Quinn gave her an overlong look before the bell suddenly broke the silence. ‘Second bell,’ he said. ‘Better run. Anyway, look out for yourselves, both of you,’ he said as he broke into a run down the corridor. Niamh ran quickly in the other direction barely making it to class before the peels of the second bell had died away.
As lunchtime approached Niamh felt herself getting more and more nervous. What was about to happen? She could barely focus on her classwork and was told off a number of times by Emmy for not concentrating. She had to get to Grady quickly as soon as lunchtime started, to tell him to watch out.
But when lunchtime came Niamh had no chance to catch him. Despite not being particularly good at magic Grady still seemed to join in on games as often as he could. Before she could give him his warning he had raced off with Hugh and Tulliah to join in some odd bug hunt where they tried to capture butterflies using little bubble spells cast from their wands. Grady was, in his own words, useless, but it never seemed to stop him trying. Niamh tried to keep an eye on him during the lunch hour but it seemed to be a lost cause. Every time she was about to catch him he would disappear around another corner. As the lunchtime wore on Niamh became less worried something was about to happen. There were no gangs stalking them, no dark corners which seemed to hold scary shadowy groups of students. It seemed like Quinn might have been just a little overcautious in his warning – until the first bell rang and everyone started to head back to classes.
Niamh nervously scanned the grounds for signs of her brother but she could not see him anywhere. Hugh suddenly appeared from around a corner and Niamh caught him as he ran past. ‘Where’s Grady? Wasn’t he just with you?’
‘Yeah, but I don’t know where he is now,’ said Hugh in his usual nasty little tone.
‘Don’t be so rude, you nasty little toad,’ said Niamh, with her hands on her hips. ‘Where is he!’
‘Find him yourself,’ said Hugh, running away from Niamh and back up the stairs into the school. Niamh was starting to get really worried when she heard the sound of mean laughter coming from the slope below the western wing of the school. Breaking into a run she saw a group of older boys standing around in a circle with wands out. The glow of magic surrounding the group was visible to Niamh and spelled trouble.
‘Hey!’ she yelled out. ‘What are you lot doing?’
The group turned as one and regarded Niamh with mean little smirks. Niamh recognised them as being in the next year up from her class.
‘Well, well, Princess,’ said the biggest and dumbest-looking of the gang. ‘Come to rescue your brother, have you?’ The other boys in the group broke up their circle and turned to face Niamh. Suddenly she felt very alone and reached for her wand. ‘Oooohhhh. Looks like she wants to take you on, Reg,’ said another of the gang, stepping up to face Niamh.
‘Yes, she does, doesn’t she?’ said Reg with a swaggering tone.
‘I’d watch out if I were you, Reg,’ said a third thuggish-looking square-jawed, heavy eyebrowed brute.
Reg turned to look at him, saying, ‘I think she could take you out anytime, Gunther, you little wimp,’ which caused the rest of the group to break out laughing.
As the group parted and formed up around Reg, Niamh saw behind them that Grady had been bound to a broomstick which was hovering just off the ground. The frightened look on his face said everything Niamh needed to know about the older boys’ intentions. He tried to say something to Niamh but even though she could see his mouth move there was not a sound coming out.
‘What have you done to him?’ said Niamh, trying to make her voice sound confident.
‘Nothing at all, Princess – yet,’ said Reg, smirking.
‘Let him go, you bullies, or you’ll ... I’ll ...’
‘You’ll what?’ said Reg, stepping forward menacingly. ‘Reckon you can get him off there yourself? Well if you want to rescue him why don’t you try and take him then, Princess!’ Turning back to the rest of the group Reg said, ‘Come on lads. Let’s have some fun!’
With a flick of their wands Grady’s broom suddenly shot off across the grounds and raced in between the trees which dotted the slope. Grady was clearly unable to do anything to stop the broomstick himself and rocked from side to side as it weaved around the grounds.
‘Stop it!’ screamed Niamh as she raced forward, wand outstretched, but unable to do anything to stop Grady’s broomstick. She struggled to find the link to the magic which had come so easily on other occasions but now, like grasping at water from the pond back at Avalon’s End, the power trickled away from her.
