The forgotten Corridor

Prologue

The darkness stretched all around him, he squinted at the nothingness but it made no difference. His breathing became quick and harsh as his hands fumbled for the wall which he’d been leaning on just moments before. After a few minutes of blindly fumbling his hands finally collided with something hard. He pressed his body against the wall, trying to slow down his breathing and his erratic heart beat.
He closed his eyes tightly and took a deep, heavy breath to stable himself. Slowly he reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a long, slender bottle cold between his palms. He screwed off the top and downed the contents with shaking hands and muttering something to himself.
He swallowed the slimy liquid and felt it slither down his throat and swish around his stomach where it settled and began to take affect. There was a dreadful moment where nothing happened and the expectation, the fear and the dread became unbearable. Then his whole body began to shiver, goose bumps spread over his arms and his body began to jolt involuntarily. With a sickly feeling his insides began to squirm. He clasped his arms around his middle and slid down onto the floor; his arms and legs flinging out sideways in a spasm. He hit his head on the wall as he fell.
A stinging sensation started in his right arm. A shooting pain shot through his veins and down the whole of his right side. It felt as though bony fingers, sharp and cold were slicing down his spine. He began to writhe in pain and the pain began to spread and worsen. His body began to change somehow in a vicious searing pain that engulfed him. He shook violently now, cradling himself as he lay sprawled across the floor. A few times he tried to get up and get to his feet but then his bones began to crunch horrifically like an actual hand was crushing the bones between it’s fingers.
He managed to drag himself up against the wall. The pain ceased abruptly. He sat panting as his eyes began to bizarrely adjust to the darkness around him so that he could make out shapes and objects within the darkest of shadows. He got to his feet, feeling lighter than before like he was drunk. Then he ran. He rushed through room after room, corridor after corridor in a desperate search for something. Something so important he’d made the most important, the ultimate sacrifice and the biggest change of his life.

She woke with a start, running her fingers through her long black hair. Sitting up in bed and pulling her bedcovers up to her chin she drew back the curtains round her four poster bed. She looked around the room. Five other four poster beds stood in an “L” shaped room. All their bed curtains were closed tight. She squinted into the darkness but reassured herself that nothing was there. So why had she woke so suddenly?
Nothing seemed to calm her, something was seriously bothering her and she had no idea what it was. She began to wrap a strand of hair, tighter and tighter around her index finger before dropping back down into her bed with a sigh. She closed her eyes and wished for sleep but sleep never came.
Opening her eyes suddenly once more she saw two bright yellow eyes staring back at her. A black cat was perched on the end of her four poster bed, gleaming at her. She jumped and sat up straight to take this in. The cat stared at her unblinkingly. She wondered who the cat belonged to and stroked it’s ear absently. Then it crawled along her bed and nuzzled her hand. She was suddenly taken a back by the familiarity of this cat. Staring at it intently in intrigue she couldn’t work out what had her head in such a spin. It’s just a cat, she told herself. The cat gently snuggled it’s way under the covers. So she settled down in bed, forgetting her worries and stroking the cat soothingly before sleep finally came.


Chapter One

Sapphire Ana McKinley was fifteen years old; she had long black hair, big bright green eyes and a cluster of freckles across her nose just like her mother. She attended Anchester Boarding School and was in her fifth year. Her mother, Ana McKinley had her on the 21st August. It had been a dark and bleak day; huge grey clouds loomed over head casting an eerie shadow across the whole sky. Ana McKinley had no time for the forecast that day, as she gripped her brother’s hand and burst into labour. Sapphire’s father had gone, disappeared two months before Sapphire’s birth. Sapphire had never been told why.
So Sapphire was brought up by her mother and her uncle. When she was three her mother had a brief fling resulting in her brother Billy. Ana McKinley had been a great woman, kind hearted and very loyal. She had struggled so hard to bring up her two children without either of their father’s. When Sapphire was ten and Billy was almost eight their uncle sat them down and explained to them that their mother had been involved in a terrible car accident which had led to her death. They were of course devastated. After living with her uncle for a year Sapphire was sent to the boarding school which her mother and her uncle had both attended; Anchester Boarding School. Billy also joined two years later.
Sapphire had thought of her mother every single day, she couldn’t help it when the older teachers at Anchester could tell Sapphire things about her mother that she just wished she could’ve found out for herself. The details of her mother’s death. Sapphire had never been given but what young girl wants to know how many brutal injuries she sustained so only her uncle knew exactly what had happened that night. He had simply said that Spring’s night that her mother had been in a car crash.
Sapphire loved Anchester for the link it gave her to her mother. Everyone seemed to have so many expectations of her though because of her mother. The McKinley’s had always attended Anchester and they had all done very well.
Sapphire tried to live a normal school life, despite this pressure with her best friends. Sapphire was clever, she liked to read though not as keenly as her friend Alyssia. Sapphire was more creative. She loved art and she was an excellent drawer.
It had only been in the last month that Sapphire’s life had begun to grow quite mysterious. It was on her birthday when strange things began to happen in the huge old castle that was Anchster Boarding School.
Sapphire woke at eight in the morning that morning. It was Monday so she dressed quickly and rushed to wake Carrie and Alyssia who were sleeping in the opposite beds. The three of them sat on the floor while Sapphire opened her presents.
