the three witches from the séance appeared in the mirror, screeching and cackling.
‘Beware! Danger is close at hand
One, two, three, rhymes with tree
Four, five, sparrow, rhymes with narrow.’
‘Go away!’ I cried and thrust my hands towards the mirror to get rid of them. When I touched the surface it rippled like water. Then, as quickly as it had begun, everything was normal again. I was completely alone.
Brenda had said the incense we’d used in the séance would stop the spirits and ghosts we conjured up from haunting us later, but it seemed like a portal had been opened. I was in a haunted restaurant, after all. And it sounded like another riddle that the witches had garbled at me – as if what they’d said during the séance last night hadn’t been confusing enough. Danger was close at hand, according to them. I had known about some elusive impending danger since the twins’ mother had read my tea-leaves. Were the witches talking about my chemistry teacher? Were they talking about the woman of Queen’s Cross mystery? Were they talking about me slipping in the mud after all the rain I’d conjured up?
I returned to my seat ashen-faced.
‘Vania! You’re not coming down with anything, are you?’ My mother brushed my hair out of my eyes, concerned.
‘No, Mum, I’m just really full – and ready to go home and relax,’ I said, smiling weakly.
When our car pulled up to our house there was a visitor waiting.
My mother turned to me. ‘Who is this?’
‘Umm, it’s Bryce.’
My mother leapt out of the car to greet him, but I wasn’t in such a hurry.
‘Bryce! What a pleasure to finally meet you in person – Vania speaks so highly of you.’ My mother turned to me, smilingly enthusiastically, but when she saw the dark look on my face she quickly looked away and gestured to my father instead.
‘Keith, this is Vania’s friend Bryce.’
My father grunted and nodded, extending his hand for Bryce to shake.
‘Nice to finally meet you, Mr and Mrs Thorn,’ said Bryce. He looked over at me standing by the car. ‘Umm, I was hoping Vania would let me take her for a walk along the cliffs.’
‘You can walk off that big breakfast, darling.’ My mother smiled and nodded at me with a knowing look in her eyes.
‘Sure.’ I shrugged and kicked at the ground, scuffing the toes of my Doc Martens, my fists clenching and unclenching in my pockets.
‘I freaked out when you ran away like that last night, Vania,’ Bryce said as soon as we were out of earshot.
‘Well, what was I supposed to do?’ I said. ‘Stand around in the rain watching you make out with Cassidy? Gross.’
‘Look, I tried to get her off, but she was all over me. She’s a loser getting that wasted. And if you remember correctly, I had suggested that we leave.’
He had said that – before he made out with her.
‘And then you conjured up that storm,’ he continued, shaking his head. ‘Cassidy got stuck. A wave came up and knocked her over. Matt and I had to jump in to find her. It was freezing.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry to have caused you discomfort,’ I said, rolling my eyes.
‘Listen, I’ve tried to apologise,’ Bryce said, stopping to look at me, ‘but if you don’t want to hear it I’m not going to waste any more of your time – or mine.’ He turned to walk off.
‘Bryce, wait.’ My fingers went to the chain at my throat. I realised I wasn’t actually all that angry anymore; I’d been partly punishing Bryce for making me feel jealous. I’d poured all my rage into that storm. All of a sudden his side of things had become clear to me, and it would be crazy to throw our friendship away over Cassidy’s drunken behaviour. ‘I do appreciate you saying sorry. To be honest, my whole birthday kind of freaked me out, with the séance, and then Cassidy and Matt being drunk. It was all a bit of a downer.’ I didn’t mention Brenda’s vision about him.
His expression softened. ‘Yeah, I hear you.’ He nodded sympathetically.
‘But I love the necklace you gave me.’ I smiled.
‘I’m glad.’ He smiled back at me, and I shivered as our eyes connected.
We continued to walk towards the cliffs, and my mind went back to the séance.
‘Bryce, when your great-grandmother came through you like that, it made me wonder – do all the ghosts you communicate with do it that way?’
‘No, usually they just stand