The Secret

‘So, what does he do when he catches you?’ David asks.

‘He, like, sucks all your blood,’ Stephen says theatrically.

Holly lets out a loud sigh. ‘Boring!’

Stephen glares at her. ‘Why’s it boring?’

‘It’s been done already.’ Holly shakes her head, causing her curls to bounce wildly. ‘Er, hello? Dracula? It would be way better if he captured your spirit and trapped it inside a tree. Then the whole wood could be possessed by the trapped spirits of bitter, dead teenagers.’

I glare at her.

‘What?’ she mutters. ‘That’s a way better ending.’

‘Could someone else please tell a story?’ Eve says, staring into the dying embers of her fire.

‘I have one,’ Mr Matthews says.

I breathe a sigh of relief and prepare myself for a jolly tale about nature – or marking books.

‘It’s funny, actually,’ Mr Matthews says, sitting up straight. ‘It came to me earlier, when I was checking your fires. Which goes to show you just never know when inspiration might strike. Anyway, it’s the story of two rival groups of witches.’

I shoot a glance at Holly.

‘One group are good witches but the other – they’re pure evil.’

I glance across the clearing. Izzy, Stephen and Vivien are looking at each other and frowning.

‘Now these witches are in competition. They have to . . .’ Mr Matthews breaks off for a moment, as if deep in thought. ‘They have to find a bag.’

‘What kind of bag?’ Eve asks.

‘The bag that contains the five most powerful spells.’

I feel a weird unsettled feeling inside. His story is dangerously close to the story of the Silver and Blood Witches. Could Mr Matthews know about it? Could he have heard the folklore?

‘And these spells contain the secret to everlasting life,’ he continues.

‘How many of these witches are there?’ I ask casually.

‘Oh, thousands,’ Mr Matthews replies. ‘In the land where my tale takes place, they are all witches – it’s just that some are good and some are evil.’

‘So it’s not set in the present day, then?’ Holly asks.

Mr Matthews laughs. ‘Of course not. It’s about witches! Anyway, where was I?’

As Mr Matthews continues his increasingly fantastical tale of the world of Witchvale, Holly and I exchange relieved glances. It had to just be a coincidence. The wind whips around the treetops and deep in the woods another owl hoots. I pull my blanket tight around me.

The next morning when we all gather to eat breakfast, it looks like a scene from a zombie apocalypse. I’m guessing from the dark circles and bags under everyone’s eyes that I wasn’t the only one who didn’t sleep well last night. Thanks to our ‘bedtime stories’ I ended up having a nightmare about a tree demon that was trying to steal my guitar from me. ‘You’ll never, like, play it again,’ it yelled – in Stephen’s voice. ‘You’re doomed to live a life without music.’ I’d woken in a cold sweat and lay in my sleeping bag rigid as a corpse as I listened to the rustling and creaking from the woods. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relieved as when the first pale light of dawn started creeping inside the tent.

‘Well, on the positive side, we only have one more night to get through,’ Holly says, grimacing as she takes a mouthful of cold baked beans. ‘Eew!’

‘Yep. And one more day.’ I glance across at Izzy, Vivien and Stephen. They’re huddled together deep in conversation. I wonder if they’re plotting what tricks to play this time. I take a deep breath and think of Aunt Clara and how she’d hugged me when I left and whispered the Silver Witches’ incantation: Silver me, Silver you, Silver us, Silver true. I feel a shiver going up my spine. Yesterday Izzy and the others caught me off guard, but not today. Today I’ll be ready for them. I watch as Eve trudges over to Miss Black. She’s wearing the clothes she came in as her rucksack still hasn’t turned up. She says something to Miss Black and Miss Black blows her whistle to get us all to be quiet.

‘Do any of you girls have some spare clothes you could lend Eve, please?’

Izzy and Vivien immediately start giggling.

Miss Black glares at them. ‘Is something wrong, girls?’

Izzy shakes her head, her perfect ringlets bouncing. ‘No, miss.’

‘Well, what’s so funny?’

‘Nothing. It’s just that . . .’ She pauses and smiles sweetly. ‘I don’t think Eve would really suit any of my clothes.’

‘I don’t think they’d fit either,’ Vivien adds, looking at her thin legs stretched out on the ground in front of her.

Eve’s face flushes. Her usually neatly bobbed hair is all flat on one side from sleeping and she looks tired and drawn.

‘You can borrow something of mine,’ I call across.

‘Thank you, Nessa,’ Miss Black says.

‘Creep,’ Vivien mutters.

Izzy and Stephen just smirk.

Eve trudges back across the clearing. ‘Thanks,’ she murmurs, looking down at the ground.

