Authors Note: Hello, sorry once more for the delay between updates, but I have been snowed under with exams for my music coursework plus the mountain of revision for my summer A-level exams! Thank you once more to everyone who has taken the time to review so far- they really do make my day!
"Morning!" said Enid breezily, settling down at the breakfast table with her friends, tossing her single dark plait over her shoulder and casting a look of mild disgust at the concrete porridge that was setting rapidly within her green china bowl.
"I said good morning!" she pushed, a slight creased appearing in her smooth forehead as a faint frown of irritation appeared, "Unless you're all still asleep!"
Mildred peeled herself away from her book to smile sleepily at her agitated friend. She had barely slept from anxiety over the sudden attack that had struck HB the night before in her extra lesson, worry gnawing away at her restless mind like a dog with a bone, determined not to leave her alone.
"Hullo Enid," she blinked sluggishly and stifled a yawn with a faintly trembling hand, "Sorry, I'm just trying to get in some last minute revision for the spells test this morning, don't want to get off to a bad start with Miss Nightdew…"
Enid sighed in exasperation at the sight of the pales face and huge dark rings beneath the eyes of all her friends, each looking as if they hadn't slept in a week.
"What on earth has got into you all?" she questioned, "What's all the extra work for?"
Ruby broke away from her frantic note taking long enough to provide brief explanation, Maud and Jadu not even looking up long enough to recognise the presence of the raven-haired witch.
"We have the first papers in our Witches Higher Certificate in November, that's only in two months' time Enid if you hadn't forgotten! If we fail any of our exams, its automatic exclusion from any further exams and moving on to the fourth year!" she snapped tersely, returning to her revision, "HB is looking for any excuse to kick us out, so I intend to work hard this year, I need top grades to get into the magical science courses that I'm looking at!"
Enid rolled her eyes and crossed her arms tightly across her slender chest, "Come on you lot, where's the fun in spending every single hour of the day and night engrained in a dusty old book? We haven't had a midnight feast yet, haven't slipped out of bounds to Mrs Cosie's, haven't gone for an early morning broomstick flight, haven't spoken to Fenny and Gris in ages- loosen up for heaven's sake!"
After receiving no more than a customary murmur of disinterested acknowledgement from her peers, the infuriated witch slammed her bowl down on the wooden table, metal spoon firmly embedded in the unyielding, solid, inedible mass, the ensuing crash barely causing the frantically scribbling witches to bat an eyelid as she pushed her chair back with a loud, harsh scrape of wood on wooden boards, a shrill squeal which set her teeth on edge.
"Fine! Be like that!" she snapped, getting to her feet abruptly, "I'll see you in class!" she glowered over her shoulder before attempting to stride off and nearly colliding with the diminutive form of Lina Nightdew.
"Enid?" she questioned gently, a delicate eyebrow arching in slight disapproval of the girls actions, the slight emphasis placed upon the name expressing her unspoken questions in one, unobtrusive gesture. She paused to address the entire table.
"I'm glad to see you all revising hard," she smiled, a slight glint of concern present in her eyes as she surveyed the collection of exhausted students, "I hope you have remembered that you have an assessed spells class in 10 minutes, Miss Cackle will be attending to observe the progress that we have made so far this term, so please ensure that you are prompt."
"Yes Miss Nightdew," came the bleary reply.
Xxx
Constance Hardbroom sank thankfully into the awaiting armchair, her limbs still somewhat weak from her mysterious attack of illness from the night before. She shivered as she wrapped her slender fingers around the steaming mug of tea that Amelia had taken the time to place in her hands, watching the faint wisps of steam curl lazily into the air, goosebumps still stubbornly raised upon the backs of her willowy wrists, remembering with a wry smile the faint look of maternal disapproval cast towards her recuperating form by the headmistress as she saw the discarded plate of toast with a few disinterested nibbles dissected experimentally from the golden crust.
Her mind was still racing, frustration building steadily beneath her calm demeanour as each logical solution that she proposed to herself to explain her descent into sickness drew a resounding blank, or hit a logistical dead-end. Patiently she attempted to pick away at any tell-tale thread of information, untangling the web of mysteries that were shielding the truth from her enquiring mind, brushing away the cobwebs and attempting to focus clearly upon the puzzle in front of her.
She let out her breath in a long, slow sigh, leaning her heavy head back into the comforting upholstery, resting her aching neck muscles and rolling her hazel eyes back into her head, cursing her lack of energy from the night's previous exertions as she kneaded her aching forehead upon the fingertips of her cool hands, the unexpected chill sending minute pathways of cold across the blazing surface. She seemed to have been cursed with the interminable headache for an entire fortnight, perhaps an adverse side-effect to her beloved Wide-Awake potion, but this particular ailment seemed to march on with unwavering determinedness whatever magical or natural cure she used in a bid to remove its blight from her presence. She shifted uncomfortably, barely inclining her head in reciprocation as Amelia rose from the dining table and wished her good morning before departing to assess the third year spells class, the kindly headmistress attempting to mask her concern at the sight of her visibly weakened deputy head, but unbeknown to her, her own magic was readily betraying her deepest concerns and worries to the watchful eye of the younger woman.
