Poison Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

beat the lady down from eight pounds to five. Nat pounced on a stuffed cat because she collected them and a beaded evening bag from the 1920s, which cost her a cool fifteen pounds. Breakfast couldn’t wait any longer and all the plastic seats had been taken so we sat on the grass sipping hot coffee and eating sugared doughnuts, so sweet they made our teeth ache.
    It felt great being here with Nat and Hannah, taking in the early-morning rays and watching the crowd swell. Far from deterring us, this made it more of a challenge, and we enjoyed people-watching too. Every now and then Nat would sigh about Merlin’s friend Adam, with whom she was hopelessly in love since meeting him at a party. Hannah stood up to put her rubbish in a bin and I leaned towards Nat. ‘Why don’t you use the power of your mind to captivate him?’ I whispered.
    Nat’s eyes widened mischievously. ‘So you dabble in magic as well?’
    ‘No … not magic,’ I tried to explain, ‘just positive energy to help something along. Anyone can practise it, but some people have a … head start.’
    ‘What sort of people?’
    ‘Well … your mind has to be open, but if you want something really, really badly, I think you can kind of … manifest it.’
    ‘Sounds like a love spell,’ Nat teased. ‘Maybe I should try one. Is that how you enticed Merlin?’
    I folded my lips together and refused to divulge the answer. Hannah reappeared and looked at us both quizzically, but I tapped the side of my nose and told her it was a private joke. She pulled a wry face but didn’t appear bothered. I uprooted a few daisies from the ground and scattered the petals around.
    ‘Hannah? You’ve known Merlin the longest,’ I began casually. ‘Has he had lots of girlfriends?’
    ‘Weirdly not,’ she replied slowly. ‘Although plenty of girls have tried, but he’s so … intense and wrapped up in his work. I think he’s been saving himself for you.’
    I stood up, trying to hide my pleasure at her words, and brushed sugar from my jeans. It was then I saw her, cool as anything, arranging a collection of jewellery on a rickety wooden table and smirking at me. The doughnut stuck in my throat and my stomach felt instantly queasy. The cardboard cup fell out of my hand on to the ground.
    ‘She’s over there right now,’ I growled. ‘I’ve had enough of this, I’m going to confront her.’
    Without waiting for Nat or Hannah to reply, I marched towards the stall, keeping my eyes fixed on her. A man rudely pushed past and distracted me. It was only for asecond, but in that time she vanished. An older woman was now standing in her place looking peeved.
    ‘Where did the girl go?’ I demanded.
    ‘I’ve never seen her before,’ a voice grumbled. ‘She asked me to keep an eye on her stall, but I’ve got my own to worry about.’
    Something flickered in my field of vision. It was nothing more than a glimpse of material disappearing into the crowd, but I knew it was her and I had to follow. But there were people everywhere as I tried to push my way through. I was slow and clumsy, whereas she was as light as gossamer, a feather floating and dancing in the air, an escaped balloon, a pirouetting ballerina. Each time I lost her, a fragment of something would resurface, a glimpse of her earring, her hair or just the corners of her mouth as she turned around – I could almost hear laughter around me.
    The sensible thing would be to stop and go back to my friends, but I couldn’t do that and she knew that I couldn’t. It was growing harder to force my way through the people, and I no longer cared if I stood on someone’s foot or elbowed them in the ribs. Once I sent a stall flying, and books and dishes tumbled on to the grass. The outraged cries didn’t make me stop. There was a clearing where the crowd thinned and I could see patches of tarmac, which signalled the beginning of the car park. I speeded up, and when I reached the edge of the field it was possible to