Chapter 7
The rest of the week flew by and before I knew it, it was Friday morning 'thank heavens it's Friday' I beamed at Charlie, Gabriel and Fidelio as we sat eating our breakfasts, 'yeah Friday is always such a good day as its not long till the weekend' Gabriel grinned back at me. We all finished our breakfasts and then started to head to the music department for our usual morning assembly as we made our way towards music there was a loud bang up ahead. We raced up the corridor and we found Billy sprawled on the floor with the two Branko twins standing over him. 'Billy are you alright?' I asked as Charlie and Gabriel helped him up off the ground, before Billy had time to answer a table that had been sitting in an alcove in the corridor suddenly came flying at our heads. 'STOP IT' I yelled as I stopped the table in mid-air and set it back down where it belonged 'what are you trying to do? Kill someone' I asked angrily. The twins just looked at us with their china doll faces and didn't say anything then without warning one of them, I don't know which one, used their endowment to lift a vase high into the air and then to all of our surprise they tipped it on their own heads. 'What did you do that for?' Charlie asked in bewilderment, 'that's a good question Bone, why did you do that to poor Idith and Inez Mia?' 'WHAT' I exclaimed, 'WHAT' Charlie, Gabriel, Billy and Fidelio shouted, 'it wasn't me sir I didn't tip the water on their heads they did it themselves.' 'You mean to say that these two poor girls tipped a vase of water onto their own heads for no apparent reason, does that sound realistic to you Mia?' As Manfred said this I realised that it had all been one big trap and I had walked spectacularly into it, I saw the smirk on Manfred's face and I know that I wasn't going to be going home tonight. 'Well Mia I think you have just got yourself detention this weekend', the urge to smack Manfred in the face was so strong I had to put my hands behind my back 'but sir you know I didn't do anything.' 'Do I? All I know is that these two girls are covered in water and you are the only person around who could have done it to them so I will see you tonight Mia and we can discuss your behaviour, now get to your assembly's all of you, or you will be late.'
I spent the rest of the day fuming, I had been looking forward to freedom so much and now that freedom was postponed for an extra day, to top it all off I was to spend a whole day in the school by myself surrounded by the Bloor's and their cronies. 'Great' I murmured, 'Cheer up Mia, detention isn't too bad you get to explore the academy and the grounds during the day', 'I think the Bloor's have a slightly different weekend schedule planned for me Charlie.' I was trying not to be too angry or annoyed about it as it wasn't fair to take it out on the people around me but I was finding it really hard to think about anything else apart from the Bloor's and their plans. 'How are you doing Mia?' I smiled at the sound of the voice 'I am doing fine Gabriel thanks don't worry about me' I smiled at him. 'well I do worry the Bloor's are after you and they really want you, I mean really want you so I don't really like the thought of you being here an extra day by yourself.' I looked at Gabriel for a moment speechless and then I grinned at him 'that is probably one of the nicest things anyone apart from my parents has ever said to me' I laughed 'and I appreciate your concern, but I will be fine don't worry, or should I say try not to worry' I beamed. 'Come on Gabriel we will miss the bus if we don't go now' Fidelio shouted, 'go' I said giving him a slight push in the direction of the entrance hall, 'ok but take care of yourself Mia.' With that Gabriel turned and headed towards the busses, as I watched the doors slowly close I felt someone come up behind me 'well Mia it looks like it's just you and me now, won't that be fun.' I turned to face Manfred 'I can't wait I replied' 'well it's a good job you don't have to then isn't it?' Manfred grinned before I could react to Manfred's thoughts he had grabbed the back of my neck and was squeezing it which resulted in a feeling of discomfort mixed with pain. 'Get you hand off me now' I whispered, 'no you see Great Grandfather enjoyed your chat so much he would like to see you again, the sooner the better, so we better not keep him waiting.' With that Manfred pushed me in front of him still holding the back of my neck and proceeded to direct me along the corridors using his grip on my neck to indicate the way. As we were nearly there Manfred gave one particularly hard squeeze and I could not bear it any longer 'LET GO' I screamed at Manfred, this seemed to take him by surprise and he did indeed let go at this I tried to turn back the way we had come and hide somewhere. Manfred however was not taken by surprise for long and as I made to run past him he grabbed me by the waist with both arms and preceded to half drag, half carry me up the final part of the corridor. Much to my horror although not to my surprise Manfred seemed to enjoy this method of transportation even more than the previous method, as we reached the door he let go of me with one hand and turned the handle, but before I could get any ideas about trying to make a move for it again he had swiftly replaced his hand and then he dragged me into the room.
