Avis Blackthorn and the Magical Multicolour Jumper (The Wizard Magic School Series, Book 2) (12 page)

***

We
tugged the loose grate away from the bathroom wall, revealing the small, dark hole. I slid through first into the impenetrable darkness. Only a thin ray of light from the dim bathroom crept through the hole, showing a black, jagged wall. Robin slipped down ungainly behind me and pulled the grate back into place.

I flashed my hand at the river. “Severton,” I said, the blue flash temporarily illuminating the dank passageway. There was a sealing, crunching sound as the spell froze the river solid. The black rock roof was low, causing Robin to duck as we slipped all the way along the frozen river. The river passage opened out directly into the centre of the Library. Small boats were frozen stiff against the side of the wall. We clambered up the stone steps and gazed around at the majesty of the empty Library. It was bigger when no one was in here. Robin and I shared an untold passion for books, and this Library held a special place in my heart, it had to be said, for in here there were more books than I’d ever seen.

But then there was a peculiar scratching noise that made us both stop dead. I couldn't work out where from. I tilted my head slowly round at the door which was locked shut, and then through the dimly lit bookshelves. The only light came from the crescent moon shining in through the tall windows. Robin was terrified, he slowly lifted a finger, pointing at the frozen lake. The scratching noise was coming from the tunnel. I don't know what I was expecting to see, but certainly not… an enlarged white eyeball, scratching across the ice on three tiny legs towards us.

I glanced once at Robin, but what could we do? Slowly I started to back away towards the nearby bookshelf, we could hide behind it. Robin cottoned on and followed, tip toeing backwards. We lost sight of the Occulus as it dipped below the rim of the river. We darted behind the bookshelf as quietly as we could. I cupped a hand to my mouth and ducked backwards into the shadow of the wall. We waited, trying not to breathe. After a minute I glanced at Robin, I couldn't hear anything, maybe it had gone back? We stepped forwards, out of the shadow and peered round the corner. All of a sudden the moonlight reflected across Robin’s glasses — the light flashing across the books in front of us. We both stopped. Dead still.

“Come on,” I mouthed. “Let’s get out of here.”

Suddenly, Robin gasped. A chill shot down my spine. Directly ahead of us, staring silently, was the Occulus. For a second it just stood, its dark pupils contracting. Tiny three-toed-feet tapped the carpet nervously. Then, all at once, a prod shot out of the top of its head and a fleshy mouth suddenly began wail!

WOOOOOOO — WOOOOOOOOH!

“Get it!” I cried. The Occulus darted away with the agility of a cat. As it turned to speed down to the lake again, I raised a hand at it.

“Avis
NO
!”

“Pasanthedine!” I called, a shot of wind blasted from my hand and missed the Occulus by an inch. The spell hit a boat, which made an awful crunching sound before shooting into the air. I ran to the river railings and aimed my hand again. But the Occulus had vanished down the dark passageway, the siren call echoing deafeningly under the passageway.

“You can’t do spells in the Library after dark remember!” cried Robin.

“Come on!” I climbed down into the icy river, but it felt different, less stable. Lights blasted on from all around, as running feet echoed in the corridors outside. We scrambled and slipped along the ice towards the passageway. Noise and light now clouded my senses as I made a desperate scramble for safety.

“…
AVIS! AVIS!
”
Robin called.

“What?!” I turned. Robin was stood in the middle of the river, not moving. The door to the Library was being unlocked. But Robin was pointing to a very large crack that had just appeared in the ice between his legs. The boat that I accidentally spelled into the air had left a big watery gap, which sent cracks shooting through the ice. The Library doors burst open.

CRACK!
The last thing I saw was the Lily, Harold, Partington and Straker, before falling into the icy depths below.

Needless
to say, no one believed us that we were ‘sleepwalking’. I think it made them even more mad. They raised us both out of the water, put some sort of heat spell around us and turned off all the sirens, noises and lights. They still echoed horribly in my ears as black spots were dancing in front of my eyes.

After a few rounds of questions, we told the Lily most of the truth. That we wanted to look at books that we couldn't during the day. Robin whimpering slightly next to me. Surprisingly, the Lily didn't exspell us, or suspend us, or even make us do a years detention. On the contrary, he was understanding. Each Magisteer behind him had a different expression. Partington looked relived but sheepish, Straker looked surprised and stormy, and Harold looked a strange mixture between angry and proud. It was hard to tell with him.

We were sent on our way, shivering all the way back to our dorm. All the boys were awake, sitting up in bed with half a light on.

“Knew it!” said Dennis as we both trudged in. “We knew you two were up to something, when the sirens went off and we saw you were missing… what were you doing?”

“Yeah come on, what happened?” said Graham, sitting up in bed a little more. Even Hunter had his eyes open.

So we explained as we got changed out of sopping wet clothes, dried, put on fresh pyjamas and got into bed — that we wanted to go the Library and find good books about the secrets of Riptide, so we wouldn't be humiliated again.

“You mean cheat?” said Jake, tutting.

“It’s not cheating, it’s just…” I struggled for the words.