“I’m finally fifteen!” She sighed excitedly. Carrie, with her red hair and small brown eyes found this very funny as she would turn sixteen the following month and their other friends, Toby and Shane would soon also. Carrie was clever too though she’d never admit it, she was witty and cynical and full of enough sarcasm to spread around. She was a kind girl at heart, she just liked to break the rules from time to time. Alyssia on the other hand, never broke the rules. She lived and breathed the rules. Alyssia was so clever and all because she was constantly stuck in a book, she was loyal and sweet and a very good friend.
The three girl’s made their way down the stairs and to the great hall where breakfast was to be served. Shane was waiting for them at a long table in the hall. Shane had sandy coloured hair and deep blue eyes. He was clever too though more athletic than anything else. He loved sport and especially football. He promised his friends that one day he would get to be the captain of the school football team.
The great hall was lavishly decorated with golden chandeliers and peculiar paintings. It’s wooden floor creaked with every footstep and the white ceiling rose above their heads. There were many long tables each belonging to each year of the school. Sapphire sat next to Shane and smiled. She stared down at the plates of breakfast and tried to make up her mind what she would like to eat. The table cloth stretching over the table was white with gold embroidering at the edges which tickled their laps as they sat.
“Sorry, Toby wouldn’t get up. Here’s your present,” Shane said as he handed her a small blue box. She opened it up to reveal a jewellery box. Inside it was lined with blue velvet and sang a tune to her. A lovely light tune that floated from out of the box and glided across to her ears.
“I love it, Shane. You’re so thoughtful,” Sapphire beamed.
“Yeah, Shane,” Carrie said, her eyes narrowing. “You are thoughtful,” She looked him up and down. “Are you sure your not gay?” She smirked. Shane scowled at her, helping himself to some scrambled egg that lay in a dish upon the table.
“That’s just typical,” He muttered with a mouth full.
“What!?” Carrie laughed, eyeing him like a feisty lion, ready for a fight.
“Well, when a guy doesn’t do anything nice he’s a pig but when he does, he’s gay!” Shane exclaimed with a laugh, scooping more scrambled egg onto his plate. Carrie munched on some toast and nodded in agreement.
Sapphire and Alyssia ate some cereal and listened to Carrie rant on about men and feeling increasingly sorry for Shane who had to sit there and listen.
Sapphire’s first lesson, that day was History. In her History class, Sapphire had known no one at the beginning of year ten. Sapphire had sat with a boy she barely knew through Shane and Toby. over the last year of spending every lesson alone with him they had become quite good friends although they didn't talk often out of the lesson. James was already sat at their usual desk at the back of the class. There was a sign on the desk which read;
'Happy Birthday!' It was obvious he had done it himself just moments before as it was done in black Biro pen, but all the same the thought was there. Sapphire grinned.
" How's the birthday girl this morning? '' He asked.
" Fine," She told him and opened her History book, the truth was she actually wasn't fine. She was so pleased with the presents from her friends which were really like her family at this boarding school but something was bothering her. Nothing had come from her uncle. Nothing at all.
“The Second World War,” James muttered.
“Oh great! I just love learning about a conniving dictator whose strict regime meant that innocent lives were killed,”
James stared at her for a moment before he began laughing.
“And then he said…” James was laughing so hard he couldn't speak as he tried desperately to tell her the end of his story. This made Sapphire laugh even harder. “He said... He said…”
“Come on James. SPEAK!” She giggled.
“I can't,” he laughed.
The teacher was looming over them so James stopped laughing.
“Have you even done your homework?”
Sapphire shoved two pieces of paper in his face. The teacher nodded and walked away.
“You always save my behind,” He grinned. " My very CUTE behind!" He added with a cheeky smirk.
" Cute!? '' Sapphire laughed. " Anyway, are you going to tell me the end of your story? ''
" No, I decided against it, " He teased. Sapphire hit him lightly on the arm. As the bell went they left the room slowly, reluctant to finish their time together.
Shane headed towards them in the busy corridor with a strange look on his face. James seemed to read this look as he said;
" She's my History buddy! "
" Yeah, I save his cute behind," Sapphire giggled.
Shane's eyebrows rose. James thanked Sapphire, before going to his next lesson.
" He thinks you're really cool, " Shane told her almost as if warning her of something.
“He's cool too. I love History now. At first, I hated it but we always have a laugh,”
Shane sighed knowingly.
"Oh shut up!" Sapphire laughed, pushing him away and straight into the on coming crowd of the corridor, heaving with students. Carrie, Alyssia and Toby joined them for their next lesson.
Things hadn't started to get weird until mid-morning. When Sapphire's little brother sought her out through the crowd, after their second lesson. Sapphire always made a point of avoiding her brother. Billy grabbed her by the arm and ushered her away from the crowd.
“It's your birthday,” He said simply.
“Yeah,” Sapphire replied impatiently.
“I got you a present,” He told her.
“Thanks,” She replied without meaning.
Billy was a lot shorter than her and had a mop of mousy brown hair. He pulled a package from his jacket and handed it to her. Sapphire stared at it before turning around and walking away. She opened the package along the corridor and looked at it. Inside was a pair of beige stocks. A horrible colour. Sapphire laughed when she saw them. The socks were so pathetic just like her brother.
