Diary of Anna the Girl Witch 1: Foundling Witch (5 page)

That’s when I realized how tired I was. My watch said it was after two in the morning. I’d had a very long day, and tomorrow, I had to study for our year-end exams, which would start the following week.

I studied the hand that was hovering in the air patiently. My fear was subsiding; instead, I was starting to feel excited and curious. “Will you come back to my dorm with me?”

Squire nodded.

“You’ll have to stay in my backpack. It’s late, but you never know whom we might meet in town.”

Squire squeezed into the little pouch in the bear’s back. It was a tight fit, and I didn’t want to crumple my mother’s card or the picture, so I carried those. Squire squirmed in my backpack until we reached the park; then he quieted.

“Almost home now,” I whispered.

When I reached the dorm, the door was still unlocked. I slipped inside as quietly as I could. My feet were damp from running through wet grass, and I hoped the wet marks I had left would dry before Sister Constance awoke.

Back in my room, I grabbed a notebook and pen from my desk, all ready for Squire to tell me my mother’s name. I took off my backpack and unzipped it.

Squire was a small, inanimate carving again.

With no room in the backpack, I had left the votive candle under a bush in the forest, planning to go back for it later. I’d have to borrow another one to wake up Squire. But not tonight. It was too late to go sneaking around again.

Tomorrow,
I thought, yawning. Then my head hit the pillow, and sleep took over.

D
ear Diary
,

My mother’s unusual present seems to have awakened a strange energy in me. I feel like I can fly! But not in a balloon. I want to fly on my own like a bird. Maybe that’s what my mother’s strange picture means? Could I really have a superpower?

With exams only a few days away, I haven’t had nearly enough time to examine my new sidekick, Squire. Twice, his secret was almost revealed when friends came over at unexpected times. I don’t think my friends are ready to encounter an animated hand. I can barely wrap my own head around it.

But there’s more. My dreams have become so vivid, they don’t seem like dreams at all. Last night, I dreamed that I was a bear, running in the woods. I could smell the fresh pine tang of the trees, and when I drank from La Fourche, the water was crisp and refreshing. It filled me with cold fire, and I felt invincible, like I could run all night. I’d say it was the strangest dream ever, except that in the morning, I awoke with muddy feet and the hem of my pajamas was wet.

Was I sleepwalking? I just don’t know.

I wear Uncle Misha’s dream stone all the time. I don’t know if it can protect me, and I don’t even know what I need protecting from, but I feel better with it lying next to my skin. Sometimes it’s warm, and I imagine that Uncle Misha’s love is flowing from it right into my heart.

S
aturday and Sunday
, I spent all my waking hours studying. I desperately wanted to get away and wake Squire again, but I didn’t have a chance. All afternoon, Gaëlle and I studied with two other girls from our math class. Gaëlle is really strong in math – thankfully, because it’s my weakest subject. But I knew that with the help of my study group, I’d ace my test on Monday.

I brought Squire with me. He made a perfect paperweight. He held my algebra book open while I copied test examples into my exercise book.

It was hard to keep my mind focused on equations and decimals when all I wanted to do was sneak away and bring Squire back to life. For the first time ever, I might get some real answers about my parents.

But first, I had to get through the exams.

Gaëlle seemed more tired than usual. I was really worried about her, especially since she had a huge purple bruise above her eye.

“It’s from the balloon accident,” she said after the classes were over. We stood just outside the exit from our classroom, in the wide corridor. The kids from our class were flowing out past us, chatting and laughing. “Don’t you remember when we smacked heads?” Gaëlle asked. “I’m surprised you don’t have a goose egg too.”

I did remember smacking heads, but my bruise was nothing like hers. Could she be lying? Her bruise looked more as if someone had hit her.

“Maybe you should have the school nurse look at that,” I suggested.

“Oh, no. It’s already fading,” she said with a faint smile. But along with the bruise, her eyes looked hollow and she’d lost weight, so the bones of her cheeks stood out. I didn’t like it one bit.

My grumbling stomach told me that it was time for supper. As we turned to walk downstairs, I asked Gaëlle if we could have that sleepover in the Irvigne Manor next weekend.

“I feel like we haven’t seen each other since the start of the semester,” I said. “I have so much to tell you.” I really did intend to tell Gaëlle about my mother’s odd letter, but I also wanted to check up on her, and a sleepover was the perfect excuse.

“Um, sure, I guess,” said Gaëlle. She sounded less than excited about the idea, but I wouldn’t be deterred.

“Is Marie coming to pick you up? I’ll walk down with you, and we can ask her right now.”

Gaëlle nodded.

Downstairs, the dormitory parlor was bustling with students coming from studies and leaving for dinner. Sister Constance sat knitting a new royal blue sweater, watching the flow of the kids’ traffic with her usual intense scrutiny as if we all had mischievous plans. I, for one, was too tired for mischief tonight.

Marie’s red car was parked right outside the dorm, blocking traffic. She didn’t seem to care. How did she even get there? Someone from security must have let her in.

“There you are, darling.” She stepped around the car and folded Gaëlle in a hug. Marie wore a flowing skirt in jewel tones – red, green, and blue – with a gauzy black shawl that wrapped around Gaëlle like a shadow. I shuddered, thinking of the shadow that hung over Irvigne Manor.

“Um, Anna Sophia and I were wondering if we could have a sleepover on Friday night,” Gaëlle said, untangling herself from Marie’s grasp.

