Sophie's Shining Spell

by Vivian French

  “How DARE he talk to my mum like that?” Jackson shook her fist.

  “He’s so mean.” Melody was beside her. “He REALLY deserves to be turned into a spider!”

  I looked at Melody. She was so intent on what was happening to Jackson’s mum that she’d forgotten to cover her chin with her hand. I could see the disgusting green wart with its red bristles, and an odd thought floated into my mind.

  What had Fairy Mary McBee called Fairy Trilling’s spell? The Sliding Spell? And the mole had gone from Fairy Trilling’s chin … could it possibly have slid from her to Melody?

  I took a sudden breath as a wild idea exploded in my brain. “Pete!” I said. “Pete! Fairy Mary showed you how to fly your plane, didn’t she?”

  Pete nodded, his eyes very wide.

  “Then please, please, PLEASE can you fly it out of here and into the office? Can you do that? And can you make it fly round and round in there?”

  For a second, I thought my little brother was going to say no, but then he nodded again. He held up his aeroplane, and whispered to it. A moment later it was soaring out of the Travelling Tower and in through the window of the office next door. Round and round it flew, just above everyone’s heads.

  The result was amazing! Everyone just stared. Even the horrible man stopped shouting and watched the aeroplane, his expression a mixture of disbelief and astonishment. He was standing quite still facing the window, and that was exactly what I’d been hoping for. I needed to be able to see his horrid red face.

  “Armitty charmitty,” I muttered, and I held up my star finger. “Armitty charmitty, slithery dithery…”

  There was a hot feeling on my chin. I glanced at Melody. She was concentrating much too hard to notice, but her huge green wart had completely gone.

  “Sophie!” Madison’s expression told me that my spell had worked, and the wart was safely on my own chin. “What ARE—”

  “Ssh!” I warned her, and I took a deep breath and pointed my star finger at the red-faced man. “Armitty charmitty—”

  I didn’t even need to finish. The Sliding Spell worked straight away, almost as if it was longing to move on. The green wart was safely on the boss’s chin … and on his nose as well. In fact, there were TWO enormous green warts on his nose, and the office workers had seen them. They began by trying not to laugh, but they couldn’t stop themselves. They chuckled and chortled and doubled up with laughter, and the man stared at them, his face getting redder and redder until he looked like a boiled beetroot.

  Only Jackson’s mum didn’t laugh. She pulled a tiny mirror out of her handbag, and handed it to her boss, who gave a massive roar like a wounded rhinoceros and sank down on a chair, his face in his hands.

  The woman who had spoken to Jackson’s mum earlier stepped forward. “Mr Youngman! I don’t know what’s going on here, but I have something to say. Those warts are quite appalling – and it serves you right. You’re a bully, and I’m ashamed that I’ve never stood up to you before.”

  The red-faced man didn’t answer. He just sat there.

  A young man followed the woman. “When you said we had to close Greenberry Park, Mrs Williams was the only one who disagreed – and you’ve been making her life a misery ever since. It’s not fair. I didn’t agree with you either and I was too much of a coward to say so, but I’m saying it now. I didn’t agree last week and I don’t agree today.”

  “HURRAH!” There was a massive cheer from the rest of the Parks Department, and an older woman shouted, “Hands up who wants Greenberry Park reopened?”

  And every hand went up.

  “Sophie!” Pete whispered.

  I put my finger to my lips. “Shh, Petey … listen!”

  Mr Youngman got to his feet, and he was scowling at Jackson’s mum. “I suppose you think you’re clever, Elizabeth Williams. First you throw every scrap of paper on the floor in a childish tantrum, and then you send a kid’s plane zooming round to prove your point about the stupid play park. Well, you could have saved yourself the trouble. Greenberry Park is shut, and that’s how it’s going to stay. And YOU—” he stuck a fat finger right in the middle of her chest— “are FIRED! Pack your bags and GO!”

  “I don’t think so, Mr Youngman.” The voice came from the other end of the office, where a woman dressed in a smart grey suit was standing. There was something about her that reminded me of Miss Scritch; I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to upset her. Her eyes were steely, and her mouth was a thin line.

  “Oh. Good morning, Ms Brenderby. How delightful to see you. Erm … I hope nothing’s wrong…” The red-faced man sounded suddenly creepy.

  Ms Brenderby gave him a cold stare. “I came to see what the noise was all about, Mr Youngman, and I’ve heard everything that’s been said. Everything! I will NOT tolerate bullying of any description in this department. I thought that was made very clear at the last board meeting. So, Mr Youngman, I have to say that it’s YOU who’s fired.”

  Ms Brenderby paused to wait while the man slowly made his way to the door. He didn’t say a word, but he did slam the door behind him so hard that it made the windows rattle.

  “And I also think we’d better change the decision about Greenberry Park,” Ms Brenderby went on. “Am I right in thinking that nobody else thought the closure was necessary? That we can, in fact, afford to keep it open?”

  There was a great deal of nodding and agreeing noises. Jackson’s mum clasped her hands together and almost glowed, she looked so happy.

