me, they think I did it.”
“It was a stupid plan, we are all accountable in some way. But I agree, you should not be blamed for this.” He said pointing at his face.
I swallowed the tears. “Has anyone asked you about it?”
“Yeah,” he said as we crossed the grassy field towards the floating island. “The Lily asked me and Straker. I told them it was Malakai. They asked me not to tell anyone else in the school. Made me swear…”
And then it dawned on me why everyone still thought it was me - the Lily didn’t want people to think that Malakai was coming into the school! I was the scapegoat!
“Don’t worry Avis, the Lily assured me this would all be sorted out and you’ll be fine,” he gave me a tap on on the shoulder and walked across the bridge to the floating island, leaving me standing there in disbelief. That was not how I expected the conversation to go. The Shrunken Head was shielding itself from the sun behind my shoulder so I made my way back indoors.
Resuming my place, cross legged behind the clock face, I stared out across the courtyard watching everyone playing and frolicking in the sun. I couldn't help the tears, the despair too much — I felt appalling sorry for myself and lay in a ball cursing this crappy world! I cursed the Lily, Straker and the Eagles. They all knew I was innocent, but were using me as the scapegoat, so no one else in the school would become terrified that Malakai could just waltz in whenever he liked. I was sad that my experience of this Magical school had been robbed of me, unjustly.
Ernie appeared and sat opposite me, bringing food from Sunday dinner. I wasn’t hungry. I just wanted to sit and listen to the clock ticking it’s loud satisfying clunks.
“It’s not healthy to trap yourself up here. You have to be brave and face the world.”
I sniffed. “Yeah, not right now.” I told him what Hunter said and Ernie nodded along and hugged me. He was cold, but it felt… comforting to feel the touch of someone, even someone dead.
I didn’t leave the clock tower for a few days, I just lay and stared out across the landscape. I bet the ghost Magisteers hadn’t even noticed my lack of appearance. Hec, probably no one did.
Ernie brought me food which sat in an uneaten pile in the corner. I continued to sit and watch the sun chase the moon into night and day. Warm, hot days replaced overnight with falling white snowflakes and frosty cold winds. The black clouds rolled in, bringing winter with them. Christmas was just around the corner. Ernie gave me a Spell to make a contained fire. It sat behind me providing this modicum of heat, yet I could still see my breath in front of me. Some people went home for Christmas. I watched them, with their new levitating Spells carrying their bags and cases across the courtyard, into carriages and flying home. For a moment, I couldn't decide where I would rather be… here, or home.
***
Lying in my pit, staring out at the familiar view across Hailing Hall, moonlight streaming across soft white snow, blue flames unable to melt the ice that had settled in my bones, I slipped in and out of dreams. One, was a wonderful dream that I was intent on trying to prolong. I was with Tina, down by the lake, swimming… then we were running in the sun and Spelling each other for fun… then she kissed me. It ended just before our lips met. And I woke to the cold, shivering between my blankets.
Something outside caught my attention. A shape was moving through the snow, along the side of the hedge. It was tall, with long skeletal hands and blue glowing eyes… Malakai was walking towards the castle. Cloak hiding his skeletal head. I rubbed my eyes, making sure I wasn’t still dreaming. He was the one who had done this to me. But why was he coming into the school?
For five consecutive nights, at one thirty in the morning, I saw him making his way into the school. It could not have been a dream. I stayed awake watching. On the sixth night, I sat up and made a decision, I had to find out what he was up to. I reasoned for a long time, but in the end I thought I have nothing to lose. Once I decide on something its pretty hard to persuade me otherwise. And I had decided on something major. I would find out why Malakai was coming into the school, and I would do everything I could to stop him and his evil plans. Avis Blackthorn would get his revenge!
I felt reinvigorated. And Ernie seemed perkier at my renewed vigour, for I had a mission. I was trying to think of a way to follow Malakai without being spotted. I needed to get to the Library and hunt for invisibility Spells. Resuming my spot at the clock face, cross legged as if in prayer, I sat and thought about Malakai night after night, contemplating what he was and what he could be doing. I didn’t know much about him. Not much at all. How old was he? Where was he from? What was his favourite dinner? Strange thoughts indeed, but necessary, for he was just a man.
All of a sudden I heard this charging noise. Streams of people came pilling out into the courtyard below for a snowball fight, it looked amazing. Graham and Simon led the charge, with their ties around their head. Hang on, had their ties changed colour? They had! Turquoise blue when we started, their’s were now maroon! That must have meant that they had gone up a level in Magic!
