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Chapter Seventeen
Josephine Hallow
The sisters returned to Cackles and were grateful to hear the low sound of voices from the hall where the perfomance was still going on. Ethel looked at her sisters and put a finger to her lips as they snuck to the mirror room, glad it would be empty.
"At least we don't have to wait" Sybil said as they stepped into the room, Esmerelda nodded and got right to it, she walked to the mirror and held up the calling card that said 'Josephine Hallow' on it. The girls knew it was almost midnight in Australia, but the woman should still be up. There was a few minutes where they waited until the mirror showed an older woman. She was blonde like her granddaughters, but her hair was greying slightly, but she still had a hint of the famous Hallow hair colour, and she looked remarkably like Ethel, if anyone didn't know any better they would think it was future Ethel. The woman looked curious as she answered the call and then beamed.
"Esmie, Ethel, Sybil!" Josephine said with a smile, seeing her young granddaughters looking at her.
"Hi Nan" the three girls chimed waving to her happily, they didn't get to talk to her much so they always savoured it when they did.
"Why are you three dressed funny?" she asked seeing her girls were not in uniform, but dressed in costumes, or in Esmerelda's case, casual clothes.
"There is a perfomance for the Great Wizard at Cackles, sorry you couldn't come Gran" Ethel replied, knowing the woman would be sad she missed it.
Josephine was sad, she had missed a lot because of living so far, so she smiled a sad smile. She hated being so far from them and sometimes wondered if she had made the right decision.
"I am sorry I missed it, but I am sure you all did so well" Jo replied. Esmerelda looked at her sisters before replying.
"They did….." she said, knowing it was coming up to explain everything to Jo.
"What do you mean honey?" Esmerelda asked her curiously, she didn't know what she meant.
Esmerelda glanced at Ethel and Sybil before looking back at Josephine and replying.
"I don't go to Cackles anymore" she said simply, biting her lip worried.
"What? What are you talking about?" Jo asked in disbelief
"Nan….there is something we haven't told you….I don't have magic anymore" Esmerelda went on, now looking at the floor, not wanting to see her nan upset at that statement.
"WHAT!?" The woman shouted, unable to believe what she was hearing.
"It is a long story..." Ethel said before she went into the story.
About how she had being angry and upset Esmerelda got attention all the time and she was pushed aside like a rag doll that a child had grown out of and no longer wanted. She didn't understand why the situation was how it was, she had being good at one point, but even then she had been treated differently, and then how she had come up with an idea to change things. She sneaked into the mirror room and mirrored Agatha, knowing wherever she was, the mirror call would find her. Agatha had picked up and had been shocked to find a student calling her but Ethel had told her they could make a deal, she could get her magic again and help her take over the school, but in return she wanted to be head girl. Agatha, who wanted nothing more than the school agreed and that is why Ethel had made the show of leaving her bedroom that day to meet her. She knew Esmerelda would follow her because Nightstar had gone to see Morgana, Esmerelda's cat. Seeing the cat out of the bedroom at night, Morgana woke up her mistress to alert to her something was wrong, and Esmerelda worried about her sister had followed.
Ethel looked down then as she told her grandmother how she had then tricked Esmerelda and Esmerelda, loving Ethel, had gave up her powers for her, because she couldn't bare for Ethel to do it. Ethel kept her head down as she finished talking.
"ETHEL" Jo shouted, angry and shocked at her granddaughter for what she had done to her sister. It was cruel and horrible, even for Ethel.
"I am sorry...I am evil I know….I live with it" Ethel said looking at her nan.
The woman had never being so angry at Ethel before but she mellowed quickly. This was not Ethel's fault. Ethel was a product of what Triton and Ursulla Hallow had done to her. They had neglected her, they had told her she was nothing, they had starved her of attention, they had taken her sisters out and left her out on purpose, they had treated her like she didn't exist. Ethel's hurt came out in anger and it had gotten worse as she got older. Jo had schooled with Ada and knew the woman was self-centred and cared about things that would make her look good, she knew that Ada, not wanting to deal with Ethel's behaviour, would of left Ethel to her own devices, thinking her behaviour would sort itself out and ignoring her cry for help, in fact last year Esmerelda had told the woman she was worried about Ethel because she was lashing out and she was scared she was going to do something stupid but no-one else seemed concerned….Esmerelda had being right, Ethel had reached her breaking point and had gone to extreme lengths, which could of being avoided if someone had thought maybe Ethel needed counselling or therapy. Jo is not stupid she knows what people think about Ethel, but no-one is willing to help her improve herself.
"Don't cry Ethel" the woman said. She wasn't happy with her but she knew her granddaughter and what had drove her to the point. She wished their parents would take some responsibility for what they had done to her.
"Nan...the reason we are telling you now is no-one will help us, Esmerelda still has no magic and no-one wants to help her" Sybil sad looking at her sisters "We have tried everything but we can't think of a solution" the youngest girl went on. Esmerelda looked at her sister and sighed.
"Maybe I should get the Great Wizard involved" Jo said, wanting to do everything she could to help them.
"He already knows, he was there when Agatha took over the school" Esmerelda told her, knowing the man was the one who had locked Agatha in the painting in the first place, with her powers still in Agatha, she wasn't sure if he had done that on purpose to punish her for her gullibility but it didn't really make a difference.
Josephine Hallow was furious, but not at her granddaughters, at the adults in charge of them. She could not believe all of them were being totally incompetent to leave Esmerelda without magic when there was simple solutions to the problem, she didn't know why they were purposely trying to hurt the girl but they were doing a good job of it.
"Right I am coming over" Jo told her granddaughters. The sisters all looked at each other shocked.
"No Gran, you don't need to come all the way here, we were just mirroring to ask you for advice, there is no need for you to come" Esmerelda told her. She would love to see her nan but she knew the twenty-four hour flight wore her grandmother out and left her jet lagged, it was the reason her visits had got less over the years.
"No, don't try to talk me out of it, this is ridiculous, give me a day and I will be there" the woman said stubbornly, she really was a lot like Ethel. She ended the mirror call before another word could be said.
"Oh no, what are we going to do? When she gets here everyone is just going to be fighting" Esmerelda went on, knowing her parents and Jo always argued when they were together.
"I don't know, but can we watch her shout at HB first before we try to convince her to go back home?" Ethel asked. Esmerelda glared at Ethel, for putting that as her property but then chuckled as she could imagine the scene in her head.
"Nan is the best, she always resolves everything, maybe we should just trust her" Sybil said, knowing why her sisters were concerned. Ethel though looked at her sister.
"You need to stay at Cackles...if you don't then we can't see her and she can't help us, her going to our home will only caught everyone to argue but nothing to be done, we need a reason for you to stay" Ethel replied.
"Like what?" Sybil asked, trying to think of something.
Ethel thought as well and then smiled as a thought entered her head.
"Esmie...how does your leg feel?" she asked her. Esmerelda looked at Sybil before looking at Ethel confused as Ethel smiled.