Note: Migraine relief and symptoms are mentioned in this chapter. I had a friend at 6th form who swore by Imigran. I have had one once before, and it was not nice: the symptoms described are my own: thumping headache and swimming, sepia-like vision.
In other news, there's another Dark Knight reference! This one's way easier to spot though.
There's also a reference to my other WW story, Hair of the Dog. Shameless self-publicity there but hey!
Inferno
Twenty-One
It had been a very strange sort of day, reflected Mildred, and she had just discovered something that was going to make it even stranger. Looking down at the highlighted passage in the book as she walked along the corridors towards the staff quarters, she still couldn't quite work out the logistics of what she had just read, but she knew that if anyone could create something worthwhile from the jumble of thoughts in her mind, then it was Miss Hardbroom. The potions teacher had spent the majority of the afternoon secreted away in her room with Della, under strict instructions from Miss Cackle to recuperate from her fainting scare in the morning, and trying to establish and strengthen a connection that would allow her to channel Della's magic as it if were her own.
Mildred took a deep breath as she stepped into the part of the school in which the teachers lived. The last time she had been here had been at the end of her second year when Maud had fallen ill after being inadvertently poisoned. Mildred still held unwelcome memories of that night and wanted to be reminded of it as little as possible, so being here again, in the dark no less, was not helping to set her mind at ease at all. She reached Miss Hardbroom's door and knocked, listening as the muffled voices from within stopped.
"Who is it?" asked her form-mistress.
"Me," said Mildred. "I think I've found something."
The door opened and Della smiled before welcoming her into the room with a wave of her hand. Mildred stepped inside carefully, avoiding treading on Morgana's tail. Miss Hardbroom was sitting on her bed, hunched over and panting slightly.
"Miss!" Mildred said, shocked. "Are you alright?"
"Well, I'm conscious," said Miss Hardbroom, "which is an improvement on this morning." She straightened into a more familiar posture and met Mildred's eyes. "What have you found?"
Mildred presented the book to her, pointing out the paragraph and standing back whilst Miss Hardbroom perused it.
"Is it working?" she asked Della quietly. The older woman shrugged.
"I haven't the foggiest," she replied. "I'm pretty clueless when it comes to magic, but if looks are anything to go by, then the results have been quite...visually impressive so far."
Mildred stifled a laugh. Miss Cackle had not been particularly happy with Miss Hardbroom once it had been established that she had made a connection to Della in order to channel her magic, since it had been unanimously decided that it was probably a good idea to only have one witch with a focussed connection to the Liaison at any given time. However, she had grudgingly accepted that, even with her injuries and pain, Miss Hardbroom was still their best offensive fighter in the absence of any ability on Della's part. If their confrontation with Agatha was going to come down to combat, which it inevitably would, then it would be the deputy head who would lead their attack. Miss Hardbroom had argued that channelling Della's magic would give her the strength she required to cast the most powerful spells she could; Della's power would help her bear the pain, and hopefully make the casting process less strenuous.
Mildred had tuned out at that point in the conversation, the intricacies of the processes of channelling and deep magical theory proving too complex for her tired, fraught brain. From the smoking papers in the small room it seemed likely that any simple spark tests that Miss Hardbroom had done whilst channelling Della's magic as well as her own would have been extremely impressive indeed.
"My word," murmured Miss Hardbroom, reaching the end of the paragraph that Mildred had given her. "My word," she repeated, before standing and giving the book to Della, who skimmed over the highlighted text. She shook her head in puzzlement.
"But I know about this," she said. "The Power of Three, it crops up in all sorts of old Wicca-style magic books. By working together a group of witches can increase their power. It's common practice, I read about it all the time in the shop."
Mildred and Miss Hardbroom stared at her in disbelief, and Mildred saw Della hide a smile behind her hand as she turned it into a cough.
Mildred had found the particular extract purely by chance whilst she was looking up an unrelated spell. Whilst it was not specifically linked to the magic of the Liaison as such, it was too much of a coincidence for Mildred to let pass. It briefly detailed the idea of three related magicians pooling their inherent talents to create an awesome source of power. It was the idea of inherent magic that had caught her eye, and ultimately led her to bring the book to her form-mistress's attention.
"I was thinking," Mildred began, having been thrown off-track slightly by Della's reaction, "that if Della, Ethel and the Chief Wizard worked together, then they could combine their magic." She paused. "It doesn't say that they have to be able to cast spells, just have magic. On the other hand, it doesn't say how they actually go about combining magic."
"Anything's worth a try in my opinion." Della shrugged. "I'll go and find Ethel."
Mildred smiled as Della left the room. The two unexpected cousins were slowly getting used to each other. Since Ethel had accepted Della last night, the mutual trust and respect was growing as the packet of mint imperials decreased exponentially. Mildred looked at Miss Hardbroom, who was massaging her casting fingers, her eyes closed and her mouth a firm, expressionless line.
"I suppose you can't really continue now that Della's left," Mildred suggested. The teacher shook her head.
"No, she must be close enough for me to feel the connection." She sighed heavily and opened her eyes. "Channelling another's magic is a strange experience. I don't quite know how to describe it, but it feels something like both a great responsibility and a great advantage. You know that you are handling and using something precious that isn't yours. At the same time, having double the power behind your spells, the feeling can be quite intoxicating. And Della has an awful lot more than double my power. It is such a shame that she cannot use it herself."
Mildred fell to thinking, before voicing a question that had been playing on her mind for a while.
"If you can channel Della's power, will you be able to defeat Agatha?" she asked her form-mistress. Miss Hardbroom exhaled heavily in a breath that was not quite a sigh but was still capable of expressing all her uncertainties and fears.
