Sophie's Shining Spell

by Vivian French

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  To the wonderful Jo Anne Davies –

  with massive thanks & much love

  xxx

  TEAM STARLIGHT

  TEAM TWINSTAR

  Dear Stargirl,

  Welcome to Stargirl Academy!

  My name is Fairy Mary McBee, and I’m delighted you’re here. All my Stargirls are very special, and I can tell that you are wonderful too.

  We’ll be learning how to use magic safely and efficiently to help anyone who is in trouble, but before we go any further I have a request. The Academy MUST be kept secret. This is VERY important…

  So may I ask you to join our other Stargirls in making The Promise? Read it – say it out loud if you wish – then sign your name on the bottom line.

  Thank you so much … and well done!

  Fairy Mary

  The Promise

  I will never speak of Stargirl Academy to others outside these cloudy walls, whatever they ask and whatever they offer. This I solemnly promise, for now, always and for ever.

  The Book of

  Spells

  by

  Fairy Mary McBee

  Head Teacher at

  The Fairy Mary McBee

  Academy for Stargirls

  A complete list of Spells can be obtained from the Academy. Only the fully qualified need apply. Other applications will be refused.

  Shining Spells

  Shining Spells may only be used by students who have won at least two stars. Any Shining Spell will require a higher level of concentration than a Shimmering Spell or a Starry Spell.

  Shining Spells include such spells as:

  Sliding warts, boils, spots etc from subject to subject. (e.g. frogs, toads, or human beings)

  Restoring music to damaged violins

  Pleasant dreams for the elderly

  Hello! My name is Sophie Briggs. I live with my mum and my dad and Pete. Pete’s younger than me, and if you’ve got a little brother you’ll know how very, VERY annoying they can be. When he spilled orange juice all over Mum’s not-very-new-but-she-still-loved-it coat, she said it was MY fault, because if I hadn’t shouted at him he wouldn’t have run down the hall and tripped.

  I bet you’d have shouted at Pete too, though. He’d drawn aeroplanes all over the cover of my special notebook. It’s lucky he can’t read properly because – and PLEASE don’t tell anyone! – that’s the notebook where I write down everything I’ve learned after a day at Stargirl Academy. It’s TOTALLY secret and I’ve promised not to tell anybody about what we do.

  The Academy used to be The Cloudy Towers Academy for Fairy Godmothers (I am NOT joking!) but then they decided that Fairy Godmothers were a bit old-fashioned, and now they teach girls to be Stargirls instead. We learn magic and spells so we can help people – really, truly help them. I don’t think they’d ever let me use a spell to turn Pete into a frog, for instance. Well, not unless it would help him jump.

  Actually, I think Pete might rather like being a frog – he’s always bursting with energy. They closed the play park at the end of our road so I couldn’t take him there any more, and that made him bouncier than ever. We haven’t got a garden, so there’s nowhere for him to pretend to be an aeroplane, which is what he likes best. When he tries to do it at home in our flat it drives us nuts.

  Everyone round here is fed up that the park is shut. It was the only green space we had. It’s dreadful without it, and I made a promise to myself the very first day I went to The Academy that if ever it was my turn to choose who to help it would be everyone in Greenberry Street!

  Love Sophie

  Chapter One

  I was watching TV with Pete when the Tingle came. Mum had popped out to get some bread, but Pete didn’t want to go with her so I said I’d look after him. He’d said he was sorry about my notebook, and I’d said I was sorry for shouting at him, and he was sitting on the sofa beside me when suddenly there was this sharp pain in my elbow.

  I jumped, and Pete looked at me in surprise. “Why did you jump?”

  I couldn’t tell him. I just said I’d got pins and needles. He always thinks that sounds funny, so he laughed and went on watching his programme.

