Professor Clay waddles over, the alarm visible even through his bushy beard and moustache. "What's happening here?" he asks hastily. "Miss Black? Is this your doing?"
"I was only trying to fix it," I admit, looking down at my feet and shuffling from side to side.
"It's my fault," Ryan says. "I think I put too much wormwood in the initial mix."
The professor sighs. "At least you know what you did wrong. Clean up this mess, all three of you, and you won't need to be marked down on this."
I close my eyes and count to three, glad to have got away with just a bit of cleaning up to do. The relief disappears the moment Daphne and Ryan pull out their wands.
The rest of the class are starting to stare, and I know I have no choice but to do the same. At least I have a few spells in mind from helping Mum clean the house. If it decides to work, anyway. If not...well I'll sort that out when I make a mess of things.
I wave my wand over the grey sludge on my part of the desk. I don't know what Ryan did to make his potion go quite this wrong, but it really is something spectacular.
A short zing of magic flows through me and into my wand. That's a good start.
Or it is until the tittering starts from the students around me.
"Can I have this one?" Daphne asks, and I instantly know what's happened.
Sure enough, I look down to find a kitten perched on top of the blissfully clean desk. I suppose it's a step in the right direction if I'm able to do the magic I intend to, even if I do randomly produce a kitten i
n the process. This one is ginger, with eyes not quite as big as Rhubarb's but still cute.
"No, this one's mine too." Though I need Caspian to tell me if it's a boy or a girl. Not that it matters, I'll call it Ginger either way.
"That's some interesting cleaning, Miss Black," Professor Clay observes.
"The bench isn't covered in sludge any more?" I suggest weakly.
"That is true. I hope you're having that looked at." He nods towards my wand.
"I am," I say softly, hoping the rest of my classmates can't hear me. At least Ivy isn't in this class. That would just be bad luck on my part. She already has it out for me, I don't need her to see me producing more kittens by accident.
"Good. Then I suggest you take the animal somewhere safer than here."
"Yes, sir." I scoop up the kitten even before I've finished speaking.
Daphne stuffs my notebook into my bag and hangs it over my shoulder.
"Cheers."
She smiles weakly, as if she doesn't know what to say about my whole situation. I don't blame her, I wouldn't either if I were in her position. Maybe she didn't believe I'd just conjured Rhubarb out of nothing yesterday until now. Another thing I don't consider her fault. Magic backfiring to the extent of conjuring kittens is something no one would actually believe.
"Sorry, Mona," Ryan mutters quietly.
"Not your fault," I respond, giving him a weak smile that I hope goes some way to reassuring him. Or maybe I'm freaking him out instead and he won't want anything else to do with me ever.
That seems more likely.
I slip out of the lab and head down the hall, not too sure where I'm going until I'm in front of Thomas' door. I raise my fist to knock, already worrying that I'm overstepping by coming around when he isn't expecting me. Equally, I don't know where else to go, and he has promised to help me get a handle on my situation.
Maybe the cats are a clue. Though maybe not.
I rap on the door, but don't get an answer. Shifting from side to side, I try and work out how long to wait for. Class will be over soon and students will fill the halls again on their way to their next lecture, or to study, or whatever else they do in their time between lessons. I can't say I've spoken with enough of them to be completely sure.
There's no option but to knock again. Well, that's a lie. I could also give up, but I don't really want to, and only partly because I want to know about my condition. The rest of me just wants to see Thomas again.
I check my watch, knowing I only have a few minutes of peace before the bell rings. With a grunt of frustration, I abandon my position outside the door. I need to get away from here before someone sees me with the kitten and starts asking questions I don't want to answer.