Dream - 11.12.24

(Josie Sayz: I had a dream that was the sequel to the previous dream that I wrote about on my blog. It is not necessary that you read the previous Arcturus High themed dream piece, but if you would like to, you can find it here: https://josiesayz.blogspot.com/2024/12/dream-28-11-24.html. I have never had a sequel to a dream before.)

The students in Caitlyn’s classroom all looked ahead at the board, as their humanities teacher, Miss Tata, went through a PowerPoint presentation, about the second world war, on the projector. Caitlyn flickered her eyes down to her notebook and scribbled down a few notes, as Miss Tata continued. Beside Caitlyn, Darcia rubbed her hands together. The leather of Darcia’s gloves made a gentle swishing sound that Caitlyn had become used to. Since Darcia’s Raynaud's Disease diagnosis, she had a doctor’s note that allowed her to wear gloves during school. The swishing sound of the fabric had begun to bring Caitlyn much comfort. She could not explain why. It just did. A soft smile prodded into the red head’s right cheek, as she glanced over at her friend.

A knock rapped at the classroom door and Ms Carey poked her head inside, bearing her usual warm smile. An icy shudder crept up Caitlyn’s spine. Her eyes widened with worry. Alert, her eyes darted from left to right, wondering what had caused her icy shudder. Everyone was facing forward, looking at Ms Carey. Caitlyn sunk in her seat a little bit and kept her senses on high alert, as Ms Tata welcomed Ms Carey into her classroom.

“I am sorry to interrupt,” said Ms Carey, with what Caitlyn thought seemed like a forced smile. “I just wanted to check in on Mr Heekin’s form group… after what happened the other week…” A deep frown lined Caitlyn’s forehead, as she watched one of the school’s nicest teachers appear to force a huge open-mouthed smile across the room. Ms Carey’s eyes darted from right to left, as she appeared to scan the room.

‘Something isn’t right,’ Caitlyn realised. ‘The icy shudder… it was because of Ms Carey… but it can’t be,’ she told herself in disbelief. ‘It just can’t be… she’s my favourite teacher.’

“For all of the hardship you have faced lately, I wanted to hand out a small gift to all of Professor Steinin’s, I mean, Mr Heekin’s students,” announced Ms Carey, as she reached into a plastic wallet and began handing out small colourful objects to the small number of students, who were in Caitlyn and Darcia’s form group. Another icy shudder danced along her spine, as Caitlyn’s favourite teacher appeared in front of her and, with stiff movements, placed a small piece of rubbery plastic in front of her and Darcia. Caitlyn’s eyes locked onto the see through, plastic wallet that housed over a hundred colourful shapes and designs. There were flowers, hearts, animals and words, like ‘sunshine’ and ‘happiness’, everything that she, and most girls her age, loved to doodle or would buy for her keyring. A slight twinge tugged at Caitlyn’s heart, as her awareness that something was wrong prevented her from enjoying the colourful gift that her favourite teacher had placed on her desk.

As Ms Carey made her way back to the other side of the classroom, Caitlyn fixed a firm stare on the back of the teacher. Returning her hand to the plastic wallet, Caitlyn was certain that Ms Carey’s movements were a little rigid. From her forced smile, to the jerky way that she handed out the small charms, something, to Caitlyn, did not seem right. Once Ms Carey had left the classroom and chatter began to build around them, Caitlyn turned to Darcia and asked in a very quiet voice, “Did that seem a little odd to you?”

“Yeah,” replied Darcia, with wide eyes, as she picked up the small pink and red flower charm that Ms Carey had placed on her desk. “Teachers are never nice to us, like that. This is so nice. I’m gonna put it on my bag, later,” Darcia exclaimed, as she carefully zipped her charm away into her pencil case.

“No, not that part,” Caitlyn whispered. Leaning towards Darcia, Caitlyn flickered a glance around the room and in a very quiet voice said, “Did Ms Carey seem to be acting a little odd to you?”

“Odd?” replied Darcia, with a puckered brow. “You mean, that she gave us all presents?”

“No,” Caitlyn whispered, in a disheartened tone, as she shook her head. “Did you not think that Ms Carey seemed a little… I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Almost animatronic, in a way?” Darcia cupped her gloved hand to her mouth to conceal a giggle.

“Caitlyn, it’s not like you to be rude, like that,” Darcia blurted out, feeling a little shocked by Caitlyn’s comment. “I thought you liked Ms Carey.”

“I do,” insisted Caitlyn, as she forced a swallow. The red head’s brows slanted together. “She’s my favourite teacher, but something about her then, it seemed a little odd.” For the first time, Caitlyn lowered her eyes to the charm that Ms Carey had placed on her desk. The face of a cartoon chocolate-brown bear smiled back at her. Caitlyn reached a hesitant hand out towards the charm, but snapped it back to her chest, as a vision of her staring at Ms Carey’s plastic wallet full of them and the icy shudder it had caused her shot to the front of her mind. “Something seems odd about these too.” Darcia gave Caitlyn a sympathetic look and shook her head.

“Caitlyn, this is a nice gift from the school’s nicest teacher,” Darcia said, in a soft voice. “Yes, it is unusual, but it isn’t anything to be suspicious of, is it?” Caitlyn felt her heart sink, as she listened to her friend’s words. “You have been doing a lot of rehearsals for the school play lately, maybe you are overtired?” Letting out a deflated sigh, Caitlyn dropped her eyes to the desk that they shared. “Or maybe you miss Professor Steinin… and Ms Carey’s charm is a reminder of that.” Caitlyn’s lips parted. Her heart gave a slight thud. Darcia prodded her mouth into her left cheek and placed her gloved hand on Caitlyn’s sleeve. Inhaling a slow breath, through her nose, Caitlyn gave Darcia a weak smile.