In her third lesson, Sapphire sat next to Toby and Alyssia. Next to Toby was also another boy in their year. His name was Jasper Davies and Sapphire didn't know him very well but he seemed nice. They were in Chemistry; Toby got up to get some alkali solution from the front of the class and Jasper slid across the table to sit next to Sapphire.
"Happy Birthday," He whispered, with a grin. Sapphire smiled at him broadly. "Meet me after class," He told her then slid back to his seat as Toby had returned. The rest of the lesson was spent mixing solutions together and watching the reactions. They wrote down each reaction ten minutes before the bell. Then they packed up their things and left the classroom. The teacher Mr. Wintington kept Sapphire behind after class. Toby and Alyssia went to Lunch.
"I have been told to tell you that you have a meeting with the headmaster this evening at seven 0'clock,"
"Oh. Why?"
"I don't know but it's very important. Now go on, get your lunch," Mr. Wintington told her.
Sapphire nodded and left the room, as she got out onto the corridor she found that Jasper had been waiting there for her with a look of apprehension upon his handsome face.
"Sapphire," He said strangely. "I...well, I've needed to talk to you for ages now. I just don’t know quite how to say it,"
Sapphire stared at him, bemused. Jasper shook his head as if fighting a battle deep within his mind.
"I can't say it. I'm sorry. I'll have to show you instead," he put a hand through his dark brown hair, his eyes looked tired and worried as he led her along the corridor.
The peculiar thing about Anchester was no matter how hard one tried to learn the layout off by heart one would always get lost. It was as if the old castle walls shifted in the night, or when you weren’t looking. The creaking staircases leading to a different corridor each day. Only that was impossible so the students and teachers merely put it down to the fact that the castle was so big and therefore easy to get lost in.
Jasper on the other hand, seemed to know exactly where he was going, leading Sapphire up staircase after staircase until Sapphire really had no idea where she was, she’d never been on this corridor before. It was dimly lit and quite eerie. The walls and ceiling were made of white marble which gleamed in the low light and cast shadows across their faces.
Every office, classroom or lavatory at Anchester Boarding School had a number engraved onto a golden plate nailed to the door that shimmered with the polish, polished on it every night by the caretaker, Rodney. The Hall had a number one upon it and the Headmaster’s office had a number seven. They were all in order, it was the only way to find the ever changing classrooms.
“Look out for number twenty!” Toby would say on their way to Chemistry.
On this corridor though, there were no numbers upon the door, each door was weighed down heavily by a thick sheet of dust. It looked deserted almost like a forgotten corridor. Jasper was counting the number of doors till the end of the corridor. He stopped outside the fifth door and reached for the dusty handle, turning it slowly, carefully.
“Where are we?” Sapphire finally asked, after an eternity of silence. Jasper let go of the handle and turned to face her, a finger to his lips indicating she should silence. Sapphire nodded a little sulkily. Then Jasper reached for the handle once more, turned it slowly and opened the door just slightly. As he did, Sapphire could clearly see a huge spider web across the inside of the door, glinting and shimmering in an eerie silver brilliance. It was obvious Jasper didn’t want to break the web. So he opened the door as much as he could before the weight on the spiders web would break the spider’s silk. He got down on to his hands and knees and gingerly squeezed through the very small gap, being careful that he didn’t damage the web.
Sapphire was intrigued but not as much as she was wary of crawling underneath a huge spider web into an unknown room. Once Jasper was inside, he gestured for her to follow. The room within looked dark and uninviting. Sapphire heard a match strike and saw the faint light from a candle, through the gap in the door. She slowly and carefully crawled through, pressing her body as close to the dusty floor as she could. Jasper was lighting candles everywhere around the room and soon they had enough light to see where they were. Sapphire stepped forward with her back to the door as she looked around the room.
"Alyssia would adore this place," She whispered though not quite understanding why she was whispering at all.
The room was a small library, very old and very dusty. It's book shelves rose up to the ceiling, brimming with old books. Two arm chairs sat by a cosy looking fire, already lit and bathing in an orange hue that illuminated from the lit fire, crackling and spitting with orange embers and burning wood. Two books lay open on a small table next to the armchairs. Jasper fought his way over the tables and books that scattered the floor, to get to the armchairs. Sapphire looked around, disappearing behind one of the ceiling high bookshelves. She hesitantly took one from it's place and blew the dust off it's cover.
'Understanding Thoughts,' the cover read. Sapphire's face creased in puzzlement as she placed the book back and clambered over the many books scattered on the floor and over to Jasper by the fire. She sat in the chair next to him. Sapphire picked up the nearest book to her. It was already opened on page forty three as if the book itself was eager for her to read that page. It had a heading at the top which read;
'The changes at Anchester and Black's rise to power,'
Sapphire began to read wondering what kind of story it was going to be and why Jasper had led her up here just to read? It seemed to her, although she could barely dare herself to think it, that this was an excuse for Jasper to get her on her own. She tried to prepare herself for what she would do if Jasper made a move, to control herself from getting carried away she began to read the book.
