'You can escort Charlotte back to her room so that she can change her clothes.'
'It was only a bit of liquid, it's not like it has hurt her. Besides, I want to be here for the lesson.'
'This is not up for discussion and may I suggest that you use this time to think about your behavior as I can assure you that I shall not tolerate disobedience,' Miss Scarlet glared, the annoyance evident on her face.
Charlotte and Margaret did not say a word to each other as they walked towards Charlotte's room. Charlotte was upset as she was just getting the hang of the cup spell and now she had to waste the lesson time. She was there to learn, not fall victim to Margaret's bullying games. She found herself worried that Margaret would always try to ruin things for her, and result in her falling behind in her lessons.
After changing out of her wet smelly clothes and taking a quick shower, Charlotte left her room to see that Margaret was still standing outside, her arms folded. She immediately began to walk off and Charlotte followed her.
As they passed the library, Margaret unfolded her arms and forced a smile.
'Can we stop here for a bit? There's a book I want to find out about.'
Charlotte nodded, she wanted to get back to class and thought that Margaret could look for this book afterwards, but she also did not want to get on the wrong side of her. As they walked nearer to the entrance, Margaret stopped and turned to Charlotte.
'I need to be able to trust you with a secret,' Margaret said and Charlotte nodded. 'In this library is a very powerful and special book called Salem Secrets and it contains spells that very few witches know about. My mother told me about it and I just know that I need to find it and read it. Promise me that you won't tell anyone Charlotte, you want to be my friend don't you? You have to help me because if you tell anyone, then we'll be enemies forever.'
'I guess I could help you,' Charlotte said reluctantly, feeling trapped and nervous.
'Great,' Margaret grinned. 'You can distract Mistress of the Books whilst I find it.'
Charlotte had a bad feeling but knew that if she didn't go along with Margaret then the rift between them would only grow worse.
After seeing that the Mistress of the Books was sitting behind her desk reading a book, Charlotte walked over to her, trying to calm herself as she stopped in front of the desk and coughed to clear her throat.
'Ex-excuse me,' she squeaked and the Mistress of the Books looked up. 'I was wondering if you could help me, you see my dad is an ordinary and I have no idea on even the most basic skills of witchcraft.'
The Mistress of the Books looked impressed at Charlotte's diligence and desire to learn. Standing, she walked around the desk and smiled.
'Of course, follow me,' she led Charlotte over to the beginners' section of the library and pulled out a book.
'Newbies Guide to Witchcraft by Gloria Arlington,' the book boomed.
'Now this book has everything you need to get you started. It also explains magic to you in a non-confusing way and I highly recommend it,' she held it out to Charlotte. 'Follow me, there are plenty more books I can find for you.'
Whilst this was happening Margaret entered the library and sneaked across the room before she crawled her way over to the restricted area. She grabbed a worn looking black leather book. 'The Darkest of Spirits by Garrent Worthington,' it announced. She looked over her shoulder before she put it back and grabbed another one. 'Desiree's Dark Magic, by Desiree Penelope Fancroft.'
Margaret felt frustrated, she didn't have much time and she couldn't find the book she was looking for. She held her wand out in front of her and looked at it.
'Salem Secrets come to me, quickly now so I can see.'
Flames appeared, engulfing a whole section of books in a heat of embers and scarlet flames.
Whilst the Mistress of the Books was pulling out a book, Charlotte looked over her shoulder to see the back of Margaret hurriedly leaving the library. She looked over to the restricted area and saw a shadow of smoke appearing. Rushing quickly over there, she was horrified to see that flames were burning some of the ancient books. She tried to put out the fire, wafting the flames with her hands?but this only seemed to make them worse.
The Mistress of the Books looked up and saw what was happening. Aiming her wand at the flames, she chanted a spell. The flames disappeared and the books appeared undamaged.
'You,' the Mistress of the Books glared at Charlotte accusingly.
'I didn't do it,' her voice was timid.
'To the head witchress' Office NOW!'
***
Charlotte had spent the last few hours stuck in a dark, windowless room. It contained a hard looking bed and an old wooden chair, which she sat on, hoping that she wouldn't be in there long enough to need use of the bed. Tapping her fingers against its frame, she wondered what would happen to her.
Charlotte knew that she'd been stupid, of course. Margaret would not have stayed around to take the blame. Now Charlotte was in serious trouble whilst Margaret was no doubt carrying on without a care for the mess she'd caused. Charlotte should have refused to distract the Mistress of the Books. Instead, she should have simply returned to class. She didn't need Margaret as a friend, she'd always known that, which made what she had done even more foolish.
If they expelled her for this, then what? Would she end up at Witchery College or would she have to go back to an ordinary school? She did not want to leave the Academy and her new friends, she liked it there and she wanted to stay. But she also didn't want to tell on Margaret.
The door creaked open and a woman wearing a smart black fitted suit appeared.
