The Curse in the Candlelight

I frowned. I had to speak up. “What do you mean by ‘for good’?”

“I mean,” she said, holding a calloused finger up to my face, “that I don’t want you back here. You think your life is a misery now? Just you wait.” She straightened up and stalked back to the hallway. “Just you wait,” she repeated, only now there was a flicker of glee in her mud-brown eyes. “Downstairs. NOW.”

We ate dinner in silence. I watched as Scarlet stabbed every one of her scraps of meat much harder than was necessary. I knew that she wanted to shout and scream in frustration, but it wouldn’t do any good. We just had to put up with the rest of this miserable day.

Father had looked at Edith with a sort of blank, distracted happiness when she’d handed him his dinner. I wondered if he even saw her at all. Sometimes I imagined that his mind had painted the memory of our mother over Edith, and he never quite noticed that it didn’t fit.

As soon as dinner was over, Scarlet and I headed up the stairs, brushed our teeth and went to bed early. “This birthday can’t be over soon enough,” Scarlet said.

I agreed.

Tomorrow would be the first of September. A new year at Rookwood. As I lay under the dusty sheets and stared up at the dappled ceiling, I tried to forget about everything that had just happened and imagined what it would be like being a third year. New lessons, new teachers, new students to make friends with. We’d had so many new starts, but maybe this would be the one that went right …

I smiled up into the dark, and my eyes slipped shut.

We avoided saying goodbye to Edith the next morning. (She had disappeared. I didn’t know where to, but Scarlet was sure she was up to something.) Father was going to be the one driving us back to Rookwood. The boys were playing football in the garden. I tried waving goodbye to them, only to be met with jeers.

“Boys,” Scarlet said simply, rolling her eyes.

We climbed into the back of Father’s motor car with our bags, breathing in that familiar smell of leather and petrol.

I watched sadly as the cottage faded from view. It had been our home once, after all. But Edith had made it very clear that we were no longer welcome there.

“Bye, house,” Scarlet called out of the window. “It was nice knowing you.”

“You’ll be back soon enough,” Father said, his hands loose on the wheel.

I shared a look with my twin. “I’m not so sure,” I said warily.

He tapped his fingers. “It’s only school, girls. They let you out sometimes.” He sighed as he stared out at the village. “Thirteen years old, eh? Where does the time go?”

“We’re fourteen, Father,” Scarlet said.

He just blinked. “Fourteen, really? Hmm.”

My twin rolled her eyes. I didn’t blame her. Father seemed to be paying less attention to our lives than ever. We were lucky, I supposed – lucky to have Rookwood to go to; who’d have thought I’d be saying that? It wasn’t as though we had a choice anyway – our stepmother didn’t want us there, and she didn’t want us living with our aunts either (not that they really had the room). I just had to hope that we could stay out of trouble for as long as possible. If Rookwood found any reason to expel us, well … where would we go?

The journey passed in a blur of silver skies, green leaves and grey tarmac. The route was familiar to me now, but I still remembered how strange it felt that first time, with Miss Fox and her driver. The thought made me take Scarlet’s hand and squeeze it tight.

She was writing in her diary again – a new paper journal with a green jacket that she’d found at school. Her initials, SG, were written proudly on the cover. She also seemed to have acquired a new fountain pen, which was unusual since we normally used pens you had to dip in ink. I decided it was better not to ask where she had got it from.

“Don’t jog me,” she teased, poking me in the leg. “It’s hard enough to write in this bumpy old thing as it is.”

“It’s always good to see you writing in there,” I said.

“Well,” my twin replied. “You never know when a diary might come in handy …”

Chapter Three

SCARLET

ather’s motor car pulled up on the gravel drive of Rookwood in the shadow of the enormous building, behind a queue of others and a bus. Everywhere girls were leaping out, lugging suitcases, waving to their parents. There were first years crying, clinging to mothers. But most of the older girls seemed eager to get going.

As we climbed out with our bags, I saw a familiar car arriving behind us. It came so close to ours that it almost hit the bumper, and then a familiar man who looked like a bespectacled owl got out. “Sorry!” he said.

