The Book of Spells (7 page)

“It wasn’t your fault,” Alice said, sitting back to fan her face under the wide brim of her straw hat. “We all wanted to go. I just can’t believe she’s also forbidden us from attending the dance. Isn’t it punishment enough that we’re being forced to weed the gardens and sweep the walks like common servants?”

“I rather enjoy this.” Eliza grabbed a weed at its base, yanked it out, and tossed it into the basket, which was rapidly growing full. “Being out in the sun, getting some exercise.”

“But don’t you care that we’re not going to get to go to the dance? All the other girls will get to talk and dance with the boys,” Alice said, her shoulders curling forward as she gazed longingly toward the woods that separated them from the Easton campus. “We’re going to be at such a disadvantage.”

“It’s not a contest,” Eliza said lightly.

“Not for me at least,” Theresa said. “I’ve already won the most worthy boy.”

Swallowing a groan, Eliza took hold of a large weed with both hands and tore it fiercely from the ground. The sound of male laughter caught the girls’ attention.

“There are some of your conquests now,” Catherine said, nodding in that direction.

Sure enough, off in the distance, Eliza could see Jonathan and
Harrison walking along with Jeff and Christopher, their confident strides a measure of their assured place in the world. Alice scrambled to her knees, soiling the skirt of her pink dress as she angled for a better look. Theresa shielded her eyes and smiled.

“Forget spring. I think we’ll have an autumn wedding,” she mused, her eyes on Harrison. “This would be a beautiful sort of day to exchange vows, don’t you think?”

Eliza took up Theresa’s forgotten spade and drove it into the earth, ignoring the question.

“I rather think not,” Catherine said.

All three girls glanced at Catherine, surprised.

“You said it yourself. It’s too hot,” Catherine continued, looking, for some reason, at Eliza. “Your wedding cake would melt into a puddle of sugar and eggs.”

“In your opinion,” Theresa said, sitting back down on her gardening stool.

“Which, if I’m not mistaken, you asked for,” Catherine replied.

Stifling a laugh, Eliza drove the trowel into the dirt again. It slammed into something hard, making a loud scraping noise that set her teeth on edge.

“What was that?” Alice asked, peering over Eliza’s shoulder.

“Probably a rock,” Eliza replied.

She dug up a few shovelfuls of dirt, expecting to see another of the small, fist-size rocks they’d found so many of during their past hour of gardening. But instead, the surface of whatever she had found just seemed to grow on either side of her shovel. Eliza dug and dug until she’d
uncovered what appeared to be a long wooden box. Some kind of metal band was wrapped around it, clasped with an ornately carved latch.

Eliza stole a quick glance at Helen. The girl was standing now, and Eliza’s heart skipped a nervous beat. She positioned herself so that her back was to the maid, entirely shielding the hole and its contents from view.

“Girls! Don’t look now, but I’ve found something,” Eliza whispered.

Catherine abandoned the carrots and moved closer to Eliza, starting to dig casually just a foot away. Alice and Theresa angled themselves so they could see inside the hole as well.

“What is it?” Alice asked, looking over her shoulder at Helen.

“I don’t know,” Eliza replied. “Who would bury something here?”

“Who cares? Just dig it up,” Theresa ordered.

It was an order Eliza didn’t mind taking. After using her trowel to clear away some more of the dirt, she dug in with her fingers. Finally she was able to pry the box from the ground. The case was about a foot long and flat, only two inches in height. Eliza whipped a handkerchief from the pocket of her apron and dusted the dirt from the grooves and crevices of the carved latch. It was some sort of symbol, with circles swirling together to make an exotic design, but there were no letters or words to identify the owner.

“Let’s see what’s inside!” Alice whispered fervently.

Eliza laid the box on the ground next to the hole and glanced over at Helen again. The girl was walking toward them. Eliza’s heart all but stopped.

“She’s coming,” she whispered, turning around again.

“Oh, Lord,” Theresa said.

“Theresa! Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain!” Alice scolded.

Everyone looked at her, surprised.

“Forgive me, Sister Alice,” Theresa said sarcastically. Then she sat up and called out, “Helen! Would you mind getting us some water? We’re parched, and I’m certain Headmistress Almay wouldn’t appreciate it if we all ended up dehydrated in the infirmary.”

