by Elsa Bridger
Published by Elsa Bridger, 2014
Copyright illustrations and cover image by Margaret Alford
Edited by Coralie Medcalf
Copyright text by Elsa Bridger, 2014
The Magic Book series:
Saving the Fairies of Serenia
Mermaid Secrets - due out soon!
Mermaid Secrets and Lies - due out soon!
Dedication and Thankyou
I'd like to dedicate this book to my wonderful (and talented) family and friends who have supported and believed in me; it's been a truly joint effort and it would never have happened without you all! So a huge thank you must go to Sophie and Felicity, my beautiful daughters and my source of inspiration, Margaret, my mother, for all the wonderful illustrations and Peter, my father for letting me steal your wife for hours at a time! Also thank you , Glenn, my brother and IT 'go-to man', Barry, my husband, for letting me indulge my love of writing and for financing it all, and I'm equally indebted to our good friend, Coralie Medcalf, for patiently editing what was a scramble of words, and for her invaluable advice and encouragement.
Also, thank you, to the real Mrs Vincent, for allowing me to keep your name in the story and for making Sophie and Felicity's first school years ones we will treasure - you do a fantastic job, as do all the staff.
A special dedication goes to my Grandmother, a very special lady, who must have passed on her love of books and writing, down to my mother and myself and for this life-enriching gift I am eternally grateful. I endeavour, with these stories, to help pass it forward, so others can find the 'magic' in the written word too.
Table of Contents
The Winds of Change
Felicity Finder!
A Surprise Meeting
The Notebook Mystery
A Plea for Help
Journey into Serenia
A Race Against Time!
No Turning Back
Meeting Nightshade
Joining the Dots
New Beginnings
About the Author
Other Titles
Connect With Me
Mermaid Secrets, book sample
The Winds of Change
Heather caught up with Bryony and linked arms with her. She too was making her way to The Great Oak, central to Serenia (home to all the fairies) and where all their important events and meetings took place.
“Are you okay Bryony, you look really low?” she asked, concerned for her friend.
I’m just thinking about Nightshade. I really miss his company. He doesn’t even acknowledge me anymore. We used to be so close, like brother and sister.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s personal; he seems to treat everyone with contempt these days. I don’t know what’s got in to him, but you're best to steer clear. He’s been determined to stir up trouble, and I’m sure Queen Tara has had quite enough!”
Bryony nodded and swiped her hand angrily at a stray piece of hair tickling her face. She wasn’t really angry though; it was just her way of controlling tears that threatened to overwhelm her.
A gust of wind suddenly blew up from nowhere, nearly flinging the girls against a tree they were passing.
“Wow! What’s up with this freaky weather?” grumbled Heather. “I’m sure this started the same time as Nightshade began playing up!”
As abruptly as the wind had swept in, it ceased. Heather and Bryony (who had been flying hard to compensate) shot forward, forced to pull up sharp narrowly missing a collision with two of their colleagues.
“How about the rain this morning, did you get caught out in it?” Bryony asked Heather after regaining her composure.
“Luckily, no. I’d just stopped off for a drink. I swear I didn’t see a cloud in the sky, just seconds before! Did you?”
“No, not a single one,” agreed Bryony. “It swept in so fast! I’m glad it only lasted a few seconds otherwise I’d have been drenched.”
“The plants seem to be feeling it too. They’re really sickly. The worrying thing is that no one has any idea what’s wrong with them, and nothing we try seems to makes any difference. If things don’t change soon we’re going to be in big trouble,” grimaced Heather.
“Hmm, Earth too,” Bryony was quick to point out. “Queen Tara was telling us again just last week how Serenia is its lifeblood. The humans must be noticing changes in weather patterns too by now.”
“Apparently the humans call it ‘Global Warming' – whatever that’s meant to mean! Well, at least they’re lucky; they have no idea just how serious this could be. I don’t envy Queen Tara being responsible for our survival as well as theirs! My guess is that this has to be what this emergency meeting is about,” said Heather.
They took their seats near the back of the assembled mass. Bryony was aware of a strange silence which wouldn’t usually exist. Chatter, laughter and sounds of her friends gladly going about their business of tending to nature were the norm, not this overbearing, unnerving quiet! Everyone on tender hooks to hear what Queen Tara had to say so urgently and, to make matters worse, she was late – she was never late! Concerned murmuring had started to ripple through the crowd, like the thrum of bees' wings as they beat in flight making their way amongst the flowers of the meadow.
“Look Bryony!” exclaimed Heather, pointing up to a silhouette in the sky above, moving in at great speed. “Isn’t that Poppy, Queen Tara’s personal assistant?”
Poppy started to speak even before she landed clumsily on the small stage at the front. Every head snapped round to face her in total surprise. “I can’t find Queen Tara anywhere, and I can’t find The Book either; they’ve both vanished!” A collective gasp rose from the crowd. Poppy started to sob in defeat.