  I rubbed my elbow. The Tingle is like a tiny electric shock and it means that it’s time for Stargirl lessons. The Academy floats on a special kind of cloud, and when the Tingle comes, it means the cloud is nearby. The last two times I got the Tingle it went misty outside, and when I opened our door there was a path right in front of me leading straight to the Academy. The first time I walked down it I was REALLY nervous; I had no idea what I was going to find. If anyone had told me I’d end up in The Fairy Mary McBee Academy for Stargirls, I would never EVER have believed them.

  But now I was used to going, and I couldn’t wait to go back and see all the others in Team Starlight. There are six of us, and we have such fun together! Melody and Jackson are there as well, but they sometimes want to do stuff on their own. They call themselves Team Twinstar. They’re OK, though … well, most of the time. But my team is fabulous, and we do SUCH interesting things.

  It’s brilliant to spend time learning magic and spells. We’ve learnt two already: a Shimmering Spell and a Starry Spell. One taught us how to float things and the other how to solidify them. We can only use the spells when we’re having a Stargirl day, but it makes me feel very special to know that I can actually do a little magic.

  There’s another amazing thing about the Academy, and it took me ages to believe it could really be true … but it is! Even though you feel as if you’ve had a whole day away from home, nobody knows you’ve gone, because when you get back it’s EXACTLY the same time as when you left. Isn’t that extraordinary? Madison says she thinks our head teacher has some magic way of squashing time up so it works differently in different places. Madison likes to ask loads of questions, but when I think about things like that my head hurts. I just feel happy it’s all OK and Mum doesn’t have to worry that I’ve gone missing or run away from home.

  This time when the Tingle came, I rubbed my elbow and got up to look through the window to see if there was any mist, but there wasn’t. It was just as sunny as it had been before, and the houses opposite were exactly the same as usual.

  “What are you looking at?” Pete asked.

  “I won’t be a minute,” I said, and I ran to look outside. Pete ran after me, and he was standing right beside me as I opened the front door…

  But there was still no mist.

  And there wasn’t a path, either.

  We were looking straight into the hallway of Stargirl Academy!

  I gasped, and Pete let out a startled squeak. “What’s this place? What’s happened?”

  “Erm…” I said. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t push Pete back inside our house and run away from him, but what would Fairy Mary McBee say if I came to lessons with my five-year-old brother?

  Pete grabbed my hand. “Come on, Sophie. Let’s go and find out!” And he pulled me down the hallway towards the door at the end – the door I knew would lead into the workroom.

  “Hang on a minute,” I said, but it was too late. Pete had let go of my hand and was already turning the handle.

  “OOOOOH! Sophie, LOOK! It’s a magic place – come and see!”

  Chapter Two

  I hurried after my little brother and found him standing in the middle of the workroom with his eyes wide and his mouth open. He
was staring at Fairy Fifibelle Lee. She’s one of our teachers, and the only one that actually looks like a fairy. She has little glimmering wings, her clothes seem to float around her and her long white hair drifts this way and that as if she’s always surrounded by a breeze.

  “What a dear sweet boy,” she cooed, and then she saw me. “Is this your little brother, Sophie darling?”

  I nodded. “I’m so sorry … I didn’t mean to bring him, but—”

  Fairy Fifibelle held up her hand. “I’m delighted he’s here. Precious boy, would you like a biscuit?”

  Pete beamed at her. “Yes,” he said, and then remembered. “Yes, PLEASE!”

  I looked around as Fairy Fifibelle Lee walked towards the shelves that lined the walls. “Where are the other Stargirls?” I asked. “Am I the first to arrive?”

  “You are. And you may well be the only one here today, unless Fairy Fifibelle Lee can remember where she put my wand.” Miss Scritch marched into the room, and she did NOT look happy.

  Pete had climbed up on a chair and was sitting at the table, but when he saw Miss Scritch’s face he scrambled down as fast as he could and ran to hide behind me.

  “I don’t like her, Sophie,” he whispered, but Miss Scritch heard him.

  “What’s THAT?” she asked. “A BOY?”

  “Please, Miss Scritch,” I said, “this is my little brother, Pete.”

