Something Hidden: Witches Rising

‘So,’ said the nearest girl, who had the biggest, almost turquoise, blue eyes I’d ever seen and sandy brown hair pulled back into a loose knot at the base of her skull. ‘Laurel Marshbanks. We’ve been waiting for you. I’m Riley.’

‘It’s nice to meet you,’ I smiled, holding out my hand for her to shake. She took it, echoing my own smile.

‘I’m Dakota,’ said the taller of the other two. Her hair was also brown, but darker, a sort of chocolate colour, and it cascaded over her shoulders and down her back. Her face was framed with loose strands and a shorter, side-swept fringe. Her eyes were the same sparkling blue as Riley’s. ‘But I’d prefer if you called me Kota. These guys do already.’

I nodded and smiled, acknowledging her, and then turned to the last girl, a petite, almost white-blond girl with eyes that same, strange shade of blue. ‘You must be Morgan,’ I guessed.

‘That’s right,’ she replied. ‘I’m so glad you’ve finally got here. We’ve been waiting for another roomie since the start of term.’

‘Well now I’m here, I’d like to unpack, if you don’t mind.’

‘Of course,’ Riley stepped aside to allow me access to my suitcase. ‘This will be your bed.’ She motioned towards the bed in the far corner, next to yet another cherry-wood door. ‘And you can have half of my wardrobe. We share, see. Kota and Morgan have that one and this one is ours.’

‘I see,’ I said, dragging my suitcase across the room and heaving it on to my bed.

‘You’ll notice your school uniform tops are already in there.’ Kota said, pulling open the wardrobe door and showing me. As she spoke I noticed the hint of an American accent to her voice. I made a mental note to ask her about it.

‘Of course,’ I smiled.

They fell silent as I set about unpacking my clothes. My hands itched to send all the items whizzing to their rightful places and in my head, a Spell was forming. I shook my head, trying to clear out the Magickal thoughts. Just as I was putting the last of my socks into a drawer Riley spoke again.

‘So what’s your story?’ she asked. I looked up, puzzled.

‘What?’

‘Your story. You know, why did your family send you to boarding school?’

‘Oh, that.’ I sighed softly. Yay! My favourite thing to talk about, life with my famous sister. Ugh.

‘Well,’ I began.

‘You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to,’ Kota interrupted. ‘Riley’s nosey, is all.’

‘I see. Well then, if you don’t mind, I think it can wait. It’s not my favourite subject,’ I breathed again. Crisis averted.

‘Hang on,’ Morgan said suddenly. ‘Marshbanks? Where do I know that name from?’

My heart sank. Crap, I thought. A fan.

‘Marshbanks… Oh! Ashleigh Marshbanks! Ohmigod! Are you related to Ashleigh Marshbanks?’ Kota cried.

‘She’s my sister,’ I admitted.

‘Wow! That’s so cool! That’s where I recognise you from… wait…’ Kota pulled a small purple box out from under her bed and began to rifle through it. It was filled with CDs. Finally she pulled a CD out and waved it at me. I recognised it immediately as Wiccan Ways’ second album, Impossible World. The one where I had modelled for the cover art.
‘Let me see that,’ Riley said, grabbing for it. She took one look and cried, ‘hey! That’s you!’ She pointed directly at me.

‘It’s me,’ I said, defeated. The album cover was a shot of me doing a headstand on the top of a grand piano, seemingly balancing a pentagram on my feet. However, I knew the pentagram had been put in digitally.

‘Did you really do that?’ Riley asked, awestruck.

‘Well I didn’t balance a pentagram on my feet. That was put in after, you know, digitally. But I did the headstand. I had to stay there for ages. I swear I had a headache for a week.’ I chuckled fondly at the memory.

‘Wow,’ Kota breathed.

‘I also played piano a couple times,’ I said, blandly.

‘You did? I thought Katy McCullough played piano?’ Kota frowned.

‘I played it in the CD versions of Broken and Devil Smoothie.’ I explained. ‘Katy couldn’t get the hang of the complicated bits so they had me play them instead.’

Kota was stunned into silence. Instead, Riley spoke, just one word: ‘Wow.’

