Rachel took a step back. “How did you get in here?”
“Climbed over the wall,” Shireen said. “Come on, I just want to talk.”
“How long were you watching?”
“Long enough.” Rachel drew back and Shireen raised a hand. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Hey, you want to see something?”
Orange light flared at Shireen’s hand and a flame caught in the air above her fingers, clearer and brighter than Rachel’s spell. Rachel had been backing away, but as she saw the magic she halted, staring. “Cool, huh?” Shireen said.
Slowly Rachel came closer, until the two of them stood face to face under the willow tree. “How do you . . . ?” she asked, gazing at the light as if fascinated.
“Do it?” Shireen said. “Same as you.”
“How do you make it so strong?” Rachel said. She hadn’t taken her eyes away.
Shireen shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s always been like that.” She closed her hand and the spell winked out. “Do your parents know?”
Rachel hesitated, then shook her head. “I’m keeping it secret from mine,” Shireen said.
“What is this?” Rachel asked. “How can we use it? What are we?”
“Don’t know,” Shireen said again. She grinned. “But it’ll be fun finding out, right?”
Rachel looked back at Shireen, then gave a little smile. “I’m Shireen,” Shireen said. “You?”
“Rachel.”
The scene blurred and shifted. I had a last glimpse of the two of them standing together by the water’s edge, then—
We were indoors, in a roomy bedroom with a high ceiling. The furnishings were new and well kept but anonymous, the sort you’d get at a good boarding school or hotel. Tall windows let in lots of light, giving a view out onto a row of houses. In the distance the hum of cars rose and fell.
Rachel was lying on the bed reading. She was wearing what looked like a uniform—white blouse with a dark green skirt—and there was a green pullover slung over the back of a chair. She was older now, close to the age she’d been when we’d first met, and she looked more sure of herself, her movements more confident. Muffled footsteps sounded on the carpet outside and the door swung open. Rachel spoke in annoyance, not raising her eyes. “You’re supposed to knock.”
Shireen shut the door behind her. “Nice to see you too.”
Rachel looked in surprise and her face lit up. “You’re here! Wait, how did—?”
“Caught an early train.” Shireen wasn’t wearing a uniform and compared to Rachel she looked scruffy, but she moved with the same energy she’d always had. She dropped into a chair, glancing around. “Wow, you get nice rooms.”
“This is the best one,” Rachel said. “Haven’t you got school?”
“Forget about that—this is important. You remember what we were talking about back in the summer?”
Rachel sat up, alert. “You’ve found a teacher?”
“He found me,” Shireen said. “His name’s Richard Drakh and he’s looking for apprentices. I wasn’t sure at first but I did some asking around and this guy’s the real deal. He’s really powerful. People are careful around him.”
“So what does he want?”
“Heh,” Shireen said. “He asked me something like that. He’s offering me an apprenticeship. And he’s got more than one place.” Shireen raised her eyebrows. “Interested?”
“He’s offering me one too?”
“Well, kind of.”
Rachel sat back with a frown. “I just said that I knew someone else who’d be interested and asked whether he had other places,” Shireen said. “He said yes. I think he wants you.”
“If he wants me, why didn’t he ask me?”
“Maybe he doesn’t know about you yet. Come on, Rach, who cares who was first?”
I’d been looking between the two girls as they talked. As Shireen spoke I turned back to Rachel—and jerked back, throat constricting as I tried to scream. Something was standing behind her: a spindly shape, tall and slender and utterly inhuman, its features a blur of shadow. Its head reached nearly to the ceiling and it was holding still.
And just as suddenly it was gone. I stood in the centre of the room, looking wildly from side to side, heart hammering. The room was empty except for me and the two girls.
“. . . going to be a full-time gig,” Shireen was saying. Neither she nor Rachel had shown any reaction; they were talking as though nothing had happened. “He’s going to show me his place on Saturday. If I say yes—if we say yes—we’re going to move in. It’s going to be magic lessons, introductions, the whole thing. Everything we need.”
“What about school?”
“Who cares about school?”
“The university applications—”
“Forget that. This is like getting an offer from Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard all at once. It’s our big chance.”
Rachel got up and walked to the window, the book still hanging from one hand, and I followed her to peer out. Nothing. There was no trace of whatever that thing had been, but my heart was still pounding. I knew I’d seen it. “What’s wrong?” Shireen asked.
Rachel turned back with a frown. “I don’t want to leave.”
Shireen looked at her in surprise. “Why not?”
“Because things are good here,” Rachel said. “The other girls do what I want.”
Shireen rolled her eyes. “That’s because they’re scared of you. You’re a big fish in a small pond.”
“Well, what’s wrong with that?”
“Look, what you’re doing here is kid stuff,” Shireen said. “Okay, so you’re queen of your dorm—”
“House.”
Shireen waved a hand. “Whatever. It doesn’t get you anything. And next year you’re going to uni and things are going to change. It’s not going to be so easy to push people around.”
Rachel shrugged. “What are they going to do about it?”
“It’s not what they’ll do,” Shireen said. “It’s who might notice.”
“What do you mean?”
Shireen glanced at the window. “Look, the more I learn about this stuff, the more I get the feeling we’re not that safe. If Richard Drakh could find us, someone else could too.”
An uneasy expression flickered across Rachel’s face. “Like who?”
“I don’t know,” Shireen said. “But I’ve heard stories. Sometimes magic-users around our age just . . . go missing. And no one seems that keen on talking about where.”
Shireen and Rachel stayed silent for a moment. The sun had gone behind a cloud, and the light on the houses outside was muted. “Look,” Shireen said. “You’ve been wanting your magic to be stronger, right? This guy can teach us.”
Rachel sighed. “Fine, I’ll listen to him. But he’s going to have to be really convincing.”
The shift was quicker this time, and in only an instant I was in another bedroom, this one expensive-looking and cluttered with clothes. I recognised it as being like my room in Richard’s mansion but the layout was different, and it took me a moment to realise that it was one of the girls’ rooms, either Shireen’s or Rachel’s.
The door slammed open and Shireen stormed through in midsentence. “—self-righteous assholes!” The door banged off the wall and Shireen kicked it before turning on Rachel, who’d been following behind. “Can you believe this? What century do these guys think they’re in?”
Rachel shrugged and shut the door. “They act like we’re pretty little dolls on a shelf,” Shireen said, pacing up and down. “And they expect us to be grateful. ‘Oh yes, sir, I’m a good little girl.’ Never any respect. We just don’t matter.”
“I told you,” Rachel said. “Back home we were special. Now we’re just two more apprentices.”
Shireen flung herself into a chair, brooding. “I bet they’d act different if we were boys. They pay attention to Tobruk.”
“Do you think—” Rachel began.
There was a tentative knock on the door. “What?” Shireen shouted.