The Demon Notebook (13 page)

She got no reply, so she pulled two pencils out of her case and snapped each of them in two, making sure that one of the broken pieces was much smaller than the others. Closing her fingers around the pieces, she jumbled them behind her back, then held out her fist to the others. Rachel reached out to pick one.

“Wait!” Adie hissed. “Let's do it tomorrow. Please? Right before we've got to go out there. I can't do it otherwise. I can't get through a whole day if I know I have to go out there.”

“Fair enough.” Grace nodded. “That's probably best, anyway. Throw whoever it is in the deep end. That way they won't have time to get scared.”

They carried on with their detention essays, glad of the temporary reprieve, and tried their best not to think about Wednesday night.

“What does Ms. Lemon have us doing after school today?” Jenny asked.

“Picking herbs and weeds, she said,” replied Rachel.

“Think I prefer Mrs. Quinlan's way of doing things.”

“Doing all that stuff herself, you mean?”

“Yeah, and we just wait for the red scarf,” said Jenny.

“I don't mind,” whispered Grace. “It'll take our minds off…”

She stopped and sighed heavily in apology for bringing their minds back to the task ahead.

“I'd prefer to be at home watching TV,” Jenny muttered.

The fresh evening air lifted their spirits more than they had expected. It felt like they were on a field trip, strolling through the woods near the school, scrounging for weeds and mushrooms on the damp, muddy ground. They competed against each other, racing to find a herb or wildflower described in Ms. Lemon's encyclopedia, then protesting loudly when their teacher shook her head, smiling, and explained why it was the wrong species. In all the time they'd spent in and around the school, they had no idea the area was home to so many different plants and animals. Each tree was like a little ecosystem sheltering dozens of weeds, fungi, and tiny life-forms.

“Ugh!” exclaimed Rachel, pointing to a collection of orange blobs growing out of the bark of a tall willow. “They look like little aliens, sucking the life out of the tree.”

“Very well spotted, Rachel,” Ms. Lemon applauded. “
Dimerella
lutea
. And it's on our list.”

Rachel nodded solemnly.

“I thought so,” she lied.

“You're doing great, girls! Just one ingredient left—
Pertusaria
hymenea
. It looks a little like a gray-white splash of paint on a tree, with tiny dark discs sitting on top. Yell when you see it.”

The girls scrambled around the woods, giggling and squealing as they pushed each other out of the way to win the final round.

“Got it!” Adie yelled.

The others groaned in defeat as she jumped up and down, pointing upward at the pale-colored lichen stuck fast to the trunk of a horse chestnut tree.

“You've got eagle eyes, Adie,” Ms. Lemon said with a smile. “Ah, now that's up a little high. Someone will have to do a little climbing.”

“I'm on it,” chirped Jenny, already gripping the bark with her fingertips and securing one foot in a knot.

“Take it easy,” her teacher urged. “Don't rush now.”

Pieces of scraped-off bark fell to the ground as Jenny, her tongue stuck out one side of her mouth in concentration, steadily edged upward. Ms. Lemon's brow furrowed as she looked at the girl's unsuitable school shoes. She opened her mouth—and Jenny slipped.

The others gasped, racing forward as Jenny slipped again. Her mouth opened in a scream as she toppled in slow motion out of the tree and toward the ground.

Only, she never hit the ground.

Instead the girls watched, stunned, as Jenny floated horizontally, her eyes squeezed shut, about hip-height off the weed-covered soil. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

“Whooaa!” she shrieked, punching the air. “Awesome!”

Grinning widely, Jenny craned her neck to look at the others. Grace circled her friend slowly, waving her hands above her and below her, as she'd seen magicians do to show there were no strings attached. Nope, no strings. It was spell number two, all right.

“Are you stuck?” she said. “I mean, can you move around?”

“Think so,” said Jenny. “Watch this!”

“Maybe you should—” Ms. Lemon started before a loud whoop of joy cut her off.

