The Demon Notebook (9 page)

The girls remained still, trying to catch their breath.

“Is she gone?” Adie wheezed. “I mean, is
it
gone?”

“Who's down there?” a voice boomed suddenly from the other end of the corridor. “Who's making all that racket down there? I'm calling the police!”

“The janitor!” Rachel hissed. “Let's get out of here!”

They clambered to their feet and almost fell through one of the classroom doors. Sliding across desks and over chairs, they barreled through the emergency exit, setting off the fire alarm.

“Keep running!” shouted Grace.

With one mind, the girls pelted across the football field until they finally came to a breathless halt at the bare hedge separating the school from Wilton Place.

***

Mrs. Quinlan frowned at the four girls in various stages of collapse on her porch step.

“I take it plan A didn't work then,” she said.

“No,” Grace puffed, “it didn't work.”

“Hmm,” the woman mused. “I suppose you'd better come in. Wipe your feet.”

Mrs. Quinlan poured out four very strong cups of tea and sat down heavily in her chair.

“Just what I was afraid of,” she muttered. “The demon's a powerful one. Well, in that case, on to plan B.”

“And what will that involve?” snapped Jenny. “More of trying to get us killed?”

“Don't be such a drama queen. You're still breathing, aren't you?”

“Only just.”

“Then quit your bellyaching. I warned you it was going to be no walk in the park when we started this. So suck it up and listen.”

Jenny scowled and sipped her tea.

“We'll have to try it from the well end,” said the woman. “A little more dangerous and a little more complicated. But necessary.”

“
More
dangerous!” Grace exclaimed. “That demon was going to kill us!”

“Honestly”—Mrs. Quinlan sighed, exasperated—“such a bunch of whiners I never met.”

Grace snorted loudly in what was half an exclamation of disbelief and half a laugh.

“If you want to get rid of this thing,” the woman said pointedly, “then this is the next step. It's an incantation to make the mouth of the well a…a kind of vacuum.”

“A
vacuum
?” said Grace.

“Which will suck back any beings from its own realm.”

“Nice,” said Jenny. “And I suppose this means we have to, somehow, get the non-Una back on top of the well?”

“She'll never do it,” Adie interrupted, “not after today.”

“Was I finished?” the woman asked. “No, you do not have to get what's-her-face back to the well for this one. As long as she's sort of in the vicinity, the demon will get sucked in.”

“How
sort
of
?” asked Grace.

“When she's in the building. Do it during school hours.”

“We'll get caught,” said Rachel. “How can we do it without running into any teachers?”

“I guess you'll have to use your immense brainpower and find a way to do it
without
getting caught,” Mrs. Quinlan replied.

“You said this way was more dangerous,” Grace cut in. “What's more dangerous about it?”

The woman took a deep breath through her nose and looked squarely at Grace.

“You were dealing with one demon before. By altering the state of the well temporarily, which is what you will be doing, you mess with its permeability.”

She glanced around at four confused faces.

“It will intermittently become easier for demons to get through.”

The faces remained confused, and Mrs. Quinlan sighed loudly.

“There will be moments during the incantation,” she said slowly, as if addressing a group of small children, “when the well will become more permeable than it is at present. If there is a demon nearby at one of these moments, it may be able to slip through.”

“So we could conceivably have a number of demons slipping through during the whole incantation,” said Grace, alarmed.

“Conceivably, yes.”

“Then we can't possibly risk it! What if we all get possessed?”

“Oh, I hadn't thought of that,” said Mrs. Quinlan, mockingly putting her finger to her lip. “Look. I'll give you potions and charms to protect yourselves,
obviously
. But you'll have to use them immediately, and make sure those demons go straight back down the well. No running like scaredy-cats at the first sign of trouble. And that includes
you
.”

She pointed at Adie, who opened her mouth in mute protest.

“Right,” the Old Cat Lady said, “get lost, all of you. I now have tons of work to do. Have I thanked you for that yet, by the way? Thank you. Thanks so much.”

“When will—”

“Look out for the red scarf.”

School, the next morning, was buzzing with excitement. Everyone had heard rumors that the A block had been destroyed by vandals the night before.

“I heard they set it on fire,” said one girl, her eyes twinkling at the thought.

“No way,” said another. “I saw it this morning, and there's no way it was on fire.”

“Heard the lockers got trashed, though. My big brother's locker is in that block and he said no one could get in to get their books. They were told to go without them for the day.”

“Cool! I'm gonna tell all my teachers my locker's in the A block. No homework for me today!”

Grace frowned as she pushed through the crowds to her own locker. The others were already waiting for her.

“We're famous.” Jenny tried to lighten the mood, but her face was anything but happy.

“Good morning, girls.”

“Aaaggh!” Adie screeched, causing everyone in the block to turn and look at them. The non-Una had appeared right beside them, unperturbed as always.

“Those girls are so weird,” Grace heard one voice in the crowd mumble before the excited chattering began again.

“G-good morning, Una,” Grace stammered.

“Good morning, Grace,” said the non-Una. “Everyone looking forward to the game this afternoon?”

“Yep,” said Jenny.