As I was being dragged into the room I realised that it was the same room as before with a large fireplace at one end and a long table which seemed to take up most of the room. As before Ezekiel was sat by the fire surrounded by the Yewbeam sisters all with the same cruel, hungry expressions on their faces. Manfred dragged me over to the fire and consequently near to his great grandfather, once we were within two meters of Ezekiel Manfred stopped. 'Can you let go of me now please?' I asked Manfred trying to sound as polite as possible 'oh but that would spoil all the fun Mia' he whispered in my ear, I couldn't help but shiver. Trying to sound as brave as I could I asked again, 'oh let the girl go Manfred' Venetia said in a sickly sweet voice 'after all we want Mia here, to feel comfortable and at home here don't we?' At this she turned to her sisters who all nodded in unison, Manfred chuckled and then after giving me one last squeeze he relinquished his grip, I stumbled forward as he released me but I managed to regain my balance. 'There we go, see how much more comfortable that is already' she smiled at me, there was a scrapping noise behind me so I turned around and saw Manfred coming up behind me carrying this large wooden chair that looked older than the academy itself. 'Here you are Mia' Manfred smiled 'this will make you even more comfortable' he then set the chair down next to me and indicated for me to sit. 'I think I would rather stand if that's ok with you' I said 'come now Mia please sit' I looked towards Ezekiel as he spoke, I tried to think of something else to say, when Manfred grabbed my shoulder and forced me into the chair 'sit' he commanded. 'I'm not a dog' I snapped at Manfred, 'of course you're not my dear but we want you to be comfortable while we have a nice chat.' I looked round the room studying all the faces and minds of the people surrounding me and it didn't take me long to reach the conclusion that there was no way on earth was ever going to do anything they wanted me to do, and there was no way I was going to let them carry out their plans.
'So Mia' Ezekiel said while doing his best impression of a friendly smile 'do you know why we want to have another little chat with you?' He asked again trying to seem as friendly as possible, I knew once I had made it clear that there was no way I would ever join their side as it were then this friendly act would be dropped. 'Yes' I tried my sweetest smile 'it's because you wish to carry on our earlier conversation about my endowments however as I said earlier I wish to keep my gifts hidden.' 'Well Mia as we have already said that answer is not good enough so you will tell us your gifts one way or another' 'is that a threat?' I said raising my voice slightly while turning to look at Manfred who stood just to my left, Manfred grinned at me 'only if you want it to be.' 'Only if I want it to be? what does that mean?' I said struggling to keep my voice even 'it means that if you don't tell us your gifts then we may be forced to use other err…. Methods should we say to get the information we want.' We carried on looking at each other for what felt like a life time until I glanced into Manfred's mind and realised that he was about to turn his hypnotic eyes on full beam. I quickly turned my gaze to a less dangerous pair of eyes, not that any of these sets of eyes could be classed as soft and cuddly but at least these sets of eyes couldn't hypnotise me. They all seemed to look quite disappointed and I realised that they had all expected Manfred to hypnotise me and therefore make their integration much easier. 'You know about two of my gifts isn't that enough for starters?' I asked them although it was a foolish hope to expect them to say yes and let me go, it wasn't long before Ezekiel replied 'yes well you see the thing about starters is that they only ever leave you wanting more and that's why the main course then arrives to satisfy that hunger.' I just stared defiantly back at him 'so Mia last chance of us asking you nicely to tell us the nature of your endowments.' 'I am afraid, I am not going to tell you what my other endowments are' I said each word very clearly so that there would be no confusion over what I said. 'I was hoping you would say that' Manfred grinned 'let the fun begin', then without warning he suddenly threw a blanket over me. I was taken aback what on earth were they trying to do make me over heat then I saw the smirk on Venetia's face and I remembered her talent with clothes and material. I tried to pull it off me but I was too late the blanket had already started to weigh a lot more than a normal blanket should and as I tried to life it off the weight increased even more. Eventually the blanket weighed more than I could lift and its full weight fell on top of me, when it hit the air was knocked out of me and for a moment I felt very light headed. I was trapped in the chair under the weight of this blanket, the blanket covered nearly my whole body so eventually the only things I could move were my head and my feet, the rest of me was trapped underneath this bewitched blanket.