As their humanities lesson continued, Caitlyn periodically scanned her eyes around the room, to check on the pupils in her form group. Nothing bad had happened to them since touching the charm. Nothing was different about them or the rest of her lesson at all. Still, a knot built up in the pit of Caitlyn’s digestive system. ‘I know I’m not wrong,’ she told herself. ‘Something isn’t right about these things.’ Caitlyn snarled her nose, as she glared down at the cute, rubbery bear face on her desk. She was still yet to touch it, with five minutes left until the end of the lesson. As Darcia asked Miss Tata if she could use the toilet before the end of the lesson, and she was handed a pastel yellow pass, Caitlyn unzipped her pencil case and pulled out a tiny Maison jar that was no bigger than the length of the tip of her thumb to its bend. Inside it was an iridescent, deep teal liquid. With her entire class distracted by the end of lesson chatter, Caitlyn uncorked the jar’s stopper and, with a trembling hand, allowed one drop of the shimmering substance to drip onto her bear charm. The liquid spread across the charm’s surface and glowed red for a millisecond before evaporating. Caitlyn’s eyes widened. She pinched her lips tight to conceal a gasp. ‘I was right,’ she realised. ‘These charms are charmed with a Frandadis mixture.’ Picking up her pen and a pencil from inside of her pencil case, Caitlyn used them, like chopsticks, to pinch the bear charm up from the table and place it in the front pouch of her pencil case.

Walking out of their humanities classroom, Caitlyn and Darcia met up with Aisha, Samantha and Emily. The group of five friends followed the stream of students out of the humanities corridor and down Arcturus High’s back staircase. “Hey, did Ms Carey come into your guys’ classes too?” asked Aisha, with an excited gleam in her eye.

“Yeah,” Samantha replied, holding out her small charm of a pastel pink ice cream in a beige cone. Aisha’s eyes widened and she held out her sunflower charm.

“Charanpal gave me his,” Emily told her friends, with an eager smile. She tugged her keys out of her pocket and held her charm out for them to see. A small bouquet of pink and red roses hung from her keys.

Panic shot to the front of Caitlyn’s mind. ‘They’re spreading,’ she realised, as her heart leapt into her throat. ‘Whatever Frandadis concoction is on these, the more they get passed around, the more people get contaminated.’ Caitlyn glanced in Darcia’s direction and she felt a tugging at her heart. ‘I need to talk to Bert about that icy shudder I felt, but if Darcia finds out I’m talking to Bert, she’ll think something is going on between us again, and she’ll be mad at me.’ Thoughts of Ms Carey’s robotic movements, as she handed out the Frandadis contaminated charms caused Caitlyn to tremble in fear. She squeezed the back of her neck tight, in attempt to claw her anxiety away. An idea sprung to mind. Caitlyn’s eyes widened. “Emily!” Caitlyn called, as she leapt to her friend’s side. “What lesson did Josh just have?” she asked, knowing that Emily knew the year eleven boy’s timetable off by heart, due to having a huge crush on him. Emily’s cheeks turned scarlet, as she shrugged.

“I dunno,” muttered Emily. “Why?”

“Come on,” Caitlyn sighed, feeling frustrated with her friend. “I know you know. Why can’t you just tell me?” The group reached the bottom of the staircase and proceeded to travers down the art corridor and towards the main body of the school.

“I told you, I don’t know,” replied Emily, with a sharp tongue and a snarled glare. “Why d’you need to know?” Caitlyn let out an over exaggerated sigh, as she stepped to the front of her group of friends and turned around to face them.

“As the only one of you who isn’t boy crazy, I’m surprised that none of you ever care to trust me,” Caitlyn sighed. “No, Emily, I’m not trying to steal some guy away from you who doesn’t fancy you.” Caitlyn folded her arms and tilted her head to one side, as her shoulders deflated. “Darcia… what lesson did Bert just have? And no, I’m not interested in him… this could be an emergency.”

“Spanish,” Darcia blurted out, having learnt Bert’s timetable off by heart, before she had even memorised her own. A sense of pride shone through Darcia’s response, but at the same time, she scrunched up her nose at Caitlyn.

Before Caitlyn had the chance to see Darcia’s expression, the red head had already turned on her heels and had taken several paces forwards. Throwing her head over her shoulder, Caitlyn called out, “Darcia, the charms have been tampered with. If I’m late to maths, please tell Mr Archimedes that I’m trying to prevent a Frandadis emergency. I’m sure he’ll understand.” Caitlyn took serval fast paced steps forward, before turning back to face her friends, adding, “I have no interest in boys… or girls for that matter,” and powerwalked down the corridor.

Weaving in and out of other students, as they raced from one lesson to the next, Caitlyn scooted up the English staircase and sped down the upper-level’s central corridor. As she neared the modern foreign language corridor, Caitlyn’s eyes widened, as they locked onto Bert. A grumble of frustration left Caitlyn’s mouth, as she spotted a head of mauve hair beside him. ‘What’s Ariel doing with Bert?’ Caitlyn cried. ‘How am I supposed to talk to him now?’ Keeping watch on the couple, Caitlyn quickened her pace, as she tried to navigate the maze of students to get to them. “Bert!” Caitlyn called, as she managed to push her way through a line of year eleven boys. “I need to talk to you.”

“Caitlyn, find me later, okay?” Bert replied, with a shrug and without even glancing in Caitlyn’s direction.

“But,” cried Caitlyn. “It’s important.” Her words were lost on deaf ears, as Bert’s full attention was on Ariel. He slipped his hand around her waist and the two stood staring into each other’s eyes. An idea sprang into Caitlyn’s mind. The illusion that she had been practising, with Bert and Mr Penn, to make a clock appear to have changed time. ‘Surely if I change the time on Bert’s watch to something weird, he’ll take me seriously.’ Caitlyn gripped her books tight and focused all of her energy onto Bert’s watch. The current time was ten o’clock. As Caitlyn concentrated, the hands on Bert’s watch disappeared, then reappeared to show three o’clock. “Bert, what time is it?” Caitlyn asked in a loud voice, in attempts to break him out of his trance with Ariel, while she kept her focus fixed on his wristwatch. She heard Ariel greet her, but Caitlyn was too focused on creating the time illusion, that Bert has taught her, to notice.

