Ravensborough

by Christine Murray

Lavendell came into the room, and smiled warmly when she saw Mum and I. Nick introduced everyone quickly. Lavendell was tall, with ink black hair like her daughter, but instead of hanging messily to her shoulders, hers was cut in a short pixie cut. Lavendell and Aradia made me unpack the box in front of them. They asked me to pick up the locket and to hold it close to them so that they could see the engravings on the front and the back. They didn’t try to touch the items.

  ‘I don’t know why the box picked you,’ said Lavendell, her forehead wrinkling up in confusion. ‘It’s unusual for magic to involve those who don’t have magic in their blood.’

  ‘Doesn’t it happen sometimes though? I think I remember something about that from school’, Aradia chimed in.

  ‘Very occasionally,’ her mother agreed. ‘What I propose we do is test the objects for a taint of bad magic. Bad magic may choose the inexperienced for its own purposes. If we rule that out that might put your mind at rest’. Mum looked stunned. For a woman who didn’t believe in magic of any kind, today had been a shock for her.

  Aradia ran down to the apothecary to get Lavendell the ingredients she would need.

  ‘Have you any idea what the locket is for’, I asked Lavendell.

  Lavendell took a gentle sip of her tea. ‘The objects themselves aren’t unusual, we see similar items all the time. It looks like you’ve been chosen for something. The locket is a talisman. That should keep you safe while you go about whatever your role is. The spell book would probably be a guide. Spells and magic that you would need in order to carry out your task. But without magic blood, it’s doubtful if you’d be able to perform any of these spells anyway. So why the box picked you is a bit of a mystery.’

  Aradia came back with a jar, a bottle of water and some paper bags full of various dried herbs. Lavendell began to measure out herbs into the jar with a practiced eye. She muttered some words under her breath as she did so. She poured in some water and added some drops of oil. The contents of the jar turned a murky oily green. She screwed the lid on the jar and handed it to her daughter.

  ‘There you go. You can shake that for five minutes.’

  ‘Thanks, you always give me the good jobs, don’t you?’ Aradia said sarcastically. She began to shake the jar with all her might.

  After a couple of minutes the liquid was black and all the lumps had disappeared. Lavendell took the jar from Aradia and unscrewed the lid.

  ‘Scarlett, can you hold the locket by the chain and dip it into the liquid?' The liquid gave off a strong smell, not unlike the smell of rotting vegetation. It was disgusting, and I wasn’t happy that my beautiful locket was going to be dipped into it. But Lavendell seemed to know what she was doing, so I did as she asked.

  The liquid began to swirl gently in a clockwise direction. Soon it was swirling really fast, so fast I worried that the jar might spill over.

  ‘Is that supposed to happen?’ I asked Lavendell.

  ‘Yes, don’t worry,’ she replied. ‘That’s perfectly normal.’

  I’d have hated to see what her idea of abnormal was.

  The liquid began to change colour. Starting at the bottom a white milky colour came into the jar. It moved gradually upward, through the dark, changing the dark liquid to a white colour that pulsed with light. Eventually all the dark green colour was gone, and a sweet smell had replaced the earlier aroma of decomposition.

  ‘Well Scarlett, it looks like we have good magic here,’ said Lavendell. ‘It doesn’t help with the mystery of why it’s in your possession, but you can rest assured that no harm will come to you if you keep them in your house.’

  ‘What do I do with them?’ I asked.

  ‘You should wear the locket around your neck. If that’s ok with your mother. If good magic has decided that you need protection, I really don’t think that anything good will come from ignoring it.’

  ‘What could she need protection from?’ Mum asked warily.

  Lavendell gave my mother a level look. ‘I’m afraid that your guess is as good as mine.’

  ‘But she can’t wear it,’ Mum argued. ‘She goes to a Rationalist school they’re not going to be ok with her parading around in a Pagan necklace, are they?’

  ‘She’ll need to wear it under her clothes’, Lavendell conceded, ‘and do her best not to let anybody else know that it’s there. Yes, it could cause an awful lot of problems for her if it is discovered. But like I say, there seems to have been an incredibly elaborate plan to make sure she has this locket. I think it would be foolhardy not to let her wear it.’

