Abby the Witch Read Online Free PDF

unformed: wild and erratic like the fevered pitch of a
wasp.
    She leaned
closer till she could feel the heat on her face.
    'Abby?'
Charlie pulled himself out of the covers.
    Shapes danced
to and fro in the heart of the flame, like shadows on a white
wall.
    'Abby?'
Charlie jumped to the floor. 'You okay?'
    There was s
dark sky above, a dark sky below, but deeper, colder, stifling.
    'Abby?'
    Rising through
the air, rising up into a new sky.
    'Abby!'
Charlie gently bit at her bare foot.
    Abby jumped,
and the vision of rising – the all encompassing greyness and
horrific vertigo – popped like a soap bubble. 'Ow!'
    'You looked
like you needed some help there. I don't know if you'd noticed, but
those were your eyebrows singing.'
    'Oh,' Abby
rubbed at her face, suddenly aware of the latent heat prickling
across her skin. 'Thanks.'
    'Sure, kid.
Your foot tastes pretty bad by the way. You might want to take a
bath sometime soon.'
    'Well, now
that you mention it – I was planning a little impromptu shower.'
Abby remarked absentmindedly.
    'Aha.' Charlie
padded over to his water bowl, clearly uninterested. 'Don't forget
to use soap.'
    'I don't think
I'll have time.' She walked over to the door and grabbed her broom.
As an afterthought she grabbed her jacket too. 'But I'm sure the
rain will soak me through.'
    Charlie spun
on the spot. 'What? You can't be serious, Abby! Listen to
the wind!'
    'I am, and
you're coming too.' Abby lurched for the door, the remnants of the
long ascent she'd envisaged making her dizzy.
    'You are serious. Abby!'
    'Look I have
to do this, Charlie. Something is going to happen, someone is in
danger… I have to save someone, I think. I think it
is very important I save someone.' Abby's voice came in
sharp little bursts.
    'No you don't.
That's what the doctors and guards are for, Abby – you're just a
–'
    'Witch.'
    'Ab-'
    'Come on,
Charlie; we have to do this.'
    Charlie rolled
his eyes but bounded after her, jumping into her arms with an
annoyed mew.
    She raced down
the stairs of the old building, avoiding the cracks and holes in
the wood, allowing her broom to lift her just that little bit so
her feet just grazed them. To do otherwise would see her knee deep
in splintered timber. It was a tremendous security feature Charlie
had pointed out, unless termites and cockroaches were
invading…which they sort of were.
    She didn't
really know where she was going, only that she had to
be somewhere. Images of a body tossing through the waves
filled her mind. Then, and this had come to her the millisecond
before Charlie had bitten her, a man lying sodden on the edge of a
cliff and her – Abby – standing over him.
    That's how she
knew she had to be somewhere. Just who exactly she would save,
where, and from what, was lost on her right now, but that shouldn't
be too much of a problem; she was a witch, after all.
    So Abby hit
the howling streets with Charlie in her arms, looking for the one
person that the future knew needed her.
    It did not
take long for Charlie to point out that this was a terrible plan.
She'd had some horrible vision, fair enough, but wilfully going out
during the storm of the century was suicide. It went directly
against the witchly code of sitting by the sidelines and just
watching destiny whizz on by with a cup of tea in your hands and a
thoughtful look in your eyes. This was getting involved, Charlie
had assured her, and getting involved was wrong.
    First there
was the cards, then the storm, now a terrible vision of rescuing
someone - was she trying to be swept up in adventure, Charlie had
asked with his whiskers twitching madly as they'd run down another
street. And she did not want an adventure, he'd reminded her, she
really, really did not want an adventure.
    But the
strangest thing happened as Abby pounded along the streets,
searching for some clue that would lead her to whoever it was that
she needed to save. She started to feel… right. The heavy burden
and guilt of this