“Wonderful.” The non-Una smiled and headed toward her locker, leaving the girls to sink against the wall.

“Isn't she going to do something?” asked Adie. “Isn't she going to, you know, try and kill us or something?”

“Apparently not,” breathed Grace.

“I take it we're not on Una-duty anymore,” said Rachel.

“I don't think so,” answered Grace. “She'll have to fend for herself against Tracy, or Tracy will have to fend for
her
self…. Either way, I'm not chaperoning anymore. I'm too scared.”

“Me too,” Adie agreed.

“Me three,” said Jenny. “If Una ends up getting expelled, we'll deal with that then. In the meantime, she's on her own.”

“Oh, fudge,” Grace said suddenly, pulling Adie in front of her and ducking down.

“What? Is she back?” Adie whispered.

“No. James O'Connor.”

“This is getting ridiculous,” Jenny said, stepping forward to help keep Grace covered. “You're spending half your time hiding behind lockers and ducking under tables. You can't avoid him forever.”

“I can try. Move away from my locker, everyone together, just in case.”

The other three shuffled sideways, all facing forward, while Grace crept along behind them.

“Ooh,” Adie gasped. “He is going for your locker!”

“I'm thinking that's a love letter he's sticking in the door.” Grace could hear the smile in Jenny's voice.

“Oh God, did anyone see?”

“Yep, everyone.”

“Thanks for lying so I wouldn't get embarrassed. Can we leave now?”

“Yeah. Looks like he's going to wait by your locker for a while. Probably thinking you have to show up sometime. When he's looking the other direction, we'll all run, on three. Ready? One, two…”

Grace couldn't wait and scurried up the corridor with the others on her heels.

Later that day, in the gym, Adie pulled at the collar of her polo shirt.

“I hate our PE gear. It never fits right. And why does it have to be this horrible maroon color?”

“For optimum humiliation,” replied Grace.

The girls were slightly out of breath after walking (not
running
, as instructed) down the hill from school and back again. Now, the real humiliation would begin. Jenny was the only one in their group who was any good at sports, and even she wasn't great at basketball. But once a week, along with their classmates, the girls were subjected to a grueling and embarrassing mini-tournament. If only Ms. Woods hadn't left. She had always been perfectly content to sit and do crosswords while the students wandered around playing a slow game of badminton here or an even slower game of tennis there. The new PE teacher, Mr. O'Dwyer, wasn't so laid-back. He insisted on lengthy runs to warm up followed by competitive sports that were to be taken very seriously. Lately, his torment of choice for the girls was the dreaded b-ball.

“Right, girls!” Mr. O'Dwyer yelled before giving one sharp, shrill blow of his whistle. “Let's pick teams.”

Grace groaned. Jenny would be picked quickly enough. Grace, Adie, and Rachel would be among the last to be chosen.

“Um,” Kelly Daly paused, dissatisfied at the disappointing choice left to her. “Rachel, I guess.”

“Thanks for the enthusiasm,” Rachel muttered under her breath as she stood up to join Kelly's team.

“Adie,” Charlotte Wynn sighed.

“That leaves Grace on Kelly's team,” Mr. O'Dwyer said helpfully.

“Let the pain begin,” Grace quipped, shooting Rachel a quick glance.

Ten minutes in and Charlotte's team were already up six points. Kelly was shouting furious instructions to her team, which included ordering Grace and Rachel to give the ball a wide berth.

“If it does get passed to you, give it straight to me or Melissa.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Rachel sneered, giving Kelly's back a big fake salute. “She's such a bossy cow. This isn't just
her
game. So what if we don't win?”

“I don't care if we win or not,” Grace said wearily. “I just want to hear the final whistle.”

Just then, Charlotte Wynn swooped past them, dribbling the ball and heading straight for the basket. Rachel pursed her lips in determination and lunged forward. With alarming skill, she swiped the ball from Charlotte, spun around, letting it bounce between her legs, and charged to the other end of the court.

Grace watched in astonishment as Rachel leaped into the air, grabbed hold of the rim of the basket, and dunked the ball. Dropping to her feet with athletic grace, Rachel stared upward, openmouthed, as the girls around her fell silent.

“Spectacular!” Mr. O'Dwyer shouted excitedly, clapping his hands. “Fantastic, Rachel, that was pure genius. How come we haven't seen moves like that from you before?”

A sly smile crept across Rachel's face.

“Think I was just holding back a little, sir,” she replied, grinning.

“Well, no more of that, young lady,” he said, clapping again. “Play on!”

The game resumed, and before they knew it, Rachel's newfound sporting talents had catapulted her team into the lead. She scored point after point. There was barely a moment when she didn't have control of the ball.

“Enjoying yourself?” Grace asked drily, during halftime.

“Sure am,” said Rachel, looking very pleased. “Have you seen Kelly Daly's face? She's fuming!”

“Well, don't get used to it,” Grace warned. “That's spell number four—and it's of the temporary sort.”

“Are you sure?” Rachel asked, looking a little deflated.

“Instead of being the basketball dunce,

Rachel would like to be winner, for once.