“Time?” mumbled Bert, as he brought his watch towards his face. Lines puckered Bert’s forehead, as he saw the time on his watch. “Er, my watch musta broken,” he shrugged. Caitlyn gave Bert a daggered glare. “Later Caitlyn,” he muttered, with another shrug and continued his walk down the corridor with Ariel.

Removing her illusion from Bert’s watch, Caitlyn felt her blood bubble with frustration. She held her pen tight in her hand and on a page in the notebook in her hand scribbled the word, “Nincompoop,” before tearing it from the pad and scrunching it up. Snarling her nose, Caitlyn turned on her heels and lobbed the paper ball at the back of Bert’s head. The paper ball flew through the air, but began to descend just before reaching Caitlyn’s target. With a fire fuelling through her veins, Caitlyn held her arm down at her side and flicked her fingers up. The paper ball bounced from its descent, midair and flung into Bert. A content grin prodded into the right corner of Caitlyn’s cheek, as Bert fumbled forward and reached out for the scrunched-up ball of paper that had struck him. An icy shudder trembled up Caitlyn’s spine, as she caught glimpse of Ms Carey stepping out of the staffroom. Caitlyn gasp, spun on her heels and dashed off in the direction of her maths classroom.

Looking down at the paper ball in his hand, Bert scanned the corridor for the culprit. “Look, there’s something written on it,” Ariel pointed out, as she saw the ink marking from a biro peer out between the scrunched crinkles. Bert unravelled it. “Nincompoop?” Ariel giggled, as she read it.

“How dare they,” growled Bert.

“Relax,” Ariel chuckled. “I think Nincompoop is quite an endearing nickname for you,” she said, with a sweet smile, as she fluttered her eyelashes at him. Bert chuckled, his expression softening. “They didn’t swear,” she pointed out.

Caitlyn’s heart pounded, as she powerwalked to her maths classroom, in the hut, in the centre of the courtyard and dropped into her seat beside Darcia. “Just in time,” the brunette hissed. “Did you find Bert? What did he say?”

“I found him,” replied Caitlyn, as she rested her hands to her chest, panting. “But he had more important things on his mind.”

“Ariel?” Darica muttered, rolling her eyes. Prodding her mouth down in the right corner, Caitlyn nodded. “Do you think those things are bad?” Darcia whispered, as her eyes darted around the room. Caitlyn shrugged.

“Nothing bad seems to have happened to anyone who’s touched them,” Caitlyn replied, leaning towards her friend, to keep their voices as quiet as possible. “But I used the Frandadis charm revealer on mine and it glowed red.” Darcia’s eyes widened.

“How did you do the charm revealer?” asked Darcia.

“Bert gave me a tiny bottle of it, just in case of emergencies,” Caitlyn replied. Darcia glared at her. A swirl of knots in Caitlyn’s stomach caused her to exhale a shaky breath.

“Told you, he likes you,” Darcia huffed. Folding her arms, she twisted herself away from Caitlyn.

“You’re being ridiculous,” hissed Caitlyn, as Mr Archimedes tapped his desk, with a pen, to call everyone’s attention.

Throughout the beginning of their maths lesson, Darcia twisted her body away from Caitlyn, towards the wall, despite this making it difficult for her to see the whiteboard, at the front of the classroom. Caitlyn tried her best to pretend that Darcia’s childishness did not bother her. The red head attempted to keep her back straight and take notes, as Mr Archimedes tested their knowledge of how to solve quadratic equations. Caitlyn wrote out the quadratic formulae at the top of her workbook: “-b +or– √b²-4ac/2a” and attempted to work out the answer to the equation that her teacher wrote on the board, when there was a knock at the door. “Come in!” Mr Archimedes called. An icy shudder crept up Caitlyn’s spine. Looking up from her equation, the colour drained from Caitlyn’s face, as she stared ahead at the robotic, smiling face of Ms Carey. Thudding raced in Caitlyn’s chest. Her breaths turned short, sharp and shallow.

“Nice to see you, Mr Archimedes,” Ms Carey smiled and nodded her head.

“Ms Carey, to what do I owe the pleasure?” replied Mr Archimedes, with a beaming smile.

“I am here to speak with any of your students who are in Mr Heekin’s form group,” she told him, as she looked around the room. Her eyes locked with Caitlyn’s. A wincing tugged at Caitlyn’s intestines. She threw one hand to her stomach and raised the other in the air.

“Sir… I don’t feel very well,” Caitlyn announced to the room.

“Oh my, Caitlyn, you look as white as a sheet,” gasped Mr Archimedes. “Go ahead and get yourself to Pupil Support,” he said, handing Caitlyn a pastel pink pass.

Gripping one hand to her stomach, Caitlyn shuffled out of the room and pulled the door most of the way closed behind her. With a crack in the door, Caitlyn leant towards it and listened, as Ms Carey gave the same speech that she did during Caitlyn’s humanities lesson and made her way around the room, handing out the small, rubber charms. While she listened against the door, Caitlyn focused her thoughts to create an illusion of herself walking past the classroom window, on her way to Pupil Support. “It is such a terrible shame,” Ms Carey said to Mr Archimedes. “These children have been through so much already… and now this.”

“What a shame. Poor man. We lost him too soon,” Mr Archimedes replied. Muffled chatter began to build in the room and Caitlyn struggled to hear any more of the teachers’ conversation. Footsteps grew nearer. Caitlyn’s heart leapt from her chest. Throwing one foot in front of the other, she raced out of the maths hut. Instead of walking past her classroom windows, towards Pupil Support, she snuck around the back of the maths huts and made her way towards the science department.

