'I'll get you for this,' she shouted.
Margaret was quick to fly off and leave Stef there, as she bravely pulled the prickles out of her skin before she got back onto her broom and hurried after Margaret.
As the girls began to clear the cacti, a large, arched, stone bridge came into view. Charlotte wasted no time in zooming towards it, there were several girls in front of her and she knew that she needed to get a move on if she was going to finish in the top five.
There was fencing above the bridge and a black outlined, yellow arrow pointed downwards. Charlotte swooped down and began to fly beneath the bridge, carrying on in a straight line until the signs of daylight in front of her grew clearer.
Suddenly the silhouette of a large moving shape came into view and a troll appeared, growling as it swiped at the girls. Charlotte managed to weave past it and fly out from beneath the bridge. Gerty didn't react quickly enough and the troll grabbed onto her leg and refused to let go. Gerty tried struggling free but the troll was too strong.
'Help,' she shouted but the rest of the girls zoomed past her, none of them stopping to assist her.
'Sorry Gerty,' Patricia said, as she whizzed past her.
Gerty didn't understand why no one had helped her, as she would have stopped and helped them if they'd been in her place. She fought back tears as she again tried to free her leg. The troll continued to growl and wail as time ticked by and Gerty's chances of finishing in the top five grew slimmer.
An idea came into her head and she gripped tightly onto her broom with one hand and with her other hand she went to pull her wand from her pants pocket. Suddenly the troll shook her and she watched in distress as her wand fell through her fingers and clattered onto the ground.
'Please can you let me go, I really don't want to lose this test?' she pleaded with the troll.
The troll looked at her before it stuck its long, white covered tongue out at her and then chortled to itself. Gerty sighed on the knowledge that she wasn't going anywhere soon.
A forest of silky white cobwebs was the next challenge, Alice flew straight into them and squealed as she tried to swipe and shake the cobwebs out of her hair.
'They are only webs Alice, they can't hurt you,' Stef chuckled as she passed her.
Destiny found this challenge easy and had managed to pass Margaret and go into the lead.
'Parvus turbo,' Margaret flicked her wand out at Destiny.
A mini tornado whirled its way around Destiny, causing her vision to be blurred and causing her to fly straight into a giant golden orb spider's web. The tornado cleared and the spider became visible as it crawled towards Destiny, she let out a loud shriek and struggled to free herself from the web. Margaret smirked as she flew past Destiny, happy that she was now firmly in the lead.
Charlotte and Alice were the next ones to pass Destiny, who was holding her broom out in front of her as a barrier between her and the spider. Eventually the spider scuttled up its web and Destiny hopped back onto her broom and flew off after them.
The cobweb forest ended and the girls found themselves entering a hall of mirrors. Dozens of reflections surrounded them, making them feel giddy. Charlotte had to grip on extra tightly to her broomstick as she began to feel disorientated. She was no longer sure if she was flying upright or upside-down. it was only when her head began to throb that she realized she was upside-down and turned herself around. She rubbed her head as she tried to find her way through the mirror maze.
Demi became so disorientated that she misjudged what was mirror and what wasn't and she flew straight into one of the mirrors and bashed her arm. She groaned under her breath as she rubbed her arm, grateful that she hadn't broken the mirror, as her uncle Syd had done that once and seven-years of bad luck had followed him.
Alice flew past Demi, using her as a guide to dodge the mirrors as she flew around the corner. Demi was quick to fly off after her, although this time she took more care when turning to work out what was mirror and what was space.
Margaret was still in the lead, although Charlotte, Alice and Demi weren't far behind her. She flew around a corner and saw a huge ornate mirror at the end of the mirrored corridor, the word 'exit' was written above it in bold, flashing letters. She stopped abruptly in front of it and looked around to try and find where the exit was.
Alice and Demi were next to appear and on the mirror with the sign above it they both stopped by Margaret. It was then that Charlotte appeared, she saw Margaret and the others but she also saw the sign, so she took a deep breath before she flew straight at the mirror.
'No, Stop,' Alice shouted.
'Don't do it,' Demi shrieked.
Charlotte ignored them and closed her eyes as she reached the mirror and kept on flying. The glass didn't break, her body didn't bruise, instead she'd flown safely through the mirror and was now in a field full of green-leaved apple trees. It was as warm as a day in late spring and she felt glad that she'd left her coat behind.
The apples were a variety of colors, from dark red to bright orange.
On the ground in front of her were woven baskets and a sign that read: 'To win the test and be the best, pick six apples and in this basket they should rest.'
Quickly she lifted up the basket closely to her and flew off towards the closest tree.