Jenny threw her head back, sending herself into a backward somersault, flying higher and higher into the air. The others cheered and clapped, then tried to get themselves airborne. Grace and Adie held hands as they tentatively rose a few inches off the ground and hovered unsteadily, smiling with glee. Rachel, not to be outdone by Jenny, bent her knees, ignoring the pain that still shot through her right leg, and jumped as high as she could, soaring into the air at full speed. Leaves and small twigs brushed her face as she swept upward into the sky.

“Rachel!” Ms. Lemon shouted. “Get back down here this
instant
!”

“It's just spell number two, Miss,” Adie said. “The one where we can fly!”

“I got that much, Adie, thank you,” said the teacher, “but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous.”

She gave them all stern looks as Rachel and Jenny swooped down to join Adie and Grace in hovering just off the woodland floor.

“I realize this seems like just a little fun,” said Ms. Lemon carefully, “but you have no idea how long the spell will last. It could stop working when you're midair.
And
it's very possible someone will see you frolicking around in the sky.”

“But, Miss,” Rachel moaned, “this is the coolest thing
ever
.”

“Yeah.” Jenny nodded. “You can't expect us to not even try it out.”

Ms. Lemon sighed.

“Oh, all right,” she said, “you can fly a little around here. But don't go up too high, in case it wears off, and when we leave the woods,
that's it
. When we're back on the road, your flying's done. Is that clear?”

The girls cheered in unison and took off in various directions, whooping as the wind swept through their hair and made their school ties flutter like wind socks at the airport.

“How do you stay
upright
?” Adie called, her curly locks dangling toward the ground as she struggled to right herself.

“Just think of your feet being heavy,” Jenny sang back, “and you'll flip up the right way.”

“I can't do it! Am I the only one?”

“Nope,” yelled Grace, tipping her foot off a branch in an attempt to swing her head and shoulders upward, “I keep falling over too. Ms. Lemon! What are we doing wrong?”

“Can't help you there I'm afraid, girls,” their teacher called back. “Time's almost up now.”

Jenny and Rachel flew even faster, trying to fit in as many somersaults and cartwheels as they possibly could, while the other two grumbled in envy, still trying to get control of their movements.

“I think I've got it!” Adie yelled suddenly. “Grace, bend your knees a little and tighten up your tummy. You just swing upright!”

Grace gasped with joy as she flipped the right way up and flew in a straight line.

“Awesome!”

“Time's up!” Ms. Lemon shouted. “Down you come.”

The girls protested loudly.

“Please, Miss,” Grace pleaded, “me and Adie have only just got the hang of it.”

“I'm sorry, Grace, but that's it. You girls have to get home, and I've got potions to make. Jenny, grab some of that lichen on your way down.”

“Will do, Miss,” Jenny replied, circling the tree in a wide spiral as she slowly descended.

Grace and Adie landed heavily on the ground, grumbling again that they hadn't had a real chance at flying. But Ms. Lemon wouldn't budge.

“Safely home, all of you,” she said. “And make sure you're all ready for tomorrow.”

Grace and Adie trudged along the road.

“That's the first time I've been happy in
ages
,” said Adie.

Grace grunted sulkily in agreement, dragging her feet so much that the walk downhill from school seemed even longer than usual. Their after-school adventure had completely taken her mind off the depressing situation she and her friends were in, and now she and Adie were as melancholy as ever. She stopped suddenly and gazed up at the darkening sky.

“Adie.”

“Yeah?”

Grace looked at her friend, a big grin spreading across her face.

“Let's fly home.”

Adie thought for a moment, then smiled.

“Yeah.”

Giggling with delight, they glanced around to make sure no one else was on the street, then launched themselves high into the sky, shrieking silently as the air rushed out of their lungs. They definitely had the hang of it now. Swooping past each other, squealing with happy panic when they got too close, they flipped and tumbled, demonstrating air acrobatics that would make Rachel and Jenny green with envy. Slowing to float up as high as they dared, the twinkling lights of the town below seemed reflected in the sky around them. They spun slowly, taking in a panoramic view of the stars, until they felt dizzy, then gently glided downward like feathers on the wind.

“The town looks so pretty from up here,” said Adie. “The traffic looks like little rows of fireflies.”

“Yeah,” Grace said breathlessly. “Wish we could fly forever.”

