Free The Midnight Carnival by Erika McGann Page A

next. Like demons. They can get through to our world from their world, through this soft spot.’
    ‘That was very inarticulate, but you’re essentially right. Demons – demons – have a door to our world. They could emerge at any moment, hundreds of them, thousands. All they need is for one evildoer – or gormless twit in your case – to open that door.’ The woman jabbed her pointer into the spot again. ‘That’s why it must be watched, it must be guarded. Why do you think Beth and I are training you lot, huh? Do you think we’re slaving for free so you can muck about, changing your hair colour, playing with alligators, chasing faeries? Huh ?’
    She dropped the pointer and leaned over the table, herpale eyes as threatening as Grace had ever seen them.
    ‘We’re training you to be keepers of the well. That’s your job. That’s what you’ll be good for when we’re done. Beth and I won’t live forever. We’ve guarded the well until now and soon it will be your turn. That’s what we’re doing here. Ensuring the safety of the next generation.’
    ‘Dropped the ball though, didn’t you?’Jenny was looking the woman right in the eye.
    Grace felt a cold rush down her limbs and silently begged her friend to be quiet. Mrs Quinlan leaned further over the table.
    ‘I beg your pardon?’
    ‘We summoned a demon from the well, right under your nose. Have you forgotten about that? A bunch of schoolgirls, who barely knew anything about witchcraft, pulled a demon out of the well by accident, and you didn’t have any idea. You would never have found out either, if we hadn’t come to you for help. What kind of ‘keeper of the well’ does that make you?’
    The silence was agonising as Jenny and Mrs Quinlan glared at each other. Finally the woman spoke, her voice low.
    ‘Get out. All of you.’

    The group, minus Delilah, walked down Mrs Quinlan’s drive and into the cul-de-sac of Wilton Place. Una markedoff something at the back of her notebook and squashed it back into her bag.
    ‘What are you doing, Una?’ Grace asked.
    ‘I keep track of all the times Jenny’s got us kicked out of class. You’re on a roll this year, Jen.’
    Jenny didn’t reply. She was still seething. Grace could tell because she was having trouble keeping up with her furious stride.
    ‘What if we don’t want to stay here?’ the girl finally said through gritted teeth.
    ‘Sorry?’ said Grace.
    ‘What if we don’t want to spend the rest of our lives in Dunbridge?’ Jenny stopped and addressed them all. ‘Aren’t they taking a lot on faith here? Just ’cos Ms Lemon and that Cat Hag have deigned to teach us some magic, they think we’re going to owe them the rest of our lives. I don’t particularly want to park my bum on that demon well for the next sixty years. I’ve got plans. I wanna go places, I wanna do stuff. So what the hell are they expecting from us?’
    Grace hadn’t really thought about it before. She meant to learn as much as possible from Ms Lemon and Mrs Quinlan, she meant to become a great witch. But she didn’t consider that that meant spending forever in one spot, watching one little patch of carpet in the school until the end of her days. Is that what their teachers really wanted them to do for the rest of their lives?
    ‘It is a lot to ask. Maybe we should talk to Ms Lemon about it.’
    ‘Stuff that,’ huffed Jenny. ‘They’re both in it together. It’s not worth their while teaching us if we don’t grow up and let them retire.’
    ‘Jenny’s right,’ said Rachel. ‘If we tell them we don’t want to be keepers of the well, they won’t teach us anymore. And I want to keep learning.’
    ‘Me too. So everyone keep schtum and don’t bring it up in front of them. You listening, Una?’
    ‘Don’t bring up the demon-well-life-sentence thing in front of the teachers,’ said Una, ‘I got it. I’m not a moron.’
    ‘No, but you do tend to talk when you shouldn’t, so don’t–’
    ‘I got it!