I smiled, just a little, then turned back to my suitcase. It was partially empty now - I only had my shoes and bathroom items left to put away. I piled my shoes on to the shoe rack in the bottom of my side of the wardrobe and emptied the bathroom items on to my bed.

‘What shall I do with my suitcase?’ I asked.

‘Put it over by the door. I’ll let Grace know you need it picked up and she’ll get it during dinner,’ Kota replied.

‘Thanks,’ I smiled gratefully. ‘What about all this?’ I motioned to the pile of stuff still on my bed. It was a mush of toiletries and make-up.

‘Well, first I’d recommend you sort out what’s what, and then we can put it in the relevant bathroom places,’ Riley said.

I nodded and began sorting my things into two piles - toiletries and make-up.

‘Crap!’ Kota cried suddenly. ‘It’s seven! We’re going to be late!’ She leaped up and hurried for the door.

‘Wait!’ Riley yelled as I made to follow her. ‘Put this on!’ She flung a T-shirt at me that had the school crest, the four blades of an old mill and the words ‘hic totus mos increbresco’ embroidered on the left side of the chest. I pulled the shirt over my head and hurried to follow them out of the door.

We were only just late for dinner - managing to breeze in to the dining hall with the last of the stragglers. The dining hall itself was a lot different to how I imagined it - instead of the plastic tables and chairs I’d been expecting there were a selection of booths and tables all seemingly made of the same cherry wood used for the doors. Riley grabbed my arm and pulled me across the room to a counter where she passed me a plate and some cutlery.

‘Just take what you want. Pile your plate full,’ she smiled, immediately grabbing a large amount of potato salad.

‘Okay,’ I shrugged, and went in myself. I piled my plate high with pasta and salad.

As I slid into a booth next to Riley, I was greeted by a rather grumpy looking boy who had taken the seat next to Kota.

‘The new girl arrived then?’ he said. His voice sounded as grumpy as he looked - although he had kind eyes. They were a sort of hazel colour and I could see the kindness in them.

‘That’s right, honey. This is Laurel Marshbanks. Laurel, this is my boyfriend, Ryan Chambers,’ Kota smiled.

‘Nice to meet you,’ I said, putting down my fork and holding my hand out for him to shake.

‘And you,’ Ryan said, shaking my hand a little roughly.

It wasn’t until after dinner that I saw him. After finishing my pasta I put down my fork, sat back in my chair and looked around at all the other students. There were easily well over 200 students in here. More like three hundred. It was then that I caught sight of the most gorgeous boy I’d ever seen. He was sitting across the hall from me, in a booth similar to the one I was sat in. His hair was sandy blond, and his fringe partially covered one of his sparkling green eyes. I sat and stared, drinking in every inch of his beauty. He was wearing a tight, ice-blue shirt and I could see the muscles rippling beneath it as he moved, which he did, shifting in his seat to reach across the table and take chips from another kid’s plate when he wasn’t looking. I chuckled quietly, smiling to myself. Unfortunately, Kota heard me.

‘Who’s Laurel looking at then?’ she said, with a small grin.

‘Nobody,’ I lied.

‘Sure. Looks like Laurel was looking at Williams over there,’ Riley said bluntly.

‘Williams?’ I said.

‘Lucas Williams. The last name thing is just a habit you pick up here. The teachers tend to call you by your last name and so it sticks, really,’ Kota explained. ‘But honestly, Laurel, you don’t want him. He’s not a great guy. I heard from Chantelle Newton he went out with basically all the girls in the year back in year eight. I wasn’t here then - but Riley was.’

‘I didn’t go out with him. I don’t go in for the floppy-haired player type,’ Riley said. ‘But I know he definitely went out with both the Newton twins, and Jess Hartley’s entire dorm, and possibly all of Skye Watts’ dorm too. Oh yeah, and he dated Ocean Walkerdine last year.’

‘Didn’t he date the Kayley and Kelsey Harding too?’ Ryan asked.

‘Yeah, and them.’ Kota shook her head. ‘Seriously, Laurie, you don’t want to get involved. You’ll just be the next notch in his bedpost.’

‘Hmm,’ was my only reply. Maybe he’s not a player, I thought. Maybe he just hasn’t found the right girl yet.