Dark Tricks

by Linda Chapman

  “Have you been practising looking into the past, Maia?” Sita asked.

  “A bit,” said Maia. She didn’t want to admit she’d been using the Seeing Stone. Bracken thought she should only use Star Magic and she had a feeling the other Star Animals – particularly Sorrel – would agree with him. “Oh, I’ve just remembered something,” she said, changing the subject. “I called in to see Auntie Mabel on the way here and she gave me Christmas decorations for you all.” She took them from her pocket and handed them out, keeping a snowman for herself.

  “Cute!” said Lottie, looking at her reindeer.

  Sita looked at the penguin Maia had given her. “My gran would love this. She adores penguins. I’ll give it to her.”

  “Wait!” Sorrel hissed suddenly, her fur standing up. “Those decorations could have Shades in.” She pounced on the knitted snowman Ionie was holding and sniffed it suspiciously. “They’re safe,” she said grudgingly.

  “Of course they are,” said Maia as Ionie picked up the snowman and put it on her desk. “Auntie Mabel’s decorations wouldn’t be bad. She only uses magic for good.”

  “She did give you the stretchy men,” Sorrel reminded them.

  “But she hadn’t even noticed them. She picked the packs up from the garden centre!” Maia protested.

  Ionie looked thoughtful. “Maybe if we go there we might find out something about them.”

  “How do we get there though?” said Lottie. “I suppose we could ask one of our parents to take us…”

  “I could shadow-travel us!” exclaimed Ionie. Recently, she had found out that she could take other people with her when she was shadow-travelling. She jumped to her feet. “Come on!”

  “Wait! What if your mum comes in and finds we’ve all gone?” said Sita.

  “She’ll be really worried,” Willow added.

  “I don’t mind staying,” offered Sita. “If your mum does pop in I can say the rest of you have gone outside or something.”

  “I’ll stay, too,” Maia said. She wanted a chance to talk to Sita about her new powers. “I will use my magic so Sita and I can watch what you’re doing,” she told Lottie and Ionie.

  Ionie looked at Lottie. “OK, guess it’s you and me then.” She and Lottie had never been very good friends – they were both clever and very competitive – and they rarely did anything just the two of them.

  “I guess it is,” said Lottie, giving Maia a slightly panicked look.

  Ionie walked to a patch of shadows in the corner of the room and held out her hand. Lottie joined her – and then they and their Star Animals disappeared.

  Maia and Sita stared at the empty shadows.

  “I hope they’re OK,” said Sita anxiously. “What if someone notices them suddenly appearing in the garden centre?”

  Maia pulled a small mirror out of her pocket – she always carried it with her in case she wanted to do magic. She said Lottie and Ionie’s names and, in the mirror, she saw her friends stepping out of the shadows beside a display of lawnmowers. Luckily no one seemed to notice. “They’ve just got there. They seem OK. I’ll check again in a moment.” She lowered the mirror. “So how are you?”

  “Me? All right.” Sita shrugged, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Why?”

  “I just wondered how you were feeling about being able to command people,” Maia said.

  Willow nudged Sita encouragingly. “Talk to Maia. Tell her.”

  “Well, to be honest, I… I don’t like it,” Sita muttered. “I’m not even sure if it’s real. I mean it could just have been a fluke when I stopped those stretchy men.”

  “It wasn’t,” Bracken said.

  “No way,” said Maia, shaking her head. “You told us to freeze and none of us could move until you freed us. Your power’s real.”

  “But it can’t be!” Sita said desperately. “I can’t even decide what clothes to wear in the morning or how to do my hair. I can’t be the powerful one.”

  “But you are,” Bracken told her. “And that’s good, isn’t it?”

  “No. It’s a mistake,” Sita said. Her eyes filled with tears.

  “Look, don’t stress about it,” Maia said, squeezing Sita’s hand. “Auntie Mabel suggested that you call in and see her if you want to talk. My granny had the same power as you and Auntie Mabel can help you.” Not wanting to upset Sita any more, she changed the subject. “Should we check on the others again?”