'Many changes took place at Anchester Boarding School under Gowan Black's strict rules. Some called him a dictator but he was so much more than that. His regime was strict and for those who did not follow death was the penalty. He wanted to rid the school and one day the world, of any non-believers. So many students were killed for not agreeing to his commands.
The first changes were all lessons were changed. There were no English and maths, these were replaced by intensive gift enhancing lessons including the dark arts, manipulation, soul sucking, Thoughts, flight and many more. Including hexes, jinxes and even curses to enhance their Gift's.
The next changes were the secrecy oaths, all students had to swear to keep the secrecy of the school. This meant they could tell no one not even their parents about the changes at their school. Gowan Black became stronger and stronger and the school became his army. Like a cult the remaining students and teachers were sucked in, brain washed, fed propaganda and they lapped it up. Drove by fear and an ultimatum to live or to die, they lapped it up. Soon the changes he had made in the school he began to use out of the school luring the whole government to his way of thinking. Although, they knew nothing of the magic, of what was really going on or what had really happened to Anchester.
Some wanted to have him hung as a witch but they did not speak out. Just like the students the penalty would be death. How such a normal, credited, ordinary Boarding School turned almost over night by the Murder of their Headmistress and the takeover of Black, into an evil army of children terrified and forced to hurt to cause pain and to kill? This no one knew!'
Sapphire looked up from the book to see Jasper engrossed in the one laid out for him, He noticed her looking at him.
"Have you finished?" he whispered.
"No, I just..." She trailed off awkwardly.
"Confused?"
"Yeah, I mean, why? Why are we here?"
Jasper placed his book firmly on his lap, to give her his full attention.
"Read to the end of the Chapter, it'll become clearer, trust me,"
Sapphire nodded and without another word, she read;
'Something needed to be done about Black and suddenly as Black was about to take over the Government out came a group of people that no one had known about before. They were more than a group of people, they were a society and an army in their own right. A society of people keeping their heads down, living in the shadows, for there was something about them that made them different from everyone else and this was something that the rest of society couldn't accept, they didn't understand.
Out Of every corner, every crack and crevice they came, The Gifted. They were sick of hiding and sick of Black using his powers for evil and giving them a bad name. Hand in hand the Gifted women fought alongside ordinary housewives and the men with their Thoughts and their Flight fought alongside accountants and mechanics. They were united, they were one. It wouldn't last.
Then came the invasion of Anchester by the ordinary and Gifted a-like. Students were killed in the process, their school in tatters. Black hid in his office, till they found him. For the last hour of his regime, he hid in a broom cupboard, cowering away till they dragged him out, they found him.
No one knows where Black is now, only that he is weak, and humiliated by his students and defeated by his 'own kind'. Gowan Black was a power mad, vengeful man who in the end was just another bully, scared and lonely resorting to hiding in a broom cupboard.'
The chapter had finished, Sapphire looked up once more at Jasper who had an anxious look on his face and he pointed to a small sentence at the bottom of the page, which Sapphire hadn't even noticed before.
' By Ana McKinley, final year at Anchester; the real Anchester she knew and loved.'
Sapphire stared at the words, her mouth fell open. Her mother wrote that? Did that mean it had really happened? There was a long silence in which Jasper waited anxiously for a reaction of some sort. She didn't know how to react, and she was so confused
"Have you read this before? '' Sapphire asked finally. Jasper nodded.
"I found it and saw that, I knew I had to show you," He told her. "Every book in this library is so strange, they all talk of stuff I’ve never heard of,"
Sapphire suddenly rose to her feet, rushing to the book she'd browsed at earlier.
"Understanding Thought's,"
She'd noticed something odd earlier on the very corner of the book. There was some sort of stamp, a picture of a sword and a lightning bolt crossed over one another and in a circle around them were the words;
"Anchester Boarding School of Black's Magic,"
Sapphire threw the book onto the floor in her confusion and reread her mother's name on the other book; she threw that on the floor too. Jasper was glad of some reaction, he had known how sensitive she was about her mother and he'd been so worried about showing it her but he knew he had to.
"Now listen to me Sapphire," Jasper spoke urgently. "Strange things happen in this castle that no one seems to notice. I heard noises coming from up here one night and I came to investigate and found all this. You know how that book speaks of his office and a broom cupboard and another I read about a conference room," He thrust the book he'd been reading into her lap. It was entitled; 'Black's conferences'
Sapphire nodded, a chill creeping up her spine and her stomach began rumbling loudly, she was starving.
"There all here, on this corridor, all of them," Jasper was shouting now, he was so excited and yet so scared. "I've tried telling my friends," He explained, "But they all think I’m mad and laugh it off, ignore it. EVERYONE IGNORES IT IN THIS SCHOOL!" He shook his head and muttered. "They all think I’m mad,"
Sapphire lay a hand on his arm, reassuringly to show him she didn't think he was mad.
" I knew you'd believe me because your..." He pointed to the book now lying on the floor by her feet. "Your mum wrote it!"
Jasper stopped abruptly, his eyes flicking madly to the door. A strange sensation came over Sapphire, as she remembered the large spider web laced across the door. Fear rose in her like the crescendo of the tide thrashing against the rocks. Jasper’s face turned pale as he whispered.
