by Edrei Cullen
‘Come now, Dixon.’ She beckoned to the pixie. He peeked over his shoulder at the Queen but wouldn’t let go of Ella’s face. ‘The Ban is over, my loyal servant. You can come back to visit Ella on Earth often, I promise.’
Dixon swung himself down onto Ella’s shoulder. ‘That’s so true, blue, moo, you! Clever Queenie, beanie.’ He dotted the parts of Ella’s face he could reach with kisses, and then slid off her shoulder and skipped over to the banks of the pond.
Charlie pointed at Ella and laughed out loud.
‘What?’ said Ella, staring at him with a boldness she could only have dreamed of a few days ago.
‘You’ve got the muddy shape of that pixie plastered all over your face,’ Charlie said, falling about laughing.
‘Very funny,’ said Ella, wiping at her face and shaking her head. She turned back to see Dixon whirling through the waters to the Mirror in the centre. He waved to her as it sucked him further and further into its core.
Ella started to cry again.
‘You don’t half cry a lot,’ said Charlie.
That night, when Ella returned home, there were an awful lot of questions asked about her odd behaviour over the past week. Indeed, Dribbles really had Granny convinced that Ella needed special help.
However, by the time morning came, all was magically swept under the carpet, and breakfast was conducted as normal.
Grandpa ate his porridge, ignoring his giraffe’s mournful baying from the animal enclosure. Ella spread butter and honey on her toast, sniffing in the wonderful smell of it with all her might. Granny stood by the sink looking disapprovingly at everyone, a dishcloth in one hand.
And then, out of the blue, Granny took a deep breath and stepped over to the breakfast table.
‘I have something to say,’ she said, though her lips were so tightly pursed it must have been hard saying it. ‘Ella, before your father returned to London this morning he told me that he thinks it is time for you to go to school and socialise with other children.’ She turned back to the sink and plunged her hands into the hot, soapy water.
Through the window, with Mr P standing at her side, Manna watched as Grandpa almost choked on his muffin. Smiling to herself, a wistful look in her eyes, she patted Mr P on the back, tipped her head to one side, lifted herself into the air and flew home.
Only metres away, Saul of the Flitterwigs directed a band of Troggles carrying the exhausted and bedraggled Duke to a small cottage at the end of the Willow Farm driveway. After seeing them safely through an open window, he bade them farewell and headed off into the shadows, a woollen hat pulled down low over his face.
The Troggles found themselves in a bedroom decorated so appallingly that the wallpaper seemed to be made of vomit and the carpet of speckled spittle. Ragwald ordered them to heave the Duke onto a chair in the corner.
Dribbles sat on her bed, a pair of red spectacles lying beside her, pulling a pair of stockings over her chubby feet. She didn’t notice the troop of Magicals filing past her and setting up home in her personal space.
She was only human, after all, so how could she?
Copyright
Published by Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd
PO Box 579 Gosford NSW 2250
ABN 11 000 614 577
www.scholastic.com.au
Part of the Scholastic Group
Sydney • Auckland • New York • Toronto • London • Mexico City • New Delhi • Hong Kong • Buenos Aires • Puerto Rico
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Text copyright © Edrei Cullen, 2008.
Illustrations copyright © Gregory Rogers, 2008.
Cover copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2008.
Cover design by Madeline Smith.
Thanks to Tony Mott for the Ponkaluckas.
First published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Australia in 2008.
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited in 2012.
E-PUB/MOBI eISBN 978 192198 900 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, unless specifically permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 as amended.