As she made her way towards the science department, Caitlyn ran through what she was going to say over and over again, in her mind. Sweat clamed her palms. Her heart hammered in her chest. ‘I’m a good girl,’ she told herself. ‘I’m doing this to save people.’ She repeated this over and over to herself as she hovered outside of Mr Penn’s chemistry classroom. In an attempt to calm her trembling hands, Caitlyn inhaled a long, slow breath, before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” she heard the deep voice of her afterschool club magic teacher say. Following Mr Penn’s instruction, Caitlyn poked open the door and peered inside. A collection of familiar year ten faces stared back at her. Pete, Fabian, Heather, Katie, Rickie and Tobi’s eyes gawked at Caitlyn, as she darted her eyes around the room. Caitlyn felt her eyes be drawn to Fabian’s. His cheeks turned scarlet, before he snarled his expression, which Caitlyn had come to accept as normal. “Miss Flynn, what bring you to my classroom?” asked Mr Penn.

“Sir,” Caitlyn hesitated and forced a swallow, as she shuffled a step closer towards him. Her heart rattled in her chest. Her knees felt weak and wobbly. “Sir, as you are head of health and safety, I’ve been told to tell you about the flood, in the maths hut,” Caitlyn said, with a shaky voice, hoping with desperation that Mr Penn would realise that she had some sort of emergency, and not think that she had gone mad for inventing a fictionalised position.

“What?” scoffed Rickie. “There ain’t no such thing. Head of health and safety? Yeah, right! If Mr Penn’s the head of health an’ safety then I’m the Queen a England,” he mocked. Many of the year ten students laughed along with him. Rickie’s remark sent a quivering twinge of upset through Caitlyn’s chest. Rather than look at her number one taunter, Caitlyn inhaled a shaky breath and stared at Mr Penn, hoping that amongst his magical abilities that he could also read minds. As if confirming Caitlyn’s wish, Mr Penn gave her a slight nod.

“Now, now, Rickie, you of all people should know that I have been the head of health and safety for months now,” Mr Penn announced, in a firm tone. “Why, there hasn’t been a mishap in my classroom in the fifteen years that I have been a teacher.”

“She’s making it up!” Rickie exclaimed, with a raise brow. “Look, her pass is pink, that’s for Pupil Support. She’s lying!” Caitlyn’s heart thudded against her chest, as Rickie jabbed his finger towards the Pupil Support pass in Caitlyn’s right hand. She inhaled a sharp breath. Keeping her eyes locked on Mr Penn, Caitlyn tried to remain calm. She twisted her hand, carrying her pass, towards her back and used all of her concentration to try to change the colour from pink to yellow, with her mind.

‘This is my magic hand… if I just…’ Caitlyn told herself, as she sent all of her willpower into this illusion. She felt her energy drain down her right arm and disappear into the piece of paper that she was holding. Fluttering her eyes down to her hand, she held her pass out towards Rickie, showing him that it was pastel yellow, which represented the colour of passes that allowed students to pass through the hallway and return back to their lesson. Rickie’s eyes bulged from their sockets, as he leant forward.

“Nah… that was pink, I swear,” Rickie cried out in disbelief.

“Mr Archimedes gave it to me,” she said, as she pointed at the L/M=N formula that for some unknown reason was her maths teacher’s signature.

“Now, now, Rickie, stop making a scene,” warned Mr Penn. “I shan’t be a moment. While I am gone, Fabian’s in charge.” Caitlyn looked towards Fabian and gave him a small smile. He lifted his head, to give Mr Penn a slight nod, and Caitlyn could tell that he was still avoiding her gaze.

As Caitlyn and Mr Penn stepped outside of his classroom, Caitlyn whispered, “Can you soundproof the door?” Before Caitlyn could finish her sentence, Mr Penn’s hands were already sound sealing the door to his classroom. A slight glow outlined the edges of the door, as his magic sealed around it, which Caitlyn knew he had added the effect for her satisfaction. As Mr Penn turned to face her, Caitlyn felt her insides churn around in a circumbendibus and she hunched her shoulders beneath the towering teacher’s glare.

“Well?” asked Mr Penn. Caitlyn shifted her eyes from left to right, and then looked over her shoulder.

“Can we talk in a soundproof bubble?” she asked, as her eyebrows slanted together.

“It can’t be that bad,” mused Mr Penn, with a slight smirk.

“Someone’s spelled Ms Carey,” Caitlyn blurted out. Mr Penn tilted his head to one side, and squinted a little, as he processed Caitlyn’s words. If it were not for the unusuality of the situation, he would have laughed. Caitlyn was a good girl. She would never sneak out of lesson to speak to him, unless it was something serious. “I tried to speak to Bert, but he’s too interested in Ariel to listen to me.”

“When is he ever not,” mumbled the teacher, rolling his eyes. “Okay, Caitlyn, I believe you,” Mr Penn concluded, with a nod. “But now you have to convince me why I should believe you.” Inhaling a slow, shaky breath, Caitlyn felt her right knee tremble, as she nodded.

“Ms Carey has been coming into every lesson that my form group are in, and is handing out Frandadis charmed charms, except, it isn’t Ms Carey… well, it is, but she is acting very stiff, it’s like she’s an animatronic from a theme park or something. No one seems to believe me that she is acting weird, but she is. She’s my favourite teacher, right after you, of course,” she added, with a nervous chuckle. “But I know something is wrong,” Caitlyn went on. “I felt it.” A sparkle shone from the inner corners of Caitlyn’s eyes, as she continued. “It’s almost like she has been spelled, and someone is controlling her, but I don’t know who or why. She says that the charms are a gift, due to losing Professor Steinin.” Upon saying her late form tutor’s name, Caitlyn felt a sinking feeling in her chest, as she dropped her line of sight to the floor.

While Caitlyn spoke, Mr Penn nodded at various intervals. His left eyebrow cocked up, a little, as Caitlyn’s emotion caused the light above them to flicker. “How do you know Ms Carey is handing out Frandadis charmed charms?” he asked, as lines indented his brow.

“I used the detection charm,” replied Caitlyn in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Okay, I am going to forget about how you got hold of the Frandadis fruits, while we are in a shortage, to make the-” Mr Penn spoke in a firm tone, as his brow rose to a glare.