Helen stopped in her tracks. She looked at Crenshaw House, then back at the girls, an almost desperate look on her face. “Of course, Miss Billings,” she said finally. But she cast a furtive look over her shoulder as she went inside, as if her conscience was telling her to stay.

As soon as the door had banged shut behind the maid, Eliza opened the box, her hands shaking with excitement. Inside was a folded piece of dusty, frayed velvet. Quickly Eliza removed her gardening gloves and unfolded the scrap of cloth. Tucked within was a large, perfectly round gold locket. Etched into its face was the same swirling circle design as on the box’s lid.

“A buried treasure!” Alice announced excitedly.

Theresa and Eliza reached for the locket at the same time, but Catherine grabbed Theresa’s hand.

“It’s Eliza’s. She found it,” Catherine said.

Theresa clucked her tongue. “What’s gotten into you today? You’d think
she’d
been your best friend for the past two years.” Eliza half expected Theresa to walk away for a pout, as many girls in Eliza’s and May’s small circle back home would have done, but surprisingly, she stayed put.

Eliza scanned the hillside leading down to the campus lawn.
Helen’s empty chair sat beneath the huge elm. Down the hill, Mrs. Hodge was busy yelling at Bia for eating one of the apples. A hawk swirled overhead. No one was paying the four girls in the garden any heed.

Eagerly, Eliza lifted the necklace and opened the locket. A piece of parchment paper, creased into a tiny square, dropped to the ground. Theresa seized upon it hungrily. She dusted the dirt off the square and unfolded it.

“It’s all in Latin,” she said, frustrated. “Does anyone read Latin?”

“I do.” Catherine reached for the parchment, but stopped. “Wait. There’s something else in the box.”

Eliza looked down. A warm breeze tickled the back of her neck, and even in the heat, she shivered. Sure enough, another piece of parchment peeked out from beneath the velvet covering. She tugged it out and opened it. The other girls leaned in around her shoulders, and Eliza felt the same rush of anticipation she’d had as a child whenever May had proposed a new scheme.

“What is it?” Catherine asked.

Crude illustrations of structures, streets, and bodies of water covered the page. There were also short lines of handwritten text indicating paths to a series of various destinations. Right near the center of the page was a big, dark
X.

“It’s a treasure map,” Eliza said.

The four girls looked at one another, a sizzle of excitement rushing between them.

“Look. This must be Crenshaw,” Theresa said, grabbing the map
out of Eliza’s hands. She pointed at a drawing of a square building at the top of a hill.

Suddenly Eliza wished Theresa had been anywhere but here when she’d found the box. Clearly the girl was going to try to dictate this situation, just as she did all others.

“
X
marks the spot,” Catherine said, pointing to the middle of the page.

Theresa opened her mouth as if to speak.

“I say we follow it. Tonight,” Eliza announced quickly.

Theresa shot her an annoyed look, and it was all Eliza could do to keep from preening. Clearly she’d stolen the words out of Theresa Billings’s mouth.

“But we’re already under probation,” Catherine said, glancing over her shoulder at Crenshaw House, as if she expected Miss Almay to be standing in the doorway.

“But we must,” Eliza said. “Imagine what we might find!”

Theresa’s eyes shone. “It could be gold or diamonds or—”

“I don’t know. What if we get caught?” Alice said fretfully.

“Oh, grow up, Alice. We’re going,” Theresa said, folding up the map. “Besides, Miss Almay can’t forbid you from the dance
again.
”

Just then, the front door to Crenshaw House slammed, and out walked Helen with a tray of water glasses, the ice cubes clinking together loudly in the stillness of the afternoon.

“Hide it!” Theresa instructed, lifting up Alice’s wide skirt. Eliza stuffed the locket and map back into the box and shoved the whole thing toward Alice’s feet. Alice dropped her skirts down to cover the
box, then sat on her gardening stool again and grabbed her trowel. Catherine, meanwhile, folded the small parchment inside her fist.

“If you two won’t go, Eliza and I will go without you,” Theresa hissed.

Eliza clenched her jaw at Theresa taking charge once again—and so offhandedly ostracizing not only Alice but also Catherine.

“No. We were all here when we found it. Either all four of us go or none of us go,” Eliza said. Helen was only fifty feet away now.