"I don't know, Mildred, I honestly don't know. I think that I have a much better chance of defeating her, but we must take into consideration the fact that we do not truly know what we are up against, and there is always the possibility that in order for the power of the Liaison to come to full fruition, the Liaison herself must use it. Yes, I can channel her magic and use it as if it were my own, but that still means it is tainted by own magic and shaped by my own spells. It is not the pure power of the Liaison. Is it simply raw power that makes a Liaison able to defeat a demon, or is it something in their very genetics?" She paused. "Nothing is ever simple, Mildred. There are always far too many questions hanging over our magic. It is, in its very essence, a strange and complicated being with a life of its own. The Foster's tells us that much."
They were interrupted by a knock at the door and Della's voice.
"Constance?"
"Come in."
The door edged open and Della and Ethel poked their heads around it.
"Erm, Miss Hardbroom, could I speak to you for a minute?" asked Ethel. Her face was pinched and nervous, but at the same time she appeared to have a determined air about her.
"Certainly Ethel." She rose and followed Ethel out of the room, leaving Mildred and Della alone together. Della wandered around the small chamber, picking at the charred paper markers that were scattered over the chest of drawers, presently bending to scratch Morgana's ears when the cat rubbed against her ankle.
"What's it like for you?" Mildred asked her. "Having Miss Hardbroom channel your power?"
Della grimaced.
"I don't feel a thing," she said. "I just have to sit here and watch her heaving in pain whilst she copes with having two lots of magic flowing through her." She sighed. "It's horrible to see her when she cracks and gives up."
Mildred bit her lip. She knew that she would never be able to get Miss Hardbroom to admit that channelling Della's magic was difficult and causing her problems with her fingers, so the only way to get a true account was to get it from Della.
"Constance Hardbroom is a truly remarkable witch, don't get me wrong," Della amended hastily. "She's like, I don't know, the Batmobile: fantastically intelligent and the mindset of a tank. But even the Batmobile can only withstand so much bazooka fire. No-one's infallible, and we're all damned to make her see that." She flashed a small smile at Mildred. "Ok, perhaps damned wasn't quite the right word to use in the circumstances."
Mildred returned the smile with a snort and looked towards the door, wondering what Miss Hardbroom and Ethel could be discussing. No doubt it was something to do with Della and Ethel's role in her life. She heard a gasp and turned back to Della, who was gripping the top of the dresser hard. She gasped again and staggered backwards, sitting heavily on the bed before holding her head in her hands.
"What's the matter?" Mildred asked, alarmed by this sudden exclamation. "Are you hurt?"
"Migraine," Della gasped. "I get them sometimes, when I'm tired, or when someone gets me ordinary coffee instead of decaf. Normally I have a bit of warning though. It doesn't usually just hit like that."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"I have some Imigran in my handbag," Della said through gritted teeth. "I keep it for emergencies." She was still clutching her head. "Christ, that's bad. My vision's going all sepia."
Mildred rifled through the large black leather bag to find the tablets, pulling out everything until she finally found the small blue packet and handed them over with a bottle of water that she'd had to move to reach them.
"Thanks." Della popped one of the pills and as she lifted her head to swallow it, Mildred took a step back and gasped in shock. Her eyes, normally a pale, grey-blue, were sparkling like gemstones, and Mildred couldn't see her pupils. Luckily, Della didn't seem to notice her exclamation, closing her disturbing eyes whilst she washed the tablet down. When she opened them again, they were back to normal, but Mildred refused to put down what she had seen to be a trick of the light. There was something very strange occurring, and she didn't know what it was. Was this part of Della's magic, or was it something more sinister, something related to Agatha? Whatever it was, Mildred was sure that it was linked to the sudden migraine. Della leaned over with a small groan, her head almost between her knees.
"I'll get Miss Hardbroom," said Mildred, worried. Now both the women who formed their best hope of victory against Agatha were not at full strength. "Perhaps she could get you a potion that would help or something."
"Sleep," said Della, her voice barely a whimper. "I need sleep."
Mildred rushed out of the door.
"Miss Hardbroom!" she called, the panic that she dared not show to Della rising in her voice. Whilst Mildred was sure that this was no ordinary migraine, she didn't want to worry the one suffering it.
"What is it Mildred?" Miss Hardbroom rounded the corner quickly, Ethel in tow.
"It's Della, she's got a really bad migraine," Mildred explained. "It just came on like that." She snapped her fingers. "I think it's something to do with the magic. She wants a sleeping potion."
"Of course. Ethel, you know where the sleeping potions in the lab are kept, could you fetch me one of the milder ones please?"
Ethel nodded and ran off in the opposite direction, leaving Mildred and Miss Hardbroom to re-enter the room. Della had kicked off her boots and curled up in a ball on the edge of the bed, her face turned away from them.
"Della?" Miss Hardbroom asked softly. She placed a hand lightly on her arm. "How bad is it?"
"On a scale of one to ten, it's a twelve," she muttered. She buried her face in her arms. "I just want to curl up in my own bed and feel sorry for myself. I want my mum."
Neither witch knew what to say to comfort their distressed companion, and they remained in silence until Ethel returned with the potion. Della accepted it wordlessly and Miss Hardbroom helped her swing her legs up onto the bed and lie down fully before she drifted off into a deep, painless slumber.
The three witches left the room.
"We should probably tell the headmistress," said Miss Hardbroom. "Why did you think it was magical, Mildred?"
As Mildred began to explain, she noticed Miss Hardbroom massage her casting fingers almost unconsciously. Whilst Della's sudden attack had thrown them very off-balance, they could not forget that she was not the only one being hurt by magic unknown.
Note2: And all will be revealed soon!
*Kimmeth gets out the old pointy stick and waves it in front of the review button.*
Please?