Lenny Mass's Branhal School Diary - Sunday 23 November: 12:30 PM

Sunday 23 November

12:30 PM:

We didn't have our first (and last) lesson learning about Bad Magic til the following Monday. (17th - this Monday gone) Because we were stuck in the school with nothing to do and being stuck indoors, we spent most of our days lounging around in our form room, which was where we also slept. No point writing about it; can't remember much, as most of the time, we were bored. At one point, I went to the library, to read 'Magical Tales'  and re-read the story about Tromvled and Refisul. But there was nothing to indicate that they were anything but enemies, or that they had cooked up an evil plot together. I did think about, several times, telling my friends that I was the reason we had to learn Bad Magic, but I kept bottling up.
It was our form room where Tromvled and Refisul taught us. At seven on Monday morning, they swept through the door, clapping their hands to wake us up. Most of us sat there, yawning, and bleary eyed, trying to rub them open.
I noticed Tromvled fixing his mean gaze just next to me, where Nettie was sat. The poor girl trembled and tried not to meet his eyes.
"YOU! THE SHAKING GIRL! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!"
Nettie stood up. Her legs made her chair rattle.
"N-N-Net-t-tie Sc-Scoot," she stammered.
"You're nervous. I like that. You need toughing up You're perfect for my first experiment. Would you come up here please?"
So Nettie did. She looked so little next to the two tall wizards.
Tromvled flicked his wrist, and a snake appeared in Tromvled's wrist. I saw the flicker of terror on poor Nettie's face as it hissed. Tromvled flicked his wrist again, and the snake turned into a tree stick. Nettie looked relieved.
"Now, Nettie, I want you to stretch out your arm...That's good, now hold your hand out to me...stop shaking..."
Tromvled flicked his wrist at Nettie's hand and the snake reappeared with Nettie holding it. She widened her eyes in fright, and dropped the snake, where it lay on the floor.
"Nettie! Flick your wrist at it, turn it into something else."
With her hand still trembling, Nettie changed the snake into a slinky.
"Good," Tromvled said without a smile. "I'll have you changing people into objects by the end of the year. The rest of you, I want you to come up here one at a time to try the same thing."
Watching Nettie shake violantly in fright brought on guilt of having ever checked out 'Magical Tales'. I made up my mind. When our class took a break, and went to the hall for breakfast, I asked my friends to stay in the form room.
"What's wrong, Len?" Johnny asked.
I took a deep breath, and blurted it all out at once. When I finished, they all looked at me in shock.
"Doesn't mean it's your fault," Wendy reassured. "You read a book, and said a sentence out loud. You didn't know what would happen."
"It still happened because of me. I still can't believe Refisol was nice when I met him. He must have used a spell to bring Tromvled in. Why are they doing this?" I sighed. "It's all my fault. Why did I check that book out.  I want to make it up to the school somehow."
Johnny frowned. "There must be a way to reverse the spell you used."
"Well," Wendy said. "Let's go to the library, and find out."