The Witch’s Tears. Katharine Corr

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СКАЧАТЬ thanks. If you’re hungry, there’s some leftover lasagne in the fridge. I could heat it up for you, if you like?’

      Leo shook his head.

      ‘I ate already. Went for a kebab after the film.’ He smiled at her, but the anxiety didn’t leave his eyes. ‘Sorry I’m back so late, by the way. Lost track of time.’

      ‘No worries.’ Merry sat down and watched her brother as he made tea. He was fidgety, tapping his fingers on the kitchen counter, glancing out of the window every few seconds.

      ‘So, why were you outside the house for so long?’

      ‘Geez, Merry. Why don’t you just get me microchipped and then you can track my every movement.’ He opened one of the drawers, took out a teaspoon and slammed it shut.

      ‘Calm down – I’m only making conversation. You’re always out, I’m always training; I – I miss talking to you. Remember us talking? Remember when we used to tell each other stuff? It wasn’t that long ago.’

      ‘Fine,’ Leo muttered eventually, turning round to face her. ‘If you really must know, I thought – I thought I saw …’ He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘Forget it. It doesn’t matter.’

      Merry looked at him steadily.

      ‘Leo – it’s me, Merry. You can tell me anything. Right? Because after everything we’ve been through these past few months, I wouldn’t be fazed if you told me you’d found a secret way into Narnia through the bottom of your underwear drawer. Trust me.’

      That brought a genuine smile to Leo’s face.

      ‘OK. Well, it was probably nothing. But when I got home I thought I saw someone outside the house.’

      ‘Oh.’ That wasn’t what she’d been expecting. ‘You mean, a prowler?’

      ‘Yeah, exactly. It was only for a second, but I could have sworn I saw … someone, standing in the garden. So I went after him. But there wasn’t anyone there.’ Leo went to the cupboard and got out a packet of biscuits. ‘There’s nothing else to tell. I must have imagined it.’

      Merry shivered. The last time there had been an intruder in the house, it had been Jack. That night he’d crept into her room and threatened her with a knife – it was one of the times she’d spent in Jack’s company that she really wouldn’t mind forgetting. ‘I dunno, Leo. Maybe … it was an animal that you saw? Like, a really big fox?’

      Leo raised his eyebrows.

      ‘Seriously? A really big fox. A giant mutant fox, in fact, stalking round the garden on its hind legs …’ He shook his head and sat back down.

      ‘Well, I don’t see how it could have been a person. Mum put extra protection spells on the house and the garden. She even got the coven to strengthen the runes they carved last time.’

      Her brother looked surprised.

      ‘Really? I thought Mum was keeping a safe distance from the coven.’

      ‘She is. But they still came here after school one day when you were at work. Gran said it was unnecessary, cos it’s not like any more cursed Anglo-Saxon princes are going to show up. But you know Mum.’ Merry shrugged. ‘Anyone with “evil intent” couldn’t have got anywhere near the house. They wouldn’t get past the garden boundary.’

      Leo just stared down at his tea, frowning. Merry nudged him.

      ‘Perhaps it was one of your mates. Come to drop something off? Or – I know: I bet it was Simon. He probably came to apologise, then chickened out when he saw you.’

      ‘No way, Merry. Simon hasn’t forgiven me for punching him and hasn’t suddenly become less of a jerk. He hates me. He made that abundantly clear when I bumped into him in town last week.’ Leo downed the rest of his tea, dumped the mug in the sink and stood there, head down, hands gripping the edge of the countertop.

      ‘Honestly,’ Merry began, ‘there has to be some other explanation. I’m sure if—’

      Leo swung round.

      ‘What if … what if it was his ghost? What if he’s come back to haunt me?’

      Merry’s stomach flipped.

      She opened her mouth to say that there were no such things as ghosts, but thought better of it.

       Because, honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t believe in magic swords and cursed princes this time last year. And those visions of Meredith I had were kind of ghostlike …

      ‘But why would Dan come back to haunt you?’ she asked gently.

      ‘Because it’s my fault that he’s dead. I should never have gone to Northumberland with you and Mum. I should have stayed here, warned people. Maybe if I’d said the words from the manuscript, I could have stopped Jack from … from killing …’

      Merry got up.

      ‘Don’t you dare blame yourself for anything that happened in the spring, Leo. Don’t you dare! We did what we could. We both almost died.’ She put her hands on his face, forcing him to look at her. ‘Dan was murdered when we were under the lake, remember? And if you hadn’t been there with me, Gwydion would have won. And lots more people would have died. What happened to Dan – that was Gwydion’s fault. Not Jack’s, not mine, and definitely not yours.’

      She tried to put her arms around Leo, to hug him, but he pulled away.

      ‘But I could have warned him!’

      ‘He would never have believed you!’

      ‘I – we could have made him. We could have shown him your powers. He would have had to believe us.’

      ‘You’re wrong. People don’t want to believe in things that are scary or dangerous, not really. And even if Dan had believed us, who else would we have had to tell? The whole town? Let them see what me and Gran and the rest of the coven really are?’

      Leo stepped back.

      ‘Is that all you witches care about? Protecting your damn secrets?’

      ‘Protecting you. That’s what I care about!’ Merry grabbed her brother by his arm. ‘You need to stop this. I know you miss Dan. But this isn’t healthy. And –’ the words came out before she could stop them – ‘and neither is sitting by the Black Lake obsessing about what happened. You have to move on.’

      Leo shook her hand away.

      ‘What? How did you know?’

      ‘I’m worried about you. Really worried. So I … I cast a spell that would allow me to see where you were tonight.’

      Leo shot her a furious look, the colour draining from his face.

      ‘You’ve been spying on me? I can’t believe you, Merry. Why didn’t you just talk to me, if you were that worried?’

      ‘But СКАЧАТЬ