'What is it?' asked Stef.
'Fairy dust, sprinkle it when you need some guidance and it will help you make your decision.'
'Cool,' Charlotte said under her breath, as she held the vial up to her face and studied it.
'It is of great importance that you only use it sparingly.’
'Thank you and I will,' Charlotte smiled, as she placed the vial down on the table.
'Miss, I was wondering, could you tell us more about The Book of Dragons?' Stef asked.
At first Miss Scarlet gave her an icy glare and Stef sank further down into her chair, worried that she was going to be turned into a toad.
'The Book of Dragons is strictly prohibited for young witches such as yourselves. It is dangerous to even the most powerful of witches and in the past has caused many problems. I advise you to keep away from this subject and to forget about this book,' she said firmly, her stern gaze seeming to fix on all of the girls at the same time.
'Right girls, first things first,' her tone was cheery as she waved her wand over at Demi and Destiny and the warts on their noses vanished. 'You better get off to your next lesson and remember a true witch never stops learning.'
Charlotte grabbed her books and her vial of fairy dust. She gave Miss Scarlet a smile and followed the others out of the door.
'I didn't know fairy dust was an actual thing,' Gerty said, as they left the room and walked up the corridor.
'You didn't know that fairies existed?' Stef snorted.
'Of course I did, I just didn't know that fairy dust was a thing, that's all.'
Charlotte didn't say anything, she didn't want to admit to them that until today she'd had no idea that fairies were real. When she was little she used to go down to the bottom of her garden where the plants bloomed in violets and yellows and she pretended that fairies lived amongst them. There was so much in the world that she hadn't known about and she felt like a novice.
'I've never seen fairy dust before,' Alice said and Charlotte held the vial up for her to see.
'What! You don't have a room full of it at home,' Stef grinned.
'No, we don't. As I just informed you, I've never seen it before.'
'Come on Stef, it's not like she baths in it or anything, Gerty giggled.
'I think Miss Scarlet would class bathing in it as using too much,' Alice replied.
'You'd end up looking like a glitter bomb,' Stef laughed.
'Maybe you should try that look at the next school dance,' Alice grinned.
'Perhaps,' Stef smirked.
They arrived back at their room and changed their books. Charlotte tried to think of a safe place to put the vial and decided to hide it in the draw under her bed, wrapped up amongst her clothes.
'When are you going to use the fairy dust?' Gerty asked.
'I don't know, I'm not really sure how it works.'
'I'm sure you'll just know when to use it, you're smart,' Gerty said.
'Thanks,' she smiled, deciding that she was going to save it until the time came when she knew that she'd really need it.
'It's a shame she didn't leave the warts on Demi and Destiny's faces,' Stef said, as she walked towards the door.
'They'd be walking around everywhere like this,' Gerty covered her face with her arms and paced up and down the room.
The other girls burst into laughter as they watched Gerty.
'Stop it, I can't breathe,' Charlotte said in-between laughter, as she clutched her stomach.
'What's so funny about this,' Gerty's muffled voice said through her arm, which caused them to laugh even more.
It was a full five-minutes before they eventually stopped laughing enough to compose themselves and leave for their next class, knowing that they'd have to walk extra quickly to get there on time.
Charlotte had arrived at this Academy clueless about magic and not knowing anyone. Now she had a vial of fairy dust in her draw and some of the best friends she could ask for. Better still Margaret had gone and hopefully they'd be no more surprise visits from her.
She knew that Miss Scarlet only awarded those she truly believed deserved it, which meant that Charlotte was improving at spells. She was a witch, it ran through her blood and she was going to keep on learning to be the best that she possibly could be.
Chapter Five
The girls trudged their way across the yard over to Miss Dread, who was balancing on her two hands, her legs bent over her shoulders.
'I hope she doesn't expect us to copy that position?' Gerty whispered to Charlotte and Alice, as she gripped her broomstick tighter. Miss Dread had told them at the end of their last lesson to bring their broomsticks today, but she wouldn’t tell them why.
'Same, although it'd be funny to watch people try it,' Charlotte replied.
'I'm sure it's not that difficult,' Alice stopped walking and balanced on one leg. 'See, easy,' she said, before she began to wobble and grabbed onto Charlotte's shoulder to steady herself.
'I reckon you should keep on practicing,' Gerty giggled.
'Come on girls, stop dawdling,' Miss Dread shouted over to them.
They quickened up their pace and walked over to Stef, who was talking to Melody about what pets they were going to get when they were older.
'I want a fluffy cat and I'd put a spell on it so that it didn't malt all over my furniture,' Melody said.
'I want something more unique, like a bat. I'd call it Shade and let it live in my attic,' Stef replied.
'A bat, how ridiculous,' Alice snorted.
