Ava's Sparkling Spell

by Vivian French

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  For Sammy, Val and everyone at the

  real Café Blush, with much love

  TEAM STARLIGHT

  TEAM TWINSTAR

  Dear Stargirl,

  Welcome to Stargirl Academy!

  My name is Fairy Mary McBee, and I’m delighted you’re here. All my Stargirls are very special, and I can tell that you are wonderful too.

  We’ll be learning how to use magic safely and efficiently to help anyone who is in trouble, but before we go any further I have a request. The Academy MUST be kept secret. This is VERY important…

  So may I ask you to join our other Stargirls in making The Promise? Read it – say it out loud if you wish – then sign your name on the bottom line.

  Thank you so much … and well done!

  Fairy Mary

  The Promise

  I will never speak of Stargirl Academy to others outside these cloudy walls, whatever they ask and whatever they offer. This I solemnly promise, for now, always and for ever.

  The Book of

  Spells

  by

  Fairy Mary McBee

  Head Teacher at

  The Fairy Mary McBee

  Academy for Stargirls

  A complete list of Spells can be obtained from the Academy. Only the fully qualified need apply. Other applications will be refused.

  Sparkling Spells

  Sparkling Spells are to be undertaken with care. They can, however, be remarkably effective if used in the correct manner. Misuse of these spells is not to be thought of; any such behaviour will lead to severe loss of privileges.

  Sparkling Spells include such spells as:

  Copying actions and behaviours

  Confusing magpies intent on stealing small shiny objects

  Unblocking drains

  Hello!

  I’m so pleased to meet you! My name is Ava Evangeline Chan, and I live above a café. It’s a good thing I do, as my mum is a dreadful cook – almost everything she makes ends up burnt because she’s always reading, and she doesn’t notice when the kitchen’s full of smoke. Dad loves cooking, and he’s brilliant, but he gets home late from work, so we have to put up with burnt baked beans (YUCK!). When I very first went to Stargirl Academy and found out we could help people, I thought of Mum at once … but then I worked out that the person I’d really be helping was me. So when it was my turn to choose I chose Lily.

  The Academy used to be called The Cloudy Towers Academy for Fairy Godmothers. Fairy Mary is the head teacher, and she’s brought it up to date, so now it’s called The Fairy Mary McBee Academy for Stargirls – and that’s us! Girls just like me and you. But we aren’t proper Stargirls yet. We have to win our stars first and we do that by helping people. Each time we do a good deed a star lights up on our magic necklaces (I love mine – it’s really pretty!) and shines for ever. I’ve got three shining stars so far, and guess what? When I’ve got six, THAT’S when I’ll be a proper Stargirl.

  Lily is one of the other girls in my team, together with Madison, Emma, Sophie and Olivia. We’re best friends now. Before I went to the Academy, I didn’t have many friends; only lovely Little Val and Tallulah from Café Blush…

  And that’s where I’ll begin.

  Love, Ava xxx

  Chapter One

  The café underneath our flat is called Café Blush, and it’s run by Little Val and Tallulah Sweet. It’s the prettiest café for miles and miles; inside it’s a lovely rose pink, and there are flowery pictures on all the walls. Little Val and Tallulah often stop me when I’m running past the door to give me a huge chunk of the most delicious cake or a carton of yummy soup. We’re really good friends. They’re much younger than Mum, so they’re like the big sisters I’ve always wanted and I tell them everything – well, almost everything. I’ve never told them about Stargirl Academy. I’m sure they could keep a secret, but I had to promise faithfully that I wouldn’t tell anyone, and a Stargirl always keeps her promise.

  Don’t you think it’s difficult to keep a secret from people you really like? Every time I see Little Val or Tallulah, I want to tell them about the Academy and how I have five new friends in my team – Team Starlight. And I’ve been dying to tell them about Melody and Jackson too. Melody and Jackson have their own team, and sometimes they’re horribly grumpy – but Fairy Mary McBee (our head teacher) says we shouldn’t judge people just because they don’t smile all the time. I try hard to think she’s right, but it isn’t easy.