  ‘Maybe you should keep the book in the box to keep it safe’, Aradia suggested. ‘And keep in contact with us, just in case you get any portents or indications of what this could mean.’

  I smirked to myself. Aradia trying to find a way that we could get to see each other legitimately, without all the lies and subterfuge. Talk about making the best of a decidedly strange situation.

  I was amazed that Mum seemed to be accepting all this so easily. But just as I thought this, she opened her mouth again.

  ‘There’s no chance that this could all be some sort of practical joke?’ she hedged.

  Lavendell took her hand. ‘It would have to have been a very elaborate joke, wouldn’t it?’ she said gently. ‘To manage to get the box into the dig site so that it doesn’t disturb the soil and to respond to nobody but Scarlett? I think that’s beyond the capabilities of most practical jokers.’ The words were softly spoken, but her tone was firm.

  Later on as Mum drove us back to Chesterfield, I asked her what she thought of Lavendell.

  ‘She seems nice enough,’ said Mum. ‘Obviously she’s as mad as a brush, but she’s harmless.’

  ‘So you don’t think that what she said was right?’ I asked her. ‘You know, about needing to wear the necklace for protection?’

  ‘Thankfully, no,’ said Mum. ‘Maybe we should throw the stuff out, you know.’

  ‘No,’ I said quickly. ‘I mean, if there’s no such thing as magic then there’s no harm in me having them, right? And the necklace is quite pretty.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Mum. ‘What if someone at school sees it?’

  ‘They won’t,’ I said. ‘And it’s an antique. It would be a shame just to throw it out. I’d like to have it as a keepsake from my first dig.’ I hoped she’d buy it: I didn’t want to have to throw the objects out. Not yet anyway.

  ‘I suppose you’re right,’ sighed Mum. ‘I don’t know. It’s just upsetting to think that someone as nice as Lavendell thinks that your daughter is in such danger that an outside force is trying to protect her. Even though you know that it’s nonsense.’

  All of a sudden I got a leaden feeling in the pit of my stomach. That thought hadn’t crossed my mind. Now that Mum said it, it made perfect sense. Lavendell thought that I was in danger.

  But from what?

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The following night I was heading to a gig with Aradia and Gethan. David, a guy who had been digging with us on the trial excavation was in a band, so a lot of us had decided to go along to the show for moral support. I’d thought about what Gethan had said. I hadn’t quite made up my mind about what I would do, but I reckoned that I might as well make the most of their company while I could. Before they were declared a no go area.

  For the gig I teamed a pair of jeans with a slashed neck emerald vest top. This meant, of course, that my locket was in full view, but as the venue was in the pagan quarter I didn’t think that would be too much of an issue. I wrapped a scarf around my neck before going downstairs. Rupert and Mum wouldn’t like the fact that I was wearing a symbol of Pagan superstition, and I didn’t need any more hassle in my life right now. Mum mightn’t believe that I was in danger, but after all I’d seen since I’d moved to Avalonia I wasn’t going to take any chances.

  The gig was on in the basement of a bar called the Grey Wolf in the Pagan medieval quarter. I found it without too much difficulty. The crowds of teenagers congregating outside, their f
rozen breath mingling with cigarette smoke, made it easy to spot. I paid my money to a formidable looking doorman, who stamped the back of my hand with a blood red wolf and walked down the rickety aluminium steps to the basement.

  My eyes registered little in the first few seconds, struggling to adjust to the gloom of the room. The windows were grubby and, as they were below street level, allowed little light to enter the gig space.

  In the corner there was a small raised platform where a group of heavily pierced guys were tuning their guitars, the chords pinging through the amps and rising above the steady hum of chatter in the room that was hot and nearly full. God only knew how all the smokers outside were going to fit into the room. The crowd was eclectic. Goths mixed with teenagers in rock band t-shirts. There were punk haircuts, neon outfits, emos and others who, like me, were just a little bit dressed up and looked quite bland compared to the more outlandish outfits.