I dropped my bag on the floor and ran over to the car, just as the door swung open and our best friend appeared behind the man. “ARIADNE!” I yelled, and jumped on her.

“Oof!” she said. “Steady on, Scarlet.”

I stepped back and grinned. “Never!”

Ivy came up beside me and gave Ariadne a hug. “We missed you so much.”

“Good morning, Sally and Irene,” Ariadne’s father said, tipping his hat at us.

“Morning, Mr Flitworth,” I replied. There was no point in correcting him now. It was what he’d always called us. We’d have to be Sally and Irene forever.

We said goodbye to Father, while Ariadne said goodbye to hers. I could hear him giving her a long lecture about safety and the importance of staying away from windows and potentially poisoned food. I half wished our father cared so much. Instead he’d just said, “Off you go then, see you soon,” and waved us towards the front entrance.

Ivy and I picked up some of Ariadne’s suitcases (she had a little convoy of them, as usual) and together we headed inside for the first day of our new year at Rookwood.

Mrs Knight was waiting in the foyer, greeting everyone. She was the head of our house – Richmond – and as of last year had become the headmistress as well, sort of by default. She was thankfully a lot less murderous than previous occupants of the position, and had a tendency towards being annoyingly cheerful.

“Welcome, welcome!” she was saying. “Everyone head to the hall, please! Carry your bags with you!”

I looked around the foyer, taking in the faces: there were some familiar ones – Nadia and Meena standing beside their very expensive luggage, even … ugh, our worst enemy, Penny, was there, chatting to some of her gang. But there were plenty of unfamiliar ones too. New girls. Mostly they looked like first years, with pristine uniforms. But there were some older girls among them, as well. Mrs Knight’s efforts to restore the school’s reputation had clearly had an effect.

We headed for the hall where the noise was deafening. Everyone was talking at once, greeting friends who they hadn’t seen all summer. We managed to find a seat, just.

“I got you these!” Ariadne said. She pulled one of her suitcases open a crack and took out two envelopes, then handed one to each of us. I tore mine open eagerly.

It was a birthday card showing a girl striding happily along while she held hands with a cat, a dog and a bird. It said, May you have a string of smiles for your birthday. I laughed. “Thanks, Ariadne.”

Ivy grinned, and waved hers at me. It was completely identical.

I tucked mine away in my bag. At least our stepmother couldn’t take these from us.

When everyone had filtered into the hall, the sound of chatter was broken by an ear-splitting whistle from the stage. The talking died away as all of the girls stared up at the swimming instructor and games teacher, Miss Bowler. She had the loudest voice in probably the entire world; she also seemed to have been given the job of ordering everyone about. “SIT DOWN, ALL OF YOU!” she boomed.

When we had all done as she said, she stepped aside, leaving Mrs Knight in full view.

“Welcome, girls!” she said, her expression as bright and cheery as ever. “Welcome to a brand-new year at Rookwood! We will be having a completely fresh start. I’m sure if we all work together, this will be the best year yet.”

She did a sort of fist-pump, clearly expecting people to cheer. Nobody did. Except Ariadne.

“First things first,” she shuffled all of the papers in front of her. “I want to announce that as I am officially the headmistress of the school, I am stepping down as the head of Richmond House. Your new house mistress will be Madame Zelda.”

Well, that was an odd choice, considering that Madame Zelda hadn’t been at the school very long and she wasn’t exactly normal. Everyone looked around to see the silver-haired ballet teacher, who was tapping her long fingernails against her arm and smiling. She gave a small nod, and a flurry of whispers began.

“So now,” Mrs Knight continued, “the first thing we need to do is get everyone lined up in alphabetical order in their house groups, then your teachers will give out room assignments and make sure that everyone knows where they’re going. Then we will give out the lesson timetables, and the lists of rules and maps of the school for the new pupils.” She took a deep breath, “And then—”

She was interrupted by the doors at the back of the hall flying open.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” came a voice.

Everyone turned in their seats to look.

