by Sue Bentley
Julia gasped, completely spellbound.
‘Arrow?’ she gulped in wonderment.
‘Yes, it is still me,’ he told her in a smooth velvety voice.
Before Julia could get used to seeing him in his true from, there was a final flash of light from his key and Arrow reappeared as the tiny silver-blue bunny.
‘Wow! That’s a brilliant disguise!’
Arrow’s little bobtail twitched nervously. ‘Yes. But it will not fool the dark rabbits if they get too close. I must find a place to hide. Can you help me, Julia?’
‘Of course I will!’ Julia said without thinking. She wanted to protect this brave little bunny, who was here, all by himself, in a strange scary world. ‘I’ll have to smuggle you into our tent, so the teachers don’t get suspicious. Just wait until the rest of my team see you!’
‘No, Julia. I am sorry, but my mission is secret. You can tell no one about me. Promise me?’ the magic bunny asked anxiously.
Julia felt disappointed. She’d been hoping that having a magic bunny around would make Lex and Ellie forget about their differences and get along with each other. But she wanted to do everything she could to keep Arrow safe.
‘OK then. Your secret’s safe with me,’ she said. ‘But it’s going to be really difficult to keep you hidden in a small tent with six kids inside.’
Arrow pricked up his ears. ‘I will use my magic, so that only you will be able to see or hear me.’
‘You can make yourself invisible? Cool! That makes things much easier,’ Julia said with delight.
The magic bunny’s key flashed. ‘It is done.’
Julia scooped him up again, cuddled him against her chest and then drew her waterproof jacket closed around him. ‘There! Nice and cosy,’ she announced.
She pulled up her hood and stepped out into the rain, which was starting to ease off. Arrow’s fluffy little body was warm as he snuggled up to her. She felt her spirits lifting as she tramped down the wet field towards the tent.
Although she still wished Lucy were here, it would be a lot easier to cope with Lex and Ellie squabbling now that she had her own secret magic bunny friend for company!
Chapter
THREE
‘Rise and shine, teams!’ Miss Granger’s cheery voice came from just outside the tent. ‘Meeting in the farmhouse common room to sort out chores and activities before breakfast. See you all in fifteen minutes sharp!’
There were a few grunts and yawns inside the Wolverines’ tent as everyone poked their heads out of sleeping bags.
‘OK, miss!’ Julia called sleepily.
There was something soft and fluffy curled up near her left shoulder. She put her hand up to feel it and it moved.
‘Arrow!’ she burst out delightedly. The girl sleeping opposite gave her an odd look, and Julia quickly pretended to have a sneezing fit. ‘Atchoo!’
She must be more careful about keeping her magic bunny a secret.
‘Did you sleep well?’ Julia whispered to Arrow when the girl looked away and she’d made sure that no one else was looking.
Arrow touched her chin with the tip of his little damp nose. ‘Very well, thank you. This is a safe place. I like sleeping in a tent with you, Julia.’
‘Good! Because I love having you for my friend!’ She kissed the top of his warm little head. ‘I s’pose we’d better get up.’
Julia had been lying on her side with her knees bent. As she stretched, she thrust her legs down into the sleeping bag and gasped as her bare feet met cold, soggy material. The bottom of her sleeping bag was soaking wet.
Gently moving Arrow aside, she got out, crawled forward and unzipped the curved opening into the porch. A big puddle covered one side of it. It must have gathered there overnight, after all the heavy rain. Julia was nearest the tent’s entrance, so it had seeped towards her sleeping space.
‘Look at this. I said the tent was wonky!’ she said crossly. ‘We should have moved it.’
‘You never said anything about it being wonky,’ Lex said.
‘Yes, I did!’ Julia retorted. ‘But you and Ellie were arguing and no one was listening to me. And then it started raining –’
‘So the rain is my fault, is it?’ Lex butted in huffily.
‘No, but –’
‘Don’t blame me either,’ Ellie said, twisting a strand of her blonde hair between her fingers. ‘Everyone seems to be picking on me at the moment.’