I crawl over to our tent and pull a clean T-shirt and some clean underwear from my bag. Thankfully Aunt Clara insisted on me bringing spares of everything. ‘You never know when you might need it,’ she said. I bundle the clothes up and hand them to Eve.

‘Thanks,’ she mutters again and disappears off into her tent.

Miss Black blows her whistle again, causing Mr Matthews, who’s sitting next to her, to spill his cup of tea all over himself.

‘Right,’ Miss Black barks. ‘The shower block is open for those of you who want showers.’ The boys all laugh and shake their heads. ‘You have half an hour to get clean and then it’s time for our hike to the caves.’

Izzy and Vivien groan in stereo.

‘How far is it?’ Izzy asks, pouting.

‘It’s three K,’ Miss Black replies. ‘Barely any distance at all.’

Izzy arches her thin eyebrows. ‘Three kilometres is miles!’

‘It’s one point eight miles,’ Miss Black retorts, getting to her feet and brushing the twigs and leaves from her tracksuit. ‘As I said, barely any distance at all.’ She puts her hands on her hips. ‘Now, when we get to the caves we’re going to split into two groups. Half of you will be with me and half of you will be with Mr Matthews.’

Mr Matthews nods his head eagerly. Much as I like him, I’m kind of hoping I’m in Miss Black’s group. Mr Matthews is so scatty I can’t imagine it would take much for him to get lost.

‘It’s very important that you all stay together in your allocated groups while we explore the caves,’ Miss Black continues. ‘The floors are likely to be very slippery and uneven. So no running and no fooling around. Do you understand?’ She glares at us and we all nod meekly – apart from Stephen who sighs, like he’s the world’s greatest action hero, and Izzy and Vivien who exchange sly smirks. My heart sinks. Surely they wouldn’t be stupid enough to pull one of their stunts inside the caves? But then I think back to what they did in Aunt Clara’s kitchen and how they nearly set fire to the entire building. Of course they’d be stupid enough. I look at Holly to see if she’s thinking the same and her grim expression confirms it.

Miss Black starts reading out the names for each group. Holly, Eve and I are in Mr Matthews’s group, along with Izzy, Stephen and Vivien. Great. But at least if they do try anything stupid we’ll be there to stop them.

After a freezing-cold shower in the shower block, which somehow managed to leave me feeling grubbier than before, we set off for the caves. Miss Black’s group have marched on ahead of us and are now out of sight but Mr Matthews prefers a more leisurely approach. It’s less of a hike and more of a meander really, as he stops to tell us what every single flower, plant, bird and tree are en route.

‘Look! Look!’ he cries as we round a bend in the track. ‘A toadstool ring!’

There, in a small clearing, is a perfect ring of toadstools. They’re the red and white spotted ones that I’ve only ever seen in drawings before.

Izzy leans against a tree and sighs like we’ve just scaled a mountain rather than ambled as slowly as snails.

‘Ancient folklore believed this to be a fairy ring,’ Mr Matthews continues. ‘That fairies would come and dance inside.’

Stephen groans. But I can’t help finding Mr Matthews’s enthusiasm infectious. All of his little anecdotes are really bringing the woods to life and, unlike the stories last night, in a good way.

‘Can we just get to the caves, please?’ Vivien says sullenly.

‘What?’ For a moment, Mr Matthews looks as if he’s forgotten the whole purpose of our walk. ‘Oh yes – yes of course.’ He holds his clipboard aloft. ‘This-a-way. Follow me!’

‘If we actually find these caves with him in charge I’ll eat my copy of Watership Down,’ Holly mutters.

What feels like two hundred bird, tree and flower sightings later, we make it to the caves. Miss Black’s group are sitting on the ground looking bored.

‘Where have you been?’ Miss Black snaps.

Mr Matthews looks genuinely puzzled. ‘Following you.’

‘We got here half an hour ago. What took you so long? Oh, never mind, you’re here now.’ Miss Black blows on her whistle, even though there’s no need as we’re all sat in silence. ‘OK, guys, remember what I said. You must stick together at all times and no running or messing about. I’ll go at the front and, Mr Matthews, can you bring up the rear, please?’

‘Of course.’

‘Now, it will get pretty narrow in there in places. None of you are claustrophobic, are you?’ Miss Black looks around the group.

Stephen frowns. ‘What does that mean?’

‘A fear of small places – you know, like your brain,’ Holly mutters.

‘Shut it!’ Stephen snaps and he, Izzy and Vivien glower at us.