  Another thing I want to show Little Val and Tallulah is my magic star. It’s on the end of the little finger on my left hand and it glows. So if the light goes out on our stairs (which it does quite often) I don’t feel frightened any more. I used to be scared that something horrible was going to jump out at me from the shadows, but now I see my tiny star shining, and I feel fine. All of us Stargirls have got one; Fairy Mary gave them to us on our very first day. When we learn a new spell, we have to point with our little fingers, and then the stars twinkle really brightly. We’ve learned a Floating Spell and a Solidifying Spell (a Solidifying Spell makes things heavy – even feathers!) and last time we learnt a Sliding Spell.

  We’re only allowed to use the spells while we’re in the Academy or when we’re on a Stargirl adventure. I did once try and see if I could make Mum’s handbag float up in the air, but it didn’t work. On the other hand that might have been because she had four or five books stuffed inside, and even the very best Floating Spell wouldn’t have been strong enough!

  But you don’t want to hear about my mum’s handbag. It’s Stargirl Academy that’s exciting. In fact, it’s SO exciting that sometimes I think I must have dreamt the whole thing. But then I remember Fairy Mary McBee and Miss Scritch and Fairy Fifibelle Lee, and I know that I couldn’t have made them up. They’re too magic.

  Who’d have thought I’d meet three real Fairy Godmothers and be invited to train to be a Stargirl? But that’s what happened. Whenever I get a Tingle in my elbow (that’s the special sign) I know I’m going to spend another wonderful day at the Academy…

  And my elbow tingled on the first Tuesday of the holidays…

  Chapter Two

  Because I was on holiday, I didn’t get up all that early. I wandered into the kitchen and found Mum eating burnt toast and marmalade and dropping crumbs all over her latest book.

  “M’ph,” she said. “Hello, poppet.” And then she actually looked up, and I knew at once that something was wrong. “You might want to pop down and see Val and Tallulah, and try to cheer them up. They think they’re going to have to close the café.”

  “WHAT?” I stared at her. “WHY?”

  Mum shook her head. “I don’t know the details. I bumped into Val late last night and she was crying so much I couldn’t catch what she was saying. Something about not enough customers and not being able to pay the rent.”

  I didn’t wait to hear any more. I grabbed my keys and rushed out of our flat, and just as the front door banged behind me and I headed for the stairs, I got a Tingle.

  “Ouch!” It was really painful, and I rubbed my elbow. My mind was whizzing – what should I do? I absolutely loved going to the Academy, but my friends were in trouble … should I see them first? But then I thought, maybe it’s meant! Maybe I can help them! And I remembered something important. One of the most extraordinary things about going to Stargirl Academy is that you come back at EXACTLY THE SAME TIME AS YOU WENT!<
br />
  I know. It sounds impossible. I guess that’s magic for you. If I went to the Academy at ten o’clock in the morning, we’d have a whole day of learning spells and having adventures … but when I got back to my own home it would STILL be ten o’clock in the morning!

  I hurried down the stairs and by the time I got to the bottom step I was surrounded by thick mist. When I opened the street door, there was the Academy door right in front of me, with swirling cloud covering the rest of the building. I opened it, and marched inside … and nearly flattened Fairy Fifibelle Lee, who was doing some kind of weird dance in the hallway.

  “Oops! I’m so sorry,” I said, as I disentangled myself from her floaty scarves. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

  “Not at all, darling.” Fairy Fifibelle twirled herself round and smiled at me. “I was just practising a dear little spell that I’m hoping to teach you later. It’s enormous fun – I think you’ll love it!”

  “I’m sure we will,” I said politely. “Erm … what is it?”

  Fairy Fifibelle held up her arms and did another twirl. She does that a lot, and sometimes it makes me feel quite dizzy … but this time something seriously weird happened. I found that I was twirling too – even though I didn’t want to! Fairy Fifibelle saw the expression on my face and she laughed.

