Chapter 24
Constance woke suddenly early the next morning to a burning sensation in her wrist, and she realised the silver bracelet was once more summoning her to Mistress Broomhead. She drowsily opened her eyes and the first thing she noticed was that the small glass vial which had contained her sleeping draft had disappeared. Presumably it had been returned to Mistress Broomhead through a retrieval spell. Constance knew that Mistress Broomhead never made empty threats, but she still felt relieved that she had not decided to risk avoiding the sleeping draft and had taken it as commanded.
Constance sat up and realised that, not for the first time, she had fallen asleep on top of her bed fully clothed. On this occasion it was a blessing as it saved her a little time and she risked looking in her desk drawer to make sure the potion she had brewed the previous evening was still safe. She was relieved to see the small bottle of entirely transparent liquid was still there and she hoped she would have an opportunity to use it to restore Hemlock before the day was out.
Satisfied, she transported herself from her room to Mistress Broomhead's office. As she re-appeared, she tried to surreptitiously smooth the worse of the creases from her clothes.
"So glad you deigned to join us Constance" Mistress Broomhead greeted her.
Constance turned to see that Gwendoline was standing beside her. Her curled her had a slightly dishevelled look to it that told Constance she too had been woken just moments before. In contrast, Mistress Broomhead was sat behind her desk looking immaculate and Constance wondered, as she had many times before, whether the elder witch ever slept.
"I'm sorry" Constance began "my sleeping draft- "
Mistress Broomhead cut in "I brew that sleeping draft Constance. I know full well what its effects are and what is simply idleness, or wilfulness. The apology was all I wanted to hear. Do not waste my time with weak excuses"
She paused for a moment, presumably to test how Constance was going to react. Constance chose to remain silent and Mistress Broomhead continued.
"Hemlock has been missing since yesterday evening. Do either of you know anything about this?"
"Hemlock? No" Gwendoline replied "have you tried using a finding charm to- "
"If you thought of that, do you not think I would have also Mistress Fairwind?" Mistress Broomhead admonished scornfully "My spells tell me she is not in the college. This either means she has left the college grounds without my knowledge, which would be very uncharacteristic. Or she has been concealed by magical means"
Constance felt herself under the scrutiny of Mistress Broomhead's glare and raised her eyes to find herself meeting those of her tutor.
"You were the last person to see her, Constance. Would you care to shed any light on the situation?"
"No Mistress Broomhead" Constance replied "I mean, I was the last person to see her but I have no idea where-"
"Is that so?" Mistress Broomhead responded "well, if neither of you have any idea where she is then I am sure you will not object to assisting me in looking for her. If she is not found in the next 24 hours, I can only assume magical interference. And I warn you, whoever is responsible will incur my displeasure"
On the word displeasure, Mistress Broomhead sent out a strong wave of magic which struck both Constance and Gwendoline like a breaking tide. It caused them both to gasp quietly and stagger slightly were they stood. Ignoring their response, Mistress Broomhead began to give her clipped instructions.
It was once again nearly sunset, when Constance finally sank wearily into her chair in her classroom. The entire Sunday had been lost to a fruitless but nonetheless thorough search of the college grounds. Supervised intermittently by Mistress Broomhead who appeared regularly to ensure Constance was doing a thorough enough job. These checks were the reason for the sharp holly leaf Constance was now trying to untangle from her tightly coiled hair. Mistress Broomhead had insisted she crawled beneath the largest holly bush in the college to ensure Hemlock was not concealed underneath. It was also the reason for the gritty sensation in her socks. Mistress Broomhead had also demanded Constance search in an old stone culvert which ran underneath one of the castle towers. While Constance had managed to magically dry her clothes following her climb through the icy cold water, the silt in her socks had remained rubbing against her feet for the rest of the day.
Realising that she still had ingredients to prepare for her class tomorrow, Constance peeled off the offending socks before hauling herself to her feet. She crossed the classroom barefoot towards her potions store. Just at that moment, her classroom door opened, and Gwendoline appeared, her hair standing on end just as much as it had that morning, and a streak of dirt running across her left cheek.