Margaret was furious, she should have known that the mirrored exit was an illusion and not paused in front of it. Now Charlotte was ahead of her and she was stuck with Alice and Demi. As soon as Charlotte had disappeared through the mirror she had quickly followed her, determined to make sure that she didn't beat her. Margaret was desperate to not only come first in the top five but also to make sure that Charlotte didn't finish in it. This time she wanted Charlie all to herself!
Charlotte had already put her first apple into her basket but as soon as she'd touched the bright green apple the rest of the apples on that tree had vanished. She moved onto the second tree, her sights set on a lilac apple.
Margaret flew after Charlotte, a smirk on her face as she lifted her wand.
'Sempiterno foramen,' she flicked her wand in Charlotte's direction.
Charlotte reached for a second apple and threw it into her basket, she glanced down at it and that's when she double-looked. Her basket was empty and there was a large hole in the bottom of it. She looked over at Margaret who was now on her second apple and knew that she was responsible.
'Reficere,' she pointed her wand at the basket; the hole remained.
'Mutare,' she tried.
The hole remained and worse still, Margaret was now on her fourth apple.
Charlotte bit on the side of her lip as she desperately tried to think up spells that would help her.
'Alice,' she said, as she saw her whiz near her.
Alice was too busy concentrating on collecting apples and she didn't notice Charlotte and flew straight past her.
Charlotte continued to try spells but still the hole remained in her basket. She looked over and saw that Margaret had just flown over the finish line, closely followed by Demi.
One-by-one the rest of the girls crossed the finish line. Charlotte continued to try spells on the basket, even though she knew that she wasn't going to finish in the top five on this test.
'Magicae novis,' she tried.
She looked down to see that the bottom of her woven basket had been restored. Quickly she whizzed from tree to tree, grabbing an array of colorful apples.
After she had crossed the finish line the crowd became visible to her and she could hear the clapping and cheering. She looked at Patricia who was crouched over regaining her breath and then to Alice who was going on and on to Melody about how it was unfair that she hadn't won. Her gaze fell on Margaret, who was looking straight back at her, a devious smirk on her face.
'What happened. You were in the lead then when I crossed the finish line you weren't here?' Stef asked, as she walked over to her.
'A hole mysteriously appeared in my basket,' she sighed.
'No prizes for guessing who was behind that,' Stef looked over at Margaret.
'Where's Gerty?' Charlotte asked.
'Molly had to rescue me from the troll's bridge because you all flew off and left me,' Gerty said, as she walked over to them, with folded arms and dirt smudged cheeks.
'Sorry,' Stef muttered. 'I didn't see that you were in trouble.'
'Patricia did, she flew straight past me.'
'Maybe she didn't realize that you needed help?' Charlotte said.
'Maybe,' Gerty huffed. 'It doesn't matter, I'm sure I'll do better in the next two tests.'
'Of course you will,' Charlotte smiled.
'You both will,' Stef said.
'You didn't finish in the top five?' Gerty gave Charlotte a confused look.
'There was an issue with my basket during the last section of the task.'
'Oh, okay. I'm sure you'll make up for it in the next test, you're a skilled witch.'
'Thanks Gerty, I think that you are a great witch too,' she smiled. 'And you are too Stef.'
'We're all good and we're all going to finish in the top five,' Stef said.
'Course we will,' Gerty smiled.
'I hope so,' Charlotte said under her breath.
'Girls, girls, gather round,' Miss Moffat gestured them forwards. 'A marvellous effort was put in by each and every one of you but as you all know only the first five placed girls will receive points. In fifth place with a score of one point is Destiny.'
Demi cheered and the other girls clapped but Destiny just gave a forced smile. Charlotte took this opportunity to read her mind and found out that Destiny was thinking about how unfair it was that she hadn't come first.
'In fourth place with a score of two points is Stephanie.'
'Well done Stef,' Charlotte patted her on the shoulder.
'Third place with a score of three points is Alice, second place with a score of four points is Demi and taking first place with a score of five points is Margaret. Well done to the top five and for those of you who didn't quite make it, I hope that the remaining tests will show your true potential.'
'Third,' Alice huffed. 'How could I have only come third?'
'Stop moaning, you finished in the top five so I don't know what you have to complain about,' Stef grumbled.
'Third is great Alice and so is fourth,' Gerty smiled at Stef.
Charlotte let out a shiver, as her body suddenly remembered how cold it was out here. She was about to walk off and find her coat when Gerty put an arm around her.
'You'll ace the next test,' she whispered to her.
'Thanks Gerty, so will you.'
Charlotte walked over to her coat that had been placed in a floating pile. She rummaged through the coats and pulled hers free, as she put it on she found herself worrying about the test and how she had managed to mess up the first one. She had been positive around Gerty but she wasn't sure if she believed her own words. She longed to make the top five but she was afraid that she wouldn't and that her chances of seeing Charlie at the competition would completely fade away.
