The Language Of Spells Part 12

A tiny shrug.

'I've acquired a cat, too. Do you want to meet him?'

Katie looked up for the first time. 'Yes, please.'

'Through here.' Gwen led the way into the kitchen, praying that the cat was still there.

'He's gorgeous,' Katie said, despite all evidence to the contrary. She dropped to the floor in front of him and held out her hand. To Gwen's surprise, the cat padded straight over and sniffed Katie, then began rubbing his head on her arm, begging to be stroked.

Katie looked back over her shoulder. 'What's his name? Do you have any cat treats? They love the ones with catnip.'

'I'm not naming him. I'll never get rid of him if I name him.'

Katie gave her an odd look. She turned back to the cat. 'h.e.l.lo, Cat,' she said lovingly.

Gwen skirted past the happy couple and pulled a pair of rubber gloves and a roll of bin bags from under the sink.

'I'm going to get started.'

Katie rubbed the cat under the chin and didn't reply.

Gwen had re-stacked the boxes to allow for better access and was just opening the first one when Katie appeared in the doorway. She'd taken off her parka and looked about a third of the size without the bulky coat. She stood still and looked around. Then whistled. 'c.r.a.ptastic.'

'Indeed.' Gwen hadn't fully appreciated the extent of the mess until she'd started lugging boxes. 'I'm wondering whether to just lock the door. I mean,' she looked around, 'it's not like I need a dining room.'

Katie was squinting at the ceiling. 'That's a big crack.'

'Your mum said it was going to fall down. Don't tell her I let you in here, okay?'

Katie smiled for the first time. 'Okay.'

'So, do you want to help me with this lot? I'll pay you.'

Katie's smile widened into a proper grin. She looked like the cheery twelve-year-old Gwen remembered.

Gwen plugged in her iPod dock and hit shuffle. As luck would have it, Katie's favourite Aretha Franklin song rang out. She looked sideways at the girl as she ripped open a cardboard box with more enthusiasm than precision. 'You used to dance to this song when you were little.'

Katie didn't react.

Okay.

Katie pulled out a handful of brown curtain material, then let it fall back in a heap. 'Do you have a system?'

'Um. Not really.'

'Well, we need one. Like on Life Laundry.'

'If you say so.'

Katie tipped the box she was holding upside down and shook it. Righting it, she said, 'I need a marker pen.'

'There's a pack in the kitchen,' Gwen said faintly.

Two hours later, they had several boxes marked up in block letters: charity, loft and house, and three black bags for the tip. There was also a plastic crate filled with old notebooks, sc.r.a.ps of paper with Iris's handwriting, and shop receipts with items highlighted with little stars.

'You should at least throw out the receipts. That's just rubbish.'

'I can't. Iris kept them and, until I know why, I can't throw them out.' Gwen didn't want to admit that she couldn't let go of anything that Iris had written on. It would make her sound unhinged.

'Maybe it was for her tax return. Dad keeps all of his.'

'Good thought.' Gwen frowned unintentionally at the dreaded words. She decided to focus on the day's achievements, gazing at the neatly labelled boxes with satisfaction. She found her purse and extracted a five-pound note.

Katie looked at the floor. 'You don't have to pay me. I enjoyed it.'

Gwen handed her the note. 'Just for that, I'll give you a lift home.'

Katie's face fell.

'Or into town,' Gwen continued smoothly. 'We could go for hot chocolate.'

Katie brightened. 'Can I come again another day? To see the cat.'

'Of course.' Gwen smiled at the whip-fast emotions of a teenager. She remembered what that had been like. Exhausting.

Katie bounced into the hallway and began dragging on her coat. 'I'll bring him treats.'

She kept up a stream of chatter all the way into Bath. Gwen tried to relax and enjoy her niece's company, but she felt a nagging guilt. Marilyn Dixon's tight features kept popping into her mind. It was annoying.

'What do you think?'

Gwen glanced at Katie, who was wearing an unnervingly intense expression.

'Um ...'

'I know. You think I should stand up for myself more. That's what Mum says.'

'I-'

'But Imogen is so, like, intense, you know?' She scowled into her lap and Gwen stamped down on the sudden urge to laugh.

'She's cool, too. Much cooler than me. She's had a boyfriend since she was nine.'

'Well, that's-'

'And she always looks good. She's got the best hair.'

'Hair's good,' Gwen managed.

