by Adele Abbott
While the twins were grumbling to one another, Aunt Lucy whispered to me, “Don’t tell them whatever you do.”
Just then, someone shouted a warning, and we all looked around. A driverless van was careering down the road, and it was headed straight for Lester.
“Lester! Look out!” Aunt Lucy yelled, but he’d already seen it.
There wasn’t time for him to dodge out of the way—it was almost certainly going to crush him against the wall. I couldn’t bear to watch, so I closed my eyes.
“Lester!” Aunt Lucy shouted.
I opened my eyes, and expected the worst, but the van had miraculously come to a halt a few inches short of him.
Aunt Lucy rushed over; the twins and I followed.
“Are you okay?” Aunt Lucy threw her arms around him.
“I’m fine, Lucy. Honestly I’m fine.”
“What happened?” I turned to Amber and Pearl. “Did Aunt Lucy stop it?”
“No,” Grandma said. “Lester stopped it, didn’t you?”
Everyone turned to look at him. We all knew that he’d been seeing a specialist because he’d lost his magic powers. So how had he done it?
“I don’t know how I did it.” Lester smiled. “I just knew I had to.”
“This is your doing!” Aunt Lucy turned on Grandma.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Grandma shrugged.
“You made the van roll down the street. You knew Lester would have to use magic to stop it.”
“What are you complaining about? It worked didn’t it? I couldn’t have a daughter of mine dating a magicless wizard, now could I?”
It took the twins and me to hold Aunt Lucy back.
Chapter 26
“What’s that?” Barry asked when I took him for a walk the next morning.
What appeared to be a travelling fun fair had set up overnight in the park—right next to the lake.
“It’s nothing to interest you.”
“Do they have food?” Barry’s nose was twitching.
“No, there’s nothing for dogs to eat.”
“Are you sure? Something smells nice.”
“I’m sure. But I have some treats for you back home?”
“How many?”
“A lot.”
“Come on then, let’s get back.”
He’d already had a good run over the other side of the park—so had I—trying to catch him as usual. I was ready to get back because I had a test with Grandma that afternoon. Yay!
I was used to seeing travelling fun fairs back in Washbridge, but I’d never seen one on this scale. There were rides and side stalls of all kinds.
The twins were ultra bubbly when I got back to Cuppy C.
“What are you two so happy about?”
“Didn’t you see the fun fair?”
“I could hardly miss it.”
“We love fun fairs,” Amber said.
“Yeah. We’re going this afternoon.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Have you forgotten it’s Grandma’s test.”
They looked at each other and giggled. That was never a good sign.
“What have you two done?”
They giggled some more. Now I knew it was bad.
“We sent a message to Grandma to tell her we had both come down with a twenty-four hour bug and wouldn’t be able to go to the test.”
I laughed. “And you seriously expect her to believe that?”
“She probably will, actually,” Pearl said. “because we sent the message from you.”
“You did what?”
“We knew you wouldn’t mind.” Amber stepped behind her sister.
“I do mind! She’ll kill me when she finds out that you aren’t ill.”
“She won’t find out. We’ll be at the fun fair while you are at the Range. She’ll never know.”
Would these two ever learn? After the incident with the donkey ears, I’d thought they might actually get a clue, but apparently that was too much to hope for.
“You aren’t angry, are you Jill?” Pearl said, nervously.
“I’m not angry—just speechless. Look, I have to go back to Washbridge. I have a cat to feed before the test. You two do what you like.”
***
Winky was sulking.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Okay.”
“Well if you must know. Bella has upset me.”
“Has she been semaphoring other cats again?”
“No. We’ve retired the flags for now. They play hell with my elbow joints.”
“Wise decision. So what has she done?”
“She isn’t speaking to me.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Winky?”
“It’s true. How can I help it if someone chooses to ‘lick’ me on FelineSocial?”
“When you say someone, would that someone be another lady cat?”
“Yes. But I didn’t encourage her. I barely know Trixie.”
“Trixie? Seriously?”
“I like her name.”
“So, can’t you just ‘unlick’ her?”
“That would be rude, and besides she’s pretty hot.”
