Eternal (23 page)

“Have you quarreled? Oh, Sarah, don’t, please don’t!”

I was surprised by her distress and tried to shrug the whole thing off. “People do quarrel sometimes,” I said. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“It could be the end of our world! Everyone who has come into contact with the Mystic Way has some part to play. It’s al for a purpose. We al fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw. Everything is connected. Lose one part of it and we could al be lost.” She tried to calm down and control herself. “We need Cal. You need Cal.”

Need. That word again.

“I can look after myself. I don’t need a guy to lean on. I don’t need Cal.”

“Haven’t you ever seen a rose growing on the side of a house? Accepting support isn’t a sign of weakness. It makes you stronger.” Helen sighed deeply. “If I had someone—anyone—I wouldn’t waste a second of it in anger.”

I didn’t know what to say, but I knew she was right.

“Sarah, I’ve lived my life in a kind of dream,” Helen continued. “Even here and now, talking to you isn’t as real as things that I see in my mind.” She rubbed her head as if in pain. “Sometimes I real y do think I am going mad and that I can’t carry on. I don’t know if I can get to the end of al this. I just have to believe that I wil , and that I’l find what I am searching for. Evie and Sebastian—they were doomed from the start. But I know that Cal is real. What he feels for you is real. And if I had that, I’d hold on to it like—

like a stone. A stone in my pocket that would always remind me of what is real and true and eternal.”

“Oh, Helen, I feel so—”

I never got to finish what I was going to say. A crowd of giggling girls burst into the room.

“My God, did you see her? She was in such a state!”

“She doesn’t look so hot now, does she? I reckon that photo wil be in al the papers tomorrow.”

“And after al that showing off about being such a bril iant rider!”

I went over to them. “What’s happened? What’s the big joke?”

“Oh hi, Sarah,” said Marion Chase, who’d always been friendly with Celeste. “It’s Velvet Romaine. She’s landed herself in big trouble and made a complete fool of herself and got her picture taken by one of those photographers stil hanging around in the vil age.”

“What did she do?” asked Helen.

“Only gone and stolen Miss Scratton’s horse and taken it out on the moors,” Marion sniggered. “But she managed to get herself lost up by the peat bogs and has come back to school half-dead and covered in mud and the horse is practical y lamed.”

“And Velvet thought she was going to look so cool!”

Marion’s friends laughed. “She real y wil be expel ed now.

She never properly fitted in here, did she?” Their spiteful faces sickened me. They had been so keen to suck up to Velvet when she had first arrived, and now they were crowing over her downfal . And they were supposed to be ladies. What had happened to the ideals of selflessness and honor and loyalty?

“She’s a Wyldcliffe girl,” I said coldly, “so we should be sticking up for her, not laughing at her because she made a mistake. Come on, Helen.”

We left them staring at us openmouthed. I knew they would turn their venom on me as soon as we were out of sight, but I didn’t care.

“I need to get hold of Velvet,” I said, as we marched down the corridor. Although I had said that about sticking together, I was actual y furious with her. I knew from my father’s work that even a slight injury to a horse’s leg could lead to it being crippled. And in that case it would be shot rather than left to live a life of pain. “She’l be okay, but if she’s hurt that horse . . .” I found myself blinking back tears, remembering how Miss Scratton had summoned the beautiful white mare to carry the body of Mrs. Hartle from the hil top battle. How at that moment we had turned to Miss Scratton as our friend and our rock. How al that had been a lie. Somehow, in my jumble of emotions, Seraph stood for everything that had been free and good and innocent, before the world grew so dark.

We crossed the entrance hal . Girls were hanging about there, waiting for the bel , and I caught snatches of their conversation. “. . . so selfish, that poor horse . . . stupid, real y . . . I hope they do chuck her out. . . .” It seemed as though the whole school was talking about Velvet. We raced up the stairs to the dorms.

“Please do not run on the stairs!” Miss Clarke, the Latin mistress, reproved me as I reached the second floor. “Ah, it’s you, Sarah. As you were not in class this afternoon, I want you to come and see me after supper to col ect the work we did.”

“Yes—of course—sorry.”

I forced myself to walk sedately the rest of the way.