'Darlings, gather round,' Miss Dread said, as she flipped her legs over her head and landed on her feet on the ground. She stood-up, and turned around to face the girls.
'I've got an exciting lesson in store for you today. Come, come,' she gestured for them to follow her. She led them across the yard and over to a grassy hexagonal area that had a basket in each of its corners.
'I hope we finally get to play Save the Princess,' Gerty said excitedly.
'I hope so, I'm great at it,' Stef said.
'You haven't started playing it yet?' Destiny sniggered. 'At my last school we started learning it on the first day of term.'
Charlotte looked from Destiny to the hexagonal field with a perplexed look on her face. She had no idea what Save the Princess was but she didn't want the others to know this, so she remained quiet as she focused her gaze on Miss Dread.
'Darlings, the time has come for you to learn how to play Save the Princess.'
'Yes!' Gerty jumped on the spot and everyone turned and stared at her. 'Sorry, I've just never played it before,' she replied coyly.
'It's good to have an interest in something darling, you need to channel that into the game,' Miss Dread looked at Gerty, before she turned her gaze across the rest of the girls. 'For those of you that aren't familiar with Save the Princess, it is to witches what hockey or football is to ordinaries. As you can see the game is played on a hexagonal base and on each of the six corners is a basket. You shall be split into two teams and your aim is to fly on your broomsticks and get a ball into each of the six baskets, whilst at the same time you need to try and block the other team from getting the ball in before you.
You shall start with the first basket,' she cartwheeled over to the first basket and put her hand against it. 'The first team to get their ball into this basket will be rewarded with a spell. A ghost shall appear and tell you what you've won.'
'A ghost?' Alice worriedly said.
'Yes darling, a ghost. It shall tell you a spell, it is wise to think carefully about when to use it as it can only be used once and it shall only last for five-seconds. When all the corners have been fought over then a tower shall rise in the middle,' she jumped into the middle of the hexagonal and gestured to the space before she darted out of it.
'Princeps turrim,' Miss Dread said, as she directed her wand towards the middle of the hexagonal.
The ground began to shake and Gerty grabbed onto Charlotte's arm. A large bricked tower rose out of the ground
and kept on rising higher and higher. When it stopped, the top was only just visible.
'Your aim is to get this doll,' she pulled a princess rag doll from behind her back, 'to the top of the tower before the other team get their princess doll up there.'
'This is the part where the spells you won earlier become useful, although as I said before, you can only use them once so use them wisely.'
‘If one player falls from the tower, then their whole team must return to the start line before their climber must restart their climb up the tower. Be warned that it is not as straightforward as it looks, as the tower will not make things easy for you.'
'It looks easy to me,' Stef whispered to Charlotte.
They saw a shape in the sky nearing them that soon came close enough for them to realize that it was Miss Firmfeather. She flew across the yard on her broom and landed down by Miss Dread.
'Hi girls,' Miss Firmfeather waved.
'Miss Firmfeather is here to assist me with assessing you all,' Miss Dread said.
'Assessing?' Demi asked.
'All we want is for you all to try your best,' Miss Firmfeather smiled, as she put her broomstick down and picked up an ancient looking telescope. Surely she wasn’t going to watch up that closely!
'Darlings, let's begin,' Miss Dread looked over to the girls. 'Red team,' she pointed at Destiny. 'Black team,' she pointed to Demi. 'Red, black, red, black, red, black, red,' she pointed at the rest of the girls in turn as she gave them a team color.
'Prepare to be beaten,' Stef said to Charlotte and Alice, who'd been put into the opposite team to her and Gerty.
'I doubt it,' Alice replied.
'Come on darlings, you can do this,' Miss Dread clapped her hands.
The girls split into their teams, Miss Dread cast a spell to lower the castle and then the game began. The girls whizzed around the court, throwing the ball without much persuasion. Charlotte lowered her head just in time as Destiny lunged the ball at her.
'You were meant to catch it,' Destiny growled.
'Sorry,' Charlotte blushed.
The only sports Charlotte was used to were tennis and hockey, so this was new to her. She had only just learned how to fly a broomstick and now she had been put into a fast paced and skilled game. She wanted to give it her best, but she felt like a penguin out in the desert.
'Come on girls, focus,' Miss Firmfeather said, as Miss Dread jotted notes down in her notebook.
'Alice,' Patricia shouted, as she threw the ball at her. She looked up just in time and caught it, throwing it into the first basket before Stef had time to intercept her.
A transparent ghost of a man dressed in armor appeared in front of Alice and caused her to fly backwards until she was pressed against the basket.
'The spell you've won will send an icy chill down the opponent you choose to freeze at will, duratus,' the ghost said, before it vanished into the air.
'Good job Alice,' Miss Dread said, which caused Alice to smile widely.