'Now this is much better' Manfred grinned you can't get away from me now and there is no Charlie Bone here to save you now. Panic started to wash over me 'NO Mia come on keep it together, if you start panicking then you stand no hope come on Charlie said that he managed to resist Manfred before so get a grip' I told myself firmly. Manfred leaned over me so that his face was inches away from mine, I tried to turn my head from side to side but then two cold hands gripped either side of my head so that I couldn't move it, 'thank you Venetia' Manfred smirked. 'Now Mia let's see what is going on inside your head shall we' I jammed my eyes shut and began concentrating on the hole that I was currently trying to burn through the blanket. 'Mia, Mia open your eyes and look at me, come on Mia all it takes is one little look and then all this can stop.' Despite my best efforts my eyes started to open 'NO' I shouted and jammed them shut again, I could hear Manfred chuckling 'come on Mia you know you want to just open your eyes and take a look what harm could it do?' His voice sounded so convincing and so velvety that I couldn't help myself and I began to open my eyes, 'come on Mia don't let him win so easily' I small whisper urged from somewhere in the back of my mind. Then it struck me I should read his mind then all he would get would be his own thoughts, I mean it would give another one of my endowments away but it would protect the rest plus mind reading was a very hard endowment to keep hidden, as you learn so many things that you shouldn't know which if you let slip can leave you in a very sticky situation. As my eyes opened I started to read his mind 'well done Mia that's it' Manfred said in his velvety voice as my eyes started opening, I just carried on reading his mind and I read the confusion that then started to fill his mind as he realised what was going on 'STOP IT MIA' Manfred shouted. I ignored this and carried on reading his mind and the further I dug the worse it got for Manfred as I started to reach his more personal memories and brought them to the front of his mind, memories of his mother and of his childhood. I knew that eventually Manfred would give up on trying to hypnotise me so all I needed to do was to keep reading his mind until he gave up. With one last yell of annoyance and anger Manfred straightened up and moved away from me, the hands that had been holding my head dropped away and Venetia went to re-join her sisters behind Ezekiel's chair.
While this was all going on I proceeded to try and burn my way through the blanket, but my fire didn't seem to be having any real effect on the blanket. I decided to try a different approach I positioned my hand with the ring on it so that the ring was touching the blanket then I concentrated hard on what I wanted the wand to do. My hand started to heat up as it does when my wands now ring are working their magic as it were, gradually I could feel the weight of the blanket decreasing until eventually it was as light as a normal blanket again. While I was dealing with the blanket Manfred had been composing himself and he now re-entered my vision and he had regained his trademark smirk.
