'Do you think Margaret's at the bad witch school?' Alice asked.
'I doubt even they would have her,' Stef snorted.
'I just hope she doesn't come back here,' Charlotte looked down at the remnants of her egg, recalling what it was like being a cockroach. 'Let’s get out of here,' she pushed her chair back.
'Hang on,' Stef grabbed a few more pieces of fruit off the plant and popped them into her mouth. Then she grabbed a couple more and put them into her cardigan pocket, causing Gerty to give her a look.
'What, they're for later,' Stef replied.
They all glanced at Demi and the new girl as they walked past them. They were chatting to each other as if they'd known each other for years and they didn't seem to notice that anyone was looking at them. Charlotte found herself hoping that this girl was nothing like Margaret because they definitely didn't need a new one of those around.
***
Charlotte had spent the last few hours in the library with Gerty. The Mistress of the Books hadn't taken her eyes off her since they'd arrived, but that was to be expected. Charlotte didn't want to cause trouble, she just wanted to study and she hoped that the Mistress of the Books would eventually realize that.
Charlotte loved being at the Academy but she felt like she was miles behind everyone else because she hadn't grown up surrounded by magic. She kept up with the spells and potions in class but out of class she didn't know anywhere near as many spells as Gerty or Margaret did. That's why she was using her weekend to learn some spells and Gerty was a great help.
'This is a good spell,' Gerty whispered, as she moved the open book over to Charlotte.
'Spell blocker,' the book spoke quietly, so that Charlotte had to lean in closer to it to hear it. 'Aim your wand at the person who is casting a spell on you and as soon as they begin casting it flick out your wand and clearly say the word 'Prohibere.' This will block their spell.'
'Prohibere,' Charlotte said under her breath, before she wrote the word down in her notebook. 'Prohibere.'
'Shush,' the Mistress of the Books said, as she glared over at her.
Charlotte closed the spell book and sighed. She wanted to be able to learn spells without the fear of being turned into a toad or having her mouth sewn-up.
She continued to communicate with Gerty via hand signals, not daring to utter a word.
When they were finished in the library they put their books on the shelf by the door and were about to walk through it when Demi appeared with the girl from breakfast.
'Charlotte, Gerty, this is Destiny, she's new here and she'll be in our class,' Demi said.
Hey,' Gerty smiled.
'Hi,' Charlotte said.
'Shush,' the Mistress of the Books said to them.
'Demi's just showing me around, this place is so massive,' Destiny whispered.
'Shush,' the Mistress of the Books said again.
'We better go, it was nice to meet you,' Charlotte quietly replied.
The next thing she knew the Mistress of the Books had flicked her wand and Charlotte had shrunk down into a pale brown mouse.
'There is to be no sound in my library,' The Mistress of the Books said sternly.
Gerty bent down and rummaged around the pile of clothes and pulled out Charlotte, cupping her in her hands.
'Ew, get it away from me,' Demi squealed, as she jumped back.
Gerty held Charlotte in one hand and picked the pile of clothes up in her free hand and walked over to a table.
Eventually the Mistress of the Books strode over to the table and flicked her wand, causing Charlotte to change back into a human. She quickly reached for her clothes, as Gerty stood in front of her and tried to cover her from view of the other girls in the library.
'No more talking in my library,' she said sharply.
Both girls hurried out of the library and out of earshot of the Mistress of the Books.
'So much for that blocking spell.' Charlotte sighed and whispered, 'She will never like me.'
'I don't think using that spell on the Mistress of Mean would have been a good idea, she probably would have turned you into a slug for the entire weekend if you'd used that on her,' Gerty said.
'I know, it's just that I'm trying to learn new spells. It's hard to do that when I'm a mouse.' Charlotte smiled.
'I thought she said she turned people into toads?'
'Maybe she's turned so many people into toads she fancied a change,' Charlotte shrugged. Having to deal with an aggressive librarian was starting to get to her.
'Anyway, we'll have to develop sign language for when we're in the library,' Charlotte made exaggerated gestures with her hands.
'That might be a good idea,' Gerty chuckled.
'Come on,' Gerty grabbed Charlotte's arm. 'Let's go and find the others and tell them about Destiny.'
***
'It seems a strange time to start at a school, are you sure she wasn't just looking around?' Stef said, kicking her legs out behind her as she lay out on her bed.
'No, Demi definitely said that she was new here and in our class,' Charlotte said.
'If Demi said it, then it must be true,' Stef said sarcastically.
'I don't see why she'd lie about this, she introduced Destiny to us,' Charlotte said.
'Yeah and Charlotte got turned into a mouse by the Mistress of Mean for talking,' Gerty laughed.
'Really!' Alice said, as she peered up from the book she was reading.
'Yes, really,' Charlotte groaned.