‘I’m not! I didn’t mean … Oh, just forget it, OK!’ Julia said, exasperated. Turning away, she struggled into the dry clothes that she had folded beneath her pillow last night. ‘Those two want to turn everything into an argument,’ she whispered to Arrow.
Arrow nodded. He jumped up on to a rolled up sleeping bag at the back of the tent, out of harm’s way while everyone was moving about inside the small space.
‘I don’t believe it!’ a boy complained, as he crawled into the porch and picked up his bag. ‘My clothes are completely soaked.’
‘So are mine!’ a girl said. ‘I can’t wear any of them. Someone should have listened to Julia about the tent …’
‘Look. You can both borrow one of my T-shirts,’ Julia said quickly, as Lex frowned and opened his mouth to speak. She didn’t want another row to break out. ‘And someone’s probably got some spare jeans that’ll fit you. I don’t mind staying back here and hanging all the wet clothes up to dry, while you go to breakfast. I’ll see you all there,’ she said, for the sake of keeping the peace. Besides, she wouldn’t be alone. She had Arrow with her.
‘Are you sure you don’t want any help?’ Ellie asked.
Julia shook her head. ‘No. I’ll be fine. Honestly.’
There were nods and murmurs from her other team-mates. A few minutes later, the Wolverines went out, leaving Julia alone with Arrow.
‘Phew!’ she said, relieved.
Now she could talk to Arrow without having to worry about anyone hearing. The magic bunny hopped over and jumped into her lap. Julia gave him a quick cuddle.
‘I’d better try to get my sleeping bag dry. I don’t fancy cold wet feet tonight,’ she said, wrinkling her nose. Arrow hopped out of the tent behind her, as she dragged her sleeping bag outside and draped it over a nearby bush.
‘There’s not enough room for all the wet clothes. If we had an old-fashioned clothes airer like Gran’s, I could put the other kids’ stuff on that,’ she said, thoughtfully.
Arrow’s whiskers twitched curiously. ‘What does this airer look like?’
‘It’s a bit like three small ladders, joined together at the sides so they stand up. Like this.’ She drew an ‘N’ shape in the air with her hands.
‘I understand.’ Arrow’s golden key flashed.
Julia felt a warm tingling sensation down her spine as a cloud of crystal dust appeared and drifted away towards a wood near the bottom of the field. Almost immediately a bundle of sturdy twigs dropped out of thin air on to the grass in front of her.
Snap! The twigs trimmed themselves and formed into the shape of ladders. Creak! Green vines bound them together. Rustle! The airer marched across the grass like a soldier on parade and stood to attention.
Julia clapped her hands in delight. ‘That’s brilliant! Thanks, Arrow.’
‘You are welcome.’
She ducked back into the tent to sort out the wet clothes. It didn’t take very long to hang them out to dry. ‘I just hope it doesn’t rain again.’ Julia bent down to pick up Arrow. She stroked his warm ears. ‘Let’s go after the others, before someone comes to see where we are!’
But it was too late.
‘What are you still doing here, Julia?’ asked a stern voice.
Julia almost jumped out of her skin. She’d been so busy that she hadn’t heard anyone approaching. She turned to see Mr Potter, the strictest teacher in school, looking at her over the top of his glasses.
Chapter
FOUR
‘Um … I was just trying to … erm … dry out some of our things,’ J
ulia said.
‘Hmm.’ Mr Potter walked over to the wet clothes draped on their twiggy dryer. ‘This is a clever idea. You should get team points – although I can’t believe that you made it all by yourself,’ he said suspiciously, peering down to examine it. His eyebrows knitted together in a frown. ‘Did someone who works at the farm help you?’
Julia gulped. If Mr Potter thought she was cheating he’d probably punish her by making her peel mountains of potatoes, or worse!
‘It was … erm … a team effort,’ she improvised quickly. ‘All the Wolverines helped. I … um … volunteered to stay behind to finish hanging the clothes out to dry. They got wet because we had a big puddle in the tent.’
Mr Potter nodded slowly.
Julia held her breath, hoping that he’d believe her. After a moment, the teacher’s stern face softened.