'What happened Manfred' Ezekiel asked angrily 'I'm not sure' Manfred said looking at me curiously, all the eyes in the room turned to stare at me. 'Well if that's all I really should be going' I said as I made to get up. I knew removing the blanket would make them realise something was up but they were going to find out sooner or later that I had done something to the blanket so I didn't see the point in delaying the inevitable. I stood up and dropped the blanket onto the floor I then proceeded to make my way to the door hoping to capitalise on the shock of me removing the blanket. I didn't really have a plan all I wanted to do was go home maybe I would shape shift into a bird and fly out of the nearest window or just blast my way out of the front door. Secretly I knew all these ideas were stupid but after being stuck under that blanket all I wanted to be was free. I was so close to the door that I could almost touch the handle when two arms grabbed me by the waist and yanked me backwards. 'Now where do you think you're going Mia? We haven't finished with you yet' I knew there was no point struggling so I just let him drag me back towards the fire and towards the people waiting for me. He dragged me over to the wooden chair and pushed me back into it then moved to stand behind me where he placed a hand on each shoulder and exerted enough pressure on my shoulders to leave me in no doubt that I wasn't going to be moving anywhere.
'How did you get that blanket off?' Venetia asked 'I don't know' I responded calmly 'maybe the enchantment just wore off.' 'Impossible it wouldn't have worn off just like that my dear are you sure you don't have any idea?' She asked politely although I could tell she was getting frustrated 'I really don't know' I said trying to sound as sweet and innocent as possible. 'That's a very interesting ring you have on Mia' I tried to keep the look of panic hidden as I turned to the Yewbeam sister who had spoken, it was the grey haired sister who I now realised was a clairvoyant. No wonder she spotted it I thought, I looked down at my ring which I realised was changing colour at a rapid rate and consequently making it even more noticeable. 'What this old thing?' I said trying to act casual 'yes that old thing' she said trying to smile 'where did you get it from?' 'Oh I don't know it was given to me by my grandmother before she died and so I wear it as a reminder of her.' 'How sweet may I have a closer look at it?' Venetia added moving closer to me alongside her sister, I held out my hand which was quickly grabbed by the grey haired sister who I guessed was Eustacia from what Charlie had told me about his aunts and their talents. 'Interesting very interesting' they both said almost in unison, then Venetia tried to take it off my finger I could feel the ring heating up as she kept trying to pull it off 'I really wouldn't do that if I were you' I warned. The sisters ignored my warning and seconds later they both cried out in pain and jumped back away from my hand. 'YOU HORRIBLE SPITFUL CHILD' Venetia cried at me 'look what you have done to me' and she revealed her hand which by this time was covered in horrible warts. 'I didn't do anything to you' I replied quietly 'no you didn't do anything but your ring did' I looked up at Eustacia as she said this and I knew that my ring had just confirmed her suspicions. 'What do you mean?' Manfred asked quickly 'I mean that her ring did this to our hands not Mia' 'but how could a ring do that to your hands?' Ezekiel joined in 'because it's a wand.'
Manfred's face suddenly lit up like a child's face on Christmas day 'a wand did you say how fascinating', Manfred now bent his head so that it was level with my head 'how talented you are Mia not only do you have ten endowments but you also have a wand and the ability to use it. Such a clever girl' Manfred then proceeded to take one hand off my shoulder and pat me on the head as if I were a dog or something. I sat there scowling like a little child, I didn't know what to say or what to do, nothing in my life had ever prepared me for the Bloor's and their school. All I could think was that someone should write a manual or instruction book for these sorts of situations I mean what are you supposed to do when you want to hide your gifts but people are trying to get them out of you. I wouldn't have to be going through this if my mother hadn't accidently told the Bloor's I had ten gifts, now because they know I have ten I have to keep them hidden as if I reveal nine of the ten it would make them even more hungry for the tenth. The tenth of course being healing, a gift I was determined not to let the Bloor's ever find out about. So in order to keep healing hidden I had to try and keep them all hidden, So that the Bloor's could find out about my other endowments over time and thus prolonging the length of time before they got to my tenth endowment. All this was going through my mind while Manfred was still patting my head, I tried to control my temper but it's quite hard to control your temper while someone is patting you on the head.
