Witch is How Bells Were Saved

by Adele Abbott

  “That’s always nice to hear. What exactly is the situation you referred to?”

  “How familiar are you with dandelions?”

  “Not very. I mean, I like them with burdock, and we always have lots of them in our back garden, but that’s about it. I take it you’re named after them?”

  “Actually, that’s a bone of contention. We would argue that we had the name first.”

  “I see.”

  “Anyway, the point is that we live amongst the dandelions. They provide the perfect camouflage. Are you familiar with how the dandelion spreads its seeds?”

  “Yes, my sister and I used to play dandelion clocks when we were little.”

  “That’s right. The method is extremely effective. Normally.”

  “Has something gone wrong?”

  “Yes, but only in Washbridge, and specifically in Washbridge Park. Are you familiar with it?”

  “Yes, I know it.”

  “For reasons we cannot fathom, the dandelion seeds in that park refuse to disperse.”

  “I see. Has that ever happened before?”

  “No. There’s no record of anything like this in any of the history books. The park is one of the largest grassed areas in Washbridge. Without those seeds, the number of dandelions will be drastically reduced, leaving far fewer opportunities for us to hide. That’s why I got in touch with you. I’m hoping you may be able to find out what’s going on and resolve the problem.”

  “I have to be honest. This case is very unusual, and a touch out of my comfort zone. Are you sure there isn’t anyone better equipped to help you?”

  “I’ve made numerous enquiries, and the truth is, there’s no one who has any experience with this kind of problem. You’re pretty much our last hope. Please say you’ll help.”

  How could I say no?

  “Okay, I’ll do my best.”

  “That’s wonderful! Thank you so much.”

  The dandelion fairies flew me back to the house and put me gently down in the bedroom. After bidding farewell to Tingle, I went in search of Jack, who I found pacing around the living room.

  “I thought you’d be tucked up in bed by now.” I yawned.

  “How was I supposed to sleep? I’ve been worried sick about you. When I got back to the bedroom, all the dandelions had gone, the window was wide open, and you’d disappeared.”

  “They took me to see their queen.”

  “Who did?”

  “The dandelions—err, well, the dandelion fairies, actually.”

  “Don’t you think you should have told me what you were doing, so I wouldn’t go out of my mind with worry?”

  “Sorry. I assumed they were going to take me to Candlefield in which case, time would have stood still here for you. In fact, they flew me down to Oxford. The botanical gardens down there are beautiful. We should pay them a visit some time.”

  “What did the fairies want?”

  “It’s rather complicated. Let me grab a shower, and I’ll tell you when we’re in bed.”

  ***

  The next morning, Jack was buttering his toast, and was clearly deep in thought.

  “Penny for them.”

  “I was just thinking about the dandelions.”

  “What about them?”

  “If what you said is true, does that mean every time I see a field of them, they’re actually fairies?”

  “Not all of them. The fairies mingle with the real dandelions.”

  “Fascinating. It’s stuff like this I wish I could share with my friends.”

  “They’d have you locked up if you did.”

  “You’re probably right. Where do you even start with a case like this?”

  “I wish I knew. In Washbridge Park, I guess, but I have no idea what I’ll do when I get there.”

  Jack left the house before I did. When I stepped out of the door, I was greeted with the sight of Lovely and Bruiser smooching on next-door’s lawn.

  “Why don’t you two get a room?”

  “Sorry, Jill?” Britt shot me a puzzled look. I hadn’t realised she and Kit were standing on their doorstep.

  “Err, not you two. I was—err, never mind.”

  “That was an excellent performance you gave last night, Jill,” Kit said.

  “Thanks, but it wasn’t anything special.”

  “You shouldn’t be so modest. It was magnificent, wasn’t it, Britt?”

  “Absolutely fabulous.”

  “Thanks, but I’m not sure I’ll be continuing with—”

  “Tell Jill our big news, Kit.”

  “I thought we said we’d wait until the next meeting.”

  “I can’t wait that long. Tell her now! Please!”

  “Alright, then. We’ve entered our little community band in the Washbridge battle of the bands.”

  “Isn’t that for rock bands?”

  “Not this one. It’s specifically for small, local bands such as ours. You haven’t heard the best part yet. Each band has to perform as a group, but also has to nominate one member to perform a solo piece.”

  Oh no! Please no!

  “Needless to say, we had no hesitation in putting your name forward as our soloist.”

  “That’s very kind of you, but—”

  “Kit, come on.” Britt grabbed his arm. “Have you forgotten that you’re dropping me at the station? Sorry, Jill, we have to sprint.”

  Oh bum!

  ***

  “Morning, Mrs V, did you speak to Armi about the cuckoo house last night?”

  “Almost.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I was going to tell him how I felt after dinner, but all through the meal all he did was wax lyrical about the house. By the time we’d finished, I didn’t have the heart to burst his bubble.”

  “You have to say something. You can’t allow him to talk you into living somewhere you won’t be happy.”

  “Would you come with me to take a look at the house? I’d really appreciate your opinion. Maybe I’m just blowing this whole cuckoo clock thing out of proportion.”