“What a perfectly splendid idea!” Marie exclaimed, a little too eagerly for my taste. Her eyebrows were plucked into a thin arching line. “Why don’t we plan an end-of-the-year party for all your friends?”

Gaëlle frowned.

“I was hoping it could be just me and Gaëlle this time,” I said. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

I think Marie furrowed her brow, but it was hard to tell with those ridiculous thin eyebrows.

“Of course,” she said. “You big girls don’t always want the little ones around. I understand. You probably want to talk about boys, don’t you? Ha! I remember exactly what it was like to be your age.”

I nodded in agreement although boys were the last thing on my mind. I wanted to find out what was making Gaëlle look like a wasting ghost.

A
s hungry as I was
, I raced through dinner. I ate too fast, and my ratatouille sat like a bunch of rocks in my stomach. Maybe it was nerves. Right after dinner, I snuck into the cafeteria kitchen to swipe a candle and some matches. I figured that would be easier than sneaking them out of the drawer in our dormitory under Sister Constance’s watchful eye. And I was right. Esther, the school’s cook, was exhausted after serving up hundreds of meals for the students. She was a short, plump woman with a wrinkled face like that of a Shar-Pei dog. She dozed in a chair by the oven, her puffy chef’s hat fallen over one eye.

I tiptoed past her and opened several drawers before finding matches and votive candles in small glasses. I tucked them into my backpack and headed for my room.

I said goodnight to all my dormmates, yawning dramatically so my friends would think I was really tired and not bother me. In my room, I locked the door. With a pad and pen all ready for Squire, I lit a match and held it to a candle. I placed the lit candle on the table and reached for Squire.

A knock on my door startled me.

I opened it a crack to find Lauraleigh standing outside, frowning.

“I smell burning matches or something.” Because Lauraleigh was our hall monitor, it was her job to keep us younger girls in line. She could report any misbehavior to Sister Constance. And although Lauraleigh was usually lenient, fire in the dorm rooms was strictly prohibited except during winter blackouts.

“You’re not smoking, are you?” Lauraleigh asked, and sniffed the air in front of my face suspiciously.

“Of course not.” I laughed, trying not to show how nervous I was. Our science teacher had shown us real lungs in class this year. One was pink and healthy. The other – a smoker’s lung – was black and charred as if someone had burned it on a barbecue. So Lauraleigh shouldn’t have bothered to ask me; I wasn’t going to start smoking.

“You know I’d never do that,” I said, but I probably did sound nervous. Something in my voice must have warned her that something was amiss because Lauraleigh pushed my door open and walked into my room.

“What’s that?” She pointed at the candle.

“It’s a votive.” I wracked my brain for an explanation. “Every year around my birthday, I light a candle for my mother. I never knew her, but this feels like a good way to honor her.”

Lauraleigh’s face softened. She was an orphan too. She understood the need to make a connection to parents we never knew. I hated lying to her, but until I knew more about Squire, I didn’t think it was a good idea to tell even my closest friends about him.

“Well, just make sure you blow it out before you go to bed,” she said.

I nodded, watched her leave my room, and shut the door.
Wow
, that was close. Now I wondered if I should wait before animating Squire again. Who knew what would happen with a big hairy hand running loose in the dorm? And I didn’t know how to un-animate him. He seemed friendly enough, but I had a sudden vision of him zooming around the building, asking people to shake hands. Sister Constance would have a heart attack. Or she’d beat him with her cane.

I really wanted to know more about my mother, but I blew out the candle and tucked Squire into my bear backpack.

Tomorrow,
I thought.
I’ll go back to my special place in the forest and do this right.

I
had just about finished studying
for my English grammar exam when Jean-Sébastien showed up. I shouldn’t have risked sitting in the open courtyard between the Collège and the orphanage, but I’d been cooped up for days with my books, and the sun had been calling.

I’d grown up with Jean-Sébastien at the orphanage, but last year, I entered the Collège and moved to the girls’ dormitory on campus. My trust fund allowed me to do that. Lauraleigh, who was brilliant, and other students got in on a full scholarship. Jean-Sébastien never cared enough about school to win a scholarship, so even though we were in the same grade, he went to a public school in town.

“Cool paperweight,” he said, grabbing Squire off my open grammar book.

“Give that back!” My voice was a little too loud. I swiped at his hand, but he held Squire out of my reach. “Jean-Sébastien, I’m warning you. Give that back to me right now.”

He gave me the stink eye and examined the hand carving for another minute before handing it back. “Fine. There, you don’t have to get all huffy.”

I grabbed Squire and tucked him into my backpack. I almost told him that it was a present from my mother, but I held back. Better that he thought it was just an unimportant trinket. Jean-Sébastien was the king of pranks; I didn’t want him anywhere near my mother’s gift.

“That’s a pretty good carving,” he said. “I know a guy at the pawn shop in town. I bet he’d get you a decent price—”

“No!” I interrupted. “It’s not for sale.”

Jean-Sébastien shrugged. “All right.” But I could see he was still thinking about the hand. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for me to bring Squire out into the open.

“Shouldn’t you be studying?” I asked. “You must have exams this week, too.”

“Yeah. I’m good. It’s all up here.” He tapped the side of his head with his finger.

“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” I said, “I still need to study.” I held my book in front of my face, hoping that Jean-Sébastien would take the hint. When I lowered it a few minutes later, he was gone.

G
rammar was my best subject
. Usually, I couldn’t get enough of punctuation and verb conjugation, but my mind was on other things today. I looked up and found my friend the moon, glowing like an opal in the bright afternoon sky. I felt as if it were smiling to me, and I smiled back.