'I'm just not sure about the party.' Katie paused for breath. 'I might wait and see.'

Gwen parked the car and turned to Katie. She prepared to ask who the h.e.l.l Imogen was and what they had been talking about, when Katie suddenly treated her to a big smile. 'Thanks so much, Auntie Gwen. You are so great to talk to.'

'You're entirely welcome,' Gwen said, sticking to safe ground.

Katie paused, quiet for the first time in the last half an hour. 'I want to ask you something.'

'Shoot.' Gwen felt uneasy.

'Mum said you used to help the police sometimes.'

'Did she?'

Katie looked disappointed. 'It isn't true?'

'It's kind of true. I helped out just the once. I'm just not supposed to talk about it.'

Katie's face lit up. 'Are you a spook?'

Gwen laughed. 'No. Nothing as cool as that.'

'What did you do?'

'Katie,' Gwen said as gently as she could. 'Your mum-'

'Oh, I know.' Katie waved a hand. 'She's all freaked out.'

Great. Gwen tried not to feel hurt.

'So is that what you've been doing? Is that why you went away?'

'It's complicated.'

Katie wasn't giving up. 'How?'

Gwen paused. She tried to think of a nice way of putting it. 'Finding isn't all that specific.'

'It doesn't always work?' Katie fiddled with the fringing on her scarf.

Gwen shook her head. 'You always find something. It's just not always what you thought you were looking for.' Gwen's left ear itched from the lie. There was no way she was telling her fresh-faced niece the truth, though. The one time she'd used the Finding to help the police, she'd ended up a suspect in a murder case. Only briefly, but that had been enough. She closed her eyes and tried not to see the boy's white body, bloated with river water and trailing weeds.

Katie opened her mouth, but Gwen held up a hand. 'Please,' she said. 'Your mum is only just speaking to me again.'

After two giant mugs of hot chocolate and Katie's treatise regarding marshmallows: 'they're like, completely pointless until you melt them', Gwen watched Katie get onto her bus home. Being near Bath had its perks, she thought, even if she had little idea what her niece was talking about for fifty per cent of the time.

That evening, Gwen was contemplating the necrotic walls of the living room and wondering whether Iris would have some really bright paint somewhere amongst the junk when the phone rang and she dived to the hallway floor to retrieve it. She added 'hall table' and, a moment later, 'cordless phone' onto her list of things to buy. It was Ruby.

'Thank you.' Ruby's voice was quiet. 'For today, I mean.'

Gwen straightened up in shock.

'Katie is glowing,' Ruby said. 'I haven't seen her this cheerful in weeks.'

'I took her for hot chocolate,' was all that popped into Gwen's mouth.

'Out? She was happy to be seen in public with you?'

Gwen was just about to be offended when she processed the hurt in Ruby's voice. 'I'm sure that won't last. I'm just a novelty.'

'Well, anyway,' Ruby said. 'Thank you for having her.'

'Any time,' Gwen said.

Ruby hesitated, then asked in a rush, 'She's already asking about visiting again.'

'Of course.'

'After school one day?'

'Sure.' Gwen couldn't stop herself adding, 'If you don't mind Katie spending time here?'

Ruby's voice was so quiet as to be almost non-existent. 'I said I was sorry.'

'You didn't actually,' Gwen said. And then I left and you didn't even try to get in touch.

'So, you want to talk about this now?'

Gwen was gripping the phone so tightly her fingers were hurting. She made herself relax them slightly. 'Good a time as any.'

'I didn't mean to say that you were "bad". It just popped out,' Ruby said. 'I was scared.'

'I believe the word you used was "evil".' Gwen didn't mean the words to come out so seriously, but the hurt bubbled up and soured her tone.

'Look, I said I'm sorry, but I can't help the way I feel,' Ruby said righteously.

'It was a card trick, Ruby. From a kids' magic set.'

'I know that. Now.'

'I was wearing a felt top hat. Katie had just pulled Mr Bun Bun out of it.'

There was a silence. Gwen gazed at the cracked paintwork of the hall and willed herself to go numb.

'I thought it was a real rabbit,' Ruby said finally. 'Bun Bun is very fluffy. I couldn't tell. I thought-'

'You thought that I was ... What? Conducting a ritual sacrifice with a live rabbit in front of your eleven-year-old daughter? You actually thought I would do that?'

'Mum would.'