‘Come on, Princess!’ laughed Reg. ‘Is that the best you can do?’
His piggish face and mocking laughter made anger boil inside Niamh. The scowl she shot back at Reg made him blink and step back, the smirk interrupted as the malice emanating from Niamh struck him like a solid wave. The moment was broken as a sudden cry pierced the air. ‘Heeellppppp!’ screamed Grady, the anguish and terror in his voice plain for all to hear.
Turning her head towards the howl, Niamh saw Grady’s broomstick racing out of control towards the side of the school. ‘Grady! Nooo!’ shouted Niamh. Forgetting her tormentors she ran towards the rapidly accelerating Grady. As she raced forward she flung her wand out towards her terrified brother. The laughter of the rest of the gang behind her suddenly faded and Niamh felt a sudden wind tearing around her face. Power surged down her arm and exploded from the tip of her wand sending a bolt of purple light at Grady who was now just feet from the wall of the school. Just when it seemed he would plaster himself all over the side of the wall, the bolt hit its target casting a bubble around the boy and broom as they collided with the building. Grady stopped dead as if he had actually hit the wall, but miraculously was unharmed. He bounced around the inside of the glowing bubble and eventually found himself suspended upside down, looking out at Niamh.
Behind Niamh, Reg’s gang started to laugh even harder as they saw what had happened to their quarry – all except Reg who realised he was probably in trouble. The laughter of the boys made Niamh snap her head round and cast another of those looks at the group. Without thinking she flung her hand towards Grady, palm open, while she whipped her wand back at the group. She could still feel the wind raging around her and through whirling strands of hair she looked at the group knowing they could not hurt her.
To the rest of the gang, Niamh still looked like just another smaller child to bully. They could not see the wind raging or the power emanating from her. While they may have been part of Reg’s gang they were certainly not the brains, and only Reg sensed their danger.
‘It was just a bit of fun!’ said Reg, backing away.
‘Fun!’ shouted Niamh. ‘FUN!!’ With a flick of her wand and a howl of anger another purple bolt shot from the end of the wand. This time though it did not create a safe bubble but smashed the members of the gang into a tight group and lifted them off the ground. ‘Who do you think you are!!’ shouted Niamh as she stomped towards the group. With a roar Niamh whipped her wand towards the school walls. The group of now terrified children shot up into the air and thumped into the side of the school, knocking loose brickwork with a sound like wet fish being slapped against the ground.
‘Niamh O’Connell! Put those students down NOW!’ boomed a voice across the grounds.
Looking over her shoulder Niamh suddenly realised Ms Maladicta was striding towards her with a look on her face that would have melted steel. Glancing up at the gang pinned against the wall of the school, Niamh realised all the windows around the building were filled with students watching the fight – all of them open-mouthed at what had happened. She felt no great urge to put the gang down lightly though and so, still in complete control of the raging magic around her, she reluctantly released the spell from the group.
As the bubble winked out from around them the four boys plummeted to the ground and landed in a heap on top of each other at the bottom of the wall. If Ms Maladicta had not cast a cushioning spell underneat
h them they would all have ended up with broken bones, though Niamh thought they deserved a whole lot worse than that.
‘WHAT do you think you are doing, young lady!’ said Ms Maladicta, drawing herself up to full height in front of Niamh.
‘They were trying to hurt Grady, Miss,’ said Niamh apologetically. ‘They were going to smash him into the wall of the school! I had to do something!’
‘Well, your brother looks perfectly fine to me now, so all’s well, but don’t you think you should let him down – and a little bit more gently than what you did to those boys?’