“Informing ourselves of all the rules,” Robin offered.

“I’m up for that,” said Hunter. “Anyway, all us Outsiders don’t have a chance, we need to know this stuff. You Wizard lot know it all, you’ve grown up with the sport…” Jake sniffed and muttered something that sounded like: “
would be useful I suppose.
”

***

On the way to Wasp’s lesson the next day, all we could hear was people talking about the siren’s going off — the boys in our form turned with grinning faces to me and Robin.

— “I heard it was Henry Zanders who set the sirens off on purpose,” said a girl from the forth year. “He’s such a joker.”

— “Well, I heard it was a dare by the sixth year Werewolf form, you know James Lock and Shabnam and Abdul Choudhry?”

Another passing fourth year group said—“I think having Occulus spying on us is wrong anyway.”

— “We’re used to it, us Outsiders.”

Wasp’s lesson was okay. The enthusiasm he brought to the class made it interesting, his rather squeaky voice rising in pitches as he became even more excited about a certain AstroMagical sign. Often we would ask him questions mid-way though the class, something about himself, as we knew he would go off topic and tell us these great long stories about how he used a particular spell under a certain sign of the AstroMagical chart to defeat a foe. And he would thrash about in mid air, arms waving along as he recreated the battles. Spinning popping lights flashing around him with the excitement. Then, at the end of the story he would forget what the lesson was all about.

Next lesson was Yearlove’s, which I should have loved if were not for the fact that I had to sit and endure two hours of Jasper and Tina. I couldn't help the envious sourness creep into my mind as I sat back in the comfy chair. Yearlove was sat in his own chair, a rather battered brown thing that he said was ‘
his favourite
’.

“We were so lucky last night. Why do you think he let us off?” I whispered as we got our stuff out of our bags.

Robin nodded. “I thought we were going to be exspelled. If that was Simone, can you imagine?”

The midday sun crept through the clouds and pierced the stained glass window. A shot of red, green and gold lit the floor in front of us.

“Wow,” said Yearlove. “That is beautiful.” There was mutters of agreement as we stared at the spinning colours.

Then I sincerely heard Jaspers awful voice whisper:
“Not as beautiful as you T.
”
Others must have heard it? Or had they pretended not to out of embarrassment? But she actually smiled at him, her eyes melting. I felt like being sick all over the floor just to prove a point. Hunter was staring across at them with half a curious, half disgusted face before Yearlove jumped up and began the lesson.

“Riptide is a great example of
bridge spells
. Can anyone tell me what the first part of a bridge spell is?”

“
Returious
,” Jasper called out.

“Yes! Well done Jasper,” called Yearlove. I rolled my eyes, unable to help it anymore. I knew that it was Returious, everyone knew. It was basic. “Can you tell me then Jasper, an example of the second part of a Returious spell?” Yearlove raised his eyebrows and stroked his beard.

“Well Sir, depending on the situation, your allowed seven spells for Riptide, which is more like twenty-three with counters. But I suppose the most recognisable one’s which are not used in Riptide much are:
Catarsis
,
Pasar
è
and
Nitäl
. These are used for creating an emotion ball, so that others can better understand your feelings, alerting someone how far you are away from them, and lastly the translation spell for speaking when abroad.”

“A very concise and clear answer, and absolutely spot on,” said Yearlove taken aback. “That’s another three stars for the Swillow form.”

Jasper’s form burst with applause, and his tall friend Freddie next to him said: “How many’s that now?
Nine
?!”

“None,” whispered Robin preempting my next question about how many the Condors had.

I sat back in the chair and tutted, simultaneously jotting down the three spells Jasper the git had mentioned. For the rest of the class I sat glumly while Jasper answered all the questions correctly, it was like the
Jasper Gandy Show
. What annoyed me more was the fact that Hunter, Joanna and Gret were starting as adoringly at Jasper as Tina and the rest of the Swillow form were. Did he have them all under some kind of spell or something? Because they looked utterly spellbound.

“And what — and this is a tough one,” said Yearlove. “Is the name and process of a Solvent spell that could break the bonds of the infamous red-chain spell?”

“Obviously that’s a trick question Sir, as the spell to remove a
Sanguis-Catena
spell is not a Solvent spell at all… You would need a Chaos magic spell for that, something like
Recludo-depellerant?
”

Yearlove stared for a moment. “How do you know all this?” he said dreamily.

“You’re amazing Jasper,” crooned his friend Henry in a dopy voice.

Something snapped inside me, I couldn't take it anymore — suddenly a voice burst out of me: “
This is the only spell known Sir, well Sir, two bags full Sir…”
I cried, mimicking his perfect voice, as the ball of rage squirmed. “
Oh no Sir, please, let me answer all the questions because I am so brilliant and worthy and geeky…
”

Robin and Ellen sniggered next to me as did a few boys from Hubris form who looked equally bored. But I regretted my outburst.

Yearlove stood, brow furrowed. “I’ve spoken to you before about this Avis, starting to live up to your family name I see? By disrupting my lesson? Go and wait outside.”

