by Alex Bell
Stella held her hands up to her friend, wordlessly warning him to stay still and silent. The medic remained completely motionless, although Stella could see the pom-pom on top of his hat was trembling slightly. The spider clinked ever closer, its pincers clicking briskly together in irritation. Finally it was so close to Beanie that he could see each individual frost hair on its chin, and the cloudy milk spots in every one of its red eyes.
They all held their breath and Stella prayed that no one would choose this moment to suddenly sneeze. Even the jungle fairies seemed to understand that this was no time to start doing the chant of doom.
Finally, the ice spider pulled back from Beanie, turned around and began to move away from them, back to its lookout perch. They all let out a sigh of relief, but the next second Cadi gave a yell. The others turned to stare at her in appalled horror, only to see a razor-sharp fin had burst through the bag on her back. This was closely followed by another fin, and another, and another.
The witch hunter tore it off and threw it to the floor. The bag ripped apart as the frogs started turning back into glow-piranha, all gnashing teeth and flailing fins. They seemed particularly furious – perhaps as a result of being turned into frogs and then stuffed into a bag filled with even more frogs – and the explorers had to jump back quickly in order to avoid their biting, snapping, teeth-filled jaws.
Unfortunately, all this commotion created a huge amount of noise, which immediately brought the spider racing straight back over to them. It was just about to sink its pincers straight into Shay’s back when Ethan plucked one of the piranha from the ground by its tail and hurled it at the spider. The furious fish immediately clamped its jaws on the spider’s leg, causing great hairline cracks to spread all the way down the limb.
The others quickly followed suit, grabbing the piranha by their tails and throwing them at the ice spider. Cadi started throwing frogs at it too, which mostly just bounced off and hopped away, although a couple of them clung to the spider, eyes bulging, as the great monster thrashed around, trying to dislodge the piranha that had clamped their teeth into it.
‘Stop throwing the frogs!’ Stella gasped. ‘One of them is an explorer!’
‘That one wasn’t,’ Cadi pointed out. The frog that had been clinging to the spider’s back was now a bemused-looking vampire troll, blinking and squinting in the sunlight.
‘It’s not working anyway!’ Shay cried. ‘The piranha are just making it even more angry.’
‘There are some sharks in there somewhere too,’ Ethan cried. He threw a magic spell at the nearest frog and there was a soft pop as it abruptly turned into a boy – a boy with glossy chestnut hair, wearing a nightcap and green dressing gown stamped with the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club crest.
‘Gideon!’ Stella exclaimed, beyond relieved that one of the frogs really was the explorer, and that they hadn’t left him back in the flying shark cave, or the murky swamps of the Forest of Enchanted Broomsticks.
‘Oh, blast,’ Ethan said. ‘This one’s no use to anybody.’
Gideon Galahad Smythe’s hair stuck out wildly in all directions, and his dressing gown was crumpled and creased, but other than that he looked no worse for wear. He did, however, give an awful groan as soon as he turned back into a human, blinking around at them with an outraged expression.
‘I can’t believe you turned me into a frog! I just can’t believe it! I can’t—’
Before he could go on, Ethan threw magic at another frog and there was an explosion of ice as it abruptly transformed not into a piranha, or an explorer, or a vampire troll but into a flying shark, which seemed to be every bit as angry about the frog fiasco as the piranha had been. It bared its impressive teeth, thrashed its muscly body as it readjusted to its new form, blinked its cold, killer’s eyes, and then looked around, keen to attack the first thing it saw – which happened to be the spider.
The shark flew at it with a vengeance, closely followed by another shark that Ethan transformed back into its natural shape. They were both equally desperate to bite and attack and reassert their mighty sharkness after the terrible indignity of being a frog. They tore great chunks out of the spider, which thrashed back into its web, legs flailing and pincers snapping, as it fought against the attacking sharks.