A jealous pot of rage suddenly burned white hot inside me. They were steaming ahead with their Magical train
ing and I was being left behind, being taught by some shoddy ghosts. All because I was being made a scapegoat. Well, I would show them. I didn’t need a tie to tell me how good at Magic I was.
“Go and join in,” said Ernie watching them play.
“Naa…” Can you imagine? They’d all run back in as soon as they saw me running towards them.
I could tell Christmas day wasn’t far off, perhaps a day or two. Decorations littered the outside of the school and a huge Christmas tree stood proudly in the centre of the courtyard. I was woken each morning by the flipping bells, which rang out this deafening Christmas song for about ten flipping minutes.
It seems I would be spending Christmas alone. At least, not with anyone who was alive.
***
In the dead of night on Christmas eve I made my way down through the school. Tiptoeing quietly along the corridors I hadn’t trod for weeks, into the boys’ bathroom. I pulled the metal grate away and eased into the small passage. Descending the stairs, I iced the river as I had done before, and entered the dim cathedral-like Library. I was searching for: a Spell, or an idea that would enable me to follow Malakai without him spotting me. And, maybe some information on the man himself. It occurred to me that if I could find a Spell that copied books I could take some back with me to the clock tower. I almost knew how to levitate now, but it was hit and miss.
Searching books in the Library is a long and arduous process. Magic books are unnecessarily big with too much information. Wizards, I know, like to waffle on. Some of the ladders were wobbly too… I wish Ernie was here, he would be good company, and give me a bit of light.
I laid some interesting looking books out on the table and began reading, taking notes on my ink and parchment.
After an hour, the page was full of tiny Spells, ideas and thoughts that the books had given me. I felt alive, standing over these brilliant books hunting for clues. A lot of Spells and passages in the books had been black marked, but eventually I found a Spell that didn’t quite give you invisibility as such, but damn near close. It made whoever looked at you avert their gaze and forget what they saw, your image drawn away from their retina like a magnet. Combine that with Spells for making no noise when you walk and you’re near enough impossible to be noticed. But did Malakai have retinas? I wondered.
I searched for ages for a book about Malakai but searching the M section for books entitled Malakai revealed nothing. I suppose finding a Malakai autobiography was a bit of a long shot. There were, however, certain passages and paragraphs written about him, but nothing I didn’t already know.
Footsteps tapped softly along the icy river. I ducked under the table instinctively. Someone else was coming! My heart beat hard, breath short. Eyes scanning under the table where I could see someone emerge slowly. Their eyes scanning the vicinity, looking for the person who had frozen the river. Who was this? It was too dark to tell, probably a Magisteer.
“Who iced this river?” called the voice. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time, but one which I dreamed of hearing for a long time.
I stood. “Tina?” Her hands raised automatically through the gloom. “It’s me, Avis.” She didn’t drop them straight away, stepping forward slowly until she got a good sight of me.
“Avis!” she stared at me for ages, as if I perhaps wasn’t real. “Where the HELL have you been?! I’ve been looking for you everywhere you dopy git!”
It was not the reaction I was expecting. “Er… the…” I stammered, not knowing what to say first. “Clock tower… looking for me?”
“Yeah, Partington too, said you weren’t in your room, he keeps checking. Said you disappeared, or were hiding. You’re a good hider.”
“I am. Years of practice.”
“Clock tower ayh, good find.” She said climbing out of the river. I just stared at her trying to remind myself this was not a dream. “I came to find you weeks ago, but you just went off radar… I wanted to tell you that I believe you are innocent, always did. When people started saying it was you, I thought, something doesn’t stick here… Anyway, you’re still a git, I wondered who iced the river. I couldn't get the boat up here, had to walk it,” she tutted then looked at me suspiciously. “Anyway, what are you doing here? It’s Christmas Eve silly.”
“I was…” Did I tell her about my plan to follow Malakai? “Just looking for stuff, bored, and er…” I shrugged feeling uncomfortable, my cheeks hot.
She eyed me again and frowned, then sat down at the table. I tucked my parchment away. “Ahh, nice to sit down. Sit down Avis, don’t be so nervous. No one’s gonna come in, it’s Christmas Eve!” She winked.
“What are you doing here then?” I said, sitting.
“Came to look for more books, in my quest, which I am no further through.” She tilted her head back and stared up into the immense domed Library ceiling. I tried to look cool, even though months of solitude had made me forget social etiquette and had to stop myself staring.