'It was unfair, seeing as Charlotte hardly did any talking, it was mainly Demi.'
'It's my own fault that the Mistress of the Books doesn't like me, I shall just refrain from talking in the library again.'
'That's probably for the best, I prefer you human,' Stef grinned.
'I suppose there was an opening at the Academy now that Margaret's gone,' Alice said.
'We don't need a new Margaret though,' Stef said.
'She seemed nice,' Gerty said.
'She's friends with Demi, so she can’t be that nice,' Stef replied.
'I suppose we'll find out soon enough,' Charlotte said, believing that no one could possibly ever be as bad as Margaret.
***
The weekend came to an end and a new week began. Destiny was at breakfast wearing her school uniform and chatting away to Demi. It seemed as though she was an official student at the school and the girls weren't sure what to think about this.
They were on their way to their class with the Mistress of Spells when Stef walked up alongside Destiny and Demi.
'What is she doing?' Alice asked Charlotte and Gerty.
'Being Stef,' Charlotte replied, as she walked over to Stef.
'Hi, I'm Stef, I see that you're new here?' she grinned at Destiny.
'I'm Destiny, Destiny Catslove, although I've already met some of you,' she smirked over at Charlotte.
'Squeak, squeak,' Demi giggled.
'It's a strange time for you to start here?' Stef enquired.
'I got expelled from my last school,' she shrugged.
'Really! What did you do?' Gerty asked.
'I was only messing around with a spell, they went wayyy overboard on their punishment,' she rolled back her eyes. 'My parents were furious, for the whole of the journey back they went on and on about the family name and how I needed to think about my actions, blah, blah, blah.'
'I'm Alice Smithers, from the well-known Smither's family. No doubt you've heard of us?' Alice said.
'No, I haven't. It's not my fault that school took itself too seriously. I wanted to go to Witchery College but my mom said, 'no respectable witch goes there,' she mimicked in a high-pitched tone.
'Why would you want to go there, they practice black magic?' Stef asked.
'Exactly, it's so frustrating being a witch and not being able to learn the spells I want to. Anyway, I'm stuck in this place now and I can't get expelled again as it’s not worth the aggravation from my parents.'
'You're tall, how ol
d are you?' Stef asked.
'Twelve, it was my birthday last week. Looks like that makes me the oldest, she looked down on the other girls, stopping on Gerty. 'And you're definitely the youngest,' she smirked.
'I was moved up a year,' Gerty said coyly.
'Gerty's a talented witch, she deserved to be moved up a year,' Charlotte said.
'Yeah, sure,' Destiny rolled her eyes. 'Anyway, see you in class,' she turned her back on the girls, grabbed Demi's arm and hurried her up the corridor.
'Why did you do that? Charlotte turned to Stef.
'What?'
'Go over and talk to her?'
'Why not?' she shrugged.
'Because she might be as mean as Margaret and she's already seen me be turned into a mouse.'
'She seems okay to me,' Gerty smiled.
'I suppose so,' Charlotte said under her breath, unable to trust her own words.
'I've never heard of her family before, so they obviously aren't as well-known as my family are,' Alice said.
'Come on, we have a class to get to,' Stef gave Alice a gentle prod in the back.
'I was already walking at an adequate speed, there's no need to prod me,' she struck out her arm to prod Stef back but she dodged out of the way.
'Can't catch me,' she grinned.
'Tribus digitorum ictu,' Alice flicked her wand at Stef.
'Ow!' Stef said, as she jumped forwards. 'Who did that?'
'Did what?' Alice smirked.
'Prodded me in the back. Ow, it happened again,' she glared at Alice.
'I don't know what you're on about,' Alice feigned concern as she hid her wand down by her side.
Gerty placed her hand over her mouth to try and disguise the fact she was giggling and Charlotte bit down on the side of her lip. There weren't many times when Alice got one back on Stef, so this was a rare occasion.
'Ah, make it stop,' Stef moaned, as an invisible force jabbed her arm. 'You guys suck,' she rubbed her arm and looked at Gerty and Charlotte who were still struggling to hide their laughter.
'I don't see anything,' Alice said, keeping her composure.
'I'll get you back for this Alice Smithers, just you wait and see,' Stef grinned, before she began to laugh too.
They walked into class in good spirits and sat down at their seats. Miss Scarlet was sitting behind her desk, her hair as usual was elegantly pinned back.
'Quickly girls,' she said to the room and the rest of the girls hurried to their seats.
'I see we have a new girl in our class,' she smiled over at Destiny. 'So I shall briefly go over what I've told you before, no doubt some of you will benefit from the reminder. As you all know the Book of Spells is an ancient, extremely powerful book. Only I am allowed to touch it, but that doesn't mean that you won't be learning from it. You all have copies of the book but only I have the original, kept away where only I can see it.'