Shards of ice showered down around them, and it was hard to tell what was web and what was spider, but the explorers didn’t stay to find out. They turned and fled as fast as they could, leaving the monsters to their ferocious battle, and running, full pelt, towards the witch’s house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
They emerged from the web – which sounded like it was being smashed to pieces by the monster battle taking place inside it – and entered a snow-covered clearing, in the middle of which sat a house. They knew at once that it was a witch’s house, although it was nothing like the gloomy castle Stella had anticipated. Instead, what lay before them was a magnificent ice-cream house.
It had a mint roof, liberally scattered with chocolate chips; a fudge chimney stack that scented the entire clearing; chocolate-flake windowsills; swirled-vanilla walls; and window boxes full of strawberry ice-cream roses and banana ice-cream sunflowers. An ice-cream-cone path led all the way to the front door, surrounded on all sides by different-coloured ice-cream flowers – along with some rather odd-looking ice-cream cabbages – and there was also a scarecrow wearing a bowler hat, made entirely from pink sugar.
It was, in fact, one of the prettiest houses Stella had ever seen, and it was almost hard to believe that an evil witch lived there. She even wondered whether perhaps they had the wrong house after all. But then she noticed the blood trail leading around to the back of the house, proving they were in the right place.
‘Good lord, that’s a witch’s house, isn’t it?’ Gideon cried. ‘A witch’s house, probably filled to bursting with all kinds of terrible—’
He didn’t get any further, however, because Ethan threw out his hand and turned him, once again, into a wonky squish-squish frog.
‘Ethan!’ Stella groaned. ‘You really can’t keep turning him into a frog!’
‘I can’t stand his whining,’ the magician replied, scooping up the frog and stuffing him back in his pocket.
‘You didn’t say you’d managed to capture a Prince Charming,’ Cadi said, clearly getting the wrong end of the stick due to Gideon’s good looks. ‘There’ll be a princess somewhere looking high and low for him, you know.’
‘He’s not a Prince Charming,’ Stella said, with a sigh. ‘He’s an explorer.’
‘You said you couldn’t remember the spell to turn him back,’ Shay said, giving Ethan an accusing look.
‘Well, I couldn’t at the time.’
‘Amazing how being faced with a giant killing ice-spider focuses the mind,’ the wolf whisperer remarked, rolling his eyes.
‘Quite.’
The front door opened just then, with such force that it smacked against the ice-cream wall with a thud. The monster battle in the ice web behind them was still setting off all kinds of chimes and rings so it had not exactly been the stealthiest approach, but they were all still quite dismayed to see a witch emerge from the house. Stella knew at once that this was the one they were looking for because she had several puppets clutched in her hands – all made in the same style as the witch puppet Stella had taken from her room back at the snow queen’s palace. The witch also wore an enormous pair of bright yellow wellies, and Stella realised this must be to protect her feet, which she knew to be horribly burnt.
She was ancient – far older than Stella had expected her to be – all knobbly knees and elbows, and wrinkled skin, and frizzy grey hair that flew out behind her as she ran, rather awkwardly in her huge wellies, down the path towards them. Stella was even more horrified to see that she was almost incoherent with fury – crying and muttering unintelligible words under her breath. It was impossible to know whether she was angry about the destruction of her ice spider and web, or just furious at the mere sight of Stell
a.
Automatically, everyone reached for whatever weapons they had to hand. Shay grabbed his boomerang, Cadi pulled a potion bottle from her bag and Stella reached up to check the ice tiara was still on her head.
The witch was only a few feet away from them when she tripped over her big wellies and toppled over, face first, into the snow. Stella saw her chance and lifted her hand, intending to freeze the witch solid before she could murder them all.
But then a familiar voice rang out from the doorstep. ‘Stella, don’t!’
She looked up to see Felix emerge from the house and hurry down the path towards them. After all that blood on the snow she had feared that he might be awfully wounded, and relief rushed through her at the sight of him now, apparently completely unharmed. He stopped just in front of the sprawled witch, both hands raised in front of him.
‘It’s all right, Felix,’ Stella said. She assumed he was panicking in case she froze her heart with the ice magic. ‘I can do this.’
‘The witch isn’t dangerous, Stella,’ Felix said. ‘It’s not what we thought. Trust me.’