  Miss Scritch peered at what she could see of Pete, who was hanging on to my leg. “H’m. Well, I don’t suppose he’ll do any harm. Does he like aeroplanes?”

  Pete appeared like a jack-in-a-box. “I LOVE aeroplanes!” He gave Fairy Fifibelle Lee a quick look. “And I like biscuits too.”

  Miss Scritch raised an eyebrow, and looked enquiringly at Fairy Fifibelle. “Do you know where the biscuits are? Or have you lost those as well?”

  Fairy Fifibelle didn’t hear. She was pulling things off the shelves, and peering into the cupboards underneath. The cupboards were jam-packed with bulging paper packages and boxes tied up with different colours of ribbon, and every single shelf was piled high with jars and bottles and books and all kinds of strange bits and pieces. You could never say that the Academy was a tidy place.

  “Still looking for my wand, I suppose,” Miss Scritch said sourly. She turned back to Pete, and waved her hand. At once, the most glorious shiny red aeroplane flew over his head, circled twice and landed on the workroom table.

  Pete’s face positively glowed. He looked at the plane and he looked at Miss Scritch. A moment later, he was hugging her and, to my astonishment, she smiled at him. A really nice kind smile. “Thank you,” Pete said, and then he rushed back to inspect the aeroplane.

  Meanwhile, Fairy Fifibelle Lee was moving bottles from one shelf to another and I could hear her muttering. “I’m sure I put it here … or was it here? Or there? No. Not there. Oh dear, oh dear…”

  I began to feel sorry for her, especially as I couldn’t quite work out why Miss Scritch was making such a fuss. “Please, Miss Scritch,” I said, “can’t you find your wand by magic?”

  Miss Scritch stopped looking human and glowered again. “No,” she snapped. “If another Fairy Godmother uses your wand, she has to hand it back in person. It’s a rule. Otherwise there’d be wands flipping about all over the place. Just think what someone useless—” she glared at poor Fairy Fifibelle— “could get up to!”

  “Oh,” I said. There was no sign of our lovely head teacher, and I was beginning to think we really needed her. Usually the Academy is the nicest place ever, but today it felt strange. Just a little bit uncomfortable. “Excuse me … where’s Fairy Mary McBee?” I asked.

  Miss Scritch looked even crosser. “If you’re thinking she could help, Sophie, think again. She’s got a terrible cold and I’ve tucked her up in the sitting room. I’m sure you’ll find we can manage perfectly well without her.”

  Chapter Three

  It isn’t a good idea to upset our deputy head teacher. She’s always very fair, but she can be fierce. “Yes, Miss Scritch,” I said as meekly as I could. “Would it be OK if I tried to help Fairy Fifibelle?”

  Fairy Fifibelle turned round and gave me the most enormous hug. “SUCH a darling girl!” she said. “DO help me! I sent you your Tingle and then I put the wand down for just a teensy-weensy second, and poof! It was gone!”

  Pete looked up from the floor, where he was polishing his aeroplane with his sleeve. “Why is that fairy lady floating? And why has she got a stick in her hair?”

  “A stick?” Fairy Fifibelle Lee put her hand to her head and gave a little shriek. “WONDERFUL boy! It’s the wand! Oh, now we can send for all the other darling girls—” She stopped. Miss Scritch was giving her a hard stare. “I mean … here’s your wand, Miss Scritch, safely back. And thank you so much for letting me send Sophie her Tingle. Are you quite sure you wouldn’t like me to call the others?”

  “Quite sure.” Miss Scritch all but snatched the wand. “I’d feel safer letting little Pete call them!” She gave Fairy Fifibelle one last sour look, and tapped the table sharply seven times. “Lily, Madison, Melody, Ava, Olivia, Jackson, Emma – time for Stargirl Academy!”

  At once my elbow began to tingle again, though not as sharply as it had before.

  Pete gave a loud squeal. “My elbow hurts,” he said. “It hurts a lot!”