Looking back at her brother Niamh realised Grady was still hanging upside down and going red in the face. ‘Oh Grady! I’m sorry!’ said Niamh, dropping her outstretched hand back to her side. As she did so the bubble slowly revolved, turning Grady the right way up and lowering him feet first to the ground before winking out with a little flash of violet light. Grady slumped to the ground – the ordeal had clearly taken its toll on him. Niamh ran over to him to make sure he was all right. Ms Maladicta was not far behind. As Niamh ran to her brother she saw him suddenly raise his wand and shout, ‘Duck!’ Niamh dropped to the ground and looked behind her. Gunther had drawn his wand and was poised to cast a spell at her back. ‘No you don’t, you coward!’ yelled Grady. A flash of fiery red light exploded from the tip of Grady’s wand. Before Gunther could move, the bolt from Grady split into four streaks of light and thumped into each of the gang members. True to form with Grady though, the spell hit each boy’s bottom, burning off a patch at the back of their pants, exposing their underwear and then slowly burning its way down each of their legs. The gang leapt up as the magic flames ate slowly away at their clothing. No end of beating at the flames with their hands could make the flames go out and so they ran at pace down across the grounds leaving a smoky trail behind them before leaping into the river to finally put out the fire.
Niamh and Grady looked up at the sound of laughter. All of the windows on this side of the building were open and filled with students shrieking at what they had just seen. Some of the children were applauding and pumping the air with glee. Clearly the gang was not well-liked. Breaking into laughter themselves Niamh helped Grady back to his feet and dusted him off. If it weren’t for the fact that, in Grady’s world, boys don’t hug their older sisters in front of others, he would have given his sister a huge bear hug. He settled instead for a ‘Thanks, Niamh’ and a smile.
Niamh knew that was about as good as she would get right now and the hugs would be saved for later. ‘You’re welcome, Grady. And thank you too.’
‘No problem,’ said Grady with a grin.
‘I hope you two don’t think a thank you and a smile will be enough to get you off this one!’ said Ms Maladicta, snapping them back to reality. ‘I want both of you in my study now and you’ll wait there till your parents turn up.’ As the witch stomped away from the children they saw her whip out her iWand. A moment later they glimpsed their mother’s face pop up above the tip of the wand. Just before Ms Maladicta disappeared around the corner they could see her starting to gesticulate wildly – she obviously was NOT very happy. Before they could see the reaction of their mother’s face, both iWand and witch disappeared around the corner.
‘Come on Grady,’ said Niamh. ‘Looks like we’re in enough trouble as it is. Better not be slow getting to the office.’ Breaking into a trot the children ran to catch up to the principal.
‘Niamh,’ said Grady.
‘What?’ asked Niamh.
‘Can you feel it too?’ Grady asked.
Niamh knew exactly what Grady meant. ‘Yep,’ she said, staring straight ahead. ‘It’s weird, isn’t it?’
Grady held up one of his hands, flipping it from back to front. ‘It almost feels like my hands should be glowing. The magic just keeps making them tingle.’
Niamh didn’t know how she was going to explain this to her mum, but she did know one thing. Since teaching that gang a lesson, she didn’t feel like she was trying to grasp water any more when it came to touching magic. Now, she could feel it everywhere. Whatever the barriers had been – they were gone!
Chapter 17
Detentions and Danger
The entrance to Ms Maladicta’s office was much smaller than Niamh and Grady had expected. The big oak doors that flanked the entrance spoke of a huge chamber inside but instead there was only a small waiting room. There was enough space for four chairs along the curved panelled wall which backed onto the corridor, a desk and several cabinets for Ms Maladicta’s severe-looking secretary (Ms Vole), and a small sofa which ran lengthways down the right-hand wall which ended in the floor to ceiling windows looking out over the main courtyard, fields, and down to the river. The office was in one of the highest parts of the school, up in the turret which sat atop the main building like some enormous control tower.
Niamh and Grady had been told to sit and wait while their parents were ushered into Ms Maladicta’s office. Merritt and Grace had given the children a scolding look as they arrived which was quickly followed with words to match – ‘Thoughtless,’ said their mother, ‘Dangerous,’ said their father – but Niamh couldn’t help but smile when she caught a wink from her dad as Ms Maladicta ranted at the children before stomping off into her office. While the parents were lectured by the principal, Niamh and Grady sat on their hands in the waiting room, dangling their feet and wondering how much trouble they were going to be in this time.
