Witch - By Fiona Horne Page 0,27

ridge in the far distance, I carefully poured the sand Dean had collected from the plastic bag onto a flat stone. I unfolded the tissue revealing the hairs.

‘Gross,’ said Dean.

‘Uh huh.’ I nodded and grabbed the knife. ‘Here goes.’

‘How are you going to draw blood?’ Dean asked.

‘Quickly,’ I said, and he looked even more uncomfortable.‘Don’t worry, Dean, I have the desert sage you gave me in my pocket. It will protect me, right?’

‘Not from septicaemia,’ he said dryly.

I smiled and held the blade of the knife over the flames. I felt the handle start to warm as I watched the flames flicker. They were mesmerising, and a heavy, calm sensation came over me.

‘It’s time,’ Dean whispered.

I looked up and the moon had revealed herself: an enormous luminescent pearl floating up over the mountains.

‘Dean, can you please hold the bag open for me?’

He grabbed the bag and stretched the neck wide.

I scooped up a handful of the sand from the stone’s surface and let the grains slowly trickle in. The hairs were harder to get in there because they were sticky. In the end Dean helped me scrape them off the tissue with a stick.

All that was left to put in was my blood.

Focus.

I looked at my right palm, and as quickly as I could I drew the knife across the edge of it.

It didn’t hurt – I felt like I was in another world as the blood oozed up.

I held my hand over the pouch and watched the blood drip in as a tingling sensation started to pulse from my feet, moving up my legs and through my body.

I looked to the moon, which was now really bright, and took a deep breath. ‘Matt Rock is in love with me,’ I said solemnly.

I wiped my hand on my black jeans – the bloodstain wouldn’t show. Dean handed me the bag and I pulled the drawstring shut tight.

We sat in silence until I heard Dean sniggering.

‘What?’ I said.

Dean just laughed harder and collapsed to the ground, holding his sides. ‘Vania! This is nuts!’ he said between fits of laughter.

I burst out laughing, too. Was it nuts? Tomorrow would tell.

Eight

I was woken by sunlight streaming through my bedroom curtains. I dragged myself out of bed, wondering if any light would be shed on the success of my spell from last night.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and then procrastinated about which T-shirt to wear.

‘Vania! You’ll miss your bus,’ my mother said, sticking her head around my door.

‘It’s cool, Mum, I’m ready now.’

I’d chosen a tight, bright-blue T-shirt with sparkling magenta lips stencilled on it. Not my usual style, but if I was going to cast manipulative love spells I figured I might as well dress the part.

I was excited as I approached the bus stop. I couldn’t wait to see if my spell had worked. But when I got on the bus I was disappointed to see that Matt wasn’t there. What had I been expecting anyway – that he’d be sitting there waiting for me with a bunch of roses?

When the bus pulled up at school Bryce was standing out the front waiting for me. I pulled my hair over my eyes to mask how happy I was to see him. But he didn’t even try to hide the smile that lit up his face when he saw me, and my heart leapt and my legs started to feel shaky as I stopped in front of him. I worried that the tight T-shirt was too much.

‘Vania, you are not going to believe this,’ he said in an excited rush. ‘I spoke to a ghost last night!’

I pulled myself together, relieved but also a bit disappointed; I guess I’d been hoping that he would comment on my T-shirt, even though if he had I would have just dismissed him. I knew I was a mess of contradictions.

I fiddled with the shoulder strap on my backpack. ‘Actually, I do believe you,’ I said. ‘Was it your great-grandmother?’

‘No. It was someone I didn’t know. I had been ghost-calling—’

‘Ghost-calling? What on earth is that?’ I interrupted.

‘Um, you stare at one spot and make your mind really still and then when you are totally focused you say inside your head, “Is there anyone out there who wants to speak to me?” Well, I had been ghost-calling for ages, over an hour at least, and I was tired and actually starting to fall asleep when I realised someone was standing at the foot of my bed.