Pete beamed at her. “Get my park opened!”
“What?” Jackson looked blank, then frowned. “No. I don’t care about any parks. I’m going to help my mum. She works in a council office, and last week something went wrong. She won’t tell me what happened, but now her boss is being horrible to her. I’ve heard her crying at night, and I know she’s scared she’ll lose her job … so I want to make it better for her.”
“But what about ME?” Melody wailed. “Aren’t you going to help me?”
Jackson looked at her friend and gave a little shrug. “Honestly, Melody – I’m sure it’ll be OK about your spot. Don’t you see? I HAVE to help my mum! If you saw how worried she looks, you’d understand. And it isn’t as if anyone will see you, anyway. As long as you’ve got your magic pendant, you’ll be invisible.” Jackson pulled her Stargirl necklace out from under her T shirt, and looked at the rest of us. “Are you going to help? Because if you are, I’ll tell you my plan.”
There was a moment’s hesitation before Olivia and Emma said that it was Jackson’s choice, so of course they’d help.
“And maybe we can do something about the park next time,” Olivia added.
“Count me in, Jackson,” said Madison, and Ava and Lily nodded.
I nodded too, but I didn’t say anything. When Jackson had said that she didn’t care about the park, Pete had slid under the table and I couldn’t get him to come out.
“Come on, Pete,” I said. “PLEASE come and sit at the table!”
“Don’t want to,” he said, and I could hear that he was crying.
Learning to be a Stargirl was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me, but now I was competely split in two. Half of me was wishing and wishing that Pete was at home with Mum. The other half was feeling so sorry for him that I almost wanted to cry as well.
I sighed as I made a decision. I had to look after my little brother before I did anything else, even if it meant leaving all my friends.
“Fairy Mary,” I asked, “would Pete be able to come with me if I went to help Jackson’s mum?”
“Certainly not!” Miss Scritch sounded horrified. “Why, the very idea! What can you be thinking of, Sophie?”
“In that case,” I said, “I’m really, REALLY sorry, but I have to take him home.”
Melody snorted. “You should never have brought him in the first place,” she said, but Fairy Mary McBee held up her hand.
“That’s very thoughtful of you, Sophie,” she said. “And no more than I would expect. I really can’t see a problem with Pete coming with you. After all, he won’t remember anything that’s happened here once you get back home. It’ll all seem like a hazy kind of dream – except, perhaps, for his aeroplane!” She chuckled. “Fairy Fifibelle, could you find Pete a necklace?”
Miss Scritch had the most disapproving expression on her face, but I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d have HATED to miss out on the rest of the day.
“Hey! Pete!” I peered at him under the table. “We’re going on an adventure!”
There was a snuffling noise before Pete’s voice asked, “Can I bring my aeroplane?”
I looked at Fairy Mary McBee, and she nodded.
“Of course you can,” I said, and my little brother reappeared. He was covered in dust, and his face was red, but he was smiling.
“Look what I can do,” he said, and he sent the plane circling round the room.
Miss Scritch raised an eyebrow, but all my friends clapped – except for Melody and Jackson.
Chapter Eight
Pete wasn’t at all sure about wearing a necklace. We explained to him that the pendant was magic, and it made you invisible when you touched it, but even though he’d seen me and Lily vanish and then reappear a couple of times, he still wasn’t convinced. “Boys don’t wear things like that,” he explained. “Boys don’t wear sparkly things.”
Miss Scritch nodded. “I’m not very enthusiastic about sparkles myself,” she said, and pointed her finger at the twinkling necklace in Fairy Fifibelle’s hand. At once it changed into a plain silver chain, with the pendant on the end. “There,” she said, and Pete looked much happier.
“That’s like a sports medal,” he said. “That’s OK.” And he hung it round his neck.
Fairy Mary McBee looked pleased. “Excellent,” she said. “Now, Fairy Mary and I will give you girls five minutes to talk about what you’re going to do and then we’ll organize hot chocolate and biscuits.”