Miss Black starts leading us all into the entrance of the cave. Annoyingly Izzy, Vivien and Stephen hang back so they’re right behind Holly, Eve and me at the end of the group. At first the cave doesn’t seem too bad. A shaft of sunlight has burst through the clouds and it shines pale yellow on the walls. But as Miss Black leads us further in, the caves start to get narrower and darker. Behind us, Mr Matthews turns on his torch. The beam casts around, eerily reflecting on the stalactites that are shimmering with damp. Up ahead of us, David lets out a ghostly howl and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

‘Stop messing about!’ Miss Black barks from the front of the group.

‘Stop messing about!’ she barks again from right behind me, causing me to almost jump out of my skin.

‘My goodness, there’s a powerful echo in here,’ Mr Matthews says. But I hear Vivien giggling and know that she’s been mimicking again. In the darkness, I feel Holly grab my arm and squeeze it tightly. It’s OK, I tell myself. They aren’t the only ones with powers. We’re just as strong as they are. But in the cold, damp darkness it’s getting harder to believe. What if Izzy pulled her time-shifting stunt right now? What if she did something that got us all lost in here? How would I be able to fight back? My eyes frantically search the gloom in front of me and I see a pinprick of light way up ahead. As I edge up the slippery tunnel, the pinprick grows to the size of a thumb. We must be getting near to the exit.

‘Nearly there!’ Miss Black calls from the front.

I hear Eve sigh with relief beside me and the tension in my body starts to ease. But then I hear a weird rumbling sound.

‘Oh great, a thunderstorm,’ Holly says.

There’s another rumble and something hard hits my face. ‘What was that? What’s going on?’ I turn back to Mr Matthews.

‘Bits of the roof are crumbling,’ Holly says.

Mr Matthews points his torch upwards. There’s another huge rumble. I look at Izzy. Is she doing this? But Izzy looks as shocked as I feel. Vivien and Stephen are staring at the roof of the cave too, looking equally scared. As I turn back, a massive chunk of the roof breaks off, hitting the floor behind us with an almighty crash.

The light up ahead is snuffed out.

I crouch down on my heels, trying to stay calm. But fear is closing in on me like the cave walls. It feels as if all of the oxygen is being sucked out, sucked from my body, like a deflating balloon. I try to take a deep breath and it feels as if my airway has been blocked.

‘Are you OK?’ Holly whispers, crouching down next to me.

I nod, gasping for air.

‘Oh dear,’ Mr Matthews says, his voice faint and woolly.

‘I can’t – I can’t breathe,’ I splutter.

Holly puts her thin arm round my shoulders. ‘Are you picking up on everyone else’s panic?’ she whispers. ‘Try to block it out.’

I try to picture the old oak tree but all I see is darkness. I close my eyes. I picture myself walking along the sunlit path to the tree. I picture light and space all around me. And then, finally, I can see the tree. I see its huge roots, like arms reaching out to me. And I picture myself running to sit inside them, pressing my back up against the trunk. Feeling the bark against my skin. Feeling the strength of the tree rushing into me, forcing out all of the fear. I take a deep breath and my lungs fill with air. I open my eyes and now, instead of total darkness, I see the light of Mr Matthews’s torch flickering around the cave.

I look at Holly and give her a weak smile. ‘Thank you.’

One thing I know for sure is that Izzy and the others can’t have been behind the rockslide. I was picking up way too much panic and fear from them. I turn and, sure enough, Izzy and Vivien are huddled together against the wall of the cave. Even in the darkness I can see that they’re trembling.

‘Where’s Stephen?’ Mr Matthews asks. ‘He was right in front of me. Now he’s gone!’ He shines his torch around and the light picks up Izzy, Vivien, Eve, me and Holly. Stephen has vanished.

‘He must have ghosted,’ I whisper to Holly.

She nods. ‘Typical of the Blood Witches to only look out for themselves,’ she mutters. ‘If I’d been given the power to travel through things I’d never have left you.’

‘Me neither.’ I look back at Izzy and Vivien and wonder what they must be thinking of Stephen for leaving them. They definitely don’t look happy.

‘He must have slipped through when I wasn’t looking,’ Mr Matthews says, fumbling around in his jacket pocket and pulling out his ancient mobile phone. ‘OK, the important thing is not to panic. I’ll call for help and they’ll have us out of here in a jiffy.’

‘There’s no way you’re going to get reception in here,’ Izzy snaps. ‘What if more of the roof collapses? What if we’re crushed?’