'Beginners luck,' Stef quietly snorted.
Demi scored next, getting the ball in the second basket and then one into the third basket. When it came to this game she was fast on her broomstick and ruthless, flying straight at the opposite team with force until they had no choice but to move out of the way.
'Come on, that's not fair,' Melody said after Demi had shoved into her and snatched the ball out of her hands.
'That's the name of the game,' Miss Dread shouted. 'Darling, you must hold tightly onto the ball before you throw it.'
Destiny tried to get the ball off Demi but she threw it over to a blonde girl named Victoria before Destiny could grab it. Victoria leaned back to try and catch it and ended up bashing into Charlotte who lost her balance and fell off her broomstick. She bounced onto the field and sighed, before she lifted herself off and picked up her broom.
'Come on Charlotte, stop sitting around,' Alice shouted to her, after she'd thrown the ball over to another girl.
Charlotte brushed herself off before she got back onto her broomstick and tried to regain her balance as she flew her way back around the court.
By the time the red team got their ball into the sixth basket Melody had grazed her knee and Destiny had a huge bruise on her arm from where Demi had shoved into her to get the ball. The tower rose up from the center of the court and two princess dolls, one with red hair and in a red dress and the other with black hair and in a black dress appeared at the base of it.
'Normally they'd be one climber per team but today you shall take it in turns so that I can assess you,' Miss Dread said, as she appeared up from her notebook. 'Demi and Melody can go first, the rest of you can use the spells but remember to cast them wisely. Also, don't forget that the tower has plenty of surprises in store for you. Also if you teammate falls then you have to return to your team start-line,' she gestures to a black and red line on the ground in front of the tower. 'And you can't move away or use any of the spells you've won until your climber is up and back on the tower.
Demi was the first to grab her doll and begin to climb up the tower.
'Go on Melody,' Destiny shoved her forwards.
'That's not fair, Miss Dread hadn't told us to start,' Melody grumbled, before she grabbed the doll and began the ascent up the tower.
'Don't forget about your spells,' Miss Dread shouted over to the girls on the ground, who were both stood in their teams looking clueless.
'Use the ice one, ah, what was it?' Destiny said to her team.
'I know it,' Charlotte said, as she looked up at Demi, who was about a quarter of the way up the tower. She flicked out her wand in her direction and said 'duratus.'
Demi instantly froze on the spot, unable to move at all.
'Melody, hurry up and pass her while she's frozen,' Destiny shouted up at her.
Melody nodded and she started to climb up the ladder of the tower as quickly as she could. She placed her hand onto the next rung of the ladder and that's when a pair of large stone hands appeared from either side of the tower and gave Melody a shove. She screamed out as she let go of the ladder and tumbled down onto the bouncy ground.
'Melody is out, Charlotte, you go next,' Miss Firmfeather said.
Charlotte tried to ignore her nerves, as she picked the princess doll off the ground by Alice and began to climb the ladder.
'You need to be quicker than that,' Destiny shouted. 'Demi's almost halfway up,' she pointed over to Demi who was now unfrozen and way out in the lead.
'Gestat,' Stef said as she waved her wand at Charlotte.
Charlotte's grip began to slip, as if there was slimy oil on her hands. She tried to grab on the ladder but she couldn't grasp it, then the princess doll slipped out of her hand and she found herself sliding down onto the ground. She landed on her feet, embarrassed at how little progress she had made up the castle.
'That was a good use of a spell darling,' Miss Dread looked over at Stef.
'Thanks a lot,' Charlotte looked at Stef, unable to keep her stern look for long before it turned into a large smile.
'Sorry,' Stef grinned.
Destiny didn't wait for Miss Dread to tell her to climb, she raced forward and picked the doll up.
'I'll show you how it’s done,' she said confidently, as she began to climb up the tower.
Demi was closer to the top of the tower than she was to the bottom and she was convinced that she was going to win. She quickly climbed onto the next step and then the next, then the snakes appeared through gaps in the tower wall, slithering around her arms and legs so that she became tied to the ladder.
‘Do something,' she screamed down to her team.
'Erm, dimissus,' Stef flicked her wand up at the snakes. Her wand immediately flew out of her hand and hit her across the wrist before it flew over to Miss Dread.
'Stef, you can't use spells that you didn't win. You are disqualified so come and stand over here with us,' Miss Firmfeather said.
'Well I didn't know,' Stef muttered, as she glared at
the ground.
'I thought you said you were good at this game?' Gerty grinned.
Demi managed to shake the snakes grip off and carry on up the tower.
'Magna Pila,' Charlotte shouted, as she waved her wand up at Demi.
She began to expand so that she resembled a ball with legs and arms sticking out of it. She was now too large to hold onto the ladder and she rolled all the way down the tower and landed in a heap on the ground.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 5