  “Okay, if you think it will help. We could go late this afternoon unless something urgent crops up.”

  “That would be lovely. Thanks, Jill.”

  “Can I come too?” Winky was on the sofa.

  “Come where?”

  “To look at the old bag lady’s joke house.”

  “No, you can’t. You can stay here in my—or should that be your office? I don’t think I ever thanked you properly for allowing me to share it.”

  “I thought you might be a little upset about that.”

  “You think. That auntie of yours practically accused me of sponging off you.”

  “She just got the wrong end of the stick.”

  “What you mean is that you lied to her.”

  “I may have been a little economical with the truth, but that’s all.”

  “When your auntie comes back, I’m going to tell her the truth.”

  “No, please don’t do that. Aunt Wynn is so proud of everything I’ve achieved.”

  “Everything she thinks you’ve achieved, don’t you mean?”

  “Okay, but what good is telling her the truth going to do? I’m begging you to do this little thing for me.”

  “What I don’t understand is why you care what she thinks about you.”

  “She’s an old lady.”

  “What’s that got to do with the price of fish?”

  “She probably doesn’t have much longer on this mortal coil.”

  “I still don’t—wait a minute—are you expecting her to leave you something in her will?”

  “She has hinted that she might.”

  “I should have known.”

  “The thing is, she’s worth a bob or two, so if I play my cards right, I could be in for quite a windfall.”

  “You’re so mercenary.”

  “Will you do it? Will you lie for me?”

  “I want half of whatever she leaves you.”

/>   “And you said I was the mercenary one.”

  “Is it a deal or not?”

  “What choice do I have?”

  “None. Where is your auntie, anyway?”

  “She’s gone into town to do some last-minute shopping before she goes home. She’s going to pop in to say goodbye before she leaves.”

  ***

  Never let it be said that I don’t learn from my mistakes. If you remember, the last time I wanted information from the police station, I came up with the bright idea of using the ‘doppelganger’ spell to make myself look like Sushi. You may also recall how spectacularly pear-shaped that went when the woman herself returned to the station early. What a nightmare!

  To avoid a repeat of that farce, this time I took the easy option by using the ‘invisible’ spell to get in and out of the police station. My brief visit proved to be very fruitful because I learned a number of things from their file on the Bells.

  Curiously, the Bells hadn’t been captured on any of the CCTV cameras located along their main route home.

  The police had spoken to Walter’s brother, Leonard, and had concluded that although there was no love lost between the siblings, there was no obvious motive or proof that he had been involved in their disappearance.

  As part of the investigation, a number of police officers had visited the Cliffs Caravan Park, somewhere I also planned to visit. The report showed they had spoken to the site owner, a Mr Norman Chase, who’d insisted the Bells’ time there had been incident free. While at the park, the police had also interviewed two other couples who’d been staying there at the same time: Esme and John James had apparently known the Bells for a number of years. The other couple, the Nightingales, had been staying in the pitch adjacent to the Bells. Neither couple had been able to throw any light on why the Bells might have disappeared.

  There was one item in particular in the file that caught my attention: A year before the Bells’ disappearance, another couple had apparently gone missing from the caravan park. On this occasion, though, the couple’s bodies had been found the next day, at the bottom of the cliffs.

  The final noteworthy piece of information concerned the Bells’ house. It appeared that some jewellery had gone missing from the property, which gave further weight to the theory that they may have walked in on a burglary.

  All in all, I now had much more to go on. In particular, I was keen to visit the park and speak with its owner, to try to find out more about the other couple who had died there a year earlier.

  Chapter 9

  My phone rang.

  “Get yourself over to the Range.”

  “Hello, Grandma. Yes, I’m very well, thanks. How about you?”

  “Never mind all that jibber jabber. I need you at the Range now. This is urgent.”

  Over the last couple of years, I’d come to realise that Grandma’s idea of urgent and mine were light years apart. But I’d also learned that you ignored her ‘requests’ at your peril. So, with a heavy heart, I magicked myself over to the Range.

  When I arrived, there was no sign of Grandma, but waiting there, looking every bit as perplexed as I was, were the twins.

  “Did Grandma summon you too?” Amber said.

  “Yeah. Any idea what this is all about?”

  “Whatever it is, it won’t be good,” Pearl said, in a hushed voice. She was no doubt aware that Grandma wouldn’t be far away. “It’s a good job Alan was at home, otherwise I’d have had to bring Lily with me.”

  “I’m supposed to be behind the counter in Cuppy C,” Amber said. “We were just starting to get busy when she called.”

  “Over there.” I pointed to the opposite side of the Range. “Is that her?”

  “I think so.” Pearl nodded. “What’s that she’s carrying?”

  “I’m not sure.” Amber strained her eyes to get a better look.

  “Aren’t they brooms?” My heart sank as I remembered what Grandma had said earlier in the week. “Oh no.”

  “What’s going on, Jill?” Amber turned to me. “Do you know something about this?”

  There was no time to recount the conversation I’d had with Grandma about broom flying because the woman herself was now only yards away. “Don’t just stand there. Come and take one of these.”

  “Who are you talking to?” I said.