Vivien whispers something in her ear and Izzy suddenly goes all still and super-concentrated. I wonder if she’s trying to use her power. When Aunt Clara explained all of the different witch powers to us she said that, eventually, time-shifters are able to turn back time. I wonder if that’s what Izzy is trying to do now. So far she’s only been able to slow time down. Izzy continues to focus on the rock in front of her but nothing happens. I turn back to check on Eve. After the way she was on the coach yesterday, I wonder if she’s scared of small spaces. This must really be freaking her out.

I edge closer to her.

‘Are you OK?’ I ask. But Eve doesn’t respond. I feel a stab of irritation. I get that she’s stressed but we all are. She doesn’t have to be so rude. I look back at Izzy. She’s staring at the rock in front of us.

Suddenly the rock judders and then it slides to the side, slowly at first and then with a huge jolt it lurches free, leaving a gap just big enough for us to crawl through.

‘What on earth?’ Holly mutters.

‘It’s another rockslide!’ Vivien shrieks.

‘Get out of the way!’ Izzy shoves me to one side and crawls through the gap. Vivien is hot on her heels. Eve follows them.

A new horror grips me. Did Izzy do this – when she was staring at the rock? Did she make it move? But how? Could she be more powerful than we thought?

‘It’s a miracle!’ Mr Matthews cries. ‘Come on, girls, let’s get out of here while we can!’

I look at Holly. ‘Did you see that?’

She nods. ‘Come on.’

As I crawl through the gap after her I’m struck by a horrible realisation. If Izzy is able to move rocks as well as time-shift we really have got a problem.

That evening, back at the campsite, everyone is still buzzing from what happened in the caves. The teachers have no idea it was anything to do with Izzy. Miss Black thinks it was down to another tremor and Mr Matthews is referring to it as ‘The Mad Bess Miracle’. I watch Eve as she goes over to the teachers’ barbecue.

‘Hey, Eve, you can have some of our food if you like,’ Izzy calls out across the clearing.

The chattering dies down. Everyone looks as shocked as Eve to see Izzy being friendly to her. I hold my breath and wait for the inevitable snide remark or prank.

‘Seriously.’ Izzy takes a burger from their barbecue and puts it in a bun. Then she stands up and takes it over to Eve.

‘There’s got to be something wrong with it,’ Holly mutters and I nod.

‘Thanks,’ Eve says, taking the burger and turning to head back to her place.

‘Hey,’ Izzy grabs her arm. ‘Why don’t you eat with us too?’

‘Yes, come and join us,’ Vivien calls, making a space on their blanket.

‘After what we went through today, I feel like we’ve totally bonded,’ Izzy says with a smile.

‘Is she for real?’ Holly whispers.

‘Yeah, funny how they don’t seem to have “totally bonded” with us,’ I reply.

Stephen heads back from the toilet block. He’s carrying something.

‘Look what I found,’ he calls, holding it up. ‘Eve’s rucksack.’

Eve gasps with joy.

‘That’s marvellous!’ Mr Matthews cries. ‘Oh what a happy, happy day this has been. Apart from when we were trapped and thought we might die, of course.’

‘Where was it?’ Miss Black asks.

‘By the toilet block,’ Stephen replies, handing the backpack to Eve.

‘But – but – how did it get there?’ Eve stammers.

‘Who cares how it got there?’ Izzy says sweetly. ‘The main thing is, you got it back!’

Eve hugs the backpack to her and smiles gratefully at Stephen. ‘Thank you!’

‘Aw, I’m so happy for you!’ Izzy exclaims, putting her arm round Eve’s shoulders.

‘Oh my God. If she doesn’t stop with the PDAs I’m going to hurl up my hotdog!’ Holly says, shaking her head with disgust.

I look around at the others. They’re all as baffled as I am by Izzy’s sudden display of affection towards Eve.

‘But how did the rucksack get there?’ I ask pointedly.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Vivien hisses. ‘All that matters is that poor Eve has it back.’ She pats the blanket next to her again. ‘Come on, Eve. Come and join us.’

Eve follows Izzy and Stephen over and sits down on the blanket. She looks about as comfortable as a mouse that’s just entered a lion’s den.

For the rest of the evening we have to watch as Izzy, Vivien and Stephen launch a suck-up fest in Eve’s honour. It’s not until we get in our tents to go to sleep that I finally get the chance to speak in private to Holly.

‘Why do you think they’re sucking up to Eve?’ I say as soon as we’ve zipped up our tent and climbed into our sleeping bags.

Holly shrugs. ‘I don’t know. All I do know is that it must be bad.’

I burrow down deeper into my sleeping bag but it’s impossible to get warm. The uneasy truce that seemed to exist since the fire is definitely over. The Blood Witches are up to something, and their powers are greater than we thought. I hug myself tightly and prepare for another night of fitful sleep.

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