The Magpie Effect - The Magpie Chronicles Book 1 (#Wattys2015)

Chapter 28

Hours later, I found her. It was the early hours of the morning, and she was sitting at the end of my bed.

The hospital discharged me once they'd stitched up the gash in my forehead and were sure I wasn't showing any signs of concussion. Then, I had to answer questions from the police. Ivana was there but we were never given a moment alone, as much as I could see that she was desperate to take me aside.

I gave them a detailed version of what happened, leaving out the part where the ghost and her subsidiary had sabotaged the Ball. I told them about the firework, and that I didn't know who'd set it off. They wanted to know why I turned up at the Ball unannounced, when I was supposed to be banned.

They suspected I had something to do with it, as did Mrs Vanderbilt, but they had no groundwork on which to build their theory. Ivana gave me a knowing glance that told me she knew otherwise. They let me go, with silent promises of picking the case up in a day or so.

For the time being, I was allowed to rest. But by then it was nearing two o' clock in the morning, and sleep felt as distant as the dawn.

I hadn't even had time to think about Carmen, but there she was. Sitting at the end of my bed in the darkness. She'd been waiting for me.

*

I froze.  The sight of her rammed itself into my mind like a bullet. It tore my brain apart and turned everything to liquid. 

I couldn't say anything as she turned to look at me.  Not even her name. 

She was still in her harlequin costume. It was hard to distinguish between what was make-up and what was dirt. She was weeping, and the bedroom around her was in complete disarray. There were cracks appearing in the mirror, the wallpaper unfurling angrily from the walls, my pillows ripping themselves to shreds.

Manifestations of her grief, and she wasn't even aware of any of it. She was too lost in her own sorrow.   

"Carmen," I finally breathed.  That was all I could bring myself to say. Just her name, and even that felt dirty on my tongue.

The wail that escaped from her lips was so loud that I had to cover my ears. The mirror shattered, and the light bulb exploded from above. Glass rained down and settled in my hair.

"You!" Carmen howled. "This is all because of you!"

The accusations poured from her mouth, uninhibited and unrelenting. Behind me, the door rattled. I could hear my parents on the other side, begging for me to let them in, but the door was locked - which was in itself strange, because my door didn't have a manual lock. Carmen's power was out of control, her anguish overriding all sense, and there was no reeling it in.

"What's happening to me, Saffy?" Her accusations turned to pleading. "Please, you have to help me. Take me home. I don't understand."

My mouth fiddled around with empty air, trying to shape words, but there were none. I felt like I was going to collapse. I could feel the world falling away from me and the sky receding, so that I felt like I was suspended in a matter-less vacuum. I was too much of a monster to exist in this world anymore.

How was I supposed to explain to her that she'd been killed, and that it was all because of me?

Carmen didn't wait for a response.  She jumped to her feet and pounded across the floor. She stopped at the mirror and stared at herself, tears spilling over the brim of her cheeks. The silky cracks cut her face into a web of ugly, howling shards.

"Look what you've done!" she screamed. "You did this to me! Look how ugly you've made me. Wayne will never want to take me to a Ball again, and it's all because of you!"