It was a girl, about our age, with incredibly long jet-black hair. She was dressed in Rookwood uniform, but instead of the regulation shoes, she was wearing a pair of black pointed boots. There was a suitcase in her hand (black too, and very battered). She stood there, chin raised, as if the fact that she had just walked in late in front of the entire school was nothing at all.

Miss Bowler strode towards her. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“I’m Ebony McCloud,” said the girl. “Who are you?”

Everyone gasped and Miss Bowler spluttered. “I am your games teacher, Miss Bowler,” she said, “and you are in trouble unless you sit down right this minute!”

“All right, then,” said Ebony with a twitch of a smile, wandering over to a seat and sitting down.

She had a Scottish accent, and a voice that made me think of mist and mountains. There was a strange darkness to it.

“Ahem,” said Mrs Knight from the stage. “Everyone! Back to me, please!”

We all turned round again, but Ebony stayed stuck in my mind. She was … interesting. She reminded me a little of Violet, my former arch-nemesis. Speaking of which, I wondered if Violet had returned. I scanned the hall, but I couldn’t see her. But I did see her friend Rose – now our friend Rose – who had proved herself to be truly magnificent in the summer when she’d overcome her shyness to stand up to her evil relatives. I gave her an enthusiastic wave, and she grinned back at me.

“Now for a few notices,” Mrs Knight was saying, “and then we’ll all line up. Firstly, the library is up and running again and will be open from nine o’clock each morning for anyone who wants to read …”

I tuned out, and my mind wandered to the room assignments. Would Ivy and I get our old room back, my lucky number thirteen? I wasn’t sure how it worked. First years always had bigger dorms, but everyone else was in twos. Hopefully we’d get to keep the same one. If we didn’t, well … I hoped the new occupants wouldn’t notice the hole in the mattress where I’d hidden my diary.

“Right then,” Mrs Knight said when she’d finished reading her seemingly endless list. She waved her hands about in the air. “I repeat – line up in your houses, everyone! Richmond down the left, Mayhew in the middle, Evergreen on the right! You should have been assigned your house in your welcome letter! Alphabetical by surname, please!”

I don’t think our headmistress quite anticipated the chaos that ensued. There was a huge amount of scrambling as everyone tried to pick up their luggage and head in the right direction, climbing over seats and in some cases the other students!

“Carefully!” I heard Mrs Knight call out.

“Calm down, the lot of you!” Miss Bowler yelled. “It’s not a race!”

I picked up my bag (though we left Ariadne’s in a heap), and tried to head for the Richmond line. It wasn’t easy, given that a large amount of people were trying to head the other way.

“Watch it!” I called out to one girl who nearly swung her bag into my face. She stuck her tongue out at me as she passed.

Finally, after a lot of jostling, the three of us made it to the other side of the room and into the line. Then there was yet more jostling as we tried to figure out the order we were supposed to stand in. Ariadne’s surname was Flitworth, so she had to go further up.

Ivy nudged me. “Look,” she said. “Rose is near Ariadne.”

I realised what she meant and smiled. Rose had had to hide her identity for a long time when she’d first arrived, but now she could tell the world that she was from the wealthy Fitzwarren family.

Ivy and I slotted in next to a first year who informed us she was named Abigail Greenwich. I peered to the front and saw that Madame Zelda was up by the stage handing out sheaves of paper and clipboards, and that she was talking to Miss Finch. It made me smile to see my favourite teacher, Miss Finch, again, and to see that she and Madame Zelda were getting on all right. Or at least, passably. That was really something, considering that Madame Zelda had admitted to pushing Miss Finch off the stage when they were at ballet school, leaving her with an injured leg for life.

I was less pleased to see Penny at the head of the line, still wearing her shiny prefect badge. Would we ever get rid of her?

The teachers started at different parts of the very long line that went all the way to the end of the hall, walking along with clipboards. It wasn’t long before one of them reached us – Miss Pepper, the slightly eccentric art teacher.

“Name?” she asked.

“Ivy Grey,” my twin replied.

She nodded and ticked off the name on her register. “Of course, I taught you last year. Here’s your timetable and some forms to fill out for elective lessons and such.” She leant forward. “I hear art is very popular,” she said with a wink at the first year behind us.

