“He’s called Bracken,” Maia said. “Lottie, Sita and Ionie are Star Friends, too.”
“You lucky, lucky girls,” said Auntie Mabel. “Have you learned about your magical abilities yet?”
Maia nodded. “My abilities are to do with sight.”
“Interesting,” said Auntie Mabel thoughtfully. “Your granny’s abilities were to do with healing. Are you finding it easy to use your magic?”
“Sort of,” said Maia. “Although I’m no good at seeing the past yet. I have seen some things from the future but I’m not sure if they’re accurate.”
“Very few people see the future clearly when they first start using magic,” said Auntie Mabel.
Maia felt relieved. It would be much better if the things she’d seen weren’t really going to happen.
“If you want to improve, you need to try really hard,” Auntie Mabel advised. “You have to concentrate on forcing the magic to work for you. That’s what works for me when I do magic.”
Maia frowned. “But Bracken told me not to try and force the magic. He said it would work better if I relax.”
“That’s only at first,” said Auntie Mabel. “When you get used to doing it, you have to really focus on what you want to achieve.”
“Oh, OK,” said Maia. “Thank you.”
Auntie Mable patted her hand. “Do you know much about dark magic yet?” she asked.
“We had to fight a Shade last week.” Maia explained about the Shade in the mirror. “And now Bracken thinks there might be another Shade nearby because I saw some horrible things happening when I asked the magic to show me the future.”
“Oh, my dear. Please don’t worry too much. Your visions probably aren’t accurate at the moment.” Auntie Mabel gave Maia a kindly smile. “I can’t tell you how many times I got things wrong when I first started seeing into the future. It would be really unusual to have to face another Shade so soon unless someone was conjuring them up from the Shadows on purpose. But I’m sure that’s not happening in Westcombe. Look, to put your mind at rest, how about I use my crystals to check? I’ll soon find out if there’s anything strange going on.”
“That would be great. Thank you!” Maia felt as if a weight had dropped from her shoulders. If Auntie Mabel could check to see if there was a Shade, then there was no need to feel worried that they weren’t doing anything. Hopefully Auntie Mabel was right and her visions weren’t going to come true.
She wondered what the others would say when she told them that Auntie Mabel knew all about magic.
“Good girl.” Auntie Mabel’s warm blue eyes met hers. “Remember, if you ever need advice about magic, you can always ask me.”
Maia hugged her happily. “I will. Thank you so much, Auntie Mabel! Thank you!”
Maia cycled quickly all the way home. As soon as she got in, she ran to her bedroom, shut the door and whispered Bracken’s name.
Bracken appeared in the middle of her rug and put his paws on her knees. “You’re excited,” he said, his tail wagging.
“I am.” Maia threw herself down on the rug and told him all about Auntie Mabel. “Oh, Bracken, she knew about the Star World. Granny Anne was a Star Friend. She told Auntie Mabel about it. Auntie Mabel said she can do magic with crystals and stuff – she and Granny Anne used to work together.”
Bracken flattened his ears, a troubled look on his face. “Oh.”
“What’s the matter?” Maia asked.
Bracken paced around. “Maia, people who aren’t Star Friends aren’t supposed to know about Star Animals. We were told when we came here that it was really important that the Star World was kept secret.”
“But Auntie Mabel’s really nice. She says she would have loved to be a Star Friend but she never got the chance,” said Maia.
Bracken still looked anxious so Maia stroked him. “Please don’t worry. Granny Anne wouldn’t have told Auntie Mabel if she couldn’t trust her. She gave me some tips on how to make my magic work better and she’s going to see if she can find out if any dark magic is being used nearby.” She tickled Bracken under the chin where his fur was really soft and fluffy. “Don’t worry. Auntie Mabel is good – I know she is.”
Bracken licked her cheek. “If you trust her then I do, too.”
Maia remembered something else. “Auntie Mabel said the same as Sorrel – that the things I saw in the future might not be accurate because I’m only just beginning to learn how to use my magic,” she said. “Maybe all those things I saw aren’t going to happen and I just got it wrong.” She looked at him hopefully.
