Hidden Charm

by Linda Chapman

  She was about to hand the photo back when something caught her eye. Around Mystic Maureen’s neck there was a necklace with a large pendant in the shape of an M.

  Maia froze. It was the same necklace the magic had shown her! She studied the photo more closely, remembering that the magic had also shown her someone sitting at a mirror. Excitement started to swirl inside her as she realized that the person she had seen in the mirror looked quite like Mystic Maureen!

  Could Mystic Maureen have had something to do with the Shades in Ana’s dolls? The timing fitted – the Shades had started to do things in the village just after the fortune-telling evening. And, now Maia thought about it, Mystic Maureen had seemed really interested in the dolls. She’d told Ana she collected dolls herself and had taken photos of Ana’s with her phone. Thinking back, it was very suspicious.

  “Are you OK, Maia?” Ana asked and Maia realized she was still staring at the photo.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, handing it back. But inside she was more than fine, she was jumping up and down with excitement. She couldn’t wait to tell the others what she had found out!

  Maia was almost bursting with her news by the time she left Ana’s house. The others were waiting on the bench by the duck pond.

  “You’ve discovered something, haven’t you?” Sita asked, seeing her excited face.

  “Yes! Listen to this!” Maia pulled them into a huddle and told them everything. “I think the magic was trying to tell me it was Mystic Maureen who put the Shades in the dolls,” she finished. “I’m sure it was her looking in the mirror and it showed me her necklace, too.”

  “What about the other things it showed you – the main road and the thing that looked like a remote control?” said Lottie. “How do they fit in?”

  Maia shrugged impatiently. “I don’t know, but the important thing is that we find Mystic Maureen!”

  “So how do we do that?” said Ionie.

  Maia remembered something. “Ana told me that Mary gave Mike one of Mystic Maureen’s business cards. There must be some at the Copper Kettle. If we can get one, it should have a phone number or address on.”

  “The Copper Kettle!” Ionie exclaimed suddenly. “You said the bit of road the magic showed you had the Copper Kettle on and Mystic Maureen’s cards are in the Copper Kettle. Maybe the magic was trying to tell you that the Copper Kettle is important and we should go there?”

  “Yes! Let’s go now!” said Maia.

  “This is so good! We’ve finally got a suspect!” said Ionie as they set off. “I can’t wait to tell Sorrel!”

  “I wonder why Mystic Maureen would put Shades in the dolls,” said Lottie.

  “I have no idea,” said Maia. “She seemed perfectly friendly with Mike and Ana that evening, and Ana’s just told me that Mike has no enemies apart from a man called Desmond Hannigan who owns the new marina.”

  “We definitely need to question her and find out what’s going on!” said Sita.

  When the girls arrived at the Copper Kettle, there was no one inside.

  “With you in a minute!” Mary’s voice called from the kitchen.

  Ionie went to the payment desk. Beside the till was a selection of flyers and local business cards. “I can’t see any cards for Mystic Maureen,” she said.

  Maia joined her. There were business cards for florists, pet sitters, plumbers and childminders, but none for Mystic Maureen.

  “Hello, girls. Back again already!” They looked up as Mary came through from the kitchen area, dusting flour off her hands on to her apron. “I was just trying out a new recipe for cakes, another one from my grandma’s recipe book. What can I get you then? More ice cream?”

  Maia smiled. “No, thank you. Actually, we just came in to see if you have any business cards for Mystic Maureen, the fortune-teller?”

  “Mystic Maureen?” Mary looked a bit surprised. “Goodness. Why do you want one of her cards?”

  “She did a fund-raising evening for the PTA,” Maia said. “My mum was there and asked me to pick up one of her cards,” she fibbed.

  “I think there were a few here, but,” Mary had a look round the counter, “I’m afraid they all seem to have gone.”

  “Oh,” said Ionie in disappointment.

  “I don’t suppose you know anything about her?” said Lottie hopefully. “Like where she lives?”