  “See? SUCH fun. It’s a Copying Spell! But don’t tell the others. I want it to be a lovely surprise!”

  “I promise,” I said, and I hurried up the corridor to the workroom where we have our lessons. As I went, I wondered if a Copying Spell could stop Café Blush closing down … and I had to admit that it seemed very unlikely indeed.

  Chapter Three

  I walked through the door – and stopped dead.

  The workroom has cupboards and shelves all the way round the walls, and every shelf is piled high with books and bottles and strange-looking bits and pieces. The cupboards underneath have always bulged – but now it looked as if they’d exploded. The doors were wide open, and the floor was a sea of paper, bits of string, boxes, bent wands, ancient old books and heaps and heaps of rusty pins. My friends Madison and Lily and Emma were sitting in the middle trying to put the books into piles, while Miss Scritch – our deputy head teacher – stood over them. She was looking even grimmer than usual.

  “Good morning, Ava!” Miss Scritch said as I stood and stared. “Perhaps you’d like to help your friends?”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  Miss Scritch folded her arms. “It appears that Madison was suffering from an excess of curiosity.”

  Madison straightened her spectacles and flashed me a beaming smile. “I only wanted to see why the cupboards were so bulgy,” she said cheerfully. “I could hear them groaning, so I opened a door – and a million trillion things fell out.”

  “And now we’re trying to sort everything,” Emma added. “But I’m not sure we’ll ever get it all back.”

  I thought she was probably right, but I didn’t say so. “Why are there so many pins?” I asked.

  Miss Scritch sniffed. “When this was The Cloudy Towers Academy for Fairy Godmothers, there was a great demand for pins. Ladies of a certain age often need to pin up their hems. And from time to time, the waistbands on their skirts become a little too tight.”

  I couldn’t help smiling at the thought of Fairy Godmothers bursting out of their clothes, and Miss Scritch gave me a sour look. I decided I’d better try and be helpful, so I bent down, picked up an old battered box and gave it a quick shake to see if anything was inside. It fell apart and thousands of tiny white feathers fluttered into the air. Immediately we all began to sneeze – Miss Scritch more than any of us – and Fairy Mary McBee came hurrying in from the sitting-room next door, with Scrabster, her old dog, at her heels.

  “Goodness me! WHATEVER is going on?” Fairy Mary asked. “What a terrible mess! Oh! I haven’t seen those feathers for years and years and years – they must be left over from the cloak we made for the Swan Princess.” Her face suddenly screwed up and she sneezed the most enormous sneeze. “ATCHOO! Oh, dearie me. I remember now … we never used them, did we?”

  Miss Scritch was holding a small lace handkerchief to her nose. “We didn’t use them because they’d been infected with a Sneezing Spell … one of Fairy Fifibelle Lee’s, if I remember correctly!”

  “Atchoo!” Fairy Mary sneezed again, whipped out her wand, and waved it. The feathers swirled into a heap, then tucked themselves neatly into an open bag. The bag snapped shut, and all the other things on the floor arranged themselves into neat piles before stacking themselves back in the cupboard … and the doors swung shut with a CLICK. There was no sign of the mess except for a few scattered pins that hadn’t quite made it back in time.

  Fairy Mary beamed at us. “I really must thank you – you’ve done a good deed. That poor old cupboard’s been needing a tidy up for a long time now.”

  “Excuse ME, Fairy Mary!” Miss Scritch was looking like a thundercloud. “Madison was responsible for this mess and she should have cleared it up!”

  Madison stood up. “It’s true, Fairy Mary,” she said. “It was me that opened the cupboard. It looked as if it was just about to burst. I’m very sorry. I should have asked.”

  Our headmistress nodded kindly at Madison, then gave Miss Scritch a long, cool stare. “Don’t you think curiosity can be a good thing, Miss Scritch?”

