Zara and I walked back to my house, after an hour in the park discussing the radiator incident. It had somehow united our form group. Jokes had already sprung up, namely from Pete, about orange juice and fake tans. These would last forever, or at least till the end of term.
"Go on though, what did Mrs Winter want?" Zara asked. She might be my B.F.F, but I was jealous of Zara's complete confidence about where she was going with her life. It didn't inspire me to talk about my own lack of direction.
"To know if I'm taking English with her next year."
Zara looked enthralled, "Oh go on, it'll be fun."
I turned my nose up at her. "You're not even doing English,"
She looked away quietly. "Well, I'm thinking of doing it as an extra subject, if the timetable allows it."
I shook my head as I opened the gate. "Mad."
Mum was getting her coat on as I pushed open the front door. She flashed us an enormous grin and kissed me as I slung my bag on the table.
"Guess what?" Mum flapped her arms in the air. "No, you'll never will, so I'll tell you." She looked back and forth between Zara and I. Mum was red faced and ready to go out.
I looked blankly at her, unsure whether I was supposed to give an answer or not. I took my coat off and hung it on the floor, hiding the spiral disc in my hand as I sat down.
Mum carried on. "I never checked the lottery on Saturday, but I looked this morning in the paper at work... I've got four numbers!"
"That's great Jilly," Zara said, bagging a chair opposite me.
"So, can you retire?" I asked. "And more importantly, do I have to get a job when I leave school?" I pulled over the biscuit tin from the centre of the table. This called for a celebration.
Mum laughed, more carefree than I'd her seen for a long time.
"Goodness, no. It's just a small windfall, nothing to write about." More laughter. "But it'll make for a good Christmas. Easy come, easy go that's what I say, Zara!"
I suddenly felt cold, probably because my blood was draining down into my toes. I stared into space, stunned. Mum said goodbye, and something about dinner then left.
"Minta, Araminta..." Zara's voice called from somewhere in the room.
"Small windfall. Those were my words," I said, shivering. "Too frecking freaky."
"What are you on about?" She placed an orange juice in front of me. I missed the opportunity to refer to Tammy and Marie's rust covered faces, because the back door opened with a thud.
"The king is home, you may makeith him tea, or pour him a coke."
Zara laughed at Robbie. I'd no idea why she humoured him. It made him worse.
"Give it a rest, bro, I'm not in the mood." I flashed him a warning look. I wanted Zara to myself tonight and didn't need Robbie hanging around as he was inclined to do.
"Guess who saved four goals and won man of the match?"
Zara got in first. "No way?"
"Way," said Robbie grinning ridiculously. "We also won, one-nil. I'd stop and tell you about it, but you wouldn't really get it. So you'll have to be happy in the understanding, I am Great."
Zara giggled as Robbie grabbed a handful of biscuits from the tin in my arms and sauntered up stairs.
I waited until a door slammed shut above our heads. "Zar, do you believe in luck?" I said.
"No, lucky people generate their own good fortune by creating opportunities, making decent decisions, listening to instinct and being positive." She sipped her orange through a straw.
"You what?"
"It's a scientific fact, I read about it. People make their own good and bad fortune. Why do you want to know?"
I leant back on my chair taking my chance with gravity and two thin poles. I thought hard for a moment. It sounded stupid in my own head. I knew Zara would laugh.
"Well, I wished Rob would win at football."
"So?"
"He never wins, ever and he's just won in spectacular style."
"No way!" Zara looked wide-eyed at me then grinned.
"Zar, I haven't finished."
She leant forward onto interlaced fingers, propped up by her elbows. I ignored her.
"I also wished the school heating system would do something to upset Tam and Marie..."
"I'm always wishing bad things on those two."
I shook my head as Zara slurped the last of her juice.
"But here's the biggie, I wished Mum a small windfall, those were my exact words, just one that would make Christmas easier."
I'd caught Zara's attention.
"Oh Araminta, I wish that on your family all the time. Maybe it's me," she smiled.
"Nope," I said, ignoring the obvious attempt to make light of my theory. "It's not you. I think it's the rune."
Zara went quiet and opened the biscuit tin. I smacked her hand away and took one out first.
Zara picked up the disc from the table and rolled it around her thumb and finger. "So, do you think the thing's like Aladdin's lamp, and has granted your wishes?
"If that's my three wishes, I'm pretty pissed off. I should've at least been warned." I said, shovelling more biscuit in my mouth.
"Really? I'd have thought dousing your enemies with bright orange rust and a bigger bank account for your mum was a good use of magic."
"You're joking? A million pounds, making Shelly disappear for good and Robbie becoming an overnight professional would be closer to my true desires." I fell silent and gazed into space. There was something else...
"What is it Minta?" Zara's voice was soft as she leant forward.
I sprang back to the present as the two airborne chair legs hit the floor. "I may have been just a teeny-weenie bit selfish and actually wished something directly for me."
"What?"
I shook my head. "A life, Zar, I want direction, a future, a something... I don't know."
She looked down at her feet and a split second awkward silence followed.
"You don't have to feel bad Zara. I'm glad you're good at science. It's fantastic you've the brains to cure illness or whatever."
