We were back to Monday again. I had spent a lot of time at Arne's mansion this weekend with my Aunt, having some weird experiences and getting grossed out by her frankness. I felt a bit prudish but then; I realised I had a pretty sheltered life up till now and my Aunt was opening my eyes up to what went on in the world that I had no idea about, or had the inkling to find out about. I felt a little ignorant actually.

On the plus side, I had agreed to go out on another date with Duncan this coming Friday, which was perfect as we had the day off at school for some staff training day thing that was happening. We were undecided on where to go, so I asked Duncan to choose. He said he had figured out somewhere to go that wasn't that far away and would be interesting. I was looking forward to it. So much so, I was actually day dreaming about it whilst I was sat in the school library during a free period in the afternoon. I figured I may as well do a bit of studying and catch up on some work I had to do, especially now as I was going out on Friday.

'Hey Maddie.'

It was Liam. I was so in to my day dream I didn't even hear or see him approach me. He pulled out a chair from the table I was sat at and laid his bag down on the seat next to him.

'Aw hey Liam, sorry I was in my own world there.' I replied. 'What you up to?'

'Nothing much, I have a free period so I thought it might be a good idea to get some studying in.'

'Same.'

A moment of silence happened, then Liam pulled a few books out of his bag; Maths and French.

'What you working on there?' He asked me, looking over at the books I was reading.

'Oh, just doing some research for your Uncles history class. I'm doing an essay about how social class and religion through the times changed how funerals and burials happened.'

Liam whistled slightly.

'Wow that sounds like a pretty niche topic.'

'It is I suppose, but your Uncle wanted us to think outside of the box when it came to picking an essay subject. And this is as far out as I could think.'

'Yeah he'd probably like that actually. Uncle Dan visits a lot of cemeteries for fun, he likes researching all the gravestones.'

It reminded me of a little trip I took to a nearby cemetery with my Aunt recently. We walked around endlessly and every so often she would stop by a grave, speak to whoever was inhabiting the grave then walk off muttering about how "they must be out," seemingly not getting any reply before she moved on to another grave to do the same. It happened a few times before she found someone who"was in," then asked permission to take some of the dirt off their grave, cramming it in to a small glass jar. She told me graveyard dirt was a staple in many spells and that it was just respectful to ask to take some from somebody's grave. It was weird, but it totally made sense.

A short amount of time had passed as Liam and I sat occasionally chatting about schoolwork and where we were up to in our magic training. I glanced over to the space in the middle of the library where we first encountered that weird skull thing that we somehow managed to launch in to space via a portal. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but I got up out of my seat and walked over to the main counter where the schools resident librarian Delia was sorting through some books.

'Hi Delia. Can you tell me if we have any books on the history of the school at all?' I asked her quietly.

'Yes we do Madelyn. We don't have many good ones I'm afraid. They're in the corner over there, top shelf.'

'Thank you.'

I glanced at Liam who was watching me wander over to she shelf where Delia told me where the books were. I scanned the top shelf, most of the books were mainly abut the local area and there were a bunch of school yearbooks but nothing really stood out. Until I saw a small, hardback book with a weird leather bound cover. It looked like it could be old and sort of home-made, but it looked to be in really good condition which made me doubt it's age. I opened the book to the title page which read "Saint Augustines, an informal abridged History. Written by Wendy McLintock." Abridged sounded about right as upon further inspection, the book wasn't that thick; maybe being around a centimetre in thickness.

I took the book back to where I was sat and showed it to Liam.

'Look I found a book on the school. I wonder if there's anything in here that can help figure out why this place is the way it is.'

Liam perked up a bit, looking like he was thankful for a distraction from his studying. He came round and sat beside me as we flicked through the pages of the book. It literally was just pages upon pages waffling on about the schools alumni, notable teachers and trophies that the schools sports teams had won through the years. Then it finally got in to some history of the school.

'Saint Augustines has not always been a school. Before the school was built, the previous building on the same site was originally a convent.'

'I guess that's why the school is called Saint Augustines then.' Liam stated the obvious.

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'Nobody is entirely sure how long the grounds of Saint Augustines have been occupied for, but through records we can find out that the area has been populated in some form since the Bronze age at least. Many artefacts have been dug up on the grounds dating back to then during ground and building work.'

'This place has been around forever.' I announced. Liam glanced over the pages I had been reading.

'I mean, I guess you can't have a place that's had this much activity in it be well... quiet?' Liam said, I think I knew what he was talking about. There had been so much going on, on this particular site over Goddess knows how long that there was bound to be some residual energies or whatever still hanging round. I mean I personally had seen my fair share of it all, with the weird big ghost dogs, the random visions of Victorian ladies and loads of other stuff. But it gave a pretty good explanation as to why this place was just so full of weird energy and why weirdness was attracted here too.

'Hey look at this.' Liam nudged me and put his finger down on the page I had just turned to.

'Like many other ancient and old places, Saint Augustines and what came before have a history of paranormal activity. There have been hundreds of reports on sightings of an other worldly nature. And while some of the history is well documented, there are many stories that have been passed down through the generations in relation to various events and notable moments, such as; fires, murders and supposed ties to secret gentlemen's clubs, the Freemasons and even witches.'