Bryony’s blood ran cold. Her hand tightened round Heather’s. That feeling of dread that had been following her around like an invisible shadow seemed to have just wrapped its icy self around her very heart. Nothing in the history of Serenia had ever happened like this before. The Book of Serenia was the key to life itself, and Queen Tara its rightful keeper was missing! What was it that she so desperately needed to tell everyone? Was Nightshade involved in all this somehow? Serenia was in trouble, that was clear now, and Bryony felt utterly powerless to do anything about it. Who could they turn to for help now? How was this all going to end?
Felicity Finder!
As Felicity woke up, she realised with a familiar sinking feeling in her tummy that today was another school day. How she would love to stay tucked up in bed all warm and cosy, and she wished she was blissfully still asleep like her twin sister, Sophie.
She could hear her mother downstairs, already making breakfast and sandwiches for the day, and her father washing in the shower in the bathroom opposite their bedroom.
It was no use; she decided she may as well get up. As she pulled back the curtains to let in more light, Sophie awoke, complaining loudly and wrenched her covers up over her head in an attempt to get back to sleep and block out the knowledge that today was Monday. She disliked the thought of school as much as her sister.
“Would anyone like pancakes for breakfast?” Sophie and Felicity’s mother called up the stairs. Pancakes with chocolate spread were their favourite breakfast. She knew Mondays were particularly unpopular with her daughters, and she did what she could to start the new school week off with a little treat. It did the trick and Sophie, Felicity and their father were soon downstairs.
After a tearful kiss and a last hug goodbye at the classroom door, the girls went in. It wasn’t that they disliked school exactly, so much as there were so ma
ny other things they would prefer to do. There was roller skating that they loved, or riding their pony, Little Redster, baking with their mother or playing games with any number of their many toys.
Having hung up their coats and stowed their book bags in their allotted drawers, they wove their way through the chairs and tables to the carpet on which they all sat for the register. Well, the morning passed quickly enough and lunchtime soon came round.
That was when Sophie realised that she didn’t have her beloved toy puppy with her. An overwhelming sense of panic washed over her like a wave, and she fought back tears while she desperately felt in all her pockets for her puppy, but she wasn’t there! She’d had her for as long as she could remember and couldn’t bear the possibility of not having the comfort of her ever again. Sophie fretfully addressed her sister.
“Felicity, I can’t find my puppy!”
“I’ll help you look. I am ‘Felicity Finder’ you know!” she replied with gusto. Felicity seemed to have an uncanny knack of finding anything lost. She was frequently asked by her mother to track down her lost house keys, which she invariably did within minutes, much to everyone’s astonishment.
“Miss, can we have a look in our classroom for Sophie’s puppy, please?” Felicity asked the dinner lady.
“Well, go on then, but don’t make a mess and if you find her, put her straight into your book bag so you don’t lose her again.”
“OK, we will, thank you,” replied a grateful Sophie.
After hunting seemingly everywhere to no avail, they at last conceded defeat and slumped down on the carpet.
“It’s no use - I’ll never ever see her again, Felicity,” sobbed Sophie.
“Oh Sophie, don’t cry, she must be here somewhere!” Felicity had an idea and got up and walked over to her school drawer. “You can have my Pink and Purple Pup to hug until we find yours. Oh, hang on a minute, she’s got pushed right to the back,” Felicity said as she stretched her arm in as far as she could to reach her toy. Her fingers brushed the soft material as with one last effort she’d made to grab it, but as she did so it slipped further away and her pup fell out down the back of the drawer. “Bother! Now I’ve lost my pup too,” she complained loudly.
Sophie, who had regained some composure by now, walked over to her. “Perhaps she’s fallen down into the drawer below,” she suggested, pulling open the one underneath. But in doing so, she was just in time to see Pink and Purple Pup falling further down behind that drawer. This kept happening with each drawer they pulled out until all the drawers had been removed. Then, there she was at last!
“Sophie! You'll never guess what? Here’s your pup too!” shrieked Felicity.
“Oh thank you Felicity, thank you, thank you!” Sophie exclaimed jumping up and down wildly whilst hugging and kissing her pup, too delighted at being reunited with her to wonder how on earth she’d got there.
“Oops, so much for not making a mess though,” Felicity reflected, surveying the drawers now strewn haphazardly on the floor around them.
“We’d better get this lot put back before a teacher sees it,” warned Sophie. As they picked up the first drawer to restore it to its rightful place, Sophie noticed a book at the back of the unit and reached in for it. “Look Felicity, I didn’t notice this when we got the pups out, did you?”
“No, I’m sure it was empty. It must have fallen from one of the drawers while I was looking for my pup. Whose is it do you think?” Felicity wondered.
“I don’t know,” puzzled Sophie. “It’s been here a while by the look of it. It’s covered with dust!” She gently wiped it as she spoke. The grime came away on her hand, revealing a plain mid-brown leather cover. It didn’t look very interesting. She flicked through it only to find that all the pages inside were blank.
“Oh, I thought it might be a book of spells or something,” Felicity remarked, subdued after the initial excitement of their discovery. She took it from Sophie to see for herself. “It’s very well made for just a notebook,” she observed. Whilst absentmindedly uncurling one of the pages near the front of the book some writing was revealed. She read it aloud to Sophie, her interest piqued once more.