As Fairy Mary and Fairy Fifibelle hurried out of the workroom, and Miss Scritch began to clear the table, Jackson sat back and folded her arms.
“I’ve got it sorted. Melody and I are going to go to the council office where my mum works, and we’re going to put a Floating Spell on all the papers, and move them round so they’re in the wrong place. That’ll make everyone who works there panic! And then, when my mum comes along, she’ll know how to sort it out. She’s a genius at that kind of thing. That’ll make the boss realize how special she is, and he’ll stop bullying her.”
Melody nodded. “And they’ll never guess how it happened, because we’ll be invisible.” She gave Jackson a quick glance. “Won’t we, Jackson?”
“Of course,” Jackson said.
“What about us?” Madison asked. “What do you want us to do?”
“Nothing. It’s a Team-Twinstar special,” Jackson told her.
“Ahem.” Miss Scritch cleared her throat.
Jackson went on, “But I suppose you’ll all have to come too. Just make sure you don’t get in our way.”
Lily was looking puzzled. “But how will we get to your mum’s office?”
“Honestly, Lily.” Jackson sighed wearily, as if Lily had asked a really stupid question. “The Academy floats on a cloud, doesn’t it? We’ll ask Fairy Mary McBee to float us right beside the office block. With any luck, we won’t even need to go inside; we’ll be able to see everything through the windows. They’re huge – Mum says it’s like working in space.”
Ava started to ask a question, but I didn’t hear what she said. Fairy Fifibelle flew into the room waving her hand and a second later mugs of hot chocolate and plates of sandwiches and biscuits were floating down to the table. The next minute I was trying to stop Pete helping himself to all the biscuits at once.
Emma gave me a sympathetic wink. “I’ve got a little sister,” she said. “She’s cute, but she does get in the way when I want to be with my friends. My mum thinks I was invented to look after her.”
I couldn’t help winking back. “So does mine and it drives me mad sometimes.”
Miss Scritch sniffed. “Perhaps I might remind you, Sophie, that Stargirls should look after their families as well as going out to help others.”
“That’s EXACTLY why I’m going to help my mum,” Jackson said, and she gave me a superior smile. “When can we go, Fairy Mary? I’ve got it all planned. We need to go to the corner of Garden Street and Milestone Lane, and you can’t miss the building because it’s the only tower block in that part of Lowstone. My mum’s office is on the top floor, so it’ll be ever so easy to find.”
Fairy Fifibelle Lee came drifting over to our side of the table. “How wonderful, my precious. Fairy Mary, how will our poppets be travelling?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Ava said.
Fairy Mary McBee glanced out of the window. “The wind’s in the right direction. I think we’ll be able to float there. It won’t take us long, so you’d better get ready. Have you all got your necklaces on? Remember how important it is that nobody sees you – although you’ll be fine if you stay inside the Travelling Tower.”
We all had our necklaces, and Pete reported that he and his medal were ready as well.
“Time for you to make your way to the Tower,” Fairy Mary told us. “You won’t need to leave it, I hope, but you’ll get much the best view from there. When you come back, you’ll find us in the sitting room. Good luck!”
We looked at each other. “Aren’t you c
oming too, Fairy Mary?” Ava asked.
“I’d LOVE to keep our darling girls company,” Fairy Fifibelle said, but Fairy Mary put a restraining hand on her arm.
“It’s best if the Stargirls work on their own,” she said. “They’ll find out so much more that way. Miss Scritch, perhaps you could send the mugs to the kitchen?”
Fairy Fifibelle Lee looked disappointed, but she nodded. Miss Scritch pulled out her wand and pointed it at the tray of mugs – and they immediately grew wings and fluttered out of the workroom, twittering to each other as they flew.
Miss Scritch gave Fairy Fifibelle a furious glare. “I don’t know what you did with my wand,” she snapped, but it is NOT behaving the way it should!” And she marched after the flying mugs.
Chapter Nine
We were all laughing as we hurried along the winding passages that led to the Travelling Tower.