'Charlotte, Miss Moffat is ready to see you now,' she pressed her finger to the thin black framed glasses that were perched on the edge of her nose. Charlotte presumed that they were more for fashion than for practicality, as she'd seen no other staff member wearing glasses.
Charlotte nodded, before following her out of the room, blinking her eyes to adjust to the light. The woman led her over to Miss Moffat's office and held the door open for her, gesturing for her to step inside.
Miss Moffat sat in a large black leather armchair behind an extravagant looking mahogany desk. Molly and the Mistress of the Books were sitting on a small couch at the far side of the room, and on a chair in front of the desk was Charlotte's mom.
'Charlotte, take a seat,' Miss Moffat gestured to the empty chair, and Charlotte moved towards the seat alongside her mother.
Her mom looked at her but Charlotte glanced away, feeling embarrassed. She could not look her mom in the eye and see how ashamed she was.
'It is important you know that lies will not be tolerated in my office,' Miss Moffat said sternly and Charlotte nodded. 'Now tell me, Charlotte, what happened?'
'Erm, I don't know,' Charlotte muttered.
Her nose instantly grew half an inch longer and Charlotte was horrified to find that when she glanced down, she could easily see the sudden extension.
'I'll ask again Charlotte. Remember, lies are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. So tell me. What happened?'
'I'm really not sure, Miss Moffat,' she said and her nose instantly grew longer.
'I will give you one more chance to tell the truth,' she leaned in closer to Charlotte, the anger alive in her eyes. 'If your nose grows again then you shall be expelled from my Academy.'
'Go on Charlotte, tell us what happened,' her mom encouraged, a pleading smile on her face.
Charlotte did not want to anger Margaret, but she also did not want to face expulsion. She had begun to love the Academy and she was desperate to stay.
'I think, no I'm pretty sure that Margaret did it.'
'Do you mean Margaret Montgomery?' Miss Moffat asked.
'Yes,' Charlotte lowered her head and her nose reduced by half.
'Why was she in the restricted area?' the Mistress of the Books jumped in, a concerned look on her face.
'Remember that you have no more chances,' Miss Moffat added.
&nb
sp; 'She was looking for a book in the restricted area,' she blushed and her nose returned to normal. She reached up and touched it, relieved that it had gone back to its regular size.
'And what was your involvement, Charlotte?' Molly asked.
'I was supposed to distract the Mistress of the Books whilst Margaret looked for the book.'
Mistress of the Books was standing there staring at Charlotte, holding one of the books from the reserved section. 'You mean to tell me that your story of being behind all the others in witchcraft, and wanting some extra help, wasn't true?' Her tone tasted of outrage. 'You were using me young lady and I'm very, very, very cross with you!' Immediately her hand erupted into a ball of flame.
'I'm so s-sorry,' Charlotte burst into tears, terrified. 'I shouldn't have done it, I'm really sorry.'
Miss Moffat used her wand to extinguish the flame in the librarian's hand. 'Why did you do it Charlotte?' It doesn't seem like you to deceive someone.'
'Margaret asked me to. She said that if I didn't, we'd always be enemies. I was scared of getting on her bad side. I find her intimidating and we are in every class together.'
Miss Moffat let out a sigh, before she turned to Molly.
'Please can you take Charlotte back to her room? She shall remain there for the rest of the day.'
Molly stood and waited by the door as Charlotte scraped her chair back and got to her feet. Her mom gave her an unhappy look but still pulled her into an embrace and kissed her on the top of her head.
'This is out of character for my daughter,' she tried to explain.
'Don't worry too much. It seems to me like a case of peer pressure. It seems as though she has learned a lesson the hard way.'
Charlotte's mom let go of her and she walked over to Molly, giving her mom one last apologetic glance and receiving a smile back, before she left the room.
***
For the rest of the day Charlotte lay face down on her bed and sobbed into her pillow. She pretended to be asleep when the other girls returned from their last class for the day. She didn't want to have to explain what had happened.
She thought that they'd be gossiping about it all, but instead she overheard them say between themselves that they hoped she was okay. Even Alice didn't have anything horrible to say, which made Charlotte quietly sob even more. These girls were her true friends, not Margaret.
'Charlotte, I have a message for you,' an owl hooted, as it perched on the windowsill.
Charlotte rolled onto her side and pulled herself up into a sitting position, her legs hanging over her bed as she rubbed her sore, bloodshot eyes before looking towards the owl.
'You're allowed to leave the room for dinner.'
'It's okay, I don't feel much like eating.'
'You will want to come, there's a very special announcement that you won't want to miss.' It gave her one last look before it flew off.
'Come on Charlotte, you need to eat.' Gerty said, walking over to Charlotte and putting her arms around her.
'But everyone will be staring at me.'
'If they do, I'll turn them into a toad,' Stef grinned, pulling her wand out and pretending to cast a spell.
'Then you'd get into trouble,' Gerty giggled.