She nodded then put her hand out across the table and grabbed mine. "You'll get there, Minta. You're, you're..." she clenched my fingers.
I waited, eyes widening in anticipation
Zara smiled. "You're you. What you see is what you get."
My heart sank. "I'm boring?"
"No!" She looked horrified. "No, honest without trying, you don't hide things. You can't. And you listen, really well, when you're not dreaming."
"Thank you," I felt slightly mollified. "I think."
She pushed back her glasses and sniffed. "Listen, there's something about you that's lovely."
"That's not going to get me a job Zara." But it was good to hear.
"Not directly, but something will come of it, you'll see," Zara let go of my fingers and took out a biscuit from the near empty tin.
I could hear Robbie, talking loudly on his pay-as-you-go phone, thudding down the stairs.
I got up, hiding the biscuit tin under my arm, as the door flew open.
Robbie raised his eyebrows at Zara, and she smiled again. This was not on. "Come on Zar, my room, homework, now."
"Yes my dear," she said, following.
Upstairs in my room, Zara got serious. "I've said it before, but you're lucky to have a brother."
"I suppose. Since Gam died, I've been realising that a lot more." I flopped down on the bed, legs hanging over the side.
Zara sat down on the desk chair backwards, chin resting on its back. "Yeah, I know. They say you only appreciate what you've got when you've lost something..." She sat up straight, brimming with idea. "Get it out," Zara was commanding.
"What?" I'd no idea what she meant.
"The rune thing, get it out." Her eyes were animated.
It was still in my hand. I held it out.
"No, you keep it. We're going to do a scientific experiment," she said excitedly as she sat down on the bed. "You believe it's altering things, so let's hypothesise that it really is. Let's try to make something happen."
"What?"
Zara rolled her eyes, "Come on, you're the creative one and it's your rune. It has to be obvious and quantifiable, not happiness or good luck."
I looked out of the window. I didn't want to ask what she meant by quantifiable; so I just thought of something I wanted. "My mum will come home with an object that will help me decide what I am supposed to be doing with my life." I sounded pitiful. I really wished it.
The disc burned my hand; fingers flexing back involuntarily, the rune dropped to the ground, spiral facing up.
Zara quickly leaned forward and picked it up. She looked at me, eyes wide. "It's hot Minta."
I shook my head. "It was burning me. " A little confused, I bent over expecting to see a scorch mark on the carpet. Nothing.
"Well, it's not that hot, but I have to say it's warmer than I'd expect a piece of wood to be."
I nodded, knowing we were at either end of the believing spectrum with Zara struggling to keep an open mind, and me clutching at every straw.
Nothing put Zara off homework. Whilst I wanted to carry on daydreaming of charms and magic, Zara was already reaching into her bag and dragging out the set texts for Biology and English.
"Shakespeare or the reproductive system?" she said, smiling.
I pointed to 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. It felt more my mood. I reached down to my own bag.
We sat industriously for half an hour before Zara noticed Robbie's shadow at the door and told him he could come in.
"What's going on for dinner?" he gave out a little boy lost look.
"No idea," I said.
"Your mum's bringing back pizza, she won the lottery," Zara corrected and rolled her eyes.
With the sound of mum's key in the lock, Robbie was gone.
Zara grabbed my arm as I stood up, "Listen, scientifically, we have to test the rune three times."
I sniggered. "You're getting nervous it might be true." I wondered how I'd feel if in any shape or form, we could prove it.
Robbie was already diving into a pizza box as Zara and I walked into the kitchen.
Mum shoved a book in my arms as she walked past me. I looked down, eagerly. A prospectus for the local college, I glanced at Zara. She shrugged. Inconclusive evidence.
Mum glanced across the kitchen whilst taking plates out the cupboard. "They were advertising an open day. I thought you could go along and see if there was a course or two you fancied."
Smiling gratefully, and leaving Zara to lay the table, I flicked through the brochure, stopping at 'alternative therapies'.
"Minta, food, now. You know pizza gets cold quickly," Mum snapped.
I closed the prospectus and posted it between Mum's bills and other rubbish lined up on the counter. You could tell she was a librarian. Everything was vertical.
We chatted, ate and cleared up together. Even Robbie pitched in - a bit. Zara, a normal feature around our table, made hot drinks. She knew the kitchen better than I did.
We took mugs of hot chocolate upstairs. Zara's dad wouldn't be much longer.
"Ok, so what do you think, does the college booklet count or not?" I asked as Zara collected her things off my bed.
She stopped and sat down. "I don't know. We need more proof." She moved a pile of clothes off the end of the bed. "I think we should both try. We'll, write our desires down and not tell each other. I'll keep yours and you keep mine, but no looking."
"Deal," I said, grabbing two pens and the last sheet of paper from the print tray. "Rules?"
"Humm. Anything, but not something you'd expect would really ever happen. Also, it has to be something the other person can see. Not just a feeling," said Zara as she closed her fingers tightly around the disc and squeezed her eyes shut.
Five seconds later, Zara looked at me and nodded. "Done."