“We woke it,”
Those simple three words frightened Sapphire more than anything she’d ever heard. It was at that moment, Sapphire noticed another book on the table that had most definitely not been there before. It was opened on page twenty seven and read;
“Black’s gigantic spider protected his books for the content they contained could lead to his downfall. The spider was likely to poison or suffocate it’s prey with it’s silk. Sometimes the spider would even eat a trespasser but the majority of bodies have simply been found cocooned within it’s silk.”
Sapphire clasped a hand over her mouth as she saw the spider. It was as big as the door, it’s legs as long as swords, it’s beady eyes as huge as golf balls.
Tears streamed down Sapphire’s face. She didn’t even think how it was possible that the relevant book had got on the table, or that her hunger had become so immense that the rumbling in her stomach was almost as loud as her deafening heartbeat. Or that the cosy warm fire had completely blown out almost of it’s own accord, leaving Sapphire with a dark chill.
“Keep still,” Jasper mouthed at her. Sapphire’s whole body shook with fear, so keeping still proved a hard task.
The spider scurried down from the web and scuttled across the room, it’s long legs etching closer. In just three or four steps it had reached the arm chairs with it’s pincers raised in the air. Ready to attack.

Chapter Two

Sapphire couldn’t help it, she couldn’t hold it in any longer. A loud piercing cry escaped her lips as she threw a book at the spider and backed away. Picking up more books to throw at it. Jasper rushed to her, dragging her in to the far corner of the library and behind a ceiling high bookshelf. He pulled the books from her grasp.
“No!” He whispered sternly. “Don’t aggravate it more,”
“How many times have you been here?”
“A few times,” He replied. “As soon as I saw your mother’s name I knew I had to tell you and…” He broke off as Sapphire dragged him into the bookshelves as the spider scuttled ever closer towards them. Sapphire pushed the books on the shelf to the floor and scrambled through to the other side with Jasper following. The two of them bolted for the door but the spider blocked their way. Jasper held Sapphire behind him protectively, as he reached for a book on the floor to throw. Sapphire laid a hand on his arm to stop him from throwing it. It was the book she had been reading before about the Gift’s and Black. There was one moment, a moment that can only be explained was lost from time. Sapphire looked deep into Jasper’s eyes for an answer but Jasper shook his head, still the book lay open in Jasper’s hands. Neither of them would ever know for sure what truly happened next. The spider’s eyes began to bulge at the sight of the book as Sapphire shouted in farce that she would suck out it’s soul. Jasper shuffled forward as the spider’s legs buckled beneath it and it’s eyes began to roll backwards in it’s head. As it thudded to the floor and desperately crawled into a dark corner Sapphire and Jasper dashed out the door. He dropped the book to the floor as they scrambled out. They hurried down the stairs, their hearts in their stomachs.
“I’m sorry,” Jasper said.
“No,” She sighed, shaking her head.
“I just had to show you,”
“I know,” Sapphire nodded. “I…do you think it’s dead? Did we kill it?”
“I don’t know,” Jasper admitted.
“Well, we have to go back there. If you want to,”
They’d reached the main corridor now, busy with students rushing to their first lesson of the afternoon. Sapphire was starving, she’d missed lunch.
“I have football practice tomorrow, so Wednesday we can go after lessons,” He told her as Shane and Alyssia rushed over to them.
“Where have you been all lunch? You’ve been gone an hour and a half!” Alyssia screeched.
“Sorry, I was just… doing homework with Jasper,”
Jasper averted his eyes to a dull painting on the wall of a rippling lake and a small boat bobbing and floating in a non-existent breeze. Alyssia stared at them both incredulously.
“Homework,” She repeated slowly.
“Alyssia was having a heart attack,” Shane laughed. “She was sure Mr. Wintington had poisoned you with some potion in his cupboard,”
Alyssia blushed as Jasper burst out laughing. She grinned shyly then hugged Sapphire and whispered in her ear.
“My suspicion is evident but he seems nice,”
The two girl’s walked arm in arm to their English lesson. Shane and Jasper following behind. Jasper was sat opposite Sapphire in their lesson. He looked across to see Alyssia passing her a note and Sapphire grinning and reaching in her pocket for a pen. Instead she pulled out an ugly beige sock. Blushing furiously she stuffed it back in her pocket and successfully retrieved a pen.
“What was that?” Toby asked with a bellowing laugh.
“My brother’s idea of a birthday present,” Sapphire sighed.
“Sapphire McKinley!” Shouted their English teacher, Professor Hacker. “Would you listen?”
Sapphire nodded.
“You disappoint, Sapphire. The McKinley’s have been coming to Anchester for decades. Your mother and Uncle were top A students. A credit to the school. Your Grandfather too and his mother before that,”
Sapphire stared into space, trying not to listen.
“Yes, young lady. A disappointment indeed, we have high expectations of you as I’m sure your mother had,” Professor Hacker told her with such a hint of patronising snobby ness that it aggravated Sapphire no end. “Your mother would be disappointed too,”
Sapphire was shaking now, the humiliation of being spoke to like that in front of the class and talking about her mother like that. The professor placed her back to the class as she started to write on the board. Tears were stinging at Sapphire’s eyes. The class erupted into whispers.
