why I need to know what happened. I need to know what she did.'
'She didn't do it on purpose! She wasn't like that.'
'I know that. I'm her dad. I know what she's like, but I need to know what happened.'
'They were there. Tracy Welham and her lot. They were in the changing room.'
'Before that. You knew about it before that, didn't you?'
'She made me promise.'
'Kayleigh?'
There was a long pause. This time I won.
'She came into school one day, really excited. She wouldn't tell me what it was about. We tell each other, like, everything. Everything about everything. Boys, even.' She stopped.
'Go on,' I prodded gently.
'She was really cagey. I kept asking her whether it was a boy, but she kept… evading me.'
'OK.'
'It wasn't like her to be so cagey, but when school finished we went back to mine. We shut the bedroom door and put the stereo on, and I made her tell me. She swore me to secrecy, but I made her.'
'What, Kayleigh? What did she say?'
'She didn't say anything. She got my water glass and emptied it on to my table. I was like, hey, pack that in, but she just carried on. The water stayed on the table, though. It shoulda run on to the floor, but it didn't. It all gathered in the middle, in a circle, like mercury, waiting for her.'
'Waiting?'
'She goes, watch this. She puts a finger out and draws a K for Kayleigh, and the water does it too. It made a K, right there, I swear. Then she drew an A and it made an A, just like that. It was spooky.'
'Did she say how she did it?'
'And then, like, she draws her finger in a circle and wobbles it towards the edge and all the water rolls to the edge, off the side and back into the glass, just like that. I swear.'
'How did she explain it?'
'She said she had cramps in the night, you know, like… girl cramps?'
'I know what periods are, Kayleigh.'
'Yeah, well. When she woke up, she was different. She said the water obeyed her. It wanted to do what she wanted. She said she thought she was a witch.'
'A witch?' The irony of that remark wasn't lost on me.
'Yeah, we thought she might be able to do spells and stuff, but it was just water. She could do some cool things, though. Dry her hair by making all the water drop out, stir her tea without a spoon. It was pretty neat.'
'And she could control it?'
'Yeah, mostly. It was getting stronger, though. She said… it was like it was calling to her and she didn't know what it wanted.'
'But she had it under control.'
'She wouldn't go near the river, and the swimming pool was right out. She said it was too strong. There was too much of it. She was frightened about what it would do.'
'Was that when she had the accident?'
Kayleigh went quiet. She sat, pulling her cardie around her.
'I need to know, Kayleigh. I can't help her until I know.'
The silence persisted. Then there was a snuffle.
'You could just tell me. I'm her dad. I'll understand.'
'Yeah, but…' she snuffled.
'Yes, but what?'
'The accident.' She sniffed.
'What about it? What happened?'
'It wasn't an accident, was it? She did it. She killed them.' The tears overflowed and I found myself holding her as she wailed into my shoulder. I drew concealment closer around us, so as not to attract attention. Kayleigh shook, convulsing with great heaving sobs as it all spilled out. Between heaving gulps of air she told me.
'She didn't mean it. She never meant it. It was too strong. It got loose. They were trying to hurt her. Trying to dunk her – in the toilets. They hurt her – they were shoving her – into the water. They put her – in the water – don't you see? They put her in it!'
I hugged her to me. 'It's OK. I think I do see.'
She gulped and hiccoughed in my armpit and I held her until the sobbing subsided. I passed her my hanky and she dabbed her eyes and then blew her nose. The mascara around her eyes had run and stained it. She offered me back the hanky.
'No, keep it.'
She stuffed it into the sleeve of her cardie.
'She wouldn't have done it on purpose, would she?' she asked.
'No. If they were putting her into water and hurting her then they probably brought it on themselves. I don't think she meant it to happen.' The truth of that statement rankled with me. I wasn't a hundred per cent sure it was true, but speculation was not what Kayleigh needed to hear.
'I tried to get them to stop. They wouldn't listen. She knew it was bad.' She sniffed. 'We were supposed to meet. She wasn't there. I knew something was wrong.'
'How did you find her?'
'You can't get out the front. There are the offices and they watch the gates like hawks. I went out the back, where the playing fields are. I thought she might be there. I heard her. She was in the toilets in the changing block. I think she was hiding. Welham and her mates went in there, smoking.'
'So you followed her.'
'I tried to warn them, but they wouldn't believe me. They were gonna get me too. I ran out into the corridor and closed the door so they couldn't get me. It was me. I trapped them in there with her.' She took out that hanky again and mopped at her nose.
'No, you didn't.'
'I did. If I had been with her she might not have lost it. They wouldn't have done much. I've had worse. They're all mouth, that lot. They were. They're all dead now. All of them.' She started crying again and I hugged her close.
'It was an accident, Kayleigh. You didn't know what would happen. You did the best you could. You ran for help, didn't you?'
She calmed a little and snuffled into the hanky. 'It was too late. The water was filthy. It went everywhere. It was streaming out the windows. Where? Where did it all come from?'
'She called it, I think. She panicked when they tried to drown her. She lost control. Someone once told me that magic responds to need. They must have been hurting her pretty badly.'
'Not that badly. Not to deserve to drown. Not in that. There was stuff in it, ugh, it was horrible. The smell was awful. It's taken them weeks just to clean it up.'
'Who cleaned it up?'
'Workmen. They all came in suits with plastic masks on. The smell was atrocious. You weren't there.'
'Was there a big truck? Really new, like an American one. All white and shiny?'
'No. I don't remember a truck. Why?'
'Just something I saw somewhere. I thought it might be a clue.'
'No. They had a van, but it was a beaten-up old thing.'
'Did they say anything?'
'To me? We weren't allowed anywhere near it. The whole area has been off limits for weeks. It still is. You can understand why.'
'Is there anything else, Kayleigh? Anything you remember? Anything that might help me find her?'
'No, I don't remember. It all happened so fast. I wake up nights. Mum says I'm dreaming. I can hear them in there, screaming, clawing at the door to get out.' She shuddered.
'OK. Thank you. I think you've been very brave. I'm sorry I had to trick you to get you out here.'