  A bar ran the length of one wall, but a sign behind it stated that no alcohol would be served at this event, and that anyone found to have smuggled their own in would be thrown out and barred. Despite this, I could see some people topping up their glasses with glass bottles from their bags.

  I spotted Aradia and Gethan sitting on high stools across from where I was standing. Aradia’s hair was brushed down around her shoulders and she looked fantastic. She was in a pair of cargo pants and a plain purple t-shirt, but her frame carried it well. She was wearing four or five lockets looped around her neck, each of which seemed to be some type of occult symbol. Gethan was slouched beside her, wearing a pair of ripped denim jeans and a long sleeved hoodie. They were both laughing at something that the person sitting next to them was saying. On closer inspection it turned out to be Liv. I got a sinking feeling: I hadn’t known that she would be here. Maybe this night wasn’t going to be quite as fun as I’d thought.

  I threaded my way slowly through the mass of bodies towards the table where they were sitting. Aradia smiled in greeting when she saw me while Gethan managed to procure an extra stool from somewhere. Liv was looking at me with a guarded expression in her eyes. What on earth was her problem?

  ‘I’ll go get you a drink,’ said Gethan. ‘What are you having?’

  ‘Just a lemonade, thanks.’ He headed off to the bar.

  ‘When is David on?’ I asked Aradia.

  ‘What?’ she asked. She couldn’t hear me over the loud background noise. I repeated the question, this time shouting it near her ear.

  ‘They’re on third,’ she answered. ‘I know I’m kind of biased, but they are really good. You’ll see.’

  It was a pity that the same couldn’t be said for the first band on the bill. They were a heavy metal band, mainly covering Metallica and Lacuna Coil songs. They played the songs jarringly, their chords were clunky and the three guitarists weren’t playing in sync. It was a relief when they finished their twenty minute set and left the stage. The only cheering came from a group of girls to the left of the stage.

  ‘Just goes to show, you need more than good looks to be in a band’, I observed as Gethan handed me a drink.

  ‘Less talk about good looking guys if you don’t mind, you’ll give me a complex,’ Gethan joked.

  ‘Oh I don’t think you need to worry on that score,’ said Liv, giving him a smouldering look. It was like being out with a more annoying version of Cat. Then I realised why I found her more annoying: she was so much better at flirting than Cat was. With her corn coloured curls and perfect figure, Liv was alluring, Gethan would need to not have a pulse not to be interested. Much as I disliked her, even I could see that. Despite the fact that Gethan was getting an awful lot of admiring looks, Liv was probably the most attractive woman in the room. Cat was so clumsy in her attempts to flirt that she wasn’t much of a threat. Liv, on the other hand, was. Also, Cat would not in a million years look at any Pagan, let alone the one that I had a crush on.

  But none of it mattered anyway, did it? I had a boyfriend and Gethan was free to flirt with whoever he chose.

  The next band was better than the previous act, but that wasn’t saying much. Liv and Aradia got up to go to the bathroom. I didn’t follow them. They were probably going to talk about whether Liv’s chances with Gethan. I’d had many of the same types of conversation with Lindsay, but I just wasn’t up to it tonight. Besides, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to put the right expression on my face.

  ‘Are you enjoying yourself?’ Gethan asked over the music.

  I nodded. ‘What about you?’

  He shrugged. ‘Nothing amazing so far. But there’s a good few bands left to play, and hopefully the music will improve.’

  I had long since abandoned my heavy jacket. The atmosphere in the basement was hot and stuffy. I found it a little stifling, but Gethan was still wearing his long sleeved hoodie. He had to be uncomfortable.

  ‘Are you not too hot in that?’ I asked.

  He pointed to his ear, indicating that he couldn’t hear what I was saying.

  I leaned closer and repeated the question. Again he shook his head.

  I moved closer to him and said close to his ear, ‘are you not too hot in your hoodie?’

  He grinned at me sexily. ‘Why? Do you want me to take it off?’

  Our eyes met and there was a crackle of attraction between us so strong I was surprised it couldn’t be seen across the room. We leaned slightly closely together. I was aware of how hard my heart was beating, and how easy it would be to kiss him right now. I was dimly aware that the band had stopped playing, and the extra heat of Gethan’s body near to mine.