  This time when Maia picked up the mirror she saw Lottie and Ionie standing by a display of gnomes. “They’re by some garden gnomes!” she exclaimed. “They look just like the one the Wish Shade was in. Maybe he came from that garden centre, just like the stretchy men!” Letting everything else fade away, she focused on the picture and heard Ionie speak.

  “Let’s ask about them,” she was whispering to Lottie. “Then we’ll see if we can find out more about the stretchy men later.” She headed over to a nearby shop assistant.

  “Excuse me, how much are the gnomes?” Ionie asked politely.

  The lady smiled. “They’re all different prices, the price tags are underneath them. They’re sweet, aren’t they?”

  Ionie nodded. “Have they just arrived here or have you had them for a while?”

  “They came in a few months ago now.”

  “I think my granny’s friend might have bought one,” said Lottie, joining Ionie. “It was a gnome with a four-leaf clover on his hat. Does that sound familiar?”

  “Oh yes! He was very cute,” said the assistant. “He had a message on the base. Make a Wish, I think it said.”

  Lottie nodded fast. “That’s the one.”

  “Do you remember when he was sold?” Ionie asked eagerly.

  The assistant nodded. “I do. It was about a month ago – and I remember the lady who bought him. She comes in quite a lot. She lives in Westcombe. Cheerful lady, quite small with grey hair and very blue eyes.”

  Maia’s heart thumped. They had a description of the person who had bought the gnome!

  “What’s your granny’s friend called?” the assistant asked

  “Umm, she’s…” Lottie gave Ionie a panicked look. “She’s…”

  “Oh, my phone!” said Ionie, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “It’s my mum,” she said to the assistant apologetically. “She’s probably wondering where we are. Thanks for your help.” She held up the phone to her ear. “Hi, Mum,” she said, pretending to answer a call as she dragged Lottie away round the side of a display of toys. “Yes, we’re just coming.”

  Lottie squeaked and pointed at a shelf where there was a big box of stretchy men.

  “Stretchy men!” Ionie gasped. “I wonder if these ones have got Shades in, too. Sorrel, come here!” she whispered.

  Maia caught her breath as she saw the wildcat appear. What if someone spotted her?

  Ionie pushed a stretchy man towards the cat. “Has this got a Shade in it?”

  Sorrel sniffed. “No.”

  “Ionie! Someone’s coming. Quick!” Lottie hissed.

  “Time to go!” said Ionie, throwing the stretchy man back in the box.

  Sorrel vanished and Ionie grabbed Lottie’s hand and pulled her into a patch of shadows. They disappeared.

  A second later they were back in Ionie’s bedroom, giggling and stumbling out of the shadows beside Ionie’s wardrobe. “Oh, my goodness! Shadow-travelling is fun!” said Lottie.

  “It really is, isn’t it?” Ionie gasped.

  “What happened?” said Sita.

  Lottie and Ionie called Juniper and Sorrel’s names and the two animals appeared. Then they told the others what had happened.

  “You both did exceptionally well,” purred Sorrel.

  Lottie grinned. “I didn’t know what to say when the assistant asked me what my granny’s friend was called. It was quick-thinking with the phone excuse, Ionie.”

  Ionie looked pleased. “Thanks. Your idea of pretending your granny’s friend had bought a gnome was great, too. At least we know what the pers
on who bought the gnome looks like now.”

  “She’s got grey hair, blue eyes, she’s quite small and she’s from Westcombe,” said Lottie.

  They beamed at each other. Maia blinked. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Lottie and Ionie act like they were proper friends before.

  “There are quite a few old ladies in Westcombe like that,” said Sita.

  “I’ve got an idea,” said Ionie suddenly. “All the old ladies are bound to go to the Winter Fayre this weekend. We can make a list of everyone there who matches that description. Then we can spy on them using Maia’s magic and see if any of them act suspiciously.”

  “That’s a great plan!” said Maia. “I think we’ve got some real clues to go on now.” She held out her hand. “Go us!”

  “Go us!” echoed Sita, Ionie and Lottie high-fiving each other.