“Isn't that how it went?” said Grace.

“Ah, fudge. Never mind. It's fun while it lasts!”

Rachel playfully slapped Grace's arm as she bounced back onto the court for the second half.

“A triumph!” cheered Mr. O'Dwyer when the game was over. “Rachel, you've really got an awesome talent there. Though, everyone did well, of course.”

Rachel patted Kelly on the back and smiled.

“Yeah,” she said, “you
all
did well.”

Kelly snarled and shrugged off Rachel's hand.

“In fact,” O'Dwyer continued, “I want Rachel to be our secret weapon against Saint Agnes's in the league game tonight.”

“But she's not even on the school team, sir!” Kelly objected.

“She is
now
,” the teacher said. “How about it, Rachel? You up for showing Saint Agnes's a thing or two?”

“Sure, why not?” Rachel beamed.

“What are you
doing
?” Grace hissed, pulling her to one side as Kelly and the others continued to voice their objections to Mr. O'Dwyer.

“What?” Rachel said innocently. “It's just one game.”

“This isn't a joke! That spell working for you means there are just two more to go before the Beast gets flattened by a bus.”

“Yeah, but until the old lady sticks a scarf on the hedge, there's nothing we can do about that, is there? What's the harm in having a little fun with one of these spells in the meantime?”

“I don't like this,” said Grace.

“Neither do I,” said Adie, appearing behind them.

“I promise,” said Rachel, with her hand over her heart. “If the red scarf shows up before the game, I won't play. But, for the first and only time, I've got a chance to be the star of the school basketball team!”

“For one game,” said Grace.

“I'll take it,” Rachel declared. “You all will come along to cheer, won't you?”

She looked hopefully at the other two as they exchanged glances.

“Of course we will,” Grace sighed.

“Hooray! Thanks, you guys.”

“What's going on?” Jenny jogged toward them from the other end of the hall. “Someone told me you're on the team tonight.”

“Yep,” Rachel said. “And I'm gonna be awesome!”

***

Saint Agnes was one of the best teams in the league, and they were known for playing dirty. Saint John's hated playing them. It always resulted in at least one injury on their side. But this particular game was going extremely well. Rachel repeated that afternoon's deft performance, running circles around the Saint Agnes girls and scoring point after point. After a while, she even began to show a little boredom with the ease of the game. So she added in jumps and spins, tricks with the ball, delighting the crowd, which cheered continuously, chanting her name and clapping wildly.

“How about letting one of us have the ball, for a change?” Kelly growled at her as the whistle for halftime blew.

“I'd love to, Kelly,” Rachel replied nonchalantly, “but I'd really like to win this game. Maybe a little later, when we're enough points ahead.”

“We're way ahead
now
.”

Rachel winked and smiled.

“We'll see, okay?”

“Hey, Roach, or whatever your name is,” sneered the hefty captain of the Saint Agnes team, “we're going to finish you off in the second half.”

“Looking forward to it,” said Rachel, waving one hand in the air like a queen addressing her subjects. “I take it you weren't trying in the first half, seeing as I'm wiping the floor with you.”

The captain screwed up her reddening face in fury and snarled in reply. Rachel laughed and shook her head before turning to bask in the continuing cheers of the ecstatic home crowd. She trotted over to her friends in the first row and grinned widely.

“How cool is this?!”

Jenny laughed, but Grace shook her head.

“I'd watch it, if I were you,” she cautioned. “That Agnes captain looks about ready to rip your head off.”

“Ah, what can she do?” Rachel said with a dismissive wave. “I'll rack up a record score in the second half, and she'll go home and lick her wounds. It's only a game, after all.”

“Not sure she'd agree with you. Just be careful out there, okay?”

“No need,” replied Rachel, jogging backward toward the court. “I'm on fire today!”

“Just hope you don't get burned,” Grace mumbled to herself.

“What are you so worried about?” asked Jenny. “It's going great. You know, since this whole thing started, this is first time a spell has actually gone right for us. Look at Rach—she's having a ball!”

“I guess so.” Grace shrugged.

“Don't be such a worrywart.”

The cheers from the crowd began again, in earnest, as the whistle blew signaling the start of the second half. Naturally, Rachel had control of the ball within seconds. She darted in and out of reach of the Agnes girls, teasing them and laughing uproariously as they stumbled trying to catch up with her. As she flew past, the Agnes captain rushed at her, slamming into her shoulder. Rachel faltered momentarily before quickly recovering and going on to score another point.

“Hey, ref!” Jenny yelled. “What was
that
? That was an out-and-out foul!”

“How did she miss that?” Grace said.

“Doesn't matter,” Adie said. “Hasn't slowed Rachel down at all.”

And Rachel didn't look at all perturbed as the Agnes girls now seemed determined to take her down, regardless of the rules. They charged at her, one by one, but Rachel's lightning-fast feet rushed her out of harm's way each time. The ref was perplexed, ready to blow her whistle at any moment, but each seemingly inevitable foul was prevented by Rachel's incredible speed.

“You're done for, Roach,” the Agnes captain bellowed, as she closed in on Rachel once more.