“Oh for god sake!” I cried dropping my paper all over the floor. “All we’ve done this lesson is sit here and listen to him waffle on about how great he is, well I’m sick of it!” I cried, a burning cauldron of fury erupting, as Robin and the others gasped.

Freddie stood up sharply. “Whatever you got to say to Jasper, you say it to me first.”

“Oh, do yourself a favour and sit down. You too,” I called as dopy Henry stood. “Why don't we just rename this class, the
Jasper Gandy appreciation society
?” A few more people laughed now, complete with a few claps of appreciation from some. Jasper looked affronted, and Tina downright stormy, glaring across the room at me with a thunderous expression. I didn't care anymore. I couldn't sit here a moment longer listening to how great
he
was.

“Maybe,” said Yearlove. “But if you would knuckle down and answer some questions then maybe we’d all start to appreciate how brilliant you are.”

“Yeah maybe, but maybe no one else can get a word in edgeways! And maybe, I have got better things to do with my time, than sit here listening to that pretentious gnome-faced, Orc eared, goody two shoes waffle on anymore!” I grabbed my bag and turned away.

“Please don't come back to this lesson for a few weeks, until you’ve calmed down,” called Yearlove.

“Whatever,” I turned out of the room slamming the door.

I
marched off quickly to the bathrooms, my heart beating a million miles an hour, hot blood beating around my body after that awful confrontation. Dumping my bag down I began splashing cold water over my face. That was better. It felt hot after that fiery encounter. I sighed and looked around, it was bigger in here than the bathroom on my floor—more people used it probably—a huge chandelier hung from the centre of the bathroom with burning candles and dripping wax. It was quiet too and every footstep echoed as I wandered aimlessly around the bathroom kicking out at the toilet doors as the last conversations reverberated around inside me. It made me so mad. I had such high expectations for that class. But everyone seemed utterly spellbound by Jasper? Why?

BANG! I kicked another door open. I mean yes he was good looking…

BANG! And clever…

BANG! And apparently brilliant at Riptide…

BANG! But so what? I wandered back to the sink, and stared into the mirror. My face looked sour, red and blotchy. It did that sometimes when I was annoyed or stressed. I leaned against the sink and stared at the ground. I sighed, a great wave of tingling negativity swept over me. I was the one who was supposed to be with Tina, not Jasper. Tina and I, had something special. I saved her life, and her brothers life — except no one knew apart from Robin and the Partington’s. I felt betrayed. Why had she ignored me so much? It was rude, after everything I did for her! The way she looked at him haunted me. That loving glint in her eye, in fact, not just in hers, but quite a few people’s when they looked at Jasper. Then something slid into my brain… what if he really did have them all under a spell? What if he really was a dark Wizard? Out to avenge Malakai? That would totally explain it—he knows everything about magic, he could know powerful love charms, that’s why Tina was ignoring me. That’s why everyone loves him. He was out to do Tina harm, to get back at me for defeating Malakai. Or, he could be Malakai? Perhaps the only thing he could do after I defeated him was go into another body, I’ve heard of that…
possessing
. He was possessing Jasper. Yeah, that would be it, he was out to get me, make me look like an idiot, steal Tina away from me and then get his revenge.

Something made me look up. In the corner of my eye I was sure I saw a shadow move… must have been a sprat. There was a sudden hissing noise coming from behind me, echoing across the large empty bathroom.

Sssssssssssssss
…

And then more hisses, rising louder and louder. It was coming from the taps. I stepped back curiously. What on earth were they doing? And then, without warning, they burst. The metal tops blasting into the air, one by one, causing an explosion of water to come raining down around me.

Pop
!
Bang
! I spun around, who was doing this? The water was soaking me to the skin, but there was no one here! Then, a flash of white light lit the air. Scorching through the fountain of water and hitting the chandelier above. With a sickening, snapping sound, it fell. I launched myself backwards, skidding through the water. Crashing back into the wet floor. The chandelier crashed hard, sending a tidal wave of water shooting over my head, missing my legs by inches. The echo rang true around the bathroom. I stood up fast and looked around, the person who had done that was in here.

“I know your in here!” I called above the noise. “Jasper? Is it you?” the flash had come from the toilet cubicles at the end of the bathroom. Laying in the water I scanned underneath the toilet cubicles for the culprit. In the fifth cubicle along I saw it. But, this wasn't Jasper, indeed it didn't look much like a persons feet. Dark, thick torn black rags hung down beneath bare dirty feet. What on earth? And then it moved. Under the cubicles it zapped like a shadow. Passing through the walls of the toilet cubicles as if they were not there.

“I can see you!” I called, my heart beating fast, I raised my hand towards it. “
Severton
!” A flash of icy blue light flew out of my hand toward the mass of small black rags. It hit the toilet door and froze it solid. “Dam!” I called. There was a flash of black behind me, I spun round. The creature in black rags darted out of the bathroom. “Stop!” I called racing out of the bathroom, charging after the flashes of dark rag that whipped around corners. Until… I lost it. Standing and panting hard, my chest set to explode, I gave up. Whatever it was, was gone.