  “Not really.” Mary cleared her throat. “She’s only been in a few times. I seem to remember she said she was based at the new marina, but I can’t be sure. Now … um … if that’s all, I’d really better get back to my baking!” She hurried to the kitchen.

  The girls left the café and headed for the clearing to tell the animals what they’d found out.

  “It’s annoying that there weren’t any of Mystic Maureen’s cards left,” Ionie said in a low voice. “What are we going to do now?”

  “We could look on the internet,” Lottie suggested. “She may have a website.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll put in Mystic Maureen, fortune-teller, Devon.” There was a pause and then her forehead furrowed. “Nothing.”

  “Maybe you’re spelling her name wrong?” said Sita.

  Lottie tried again with different spellings. “No, still nothing,” she said after a few more attempts. “No mention of her at all.”

  “Then I guess she doesn’t have a website,” suggested Sita.

  “Mary said she thinks she’s based at the marina. How about we go there tomorrow morning and see if we can find her?” said Ionie. “It’s too late now. Maia’s mum will start to wonder where we are if we don’t go back soon.”

  They were having a sleepover at Maia’s that night.

  “We could go to the marina after breakfast,” Maia suggested.

  “We’ll need someone to give us a lift,” Lottie pointed out.

  “We don’t need anyone to drive us,” Ionie said. She looked at their confused faces and grinned. “I can shadow-travel us all there!”

  As the girls walked back to Maia’s house, they decided that after breakfast the next day they would say they were going for a walk, then run to the clearing where Ionie would use her magic to take them to the marina.

  “Hi, girls,” Maia’s dad said, appearing in the kitchen doorway as they arrived at Maia’s house. He had an apron on and his hands were floury. “I’m making home-made pizzas. Do you want to come and choose toppings?”

  They shrugged off their coats and shoes and headed into the kitchen. Alfie, Maia’s little brother, was in his high chair, making shapes with bits of leftover dough, while Mrs Greene, Maia’s mum, and Clio, Maia’s fifteen-year-old sister, were washing up. The girls set to work, getting the toppings ready to put on the pizzas.

  “Do you remember your eighth birthday party, Lottie, when you had a pizza-making party?” Sita said as she grated cheese.

  “It was really funny,” Lottie said to Ionie, who hadn’t been friends with her then. “We went to a pizza restaurant and this chef was showing us how to stretch pizza dough. I tried to swirl mine round and it flew out of my hands and went all over him!”

  Maia’s dad chuckled. “You’ve all had some fun birthday parties. You had a magician for your fifth birthday party, didn’t you, Ionie?’

  Maia grinned. “I remember that. You kept getting cross with him because you said he wasn’t doing the magic properly.”

  “Well, he wasn’t!” said Ionie. “I could see the rabbit behind his table and the scarf stuffed up his sleeve!”

  “It’s strange to think that next year you might be having birthday parties with people you don’t know – new friends from your secondary schools,” said Mrs Greene.

  “We’ll still have our old friends, too,” Maia replied quickly. She knew Lottie and Sita were both a bit anxious about starting secondary, but for different reasons. Lottie was worried about them staying friends because she was going to a different secondary school to the others. She was going to the all-girls high school whereas they were going to King John’s – the local ac
ademy. Sita was nervous because she didn’t like anything changing. She didn’t even like it when they changed classes every year so the thought of starting a new school was very worrying.

  Sita sighed. “I just know I’m going to get lost when we start at King John’s. I wish we could stay at Westcombe forever.”

  “I don’t,” said Ionie. “I’m looking forward to changing schools. The science labs at King John’s look amazing!”

  “My school has a maths club and runs a maths Olympiad and maths competitions,” said Lottie. “How cool is that?”

  “Awesome!” said Ionie.

  “You two are seriously weird,” said Maia with a grin. Both Ionie and Lottie were very clever and loved competitions. She looked across at Sita and remembered what she’d been thinking about earlier. “Changing schools will be fine,” she said. “Just because something’s new and different doesn’t mean it’s going to be bad.” She wished she could remind Sita that being a Star Friend had been a new thing for them last year, but she couldn’t say that in front of her family.

