Free The Broken Spell by Erika McGann

said softly,
    ‘I didn’t mean to give out to you, Rach, it’s just–’
    ‘I know. You’re looking out for us and that’s great. And Jenny just wants us to get better at magic, and that’s great too. But I won’t try any spells in class again, I promise.’
    ‘Well, just don’t try them out at Mrs Quinlan’s tonight anyway,’ Grace said with a grin.
    The other two smiled at the thought.
    ‘No problem,’ said Rachel.

7
THE MIRRORMAN
    The following afternoon, the girls were with Ms Gold.
    ‘Higher, girls, higher!’ Ms Gold cheered. ‘Don’t stop now, you’re doing so well!’
    Grace couldn’t watch. Every time she opened her eyes and saw the ground falling away beneath her, she had a flashback to that awful moment on the gabled roof of the shop that she and Adie had almost fallen from last year, the first time they’d tried to fly. Now she was flying again, as high as she dared – almost to the top branches of a sycamore – but she kept one arm outstretched, waiting to grab the branches if she should suddenly drop. Adie was just a few feet from her, also keeping her fingertips in amongst the leaves of a branch. Flying had been the most wonderful thing they had ever experienced, but it had already very nearly killed them both.
    ‘Don’t be so afraid, Grace and Adie,’ Ms Gold called from the floor of the woods. ‘Let yourselves go. Be free!’
    Grace pushed herself a little further from the tree, but refused to go any further. Una, despite her best efforts, hadn’t gotten any higher than Grace and Adie. She flipped and swung awkwardly, grabbing at Grace’s ankles as she tried to right herself.
    ‘How do you get up straight?’ she squealed. ‘I keep falling over.’
    ‘Tighten those core muscles,’ Ms Gold called, ‘and keep your feet hip-width apart until you can hold your position.’
    As Una flailed below her, Grace could hear the happy shouts of Jenny and Rachel above. They’d flown very high into the sky and Grace was nervous for them. They swooped and somersaulted, swinging each other around and letting go with shrieks of delight. She hoped the lesson would be over soon.
    ‘Right, girls,’ their teacher shouted as Rachel and Jenny dropped down lower to listen. ‘I want to see how high you can go. Don’t hold back, don’t be afraid, just shoot as high as you dare.’
    Grace drifted a little above the sycamore tree before gliding down to the ground. She felt Adie land gently beside her, and Una land in a heap at her feet. Above them, Rachel and Jenny were going higher and higher. They were so far away she could barely make them out, they were just specks in thesky. Silently, she begged them to come back down. After a few minutes she could see Rachel moving smoothly down towards them, her dark hair fluttering in the wind.
    ‘Couldn’t beat her,’ she said as she landed with a grin. ‘She just kept on going.’
    Grace’s stomach tightened in a knot. She looked at Ms Gold, but the woman was staring up at the sky, a smile spreading across her luminous face.
    Eventually, the tiny black dot in the sky grew and grew until Grace could make out Jenny’s shape. But something was wrong. She was going far too fast. She was no longer flying. She was falling.
    Grace’s heart leapt into her throat and she grabbed hold of Ms Gold’s wrist. Above her, Jenny was plummeting, her hair whipping above her as she fell. Grace could hear screaming.
    ‘No, Jenny, no!’ Grace shook Ms Gold’s arm. ‘Do something ! Save her!’
    ‘Wait,’ the woman said, a smile still playing on her lips. ‘Just wait.’
    Grace looked up again in horror, Jenny’s screams getting louder and louder. Until she realised they weren’t screams. Jenny was whooping and shouting as she fell. She was dropping on purpose.
    ‘Stop, Jenny! Slow down!’
    The falling girl laughed, and waited until the very last second before pulling up, only a few feet from the ground.She whooshed past her friends, sending torn plants and