Fire Girl by Matt Ralphs

Author:Matt Ralphs [Ralphs, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781447283621
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2015-08-12T22:00:00+00:00

22

BLIND MARY APPLEGATE

The world is full of magic.

It is carried in water, air, fire and earth.

A Study of Magic by Jeremy Usborne

‘This is your friend, Blind Mary?’ Bramley gasped from his hiding place in her curls. ‘What happened to her?’

‘I don’t know,’ Hazel said, her voice heavy with grief. ‘I should have recognized her earlier.’ She knelt down and helped her old friend sit up against the wall. ‘Mary, it’s me, Hazel. Can you hear me?’

Mary nodded, moaning quietly.

‘Mary, dear,’ Hazel said, reaching out, ‘I’m going to untie your head so I can see you.’ Mary wailed and grabbed the sack with both hands. ‘All right, we’ll leave that on for now.

Can you stand up? Here, take my hand.’ Mary’s fingers felt as fragile as bird bones. ‘Up you get.’

‘Give her back the poppet,’ Bramley said. ‘Perhaps that’ll make her feel better.’

Hazel held it out. ‘Here you are. Take it if you want.’ Mary drew it to her breast and let out a long sigh. ‘Get away from her,’ shrieked a voice from behind them.

It was David, shivering with fever, drenched in sweat and aiming his pistol straight at Mary.

‘David, no! It’s all right, she’s—’ Hazel began, but before she could move, he pulled the trigger.

The pistol roared, filling the room with smoke. The shot buzzed passed Hazel’s ear, causing her to step back and slip on spilt potage. There was a whump and a hole appeared in Mary’s chest. Shreds of fabric blew out in a powdery cloud. Knocked clean off her feet, the old witch fell backwards through the flimsy wooden door and down the stairs.

Hazel grabbed the bedpost, aware of a high-pitched whine in her left ear. David fumbled as he tried to reload his pistol.

‘Quick, close the door,’ he said, ‘before that . . . thing . . . c-comes back.’

‘You stupid boy,’ Hazel gasped. ‘She wasn’t going to hurt us.’

David goggled at her. ‘What are you—? It’s a dead thing, an abomination—’

‘She’s my friend,’ Hazel bristled at him. ‘And I’m going downstairs to help her.’

‘Your friend?’ David’s face hardened. ‘A witch,I suppose – just like you. I’m really at your mercy now, aren’t I?’

Hazel grabbed the pistol from him. ‘Don’t be so soft-brained. No harm’s coming to you. Just trust me.’

‘Never t-trust a witch,’ David said.

Hazel tucked the pistol into her belt, covered David with the blankets and left the room. She found Mary in the kitchen, clutching the poppet to her chest. Smoke drifted from the hole in her chest but there was no blood.

‘Mary,’ Hazel said. ‘Can you speak?’

Mary shook her head, She shuffled to the dresser and took out a roll of parchment, a bottle of ink and a peacock-feather quill with a silver nib. Beckoning for Hazel to join her at the kitchen table, she sat down and flattened out the parchment.

Hazel sat opposite, tears prickling behind her eyes. Somewhere under the dirt-caked clothes was Mary, her old friend. A knot of anger hardened inside her. I know who did this, she thought.

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