 “Bert gave me a mini jar,” Caitlyn told Mr Penn, as she held her thumb and index finger a couple of centimetres apart. “I don’t have the charm, or know how to mix it, to find out what the charm is that is on them, I just know that it turned red.” In response to Caitlyn’s anxious pout, Mr Penn continued to nod, as he tried to piece together Caitlyn’s tale.

“And Ms Carey, that isn’t Ms Carey, is handing these out to your form group?” asked Mr Penn, as his left brow rose again.

“Yes,” Caitlyn nodded. “Except…” she paused, recalling Emily holding one in her hands, after her humanities lesson. “Charanpal gave his to Emily.” Caitlyn forced a swallow, as images of people passing the charms around to their friends, until her entire year group had made contact with them, forced its way to the front of her mind. Caitlyn found her vision blurring, as the picture in her mind became clearer. She shook her head, trying to remove the trance from her mind.

“And have there been reactions? Side effects?” Caitlyn heard Mr Penn ask. Looking up at him, Caitlyn shook her head. “How peculiar…” he muttered and let out a low hum, deep in thought. “Can I see one? If we can figure out what charm has been used, and how they were able to conceal it, we might be able to piece together who is behind all this. There aren’t many people with access or the knowledge of how to use Frandadis fruits, nor are there many people who possess magic, that we are aware of, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to track down our culprit.” Caitlyn’s brow wrinkled and her anxious pout returned, as her shoulders sank.

“I didn’t touch my charm. I was scared too,” Caitlyn exclaimed. “I do have it though. It’s on my desk.”

“Get it for me,” Mr Penn told her. “I’ll run some tests, see if I can figure out what’s going on.”

“How do I get it to you? I don’t want to touch it, just in case,” said Caitlyn, with a worried gasp.

“You’ve been practising levitation, haven’t you?” An uncertainty hung in Mr Penn’s voice. Caitlyn nodded, and a small smile poked into the corner of her mouth.

“I used it to throw a paper ball at Bert’s head, when he was being a nincompoop,” she said, as a soft giggle escaped her lips. 

“I’m sure he deserved that,” Mr Penn replied, with an amused, but proud, smirk.

“But how do I transport the charm to you. I can’t go back into my maths classroom; I’m supposed to be in Pupil Support,” Caitlyn exclaimed. “I can’t exactly walk around with a floating piece of rubbery plastic either.”

“Do you remember the shielding illusion that you used to cover yourself and Bert, during Ms Quinn’s initiation assembly, last summer?” he asked. Caitlyn gave him a slow nod, as her brow puckered. “Put two and two together.”

At her magic teacher’s words, Caitlyn’s heart began to race. Her chest tightened. A lump lodged in her throat. ‘Two pieces of magic at the same time?’ her mind panicked. “How can I make myself invisible, sneak back into my maths class, make the charm invisible and float it back to you? I… I can’t do all of that magic at once,” Caitlyn cried.” I, I think I used most of my energy up by changing the time on Bert’s watch, throwing a paper ball at him and changing the colour of my pass… oh and I already used a big illusion of me walking past my maths classroom, when I was listening in on Ms Carey.” Caitlyn forced a swallow, as her heart leapt into her throat. “I have never used my magic so much.”

“Do you have your amethyst with you?” asked Mr Penn. Caitlyn nodded. “Is it charged?” Again, Caitlyn nodded. “Recharge yourself,” Mr Penn instructed. “There’s a full moon at the end of next week.”

Caitlyn nodded and slipped her hand inside her inner blazer pocket. The icy stone slid into the palm of her hand. A tingling sensation began to spread from her palm, up her wrist and into her forearm. As Caitlyn held her amethyst in front of her, she could feel it heating up. The tingling sensation began to spread up her bicep and to her chest, where heat began emanating from her heart. With each tingling sensation, the crystal in Caitlyn’s palm grew warmer and warmer. “If you can’t do all three,” Mr Penn said, “try standing outside your maths room and bring the charm to you.” 

“But won’t everyone see me at the window?” asked Caitlyn, feeling a little confused.

“You’re good with light, kid. Use it t’ your advantage,” he told her, with a nod. “Now get going. I’d best save Fabian.” Caitlyn gave Mr Penn a little chuckle, before turning around and returning to the maths hut.

While Caitlyn returned to the maths hut, she thought about what Mr Penn had said. ‘Control the light… how will that help me?’ Frowning to herself, Caitlyn tried to think of many ways that manipulating the light in Mr Archimedes classroom might be able to aid in her retrieving the charm. ‘Could I make the lights really bright and blind everyone?’ she wondered. ‘Or maybe I can turn them off… no, it’s really bright outside,’ she realised, as the sun shone in her eyes. ‘Hmm…’ As Caitlyn tried to think of an idea, the summer sun shining in her eyes began to illuminate a ball of frustration inside of her. “Grrr… will you just move?” she growled to the sun and wafted her hand in front of her face. The beam of light moved in the direction of her hand’s movement. Caitlyn gasped. Her eyes widened. ‘Did… did I just do that?’ she wondered. Her eyebrows slanted together with confusion, and she wafted her hand around again, to try and move the sunbeam. Nothing. ‘That figures,’ she chuckled to herself. ‘Concentrate!’ she heard the roaring voice of Mr Penn echo in her brain. ‘Concentrate?’ she repeated to herself, frowning. ‘What if I…’ Caitlyn prodded the right corner of her mouth into her cheek, as she stared at the beam of sunlight to her right. Extending her right arm out, Caitlyn concentrated her energy down her arm and wafted it towards the sunlight. The beam inched in the direction of her waving hand. ‘I did it?!’ she gasped, as her eyes shot wide. ‘I can move light?’