“Poor Miss Scritch,” Lily said. “She does have a hard time. She so wants everything to be correct!”
“I think it serves her right.” Melody made a face. “She’s much too strict.”
Pete tugged at Melody’s sleeve. “She’s not strict. She’s nice! She gave me my aeroplane.”
Melody totally ignored my little brother. She pulled away and went to walk with Jackson, just as if he didn’t exist. It made me cross, but I swallowed hard to stop myself saying anything nasty and took Pete’s hand.
“Don’t worry about it.” Madison appeared beside me, and took Pete’s other hand. “They think they’re better than us, but they aren’t.”
“Where are we going?” Pete asked. “What’s the Travelling Tower?”
Madison grinned at him. “It’s completely made of glass, and you can see for miles and MILES! It’s like being in an aeroplane!”
“COOL!” Pete’s eyes went very round. “Let’s get there NOW!”
I was glad Madison hadn’t mentioned that the Travelling Tower could also go up and down like a lift; Pete would have wanted to do that for sure. As it was, he was SO delighted when we stepped out of the dark dusty passages and into the glass-walled room. He ran to look out, and we followed after him.
“Wow, wow, wow, WOW!” Pete’s voice was a squeak of astonishment, and I knew why. I’d felt exactly the same the first time I’d walked in; the glass walls totally take your breath away. Stargirl Academy floats on a cloud, but you don’t really notice that when you’re in the workroom or the sitting-room or any of the other rooms. It’s only when you get to the Travelling Tower that you find out how magical it truly is.
We were floating gently through the sky, and in the distance we could see the spires and roofs of a town. There were several tower blocks, but one was standing on its own. Its windows were glinting in the sunlight, and I guessed that that was where Jackson’s mother worked.
On the other side of the room, Jackson turned to look at us. “Listen, kids,” she said, “you’ve got to do exactly what I say, or it’ll all go wrong.”
At first I thought Jackson was being her usual bossy self, but then I noticed she was paler than normal.
“She’s nervous!” I thought, and I was surprised. I didn’t think Jackson ever got nervous about anything.
I squinted round. Everyone was looking out of the same window, and the glass tower block was getting closer and closer. Gradually I could see inside more clearly; I could see desks and chairs and computers and piles of paper … and then there was the tiniest of bumps as the Travelling Tower came to rest right beside the top floor, just like a boat docking at a harbour wall. It was seriously weird. There we were, hovering alongside the huge glass windows of a towering office block – and nobody inside would ever know.
Ava pressed her nose against the glass. “Is this the right place?” she asked. “It looks empty.”
“The whole department’s at a meeting,” Jackson said. “Mum told me that today’s the day when they all go downstairs to be ordered to work harder, or something. That’s why it’s so perfect! We can mess up the papers while they’re away!”
Olivia gave a little cough. “Erm … are you sure they’ve all gone? Shouldn’t we check?”
Jackson snorted. “Don’t be so pathetic, Olivia. Trust me! I know exactly what I’m doing.”
She pointed her magic star finger towards the office and shut her eyes. Melody did the same. Then a flurry of papers flipped off one of the most important-looking desks and floated up towards the ceiling.
“Can I try?” Madison asked.
Jackson hesitated, then grinned. “Go on, then. The more mess, the better!”
And soon there was SUCH a mess. By the time we’d all had a go at the Floating Spell, the office looked as if it had had its own private snow storm. There were papers everywhere. We followed up the Floating Spell with the Solidifying Spell, and the papers flopped down to the floor as if they were made of lead. Pete thought that was hilarious, and asked us to do it again and again.
“It’s getting harder and harder,” Melody complained. “My star finger is aching!”
“Mine too,” Emma said. “In fact, I’m not sure it’s working any more…”
“It doesn’t matter!” I’d never seen Jackson look so excited. She twirled round and round, her eyes sparkling. “We’ve done it! We’ve totally messed it up! Now all we have to do is wait and watch what happens when the big mean boss man comes back, and my mum sorts it out. LOOK! The door’s opening already!”
