Dark Spell by Gill Arbuthnott Read Free Book Online Page B

seemed a nice boy when I met him at the castle.”
    “He was in a rush,” Callie said firmly.
    The mention of the castle made her wonder if she should tell Rose about what had happened in the tunnel. She imagined how it was going to sound here in the sun, in the familiar surroundings of The Smithy, anddecided against it. She’d just come across like an over-imaginative idiot.
    “It’s a shame he didn’t come in,” said Barbara. “Isobel and I won’t get another chance to see him. We’re both off on holiday tomorrow.”
    “Your mother was here yesterday,” said Rose gloomily. “She says I’m ruining your life.”
    “No you’re not,” said Callie indignantly. “You’re trying to help. But you know how I feel: I just want to be me; I don’t want all this witch stuff. It’s just going to get in the way.”
    “But the ‘witch stuff’
is
you. It’s part of you, Callie,” said Isobel. “It’s not going to go away.”
    “And it’s not a
bad
thing,” added Barbara. “Once you know what you’re doing, it doesn’t have to get in the way of anything; it can be really useful.”
    They’d been over this again and again, but no one seemed to have made any progress convincing Callie. On the other hand, Julia hadn’t persuaded her to abandon the training either…
    “Let’s get started,” said Bessie.
    “Yes,” said Rose. “Barbara, you go into the bathroom.” As Barbara went, Rose filled the washing-up bowl with water. “Just you come over to the sink, Callie.”
    This was one of the things Callie was getting the hang of. She waited for the water surface to grow completely still, then breathed on it, saying the words of the spell in her head. The water turned hazy white, then cleared to show Barbara’s face.
    “Hello, Callie. Well done.”
    “Hello, Barbara. Can you hear me?”
    “Loud and clear, dear.”
    “You’ve got this nicely, Callie.” Rose was smiling now.
    “You’re right. This isn’t hard once you get the hang of it. I suppose it’s a bit like Skype, really. But I can’t see the point of it. Why would you muck about with bowls of water when there’s phones and texts and emails and stuff?”
    Bessie harrumphed. “You don’t think all that’s been around for ever, do you? Anyway, just consider what happens to the lights and the radio sometimes when you’re practising. Strong magic can scramble all this electrical gubbins. There’ll come a time when you’ll be grateful for this old-fashioned stuff. And this,” she gesticulated at the bowl, “is what witches do.”
    Callie wasn’t convinced. “When can I learn a spell that might actually be useful for something? Teach me how to stop the magic breaking out when I don’t want it to. Show me how to stop my fingers tingling then something crazy happening that I didn’t mean to do. If I’m stuck with witchcraft, I want to be in charge of it.”
    “That’s all part of taking control of your power fully,” said Rose. “It’ll come. Surely you’ve noticed that it’s getting better?”
    “I suppose so. But it still gets away from me sometimes.”
    Rose gave her a sympathetic smile. “Cast the net.” She handed Callie two candles.
    “And you can’t say this isn’t useful,” said Bessie, still intent on defending traditional witchcraft. “It’s a spell of protection. No dark magic can cross the net.”
    “We think it’s time you tried this on something alive,” Isobel said.
    “No!” Callie exclaimed instantly. “What if I get it wrong?”
    “No harm done.”
    “No harm? Remember what happened to Bessie’s teapot? I don’t want to lop someone’s arm off,” she continued, panic-stricken.
    “No, no. Not one of
us
,” Isobel said.
    “Luath?”
    “Certainly not! I thought we’d try with something in the garden first and see if that’s still in one piece when you finish with it.”
    “A
plant
? I thought you said something alive?”
    “For goodness sake, girl. Plants are alive. You do biology,