When we reached the dorm, Velvet was lying huddled on her bed. Her clothes were filthy, and she had a long scratch down one cheek. Ruby was hovering next to her.

“We want to talk to Velvet,” I said. “Can you leave us for a bit, Ruby?”

Ruby must have seen how angry I was, as she scuttled out of the room without another word.

“You can break your neck for al I care,” I said. “But don’t go hurting innocent animals. You had no right at al to take that horse out. It was total y selfish and irresponsible.”

Velvet pretended to yawn in mock boredom. “Oh, enough with the lecture already, Sarah. Don’t be such a pain. I swear Seraph is okay. It’s just some cuts and bruises. Josh checked her over and said it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Of course, according to Celeste’s dumb friends, I practical y kil ed the stupid animal on purpose.”

I was relieved by the news of Seraph, but I hadn’t finished with Velvet. “And what were you doing next to Helen when she had her accident?” I went on. “Did you push her—or make her fal ?”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Velvet replied, sitting up and starting to brush the mud from her riding trousers. “I told you before, you and I have nothing to say to each other.”

“Oh, I think we do,” I said. “We know about the fire at your last school. We know more than you think.”

“So you know that I wanted Gina to end up scarred for life? That I wanted my boyfriend dead, and my little sister smashed up in that car? I suppose you read in some scumbag newspaper that I was jealous of Jasmine and wanted her out of the way and neatly arranged it al ? It’s not actual y that easy to stage a car crash, if you hadn’t noticed. God, it makes me sick that people believe that crap. You know nothing about me—nothing!”

“I know that it makes me sick when people lie to me, and hurt my friends,” I replied. “How did Helen fal ? Tel me!”

“How would I know? Ask her.” Velvet threw a glance at Helen, who was standing to one side. “Face it, Sarah, it was nothing to do with me. Helen tried to chuck herself out of the window, didn’t she? Everyone says she’s nuts. You can’t blame me for that.” She burst into a noisy storm of tears. “They try to blame me for everything. But I can’t help it . . . I can’t control it . . .” Then she shook herself angrily.

“Why are you asking me al this stuff anyway?” she demanded. “What do you real y know?”

I hesitated. Part of me wanted to tel Velvet everything, to warn her that she was a Touchstone. I wanted to help her if we could, but I didn’t think she would listen. She was too angry and bitter for that. It wasn’t help that she wanted; it was to lash out at the world that had hurt her, and to hurt it back in return. She was watching me intently, like a cat.

“Does it happen to you too?” she whispered. “Do you have any . . . powers?”

“We’re al powerful, aren’t we?” I replied evasively. “Just being young is powerful.”

“No, I mean special stuff. Not like my dad’s stage shows, al that voodoo and hocus-pocus black magic. Dad loves it, but I know it’s only an act, even though he claims to be descended from a witch who was hanged God knows how long ago. That’s just al show business. But I do think there is some kind of force out there, control ing things, making things happen. Weird things. Wouldn’t you like to know more about that?” The expression in her eyes was wolfishly hungry, and I knew then where I’d seen that expression before—in Harriet’s tormented eyes when she had been possessed by Celia Hartle’s dark spirit. Velvet radiated the same despair and greed, but even then I wanted to believe that it wasn’t too late for her. If there was any way we could help Velvet, and stop her blundering further onto a path of darkness, it would be worth the risk.

“We do know some things,” I said, lowering my voice.

“Helen was the first to get in touch with her powers.”

“Tel me!” Velvet grabbed my arm. “What can you do?”

I looked at Helen for guidance. She looked calmly at Velvet and said, “We are only servants. The powers are only to be used for the common good.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“It’s not about fun,” I said to Velvet.

“What do you do? Where do you meet? Is that why you sneak out at night? I’ve been watching you, and reading up about stuff. You need four corners in a Circle, don’t you?

So it was you and Evie and Helen—who was the fourth? Is it one of the teachers?”

I felt uneasy. Velvet’s guesses were too close for comfort. How long had she been spying on us to find al this out?

“Our secret sister is Lady Agnes,” Helen said.

“The dead girl in the old painting? No kidding? You’re not winding me up?”

Helen shrugged. “I never lie. The truth is more powerful than any lie.”

