‘And she can do the accent,’ Trudy said. ‘Or, she can do dockside doxy, so I just bet she can do strict, high-born governess.’
‘Trudy! You shouldn’t be using such language about–’
‘Oh, don’t you be worryin’ ’bout stuff such as that, Mistress Prudence,’ Krystal interrupted in her docks accent. Then she pulled herself up straight, raised her chin, and switched into something Trudy had not actually heard before. ‘Trudy Black,’ she said in a terribly nasal, slightly whining voice, ‘I shall see you in detention where you shall write “I shall not abuse my governess” one hundred times, with perfect penmanship.’
Trudy gave an indecorous snort of laughter. ‘Sorry. See? She’s good at this accent stuff.’ Some of the amusement was stemming from the open-mouthed shock on Michael’s face, but Trudy was not going to mention that.
‘I had a good teacher,’ Krystal said, back to her normal voice. ‘And Sister Millicent Dusklight sounded just like that when she was annoyed. And she really would make you write lines and she’d make you do it again if you didn’t write them just right.’
‘But not you.’
‘Oh, she had me doing it once. “I shall not point out my teacher’s grammatical errors.” Just because you’re a nun, doesn’t mean you can’t be petty.’
~~~
The old clock on the mantelpiece, which had been a wedding gift to Prudence and Maurice, was ticking toward midnight when the subject came up which Krystal had been waiting for but hoping would be ignored.
‘So,’ Maurice said, ‘Trudy says that you had some idea this thing at the school ball was going to happen, Krys?’
Krystal grimaced and nodded. ‘I did an astrological divination for Trudy and I saw… something. I thought it was related to the threat that was sent to the palace, but it seems like that was just a distraction now. Anyway, I thought it was one thing, and it turned out to be something else.’
‘And you tried to keep Trudy away from the ball.’
‘Yes. Yes, I tried.’
‘Thank you. She can be…’
Krystal got back in before Maurice could work out exactly what Trudy could be. ‘I was wrong. Uh, not to stay away from the ball, exactly, because if we’d been in the crowd we would probably have ended up possessed by evil spirits or demons or something. But I didn’t want to go near the hall when I realised something was happening. The others persuaded me to go, and we saved everyone. And they were right. We realised what was happening, and we summoned the guardians, and we disrupted the ritual when it seemed like help wouldn’t arrive in time.’
‘Very heroic,’ Maurice said, not sounding terribly pleased.
‘It wasn’t.’ Krystal shook her head. ‘It was scary and hard, but… Well, thinking back on it, we were bound to win.’
‘Oh?’ Prudence said. ‘Six girls against a dangerous necromancer and his minions?’
‘That’s just it.’ Krystal laid a hand on Trudy’s arm and flashed her a smile. ‘If it was the spirit of Lorenzo Darkmoon, he was up there on that stage with some henchmen. Each of us went into that hall with five friends. That counts for a lot.’
‘Plus,’ Trudy said, ‘we won and the city wasn’t overrun by eight hundred demonic magi.’
Prudence glanced at the clock. ‘That’s actually a rather heart-warming note to bring in the new year with, even if we’d rather you didn’t get into that kind of situation in the future.’
They had poured the wine ready for the toast at midnight and Krystal reached down for her glass. ‘I think we can all drink to that, but perhaps we could come up with something better for the actual toast.’
The sound of bells came from outside as the clock’s hands met. It was midnight, the start of the new year.
‘In that case,’ Maurice said, ‘to friends and all that comes with them.’
Krystal and Trudy looked at each other, grinned, and raised their glasses. ‘To friends!’
###
I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.
Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.
I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote science fiction when I was playing Traveller. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still love the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.
Recently I took the big step of quitting my day job and taking up full-time writing. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, J.D. Robb, and Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.
For More Information
Take a look at the Witches and Ray-guns blog: http://witchesandrayguns.wordpress.com
Amazon US Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006J6II9O
Amazon UK Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B006J6II9O
Other Books by this Author
The Thaumatology Series
Thaumatology 101
Demon’s Moon
Legacy
Dragon’s Blood
Disturbia
Hammer of Witches
Eagle’s Shadow
Ancient
Dragonfall
The Other Side of Hell
For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll
Vengeance
A Midsummer’s Nightmare – 2017
Anthologies in the Thaumatology Universe
Tales from High Towers’ Study
The Aneka Jansen Books
Steel Beneath The Skin
The Cold Steel Mind
Steel Heart
The Winter War
The Greatest Heights of Honour
The Lowest Depths of Shame
Hope
The Ultrahuman Books
Ugly
Shadows
Hunting Mink
Frostburn
Guardian – 2017/18
True Dark – 2017/18
The Unobtainium Books
Kate on a Hot Tin Roof
King Solamet’s Mines – 2016/17
The Reality Hack Books
Reality Hack
The Fox Meridian Books
Fox Hunt
Inescapable
DeathWeb
Criminal Minds
The Ghost in the Doll
Eden Burning - 2017
The Princeps Venator Books
Hunter’s Kiss
Be My Valentine
The Gunwitch Books
Gunwitch: Rebirth
The Children of Zanar S
eries
The Zanari Inheritance
The Misfits Series
Misfit Magic
Misfit Witchcraft – Coming Soon
* * *
Table of Contents
Prologue
Part One: The Misfits
Part Two: Mean Girls
Part Three: Exam Hell
Epilogue: Midwinter Night