  “Mmm,” Sita said, not sounding convinced.

  “Maia’s right, Sita,” said Clio, coming over. “I know it feels like a really big deal but you get used to it very quickly. All the new Year Sevens are assigned older buddies to help them find their way round for the first few weeks, so don’t worry about getting lost, and the teachers will be nice to you – well, at first!”

  Mrs Greene nodded. “I’m sure after a few weeks you’ll wonder why you were ever worried,” she said.

  “I’m ready to cook the pizzas!” said Mr Greene. “Time to choose your toppings!”

  They all started piling on the toppings. As Maia arranged pepperoni, sweetcorn and peppers on hers, she pushed all thoughts of school out of her head. Right now, she was happy exactly where she was – getting ready for a home-made pizza feast with her friends and family, and having a fun magic adventure to look forward to in the morning!

  By nine o’clock that night, the girls were snuggled up in their sleeping bags in Maia’s bedroom with their animals.

  “I can’t wait until the morning,” said Ionie, stroking Sorrel, who was stretched out beside her, purring happily. “I hope we track down Mystic Maureen so we can find out more about the dolls and why she put the Shades in them.”

  “Be careful,” said Willow. She was beside Sita, her slender legs curled underneath her. “If this fortune-teller is the one doing dark magic, she might be dangerous.”

  “I wish we could come with you,” said Bracken, nestling in Maia’s bed to get closer to her.

  She stroked his ears. “I know, but I think people might ask questions if we arrived at the marina with a fox, a wildcat, a squirrel and a deer!”

  Juniper looked up from Lottie’s pillow. “I hope you manage to solve the mystery of the Shades.”

  Maia felt a shiver of excitement run through her. She was really hoping that, too!

  Maia felt like she had only just drifted off to sleep when she found herself in a vivid dream. Mystic Maureen was sitting at a table, peering at an old-fashioned phone, and Maia was standing behind her. On the phone screen she could see a picture of one of Ana’s dolls.

  “You did do it!” Maia said to her. “You put the Shades in the dolls!”

  But Mystic Maureen didn’t hear her. “It’ll help,” she whispered to herself. “I’m sure it will.”

  What did she mean? Maia frowned but just then she heard angry voices, shouting and banging. She turned. There was a doorway behind her. People were hammering on it and yelling. What was going on? They sounded furious.

  The door started to splinter and Maia turned to run…

  Maia sat up in bed. The sky outside was still dark.

  “Maia?” Bracken said.

  “I was having a weird dream,” she whispered, not wanting to disturb the others.

  “A magic dream?” Bracken said with concern.

  “I think so.” Maia rubbed her forehead. “Mystic Maureen was in it. She was looking at a photo of one of Ana’s dolls on her phone. When she was at Ana’s house for the fortune-telling evening, I saw her taking photos of the dolls. It was a bit weird.”

  “Was there anything else in your dream?” Bracken asked.

  “Yes. There was a door and there were people on the other side of it trying to get through – they sounded angry.”

  Bracken looked concerned. “I wonder what that means.”

  “I don’t know but it was quite frightening,” said Maia uneasily.

  “The sooner you find this Mystic Maureen, the better,” Bracken said, licking her hand comfortingly.

  Maia hugged him. She was sure Mystic Maureen was the person who had conjured the Shades. They had to find her and stop her as soon as possible, and definitely before she used dark magic again. An image of the people hammering on the door flashed back into her mind. Maybe that would actually happen if they didn’t find Mystic Maureen in time…

  The next morning, the girls had a quick breakfast and told Mrs Greene they were going out. They raced to the clearing and gathered under a tree. Maia had shadow-travelled quite a few times with Ionie but it always felt weird. One minute she was standing in the shadows beside a tree with the others and the next she felt the world slide away. It was like travelling in a very fast lift. A second later, her feet hit tarmac and the four of them were now standing in a small alleyway.