Ivy took the papers and rifled through them.

“All right …” Miss Pepper ran her finger down the register. “You are assigned room thirteen on the second floor. Aaaand …”

“Scarlet Grey,” I said.

“You too, Little Miss Twin!” she said. “Room thirteen. Unlucky for some.” She handed me the same bits of paper she’d just handed Ivy, and then moved on to the next person.

“Phew!” Ivy said. “Same room again. And together.”

“Yes!” I cheered. Everything was going to plan. “I’ll just see who Ariadne got. Maybe she’ll be sharing with Rose?”

I was pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to leave the line, but considering I had everything I needed, I didn’t think it mattered. I stepped out and wandered forward to find …

“Ariadne?”

She was leaning against the window, holding her papers. But her face was white and her hands were shaking.

“Ariadne?” I asked again, waving my hand in front of her face. “What’s wrong? Who did you get?”

My friend turned to me, her eyes glazed and distant. “I can’t … I can’t …” she said.

And then she fainted.

Chapter Four

IVY

ran over to Ariadne immediately. Her legs had gone from underneath her, and Scarlet was trying to hold her up. “What on earth happened?” I asked.

Everyone was staring now.

“SOMEONE GET THE SMELLING SALTS!” Miss Bowler boomed.

Ariadne’s eyelids fluttered. “I’m f-fine,” she mumbled. “Isn’t it hot in here?”

It wasn’t particularly hot at all, but I fanned Ariadne anyway. “Are you all right?” I took her arm. She didn’t feel that warm.

“I’m fine,” she said again, standing upright and brushing herself down, but her face looked drawn and she was breathing a bit too heavily for my liking. “Perfectly fine.”

Suddenly, I got the feeling that whatever the matter was, it was something she didn’t want to talk about in front of the staring eyes of the whole school.

“She’s all right,” I called.

“Nothing to see here!” Scarlet yelled, waving people away.

“Crisis averted!” Miss Bowler shouted. Her voice drowned out everyone else’s. “Carry on!”

There was the usual low mumbling of gossip, but slowly everyone went back to what they’d been doing.

Scarlet and I went into a huddle with Ariadne. “What is it?” Scarlet hissed. “What’s really the matter?”

Ariadne gulped. “It’s my room assignment,” she said.

“Not Violet again?” Scarlet asked. I didn’t think that was likely. Violet had left last term. I wasn’t sure if she was ever coming back.

“Worse,” Ariadne replied. “It’s … it’s Muriel Witherspoon.”

Scarlet and I looked at each other, and then asked in unison, “Who?”

“Muriel Witherspoon,” she repeated.

Whoever this person was, Ariadne seemed terrified of her.

“She was the bully from my old school,” Ariadne explained. “The really awful one. The one who ran the secret club in the shed that I burned down.”

“Oh …” I looked around, remembering the story of Ariadne’s past and how she had happened to come to Rookwood. I wondered if this girl was someone I’d already seen. “Are you sure it’s the same person? Why would she be here?”

“I heard the name,” Ariadne said desperately. “How many Muriel Witherspoons can there be? Oh, this is a disaster!”

“It’ll be all right,” I said. “We’ll protect you. We won’t let her pick on you again.”

But Ariadne didn’t look reassured. She shuffled her feet about on the hall floor. “But we’re sharing a room! You won’t be there at night. What if she’s nasty to me then?”

“I’ll give her a good punching the next morning,” Scarlet offered.

I shot my twin a look. “No punching, Scarlet. We’ll just … we’ll tell her not to. We’ll tell the teachers. We’ll do something.”

“I’ll go and look for her,” my twin said suddenly.

“Scarlet, don’t!” Ariadne tried to hold her back, but Scarlet was already striding down the line towards the Ws. Ariadne gave me a panicked look, and then we both set off after her.

Madame Zelda was at that part of the line, checking through the names. Scarlet lurked behind her, obviously hoping to overhear. I noticed that Josephine Wilcox didn’t seem to have come back to school – which was probably no surprise, given that Miss Fox had pushed her out of a window last year.