‘Well, I must say, the Wolverines have done very well,’ he said. ‘Top points for initiative. Come along now, Julia. You don’t want to miss breakfast.’
He strode back towards the farm. Julia quickly tucked Arrow beneath one arm, before hurrying after him. She bit back a grin as she looked down at her magic bunny.
‘I’d better explain about the airer to the team, before they speak to Mr Potter,’ she whispered. Somehow she didn’t think there would be any arguments from anyone, even Ellie and Lex, about them getting extra team points!
Arrow’s big soft-brown eyes gleamed.
‘Mmm. Delicious!’ Julia finished eating the enormous breakfast of sausages, beans, eggs and toast. It had been cooked by the teachers and a couple of farm workers, but from now on all the teams were going to take it in turns to cook meals.
Arrow was in her lap, munching a small piece of toast.
‘I thought you’d never been camping before,’ Lex said. ‘So how come you knew how to make that clothes dryer thing?’
Julia grinned at him. ‘I’m just a natural genius!’ she joked. ‘So, who’s any good at washing dishes?’
‘Not me. I’m rubbish,’ Lex said, jumping to his feet. ‘Gotta go. I’ve … erm … forgotten something.’
‘No you don’t!’ Ellie grabbed his arm. ‘Wolverines have to do kitchen chores today. That means all of us!’
‘Haven’t they ever heard of dishwashers here?’ Lex grumbled.
‘If we all do it, it won’t take long,’ Julia said, agreeing with Ellie for once. Maybe there was hope that they might all work together as team. Ellie seemed a lot less sulky and spoiled today.
Lex seemed about to answer back when Mr Potter gave him a stern look and he slunk towards the washing-up area instead.
Julia felt Arrow jump down on to the floor. He sat under the table as she stood up and began collecting plates and cutlery. She was drying cups on a tea towel when he whooshed over in a rainbow of sparkling dust and landed on a nearby window sill.
‘The whole camp’s going on a hike down to the beach when we’ve finished,’ she whispered to him. ‘I’ll have to collect my backpack first. You’ll be safer inside it.’
After Julia had finished drying up, she went back to the tent and found her bag. With Arrow tucked safely inside it, Julia and the Wolverines joined the other teams and trooped across the fields of grazing sheep. Mr Potter strode ahead, swinging a large black umbrella that he used like a walking stick.
The sun broke through the clouds as they emerged on to the beach path. The ground sloped gently downwards and Julia had her first glimpse of the sea.
Arrow was sitting up to look out of her bag. His nose twitched. ‘I smell something strange. It smells like salty water.’
‘That’s the sea,’ Julia whispered. ‘Look, you can see it over there.’ She pointed towards the huge expanse of blue that met the sky at the horizon.
Arrow pricked his ears. ‘It looks very big,’ he said nervously.
‘The sea is big. But you won’t get wet if you stay on the beach. That’s what the wide strip of sand in front of the sea is called,’ she explained.
Arrow stretched up even further out of the bag as Julia and the others walked on to the beach. The sea breeze stirred his fur and blew Julia’s blonde wavy hair into her eyes. She took a stretchy hairband out of her jeans pocket and gathered her hair into a ponytail.
‘Right, everyone,’ Mr Potter said. ‘Have a good time, and keep an eye out for shells. Lots of them get washed up on this coast. Your team task is to collect as many different kinds of shell as you can.’
‘Bor–ring,’ Lex murmured.
‘I love collecting shells. They’re so pretty,’ Ellie said.
‘You collect them then. I’m off to have a paddle!’ Lex plonked himself on the sand and started pulling off his shoes and socks.
For the second time that day, Julia agreed with Ellie. She loved looking for shells too. She was just about to suggest that they look for some together when Ellie squealed. Lex had dropped a bit of seaweed down her back and was laughing as Ellie tried to fish it out of her T-shirt. Julia rolled her eyes – why could her team not get along?
‘I’m going to walk up the beach. See you later,’ Julia called to the other Wolverines.
Arrow leaned out of the bag to peer down at the sand, his nose twitching with curiosity. ‘I would like to look more closely at this strange stuff. What is it made of?’