Stella was extremely confused by this, but she trusted Felix unquestioningly so she lowered her hands and watched in surprise as he turned back to the witch, crouching down in the snow before her and gently helping her upright.
‘It’s all right, Jezzybella,’ he said. ‘Just slow down for a moment. Take a breath. Now, look at me. Have you hurt yourself anywhere?’
The witch shook her head as Felix helped her back to her feet and offered her his arm. She moved the puppets to one hand, placed her other gnarled hand in the crook of his elbow and allowed him to help her hobble the rest of the way down the path to the explorers.
When she stopped in front of them, Stella saw that her eyes were full of tears that ran freely down her wrinkled cheeks – only they didn’t appear to be tears of anger, as she had first thought, but some other emotion that she couldn’t quite identify yet. And then she saw the charm bracelet and sucked in her breath in shocked recognition. She had seen it before, a long time ago, on the wrist of someone who’d been reading her a magical bedtime story about unicorns.
‘Princess,’ the old witch said, and made a clumsy attempt at a curtsey.
Stella actually heard her knees pop, and was glad when Felix hurriedly raised her back up and said, ‘There’s really no need for that, dear. Stella doesn’t expect anyone to stand on ceremony.’
‘I’ve kept them safe for you, princess,’ the witch said, holding out the tangle of puppets with her shaking hands.
Stella looked at Felix, who nodded, so she cautiously reached out and took the puppets from the witch. They were handmade and, just like the witch puppet, they were magical. As soon as Stella touched them, they came to life and untangled themselves, the strings stretching upright as the puppets moved around of their own accord.
Firstly, there was a polar bear, covered in soft white fur, with bright blue eyes, that padded around, roaring, at Stella’s feet. Then there was a unicorn, with a pearly horn and silky smooth mane and tail, which pranced happily in the snow. The third puppet was a yeti covered in bobbly white wool, which beat its fists against its chest and stamped back and forth. There was also an ice dragon puppet made of smooth white wood, which flew around Stella blowing out little plumes of steam. And, finally, the last puppet was obviously an ice princess. She was made from polished gold wood, just like the witch, and was dressed in a powder-blue dress with a puffed-out skirt. A long white plait trailed down her back and a sparkly tiara sat on her head. She curtsied to Stella and then went running after the unicorn.
Stella frowned down at the puppets, feeling a strange tug of memory. She could see herself playing with them when she’d been a little girl in her nursery.
‘I left the witch puppet in the nursery,’ the witch said. ‘To watch out for you. In case you ever came home. I kept this for you too, princess.’ Jezzybella dropped the silver charm bracelet into Stella’s hand.
Stella stared down at it for a moment before looking back up. ‘But … I don’t understand …’ she began.
‘Jezzybella didn’t kill your parents,’ Felix said. ‘In fact, she’s the one who took you from the castle and placed you in my path.’
‘But, why did she send the vulture after me then?’ she asked.
‘Ah, the vulture,’ Felix said. ‘That’s Oswald. He’s not a bad old thing, really. He wasn’t trying to attack you, Stella. She sent him to bring you back to Witch Mountain to check that you were safe. It seems the puppet caught sight of you and Gruff playing in the garden, and Jezzybella mistook it for an attack. She was afraid you were going to be gobbled up by a polar bear if you stayed at home. When I tried to stop the vulture, he thought I was a threat. Jezzybella was your nanny when you were small, you see. She cares for you a great deal.’
‘But then … who really killed my parents?’ Stella asked.
The witch burst into tears again then. ‘The magic mirror,’ she sobbed. ‘Oh, the mirror, the mirror! It ruined everything!’
‘Magic mirrors can be tricky like that,’ Cadi said, patting her on the arm sympathetically.
‘The Collector came and he killed everyone and he took everything,’ Jezzybella went on. ‘He even took the Book of Frost. I could do nothing to stop it, and saved only these poor trinkets.’
She gestured at the puppets, and the yeti immediately roared in outrage at being called a trinket.
‘You saved the princess’s life,’ Felix said, squeezing the witch’s bony old hand. ‘You were completely heroic, my dear.’