  At the end of the alleyway they could see people walking past on a sunny street. There were babies in buggies, small children with fishing nets and adults carrying beach towels. People’s voices travelled towards them but no one glanced in their direction.

  “Time to find Mystic Maureen!” Ionie said. “Come on!”

  The others followed her out of the alley. Seagulls were swooping across the blue sky and the air smelled of seaweed and frying onions. On the other side of the wide street there was a harbour with moored boats, their sails folded. Further along the street there were some souvenir and clothes shops, a small supermarket and at the far end was a smart hotel with a large café beside it. The girls walked along the busy street, looking at all the shops and businesses. Then they checked the harbour where people were selling hot dogs and offering face-painting and hair-braiding. Finally they reached the café.

  “Maybe Mary got it wrong,” Maia said, puzzled. “I thought we’d find a fortune-telling hut or something like that, but there’s no sign of Mystic Maureen anywhere.”

  “Why don’t we go and get an ice cream from the café?” said Lottie. “I’ve got some money with me. We could ask the waiting staff there if they’ve heard of Mystic Maureen.”

  They went into the bustling Friendly Fish café. The staff inside were rushed off their feet serving people. The girls queued up for ice-cream cones. When it was their turn to be served, Maia asked the waitress if she had heard of someone called Mystic Maureen. “She’s a fortune-teller,” she added.

  “I’ve never heard of anyone of that name,” said the woman as she made up their cones. “But if it’s a fortune-teller you want then you should come back tomorrow.” She handed out the ice creams.

  They took them and squeezed round a small table beside the counter. “I wonder what she meant about coming back tomorrow?” Maia asked but she was interrupted by the sound of a raised voice behind them.

  A cross-looking man was telling off two of the waitresses. He had slicked-back grey hair and round eyes like a fish. “People are only allowed ketchup if they pay for it,” he was saying sharply. “The same goes for mayonnaise. No freebies. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Mr Hannigan,” muttered the waitresses.

  Maia stiffened. Hannigan? Where had she heard that name before?

  “This place is really busy, isn’t it?” said Sita.

  “I don’t know why,” said Ionie, wrinkling her nose. “This ice cream is nowhere near as good as Mary’s. It tastes really artificial and,” she half stood up to peer at the counter, “those cakes look like they’ve been there for a fe
w days.”

  The man scolding the waitresses overheard her. “I’ll have you know that all our cakes here at the Friendly Fish café are freshly made!” he said.

  “Well, your ice cream doesn’t taste very nice.” Ionie loved an argument and pointed to a sign by the ice-cream counter. “Is it really home-made? It doesn’t taste like it is.”

  The man’s eyes bulged angrily. “What?”

  Maia noticed that people around them had started to listen in. Ionie seemed to have noticed, too.

  “The Copper Kettle’s ice cream is much better,” she said loudly.

  Maia hid a grin. She knew exactly what Ionie was doing. Maybe the people who heard her would now try Mary’s cafe instead!

  “Absolute rubbish! Now get out of here! You can’t take up a table if you’re just having ice cream anyway. Tables are for meals only!” snapped the man.

  “Come on, Ionie,” said Sita, who hated scenes and shouting.

  “Fine, we’ll go. We’ll just head on back to THE COPPER KETTLE!” Ionie said, almost shouting the name. “They’re very friendly there!”

  “Ionie!” Sita exclaimed to Ionie as they left. “That man was really angry with you.”

  “So?” said Ionie.

  “He was mean,” said Lottie.

  Maia suddenly remembered where she had heard the man’s name before. “I know who he is! He’s the person who doesn’t like Mike – Desmond Hannigan. He owns the marina.”

  “If he doesn’t like Mike, he’s definitely a horrible person,” said Lottie. “Mike’s really nice. I suppose Mr Hannigan could be a suspect,” she went on. “He could have put the Shades in the dolls.”

  Maia pictured Mr Hannigan. He really hadn’t looked like the kind of person who would do magic. “Mystic Maureen seems much more likely. I saw her with the dolls and the magic hasn’t shown me Mr Hannigan at all.”