Brigid Lucy and the Princess Tower

by Leonie Norrington

And as soon as we get home, me and Biddy get sent to her room, to wait all afternoon by ourselves, till Dad comes home.

  Then both Dad and Mum come in to talk to Biddy about running away.

  Biddy tries to explain that she didn’t actually run away. She tells Dad and Mum that she was just looking at the Princess Tower, and that she was going to come straight back. Except there was a poor, tied-up, captured Princess Bell there, that wasn’t allowed to ring.

  ‘How would you feel if you were a bell that couldn’t ring?’ Biddy asks Dad and Mum.

  Which makes Dad stand up and yell. Mum has to tell him to calm down.

  This means Dad has to close his mouth tight for a moment.

  Then, when he has calmed down, they both talk to Biddy for another ages, nearly forever! Until Biddy promises to never run away ever again in her whole entire life.

  And then we all lived happily ever after.

  Epilogue

  Except that me and Biddy are grounded-for-the-rest-of-her-life. Which means we are never, never allowed to go and play with Jamie next door, even if we ask really nicely!

  Jamie is allowed to come over to our place. But he doesn’t because he still doesn’t want to be a dog.

  And when Mum goes to the city for another very-important-meeting, me and Biddy have to stay at home with a babysitter to look after us—even though we are totally not babies.

  I usually hate being grounded and babysat.

  But not today.

  Today, Granny is babysitting us. So we are building castles in Biddy’s room and deep, dark caves under her bed. And cleaning out the linen cupboard and finding exciting stuff like Biddy’s old sheets from when she was a tiny baby.

  And look! Granny’s found a very round glass ball.

  ‘It’s a crystal ball!’ Biddy says.

  And it is! You know one of those kind-of crystal balls that witches and wizards use to see into the future.

  We take it into Biddy’s room and, the most amazing thing happens …

  Ooops! I shouldn’t have said that.

  No, I can’t tell you because we have run out of pages. This book is full. I will tell you that story in another book.

  See ya!

  Magical creatures

  Nefariouses—danger rating—tremendously acutely high

  Nefariouses are beautiful ancient female beings made entirely of grumpy and annoyedness. They live inside the bark of trees. They like absolute silence, so they can make up their evil poems and spells in peace. They have been known to eat noisy children. If you find yourself in a quiet place, never, ever make noise just for fun. The nefarious who made that silence will gobble you up dead.

  Fillikizard dragons—danger rating—tremendously acutely high

  Fillikizard dragons are small crocodile-like creatures that have a frill of armour around their necks. They are very powerful hunters. Their back legs spin around like wheels, so they can run terribly fast. They have such huge mouths, they can eat other creatures twice their size. Never try to capture a fillikizard dragon, because they can kill you dead with a blast of their foul breaths from three metres away. If you are too big for them to swallow up, they will slobber all over you and you will stink forever.

  Scoriaks—danger rating—very high

  Scoriaks are big, heavy, male creatures that live inside rocks. They are so old that they came into being before the earth began. Their favourite hobbies are sleeping and thinking. If you make a noise and wake them up, they will growl and rumble, and split the earth open. Then they will swallow you whole. Or, if they are too lazy to split the earth open, they will turn you into a piece of infinity with just one look of their evil eyes. Be extremely careful when you move rocks around. Sit beside the rocks first to see if you can hear a soft snore. If you can, back away very quietly and go and find another rock to move.

  Yebil yebils—danger rating—a bit high

  Yebil yebils are mischievous little creatures that love to see children get hurt. They own every piece of earth in the whole wide world. They demand that everyone ask permission to walk anywhere. If you don’t ask permission, they will pretend to be a piece of vine or a rock or a hole in the footpath and trip you over. Then they bend over laughing and squeal with delight. Make sure you always call out, ‘Please can I play on this earth?’ before you go walking in a new place.

  Ympes—danger rating—low

  These tiny creatures can join themselves to, and become part of, other animals and plants. They often glue themselves to a bird’s feathers and fly all over the world as part of that bird. They can also melt into a tree and grow there, making the blossom on that part of the tree a different colour to the blossom on the rest of the tree. They also climb into a horse’s ears and take control of the horse, so it runs around the paddock, kicking and bucking and bolting, for no reason. Always check your horse’s ears for ympes before you go for a ride.

  Magical swearwords

  Wizz-bang-le-flab!

  Oo-laa-coo-laa-stinky-pooh-laa!

  Yukki-poo-la-drop-kick!

  Holy-mog-olie!

  Magical spell words

  Spell-in-cous-cous!

  Try-la-men-ia!

  Wocca-woo!

  Stru-ta-lu-ta!

  Till-gäng-lig!

  Acknowledgements

  To the Tasmanian Writers’ Centre, for giving me a residency in their wonderful Hobart studio where, trying to blend in with this old world and beautiful city, my little imp got me into lots of delicious trouble. To Libby and Margrete, for generously inviting me to join their table, which led to our friendship and working relationship. And, most importantly, to my niece, Brigid Tony Izod, who inspired the character Brigid Lucy.