“Her mum’s dead, you know,” Hissed Jade two tables away. Jade shared a dormitory with Sapphire.
“Must be a lot to live up to having an A student dead mum,” Said Amy, another girl from their dormitory.
“Bet she thinks she’s so good having the credited McKinley family name,” Jade laughed.
“No,” Amy said. “It must be awful having a dead mum,”
“My dad knew her mum and knows her uncle,” Said a boy at the back of the class.
“Oh yeah?” Amy and Jade said together.
“Yeah,” He replied. “Her mum’s death was really suspicious, not sure how it happened. Her uncle reckons it was a car crash,” He whispered checking a quick glance at Sapphire who was pretending not to have heard a word.
“But they have no proof, no car wreckage. The police know nothing about it either. It was as if she just, I dunno, magically died or something,”
Sapphire’s mouth dropped, her eyes brimming with tears once more. Something he’d said had hit her so hard she couldn’t breathe.
“McKinley, c’mon. Get working,” Professor Hacker chirped. That was it. She couldn’t take it any longer. She slung her bag over her shoulder and stormed from the room . She rushed into the nearest girl’s toilets, collapsing into tears and seething with anger as she sat down on the toilet seat.
“Sapphire! Sapphire! I know your in here. Are you okay?” It was Alyssia, the bell went to signify the end of the lesson. “Please come out. No one’s here. Shane and Toby are attacking any girl’s that try and come in,”
Sapphire let out a giggle and opened the door.
“Oh, c’mon. It’s your birthday. Ignore Hacker and those idiots in English. You’ve got a party tonight in our common room and it’s going to be great,”
It wasn’t so much what Professor Hacker or Amy and Jade had said, it was the boy at the back of the class talking about her mother’s death. What right did he have? She wanted to kill him. His voice, those words kept ringing incessantly in her mind.
“She just magically died or something,”
That evening after dinner, Sapphire met her friends in the fifth year common room. Billy had tried to catch up with her after dinner but she’d avoided him, hiding behind a suit of armour until he’d gone.
“I wish he’d leave me alone, just get lost,” She laughed with Toby who still could not actually believe he’d given her a beige sock for her birthday. A few sixth years had managed to get into the common room when they heard there was a party. Alyssia had decorated the round, usually dull ancient room with balloons and banners. Straggly brightly coloured pieces of string strewn across the floor from the party poppers and on a table by the window lay an assortment of food Alyssia had bribed the cook from the kitchen to give her. Toby proceeded to chat up two sixth year girl’s who were obviously not interested. Shane was kicking a balloon around like a football, Jasper and his friends joined in with the game.
Then Carrie arrived with a wide and mischievous grin on her face.
“I have the final touches to this party,” She grinned showing Sapphire the contents of her bag.
“That must be heavy,”
“What is it?” Alyssia asked squarely. Carrie was reluctant to show her. Knowing Alyssia and knowing she’d disapprove. Despite Alyssia’s protests, Sapphire, Carrie and Toby all began drinking the alcohol.
The party was a great success and with the warm, sweet tasting alcohol swishing around her body she had forgotten all about the disastrous and strange start to her fifteenth birthday. In fact, all the next day it never crossed her mind either. She was caught up in the hilarity of Carrie’s hang over and Toby trying to convince them that the sixth year girl’s had really liked him.
It wasn’t till Wednesday after lessons, when Jasper came to find her through the throng of the crowd of people that she suddenly remembered. The tears, the fears, the Gift’s and spider and that library full of answers for questions she was yet to ask. With a deep sigh, the two of them made their way up the stairs to find the forgotten corridor.
It was just as eerie as she’d remembered, as they climbed the final stairs to the corridor. The corridor was dark as they came to the top of the stairs. It was the sort of dark that emitted it’s own black light for there was nothing else within the depths of the thick darkness. As Jasper walked over to the first door all the candles on the wall burst into little flames. Jasper opened the first door and disappeared inside. Sapphire knew she was meant to follow him and was now distinctly aware that she was alone. Peeling herself from the wall where she had backed up against it, she followed the corridor’s will. Observing the extravagant marble walls and making her way to the sixth room.
The sixth room had a faded “Bathroom,” sign upon the door. She pushed it open and walked inside. She could hear a running tap somewhere in the bathroom, her feet tapping on the tiles echoed as she walked. She reached the sinks and looked into the cracked mirrors over them. Although, the reflection was distorted Sapphire found her eyes drawn to the middle cubicle. She turned from the mirrors and pushed the cubicle door open and saw a dingy toilet, unused and grimy. The toilet seat falling off it’s hinges and the flush just waiting to be flushed. Sapphire reached for the rusty flush, with an urge she just couldn’t explain. She pushed it down firmly and watched the water in the toilet bowl churn and swish around. Sapphire stood, looking into the water and her mind wandered to Mr. Wintington and his odd potions.
The cubicle door slammed shut behind her. The toilet began to move, the cubicle, the world in a circular motion. Sapphire felt her feet leave the floor as she was sucked towards the toilet.
“Sapphire?” She could hear Jasper’s gravely voice ask, before his voice was drowned out by the sound of the water filling her ears. Her eyes slammed shut in fear and disbelief. Her breath was knocked out of her as she felt herself fly through the air.