“You never told me what your quest was,” I said.
“No… I didn’t did I. Wasn’t sure I could trust you to be honest, but, I think I can now.”
She was still looking up into the roof, smiling. “Why now?” I said.
“Because you’ve seen him haven't you… Malakai? He was the one who set the demon on Hunter. Even Hunter said as much. The Lily is scared to admit that Malakai is coming into the school so he let you take the blame.”
I nodded. She’d got it in one, but I didn't know what that had to do with her quest.
“That’s why I can trust you Avis, you’ve seen him. He did something horrible, knowing you would get blamed for it. Do you know why?” She was leaning across the table looking intently at me now with her twinkling eyes, my mind flickered back to the dream I had.
“I have an idea,” I said but truth was, I didn’t, just a best guess. “I’m a Blackthorn, not a very evil Blackthorn, we are expected to be evil and join him as soon as we leave school. He knows I will just be a liability?”
Tina juggled her head, she wasn’t satisfied with the answer, but I was on the right track.
“Well, I mean, he did say something about me being a seventh son?”
Her eyes flashed. “You’re a what?” she said terrified.
I sat back. “What? Yeah, I’m a seventh son, he spoke to me telepathically, said he never wanted a seventh son to work for him.”
Tina blinked fast. “He kills seventh sons.”
I frowned and giggled a little. Perhaps it was the solitude again. “What? Why?”
“You really know nothing about Magic do you?” I didn’t answer. “Seventh son is a myth, but it could be real. Seventh son’s have a power that no one else has. That’s why Malakai doesn’t like you. You’re a threat to him. Yes, yes, that’s why he didn’t just kill you, he got you in trouble instead.”
“I think maybe my parents have something to do with the fact that he didn’t kill me?” I said hopefully, wishing that perhaps they had, for once, stuck up for me.
“I can’t remember the myth, need to look it up! Not now, too late. My quest…” she said leaning forward even closer until I could feel her breath on my face. “Listen… My quest is to find the source of Malakai’s power…” she said. “My brother, he died trying to find and destroy it. Wish he’d just not have bothered. He was the nicest person you could ever meet, tall, handsome… but anyway, he got close, but I think he anticipated what was coming because he wrote all these instructions and Spells, and his notes up for the next person to take up the quest and eliminate Malakai.”
“How did you find it?”
“He left some notes in his desk at home, in a letter for me.” As starlight twinkled into the room, I saw a tiny tear in her glassy eyes. “I think…” she said wiping them. “Malakai has The Book Of Names… You must have heard of that?” When she saw my blank expression she carried on. “Fine. Let me explain… The Book Of Names is this huge, ancient book that’s recorded the name of every Wizard that’s ever been bo
rn. Their given name appears in the columns next to their true name…” I gasped. I had heard about this. “So my given name is Tina, but my true Magical name, which I don’t know, is in that book. When you know someone’s true name you have complete power over them! Most people don’t even know their true name, its too dangerous to know it in case someone tortures it out of you. But if you have the Book Of Names, you have power over everyone! Now, you are different… because seventh son’s true names are not in the Book Of Names!”
“Ohh…” I said, as the revelation finally dawned on me. “So, what your saying is, Malakai can’t control me, like he does others because he can’t know my true name?”
“Exactly,” she said sitting back.
“So that’s the book you were looking for… the Book Of Names, is it in here?”
“No,” she laughed. “It’s not going to be here… Why don’t you show me where you’ve been living these past months Avis Blackthorn.”
We crept up to my clock tower and I showed her round. She danced around the huge bells, and sung Christmas carols.
She laughed. “It was Christmas day two hours ago…” she said, looking at the giant clock face. “It’s cold up here! However have you managed?”
I said my fire Spell and in a column of blue light, fire lit up inside the glass cabinet.
“Oooo very impressive,” she said warming her hands. “And you sleep here?”
She got into my bed, well I say bed, it was a collection of cushions, pillows, sheets, rugs and clothes.
“I prefer to think of it as a nest,” I said.
“I like it…” she said laying down and patting the space next to her. I joined her in my bed. This was like some awesome dream, but somehow it felt so normal. I wrapped all the blankets over us, and we simply lay there watching the stars through the clock face. At last, I had someone to share Christmas with.
“Merry Christmas Avis.”
Avis Blackthorn: Is Not an Evil Wizard! Page 11