'Miss, how did you come to own it?' Stef asked.
'It was a matter of timing and having a pure heart. I like to think that the book was looking for me as much as I was for it.'
'Surely other witches and wizards want it too?' Demi asked.
'Indeed they do but they will have to make do with their copies. There are plenty of other spell books, most of them were written hundreds of years ago. I have some in here,' she gestured over to the large bookshelf at the far side of the room. 'And plenty more in my quarters. Collecting these books is a great pleasure of mine. We should all have pleasures and hobbies in life as they strive us onwards.'
Demi and Destiny giggled loudly and Miss Scarlet glared at them.
'I think Mistress of the Book's hobby is turning students into mice,' Charlotte whispered to Gerty.
'Some would say her main passion is books,' Miss Scarlet said and Charlotte blushed. 'Please refrain from talking in my class.'
Charlotte mouthed 'sorry miss,' as she lowered her head.
'Passion is what drives us forwards and causes us to thrive. Without passion succeeding becomes ever more difficult. One should never lose their passion. Now, all turn to page one-hundred-and-one in your books. Today we shall we practising a simple color-changing spell. As you can see there is an apple in front of each of you. With this spell you should be able to turn it from green to blue.'
'What's the point in a blue apple?' Alice said.
'It is merely a tool for you to practice with. Maybe if you put more thought into your spells instead of questioning instructions you would be more advanced at spells.'
Alice looked sheepish and Demi and Destiny continued to giggle.
'Will both of you please be quiet and concentrate on the spell at hand,' she stared at them.
They both stopped giggling and smiled at each other. Destiny waved her wand around in exaggerated movements that caused Demi to start giggling again.
Miss Scarlet flicked out her wand and a wart appeared on both of Demi and Destiny's noses. They both let out shrieks and covered their faces.
'Now make sure that you speak clearly when casting the spell,' she stood up and looked at the apple on her desk. 'Recensere azureus.'
The apple immediately changed into a sky blue color.
'Cool,' a girl in the front row said.
'Can you eat it?' Patricia asked.
Miss Scarlet reached over and picked up the apple, bringing it up to her mouth and taking a moderate sized bite out of it.
'Delicious,' she gave a sly smile. 'The apple is still an apple, it is only the color that has changed,' she placed the apple back on her desk.
‘It's important that you pronounce the spell clearly. Place your wands down on the table and repeat after me,' all the girls did as she asked, including Demi and Destiny who were still covering their faces. 'Re-cen-sere.'
'Re-cen-sere,' the girls repeated in unison.
'Az-u-re-us.'
'Az-u-re-us,' they repeated.
'Good, good, one last time but this time we shall combine the words together. Re-cen-sere az-u-re-us.'
'Re-cen-sere az-u-re-us,' the class said.
'Wonderful, now let your passion show in your skills and turn that apple blue. There will be a prize for the person who excels the most.'
Miss Scarlet had made the spell look simple but it turned out to be more difficult than it looked. A girl near the back of the room managed to set her apple on fire and Destiny turned hers black instead of blue.
'Recenere azueous,' Stef said confidently. Her apple shook before it vanished. Huh, where's it gone?' Stef peered around for it. 'Who stole my apple? Demi, give it back.'
'It's not my fault you suck at magic, so I suggest you shift the blame back on yourself,' Demi sniggered, one arm still covering her face.
'It appears you said the spell wrong. Making an object disappear is no mean feat but it's not the spell we are practising. No doubt your apple will pop up somewhere in the Academy. I suggest you work on your pronunciation further.'
Charlotte had tried the spell twice already but nothing had happened. She looked over at the other girls' apples, noticing how Alice's hadn't changed and Gerty's was now a deep shade of purple, a fact she seemed proud of.
'Recensere azureus,' Charlotte said, as she flicked her wand out in front of the apple and watched with delight as it immediately turned to a sky blue colour.
'Brilliant work Charlotte,' Miss Scarlet said.
'Thanks,' Charlotte blushed.
Spell practice finished and all the girls sat back down in their seats and chatted amongst themselves.
'Silence,' Miss Scarlet said and the class fell quiet. 'Good effort was made by you all. To those of you who managed to master the spell, well done. To the others, keep on practicing and remember that clear pronunciation and saying the words with a determined force is important. You may think that all a witch needs to do is flick their wand around and utter a few choice words but I can assure you that spell casting is an art-form that requires practice and attention to detail. You must never give-up, nor must you ever take what we
do for granted.
For successfully completing the spell first...the prize goes to Charlotte,' Gerty and Stef cheered and some of the other girls clapped. 'This is your reward,' she passed her a small vial full of a glittery silver substance.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 4