The Keeper's Curse by Diana Harrison Read Free Book Online Page B

Jade opened the gate, and Emmy’s jaw
dropped again.
    The
grounds, untouched by snow, were freshly cut, and necklaced by a
low, cream, granite wall. In the middle was Urquhart itself,
flanked between two oak trees, and came across less like a school
and more like a private liberal art’s university. It looked like it
was made out of one enormous slab of rich dark wood, with gilded
outlines of the windows and doors. The flagstone path they had been
on led right up to the front entrance.
    “ Are you sure this is the right place?”
    “ I’ve been going here for five years so yeah, I’m pretty
sure,” Alex said.
    The only
flaw was the clusters of students in threes and fours, bright in
lively conversation, littering the grounds.
    At the
front entrance, Jade smiled and beckoned them, and they headed her
way. As usual, Emmy couldn’t stop staring at the crafters, and they
must have noticed, because eyes with colors like malachite green,
midsummer sky and coal black all stared back at her. She focused on
the ground.
    “ As weird as they look to you,” Alex reminded her, “you look
as weird to them.”
    “ But I look like them.”
    “ Only a little. You resemble Dad a lot more than
Mom.”
    She
fought the urge to bury her face in his chest to avoid the stares,
and just as she was about to give into this idea, they reached
Jade.
    “ Alright then, I guess she’s in my hands now,” Jade said. She
didn’t seem to exhibit any signs of resentment, which relieved
Emmy.
    “ If anything happens,” Alex said, facing his little sister.
“You tell me, and I’ll come get you. I don’t need to be in class,
it’s only the first day.”
    She
nodded a little too enthusiastically, trying to mask her anxiety.
He messed up her hair, unsettling the ribbon tying it back, and
disappeared into the school.
    “ Okay, we had better head to the administration office,” Jade
chirped. “Everyone knows you’re here already – don’t look so
surprised! Nobody has been brave enough to attack security in
years. Your mom’s a hit. Anyways, you already have your form filled
out so all you have to do is sign it and we can head to class. Alex
asked me to take the same theory classes as you so I can help you
out. You’re stuck with me all morning.”
    Emmy
didn’t know whether to be touched or annoyed at Alex for putting
that responsibility on her.
    They
opened the double oak doors which lead into the front foyer. It was
just as majestic inside; the panelled walls were varnished, and the
floor would have glistened if it hadn’t been covered by an enormous
Persian rug. The gold-outlined windows were a story above them,
slanted to give them the most amount of light possible, casting
shadows on the animal heads lining the walls.
    Jade
grabbed Emmy’s arm before she could take it all in, leading her
down the main corridor, around a corner to a door with a gold
plaque on it that read “Front Office”.
    “ This is the principal’s office, and administration,” she
said. She didn’t even knock upon entering, dragging Emmy in with
her.
    The
principal’s office must have been in the back, because all Emmy
could see was a mahogany desk and a little woman behind it that
Jade greeted as Ms. Spillet. Despite never seeing Emmy before, Ms.
Spillet recognized her immediately. The receptionist went over the
basic protocol of what was and wasn’t tolerated behaviour at
Urquhart. She told Emmy quite frankly that if she used her powers
in theory classes, she would face a week of suspension for every
offense.
    Emmy took
all this in while signing her name on several pieces of paper. She
thanked the woman and the two girls left the office.
    “ Great. Now we had better hurry, we have International
Relations in five minutes.”
    Alex had
told her in half-comprehensible explanations the outline of the
school and where everything was, but she had never really formed a
map in her head. They went through a seemingly endless assemblage
of corridors, all of