  “All of you. Why do you think I brought three of them?”

  “What’s happening, Jill?” Pearl whispered.

  “Trust me, it’s better you don’t know.”

  Once we each had one of the brooms, Grandma threw a critical eye over us. “Those are a perfect fit, even if I do say so myself.”

  Pearl looked around the arena. “You can’t possibly expect us to clean this place with these. It’ll take forever.”

  Grandma shook her head. “No, Pearl, I don’t want you to clean the Range.”

  “You might wish she did when you hear what she does want,” I whispered.

  “Is there something you’d like to say, Jill?” Grandma fixed me with her gaze.

  “Me? No, absolutely nothing.”

  “Good, in that case, to the business in hand. Or should I say the broom in hand.” She cackled at what I could only assume was meant to be a joke.

  Both Amber and Pearl laughed, but it was quite clearly false. Those two were such suck-ups.

  Grandma continued, “Many years ago, broom flying was a major sport in the witch community. Unfortunately, like many other things, it’s been allowed to fall by the wayside.”

  “Why would we bother with a broom when we can just magic ourselves from place to place?” Amber blurted out.

  “Have you never heard of tradition, young lady? Today’s younger generation is too busy with their phones and UPods to appreciate what’s important.”

  “It’s ‘I’.” Pearl corrected her. “They’re IPods.”

  “IPods, UPods, who cares? There’s nothing quite like the excitement of flying through the sky, astride a broom.”

  “I’m not very good with heights,” Amber said.

  “Keep your eyes closed, then.”

  “Aren’t there any instructions with these?” Pearl eyed her broom.

  “Yes, I have them here.” Grandma mimicked taking a sheet of paper from her pocket and read out loud. “One: Get on the broom. Two: Fly it.”

  “There must be more to it than that,” I said.

  “Why would there be more? Broom flying is an instinctive thing. Come on, we’ve wasted enough time. Climb on them.”

  “What about you, Grandma?” Pearl said. “Aren’t you going to be flying one?”

  “No. I need to stay on the ground so I can watch you. Are you ready?”

  “Hold on!” I said. “What do we do to start—”

  Before I could finish the question, the broom soared skywards, with me holding on for dear life. The twins were doing likewise.

  I had no idea what had just happened. I hadn’t cast a spell, so either Grandma had cast one or the brooms were enchanted. Either way, I didn’t feel as though I had any control.

  “How are we supposed to steer these things?” I yelled at Grandma, as my broom swooped so low that I thought I was going to crash into the ground.

  “You control it with your mind,” she said. “It’s very simple.”

  That was easy for her to say while she was standing on solid ground. It was all I could do to stay on board the stupid thing. But if I thought I was struggling, that was nothing compared to how the twins were faring. Somehow, Pearl had ended up facing the wrong way on her broom. Amber was in an even worse spot: She was hanging upside down with her arms and legs wrapped around the broom in a desperate attempt not to fall off.

  “Come on, you three! That’s rubbish!” Grandma shouted. “Focus! Remember, it’s all about focus.”

  I knew she was right. Magic always came down to focus, and this was no different, but it wasn’t easy to focus when you felt like you were about to throw up. I did eventually manage to get some small level o
f control over the broom, and it started to go where I wanted it to. That was more than I could say for the twins who were already back on the ground, looking more than a little green around the gills.

  “Okay, Jill, bring her down.” Grandma waved a crooked finger at me.

  Although I say so myself, the landing was pretty smooth, and I was beginning to feel a little more confident.

  “You three are probably wondering what inspired me to revive this long-lost tradition.”

  The twins clearly couldn’t have cared less, and neither did I, but I thought I should at least feign some interest. “Why do you want to?”

  “I’ll tell you why. Because I plan to start Candlefield’s first ever synchronised broom flying troupe. We’ll be putting on displays at galas and the like.”

  “I’m not doing that.” Amber still looked as though she was about to throw up.

  “Nor me,” Pearl said. “It’ll take me all day to get over this.”

  “I guess that just leaves me.” I stepped forward. By now, I quite fancied the idea of leading a troupe of broom flying witches.

  “Forget it!” Grandma waved me away. “None of you are even remotely good enough.”

  “I thought I was getting the hang of it towards the end,” I said.

  “You know what thought did, don’t you? If I put any of you into the troupe, I’d be a laughing stock.” She took back the brooms. “I’ll just have to find someone who is worthy of my time and tutelage.”

  And with that, she disappeared.

  “I feel sick,” Amber moaned.

  “Me too,” Pearl said.

  “Actually, I’m feeling quite peckish.”

  “Shut up, Jill!” Amber yelled. “Don’t mention food.”

  “Sorry. I’ll leave you two to it. I hope you feel better soon.”

  ***

  I hadn’t said I was peckish just to wind the twins up. All that soaring through the air had left me feeling quite hungry. On balance, I decided it was probably best not to go to Cuppy C, so I magicked myself back to Washbridge, and Coffee Games.

  When I walked through the door, my ears were assaulted by the sound of—err—what was that noise? It reminded me a little of those racing car sets. The only difference was that the volume in the shop was a hundred times louder.