She had always been able to see the colours. To her, each witch had always given off the faintest of magical signatures, a shimmering, shifting, unique aura of power that swirled faintly in a colourful, misty ether, almost unnoticed and invisible to the naked eye which snaked tightly around the forms of the many sorceresses within the castle, their very shadows dancing with raw magical energy, usually weaker and untamed in the many pupils that she had seen over her many years at Cackles, but always suited to the owner, a true reflection of the very nature of the witch, their weaknesses, desires, strengths- a projection of the very essence of their character. Mildred's was a somewhat of an enigma, chaotic yet controlled and purposeful, magical creativity leaping from her like tongues golden flames in her youthful exuberance, Ethel's had the shining radiance of regal power, the mark of a witch with the purest of magical blood, a vivacity which was deeply imbedded within the shimmering hue, but was underlain by a darker, destructive urge which bled through into the silvery strands, tainting the purity of the magical forces. And as for Hecketty Broomhead, her aura had been nothing but pitch-black, a savage glint of demonic satisfaction present in the underlying barrage of twisted thoughts and sadistic joy. But, this newcomer, she thought, casting a furtive look at the diminutive form of Lina Nightdew who was hastily scooping a toppling pile of exercise books into her open arms whilst frantically attempting to drain the remaining stale dregs of tea from her blue china mug without dribbling messy flecks of liquid down the front of her pristine midnight blue robes before leaving for her morning classes, she had never seen an aura so, so, guarded, barely a chink of self-advertisement creeping through the iron-cast barrier, holding her cards tightly to her chest, not even her magic choosing to betray its true strengths and weaknesses, a veritable void of colour present, a web of secrets obscuring the complexities within. An interesting character indeed… she mused to herself as she stared for a little longer than intended at the elfin features of the younger woman, her intrusive gaze falling like the sharpest of needles prickling across the spells teachers skin as she lifted her deep blue eyes to stare inquisitively back at the thoughtful features of Constance Hardbroom, an almost fearful hue appearing momentarily within her young eyes which she excused by quickly brushing a wayward strand of blonde hair away from her delicately proportioned features, agitated by the silent scrutiny that she was being subjected to. She raised a slender eyebrow obstinately in direct confrontation, almost looking as if she were going to retort in a harsh rebuttal to the private analysis that was being made of her by the senior member of staff, but hurriedly checked herself and swept abruptly out of the room, a faint breeze adding to the existing chill in the staffroom as she swept past in a soft, velvety swish of material.
"Well, well, well… Miss Nightdew…" sighed Constance quietly to herself, shaking her head slightly as she continued to stare after the retreating form of the trainee teacher, "what an conundrum you are…"
Her breath caught in her throat and she involuntarily clutched tightly at the faded fabric of the chair as the unexpected thought burst forth ominously within her teeming mind, seizing her self-control of even the most basic of functions and disabling them in its devastating wake, frozen, rooted to the spot in the full realisation of the possible implications of the nightmarish vision that had dared to creep into her suspicious considerations, feeding hungrily upon the growing uncertainty, pushing up determinedly from where it had been cast to the depths of her consciousness and unfurling triumphantly like a noxious weed, mercilessly throttling any remnants of a peaceful state of mind. Slowly, with a hugely impeding sense of doom, she rose to her trembling feet, suddenly devoid of her usual calm, assured confidence as she wrapped her slender arms tightly across her bony chest and dematerialised.
Xxx
As soon as she felt the world around her disappear into the familiar hazy kaleidoscope of blurry images and distorted, muffled sounds, she knew instantly that something was very wrong, a dark, predatory presence was stalking within the timeless strands of nothingness, springing forward and seizing her within its vice-like grip, tearing viciously into her disembodied flesh, determinedly trying to prevent her from re-appearing at her chosen destination, acting like a lead weight, a manacle that was determined to shackle her permanently to the open wastelands of non-existence and prevent her safe return. With tremendous effort, she felt herself wrench free from the death-grip, her head spinning with the combined shock and terror of the situation, powerless to run, trapped as mere molecules within the bleak space of the atmosphere, waiting, praying to reappear.
She stuttered into visibility once more within Amelia's office with a sharp intake of breath, her gaunt face a startling, ghostly white as she collapsed heavily to her knees, her traumatised joints failing to support her frail weight, doubled up with her hand clutched tightly to her side, hyperventilating in her panic, spasms of suppressed tears choking her coarsely within her rapidly closing throat as she withdrew the violently trembling hand to see the horrific sight of snowy white skin soaked in a glistening, viscous liquid, a sharp, metallic scent roughly punctuating the dusty air as she looked down fearfully to see sickening sight of dark, sticky blood oozing from a gaping wound in her side where a fractured rib had punctured the fragile skin beneath the flowing black dress.
The heavy, dull thud accompanied by the deafening blast of a nearby explosion forced her, hissing in pain onto all fours, screaming in protest at her involuntary reaction to the unexplained detonation, for once the impending chaos firmly at the back of her mind as she fought to maintain consciousness, her vision beginning to break up into hazy pixels and darken off at the edges as she felt the warm blaze of tears surge down her frozen cheeks, a scorching river of agony sliding in a meandering course down the alabaster complexion, the inevitable pull of gravity guiding each of the salty teardrops to its downward destination.
The door was flung open and an ashen-faced Amelia Cackle stumbled across the threshold, running her fingers frantically through her hair, angrily brushing dark sooty stains from her face, muttering beneath her breath but then stopping dead in her tracks at the sight of the immobile woman who was lying upon the floor in a helpless, crumpled heap, too weak to even scream such was the overriding agony that she was clearly being subjected to.
"Constance!" she gasped, running forwards to the prone body of the casualty, all thoughts of the events that had previously unfolded leaving her mind in an instant at the sight of the injured woman, momentarily fearing the worst after seeing the glazed expression in the hazel eyes, reassured by the spasmodic rise and fall of her stricken chest that Constance was indeed alive.
The last thing that Constance saw before giving into the beckoning temptation of unconsciousness was the lined face of Amelia Cackle bending over her, cradling her head within her lap as she set to work in summoning assistance, the relief of knowing that she was in the safe arms of her colleague reassuring her gently as the world slowly faded to the awaiting, welcoming numbness of the blackness that swept across her vision and she passed out.