  He put a hand out and took my locket in his hand, his hand brushing the bare skin of my collarbone. He examined it delicately.

  ‘Aradia told me about this,’ he said. ‘I guess this means that we’re now on an even playing field.’

  ‘What?’ I asked.

  He gave me another one of his intense stares. ‘It means you’re one of us now.’

  ‘Cool, it’s almost time for David’s band to play!’ Aradia said as she swung back up onto her stool, breaking the spell. She didn’t seem to notice what she’d just walked in on. Liv on the other hand was looking at me darkly. Any doubts I had that she didn’t like me evaporated in that second. She sat down beside him, gave a coquettish smile and began to monopolise all his attention.

  I was still kind of shaken but was glad to be distracted by David waving at me from the stage. His band played a mix of their own songs mixed with a couple of old sixties and seventies songs that they’d tweaked to have a sharp rock edge. Aradia was right. They were really good. After they completed their set they got a large cheer from the crowd.

  David and his bandmates came down to us afterwards and sat with us for the remainder of the gig. We had a really good time. I found I could enjoy myself if I blocked out Liv’s flirting with Gethan. The music reverberated around the club, pumping so hard through the amps that I could feel the vibrations in my chest.

  Aradia and I had a really good time with David, who was surprisingly witty. I thought that he had a bit of a thing for Aradia. He got a goofy smile on his face every time she spoke, and seemed to find everything she said absolutely fascinating. Aradia was harder to read. She seemed to like him, but probably just as a friend. Or perhaps she was just playing it cool.

  After the last band played, the overhead lights were switched on. The basement room ceased to be cool and atmospheric and instead just looked like a large dingy room. David and his friends went over to pack their instruments in their van. Gethan was giving them a hand and Aradia was talking to a friend from school. Which left Liv and I standing awkwardly together in the middle of the room.

  ‘David’s brand were pretty cool, weren’t they?’ I asked, trying to make conversation.

  She looked at me with a hard expression in her eyes. ‘It won’t work, you know,’ she said, her voice hard and cold.

  ‘What won’t work?’ I asked, confused.

  ‘You, trying to steal Gethan away fro
m me. It won’t work, you’re not his type. And even if you were, darling, Rationalists and Pagans don’t mix.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ I said angrily. ‘What I do and who I see is none of your business. And besides, I have no plan of trying to steal him away from you. I have a boyfriend back in Ireland.’

  ‘Well, it certainly didn’t look like you were thinking about him earlier,’ Liv said acidly. ‘Aradia and I went away for two minutes and when we come back you’re practically sitting on his lap.’ She stared at me, her jaw clenched in anger. I was trying to think up a snappy retort when all of a sudden her face relaxed. She looked more surprised than anything else. She spoke to me again, this time in a surprised almost awestruck tone.

  ‘Where did you get that locket?’

  The change in direction shocked me for a second. I didn’t want to tell her anything about the locket. Possibly because she was a bitch of epic proportions.

  ‘My mother gave it to me,’ I lied. I didn’t offer any more information. I wasn’t a great liar, so when I did have to tell them I kept them as simple as possible. Something in Liv’s expression told me that I hadn’t fully convinced her, but Aradia came back before she said anything else.

  The three of them walked me to the underground station where we could get our respective trains home. Gethan and Liv walked a little way in front of me and Aradia. I whispered to Aradia about how I had lied to Liv, and asked her to keep the true origin of the locket secret. She looked at me like I was crazy.

  ‘Why didn’t you just tell her the truth?’ she asked, puzzled.

  I didn’t want to tell her about the standoff between us back in the Grey Wolf. It would mean having to admit to her that I had a crush on Gethan, and that was a complicated enough story. Especially as it seemed like Aradia was trying to set him up with Liv. So I just shrugged.

  ‘I don’t know. My intuition was telling me not too.’

  ‘I didn’t know Rationalists had intuition,’ Aradia teased.

  ‘Then you learn something new every day,’ I said with a grin.