Page 112 of Under Your Spell

‘What are you doing here?’ I ask. ‘Shouldn’t you be with your fiancé?’

‘Henry’s been up for hours. Apparently he’s gone for a hike.’ Lil shudders.

‘Can’t believe you’re going to marry that psychopath,’ Serena murmurs.

‘I’ve got tea and dry toast,’ Mum sings as she enters the room carrying a tray. This, too, is tradition, and we all groan and grumble as we gingerly sip tea and attempt to keep the toast down.

‘We can’t keep doing this,’ I say. ‘We’re getting old. Hangovers last, like, a week now.’

‘It was a good night though.’ Lil winces. ‘I think.’

‘One for the books,’ I agree. ‘Our baby sister is getting married.’

‘Even though I truly believe marriage is an outdated and patriarchal institution, I’m happy for you, Lil,’ Serena says thoughtfully. ‘Henry is actually a pretty good guy.’

‘He’s offered to make Serena a new fitted wardrobe,’ Lil explains to me.

‘Ah. I guess she needs the space, now that her girlfriend is leaving stuff at her flat.’ I smirk.

‘If I had the strength to lift this pillow, I’d hit you in the face with it,’ Serena snarls. ‘Now please be quiet so I can die in peace.’

We spend the whole day in bed, and after sleeping some more and eating the McDonald’s that Henry brings back for us (‘I told them you were a good guy, Henry,’ Serena says), we have rallied enough that we are sitting upright on my bed and arguing.

‘I’m just saying that Ryan Gosling was a very basic choice,’ Serena says. ‘It’s not exactly an original teenage crush, is it? I think it would have been more character-building to pick someone less… obvious.’

‘Says the woman with the Britney Spears posters,’ I mutter.

‘Britney is a visionary,’ Serena huffs.

‘Ladies, ladies,’ Lil interrupts before Serena can launch into her I-heart-Britney routine. ‘Let’s not fight. I’d like to remind you that we can all agree on one thing. One film that unites us all. One film which produced a myriad of crushes. The 1999 classic, The Mummy.’

‘Oh, yes,’ I agree emphatically.

‘This is true,’ Serena allows.

‘Every single person in that film can get it.’ Lil swoons back against my pillow.

‘We should watch it right now,’ I say. ‘If anything can heal me, it’s Brendan Fraser in those old-timey explorer clothes.’

‘Yessssss,’ Lil hisses.

I grab my laptop, and when I fire it up, an alert pops up. I’ve got an email from David.

Dear Clementine,

As you know, I take my responsibilities as an assistant very seriously. It would be extremely unprofessional for me to get involved in Mr Eliott’s personal life, and I would never dream of doing so. The files I attach here are innocuous invoices for you to check over. If they are anything else then I can only apologize for what must be an unfortunate clerical error. I hope that you will take the time to consider these invoices carefully. I believe they are something special.

With all best wishes,

David

‘I’ve just got the weirdest email,’ I say, reading it aloud to my sisters. ‘I have no idea what he’s talking about. Special invoices?’ I click on the attachment, which is a ZIP file. ‘These aren’t even documents at all; they’re audio files,’ I say, looking at the screen.

Lil makes a squeaking sound.

I intercept a sneaky look that passes between my sisters.

‘What was that?’ I ask suspiciously. ‘Did you know about this?’