Madame Zelda had just handed a timetable to a fourth year named Harriet Wilson, so this Muriel had to be nearby. When Ariadne froze, I knew she must have seen her. She spun round and looked the other way.

“Which one?” I whispered.

“The one with the felt cap and the blonde curls,” she said out of the side of her mouth.

I tried to have a look without being too obvious, but Scarlet was already ruining that because she was standing by the line and clearly staring at everyone. I soon saw who Ariadne was talking about – near to Harriet.

I had to admit that, at first glance, this girl didn’t look like a terrible bully. She didn’t have a permanent sneer like Penny’s. In fact her eyes were glued to the floor, as though she was trying to make herself as small as possible.

“Muriel … Witherspoon?” Madame Zelda said, the name unfamiliar on her tongue.

The girl nodded. Ariadne squeezed my hand.

“Here you go.” Madame Zelda gave her the little sheaf of papers. “Now, you’ll be in room fifteen, with Ariadne Flitworth.” She moved on to the next girl, revealing Muriel’s stunned expression.

I turned back. “She looks almost as shocked as you did,” I said. “But she didn’t faint.”

Ariadne gripped the back of the seat she was leaning on. “She’s probably just waiting so she can humiliate me in front of everyone.”

I felt a tap on my shoulder – it was Scarlet. “I don’t want to worry you …” she said, “but Muriel Witherspoon’s coming this way.”

I turned round to see where Scarlet was pointing. I thought Ariadne was about to start hyperventilating.

“Oh no,” she said quietly. “Oh no, oh no, oh—”

But she didn’t get a final oh in because Muriel had appeared beside us. She tipped her hat back away from her face and looked down. “Ariadne?”

Ariadne appeared to be trying to sink into the floor, but eventually she looked up. “Hello, Muriel,” she said softly.

There was a tense moment, like a little bubble of silence in the middle of the hall chaos, then Muriel spoke again. “It’s good to see you.” She paused. “Look, I’m really sorry about all that bother at our old school. I hope we can put it behind us. I’ve turned over a new leaf.”

“Oh,” Ariadne said, but I could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn’t the slightest bit convinced. “Well. That’s good. Very nice.”

“I’ll see you in our room,” Muriel said with a small smile. She nodded at Scarlet and me and then walked away.

“Well, that didn’t seem so bad,” I said.

“So bad?” Ariadne shook her head. “She’s just pretending. She has to be. She was so horrible, Ivy! You wouldn’t believe it.”

Scarlet shrugged. “I know how horrible some people can be – we’ve met Penny. And Miss Fox. And—”

“All right,” Ariadne replied, “I get the idea. But she’s as bad as all of them. Worse!”

I wasn’t sure I could believe that, especially not since the Muriel I’d seen in front of me had just been so polite. We had to reassure Ariadne somehow, or she was never going to stop worrying about it. “Don’t panic,” I told her. “Perhaps you just need to give her a chance? She might really have changed.”

Ariadne said nothing, just bit her lip and blinked at me.

“And if she hasn’t …” Scarlet said, “then she’ll be sorry.”

“Scarlet …” I warned.

“What? I didn’t say I’d hit her this time …”

Finally, the time came for Mrs Knight to send us all to our rooms to get unpacked. The first lessons wouldn’t be starting until after lunch, according to the timetable.

“All these maps and timetables would certainly have been useful to help me find my way around when I had to pretend to be you,” I muttered to Scarlet as we climbed the stairs, lugging all the bags.

“I had mine,” Ariadne said. “I think Miss Fox just didn’t give them to you.”

“Well, at least Mrs Knight is more organised,” I said.

“And less murderous,” added Scarlet.

Ariadne came to a halt at the top of the stairs, as if her feet had just stopped working. A bunch of other girls pushed round her, with a draught of angry mumbling.

“I don’t want to go in there,” she said, staring down the hallway.

“It’ll be fine.” Scarlet squeezed her arm. “Just leave the door open. You can come back to our room if she’s awful.”

“All right,” Ariadne sighed. “Thank you.”

Scarlet and I trudged down the corridor together and dropped Ariadne’s suitcases off at her door.