Theresa scowled, but Catherine seemed moved. “All right. If it means so much to you two, I’ll go.”

Alice let out a whimper, bouncing her knees up and down as she looked from Helen to Eliza and back again.

“Your water, girls,” Helen announced, standing on her toes as she called to the girls. “I don’t believe Miss Almay would object to you all taking a slight break.”

“We’ll be right there,” Theresa yelled back.

“Alice! It’s to you,” Eliza whispered.

“All right, fine. But only because you mentioned diamonds,” Alice said.

“We meet at midnight underneath the old elm,” Theresa said, nodding toward the tree under which Helen was now placing the tray. “Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Eliza said, placing her hand in the center of their circle. Catherine immediately clasped it, and Theresa did the same.

Reluctantly, Alice reached up from her seated position and placed her hand atop the others. “Agreed,” she repeated.

That night Eliza and Catherine were silent as they dressed for the treasure hunt. Eliza donned her drabbest dress—a black, shapeless, long-sleeved frock her mother had bought her for her elderly neighbor’s funeral—and her fingers quaked as she fastened the buttons. Somehow she managed to clasp the gold locket around her neck, but not before dropping it four times.

Get a hold of yourself, Eliza. This is exactly the type of adventure you crave,
she told herself.

A sudden rap on the door startled her out of her wits, and Catherine actually yelped. They looked at each other and then laughed.

“I suppose I’m a bit on edge,” Catherine said, blushing.

“As am I,” Eliza admitted. “Come in!”

Helen opened the door, holding a package wrapped in plain brown paper. “This came for you, Miss Williams,” she said.

“For me?” Eliza asked with surprise as she accepted the package. She could tell by its weight that it was a book.

“Who’s it from?” Catherine asked, tilting her head to see the package.

“It doesn’t say,” Eliza replied. “But if it’s a book, it’s probably from my father.”

Helen hovered in the door, eyeing Eliza’s and Catherine’s dark dresses with suspicion. Eliza’s heart gave an extra thump. “Thank you, Helen,” she said firmly.

Helen flinched, then quickly curtsied. “You’re welcome, miss.” Then she was gone.

“You don’t think she’ll tell Miss Almay we were dressed this way at this hour, do you?” Catherine asked.

“Your friend Theresa seems to trust her,” Eliza said as she sat on her bed. “Isn’t that enough?”

“You don’t like Theresa much, do you?” Catherine asked. There was no trace of an accusation in her tone. She simply sounded curious. “Not that I’m surprised, considering.”

“Considering what?” Eliza asked, tearing the brown paper from the book.

Catherine hesitated. “Nothing. Just . . . nothing.”

“Oh my goodness!” Eliza exclaimed. All thoughts of Theresa Billings vanished from her mind the second her eyes landed on the book’s title. “
A Tale of Two Cities
! I took this book out of the library last year, but my mother found it and made me return it. She said the contents were far too scandalous for a young girl.”

“Oh, it’s an incredible story,” Catherine said, “I like your father already.”

Then Eliza noticed something odd. The book, it appeared, was used. The corners were frayed, and one of the pages near the front had been bent down. It looked as if it had been read several times over. But it was not at all like her father to buy her a used book. She opened the cover to see if he had enclosed a note, and her heart stopped, for the bookplate secured inside the cover read
PROPERTY OF HARRISON B. KNOX.

Instantly, Eliza tilted the book so that Catherine would be able to see only the cover. She turned the page and once again, her heart caught. Harrison had written her a message near the top left corner of the cover page.

My favorite tragedy lover,
thought Eliza.
He used the word
my.
He implied that I am his! Harrison touched this book. He read these very pages.

Eliza was nearly breathless with bliss. She could think of no gesture more romantic. Then, suddenly, she felt foolish. Harrison was in love with Theresa; they were engaged to be married. He couldn’t have realized what this book would mean to Eliza. He was probably just passing along a favorite story to another book lover.

“What is it, Eliza? You look positively feverish,” Catherine said, rushing to her friend’s side.

“It’s nothing,” Eliza said, slamming the book closed. “Just a note inside from my father.”

Catherine nibbled on her pinky finger for a moment, looking as if she was on the verge of saying something. Then she turned away and grabbed her black felt hat.