They coasted down, feeling invisible in the air as they could just make out little figures walking on the streets.

“No way!” Adie exclaimed. “That's Trish and Bev! Servants of the Beast.”

“But without the Beast.” Grace winked.

They smiled wickedly at each other, then dived as one, racing past the two bullies so fast they appeared like school uniform–colored blurs in the atmosphere.

“What the hell was
that
?” Bev squawked.

The maroon blurs rushed past them again, creating gusts of wind that swept their lacquered hair up into ridiculous-looking and uncomfortable hairdos.

“Ghosts!” Trish screeched. “It's
ghosts
! Run!”

She took off at full speed, plowing over Bev in her hurry to get away. Her friend scrambled to her feet and followed suit. Grace and Adie chuckled quietly to themselves as they hung in the air, just out of sight, above the roof of a small shop.

“Look at them go.”

“I don't think I've ever seen those two run before,” said Adie, grinning widely.

“We should get home, I suppose.”

“Guess so. I don't—ah!”

Adie jerked suddenly, dropping a few feet, then rising again.

“Oops, do you think it's—aahh!”

She plummeted suddenly to the roof below, landing on the gable, then sliding off on one side, desperately trying to grip the glossy roof tiles.

“Adie!” Grace screamed. “Hold on!”

But Grace was losing power herself. Dropping quickly, she tried to grip a nearby telephone pole but only managed to catch her fingernails painfully before plunging to the roof below. She smacked onto the dark tiles, sliding swiftly downward. Her feet flew off the edge and her hands scrambled wildly over her head, just managing to grip the gutter before she flew off the roof entirely. With her feet dangling over the concrete below, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to think of the growing pain in her hands as her muscles began to cramp.

“Grace!”

Grace could hear Adie's scuttling feet as she struggled to keep her purchase on the slanted roof.

“I'm here, Adie, but I can't hold on much longer!”

“I'm coming!”

The grating sound of Adie's shoes on the tiles got louder as she dragged herself closer to her friend. Grace saw the curly dark locks appear over the edge of the roof.

“Grab my hand,” Adie said urgently, securing one foot in the gutter and leaning down as far as she could.

“I can't! I'll fall!”

“I won't let you fall. I promise.”

Grace held her breath and, with enormous effort, gripped the gutter tighter with her right hand and reached out with her left. Adie grasped her wrist firmly and pulled her upward. There was a sudden metallic groan, and the gutter broke away from one of its fixtures. The girls screamed in panic, but Adie held fast to her friend as another fixture snapped, then another. Adie was slipping closer to the edge as her foot traveled off the edge with the gutter.

“You're going to fall!” Grace shouted. “Let me go!”

Adie ignored her and, with one last grunting effort, dragged Grace onto the roof just as the gutter detached completely and spun off toward the drainpipe at the side of the building. The girls lay flat against the roof tiles, not daring to move, panting loudly with exhaustion and relief. Grace turned her head slowly to look at Adie, her eyes filling with tears.

“Thanks.”

“No worries,” Adie wheezed. “So how are we going to get down?”

Glancing around, moving as little as possible, Grace nodded toward one side of the roof.

“Drainpipe.”

Clambering down the damp, narrow drainpipe seemed to take forever. After the freedom and grace of being able to fly, they suddenly felt impossibly awkward and heavy. When they finally reached the ground, their legs were like jelly, and the walk home seemed much, much longer than ever before.

***

It felt like forever before Grace finally reached her house and opened her front door.

“Grace? Is that you, love?” Grace's mother's voice was concerned.

“Yeah, Mom.”

Grace pulled her key out of the lock and stood for moment in the light of the hall before going into the warm kitchen.

“You're very late home, sweetheart.”

“I know. Sorry. We were collecting some stuff for science class tomorrow.”

“What sort of stuff?”

“Just plants and stuff, from around the school.”

“Oh. Well, you're just in time for dinner, so wash your hands and sit down at the table.”

Grace smiled weakly at her mother as she turned on the cold tap at the kitchen sink and rubbed her hands slowly under the freezing water.

“You look a little tired,” her mother said as she tipped some freshly steamed carrots onto two waiting plates. “Are you all right?”