“Whosoever finds this book,
Needs to take a closer look.
My pages may seem plain to you,
But in fact that’s simply far from true.”
“Is that it?” questioned Sophie, disappointed.
“There’s definitely nothing on any of the other pages that I can see…” puzzled Felicity.
Having lost interest, Sophie’s attention was drawn back to the task in hand. “I think we had better get this lot tidied up before breaktime’s over,” she warned.
The two of them set about putting the classroom straight, and soon it was returned to its usual tidy state. The girls then sat at a table whilst they tried to work out which drawer to put the book into. They flicked through its pages again and re-read the poem.
“I don’t get it,” huffed Felicity, “but at least we have your puppy back – and mine!”
“Yes!” Sophie exclaimed, beaming again and giving her puppy one last hug before putting her lovingly into her book bag.
“It’s as if Pink and Purple Pup led us to my puppy isn’t it?” chuckled Sophie.
“Yes, maybe they’re magical! I believe in magic and fairies and everything don’t you?” asked Felicity.
“Definitely,” replied Sophie enthusiastically. “Now where shall we leave this book?”
“I think we should put it on Mrs Vincent’s chair,” answered Felicity.
“No, I think it should go on top of the drawers,” countered Sophie, taking the book from Felicity a little too firmly and something fell out of it onto the floor.
“Look, Sophie, a pen!” exclaimed Felicity as she swooped down to pick it up eagerly. “Oh it’s beautiful,” she breathed as she turned it, admiring the gilt barrel decorated with elaborate swirls etched on its surface.
“It must have fallen from the book. Look, there is a little space for it here in its spine,” Sophie pointed out.
Felicity took a scrap of paper and tried to write with it, but the pen didn’t work. “I wonder if it writes in this book – it might be like one of those special pens we had in our activity packs mum and dad bought for our holiday journey, do you remember?” asked Felicity.
“Oh yes! They only worked in those special colouring books that came with them. I’ll try, shall I?” offered Sophie.
“Okay, might as well. It’s not like it’s a story book we’re writing in, is it?” justified Felicity.
Sophie placed the open book down on the table, smoothing out a page on which she wrote her name. “You’re right, it does work in this book!” she gasped in excitement.
“Why did you write your name? We might get into trouble for this, and they’ll know it was you if you’ve signed it!” shrieked Felicity, suddenly having second thoughts.
Sophie panicked and turned the pen over to use what she hoped was a rubber on the other end and started to scrub vigorously at her name. As she did so, it erased her name, but other writing started to appear in its place.
“Look!” exclaimed Sophie. “Now it’s like those books Aunty Gillian gives us, you know, the ones that you rub with a coin to reveal a picture.”
“Wow, what is it?” asked Felicity.
“Oh, it’s just another silly poem,” sighed Sophie. Then she read it out.
“Well done, you’ve found my secret verse
And broken the wicked fairy's curse.
You are now amongst the chosen ones
Who will see what this book now becomes.”
A Surprise Meeting
“It still looks just as before, and it certainly hasn’t ‘become’ anything,” sulked Felicity.
“I’ll try to rub some other pages,” suggested Sophie. “Nothing,” she mumbled a couple of seconds later, disappointed.
“We really must get back now. They’ll be wondering
where we are,” urged Felicity. “Although I do need the loo. Wait for me will you Sophie? I may as well use the ones here.”
While Sophie waited for her sister she picked up the beautiful pen. It felt heavy for its size and cool to touch. She traced a finger over its surface, feeling the ridges of the patterns that adorned it. She absentmindedly sketched a picture of a fairy on one of the pages in the book.
The sudden noise from the flushing of a toilet jolted her back to her senses. Guiltily she slammed the book shut, poked the pen away in its special holder in the spine and hastily shoved it under Mrs Vincent’s chair.
That night, whilst lying in bed, both girls mulled over the events of the day, and especially those concerning the strange book.
“Felicity…” hissed Sophie quietly, “are you awake?”
“Yes. Are you thinking about that book?”
“Yes,” whispered Sophie. “I still think it’s a bit odd to have such a well made book with just two strange poems in it and a weird pen that only seems to write in that particular book, don’t you?”
“Yeah, very weird. Oh well, I expect Mrs Vincent has found its owner by now,” Felicity sighed.
“I expect so,” agreed Sophie sadly, although not quite understanding why she would feel that way towards a plain old book. Unbeknown to Sophie, Felicity felt exactly the same way.
“Girls, get to sleep now please – no more talking,” their mother called upstairs.
“Sorry,” they said in unison.
“Love you,” their mother called up.
“Love you most!” they chorused back.
Sophie was the first to wake the next morning. Although she knew it must be a school day, she still glanced hopefully towards the bottom of her bed. If it was a school day, her uniform would be hanging there ready and, much to her annoyance, it was.
After much complaining and a few cuddles later they were up, dressed, fed and on their way to school for another day. Felicity could hardly believe that it was only Tuesday.
As the girls said their goodbyes, their mother tried to cheer them up a bit. “I’ve packed you a little treat – strawberries and custard in your lunch boxes today – just a little something to look forward to.”