Chapter 1 - The Mist

"RACHEL!!!," my Mum's voice echoes up the stairs,"get down here this instant."
I glance out the window, and sure enough, William's outside. I groan inwardly. I march down the stairs in a huff.
"Hello, sweetie - pie," smiles William in a sickly tone. I give him my full on glare. He, of course, doesn't catch it and gives me a yellow toothed smile. I roll my eyes, knowing my mother won't see me, she'll be too caught up with William's "natural charm," to notice anything I do. I could kill the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister for you English/American/everywhere else readers) right under her nose and she wouldn't blink an eye. It's sad really, the way a grown woman fawns over such a twat. It's not just that he's brainless and ugly, he's a patronising idiot, too. William and I, we have a kind of silent agreement, that when Mum's around we act nice and sugary but when we're alone - we're forever at each others throats. I tell Mum - he punches my lights out. Fun.
"William, honey, do you want some tea, deary? Oh, yes you do, sugar." She busies herself in the kitchen, while William and I stand in the hall.
"Any money on you?" He asks me, checking out my pockets with greed shining brightly in his eyes. I shrug.
"You do, don't you, and I'm going to be your new stepfather soon, so hand it over, missy."
I throw open the front door, stomp out, and slam the door behind me.
"Ugh," I moan, " Ugh, ugh, ugh." I kick a rock, venting out my anger on it. I kick it again and stub my toe, "OWW," I grimace. That HURT!
I march off, limping slightly, down the garden to the old swing. I sit down. The swing sways slightly in the wind and soon I move with it gathering speed, wind rushing through my hair. Pure joy radiates through me, and I forget all about William.
Until, of course, I spot him huffing and puffing his way down the garden, his flab wobbling unattractively. I slow to a stop and hop off. "Now, honey, come back, I have the right to ask for a few bob of you, I'm sure your mother wouldn't mind.
Well of course she wouldn't, but only because it's you, I think to myself.
Suddenly something catches my eye. The lake, across the road from my house, isn't moving. At all. Normally, slight waves would dance across the surface, but now, nothing was moving. At all. Then a white patch starts to spread out from the middle. My vision starts to get foggy, or am I just imagining it? Then I realise, it's not my vision that's getting foggy, it's mist appearing at a sudden speed. I've never seen anything like it. I spreads across the lake like a disease, until nothing can be seen. I glance back at William, but he's not paying attention to the mist. "The lake," I whisper to him, probably the first time I've ever said anything to him without glaring.
" What about the lake?"
He looks down the garden at it. "What, there's nothing there?"
I stare at him. Either he's going blind or... I don't know, I'm the only one who can see it? And then it hits me - I probably am the only one who can see it... I've lived in Chapelgate my entire life, and I know the villagers. If they had seen it, people would be crowding around the lake, wondering what had happened. News spreads quickly around here.
Then I think, if I'm the only one who can see it, it must be magic or something. And if it's magic, who caused it?