'Manfred that's enough leave the clever girl alone' Ezekiel chuckled 'Now Mia let's have a closer look at that ring.' 'No' I said defiantly, I knew that they wouldn't be able to get the ring off my finger even if they tried for a decade. This is because it's a wand and wands get quite attached to their owners, like Charlie's wand stays with him mine stays with me. My grandmother who had been the previous owner of the ring had told me that the ring could not be removed by anyone except the owner and that the owner could never be made to take it off. She also said that even if someone tried to cut my finger off to remove the ring they wouldn't be able to as the ring has a sort of force field around it that basically protects my hand from harm, which I always thought was quite cool. 'No?' Venetia repeated 'NO' I said again although slightly louder than before 'well we will see about that.'
For the next two and a half hours they took it in turns to try and force the ring off my finger, they tried rubbing various lotions and potions on my hand. While they were doing this I felt very relieved that the ring came with its own force field as some of the potions made horrible hissing sounds as they made contact with the floor and one even burnt a hole through the arm of the wooden chair I was sat on. 'It's no use' Venetia eventually cried, 'we could always try cutting it off?' Manfred suggested, 'what the ring or her finger?' Lucretia asked, I knew it was Lucretia because she is also the school matron. To my horror she sounded deadly serious when she had suggested cutting my finger off, again I was relieved about the protection the ring offered my hand. 'You can't cut it off' Ezekiel said in a horrified tone if you cut the ring you may jeopardise its power, Ezekiel then turned to me 'take it off' he said to me calmly. 'No' I replied 'I said TAKE IT OFF' He shouted, 'NO', the room went silent, 'Manfred why don't you take Mia to her new accommodation for the night and then maybe we will see if she changes her mind.' 'With pleasure' Manfred replied with a smirk he then grabbed me by my right arm and proceeded to drag me out of the room. I was dragged through a maze or corridors and tunnels, I noticed that the further along the corridors we went the colder it got. I couldn't help but shiver, Manfred noticed this and grinned, eventually we stopped outside a room which Manfred then unlocked. 'Here you go Mia make yourself comfortable as this is your new home' Manfred then pushed my inside the room with such force that I fell over luckily I landed on a bed although it wasn't like any bed I have ever slept on before. I quickly turned around to find that Manfred had already closed the door and locked it 'sweet dreams Mia' he chuckled as he made his way back through the maze of corridors.
I sat on the bed and looked around the room; it had a sink and toilet in one corner although neither looked like they had been cleaned in a few decades. There was also a small table and chair the bed I was sat on and a small bedside table. There was one window in the room, I moved off the bed and towards the window, I now realised why it was so cold in here, there was no glass in the window. I gazed out at the academy grounds it was dark but I could still make out the outline of the ruin, I don't know what it is about the ruin but whenever I see it I feel different, I can't quite describe it but it makes me feel better. I don't know how long I gazed at the ruin however it got to the point that I could no longer feel my fingers or toes. I went back to the bed and sat on it so that my back was resting against the wall it was up against. I realised that all there was for warmth in the room was a moth eaten blanket, the Bloor's can lock me in this room but there is no way I am sleeping under that I thought. As they already knew about my wand I saw no harm in using it, within a few minutes I had replaced the mattress on the bed and all the sheets, conjured up a duvet and blanket and cleaned the toilet and sink although not by hand I might add. All that was left was some light I created a candle with a soft glow of light which I then placed on the bed side table, I looked around the room and smiled this was much better. My stomach then gave a loud grumble, I had forgotten that I hadn't eaten since lunch and that had been hours ago I quickly conjured up a ham sandwich, a sandwich wasn't really what I had wanted to eat but I had discovered over the years that when it came to conjuring up food the simpler the better. My eye lids began to feel as heavy as Venetia's blanket had so I crawled into bed and pulled the covers up and before I knew it I was asleep.