"Well," she said, closing the door behind her before flopping down onto one of the stools. "I can tell you one thing for certain. That cat isn't up in those attics. She probably just went a bit far hunting last night and is taking her time coming back. Although, I always thought she was a bit of a spiteful thing. I wouldn't put it past her to stay hidden just so we have to spend the day chasing around after her. I hope she is back in the morning otherwise…"
Gwendoline paused and both her and Constance were silent for a moment, contemplating what exactly might happen if the cat wasn't back the following morning.
"I am sure she will be back by the morning" Constance reassured with less confidence than she felt. "I do wonder why we were the only recruits to the search though. Surely Mistress Broomhead's undergraduate tutees could have helped in the search"
"I thought you knew Constance, she no longer has any" Gwendoline replied, slightly shocked "Actually you were the last tutee she took. Obviously thought she wasn't going to come across anyone more talented than you and so she never agreed to take anyone else. It would be almost flattering if only it hadn't ruined your life"
Gwendoline smiled at Constance grimly and the two friends silently set to work on prepping Constance's potions ingredients, both lost in her own thoughts.
"So, tell me" Gwendoline asked after a little time had passed "I have barely seen you. How did your presentation go for the witches' council?"
"I am not meant to talk about it" the words were harsh and came out of Constance's mouth before she even had a chance to think about them
"But you can tell me, surely?" Gwendoline's voice had a slightly hurt tone.
Constance looked up from her ingredients into the open, blue eyes of her colleague. When she next spoke, she was relieved to find her words coming out normally.
"Yes of course I can. I'm sorry. It went very well. So well in fact…"
Constance reached into her desk drawer, pulled out the now crumpled and still slightly ink stained letter and handed it to Gwendoline.
"But Constance" her friend replied once she had time to read it "this is wonderful. You do know that the chief wizard's research department all get honorary fellowships to Weirdsister College. So, you would have access to all the facilities to carry on your own research. In fact, they encourage it. This is such an amazing opportunity. Surely you are going to take it?"
"I don't know" Constance replied, "I mean, I think Mistress Broomhead always intended me to carry on doctoral studies here like you did and well, will this be so different?"
"Constance" Gwendoline said firmly, setting aside the ingredients she was preparing and seating herself facing her friend "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I am getting really concerned about you. You seem different. Every small command or gesture from Mistress Broomhead and you wordlessly and willingly comply. You used to have so much strength and fight in you. It is what I admired, right from the time you produced that spectacular grape vine in my first-year potions exam. But now, it is almost as if you have given up somehow. What has changed?"
"I – "Constance opened her mouth to at once protest the accusations, but then paused for a moment to consider how she must appear from the outside "you are right. I know you are right. At first, I convinced myself I was doing it for an easy life. My research was my passion and the way to have time to spend on it was to just agree with what Mistress Broomhead wanted. But I must be honest with myself. I think I was just too frightened to admit the truth, which is I don't seem to be able to help but do what she wants. It is almost like a reflex, often before I have even thought about it. Maybe she has just trained me so well, that I have become conditioned to do it. But I don't know. Sometimes I think it is more than that."
"What do you mean?" Gwendoline asked
Now that she had begun, it was like a stone gaining motion down a hill and Constance couldn't help but tell her everything. The words came pouring from her lips, voicing concerns that she hadn't even really allowed to form in her own mind. How she was sleepwalking regularly and often woke in Mistress Broomhead's classroom or office. How she had noticed changes in her magic – her powers were often sluggish and unresponsive in the mornings, or erratic and unexpected in the afternoons. How, despite the sleeping draft, she never felt rested and just was becoming more and more weary. And finally, how last week she had woken in the morning to find bruises on her arm that she was sure had not been there when she went to sleep.
Constance finally drew her speech to a close, breathing heavily after the outpouring of words. She started in alarm when Gwendoline suddenly rose from her chair and put her arms around her. Constance instantly went rigid in her friend's arms, unused to any kind of physical affection. Gwendoline gently and tactfully broke the hug apart.
"Why did you not say something earlier?" she gently scolded "But now you have, we can try and do something about it. I think from everything you have said. The key to all this is your sleepwalking.
"Yes" Constance realised she had already made this connection herself "I think so too"
"Well how about I stay awake and watch you. See exactly what you are doing when you sleepwalk. I could do it tonight"
"I think, if you don't mind, we are going to have to" Constance agreed, but then suddenly remembered Hemlock "but not tonight. There is something I must see to first and it has to be tonight. But how about tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow" Gwendoline agreed.