Watford Tales

Reprieve

Simon

The next few weeks are actually kind of quiet. Too quiet, Penny says, but I don't mind. I know more is coming, but it's nice to have a chance to just be a student for a little while.

Penny's Mum is headmistress now. There was a big welcoming ceremony with Penny's Dad and all her siblings sitting in chairs on the stage in the assembly hall in the White Chapel. Miss Possibelf was up there as well, looking sad. I guess she would have had the job if it wasn't for Mitali Bunce.

I get my stitches out and Dev gets graduated from a cast to a splint for his broken fingers. Agatha says yes to him finally so we're all set for the Winter Ball. Dev with Agatha, Niall with Rowan, and then Penny, Baz and me, all in a group, just for the fun of it.

My funds are dangerously low and I talk to cook Pritchard and she gives me a job in the kitchens. It's not just me, there's lots of students who work there, serving food and doing dishes. Then Baz surprises me by coming home one evening and announcing he got a job at the Starbucks in the village by the train station. I guess I'm not the only one who's had their allowance cut off, but he won't talk to me about the fight with his father.

The baby gwythaint doesn't die. He keeps getting bigger, stronger. He still gets excited when he sees me though, flaps his wings and squawks until I come over and scratch his scaly beak. Ebb is letting him out to fly and he's getting his own food now, bringing back rats and rabbits which he tears apart with gusto in a corner of the barn. It's disgusting to watch him, but strangely satisfying. Baz won't go near him when he's eating.

He needs a name but no one can agree. Ebb wants to call him Hercules for some reason, and I like Nigel. Baz keeps suggesting Evil Bird of Death.

The goats have started kidding and every time I go to the barn there's new babies. They jump and play and then go running and buck hard at their mother's udders. Ebb is better, back to her old self. She's steady on her feet now, smiling at the antics of the babies.

I think a lot about everything. Lucy Salisbury. David Fucking Weir. I know what happened to him but I can't help wondering what happened to her. Did she really abandon me? Or did something happen that kept her from me. From being my mom. Is she still alive? Is there still a chance, for her and me?

We study. We get caught up on homework. We have strategy meetings but there's nothing new to report. The mage is evil. He's my dad The vampires have joined him.

Nothing we don't already know.

No one has any idea how to fight the Humdrum or what his next move is going to be. Our strategy sessions are increasingly turning into an opportunity for us to hang out together and smoke the rest of Fiona's weed. I don't really mind. It feels good to do normal teenager stuff.

At night, in the tower, there's Baz and me. We don't do any more actual shagging, but we find ways to keep each other happy. In the mornings, there's his arms around me, his mouth on mine, before we start our day.

I really, really like it. I like him. And though I know I love him now, I haven't told him so. Not yet.

Two days before the Winter Ball all six of us take the train to London and go to the second hand shops. Baz and I are both working for our spending money, but everyone else is on budget as well.

Money doesn't grow on trees for any of us. Even if you use that spell, Money doesn't grow on trees. Which always makes me feel like a bounder. You can spend the money you pick off the trees, but it disappears as soon as you leave the shop.

When we get to Drury Lane the girls peel off right away, saying they have important business and they'll see us later. We four boys have a pretty good time. There's a white suit Baz makes me try on. He absolutely loves it, but I refuse to buy it. I find a black jacket and light grey trousers that don't make me look too naff, and Niall comes up with a lavender tie that kind of pulls the whole look together. Baz looks like a rock star in a maroon velvet jacket and black velvety trousers that make his legs look really long and skinny. He makes Dev buy a blue suit to go with Agatha's eyes and Niall is happy in a black suit that makes him look tall rather than weedy. We're ready for the Winter Ball.