Julia trudged through the deep soft sand. ‘Crushed shells and rocks, I think. You might have trouble hopping across it. It’s better down there.’ She pointed towards the damp, firmly packed sand nearer the shore.
Arrow jumped down and began nosing about. He was nibbling at a tiny piece of seaweed when he uncovered a slimy piece of crab shell. He jumped backwards, sneezing and snorting in disgust.
‘Oh, poor you! I picked one of those up once. They smell awful!’ Julia said, sympathetically. She took a water bottle out of her bag and poured some water into her hand for him to drink.
Arrow lapped at it gratefully. ‘Thank you, Julia. That is better.’
They walked on and Julia picked up a dozen different shells, which she put in her backpack. She didn’t know what they all were, but she recognized the long razor clams and dark-blue mussels.
‘I could use my magic to help you find some special shells,’ Arrow offered.
‘Thanks. But that would be cheating,’ Julia said. ‘I ought to find them myself.’
Arrow nodded, enjoying scrabbling at the damp sand with his fluffy front paws.
Golden sunshine glimmered on the waves and the breakers made a lovely shushing sound as they met the shore.
‘I like the sea!’ Arrow declared.
‘Me too!’ Julia said warmly, feeling a stir of affection for him. She was enjoying herself too. Having her magic bunny on holiday with her was the best fun ever.
Julia was digging in the sand with the toe of her trainer when she uncovered the tip of something buried. She bent down to finish digging it out with her hands.
‘Wow! Look at this!’ she cried, holding up an enormous shell.
It filled the palm of one hand. Even covered with damp sand it was impressive, with a spiral curve and lots of little spikes and ridges. Julia went to rinse it in the sea and then dried it on her T-shirt.
‘This should earn us a few team points!’ she said delightedly as she rejoined Arrow.
‘Oi! That’s my shell!’ called a mean, nasal voice.
Julia looked up to see some older kids, a girl and two boys, walking towards her. The girl who had spoken looked about twelve. She was short with thick arms and legs and wore a pair of baggy combat shorts.
She held out a meaty hand. ‘Hand it over!’
Chapter
FIVE
Julia froze. ‘This … erm … shell’s mine. I-I just found it,’ she stammered.
The girl grinned nastily. ‘Tough!’
‘I’d do what Kelly says, if I were you,’ the dark-haired boy said.
‘Yeah, you don’t want to get on the wrong side of her!’ said the other boy. He had curly hair and wore glasses.
<
br /> ‘You heard Hitesh and Dean! Gimme it!’ Kelly ordered, lunging towards Julia and grabbing the shell.
Julia felt a warm tingling sensation down her spine and saw Arrow’s key flash and a spurt of crystal mist appear.
She hid a grin. Big mistake, Kelly!
The invisible crystal mist surrounded the girl just as she snatched the shell away. Suddenly, Kelly shot backwards and landed on her behind just as a wave was coming in. Sandy water shot everywhere, splashing over Hitesh and Dean.
Kelly threw Julia’s shell up in the air as she fell. It whizzed straight back towards Julia. She caught it neatly and slipped it into her bag.
Kelly struggled to her feet, fists clenched. Her face was scarlet.
‘Get her!’ she yelled.
Julia had already bent down and scooped Arrow securely under one arm. She raced back along the beach towards her team-mates and teachers.
Hitesh and Dean ran after her, while Kelly plodded along behind them, still soaking wet from landing in the water.
Julia’s trainers dug into the sand. Her legs ached with the effort of running, but she was almost there now.
Just before she reached the others, the three mean kids gave up. They turned and walked away.
‘Thanks, Arrow. You were brilliant!’ Julia puffed. ‘I’d have hated to lose that shell.’
His bobtail twitched. ‘I am glad I could help.’
Julia flopped down near the other Wolverines and took the shell out of her bag to dry in the sun.
‘Whoa! That’s a corker! Wait until Old Potty sees what we’ve found.’ Lex had spotted her shell and quickly scooped it up. Before Julia could say anything, he had hurried off to show the teachers who were standing at the water’s edge.