Excited by her knew discovery, Caitlyn crept up against the side of her maths classroom. The sunlight was a little off to the side of the building. Holding her hand out, Caitlyn focused all of her concentration and channelled her energy down her right hand. She wafted her hand to the right. The sunbeam began to move across the metal framework of the maths hut. As Caitlyn continued to move the beam of sunlight, until it sat in direct line of sight with the windows, she came out of hiding and watched as her peers lowered the blinds three quarters of the way down the windows. ‘Yes!’ she cheered. Scooting towards her classroom window, Caitlyn could not help but smile to herself, proud of her own magic accomplishments.

Peering through the classroom window, Caitlyn squinted against the reflection of her blazer and the bottom of her tie. At the far side of the classroom, she could see her notebook and pencil case next to Darcia, who was looking down at her maths book, deep in thought. A tightness tugged at Caitlyn’s chest. ‘I have never done anything like this before,’ she worried, as her anxiety wrapped its claws tight around her torso. ‘Concentrate!’ she heard Mr Penn’s voice bark in her head, again. Hearing her magic teacher’s voice caused Caitlyn to tremble and the anxiety induced claws gripping her chest loosened a little bit. Caitlyn stared ahead, at her desk, through the window and let out a long, slow breath. She stood staring, steadying her breathing for some time. Thoughts trailed away, leaving only the instruction to breathe in, hold her breath and breathe out replaying in a loop in Caitlyn’s mind. A warm tingle built up inside Caitlyn’s heart, as she lifted both of her hands towards her chest. Holding her hands up, as though a sphere, around the size of a small cantaloupe, was sat between them, Caitlyn stared ahead at her desk. Her breathing grew heavy, as her energy tingled to the tips of her fingers. A firm stare of concentration wrinkled the part of her nose that met with her eyebrows. Caitlyn’s fingers began to lean together, as the small bear-face charm that poked out of the top pouch of Caitlyn’s pencil case disappeared. Inhaling a shaky sniff, Caitlyn kept her fingers frozen in place, as she moved her forearms in a slow wavering movement, attempting to levitate the, now invisible, charm across the classroom and towards the door. Her heart hammered in her ribcage. A lump leapt into her throat. Caitlyn could feel sweat beginning to clam up her palms. She shuddered a little, raising her hands to avoid the charm from bumping against Clare’s head or Daniel’s arm, as he raised his hand to answer a question. A tightness tugged at Caitlyn’s intestines, as she took several slow sidesteps towards the hut’s doorway. Using her elbow, she prodded the entrance door’s handle down and stepped inside. Her eyes fluttered closed, imagining the high up placement of the charm in the classroom, which she could no longer see, having stepped into the maths hut entranceway. A slow breath exhaled Caitlyn’s lips, as she regained composure of her heart and her thoughts. She inhaled a long slow breath, her feet rooted to the spot, before exhaling a even longer, slower breath. All of a sudden, Caitlyn sensed a tingling all over her body, as she cloaked herself in the invisibility illusion that she had used to protect herself and Bert, the previous year. She took a hesitant step forward and, using her elbow, she creaked open the door a fraction.

“Who’s there?” she heard Bentley say, upon seeing the door’s movement. A twinge tugged at Caitlyn’s chest and she jerked her hands towards herself. With a whooshing of air, Caitlyn sensed her charm shoot past her head. She gasped and spun around, making sure to keep her hands in motion and her concentration on masking the charm’s appearance and keep it floating in midair. Before anyone had the chance to check the classroom door, Caitlyn darted out of the maths hut and released the invisibility cloaking illusion from herself.

A thudding rapped in Caitlyn’s ears and tugged tight at her chest, as she made her way back to Mr Penn’s classroom, floating the invisible charm all the way. Her knees began to quake. Trembling shuddered her thighs. An aching grew in her arms. A tingling of light-headedness wavered around in her head. Caitlyn sniffed and let out a shaky whimper, as she tried to pull all of her remaining focus and energy into floating and concealing the charm for a little while longer. Holding her breath, Caitlyn rapped the back of her left hand against Mr Penn’s classroom door. “Come in,” he called. Using her elbow again, Caitlyn prodded the door open and shuffled inside. Her eyes darted towards the back of the classroom, where she saw Mr Penn standing behind his students, as they took a practise GCSE chemistry test.

“I…I brought the rock sample from the flood, at the maths hut, like you asked, sir,” Caitlyn said, with a tremble to her voice, as she held her left hand to her side and her right hand behind her back, keeping control of the invisible floating charm.

“I see,” nodded Mr Penn, making his way around the room towards her. “Please, Caitlyn, leave it on my desk. I will see to it at once.” Caitlyn nodded and shuffled to her left, towards Mr Penn’s desk. Aware of the watchful eyes, she surveyed the students around her, as she lowered the charm to the desk, removing both the levitation and invisibility illusions. The dizziness in her head spun her mind around in a racing circle and she gripped a hand to her forehead. She and Mr Penn exchanged a knowing nod, before Caitlyn raced out of his classroom.

Guilt ate away at Caitlyn’s chest from breaking so many school rules. Her intestines swirled around, creating knots upon knots deep inside of her. The light-headedness from using so much of her internal energy caused Caitlyn to stumble a couple of times, on her return to her maths classroom. As Caitlyn peered her head around her maths classroom door, Mr Archimedes gasped. “Oh Caitlyn, what are you doing back?” he asked, with a worried tone to his voice and a wrinkled brow. “You do look a little pale still,” he added, as Caitlyn returned his pastel pink pass to her math’s teacher’s desk and took her seat. “I do think that you should go home.”

“No, sir,” Caitlyn whispered, shaking her head. “I don’t want to miss any more of your lesson. I don’t want to miss school.” Mr Archimedes gave Caitlyn a sympathetic smile.

“Your health does come before your education, but, if you insist,” Mr Archimedes paused and looked toward Darcia. “Darica, would you keep an eye on Caitlyn, please? Ensure that she is alright, and pass on the notes that she has missed from today’s lesson.”

“Yes, sir,” nodded Darcia. Looking towards Caitlyn, Darcia gave her friend a weak, apologetic smile.