She looked over at Margaret who was standing by herself as she twirled her wand in her hand. Charlotte couldn't resist reading her mind, as she longed to know what she was thinking about.
'It's Thought Thrower time,' she said to herself.
'I'm going to win and I'm going to see Charlie again. He won't be able to resist me and I will claim him as my boyfriend. She doesn't stand a chance,' Margaret thought, as she feigned a smile in Charlotte's direction. 'There's no way that she will make the top five so I won't have to worry about her sticking her nose in.'
'Well done Margaret,' Charlotte forced a smile, as she walked past her.
Charlotte was determined to make the top five and she wasn't going to give up. To stand a chance of making the top five she knew that she had to finish as highly as she could on the next test. She wasn't going to stand by and let Margaret get the better of her and she wasn't going to let her steal Charlie from her.
'Bring on the second test,' she said under her breath.
She walked back over to Stef and Gerty, making sure that she had blocked out all thoughts. She didn't need to read their minds to know that they were her friends and that they would always be there for her. Margaret would always be as smart as she was spiteful, but Charlotte knew that she had something that Margaret would most likely never have. Charlotte had the best friends that she could have asked for and she knew that with them on her side she would be just fine.
***
That afternoon the great hall was set out ready for their second test. Sitting on one side of the long tables were adults that none of the girls had ever seen before.
'As you can see we have some special visitors at the Academy. These are friends of the Academy but they are also normals, they have kindly agreed to take part in this test. You will each go over to a section of one of the tables where a row of three of our guests are sitting and your challenge will be to read their fortunes. Miss Zara is here to explain the rules more clearly,' Miss Moffat said.
'Thank you Miss Moffat,' Miss Zara took a step forward. 'Each of our guests has a crystal ball in front of them. I vant you to look into it and to find out vhat their current job is, vhat their hobby is and vhat they vill be doing in a year's time. Go ahead girls but remember to vait for the signal before you start, as this is a speed race,' she signaled with her hands for them to move.
The girls moved over to the tables and sat behind the first adult in the row of three. Charlotte and Alice both went over to the same long table and sat down next to a different line of normals. Molly was at the head of the table close to Charlotte, her hair braided and fixed into a neat bun.
'Each girl will have someone watching them and you have me,' Molly said to Charlotte, before she waved to Silvia who was stood at the other end of the table near Alice. 'Remember that you need to find out their job, hobby and what they will be doing in a year's time. The aim is to do this accurately and quickly, if you get an answer wrong then you will hear a gong. You can choose to try again or to move onto the next question or person, good luck.'
Charlotte gave her a smile before she looked at the normal woman sitting in front of her. She was about forty, with chin length poker straight hair and she was dressed smartly in a navy suit. Charlotte made sure that she had blocked out all thoughts as she wanted to win this test fairly, also their thoughts would have been an added distraction. She knew that the best way to get the answers she needed was to find them in the crystal ball.
The sound of a squawking bird filled the room and caused dozens of the normals to jump in alarm. Molly gave Charlotte a nod and she quickly placed her hands over the crystal ball and focused on it. An image appeared of the woman, she was stood in front of a classroom with equations written on the blackboard.
'Math teacher,' Charlotte said, smiling when the gong didn't sound.
She looked back into the crystal ball and saw the woman sat in the front row of a theatre.
'Going to the theatre.'
Lastly she saw the woman dressed in leggings and a waterproof jacket, she was carrying a backpack as she walked up a mountain.
'This time next year she will be in Wales, England where she will be visiting family. This day next year she will be climbing Mount Snowdon.'
The normal woman gave Charlotte a smile and she smiled back, before she hopped onto the next seat where a young man was sitting in front of her. She wasted no time in looking into the crystal ball and finding the answers that she needed.
'Chef,' no gong sounded. 'Skiing,' again no gong sounded. 'He will have just bought his first house with his fiancé Christina.'
Charlotte hopped onto the third seat and quickly read the elderly normal gentleman's fortune. Once
she had finished Molly made a golden spark shoot out of her wand.
Charlotte looked over at Alice who was reading her second normal’s fortune.
Alice said something and the gong sounded, Alice paused brie
fly before she moved onto the next seat and peered into the crystal ball, desperate to get the answers she needed about the middle-aged woman who sat in front of her.
No one else was even close to finishing and now that Charlotte had finished concentrating on her normals, all she could hear were the other gongs that were sounding off all over the hall.
Gerty was next to finish, she had only made one mistake. She'd seen the man sat on the toilet reading a book and said that his hobby was reading. It turned out that this wasn't really his hobby, he just liked to hide in the bathroom to escape his wife's nagging, his real hobby was taking his grandson to watch their local team play football.
Books for Girls - WITCH SCHOOL - Books 2-6: Book 1 is FREE! Page 16