The Broken Spell Read Online Free PDF Page A

need your help, thank you. Vera and I are doing just fine.’
    ‘Teaching them to identify elements, but not showing them how to use them? Is that
just fine
?’
    ‘We’re teaching them about responsibility, Meredith, something you could never understand.’
    ‘You’re still so afraid, Beth. And you’ll just teach them to be afraid. You’re not schooling witches, you’re schooling normal people to
use
witchcraft. It’s nothing more than dabbling . A true witch has magic in her
soul
. It’s a part of her, not just something she uses.’
    ‘Girls,’ Ms Lemon said sharply, ‘I said, we’re
leaving
. It’s getting late.’
    ‘Witches don’t have to fear the dark,’ said Ms Gold softly. ‘You would know that, Beth, if you would just fully embrace what you are.’
    ‘Girls! Come on!’
    Ms Lemon didn’t wait for them but marched off, and they didn’t lag behind. Grace glanced back at Ms Gold, who smiled sadly at her, the shimmering gold around her popping into blackness as the butterflies disappeared. Nobody dared ask Ms Lemon what had just happened. Instead theystumbled on in the growing darkness, struggling to keep up with her furious stride. When they reached open ground near the school car park, Ms Lemon turned to face them.
    ‘She’s teaching at the school?’
    ‘She’s our new Geography teacher, Miss,’ replied Grace.
    Ms Lemon sighed and stared into the distance for a moment.
    ‘Is something wrong, Miss? Did we do something?’
    ‘No, my dear girls, you did nothing wrong.’
    ‘Maybe Ms Gold
could
help out, Miss,’ Jenny said quietly. ‘Give us extra lessons.’
    Ms Lemon looked a little hurt before her face hardened.
    ‘Vera and I will teach you everything you need to know. I want you to keep your distance from Ms Gold. Is that clear?’
    ‘But she’s our teacher, Miss.’
    ‘
Outside
of class. Is that clear?’
    She raised one eyebrow and kept it up until she received a chorus of reluctant ‘Yes, Miss.’
    ‘Good. Now let’s all go home.’

    ‘Mrs Quinlan,’ Jenny said bravely during their lesson the next day, ‘we met the other girl from your coven, Ms Gold. She’s a teacher at the school now.’
    ‘So I’ve heard,’ the woman replied with her back to them as she scrawled squeakily on her old kitchen blackboard.
    ‘She offered to help teach us, but Ms Lemon thinks it’s a bad idea.’
    Mrs Quinlan kept writing and didn’t reply.
    Grace glared at her friend, willing her not to push it any further, but Una was giving Jenny an enthusiastic thumbs up.
    ‘What do you think?’ Jenny asked.
    ‘I think,’ said the woman, dropping her chalk and turning to face them, ‘that you’ve got two witches teaching you, free of charge, and that’s enough.’
    ‘Ms Gold says we should be doing spells while we learn. That that’s how we should be learning.’
    ‘Is that so?’
    Jenny gulped and kept going, ‘I wouldn’t mind having another teacher. You know, just to have another viewpoint. Another way of looking at things. I think it’s a good idea.’
    ‘Do you?’ The pale eyes were becoming alarmingly hooded. ‘And what about the rest of you?’
    She turned her stare on the others, who all tried to look at anything in the room but Mrs Quinlan. Grace picked at the table with her fingernail, Rachel cleared her throat uncomfortably , Una bit her lip, and Adie give a non-committal whimper. Jenny exhaled noisily at the betrayal.
    ‘I think Beth and I have been too soft on you, that’s what it is,’ said the woman, stroking the ears of a cat on the table. ‘You’re all spoiled rotten. You know what you need? Some good honest labour.’
    Grace exchanged worried looks with the others.
    ‘I have a list of items here that are essential tools for any witch. I’ve got them all, of course, in the house. The attic, to be precise. Been a while since I’ve used most of them, mind. Might take some digging around to find them.’
    The woman’s chapped lips widened to reveal her