"And?" I questioned. She knew what I meant.
"Cold," she shrugged tossing the charm back on the desk. She wrote down her wish and folded up the small piece of paper before I'd taken the lid off my pen.
"Come on Minta, I can hear dad's car."
Useless when hurried, for a moment I couldn't think. Then, seeing Zara staring wistfully at our end of year photo, I wrote, 'I wish Pete would notice how fantastic Zara is and ask her out,' then clutched the charm.
"Is it warm?" she asked.
"I'm not sure," I said truthfully. "My hands are stinging from being around my hot chocolate."
"Well, tomorrow then." Zara flashed me a grin and ran down the stairs. I followed, carrying the mugs. She was getting into the car as I reached the door to wave goodbye.
"Tomorrow," I whispered. I still wasn't sure what I wanted tomorrow to bring, or what it would really mean to me if either of our wishes came true.
*
I sat up late reading the college prospectus at my desk. Of course, eventually, I'd have been given the open day info at school. I didn't need a lucky charm to point me in this direction. I jotted down notes about English, as well as history, before looking at the evening options. Admittedly, aromatherapy and herbalism, sounded far more interesting. Gam had loved talking about the power of plants and the garden at Jasmine cottage had contained every sort of herb that might heal a burn or cure a cough.
The charm caught my eye as I logged off the Mac. It was sitting on top of Zara's neatly folded piece of paper. I wouldn't peek, but as I leant over and picked up both items, an urge to encourage my chances overwhelmed me.
One click back on and then I entered two words in the search engine. Rune Charms. The screen immediately displayed a page of beautifully drawn symbols. For a moment, I couldn't quite work out how they were created or why they didn't look like the rune characters I'd seen.
"Bind-runes: a combination of more than one rune which act as a talisman. Oh."
Each drawing had a label below explaining what each charm actually did, or was supposed to do. I scrolled down past money, good luck, employment and fertility. Er, no.
"Love."
I picked up the first pen that came to hand and copied the simple line drawing down in red felt-tip onto Zara's folded piece of paper, her wish and her handwriting tucked inside.
"What else?" Apparently, pricking my finger and drawing the talisman in blood was one option. Consecrating it by burning a copy of the charm was another. No and no.
I picked up my spiral charm and held it, together with the paper, tight between my hands. "Zara, you deserve a date with Pete. You're wonderful and it's about time Pete recognised it." That ought to do it. I shoved the paper in my pencil case and quickly zipped it up.
A little voice in my head made me pause as I bent to put the case in my bag. 'What about me?' My timeless fantasy of George, kissing me under Christmas Mistletoe, flicked through my mind, but in this delusion, I was holding the spiral charm. I dismissed it. There was always tomorrow. Tonight, I wanted to help Zara and, as I sat there listening to the hum of my computer, I firmly believed I could.
Strange dreams. Really strange dreams, of runes and human sized Shakespearian fairies, dressed in white, dancing on red flowers in the snow. A pressure began to grow in the centre of my forehead. Bare arms crept like vines over my body, brushing against my skin. A shimmering form appeared in front of me and kissed my forehead once, twice. I couldn't move, as it lifted its fingers towards my forehead and pressed.
I felt it.
Then a noise... Something was in the room hovering over me, its presence ominous, even in my dream. I sat up in bed breathing heavily. My glow-in-the-dark stars tempered the darkness of the night; I couldn't have been sleeping more than minutes.
As my eyes adjusted, I scanned the room and hearing a soft thud, they flicked sharply to the window.
A silent scream escaped my mouth, as the window flew open and the same brown cat from Jasmine cottage and the bridge pounced forth, meowing.
I woke up, gasping for air, heart pounding and a trickle of sweat down my back.
Strange dreams within strange dreams; it was so real, not the images, but the feeling of evil. Something wanted me, alive, or dead? I didn't know.
So sure something had touched my face in the seconds before I woke, I rubbed my forehead. The centre felt molten hot, my face ice-cold.
I turned on the light and sat up, staring around the room, still breathing quickly. But the curtains were unmoved and closed. I wanted to get up and look behind them, but I felt bizarrely afraid, just as I had as a child, never wanting to walk across the landing to go to the loo. Even then, I'd been scared of my dreams. Frightened of shadows in the night and the silence that accompanied them. My mind urged my body to move, to check. "Prove you know it's a dream, Minta, and don't fear the night."
I got up, balking the cold, tiptoed, and with a shaky hand, pushed the fabric aside, just enough.
Nothing. Except...
Down on the grass below, a flicker of light extinguished itself. And in the moonlight, I could just about make out a cluttered pile of sticks. Did the bush between our garden and the neighbour's sway wildly out of the corner of my eye? No. Probably not.
Uneasily, I stared harder, hoping to find an answer before I accepted, as the cold ate away at my toes, that there probably wasn't a need for one. Nothing had happened, that wasn't fuelled by a bad dream on a windy, moonlit night. I shivered, but then my nightshirt was gaping where the buttons had come open, in disturbed and restless slumber.
I turned and leapt back into bed, falling asleep very quickly for someone who'd just been wide-awake.
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