Read The Grey Girl for Free Online Page B

our hair grow long and luscious, our skin to bloom and shine and our breasts to swell like real women’s. I’ve been checking every morning and my breasts are still the same. Although not as small as Tilly’s. Lavinia says it takes a while for the Goddess to answer our Rituals, that’s why we need to do them every night. Sometimes I wonder if it’s ever going to work at all. But then I remember that I couldn’t stop the Rituals, even if I wanted to. Every time I look down at my forearm I see the scar that binds me to Lavinia and the others, and the Goddess herself.
    It was my job to throw the ashes out of the window after tonight’s Rituals. I opened the window and something in the moonlight caught my eye. It was Tilly; she was wandering along the riverbank in her heavy winter cloak. She held her hands out in front of her as she walked and seemed to study them in the moonlight. How strange that she doesn’t go outside during the day and yet is walking around at this time of night. I wonder if the teachers know. I didn’t tell the others what I saw. I don’t know why.
    Until I write again,
    Annabel

5
    â€˜Suzy! Phone for you!’
    I jolted from my dreams to hear Aunt Meredith banging on my bedroom door. ‘Suzy! Frankie’s on the phone.’
    Bright light streamed through the window. I knew I’d closed the curtains last night. Once again someone must have come into my room and opened them before I woke up. If I wanted to be woken up by offensive daylight blinding me then I’d be sleeping with the curtains open. But I don’t. So I had them closed. I’d have to have a word with Aunt Meredith about respecting my private space.
    â€˜Suzy!’ she shouted again.
    â€˜I’m asleep!’ I croaked back. ‘Tell Frankie I’ll call her later.’
    I could hear Aunt Meredith murmur down the phone at my friend, then she knocked on my door again and said loudly, ‘She says you don’t have her number.’
    â€˜Well, then ask her for it please.’
    Frankie was my best friend but I didn’t want to speak to her. Everything I’d been through at school – being haunted by the Blue Lady – Frankie had been through too. I knew that the sound of her voice would just take me back there again, and I didn’t need that. Even hearing her name made me think of the dark times we’d shared together. I pulled the duvet over my head and tried in vain to fall back asleep. But the thought of Frankie and the life we had back at school had woken me up like a cold shower.
    An hour later I was washed and sitting at the breakfast table with Toby. Once again I was trying to force down a cup of instant coffee. I swear it tasted even worse than it did the day before.
    â€˜So how are you this morning, Toby?’ I asked, trying to sound cheery.
    â€˜I feel discombobulated,’ Toby said with certainty, not looking up from his book.
    â€˜That’s a good word,’ I congratulated him. ‘Where did you learn it?’
    â€˜Dr Who,’ he replied. ‘It means that I feel confused.’
    My lips curled into a smile. ‘And what do you have to feel confused about?’
    â€˜I’m trying to work out who the murderer is this weekend. Mum won’t tell me, she says I have to work it out for myself.’
    â€˜So how was the rest of the party last night?’ I asked him.
    â€˜It was fun,’ he said, half chewing a piece of toast and half flicking through his book. Once again he was wearing his Sherlock Holmes costume, but his cape was thrown over the back of his chair and the plastic pipe that he’d had glued to his lips all evening rested on the table. ‘Mum made me go to bed before they got their first proper clue, though.’
    â€˜And how did they get that then?’ I asked. ‘My Oscar-worthy performance not enough to convince them that someone was murdered?’
    â€˜Nell sat down with