  When Maia got home she hung her snowman decoration on the handle of her wardrobe door. As she called Bracken, she picked up the Seeing Stone from her desk. It glowed with a faint golden light. “I might try using the Seeing Stone to see Granny Anne and Auntie Mabel in the past,” she told Bracken. She loved watching her granny when she was younger.

  Bracken scratched his nose with a paw. “You’re a Star Friend – you should use Star Magic, not Crystal Magic.”

  Maia reluctantly put the Seeing Stone into her pocket and sat down in front of the mirror on her desk. “Show me Granny Anne when she was just learning about being a Star Friend.”

  The surface of the mirror began to swirl. She waited for it to form a clear image but all she caught were brief pictures that appeared and then vanished – a young Granny Anne cuddling her silver wolf… Granny Anne with her hand on the wolf’s back, smiling happily… Granny Anne arguing with someone… Maia squinted, trying to see who it was. It looked like it could be Auntie Mabel but before Maia could decide, the image flickered and was replaced by Granny Anne healing a horse’s leg.

  “What can you see?” Bracken asked.

  “Just a whole load of different images flashing by,” said Maia in frustration. “My magic’s not working properly.”

  Bracken looked surprised. “It was working fine earlier. Try looking at something that’s happening now.”

  Maia looked into the mirror again. “Show me … Auntie Mabel.”

  The surface swirled again and she caught a glimpse of Auntie Mabel holding the snow globe. She was smiling … but then the image swirled away.

  “Auntie Mabel,” Maia said again but nothing happened. “I can’t even look into the present right now!” Maia gave Bracken a confused glance. “What’s going on?”

  Bracken looked puzzled. “It’s very strange. Maybe you should have a break and try again later.”

  But that night Maia still couldn’t see anything clearly. In the end, she gave up and fell asleep with Bracken in her arms.

  Maia woke up in a bad mood. It was a drizzly, grey morning and on the way to school Alfie kept insisting on their mum stopping the buggy so he could look at things.

  “Cat!” he said. “Black cat.”

  “Yes, sweetie, that’s right – it’s a black cat,” their mum said.

  “Red car!” he said pointing to a shiny red car parked by the pavement. “Wanna see!”

  Mrs Greene pushed him over.

  Maia felt irritation rise up inside her. “We’re going to be late, Mum!”

  “No, we’re not,” her mum said. “He just wants to have a look.”

  “He’s had a look!” said Maia.

  Her mum frowned. “What’s up with you this morning?”

  “Nothing,” Maia muttered.

  “Dog!” said Alfie next, pointing up ahead to where a brown and white spaniel was sniffing at some grass. The owner, Mrs Patel, who had been a friend of Granny Anne, was talking to Auntie Mabel.

  Maia’s mum went over to say hello.

  “Hello, Maia. Hello, Alfie,” said Auntie Mabel. “Off to school and playgroup?”

  Maia forced herself to smile despite her bad mood. “Yep.”

  The dog licked Alfie’s outstretched hand and stuck her nose in his face. Alfie giggled.

  Maia crouched down to rub the dog’s ears. Granny Anne had sometimes looked after Holly for the Patels when they went on holiday. “Hello, Holly dog,” she said.

  Holly bounced round Maia, her tail wagging really quickly.

  “She’s ready for her morning run in the woods,” said Mrs Patel. “Any time you feel like dog-walking, Maia, do feel free to call by!”

  “I will,” Maia promised.

  She spotted Lottie, Sita and Ionie walking together a bit further up the road. “I’ll catch up with the others,” she told her mum.

  “All right, have a good day!” her mum called.

  Maia hurried after her friends. Sita looked lost in her thoughts, her hands playing with the ends of her blue and white polka-dot scarf, while Lottie and Ionie were talking about the school maths club, complaining about how the games and worksheets were always too easy. Maia felt a flicker of jealousy as she saw Lottie and Ionie swap smiles and she tried to push the feeling away. It was silly to be jealous – after all, she had been wanting Lottie and Ionie to get on better for ages.

  They all greeted her. “Are we going to meet after school so we can talk about stuff?” Ionie said as they went into the playground.