As maths came to an end, Darcia let Caitlyn lean against her shoulder a little, as the two walked towards assembly. “What happened, Caitlyn?” Darica asked, with worry lines creasing her forehead. “Did the charm do this to you?”

“Not exactly,” replied Caitlyn. Her heart panged with more anxious guilt. “I did see Mr Penn though. He said that he’ll look into it.” Darcia nodded and Caitlyn could see that her friend’s brain was already at work.

“There aren’t many people who have access to Frandadis fruits,” Darcia said, as they walked across the courtyard between the Drama Studio and the main school hall. Reaching the other side of the courtyard, Darcia held the door open for Caitlyn, who nodded and whispered her gratitude. “Only NE have access to them… and we’re in a Frandadis shortage,” Darcia spoke her thoughts out loud.

“Don’t remind me,” muttered Caitlyn. “I think I’m in trouble for using the detection charm… Mr Penn seemed cross,” she whispered, as a tightness tugged at her chest.

“But you could be saving everyone,” Darcia gasped. “He can’t punish you for discovering something’s wrong with the charms.” Caitlyn winced, as two year eleven boys barged past her and she wobbled into Darica, who gasped, and grabbed hold of Caitlyn’s arms the best that she could.

“Thanks,” Caitlyn breathed, as she gave her friend a weak smile. “I think Mr Penn was torn between telling me off and praising me… so he did neither,” she said, with a puzzled expression, as she let out a nervous chuckle.

“Well, he didn’t raise his voice… so that must be a good thing,” Darcia decided.

The girls looked up towards the opening of the main school hall, to find their form tutor, Mr Heekin, stood outside. He saw them approaching him and his eyes widened. “Form room, now,” he whispered, in an urgent tone. Caitlyn and Darcia turned towards each other and forced a swallow. They both looked up at their form tutor, in hope of finding out more, but he was already flagging down more of their form group, who were also on their way to assembly. “Samantha, Aisha!” he called, ushering the girls over. “Form room, now.” Darcia and Caitlyn turned around, relieved to see their friends behind them, with Emily in tow.

“But we have assembly now sir,” Aisha told Mr Heekin.

“Yes,” nodded Mr Heekin. “Which is why I am attempting to round you all up. Form room, now.” Caitlyn sniffed an anxious gasp and clung onto Darcia’s arm. “You, you’re Emily, right?” Mr Heekin asked the girls’ friend. Emily nodded. “You’d better join them,” he ordered, and motioned with a nod of his head, for Emily to follow Caitlyn, Darcia, Samanatha and Emily to their form room.

“I have never seen Mr Heekin act so serious,” hissed Samantha, as the four girls took their usual seats in their form room. Emily grabbed a chair and dragged it to sit with her friends.

“You girls got any idea what this is about?” asked Miraj, who sat two seats to Caitlyn’s left.

“Nope!” sung Aisha, as the other girls shook their heads.

“I hope another teacher hasn’t died,” Artie muttered towards Caitlyn, who’s eyes widened as she gasped.

Mumbled chatter built up around the room, as the remainder of Caitlyn’s form group was gathered and ushered into their form room. Mr Ahmed, their head of year, stood at the front of the classroom, ensuring that the students behaved under his silent watchful eye. Once all of their form group, plus Emily, were seated, Mr Heekin appeared, with Mr Penn at this side. Caitlyn’s eyes widened. Her chest grew tight. Pulse pounded in her ears. She clawed her fingers into the edge of her desk. ‘It’s about the charms, I know it is,’ Caitlyn realised, as her heart dropped to her stomach.

“Right everyone,” announced Mr Heekin, creating a wave of silence throughout the room. “Something urgent has been brought to our attention,” he told his form group, in the most serious manner that any of them had ever heard him speak, in the three years that they had known him. “I need all of your cooperation, whilst we investigate into this. Before we begin, Mr Penn just needs to run a quick test.” Confused mutterings erupted throughout the room. Caitlyn and Darcia exchanged nervous glances.

At the front of the classroom, the girls’ NE teacher stood holding, what Caitlyn decided looked like an early photographic device. The front appeared to have a lens, in the centre of a square, wooden frame. Caitlyn tilted her head to see that the body of the object looked like the concertina part of an accordion. “Everyone, keep still,” Mr Penn instructed, as he appeared to look through, what Caitlyn guessed was, the lens on the opposite side of the concertinaed box. Mr Penn pressed a small button at the top of the device and a bright white light flashed out across the room. A brief glow emitted out across all of the students in the room, apart from Caitlyn and Darcia. Mr Penn inhaled a long deep breath through his nose and straightened his posture. The other two teachers, Mr Heekin and Mr Ahmed, exchanged looks of worry and confusion. “Alright,” announced Mr Penn, clearing his throat to silence any chatter, and bring all of the room’s attention to himself. “I am afraid that a serious incident has taken place and we require all of you to remain in this room,” said Mr Penn, as he looked around the room at all of the students. “It has been brought to my attention that small pieces of plastic have been handed out to you all.” Mr Penn’s eyes met Caitlyn’s for a brief moment, as he continued. “These pieces of plastic contained a chemical that has planted a tracking device inside of your beings.” Gasps and cries of panic rang out around the room. The two teachers looked at each other with wide eyes. Caitlyn and Darcia exchanged knowing looks.

“I’m so proud of you,” Darica whispered to Caitlyn. The red head felt a tingle of warmth from Darcia’s praise, before an impending sense of doom drained all of the colour and warmth from her body.

“Don’t panic,” Mr Penn warned the room. “In order to keep you all safe, we have rounded you all up into this room. For now, we do not know who is behind this or why you students have been selected. We will arrange for trusted, senior members of staff to keep a watchful eye over you, while we investigate further.” Mr Penn’s speech came to an abrupt end, as his eyes broke contact with the students and appeared to look beyond them. Caitlyn turned her head over her shoulder to see a dazed Ms Carey in the school car park. She walked a few steps, her chin slumped to her chest, then stopped. Cailyn’s eyes grew wide, as she watched Ms Carey slump her shoulders and freeze in place, before her legs flung out and she wobbled in a different direction.

