Witch (20 page)

He started rummaging around in his wardrobe. This was my chance to hide the amulet. I debated for a second on whether to take the plastic off, but decided to keep it on to stop the smell and stuck it under his mattress as far as I could. I was still bent over when he walked out of the closet.

‘Are you okay?'

‘Sure!' I straightened up quickly and made a show of shifting from one foot to the other with my arms above my head. ‘Just stretching out my back. I'm a bit stiff from sitting on the floor at the cafe.'

‘Yeah, me too – you nearly broke my back when you jumped on me.' He laughed and squeezed both my shoulders in a mini massage.

‘Mmmm, that feels good,' I blurted out.

I could have stayed there all night, but after a few minutes he stopped massaging and gave me a brotherly pat on the back. ‘Let's go,' he said.

To say I was disappointed would have been a massive understatement.

I could see a small fire at the end of the beach. As we got closer, I could also see empty beer cans scattered around. I was shocked to see it was just Cassidy and Matt by the fire. Cassidy got up and stumbled over to us as we entered the circle of firelight. She was wearing tiny black hotpants, knee-high ugg boots, a jumper and a beanie. She looked like a Victoria's Secret model, and I looked like . . . well, me. I didn't know exactly what I'd been expecting, but it had definitely been something more festive than this.

‘Hey guys, you finally made it,' Cassidy said, slurring her words.

‘Yeah, we got held up at Vania's—' Bryce began, but Cassidy grabbed his arm, cutting him off.

‘Come and sit over here next to me.' She dragged him to the other side of the fire. I stood there uncertainly for a moment until Matt got up.

‘Happy birthday, Vania.' He walked over and gave me a light hug before pulling me down onto the sand next to him.

‘Beer?' He handed me a slightly warm can. I had drunk alcohol before – with my parents. Sometimes my mother would give me a sip of her wine. I hadn't drunk with other kids before. I didn't want to let these guys know that, though.

‘Thanks,' I said, taking the can and popping the top. I held it out and tipped my can against his. ‘Happy birthday to me.'

I took a sip of the beer. It was warm and tasted like crap. I preferred the tangy flavour of my mother's chardonnay, but I took another sip anyway.

‘So what did you get for your birthday?' Cassidy called from across the fire. I noticed Bryce had moved away from her a little, but she had her hand on his leg. He was drinking a beer, too, and looking a bit uncomfortable, I thought – but then I got a grip. Cassidy looked really hot, and whether they were broken up now or not, any guy would want to sit next to her over me.

I fingered the necklace at my throat, but said nothing. I took a bigger sip of the gross beer.

‘Did you get her something romantic, Bryce?' Cassidy pushed against his leg and then rolled away on the sand, laughing.

‘Cassidy, you're drunk,' he said. ‘Vania, let's go.'

Bryce started to get up, but Cassidy leapt on him, pulling him down onto the sand. She sat on top of him, her perfect legs straddling his hips, and started kissing him.

My breath caught in my chest, and I waited for him to push her off him – but he didn't. Next to me Matt slowly got to his feet.

‘Hey, Cassidy, cut it out . . .'

I got to my feet, too. I felt a bit dizzy, even though I'd only had a few sips of beer.

‘Matt, kiss me,' I said. I grabbed his shoulders and moved my face towards his.

But he pushed me away. ‘Cassidy and I are dating, Vania – I'm sorry.'

My head snapped back. I felt like I'd been slapped in the face. I didn't know why I was so hurt – it wasn't exactly a surprise that no boy would choose me. My insecurities took control of me again. Jealousy ate at my insides.

Matt walked over to Cassidy and pulled her off Bryce, hauling her up to her feet. She slumped against him, giggling.

‘Matt, I'm sorry, I couldn't get her off me,' Bryce said as he got up, wiping his mouth on his forearm.

‘No worries, bro,' Matt said. ‘She gets like this when she's wasted. I guess you know that.'

I stood there as the two boys laughed together and Cassidy draped herself over both of them. Deep in the pit of my stomach, in my solar plexus or whatever it was called, the blackness started to churn.

I felt my legs grow heavy like lead, sinking deep into the sand. The crackling of the fire grew until I heard it like electricity in my ears, merging with the roar of the ocean, growing like a tsunami of fury in my head. In my pocket, I grasped the charm bag Dean had given me. I screamed.

‘H
ow dare you!

' The sky opened over our heads with a roar of thunder, and crackling shards of lightning spiked down, striking the sand behind Matt, Cassidy and Bryce. The waves grew to a crashing, hulking swarm that encroached menacingly up the beach, the spray from each thunderous thing lashing our skin in salty anger.

Yes, I was pissed off, and nature was on my side.

Cassidy went from giggling to screaming in terror, and Matt grabbed her as Bryce called out something to me. I could see his mouth moving, but I couldn't hear him over the noise of the waves and the thunder and the lightning.

I squeezed the pouch again, hard, crunching the herbs and crystals in my fist.

‘
Damn you all14

' I threw my head back, thrusting my arms into the turbulent skies. At my command, the heavens split and a torrent of water poured down on us.

The fire was extinguished with barely a hiss, and we were all thrown into darkness.

‘Vania, where are you? Are you okay?'

I could hear Bryce's voice in the distance, but I wasn't about to answer him.

I turned and ran into the black night.