But I wasn’t sure that Helen had been right to tel Velvet about Agnes. It seemed to me that Velvet was interested in power and excitement and mastery over the people around her, not healing or wisdom. I couldn’t trust her—not yet. “Look, Velvet, forget we said anything. Just try to stay out of trouble, and we’l take care of the rest. Then maybe we can talk later.” I tried to walk away, but she hung on to my am.

“You can’t leave it like that! You have to tel me! I want to be part of it. I want to have powers and control things, make stuff happen.” Her expression darkened. “I want to get revenge. You can help me to do it.”

“Let go—”

“But you need me now! I know you’re up to something, and I want to be in on it. Life sucks, but at least this is interesting. Let me in, Sarah. Evie’s gone and she’s not coming back. I could take her place.”

I stared at Velvet, shocked. “What do you know about Evie? What do you mean, she’s not coming back?”

“I know enough not to believe that story about her rushing off to see her dad. Don’t you want to know where I got to on my ride? I think you’l want to hear what real y happened.”

“Okay, tel us. But hurry up!”

Velvet let go of my arm and stretched out on her bed, taking her time, completely at ease now. “I skipped class this morning and went straight down to the stables. Josh was working there, so I sneaked into that kitchen garden near the yard and waited until he had gone off for five minutes. There was no one else around, so it was easy to saddle Seraph and lead her through the practice paddock and down to the school gates. I thought stealing the High Mistress’s horse might be bad enough to get me expel ed, and at least I would have some fun doing it.

“The only person I saw was the gardener. ‘Where you off to, miss?’ he asked. I said I’d got permission to exercise Miss Scratton’s mare for her, and he believed me. It was gorgeous weather, and I was looking forward to a real gal op over the moors—you were right about one thing, Sarah, Jupiter hates the rough ground and is no fun to ride round here. I could tel that Seraph was a marvelous horse, and even though she was a bit big for me, I knew I could handle her.”

“So where did you go?” I asked.

“I didn’t real y have any plan, so I just thought I would stick to the main track that led away from the school. It was signposted Beacon Hil —do you know it?”

“That’s the old hil top fort,” Helen said. “There’s nothing left of the fort now. The hil was a kind of temple in ancient times.”

“Wel , I think I must have reached it, because I’d climbed higher and higher until there were the most amazing views.

Real y you could see for miles, and I started to think that Wyldcliffe wouldn’t be such a bad place if you could just ride and think and be free like that. There was something kind of peaceful up there . . . anyway, I was enjoying myself. I laughed to think of the rest of you stuck in class back at school, and I was wondering what you’d say when you found out what I had done. Then I thought I should get something to prove it to everyone. I began to wonder if I could ride over to the boys’ school, St. Martin’s or whatever it’s cal ed, and sneak in and talk to some of the students, get one of their phone numbers or something as a kind of trophy. I’d even managed to telephone one of the paparazzi guys before I’d set off and told him to get over to the vil age later if he wanted a photo of me cutting school. I know it’s tacky, but everyone does it—how do you think the paparazzi know where to hang out to get the pictures for the magazines?”

“I don’t know and I don’t real y care,” I said. “What happened then? How did you get Seraph into such a mess?”

“I’m trying to tel you. I didn’t do it on purpose. Anyway, I set off again in the direction that I thought would take me to St. Martin’s, but that’s when everything changed.

Something weird happened.” She hesitated. “I swear this is true, even though it sounds mad. The light kind of changed. Shimmered. I don’t know how to describe it. As though al the color was being sucked out of everything. I heard a woman’s voice singing from far away. It made me want to run straight to whoever was cal ing out like that.

Seraph began to sidestep and toss her head up and down; then she reared up and shot off as though she was a racehorse in the direction of the voice.

“Al I could think about was clinging on and not fal ing off.

I didn’t know where we were heading or how to stop Seraph. She seemed to have supernatural strength, and my arms were aching with trying to hold her back. I was worried that we might be near the bogs on the far side of the moors, because I’d heard stories of people getting lost there and never coming back. We must have been near them already, because the ground started to get soft and marshy and Seraph kept plunging into pools and splashing mud everywhere. I just closed my eyes and hung on.