Chapter Fourteen
Finally it was cross-country, and like always the only person who was enjoying themselves was Imogen, everyone else found the lack of breath they were experiencing torture. Luckily for Mildred and company, they would not have to suffer for long.
As Ethel and Drusilla were also to blame for Miss Hardbroom's condition, Ethel for telling on them and getting them expelled which led to Drusilla going to join Mildred's group and helping to release the uninvited, they had both not taken much convincing to help. Mildred was surprised even Ethel appeared to be expressing so much guilt.
The girls ran normally until their plan was put into action whilst crossing the lake. A quick spell to cause a rain storm, which Imogen ignored and told the girls to carry on, until everyone fell in the lake as they crossed when the tree trunk they were walking on suddenly vanished beneath their feet.
Mildred felt bad doing this to her classmates but they hadn't been able to think of any other way to cause a long enough distraction. Seeing Imogen helping girl after girl out the water, Mildred and friends ran off to the library, with Ethel and Drusilla behind them.
Knowing Ruby was the best at computers, they left her to be the one to search. As she used the log information that the library had given her, Mildred spoke.
"This is a bad idea, do you really think its as simple as searching for a specialist and they're just going to appear with on a list?" Mildred asked not knowing much about computers.
"Yes, it just appeared with a list of 300 people" Ruby replied as she showed her the results. Mildred had not realised it was so easy.
"That's fascinating" Mildred replied, amazed it was so simple.
"Yes, some are far, this one is in Canada and this one is in America" Ruby told them.
"Look this one is in Wales!" Enid replied pointing.
"And this one in England" Maud told them.
"Yes, they might not necessarily be able to help us, but I am going to email the local ones and a couple of others just in case and hopefully we get a response" Ruby told them, attaching various email addresses to the email she was typing before sending.
"Now what?" Jadu asked
"Now we wait" Ruby told them all as she clicked sent on the email.
It was hard but Ruby sneaked off as often as she could at lunchtime when everyone was distracted to check her email, hoping to have replies from any of the specialists. She got a few but they told her they didn't know how to help with their specific problem.
A week later, Mildred and the others, apart from Ruby, who was checking her emails, were sitting down, trying to stomach the cold mushy food in front of them.
"I love Ruby, but she was thinking too much this would be the solution, the internet doesn't solve everything" Jadu said staring at the food and feeling sick.
"You try telling her that, she is going to be more disappointed than the rest of us when this gets us nowhere" Maud replied.
"Yes, who knows how many people on that list she found are still working anyway" Enid replied, pushing her bowl away as she gave up trying to eat her food.
The door opened and Ruby ran in, shouting something and not making sense.
"Ruby? Is there a problem?" Imogen asked who was on lunch duty and saw the girl's entrance. Ruby fell silent.
"No, sorry Miss Drill" Ruby said before she took a seat and spoke "Someone replied, he said he had a similar case a few years ago and managed to cure the victim, he thinks he can help us" Ruby told the girls beaming.
"You're kidding!" Mildred said.
"No, he said he was away working, so only just saw my message, he says he wants to meet with Miss Cackle, to discuss everything in more detail" Ruby told her friends who all looked at each other, worried, as they would now have to tell Amelia what was going on and they didn't know if she would be angry they had interfered.
"Come in" Amelia said in response to the knock at her door. She took a sip of her tea but lowered it as she saw the students.
"Is everything alright girls?" Amelia asked them worried.
"It's better than alright...we wanted to help Miss Hardbroom" Mildred started.
"That is sweet Mildred, but it's not that easy" Amelia explained.
"I know Miss, but I had the idea to go to the library down the hall to use the internet, you have more up to date listings and more options for specialists there" Ruby told her headmistress hoping she wasn't mad.
"You have been sneaking out of school?" Amelia commented.
"Just off the cross country, only Drill was enjoying the torture anyway" Enid replied, Amelia found it incredibly hard to hide a smirk at the comment.
"We had to Miss, this is our fault, for releasing the uninvited in the first place" Maud replied sadly.
"Girls it was an accident, you didn't know it was going to end like this" Amelia told them.
"Yes but we refused to listen when Fenny and Gris told us how dangerous that book was, and we had to try to do something" Ruby replied.
"And I know you will be glad we did, as we got a response from someone who thinks he can help us" Jadu told her teacher.
"Really!?" Amelia asked shocked.
"Yes, he's in Devon, but he said he would like to meet to discuss it in more detail, he had a similar case he managed to cure the victim in" Ruby told her.
"I'm afraid I don't know how to use the internet" Amelia replied with a sigh.
"You don't need too, he is willing to meet in person" Mildred explained.
Amelia suddenly looked teary and Mildred now felt bad for upsetting her as that hadn't been the intention.
"Oh Miss Cackle please don't get upset we are just trying to help" Mildred told her.
"I know, I am just overwhelmed you all care so much, tell this specialist I agree to the meeting" Amelia said thinking she had nothing to lose "And thank you" Amelia told them.
"We will let you know when it is and you're welcome Miss" Mildred said closing the door behind them.
As she did Amelia finally started crying hard, as the situation they were in hit her and the pain she was feeling became overwhelming. She cried hard in the safety of her personal office, just wanting everything to go back to normal. She wasn't holding up much hope for this specialist to be able to help, she was used to disappointments recently.
She wasn't sure how long she sat there sobbing for, all she knew was the aching she felt deep inside would never go away until the woman she had legally adopted, and fell in love with the day they met, was better, and back by her side, bossing everyone around like normal. Like home.