'Well, we'll protect you some other way, after all we are your best friends.' At that moment, Stef could never have realized how those words had touched Charlotte's heart.
'Okay,' Charlotte gave a slight smile. 'I'll come.'
'Great, then let's get going, I'm hungry,' Alice responded, as she hurried towards the door.
'The bell hasn't rung yet,' Gerty said, but as soon as she'd finished speaking the bell began to ring.
'About time, we never had to wait like this at home,' Alice complained, before stepping out of the room, followed by everyone else.
When Charlotte entered the dining hall, some of the other girls were staring at her and gossiping. She looked at the ground and tried to block them out.
'They'll have something else to talk about soon,' Gerty said.
'Yeah, besides, they're more concerned with what has happened to Margaret,' Stef added.
'I heard she's been expelled,' Alice piped up.
'I heard they sent her to the bad witches' school,' Gerty said, excitedly.
'No, she's been turned into a toad and put into the school's lily pond,' Stef grinned, and Charlotte couldn't help but chuckle.
They took their seats in the grand hall and Charlotte looked over at where Demi was?sitting alone, depressed and vulnerable. Margaret was nowhere in sight. Her absence only making the gossip about Charlotte increase.
The room fell silent as Miss Moffat flew in on her broomstick. Instead of going over to her usual place on the platform, she stood in front of the top table and faced the students.
'I need to talk to you girls. Today, I am shocked and saddened to say that one of our new students, Margaret Montgomery broke our Code of Conduct in the worst possible way. I will not go into her misdemeanor but I will say that what she did was completely unacceptable. I could hear you all gossiping on my way to the great hall and no, she is not a toad. Ladies, it is time to stop gossiping and spreading stories.'
They said the witches' creed and then hundreds of plates flew through the windows and landed on each of the tables. There were shrieks and squeals as dozens of red spotted spiders appeared on the ceiling above each table and began to weave spaghetti onto each of the plates. Charlotte shuddered but didn't say anything, she'd never been keen on spiders.
A leprechaun in a baseball shirt and cap appeared in the corner of the room and hit meatballs onto everyone's plates with lightning speed, before he did a little jig and then vanished. Just when the new girls thought that things could not get crazier the bats flew in through the windows carrying jugs of bolognese sauce and poured it onto each of the girl's bowls.
'Do you get your food delivered to you like this?' Stef asked Alice, before she put a whole meatball into her mouth.
'Of course not,' Alice said snobbishly, as she cut a meatball in half and waved it mid-air. 'Although I do have to admit that this dining hall is much more fun than being served by servants at home.'
Charlotte looked around her at all the chatting, laughing girls. No one was looking at her anymore, each girl was too preoccupied with her food and how it was being served. This place was magical and she never wanted to leave.
As soon as the girls left the room Stef began to gossip about Margaret, only her words came out in an unrecognizable language. She tried again but once more, her words made no sense.
When some of the other students tried to talk about Margaret their words also sounded gibberish and the corridors were filled with what sounded like a bizarre version of Chinese whispers.
'I give up, Miss Moffat must have put a spell over us all or something,' Stef sighed. 'Oh well, I'm sick of hearing about Margaret anyway.'
Charlotte didn't say anything but she was secretly glad as she didn't want to think about Margaret or where she was and the fact that no one was able to talk about her made this easier. Miss Moffat had given her another chance and she had to make the most of it, not dwell on the past. She was a witch and this Academy was where she was meant to be. There was no more room for errors or foolishness, from now on Charlotte was determined to study hard and prove that she deserved to be there.
***
The next week carried on as normal. The girls settled into their daily routines, they learned new spells, and their friendships grew closer. Demi continued to act lost without Margaret, sitting by herself at meal times. Although she had begun to talk to the other girls a bit, Stef and Alice didn't have much to say to her and Demi ignored Charlotte as she blamed her for Margaret's disappearance. Gerty, with her huge heart, felt sorry for her and spoke to her in passing.
Breakfast had just finished and Charlotte realized that she'd left her wand in her room, so she hurried back to get it. She grabbed it from the wardrobe and was about to leave when she turned to see Margaret s
tanding in front of her, her arms folded and a fierce look on her face.
Charlotte tried to step past her to escape through the door. The door slammed shut. She reluctantly turned back to look at Margaret, knowing that she had no choice except to see what Margaret wanted. She was far more advanced with spells than Charlotte was.
'We need to talk,' Margaret glared, uncrossing her arms and revealing the wand that she grasped tightly in her right hand.
Charlotte looked at the door, rummaging desperately through her brain for any sort of spell that would help her.
'No one's coming to rescue you, it's just you and me,' Margaret smirked, as she took a step closer towards her.
Thank you for reading this book. I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review.
Witch School
Book 2 - Out Now!
I hope you liked Witch Story and enjoyed following the adventures of Charlotte and her new friends. Can you please leave me a review? My sincere thanks!!!!!