  “Right, leave it with me,” Ms Brenderby said, and she turned to leave. “Oh. Just one more thing. Could I ask you to have a little tidy-up in here? Thank you. And Mrs Williams? Congratulations. It seems you are the only person here with the courage to say what you really think. Come and see me tomorrow, and we’ll discuss your new position in the council. People like you are to be valued most highly.”

  As Ms Brenderby walked out, Pete’s aeroplane did a victory roll above her head, and then came zooming back in through the window of the Travelling Tower to where we were waiting.

  “Hurrah!” Pete said, and we all agreed … and Jackson Williams actually hugged me AND my little brother and said thank you over and over again.

  Fairy Fifibelle Lee and Miss Scritch arrived just as we were in the middle of a mad victory dance.

  “Guess what, Miss Scritch?” Jackson was as glowingly happy as her mother in the office next door. “We did it!” She seized me by one hand and Pete by the other. “And it was all thanks to Sophie and Pete!”

  “Well done, Sophie.” Miss Scritch gave me a brisk nod. “You learnt the Sliding Spell well.”

  I could feel myself blushing. “Erm … it was only because I noticed Fairy Trilling’s mole had disappeared. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The Travelling Tower was already drifting away from the council office block by the time we’d finished explaining everything.

  “Miss Scritch, Miss Scritch!” It was Ava. “Please – couldn’t you wave your wand and tidy up Jackson’s mum’s office for her? Just so it all ends REALLY happily?”

  Miss Scritch looked doubtful, but Fairy Fifibelle Lee clapped her hands. “Oh, dear Miss Scritch! How wonderful that would be…”

  Miss Scritch took her wand out of her sleeve and gave it a quick rub. “It’s not been behaving as it should,” she said, “as you well know, Fairy Fifibelle. But I’ll try.” And she gave it a quick shake and a wave while we crowded back to the window to see what would happen.

  It took a little while. All the office staff were gathered around Jackson’s mum congratulating her, so they didn’t notice at first when the papers began to flutter slowly up from the floor. Then, as the drift of white floated towards the ceiling, they stopped talking to stare … and they went on staring as the paper cloud began to circle round and round. Faster and faster and faster it went, until the inhabitants of the office were clutching each other and gasping … and then the papers suddenly stopped, gathered
themselves into neat, tidy piles, and flopped down on the desks just as if they’d never ever been moved at all.

  “H’m.” Miss Scritch looked as if she didn’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed. “NOT the way I meant it to happen.”

  “But things often work in strange ways, dear Miss Scritch.” Fairy Mary McBee had come into the Travelling Tower with Olivia, Scrabster plodding behind them. “And sometimes the result is the better for it!” She beamed at us. “Well done, my dears. Well done indeed. Now, we’ve just got time to pop back to the workroom for another sandwich and a drink, and then it’ll be time for you all to go home.” She patted Pete’s head. “Thank you so much for coming, dear little Pete. You were a wonder! Just like your sister.”

  I felt myself blushing again, but Pete just grinned. “Do I get to keep the aeroplane?”

  “Of course, dear,” Fairy Mary told him. “Sophie can tell your mother that it was given to you by a friend.”

  “Thank you!” Pete gave a little skip. “And can I come back?”

  “We’ll see,” Fairy Mary said. “But I think you’ll have Greenberry Park to play in again very soon…”

  “YES!” Pete grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the corridor. “Come on, Sophie! Let’s go!”

  I couldn’t get to sleep that night, even though I was really tired. I kept thinking of all the things that had happened at Stargirl Academy. Fairy Mary was right; as soon as Pete and I walked out of the Academy front door and back into our own house, he forgot everything … and he kept asking, “Where did we get my aeroplane, Sophie? Who gave it to me?”

  I turned over and sighed, and squirrelled my way under the duvet so I could see my star finger glowing. And then I noticed something else. My pendant used to have two shining stars on it, but now it had three. THREE STARS! When it had six, I’d be a proper Stargirl … so I was already halfway there!

  The thought gave me a warm glow, and I was beginning to feel really sleepy when my door opened and Pete came tiptoeing in.

  “Sophie,” he whispered. “Sophie! I had the most amazing dream ever! You’ll NEVER believe what I dreamed!”

  But I did. I believed every single word…

  ANSWERS

  One table leg is missing. A new picture is on the wall. A biscuit has disappeared. The dog on the mantlepiece has gone. The star wand has vanished from one of the pictures. The bellows have gone. The dog is missing his tag. The bowl on the dresser has disappeared. One of the hanging plants has gone. There’s one top drawer instead of three on the chest of drawers.

  A message from Ava

  Hello, everyone! It’s exciting every time we go to Stargirl Academy. We get to help people, and that’s fun, but it’s the most fun EVER when we can help very special friends. That’s what my story’s about … my special friends who run the best café in the whole wide world. It’s called Café Blush, and you should try it! Cake, and sparkling magic. What more could you want?

  Ava xxxxx

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated as they may result in injury.

  First published 2013 by Walker Books Ltd

  87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ

  Text © 2013 Vivian French

  Illustrations © 2013 Jo Anne Davies

  The right of Vivian French and Jo Anne Davies to be identified as author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:

  a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-1-4063-5368-6 (ePub)

  www.walker.co.uk