She felt her feet touch something solid and she could hear voices all around her.
“You keep them on display!”
Sapphire slowly opened her eyes, taking in huge raspy breaths. She was in complete darkness, in a tight space, a cupboard. There was just a slither of light coming through from a crack in the doors. Sapphire looked through the gap and saw Mr. Wintington in his office at the back of the Chemistry class. Mr. Wintington was stood with his back to her, his silver hair and grey long robes making him appear duller than ever. He was talking to someone at the other side of the classroom of which Sapphire couldn’t quite see. The smell of oak and pine, pure wood smells drifted to Sapphire but they were ruined with a mingling of a sulphur smell, some chemical she decided that must’ve been Mr. Wintington’s potions.
“Why should I hide them?” Mr. Wintington laughed, his voice calming and his laugh chillingly full of ease.
“In case anyone would see them, maybe?” A high pitched voice, like a crazed bird shrieked.
“Oh no, no,” Laughed Mr. Wintington.
“You are a fool to underestimate them,” She told him sternly.
There was a stiff silence and then Mr. Wintington said.
“She never went to see him,” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement.
“I know,” The high pitched voice took a deep steadying breath and then continued. “It was her birthday, it could’ve slipped her mind,”
“Maybe your right, Gertrude,” Wintington agreed.
“He was not pleased, he had wanted to talk to her urgently about something but he wouldn’t elaborate! Wintington, what if he’s finding out!?” The high pitched voice became strained, full of frustration.
“That’s absolutely impossible, Gertrude,”
“Is it?” She raged. “He’s very clever, Wintington and he knows all about Black, he was the one of the only ones that stood by Ana McKinley. He knows Black better than we do. He must know her death was no accident,”
“Gertrude Hacker!” Wintington’s voice was as it had never been before, squeaky and anxious. “We swore, we both swore to…never to talk of Ana…”
“Sssh!” Professor Hacker hissed at him. “We’re not alone,”
Her pale gaunt face came into Sapphire’s view, her grey hair tied tightly back into a bun at the base of her head. A long hooked nose headed towards the cupboard which Sapphire was hiding in. Sapphire looked around the cupboard franticly for an escape, hoping for a miracle. She fumbled around desperately, dreading a detention from Professor Hacker.
“You hear that Gertrude?”
“Will you be quiet!” She hissed harshly, flapping her arms around like a mad bird. Her hand grasped for the cupboard door handle. Sapphire sucked in a deep breath, as if to make herself invisible.
Then just before Hacker wrenched open the cupboard door, Sapphire heard the toilet flush from upstairs and as she concentrated on the toilet cubicle above her, she was suddenly sucked upwards. The strangest feeling overcame her, as she flew toward the cupboard roof which was now just inches away. Sapphire braced herself for an impact, her eyes closed tightly and her knuckles clenched white. Below, she watched through squinting eyes as the cupboard doors swung open and Professor Hacker looked in, followed by Mr. Wintington. The sound of running water filled her ears again and she was whipped back into the toilet cubicle; standing nose to nose with Jasper.
There had been no impact and Sapphire was completely dry.
“Sapphire!” Jasper exclaimed breathlessly. “Where did you go?”
Sapphire felt drained and exhausted, she rested her forehead on his, silently with her eyes shut tight. Jasper’s heart began to race; he’d never been so close to her before, close enough to kiss her…He froze. He didn’t dare breathe. Her eyes opened after a few minutes. She walked out of the cubicle and over to the cracked mirrors, without a glance back at Jasper. Jasper finally took a large breath and settled himself.
“I have no idea what just happened,” She finally gasped, before he could ask her. “One minute I was flushing the toilet and then I was sucked in and down to…to Mr. Wintington’s office. In his cupboard. He was talking to Professor Hacker and… I…”
“What were they saying?” Jasper asked, leaning against a nearby sink, trying to seem nonchalant though this was proving hard for his voice was shaky, his mouth was dry and he couldn’t seem to focus on her, on the bathroom, on steadying his breathing. Nothing but the moment that had just been wrenched away from him.
Sapphire shook her head. She didn’t want to tell Jasper what they’d said about her mother. She didn’t know Jasper very well and she wasn’t sure if she could trust him or not yet.
“What did they say?” Jasper asked again, he was intrigued now he knew she was hiding something.
“Something about the potions in his cupboard, being on show,” She explained. “And the Headmaster finding out, being clever…”She stopped abruptly and rubbed her forehead like the thought’s in her head ached her, in fact they burned her brain. Too many thought’s.
“There’s something more?” He asked, his eyes wide in anticipation.
“What did you see in the first room?” Sapphire asked, swiftly changing the subject and clearing her mind of unwanted thought’s.
“It was an office, full of pictures of a guy with long black hair, nothing much really,” Jasper told her. She nodded and headed to the door.
As they walked along the corridor, they stopped in front of the library. The book Jasper had dropped was still laid on the floor, just outside the door.
“Shall we go in?” Jasper asked her, his voice barely a whisper now.
“I think we have to now, Jasper. I don’t know what happened in that bathroom but…and those books,” She stopped talking abruptly again, always scared of revealing too much of what was going on in her head. She crawled through the door, not daring to look back once she was inside. Jasper soon joined her.