“Sounds to me like Bella may have cause for concern.”
“What would you know?”
“Why? Because I’m not a cat?”
“No because you can’t get a man to save your life.”
Touche.
***
I expected Grandma to lay into me the moment I arrived at the Range.
“It’s a pity the twins are poorly,” she said. “I hope they get better soon.”
Huh?
“Still, at least you made it.”
This wasn’t right. Something was terribly wrong. Surely Grandma hadn’t fallen for the message which had supposedly come from me? I’d expected her to be on the war path, talking about all the things she was going to do to the twins.
We spent the whole session on a single spell—the ‘move’ spell. She set me task after task with different objects. Some of the tasks required an incredible amount of precision, but by the end, I felt as if I had acquitted myself well. Whether Grandma did was of course another matter entirely.
“You did well today, Jill”
What? Had I just heard correctly?
“Credit where credit is due, you seem to have mastered that particular spell.”
“Err—thanks.”
She made me nervous when she was being nice—or at least what passed for ‘nice’ for Grandma.
“You didn’t let the twins’ absence put a damper on it,” she said. “And anyway that’s water under the bridge. After all, this one test is just a mere drop in the ocean.”
Now she was rambling. It wasn’t like Grandma to talk in cliches, but, it was better than having her tear the usual strip off me.
***
When I got back to Cuppy C, I saw the twins walking up the road. Something about them wasn’t right. I’d expected them to be all giddy and excited after their jaunt at the fun fair. Instead they were slouched over as though they had all the troubles in the world on their shoulders. As they got closer, I realised that something else was amiss. They were both soaked to the skin.
“What happened to you two?”
“We were in the lake.” Amber squeezed the sleeve of her tee-shirt.
“Why did you go in the lake with your clothes on?”
“It’s not like we chose too,” Pearl snapped.
“Sorry. So what happened? Did you fall in or something?”
“I need to get a shower and get changed.” Amber pushed past me.
“Me too.” Pearl followed.
An hour later, they had showered, changed and were in much better humour.
“Sorry we snapped at you,” Amber said. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Pearl took a sip of coffee. “We shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
; “That’s okay, but I still don’t understand what happened.”
“We were having a great time. We’d been on the big wheel and the dodgems.”
“Yeah, and had a toffee apple too.”
“Then we decided to go in the bubbles.”
“The what?”
“That’s what they call them. They’re a kind of clear, plastic bubble which goes on the lake. You get inside and kind of walk on the water. They’re fun.”
“Until they ripped open,” Amber said.
“The bubble burst?”
“They both did. They only allowed one person in each bubble. Mine burst and then Amber’s burst a second later. We both ended up in the lake.”
“Did you complain?”
“Of course we did, but the owner couldn’t understand it. He said that they’d been using them for over four years and not a single one had burst before.”
“That’s unbelievable,” I said. “I’m really sorry.”
Grandma’s words came back to me: ‘You didn’t let the twins’ absence put a damper on it. And anyway that’s water under the bridge. After all, this one test is just a mere drop in the ocean.’
I almost stopped myself laughing, but not quite.
***
By the time I got back to my flat in Washbridge, I was exhausted. Still, it had been a good day. I had a date with Jack Maxwell to look forward to, and Lester had his magical powers back—even if Grandma’s methods had left a lot to be desired. All was well with the world.
“Hi, Jill.”
Spoke too soon. “Hi, Betty.”
“Have you seen him?” she said.
“Who?”
“The new neighbour. He moved in earlier today.”
“No, not yet.” I wasn’t in any hurry to either.
“He’s hot.” Betty’s face glowed. She was obviously smitten. A tax inspector and a bookkeeper—the perfect match.
“I’ve no doubt I’ll bump into him sooner or later.” Unfortunately.
“He even has a hot name.” Betty practically swooned. “Luther Stone.”
*****************
What’s next for your favourite P.I. and witch superstar, Jill Gooder?
What craziness does Winky have in store?
Find out in the next book:
Witch Is When The Penny Dropped
(Witch P.I. Mysteries #6)
Web Site: http:www.AdeleAbbott.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AdeleAbbottAuthor
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26