Bracken rubbed his paw with his nose. “Maybe.”
“And if it does turn out there is a Shade after all, we’ll stop it,” declared Maia.
“Definitely!” Bracken agreed.
Putting her arms round him, Maia felt a rush of happiness – when she was hugging Bracken everything was all right with the world.
“Auntie Mabel knows about Star Animals and can do magic?” Sita echoed at break time the next day.
“Yes, she uses crystals to do magic!” Maia said. She, Ionie, Sita and Lottie were in a quiet spot at the far end of the playground, away from the school, where there was a grassy bank ending in a low wall. Two of the girls from Lottie’s gymnastics team – Harriet and Elissa – were taking it in turns to walk along the wall as if it was a gymnastics beam. Maia and the others were standing a little way off, keeping their voices down.
Ionie had barely spoken to Maia, Lottie and Sita when they had got to school that morning. She was clearly still annoyed with them but the news about Auntie Mabel was far too interesting for her to resist. Now she joined the others as they crowded round Maia, the argument forgotten.
“I can’t believe this! What did she say about your visions?” Ionie demanded.
“That they’re probably not going to come true,” Maia whispered in relief. “She said she’ll try to find out whether there is a Shade so we don’t need to do anything for now. She’ll use her crystals and—”
She was interrupted by a scream.
They swung round just in time to see Harriet crashing to the ground. She cried out in pain. For a fleeting second, Maia thought she saw something red and green racing through the bushes – but she didn’t have time to look properly. Harriet needed help.
“My ankle!” Harriet gasped.
“I’ll get a teacher!” said Elissa, sprinting off.
Sita crouched beside Harriet and touched her shoulder. “It’s OK, you’ll be all right,” she said soothingly. “What happened? Did you lose your balance?”
“No. Someone pushed me!” Harriet said through her tears.
“Pushed you?” echoed Ionie.
“Yes,” said Harriet. “I felt a shove.”
“But there wasn’t anyone near you,” said Lottie.
“I felt it,” Harriet insisted. Tears rolled down her cheeks. “What am I going to do? If my ankle’s hurt I won’t be able to do gymnastics.”
Lottie, Ionie and Maia all glanced at Sita. Maia was sure the others were thinking the same as her. Could Sita heal Harriet? But Sita gave a small shake of her head, motioning with her eyes to the crowd of children beginning to gather. She couldn’t risk healing Harriet in front of them.
Miss Harris came hurrying through the crowd. “Out of the way, everyone! Out of the way!”
She shooed Maia and the others back and crouched down beside Harriet, assessing her ankle. “Oh, Harriet. I think it might be broken,” she said. “I’m going to call an ambulance.” She pulled out her phone.
Maia felt a tap on her arm. It was Paige. The younger girl’s eyes were wide. “What happened?” she whispered.
“She fell off the wall,” Maia said. She remembered what Harriet had said about being pushed but there had been no one anywhere near. She must have imagined it … or maybe she made it up because she was embarrassed about falling. She was the best gymnast in the team.
“Is she going to be OK?” Paige asked.
“Miss Harris thinks
her ankle might be broken,” said Maia.
Miss Harris stood up. “Right, everyone. Go back to your classrooms, please.”
As Maia followed the crowd back into school, she turned and looked over her shoulder. Harriet was on the ground still, hugging her injured ankle. Maia stopped dead, feeling shock run through her. It was the first image she’d seen in the mirror the day before!
“Maia?” Sita looked round at her. “Are you all right?”
Maia shook her head. “No,” she whispered.
“What is it?” said Sita.
“When I was looking into the future yesterday, I saw someone on the ground holding their ankle – it was Harriet! I know it was!” The other images flashed through her mind – a girl falling from a climbing frame, Lottie looking terrified… Her blood turned to ice. “Oh, Sita – what if the things I saw are going to come true after all?”