Thirteen

‘It's such a shame the weather turned the way it did,' my mother said as she looked out over the rain-soaked countryside. The huge patio of the Big Yellow House was covered in leaves and debris, signs of the mighty storm from the night before, so we were sitting inside by the window.

I played with the silver star at my throat, but Bryce wasn't there to see that I was still wearing it, even after what had happened last night. I didn't care what had happened to Bryce or to Cassidy and Matt after I'd left them – and I definitely wasn't giving Bryce the necklace back, either.

‘Vania, your mother and I have given it a lot of thought and decided this would be the best present for you.' My father handed me a slim envelope.

I opened it, expecting to find a cheque for my college fund or something just as practical. Instead, it contained a single piece of paper.

‘Learn to dive with PADI,' it said.

My heart leapt.

‘We are going to pay for you to learn to scuba dive,' my mother said proudly.

‘This is awesome! Thank you!' I leapt up and hugged my parents, last night temporarily forgotten. I pictured swimming in the sea, at one with the dolphins and the . . .

‘Sharks, we are worried about sharks, though,' my mother said, as though reading my mind. ‘Apparently there are great whites breeding off the coast of Summerland.'

‘Mum, it's natural for sharks to breed off the coast, and trust me, sharks are not the most dangerous thing in my world.' I turned my head away as I said this, to hide the smile on my face. If only my parents knew I was casting spells, conjuring storms and having séances with witches and ghosts.

I felt a twinge of guilt about my secret life. My parents were trying to make me happy, and I was hiding things from them. But then again, if they weren't so overprotective I wouldn't have to hide things from them.

Or maybe I was being too negative. They had just bought me a scuba diving course and now we were out for a nice brunch for my birthday weekend. I think I was just still a bit rattled from last night. I was excited, too. I had felt immense power when I'd summoned the storm, and it had proved to me again that emotion was what really drove a spell or magical intention. How much I felt, how much I cared, was more important than which herbs or flowers or candles or even other people were involved.

I looked at my parents, who were happily tucking in to their huge plates of eggs Benedict. Mum hadn't had to tell Dad her order, he'd already known exactly what she wanted. It must be a special feeling to be so connected to another person that you could anticipate their every desire.

I thought Bryce's desire had been to be with me last night. Except I remembered Bryce's action, or lack of. He had made no effort to get Cassidy off him. In fact he'd seemed to welcome her flopping all over him. He and Matt had laughed about it. And once again the awful and overwhelming feeling that I'd been made a fool of engulfed me and the feeling of rage crept up again.

The waiter stood in front of me. ‘More iced tea, miss?' he asked, and at the distraction the rage subsided.

‘Sure.' I pushed my glass towards him.

‘How are your eggs, honey?' my mother asked.

I remembered that I was supposed to be enjoying myself. ‘Fantastic, thank you.' I made my face smile. ‘How are yours?'

‘Lovely, thank you.'

I managed to relax a little . . . until I went to the bathroom. As I stood at the sink washing my hands, the flowered wallpaper suddenly came alive. The green vines started twisting and twirling around each other, and the pink-and-white flowers started opening and closing. I was wondering if the waiter had put something in my iced tea when the three witches from the séance appeared in the mirror, screeching and cackling.

‘Beware! Danger is close at hand
One, two, three, rhymes with tree
Four, five, sparrow, rhymes with narrow.'

‘Go away!' I cried and thrust my hands towards the mirror to get rid of them. When I touched the surface it rippled like water. Then, as quickly as it had begun, everything was normal again. I was completely alone.

Brenda had said the incense we'd used in the séance would stop the spirits and ghosts we conjured up from haunting us later, but it seemed like a portal had been opened. I was in a haunted restaurant, after all. And it sounded like another riddle that the witches had garbled at me – as if what they'd said during the séance last night hadn't been confusing enough. Danger was close at hand, according to them. I had known about some elusive impending danger since the twins' mother had read my tea-leaves. Were the witches talking about my chemistry teacher? Were they talking about the woman of Queen's Cross mystery? Were they talking about me slipping in the mud after all the rain I'd conjured up?

I returned to my seat ashen-faced.

‘Vania! You're not coming down with anything, are you?' My mother brushed my hair out of my eyes, concerned.

‘No, Mum, I'm just really full – and ready to go home and relax,' I said, smiling weakly.

When our car pulled up to our house there was a visitor waiting.

My mother turned to me. ‘Who is this?'

‘Umm, it's Bryce.'

My mother leapt out of the car to greet him, but I wasn't in such a hurry.

‘Bryce! What a pleasure to finally meet you in person – Vania speaks so highly of you.' My mother turned to me, smilingly enthusiastically, but when she saw the dark look on my face she quickly looked away and gestured to my father instead.

‘Keith, this is Vania's friend Bryce.'

My father grunted and nodded, extending his hand for Bryce to shake.

‘Nice to finally meet you, Mr and Mrs Thorn,' said Bryce. He looked over at me standing by the car. ‘Umm, I was hoping Vania would let me take her for a walk along the cliffs.'

‘You can walk off that big breakfast, darling.' My mother smiled and nodded at me with a knowing look in her eyes.

‘Sure.' I shrugged and kicked at the ground, scuffing the toes of my Doc Martens, my fists clenching and unclenching in my pockets.