“I will leave you all in Mr Heekin and Mr Ahmed’s trusted hands for now,” Mr Penn told the students, bringing Caitlyn out of her trance, staring at the peculiar sight of Ms Carey. “Caitlyn, Darcia, can I speak to you two outside for a moment, please?” The thudding in Caitlyn’s chest grew louder and faster. She shot Darcia a worried glance and the two got up from their seats and followed Mr Penn outside of their form room door.

As Mr Penn closed the door behind them, he whispered, “They two of you didn’t touch them… how did you know?” Darcia scrunched up her nose and shrugged.

“But I touched mine,” Darcia said, feeling a little confused. “I didn’t believe Caitlyn, at first, so I put it in my pencil case.”

“Your gloves!” gasped Caitlyn. “They must have saved you.”

“Caitlyn may be right,” Mr Penn said in a quiet voice. “Now… what I am about to say is dangerous, so please say, ‘No,’ if you do not feel up to it…” The trembling inside of Caitlyn’s chest grew. Her lips parted, as she stared at Mr Penn. “You two are the only students in your form group who do not have the tracking device in you, but whoever is behind this will expect you to, so you are perfect for this. Did either of you see Ms Carey, in the carpark, just now?” Caitlyn and Darcia nodded.

“She looked possessed!” Darcia cried. She spun her head towards Caitlyn and gasped. “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you.” Caitlyn gave Darica a weak smile, as the more and more magic related things that seemed to have happened over the recent months caused her insides to swirl around and threaten to be heaved up.

“It isn’t Pellam, is it?” Caitlyn gasped.

“Pellam?” repeated Darcia, with a confused frown. “Who’s Pellam?”

Ignoring Darcia, Mr Penn looked direct at Caitlyn and said, “I don’t know yet. Don’t jump to conclusions.” He straightened his back and looked down at his two students with a proud smile. “I want you girls to go out there and follow Ms Carey. Stay out of sight. We don’t know who could be watching, from where or why,” he told the girls. “But you two are the best ones for the job. Whoever is behind this believes that you have tracking devices inside of you. You might be their target, but they’ll assume you are here, and you won’t appear on their tracking device, whatever that may be, as you follow Ms Carey. I need you to follow Ms Carey, find out where she’s going and why. See if you can figure out who is controlling her or giving her instructions. Do you think you’re up to the task?”

“Yes!” Darcia blurted out, full of excitement and adrenaline. Mr Penn smirked, amused by her enthusiasm.

“Caitlyn?” he asked, as he rose his left eyebrow, looking at her with a hopeful expression.

“I don’t know,” muttered the red head, with a shaky exhale. “I don’t know if I can…” she whispered, as her insides trembled with weakness.

“I need you girls to look after each other,” Mr Penn said in a quiet voice, as he placed both of his hands on Caitlyn’s shoulders. “Now look at me,” he instructed Caitlyn. Inhaling a shaky breath, Caitlyn’s eyes flickered with hesitation, before looking up at the towering teacher. As their eyes locked, a tingling warmth spread into Caitlyn’s body from her shoulders. She let out a surprised gasp, as strength returned to her legs, arms and chest. “Look after her.”

“I will,” both girls replied, as they looked at each other.

Following Mr Penn’s orders, Caitlyn and Darcia crept out of the school and hid between Mr Flourfield’s dark mulberry Nissan Micra and Mr Wye’s sunflower-yellow soft top Lamborghini. Whilst Caitlyn crept down low and peered around Mr Flourfield’s car to spy on Ms Carey in her marionette state, Darcia took the opportunity to check her messages on her Nokia 3310. All of a sudden a bright light shone from behind Caitlyn. She clasped her hand to her mouth, to conceal a gasp and spun around to see what Darcia was doing. “Stop that!” hissed Caitlyn.

“I’m sorry!” Darcia cried. “I didn’t know phones could do that! It’s like it has a torch or something.”

“Don’t be silly,” huffed Caitlyn, as she wafted her hand towards herself, signalling for Darcia to crouch down alongside her. “Phones don’t have torches.”

“I know,” Darcia whispered back and she squatted down, behind Mr Flourfield’s car, beside Caitlyn. “I don’t know where that bright light came from.”

“Forget about that,” Caitlyn whispered, with a sharp tongue. “We need to follow Ms Carey.”

Two heads peered around a plum coloured Nissan Micra just in time to see a puppet-like Ms Carey appear to get flung around the street like a ragdoll. Caitlyn and Darcia gasped, as Ms Carey’s legs appeared to curve at the knees towards the left and she shot across the road. “Quick, let’s follow her,” Caitlyn instructed and keeping a hunched position she crept forward.

“Are you crazy?!” cried Darcia. “We’ll get caught!”

“No, we won’t,” Caitlyn insisted. Darica’s brow rose in disbelief and her feet remained rooted to the spot. “Please, just trust me,” Caitlyn whispered. She threw her head back around just in time to see Ms Carey totter down the road and take a left. Cupping her hand in the direction that Ms Carey had stumbled towards, Caitlyn begged for Darcia to follow her.

As the two friends scurried down the street, Caitlyn used her newfound energy, that Mr Penn had transferred to her, to shield them both from the eyes of Ms Carey and whoever might be controlling her. Sneaking up on Ms Carey, the girls watched, as the school’s nicest teacher stood motionless. Her head flopped back down. Her hair wafted in front of her face. The teacher’s body leant towards the right, as if she were a stringed puppet, before she plodded forwards. “This is weird,” Darica whispered. “What do you think is going on?”

“I’ve no idea,” Caitlyn whispered back. The red head’s heart raced with worry for Ms Carey, anxiety of getting caught and fear that something bad could happen to Darcia if she did not keep her focus and shield their visibility. The beating in Caitlyn’s chest began to hurt with the racing of her heart.

 

Then I woke up.

- Josie -