Jackson was right. The door at the end of the office had opened, and a small woman came hurrying in. When she saw the mess, she stopped dead and put her hand to her mouth.
“That’s my mum,” Jackson told us. “But … hang on a moment. Where are the others? And why’s Mum got her coat on? Oh… Oh, NO!” She clutched at her head. “Mum wasn’t at the meeting after all! She’s only just arrived! Oh, what have I done?”
“But she can still tidy it up, can’t she?” Melody asked.
Jackson gave a loud wail. “NO! Don’t you see? When they come back from wherever they are, they’ll see the mess. And who’ll be standing in the middle of it? MY MUM!”
“And they’ll think it’s her fault…” Olivia said slowly.
“Of course they will!” Jackson snapped. “Oh, look at her! Poor little Mum!”
We all watched as Jackson’s mum began running to and fro, snatching up armfuls of papers. She looked desperate, and it was horribly obvious that she was in a complete and utter panic.
“We’ve got to DO something!” There were tears in Jackson’s eyes, and she brushed them angrily away. “Reverse the spells! We have to reverse the spells—”
There was a sudden shocked silence as we realized none of us knew how to do that.
“Oh … oh, I HATE this!” Jackson began to bang her fists on the glass wall of the Travelling Tower. “We HAVE to help her – but how can we get into the office?”
“We’d have to go down to the ground, rush out of here and dash into the office building,” Madison said.
Ava was at the back of the room by the wheels and levers that controlled the lift mechanism. “Do you want me to take us down?”
“Yes! No!” Jackson was shaking. “I don’t know! I don’t know if there’s time!”
“Why don’t we float all the papers back up to the ceiling?” Lily suggested. “At least they’d be out of the way then.”
Olivia put her hand on Jackson’s arm. “Shall I fetch Fairy Mary?”
Jackson shook her off, and gulped. “No! I was so sure I’d get it right. I CAN’T mess it up now! Let’s try Lily’s idea. Come on…”
We pointed our star fingers, and concentrated as hard as we could.
Nothing happened.
“I think,” Lily said slowly, “we’ve run out of magic.”
Chapter Ten
Jackson slumped back against the wall. We could see her mother rushing madly around in the office next door, picking up pieces of paper and putting them down again as if she didn’t know where to begin … but then she suddenly stopped
and sat down at one of the desks.
“She’s crying,” Melody whispered.
We looked at each other. “I really do think I’d better get Fairy Mary,” Olivia said, and she slipped away.
“Hey!” It was Ava, who had gone back to the levers. “Look! I’ve managed to open a window!”
She was right. A small window had opened at the top of one of the glass walls in the Travelling Tower.
Jackson glanced up at it. “Is that the only window you can open? Is there a bigger one?” Her face suddenly brightened. “The office window is open too. Maybe I could crawl across!”
“No way!” Emma said. “We’re right by the top floor! It’s MUCH too dangerous!”
“Oh no!” Madison groaned. “Someone’s coming … we’re too late.”
A group of people trooped into the office. When they saw the mess, they looked really shocked. One woman hurried towards Jackson’s mother, and we saw her pointing at the open office window.
“She’s asking if it was the wind that blew all the paper about,” I said.
Jackson grunted. “It’s not that windy. They’ll never believe that.”
Pete had been very quiet, but now he pulled my sleeve. “Who’s that nasty man?”
Pete was right. He did look like a nasty man. He was wide-shouldered and redfaced, and he’d come into the office shouting so loudly that we could hear every word.
“What’s been going on here? Who’s responsible for this? Whoever it is, you’re fired! Do you hear? Fired!” He saw Jackson’s mum, and stormed across the room. “You! Elizabeth Williams! You weren’t at the meeting! So this is YOUR doing, is it? Getting your own back, were you? You women are all the same – can’t bear to be beaten in an argument!”
It was terrible. The red-faced man was towering over Jackson’s mum, and the worst thing about it was that we could see he was actually enjoying himself. The other office workers were looking as if they thought he was completely out of order, but nobody did anything.
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