  “If you say so, Fairy Mary.” Miss Scritch’s mouth was a thin, disapproving line. “I just hope Madison’s curiosity doesn’t cause any more trouble. We’ve wasted quite enough time this morning. Shouldn’t the other girls be here by now?”

  I’d been thinking exactly the same. Olivia and Sophie weren’t usually late; I hoped they were OK. With Jackson and Melody, you never knew; sometimes I wondered if they were late on purpose, just to show us how cool they were.

  Fairy Mary pulled a small gold watch out of her pocket and glanced at it. “They’ll be here any moment,” she said calmly. “Lily, dear, just pick up those pins for me and put them in a drawer. I don’t want Scrabster treading on them.”

  Chapter Four

  Fairy Mary was quite right. She’d hardly finished speaking before the front door banged and we heard footsteps. First Sophie and Olivia came hurrying in, then Melody and Jackson sauntered after them.

  When Melody saw Lily carefully picking up the pins, she raised her eyebrows. “Those don’t look very magic,” she said. “Rusty pins? What are they for?”

  “They fell out of the cupboard,” Emma explained, as Melody and Jackson sat down at the big table in the centre of the workroom.

  “Really?” Jackson sounded even more bored than usual. “What a strange place this is. We found Fairy Fifibelle Lee dancing in the hallway. Maybe she needs a few pins. Her scarves always look as if they’re just about to fall off.”

  “She’s practising our spell for today,” I said, then realised what I’d done. “Oops! I promised I wouldn’t tell!”

  “A Dancing Spell?” Jackson gave a heavy sigh. “Like that’s going to be of any use to anyone.”

  I didn’t answer. I’d already said too much. Instead, I opened the drawer for Lily so she could put the pins away. I was still wondering about Café Blush and Little Val and Tallulah Sweet. What would I do if they closed down? And what would they do? It’s such a lovely place … but now I thought about it, it had been rather empty recently. A new café had opened up the road; maybe people had started going there instead? I didn’t like the new place. They never said hello, or made people feel welcome, but they did sell very cheap cake.

  I tried to remember when I’d last seen a queue outside Café Blush. It always used to be buzzing with people waiting for a seat or to buy a cake or a bag of buns, but over the past couple of weeks there’d been lots of empty tables when I popped in to see if they wanted any help with clearing up—

  “Penny for your thoughts, Ava.” It was Olivia. She always notices if someone is unusually quiet. It might be because she’s very quiet herself;
she never chatters on the way that Madison and Emma and I do.

  “I was thinking about these friends of mine,” I began, but Madison interrupted.

  “Ava! Are we REALLY going to learn a Dancing Spell? DO tell!”

  Luckily for me, Fairy Mary McBee heard her and began to laugh. “Maybe one day, Madison, but not today. Could you ask Fairy Fifibelle to come in, please?”

  Madison was burning with curiosity, but she did as she was told and Fairy Fifibelle came floating into the workroom.

  “Darlings!” she said. “Today is such a very special day! You’re going to learn a totally wonderful Sparkling Spell!”

  I looked up in surprise. I was sure she’d told me we were going to learn a Copying Spell. Fairy Fifibelle saw me, and gave me a dazzling smile. “It’s so confusing. There are lots of Sparkling Spells, you see, and the Copying Spell is the one you’ll learn today. It sounds boring, but it’s fun when you can do it.” She pointed at Jackson. “Jackson, dear, would you be very kind and do a cartwheel?”

  If looks could kill, Fairy Fifibelle Lee would have fallen over right there and then. “I don’t do stuff like that,” Jackson growled.

  Fairy Fifibelle didn’t seem at all upset. She turned to Lily instead. “What about you, Lily?”

  Lily went very pink, but she stood up, took a deep breath and turned the neatest cartwheel I’d ever seen … and as her feet swung through the air, they left a trail of red and blue glittery sparkles behind her. It looked like the very best kind of Catherine Wheel!