Dark Spell Read Free Page B

when Josh was here last summer, and had been getting steadily worse ever since. It was a relief to get any explanation for it, however unlikely.
    Callie turned back to her computer and opened iTunes, determined not to go downstairs: Rose had arrived ten minutes earlier to talk to Julia about her, and Callie certainly didn’t want to be in the same room when Rose broke the news. She could feel her fingers prickling at the thought.
    Cautiously, she held her hand out over her desk, pointed her fingers at a pen, and spoke.
    “Move.”
    The pen remained resolutely immobile. Callie sighed. She must have tried this, or something like it, two dozen times since she’d found out what she was, and nothing had ever moved. Behind her, unseen, a postcard dislodged the drawing pin that held it and fell off her noticeboard.
    She stiffened as she heard raised voices from downstairs. It sounded as though Rose had reached the point of the visit.
    A few seconds later, her mother shouted up the stairs, “Callie?”
    She crossed her fingers and pretended she hadn’t heard.
    “Caroline, come down here now!”
    There was obviously no escape. Reluctantly, Callie dragged herself down to the kitchen.
    Rose sat, thin-lipped, clutching a mug of tea as though it was an anchor in a storm, while Julia glared at her.
    “Whatever your grandmother’s told you, I want you to forget it. It’s nonsense,” Julia spat out as soon as Callie entered the room. She stared at Rose, daring her to say anything, but Rose held her peace.
    “It’s not nonsense,” Callie said quietly. “I’ve known there was something wrong – something strange, anyway – for months. It made sense as soon as Rose told me.”
    “Callie, this is rubbish. You’re not a witch.”
    “Are you going to tell her there’s no such thing, Julia?” Rose asked. “Even you don’t really believe that. So, since you acknowledged years ago that I’m a witch, why won’t you believe that Callie’s one? You know that it can skip generations.”
    “I won’t have this happen to my daughter.”
    “You don’t have a choice, and neither does Callie. She is what she is. I’m not asking you to be happy about it; just don’t make things difficult for her.”
    An uneasy silence descended on the room. Rose got up to leave.
    “Please, Julia. Think about what’s best for Callie.”
    “Do you think I don’t usually do that?” Julia retorted angrily.
    “You know that’s not what I meant.” Rose sighed. “I think I’d better go now.”
    “Yes.”
    When Rose had gone, Julia and Callie stared at eachother.
    “It’s all rubbish, Callie. Everything these old women have told you. Don’t let them suck you into all this. You’ve got a normal life to live, just like everyone else.”
    “But I want to understand what this is, what’s happening to me.”
    “Nothing’s
happening to you. You’re just growing up. Of course there are times when everything seems strange. Ignore it, and you’ll soon forget all about it and get back to normal.”
    “I want to find out about it. This is happening to me, Mum, whatever you want to believe.”
    “Do you want me to have to tell your father what’s going on?”
    Callie raised her eyebrows. “If that’s a threat, it’s not a very good one. You wouldn’t do that. You’d have told him about Rose long ago if you were ever going to talk to him about witches. Mum, this is happening. Face it.”
    ***
    Callie and Rose sat at Bessie Dunlop’s kitchen table in St Andrews, as they had done twice a week since the confrontation with Julia a month before. Bessie put a blue and white striped teapot and two stubs of candles in the centre of the table and sat down.
    The two women stared at Callie.
    “Well?” said Rose.
    “Aren’t you going to light the candles?” asked Callie.
    “No dear,
you
are.”
    “Where are the match… Oh. Right. Of course.” Callie wriggled herself comfortable and leaned forward in her chair, concentrating on the candle