School felt like it was never going to end. All day Maia kept thinking about the fact that the first vision she’d seen in the mirror had come true. News came back from the hospital after lunch that Harriet had broken her ankle. She wouldn’t be able to do gymnastics for a couple of months.
The girls met in the playground after school.
“We have to talk,” Maia told the others. “In private.”
“Should we ask if we can go down to the beach?” said Ionie. Now there were important things to discuss, she seemed to have completely got over her huff from the day before. “We could say we have to collect some shells for a project. There’ll hardly be anyone there at this time of year.”
“I’m supposed to be going to gymnastics,” said Lottie. “But I could try telling my mum I’m too upset because of Harriet.”
“Let’s ask,” said Maia.
They all ran off. Luckily their mums and dads agreed to them going to the beach provided they took their phones and were home before it got dark.
Leaving their bags and lunchboxes with their parents, they hurried through the village, crossed the road and headed down the lane. They passed Granny Anne’s cottage and went on to where the lane ended in a small car park on the clifftop. It was a very blustery day with the sun only occasionally shining out from behind fast-moving pale-grey clouds. The cold salt-filled breeze whipped their hair around their faces and seagulls shrieked as they were tossed about by the wind.
“Come on,” Maia said, heading down the stony track that led to the shingle beach. The tide was out and the beach was deserted apart from a couple of dog walkers in the distance.
“It’s hard to hear!” Sita shouted above the wind as they stepped on to the shingle.
“Let’s go to the base of the cliff,” said Lottie. “It’ll be more sheltered there.”
They found a natural hollowed-out space with dry stones to sit on at the bottom of the cliff. They sat down, the cliff shielding them from the wind. “Do you think it’s safe to call the Star Animals?” said Maia. She really wanted to talk to Bracken.
Ionie nodded. “No one usually comes this far down the beach. And if someone does come they can always vanish.”
They all whispered their Star Animal’s name, and Bracken, Sorrel, Juniper and Willow instantly appeared.
“Are you all right?” Bracken said, cuddling into Maia’s side. “You look worried.”
“There was an accident at school,” she told him. They filled the animals in about what had happened to Harriet.
“I wish I could have helped her,” said Sita. “But there were too many people around.”
“Maybe you could help heal her now,” said Bracken eagerly.
Sorrel sighed. “The child has a broken ankle, fox. Doctors have seen her. Do you not think that the adult humans will ask questions if it miraculously heals?”
Bracken looked crestfallen. “Oh. I suppose so.”
Maia put her arm round Bracken and pulled him close to her. “Listen, everyone. When I looked into the future yesterday, I saw Harriet after she’d hurt herself. I didn’t know it was Harriet then because I couldn’t see her face but now I know that the things I saw yesterday are coming true.”
“Well, technically only one of them has come true,” Sorrel said.
“If one has come true, the others might, too,” said Maia. Like the vision with Lottie in it, she added in her head.
“Why don’t you try again and find out what you see today?” said Bracken.
Maia pulled a small, round mirror out of her pocket. She’d found it in the drawer of her desk the night before – Granny Anne had given it to her a few years ago.
“Wait!” said Sorrel, leaping over to her. “I should check it to make sure there is no dark magic.” She sniffed the mirror. “It’s fine,” she declared.
Maia took a breath and, cradling the mirror in her hands, she stared into it, opening herself to the magic current. She remembered Auntie Mabel’s advice. If she wanted her magic to work well, she had to really concentrate.
Reveal the future to me, she commanded in her head.
A faint image appeared in the mirror. She stared hard at it but the more she tried to focus on it, the more indistinct it became.
Frustration welled inside her. “My magic’s not working properly. I can’t see the future.”
Bracken licked her hand. “Why don’t you see if you can see what is happening somewhere else right now? That might be easier.”
Maia sighed. “OK.” She looked back into the mirror. Show me something important that’s happening right now, she thought.
The surface of the mirror shivered and a picture appeared. It was Elissa playing on her climbing frame, climbing up to the top.