“Where is it?” He asked.
Sapphire hesitantly looked at the door; the spider had gone. Sapphire walked cautiously over the books that laid strewn across the floor and towards the fireplace. The fireplace burst into flames before her eyes. She sat down in one of the faded green armchairs and stretched her feet out to the fire. Jasper sat in the armchair next to her and reached for a book that was on the table next to the chairs. Sapphire glanced around once more for the spider before picking up the book that was laid out for her to read and reading it as she knew she should. The warmth of the fire engulfing her into a hypnotic trance like state. Her eyes began to droop and far away somewhere she could hear Jasper laughing at her. She dragged herself out of the depths of drowsiness and cast an embarrassed smile at Jasper. Then concentrated on her book.
“Black Magic;
Manipulation- This is the Gift with an excellent power. The power to manipulate, objects, places even people. This can be used to cause pain on one’s opponent manipulating organs to crush and bleed. Manipulation can also be used to gain control of objects, rendering them helpless to your command, chairs, tables or large bulldozers depending on the strength of ones Gift.
Flight- This is, as the simple title suggests the Gift of Flight. To fly, to soar through the sky. This Gift can be used to escape an opponent or rescue a accomplice and can be quite a handy Gift but only used for defence rather than attack.
Visions- This Gift is one of the most powerful Gifts, to see into the future, to look back into the past. To see small glimpses of something, a scene unfolding in the mind or just a strong sense of something. Visions offer endless possibilities but can also be a painful Gift, it hurts one to have a vision. Their bodies and mind must be prepared and strong as they can make them very weak.
Soul Sucking- This is the most powerful and the most evil and the hardest to master. Electric blue veins form beneath the skin, enabling a power to illuminate when one is high on emotion. This power when it comes in contact with a person begins to drain away their life, sucking at their very soul. Seeing every last detail in their mind before finally they fall into a hopeless death. This is a great Gift for using ones opponent and…”
Something distracted her from reading, Jasper was talking in a very forced and anxious voice.
“Keep still,” he was saying. “Just keep still,”
Sapphire choked on her own breath at his words. All the fine hairs on the back of her neck stuck up on end. Her eyes flicked across the library, until she saw the spider.
It seemed smaller than it had done upon their last visit. Jasper; as if reading her mind nodded and hissed.
“You should have seen it the first time I was here,” He stretched his arms out exaggeratedly and hissed. “Massive!”
Sapphire got to her feet, slowly and began looking at the books on a bookshelf nearby. The spiders’ many eyes, once the size of tennis balls were now more the size of golf balls. But Sapphire seemed unaware of it’s gaze.
“There’s so much,” She suddenly said. “So much I don’t even know about my own mother. My mum. Stuff I’ll never know,” She cried. Jasper got to his feet too.
“Sapphire,” He said gently. “What did you hear in Wintington’s cupboard?” Sapphire looked at him in alarm. How did he know she’d heard anything about her mother? It was almost like he could just read her like a book, magically laid out on the relevant page. This whole place gave her the creeps. She took Jasper’s arm and led him out of the library, closing the door shut without a thought to the spider. A small window at the opposite end of the corridor, thick with dust and cobwebs, told them it was dark. The thick black cloak of night shone like a warning that they should be in their rooms. It had passed nine, the curfew. Neither of them seemed to care.
Jasper walked to the end of the corridor and opened the last door. Inside, was a conference room. A large round room with a large round table in the centre. Brown tattered chairs sat round the table. Sapphire sat in a chair, pulling her knees up to her chest. Jasper sat down in the chair next to her, his eyes glinted.
“Think of all the meeting’s held in here,” He said, his eyes a- light with excitement. “I can just imagine him, Black. Sat there, all powerful and intimidating, commanding teachers to follow his regime or they’ll witness some terrible Black Magic,” There was a dreamy grin lingering around his face. Sapphire looked disinterested, then finally she couldn’t stand to see his animated face anymore.
“This is all a game to you, isn’t it?” She spat. “Well, it’s not to me Jasper. My mother wrote that book and Hacker and Wintington were talking about her death. They said the Headmaster must know it wasn’t an accident!” Sapphire sucked in enough air for three people, fighting with the tears brimming at her eyes. “My mother died in a car crash! Why does no one believe me!?” She was screaming now, the tears flooding endlessly down her cheeks.
Jasper bit his lip nervously.
“Listen, I know this isn’t a game,” He told her. “And I’m going to get to the bottom of it,”
“No!” Sapphire shouted at him. “No. Whatever happened is in the past,” her dazzling green eyes flashed at him dangerously.
“That’s the thing, Sapphire. It’s not just in the past. Whatever happened here, the traces are still left in this school,”
“Just drop it, Jasper,” She scowled. “I don’t think I want to know,”
“You deserve to know more than anyone, Sapphire. You deserve to know what really happened to your mum,”
“FOR THE LAST TIME, MY MUM DIED IN A CAR CRASH!” She erupted, there was no controlling it and no wishing her words back as they echoed around the room and she watched the silent horror upon Jasper’s face. She wished her words, her tears back. But why couldn’t he understand?