Old Magic(14)

‘So you lost everything?’ she asks. ‘Except for the photos?’

‘And Dad’s precious family heritage book,’ I explain. ‘He guards it with his life. It was the first thing he saved. He’s been working on it for more than twenty years. Traced the Thornton line right back to the Middle Ages, 1200s I think. To the borderlands which fell between England and Scotland then – the Disputed Land. The Thorntons had one of the very first stone-built castles. It’s still there apparently, though Thorntons don’t own it any more. They lost it somewhere along the way. But it doesn’t look the same now, it’s been rebuilt with bricks and proper rooms and everything.’

She looks really impressed, her eyes growing huge again. ‘You’re kidding? Have you seen it?’

‘Nah, but I’ve seen pictures.’

‘God, Jarrod, that’s unreal. I’d love to see your father’s book. My family is so small. All I know is that Mum took off to Brisbane, and Jillian was a single mother. End of story.’

This blows me out. I feel her tug her hand out from mine. Reluctantly I let it go. Here I am thinking how lucky she is, having an established home, living in one town all her life, when she’s not much different to me really. I may not have her connections with this mountain, but she doesn’t know her ancestry. She doesn’t even know her parents. I have a sudden urge to share my family history with her. ‘If you like I could bring the book round one day.’

‘I’d love it.’

I can’t believe how different – normal – she is when she’s not talking about magic and stuff like that. Somehow I know it’s too good to last. I stand, deciding I can make it back to school for afternoon classes, when she does it again. ‘I think your family might be jinxed, cursed, you know?’

My eyes roll at the absurd thought. ‘I don’t think so.’

Her enthusiasm incites her imagination. She climbs on to the spilled log as if her sudden height will make her whacky theory somehow more credible. Her hands weave an invisible pattern in the air as she tries to make her point. ‘Think about it. All those accidents. And … and your powers … the curse must have something to do with them.’ She clicks her fingers as a sudden thought hits her. ‘The curse could have triggered them free from your subconscious.’

I decide to give up, and start walking in the direction we’d come. ‘Don’t start again, Kate. You’ll spoil the morning.’

She jumps down and catches up with me, totally immersed in her crazy theories. ‘I think your powers are growing for some reason. Maybe this curse is getting stronger.’

‘I don’t recall establishing there is a curse.’

‘Look,’ she goes on, ‘your father’s condition is serious, not just a repairable broken bone.’ She grabs my good arm and yanks me back, hard. Her strength surprises me. ‘Can’t you see?’

Strong or not, I’ve had a gutful of this rubbish. I shake off her hand. ‘Will you quit it? Bad luck is just that, bad luck. It doesn’t mean anything. I don’t have any so-called “powers”. That’s absurd. Just leave me alone. I want to be normal like everyone else in this world.’

She stands very still. ‘Do you think I don’t want to be normal like everyone else? Do you think I like living with this?’

I peer at her. What is she saying? ‘You?’

‘I have powers too,’ she replies, her voice so low I can barely hear it. ‘Not strong ones, really. Not as strong as I’d like. But I can do a few spells and stuff. You know, turn on the radio from another room, make the digits on the clock change faster, tricks like that. But most of my talent is getting inside people’s heads.’

This last part is too much. ‘Are you saying you can read minds?’

‘No, nothing that grand. Although I have tried, with Jillian and Hannah. But I can sense emotions. I can tell if a person is angry, or sad, or frightened, even if they’re not revealing a thing on the outside.’

‘Very interesting,’ I reply sarcastically, a desperate urge to run pelting down on me. I realise I have to get away, from the forest, from Kate, and everything she’s saying. I start running and leaping, shoving foliage out of my way, hoping I’m heading in the general direction of the road.

‘I was in your head this morning, Jarrod Thornton!’

I don’t slow down until I finally break through to the road. It’s not the same place we went into the forest, but, hey, who cares, as long as I’m outta here. Unfortunately, Kate is right behind me. I spin around, determined to get her off my back. ‘You’re one crazy chick, Kate … whatever your last name is.’