Epilogue: An opening

Iona Deasy stood outside the Psychology classroom. She brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes and pulled down the sleeves of her school jumper. The school felt empty, with little more than a trickle of pupils passing in the corridor, one or two gawping at her, presumably wondering what she was waiting for. Why did Miss Herrick want to see her after school? She normally had good marks, never messed around and had been praised for her contribution in class. Of all her teachers Miss Herrick was her favourite: not only was she obviously really intelligent, but she was one of those teachers who could keep control in class without ever raising her voice. She would be genuinely sorry to have disappointed her.

She knocked on the door of the classroom and went inside. Miss Herrick was sitting at her desk, apparently deep in concentration. Iona hovered in the doorway of the classroom, not sure what was wanted from her. Finally Miss Herrick looked up and smiled serenely.

'Hello Iona, there's no need to be worried. You haven't done anything wrong. Please take a seat.'

Iona sat down at a desk in the front row. Miss Herrick came over and sat down at the desk next to her.

'It's quite the opposite in fact. I wanted to speak to you because you're my most promising student.'

Iona looked down at the desk.

'Oh, really?'

'Really.'

'What about Simon?'

'Simon Edwards? Oh he's certainly talented, but I think you're more suited to what I had in mind.'

Feeling that she was possibly being rude by not looking at her teacher, Iona looked up. Miss Herrick's green eyes were the first thing she saw. They were bright, almost dazzling, but their expression was warm and reassuring.

'I wanted to ask if you were interested in taking some extra lessons,' said Miss Herrick.

'Me?' said Iona. She paused for a moment to think. 'I haven't been getting behind, I don't think.'

'Not at all. This is about going beyond what's in the syllabus. I don't think the other students would be able to cope.'

Iona hesitated.

'I don't know,' she said. 'It sounds interesting, but I wouldn't want to fall behind on other schoolwork.'

'I'll make sure it won't interfere with your other work.'

'Oh … I see,' said Iona.

Miss Herrick smiled pleasantly.

'Does it make you uncomfortable to be singled out in this way from all your classmates?'

Iona blushed slightly.

'I understand that completely,' Miss Herrick continued. 'If you are interested in taking extra lessons, there would be no need to tell them, if you didn't want to. I won't let it slip. So you'll be just as you were. No one will think you're a swot or anything like that.'

'Ok,' said Iona. 'What would the lessons be about?'

'It's applied psychology of a kind,' said Miss Herrick with a serious look. 'Only it goes well beyond what we are able to do under the curriculum. I thought of you because I saw how interested you were by the discussion we had in class on mind control, telekinesis and telepathy. You seemed genuinely interested in whether they are really possible. To a certain extent they are.'

'Really? And you can teach me that?'

'Possibly, but it depends a lot on you. But the results can be spectacular. It's the closest thing to magic we have.'

Iona shivered slightly and looked out of the window. Suddenly she recollected the dreams she had been having in recent weeks: in her dreams she was visited by the witch whose wand she had found, calling Iona to her, to go with her to some unknown destination.

'It's not a coincidence,' she began in a suspicious voice, 'that recently I've been having a recurring dream where some great and secret knowledge is about to be revealed to me. If what you say is true, then I've already had a demonstration of these powers.'

'Iona, this is exactly why it's you I'm asking,' replied Miss Herrick. 'How many students do you think would have figured this out so quickly? You don't realise how gifted you are. You have potential that shouldn't be wasted.'

Iona looked again at her teacher. She drummed her fingers on the desk then ran her hand through her hair.

'Don't make your mind up now,' said Miss Herrick. 'Have a think about it. There's no real hurry. Although if you are interested, the material is quite complicated, so it'll take a while to get to the point where you see practical results.'

'And this will enable me, to all intents and purposes, to do a kind of magic?' Iona asked, her heart beating faster.

'Yes, but you would have to agree to a sort of code of ethics. We can't just do whatever we want with the power; that would be far too dangerous. That's another reason why I thought of you: you're very mature for your age, and you have a clear sense of right and wrong. Without that this method is almost worthless.'

Iona glanced around the classroom: the rows of desks, the posters on the walls, the windows that opened onto the rear playground, from where she could hear the sound of a football hitting the school building as part of an after-school kickabout. This sort of thing doesn't usually happen in a place like this, she thought to herself. She looked back at Miss Herrick, who was sitting patiently at the desk beside her, a bright, serene look on her face.

'Magic,' said Miss Herrick, 'at almost any moment and in any place, is much closer than you think. Little more than a veil hides it from our sight.'

End of part 1