  Fairy Fifibelle and Miss Scritch stared at him as if he had turned into a rabbit.

  “It seems to me that my wand is NOT working the way it ought to.” Miss Scritch sounded grim. “Let us hope the other Stargirls get here safely. Now, I’m going to see if Fairy Mary needs anything. She’ll join us when it’s time for The Spin, of course, but she needs to rest as much as possible.”

  Miss Scritch had hardly walked out of the workroom when there was the sound of cheerful voices outside, and a moment later Madison and Ava came swinging through the other door. They were followed by Olivia and Lily, and a flustered-looking Emma with very wet hair.

  “I’ve just come back from my gran’s,” Emma explained. “We’d only just got inside the house, and it was pouring with rain and I didn’t have time to get dry … am I dripping over everyone?”

  Fairy Fifibelle Lee stretched out her hand. “Blow, wind, blow!” she said, and at once a warm breeze wafted through the workroom, twirled twice round Emma, and left her with lovely shiny, dry hair.

  Pete jumped to his feet. “Do that to me!” he said, and Fairy Fifibelle waved her hand again. The breeze circled round Pete, and he laughed and held his aeroplane over his head. “See Pete flying to the park!” he said. “Rrrrrrrrmmmm, rrrrrrrrrrrrmm.”

  “Who’s this?” Ava asked. “Is it your little brother, Sophie?” I nodded.

  But Pete had stopped smiling. “I can’t go to the park anymore,” he said sadly. “They shut the gates with a big chain.”

  “That’s terrible,” Madison said. “What a shame!”

  Lily knelt down beside him. “So where do you play?”

  Pete shrugged, and looked at me. “There’s nowhere else,” I said. “Not unless we go on a bus to the big park.”

  “And that takes ages and ages and AGES.” Pete heaved a massive sigh. “I ask Mum to take me but she says it’s too far and Dad’s too busy.”

  “So why has the park been shut?” Emma wanted to know.

  It was my turn to shrug. “I don’t know. It was something about there being so much litter, and nobody really looking after it.”

  Olivia coughed. She’s very quiet and shy, but when she does say something she’s usually thought about it. “Do you think,” she said in her soft little voice, “that maybe we could use our magic spells to get it open again? One of us will be offered the chance to help someone today. What about promising we’ll try to help the children get their park back?”

  Pete looked at Olivia with big round eyes. “Get the park back?”

  “That’s right.” Olivia looked at the rest of us. “What do you think?”

  “I reckon it’s a wonderful idea,
” Madison said. “Let’s vote. Who’s for saving the park?”

  We all raised our hands, and Pete absolutely exploded.

  “YES! We can go to the park! Let’s go NOW!” And he grabbed my hand and tried to tow me out of the workroom … just as Melody and Jackson came strolling in.

  Chapter Four

  “What’s going on?” Jackson asked. “And what’s that kid doing here?”

  “’Scuse me.” Pete tried to push past them. “We’re going to the park!”

  I hauled him back. “Hang on a minute, Pete,” I said. “We’ve got to sort it out first. It’s not open yet.”

  Melody stared at me, one eyebrow raised. She looks SO superior when she does that. It always makes me wonder if she thinks I’m really babyish. “Park?” she said. “What park?”

  Emma bounced up in front of me. “The park near Sophie’s flat has been shut down so we’ve promised to help. It doesn’t matter who gets to choose who to help today – we’ve agreed that’s what we’ll do!”

  “Really?” Melody leant back against the wall. “But you didn’t ask me and Jackson. WE might want to do something else.”

  Jackson nodded. “We’ve got ideas of our own.”

  “But Sophie’s brother hasn’t got anywhere to play,” Emma told her.

  “Lots of children don’t have a park nearby, kid,” Melody said. “I never did. He’ll live.”

  “Don’t you care? I think that’s ever so mean of you!” Emma sounded as if she was getting angry, but Fairy Fifibelle Lee floated across the room before she could say anything else.