The witch gave him a wobbly smile, but then her mind seemed to suddenly wander away from the conversation because she said, ‘I must go and count the cabbages.’
She hobbled away, her wellies shuffling a trail through the snow.
‘Felix, I don’t understand. What’s going on here?’ Stella asked.
‘Excuse us for a moment, would you?’ Felix said to the others, before drawing Stella to one side. ‘You know, I’m a little confused myself, since I distinctly remember telling you to stay at home and wait for me to come back,’ he said.
Stella lifted her chin a little. ‘Yes, but you might never have come back,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t about to take that chance. And I don’t think you can really tell me off for that, seeing as I only did exactly what you would have done. Besides which, President Fogg had a report that Jezzybella had been bringing poisonous rabbits onto the mountain – he told Ethan’s father but he never got the chance to tell you about them.’
‘Oh, those.’ Felix sighed. ‘Yes, Jezzybella bought them as treats to feed to her ice spider. She put on her gloves and threw him the last one just yesterday. You know, I really feel I ought to be terribly cross with you, but I suppose I have only myself to blame for setting a bad example. How on earth did you get here?’
‘Oh, we … we kind of stole a dirigible,’ Stella said.
‘A dirigible!’ Felix exclaimed. ‘Who from?’
‘The president of the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club,’ Stella said in a small voice.
‘That’s … not particularly good timing,’ Felix said. ‘He’s a little nervous about you at the moment.’
‘I know, but we had to get here somehow,’ Stella replied. She decided that now probably wasn’t the time to mention that they’d also broken into the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, stolen some things, and been chased out by guards.
‘Are you hurt?’ she asked instead. ‘We followed your trail to get here and it was all bloody.’
‘Oh, that was Oswald,’ Felix said. ‘We got a bit lost in Witch Village, and I’m afraid he found something dead and horrible in one of the back alleys there, and insisted on dragging it home with him. I think it might once have been some kind of swamp rat, but it was quite hard to tell—’ he broke off as the jungle fairies suddenly started tugging at his sleeves. The fairies back home absolutely loved Felix, and it seemed these were no different.
Stella introduced them and Felix look
ed thrilled. ‘I’ve never met a jungle fairy before,’ he said. ‘What marvellous fellows, and equally marvellous ladies. Delighted to make your acquaintance.’
The fairies flew off to investigate the sugar scarecrow, and Felix turned back to Stella. ‘Listen, I arrived here yesterday all set to capture the witch and drag her back to the Court of Magical Justice for a trial, but she was delighted to see me, welcomed me into her home and has been making me little ice-cream houses ever since I arrived. She didn’t kill your parents. I don’t think she’s ever hurt anyone in her life. But she’s extremely old now and doesn’t seem to quite have all her marbles left, I’m afraid. It took a lot of rambling, roundabout conversations, but I think I’ve got the gist of it.
‘The magic mirror you described isn’t actually a mirror at all, but an enchantress. Your parents trapped her in the glass for some reason. Jezzybella thinks she displeased them in some way. But this enchantress was able to communicate with another magic mirror on the other side of the Black Ice Bridge. It belongs to someone the witch knows only as the Collector. She coaxed him to the castle, thinking that he would free her, but he killed your parents and stole this Book of Frost instead.’
‘What’s the Book of Frost?’ Stella asked.
‘You know how witches have a Book of Shadows?’ Felix asked. ‘A book that contains all their spells? Well, it seems that snow queens have something similar, only it’s called a Book of Frost. He took this book with him and left the mirror behind. She didn’t realise that the castle would shut itself down if there was no snow queen or ice princess there. Jezzybella seems to think that snow queens and ice princesses have their own intrinsic magical powers that can be used even without the tiara. That’s why ice princesses normally have witch nannies – albeit that they’re treated like wretched slaves – so that they can help young ice princesses master their magic.
‘Your parents used the iron slippers on her because she tried to run away one time, many years before you were born. Apparently Jezzybella had been with your family for generations. She knows all kinds of things about snow queens and, if I’ve understood her correctly, this inner magic won’t run the risk of freezing your heart like the tiara would. It seems to be something to do with the difference between ice magic and frost magic.’