I turned to Liam and froze. He was sat right next to me when we were reading the book together I didn't realise just exactly how close he was. My face was mere inches away from his and our eyes locked. Then I felt a warm sensation on my face, on my lips. Liam had just kissed me.

Liam, had just kissed me.

Out... of fucking nowhere.

My eyes had closed for a brief second then fluttered open. Liam had backed off and was sat with a strange smile on his face, a smile mixed in with a slight hint of guilt.

'I... I'm sorry I don't know what came over me I shouldn't ha...'

I cut him off.

'No its... Don't worry abut it Liam.' I reassured him, even though my heart was now pounding. I pursed my lips together in some kind of attempt not to smile, but it broke through; just a little bit. I was just glad that the library wasn't busy. Oh boy if it was and a bunch of people saw, the gossip would be next level.

We went our separate ways shortly after that, not really knowing what to do we just said goodbye to each other and scuttled off. I didn't know what to think, so much so I was relatively quiet during dinner and now my concentration was near non-existent as I was stood in my Aunts room trying to generate a shield to repel whatever my Aunt was chucking at me; which right now was a cricket ball as I had upgraded from mushy oranges.

'Earth to Maddie! You okay girl?'' Auntie M bellowed at me as the shiny red cricket ball she had thrown at me thudded against my stomach, bringing me out of my daze. I rubbed where the ball hit forgetting how hard they were.

'Oh nothing Auntie M, I'm just tired is all. Finding it hard to concentrate.' I lied. And my Aunt was not buying it. She was sat on her bed with another cricket ball, throwing it up and catching it in her right hand as her eyes bore holes in me. She continued staring till I cracked, which really didn't take that long. Even our cats who were sat on the bed beside my Aunt watching, didn't look convinced either.

'Okay okay!' I huffed and slumped over to my Aunts bed, throwing myself down face first on the free side of the bed. I rolled around and flipped over as I heaved out a massive sigh.

'Liam kissed me earlier on.' There I said it.

'Well it's abut time summat happened between you two.' Auntie M shifted around so she was now sat cross legged. She carried on tossing the cricket ball up and catching it before she magically turned it in to a satsuma, which she then began peeling and eating the segments. 'What do you reckon then?'

'I don't know.' I huffed. 'I mean I like Liam, but I'm not sure if I like-like him, stuffs just weird between us. But it didn't bother me, it was kinda nice.'

'Well I guess it's obvious he likes you if he had the balls to kiss you.'

'I suppose. What do I do Auntie M?' I sighed.

'Well I can't tell you what to do, that's entirely up to you.'

I knew she was going to say something like that, but she was right.

'Your dilemma is that you like Duncan as well though, isn't it?' Auntie M said to me, finishing off her tangerine. She scrunched up the peel in her hand and then it disappeared. I nodded at her.

'I just don't wanna throw myself in to something, especially while we're all working together to catch this murderer guy. I don't want things to be weird.' I pouted. My Aunt just looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and bemusement.

'Surely you could allow yourself a little fun Maddie.'

I had to mull that one over for a moment. Maybe she was right. I'm seventeen years old and I've only ever been on one date before and that wasn't all that long ago. Heck I've never even had a boyfriend before. I've always concentrated on school, always. And I only ever spent time with my friends, maybe a trip to the cinema or shopping once in a while. I'd have my classes during the day; Judo twice a week, I barely went on holiday and really thinking about it, I barely went back home. This school had been my life since I started going here nearly six years ago and I had one year of sixth form left before I was sent out in to the world. I had no idea what I wanted to do and that truthfully, scared me.

I thought about my Aunt; she never had any problem juggling her work, her witch duties, her social life or her love life. Then I thought about my mother, who filled her days with work, work and more work and very little else except maybe a working holiday. And if there was anything that I did not want to happen, then it was becoming like her. I had tried with her on several occasions to relax a bit more and have a life but she just didn't want to know. Even during the school holidays when I did go back home, she was always working and I barely saw her.

I lurched forward and sat bolt upright with a start, thankfully not disturbing the cats.

'Do you know what Auntie M, I am gonna allow myself some fun.' I stated. 'Yeah! I'm gonna let two guys chase after me if they want. I'm gonna learn how to drive and go out and socialise more. And go on dates and be a teenager!

'Atta girl.' Auntie M grinned at me. 'Maddie you've got it in you to do whatever you want and succeed at it, never mind doing what you think people expect of you or what you think you should do. And you're smart and sensible enough to do what you like.'

So I may not have the best relationship with my mother and I didn't have a huge amount of friends I could rely upon and trust, only Katie and Victoria. But my Aunt was on my side and she always fought my corner, in fact she was the leader in my cheer section. I rolled off the bed and shuffled round to the side she was sat on and gave her a big hug.

'Thanks Auntie M, I think I needed that pep talk.' I told her as she squeezed me back.

'It's what I'm here for kiddo. Now come on seeing as you've screwed your head back on, I'm thinking of chucking a cantaloupe.'