  “Yeah, and do stuff,” said Lottie, raising her eyebrows meaningfully. They tried not to mention magic when there were other people around, in case anyone overheard.

  “It’s getting dark so early we probably won’t be allowed to go to the clearing in the woods,” Ionie said. “I’ll ask if you can come to my house.”

  “That’s a good idea,” said Sita.

  “I guess,” said Maia a bit grumpily. She saw her friends give her surprised looks. “We went to Ionie’s last time.”

  “We can go to yours if you want,” said Ionie.

  “No, it’s OK,” said Maia. She put down her bag and it fell over, spilling her books and lunch on to the wet ground.

  “Stupid bag,” she said crossly as the others helped her pick up her things and she shoved everything back in.

  The bell rang and they made their way over to line up in their class groups. Lottie and Sita were together in one Year Six class and Maia and Ionie were in the other.

  “Are you OK?” Ionie said, falling into step with Maia. “You seem in a bad mood.”

  “I’m fine,” snapped Maia.

  Ionie stared at her. “There’s no need to bite my head off!”

  As the day went on Maia’s bad mood faded. At the end of school, their parents agreed that they could all go round to Ionie’s house. They were walking along the road when Maia spotted a notice on a lamppost with a photograph of a brown and white dog. She frowned and hurried over. “Look! The Patels’ dog has gone missing. I only saw her this morning!” She read the notice.

  “I wonder what’s happened to her,” Maia said.

  “I hope she hasn’t been run over,” said Sita anxiously.

  “Maybe we can help find her,” said Ionie. “With magic,” she mouthed, glancing back to where her dad was walking along talking to another dad.

  They all nodded and hurried on down the road.

  Ionie dumped her bag on her desk next to her snowman decoration. “I’ve got to find a place to put this,” she said, holding it up.

  “You could hang it from your mirror,” suggested Lottie.

  “I gave mine to my gran yesterday,” said Sita. “She really liked it. She’s going to buy some more at the Winter Fayre.”

  Ionie shut the door. “OK, let’s call the animals and see if we can help find Holly.”

  The others nodded. As soon as the Star Animals appeared and heard about the missing dog they agreed that the girls should try and find her using magic.

  “Whose magic shall we use?” Lottie asked.

  “Well, I think it’s obvious,” said Ionie. “We use Maia’s magic to see where the dog is and then you and I will shadow
-travel there. If it’s trapped somewhere, you can use your agility to rescue it. Sorted!”

  Maia bit her lip. Her bad mood felt like it was creeping back. Why did Ionie always think her plans were the best? “What about Sita?” she said. “That means she doesn’t do anything.”

  “Maybe not everyone’s magic is needed this time, Maia,” Bracken said.

  Annoyance flashed through Maia. “I think we should try and use everyone’s magic.”

  “Why are you being so difficult?” Ionie said.

  “Yeah, Maia, what’s your problem?” Lottie asked, frowning.

  Maia glared. They were all ganging up on her!

  “I don’t mind if I’m not needed,” Sita said quickly. “If the dog is injured or needs calming down, I can help in that way.” She squeezed Maia’s hand. “Thanks for being a good friend though.”

  Maia felt the tension inside her slowly drain away. She started to sigh in relief but then she realized what Sita was doing. “You’re using your magic on me!” she exclaimed indignantly.

  “No! Well, not my commanding magic. It’s only my soothing, healing magic,” Sita said. “I was just trying to help – you seemed tense.”

  “I’m not tense!” Maia exclaimed. She saw her friends and their animals exchange surprised looks and added, “Oh, this is stupid! You can all find Holly without me!”

  “Maia!” Bracken raced up and put his paws on her knees. “This isn’t like you. What’s the matter?”

  Maia took a deep breath and crouched down, burying her face in his fur. Breathing in his familiar scent, she felt her anger begin to fade. “Sorry,” she said, looking up at the others. “I don’t know why I’m in such a bad mood.”

  “Look, let’s concentrate on trying to find Holly,” said Sita. “Doing magic and helping people always makes us feel happy.”

  Bracken nuzzled Maia’s cheek. “Can you use your mirror to try and find the dog?”