The Broken Spell by Erika McGann Read Free Book Online

her rucksack off her shoulder in a wide arc over her head, firing it at Tracy’s face. The Beast ducked just in time, letting the bag fly past her, smash through one of the glass panes lining the corridor and land on the grass outside. There was a stunned silence.
    ‘What’s going on down there?’ a voice thundered from the Main Hall.
    Tracy let go of Delilah’s jumper and made her escape with her two friends in tow, knocking over Grace as she went.Jenny struggled to get Grace and Delilah to their feet at the same time, just as Ms Gold arrived.
    ‘I heard a crash. What happened?’ She glanced at the broken window. ‘Oh. Does that bag belong to one of you?’
    ‘It wasn’t Jenny’s fault, Miss,’ Grace explained. ‘Tracy Murphy was beating up this girl and Jenny was just trying to stop her. It was an accident.’
    ‘And that’s your bag, Jenny?’
    Jenny nodded solemnly putting one arm around a still tearful Delilah.
    ‘She’s just a first year,’ Grace went on, ‘and she’s only just moved here, Miss. Tracy’s been picking on her.’
    Ms Gold looked for a long moment at the small girl, but Delilah avoided her gaze.
    ‘What was that?’ They heard Mr Collins’s voice coming towards them. ‘I heard something smash.’
    Grace felt sick to her stomach as she heard the Vice Principal approaching. There was no way they weren’t going to get in trouble for this.
    ‘Did somebody break something? Is anyone hurt?’ He was rounding the corner; he’d be upon them any second.
    Grace heard a gentle tinkle of glass and, just as he arrived, she turned to see the window fully restored, gleaming and unbroken, with Jenny’s bag still lying on the grass outside. Her mouth dropped open.
    ‘Nothing broken, Mr Collins, luckily,’ said Ms Gold. ‘Thesegirls were in too much of a hurry and one of them banged into the window, but no injuries and no harm done.’
    ‘Oh,’ said Mr Collins, inspecting the glass, ‘I could have sworn I heard something break.’
    ‘Cup of tea in the staffroom?’ smiled Ms Gold.
    The Vice Principal’s face lit up immediately.
    ‘You know, I was just thinking I’d love a cup of tea right now. Wonderful. Oh, and, eh, be careful girls, won’t you?’
    ‘Lead the way, Mr Collins,’ said Ms Gold, turning to give Grace a wink as she followed the Vice Principal back down the corridor.
    ‘Did you see that?’ Jenny gasped.
    ‘That was
amazing
!’ Grace replied.
    ‘Thank God she was here, or I’d have been suspended for sure.’
    Grace turned to Delilah. ‘Are you okay?’
    She pulled a clean tissue from her pocket and gave it to Delilah who wiped away the last of her tears.
    ‘Yes,’ she sniffled. ‘Thank you.’
    ‘Come on,’ said Jenny, giving her shoulders a squeeze. ‘Come and have lunch with us.’

    Adie and Rachel were watching Ms Gold like she was the Second Coming. Holding two large bottles, fused together at the neck with one on top of the other, their teacher wasdemonstrating her ‘homemade’ tornado. One bottle was half-filled with pale green liquid and, when shaken and upturned, the coloured water slowly emptied into the bottom bottle, forming a perfect twister in the glass neck. Grace gazed into the spinning vortex. She had seen one of these before – they were all over YouTube – and she wondered where the magic was. Unconsciously, she played the witch’s theme from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in her mind, catching sight of tiny debris in the bottle. She concentrated on the edge of the twister, suddenly picking out a teeny, tiny house spinning in the liquid. She looked closer and could make out miniature figures, cars and even farm animals caught in the mini-storm. She glanced up at Ms Gold, who smiled at her knowingly. Her two friends had also spotted the magical extras, and were whispering excitedly to one another. Nobody else in the class seemed to notice.
    When the bell rang, the three girls stayed in their seats. They waited until everyone else had left in a