Fear gripped Maia. No! It was like the image she’d seen before. Only when she’d seen it yesterday it had been in the future and she hadn’t been able to see who it was. Now it was happening for real. “Oh no,” she breathed.
“What is it?” demanded Ionie.
Maia didn’t answer. She was too busy watching Elissa, grabbing the top bar of the climbing frame with her hands and dangling happily. As she did so, there was a blur of colour above her and then suddenly Elissa cried out, snatching one hand away from the bar as if she’d been burned. She dangled precariously from her other arm.
“Elissa!” gasped Maia as she watched her lose her grip and fall…
“What’s happening, Maia?” demanded Lottie.
Maia saw Elissa tumble to the grass. She lay there for a few seconds before sitting up and starting to cry. She was cradling her wrist to her chest.
Maia looked up at the others. They were all staring at her.
“What is it?” said Sita. “What did you see?”
Maia gabbled out an explanation of what she had seen in the mirror. “It’s Elissa. It looks like she’s hurt her wrist,” she finished.
Sorrel hissed. “Two girls hurt in one day. This is too much of a coincidence. I’m beginning to think you might be right, fox, and that there really must be a Shade involved.”
Ionie got to her feet. “Sorrel, why don’t you and I shadow-travel to Elissa’s house and see if we can find any trace of one?”
“But what if someone sees you?” Sita said uneasily.
“We’ll be careful. And we can’t just sit around doing nothing.” Ionie pushed her hands through her hair. “We’re Star Friends, we’re supposed to stop dark magic if it’s happening!”
All Maia could think about was her third vision – the one where Lottie had been looking terrified. What if that came true, too? “I think Ionie’s right – she and Sorrel should go.”
Lottie looked anxious. “I think it’s too dangerous. It would be better to go and talk to Auntie Mabel again and see if she’s discovered anything.”
“Maia could do that while Sorrel and I go shadow-travelling,” said Ionie impatiently.
“Good idea,” said Bracken.
“Not a good idea but an excellent one,” said Sorrel, weaving through Ionie’s legs.
The sun came out briefly, casting a patch of shadows at the foot of the ro
ck. Ionie stepped into it. “Sorrel and I won’t do anything apart from try and sense if a Shade is involved,” she said. “I’ll let you know what we find out tomorrow. Come on, Sorrel.”
With that, they vanished.
Maia chewed her bottom lip. If her visions had been right then Lottie would be in danger next.
Bracken nuzzled her. “Don’t worry, Maia,” he said, seeming to read her thoughts. “We’ll soon find out what’s going on.”
After saying goodbye to the animals, Maia, Lottie and Sita made their way back across the beach and up the lane. Lottie and Sita carried on home, while Maia went to Auntie Mabel’s cottage. When she got there the lights were off but there was smoke coming from the chimney, which suggested someone was home. She knocked on the door but there was no answer.
Maia groaned inwardly and wished she could shadow-travel like Ionie – then she could go to wherever Auntie Mabel was.
Just as she reached her house, her phone pinged. Glancing at the screen, Maia saw a text from Ionie.
Deffo a S at E’s. We need to talk. Can u get to schl early 2moro? Ix
Maia’s heart sank. For a moment she had a flashback to when they had been fighting the Mirror Shade and it had injured Bracken with its sharp knife-like fingers. Were they going to have to fight another Shade?
She typed a quick reply.
See u 8.30 at schl. Tell the others. Mx
Slipping the phone into her pocket she opened the front door. As she stepped inside, she heard voices in the kitchen. Hope flared inside her. Was it Auntie Mabel?
But as she reached the kitchen door she saw that it was Paige and her mum. Paige was playing trains with Alfie on the floor, while her mum was having a cup of tea.
“Hi, sweetheart,” Mrs Greene said to Maia. “Did you get the shells you needed?”
“Shells?” Maia remembered they were supposed to have been collecting shells on the beach. “Oh yes, shells!” she said quickly. “Yep, we got everything we needed.”
“These school projects,” said Mrs Greene to Paige’s mum. “There’s always something else for them to do or find, isn’t there?”
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