Niamh had calmed down from the emotional high that came from the fight. Her amazement at using magic the way she had (and still could feel!) was being replaced by the annoyance she felt at her brother for getting her into trouble – again.
‘We wouldn’t be here, Grady, if you hadn’t set fire to their pants, you know,’ said Niamh.
‘Well I wouldn’t have had to set fire to their pants if you hadn’t dropped them the way you did from the wall, Niamh,’ Grady shot back at her. Grady was a positive expert at apportioning blame to his sister when half the time the blame sat squarely with him.
‘Well if YOU hadn’t got yourself caught by them in the first place, Grady, none of this would have happened,’ snapped Niamh in reply.
‘Well if YOU hadn’t ...’ but Grady didn’t get to finish his reply as Ms Vole cut in.
‘That will be quite enough from both of you!’ she barked. And it did seem like a bark, as if a dog or creature had been trapped in a human body. Now that Grady had time to look at her he did wonder about the overly long incisors that gleamed a little too brightly from her wide fish-like mouth.
Both the children sat back on their chairs and glared at each other. Niamh cast a grumpy glance at Ms Vole, but it was met with an equally steely glare in return. It occurred to Niamh that if you crossed a troll with a human you’d probably get something which looked like Ms Vole. She had a jaw on which you could crack walnuts and a smile that looked like concrete breaking. Coming to the principal’s office was bad enough, but having to deal with Ms Vole was worse!
Before she could give another thought to the troll, the iWand perched in its pod on the secretary’s desk flickered into life and Ms Maladicta’s head appeared just above its tip.
‘Alright you two,’ said the bodiless apparition. ‘Let’s have you in here, please.’
With a flash of light the head disappeared back into the iWand and Ms Vole smiled at the children without a hint of humour. ‘Off you go,’ she said happily. With a flick of her wand the door to the principal’s office swung silently inwards. The children hopped up and sheepishly entered the room beyond.
The room was dominated by the glass walls and the views they formed beyond. Ms Maladicta’s desk sat towards the wall directly opposite the doors by which the children entered. It had been arranged so that whoever entered the room had a good long way to walk and think about why they had been called there in the first place – a nice way to get the upper hand on visitors, thought Niamh. The desk itself was only barely visible. It shimmered slightly but was almost tr
ansparent. Niamh realised, however, that even though she could apparently see through the desk she couldn’t see the bottom half of the principal behind it.
Around the wall were a number of statues like those down in the corridors in the school and as the children walked towards the principal they realised the statues were turning to watch them. In front of the desk were two large high-backed chairs covered in red velvet and fringed with gold.
As the children entered, their parents rose from the chairs and turned to face them with the look of people who have just been browbeaten by a master for the last half hour. Ms Maladicta sat behind her desk with a smug look of satisfaction on her face.
‘I’m reliably informed by Dr Fungus that Reg and his gang haven’t the slightest bit of damage to their bottoms despite the burns, and I’m also informed by Mr Mason the groundskeeper that there’s been no real damage to the walls from the children being slammed into it at a great height. A bit of mortar and the damaged gargoyles will be as good as new.’ The principal steepled her hands in front of her as she leaned forward, staring at the children over the top of her spectacles with a look Grady thought would burn right through him. ‘However,’ she went on; ‘the head of the Gargoyle Protection League has, and I quote “hah a huthul hof hish hubbish” which I think means he’s not terribly happy at another of his gargoyles being knocked off the buildings. You see, it’s been a bit of a sport for some of the less well-behaved children to take potshots at the gargoyles around the school, and the repair bill has been a bit over the top.’ Niamh and Grady looked at each other as if trying to figure out what the old bat was on about.
‘We’re sorry, Ms Maladicta,’ said Niamh. ‘But I was only trying to help Grady – those boys were really trying to hurt him!’
‘Hmmmm. Yes, well, that was something in your defence,’ said Ms Maladicta. ‘And I can see how using your magic to stop your brother getting injured was really quite justified. That bubble spell was actually quite clever. Do you know how you did it?’
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