The Flying Glass (Fanglewick School of Magic Book 1)

by E. M. Cooper

  ‘Hurry, we have to help her,’ Marnie said as she wriggled through the opening, scrambled to her feet and ran toward Professor Crabwinkle, who lay on the tilted floor. Just before she reached her, the floor tipped back and Marnie tripped and crashed on the timber floorboards. Despite smashing her forehead and elbows on the floor, she crawled towards the mage.

  Seb followed Marnie through the hole and together they dragged the semi-conscious Crabwinkle to the opening. Meeb reached through and hauled her to safety. Seb and Marnie scrambled through the hole moments before the room collapsed and vanished in a roaring cloud of crumbling brick, wood and plaster.

  With no time to escape, Marnie held her breath as they huddled together on the landing next to the collapsing room. A shower of debris erupted through the hole in the wall and fell over the group. They coughed and spluttered for several minutes until eventually the cloud of dust and plaster subsided. An eerie silence followed.

  ‘The room’s gone,’ whispered Lissa, peering through the hole at the night sky and Wilderly Woods.

  ‘Is everyone okay?’ Marnie asked.

  Still in shock, Meeb said, ‘You were right. Please accept my apologies for doubting you.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ Seb said. ‘We must have looked pretty crazy.’

  ‘How did you know she was here?’ Meeb asked.

  ‘Your brother, Jax led us here,’ Marnie said looking at him directly. ‘He told us she might be here.’

  Meeb scratched his bald head with a puzzled look while Professor Crabwinkle twitched and groaned.

  ‘We have to get her to the infirmary,’ Lissa said.

  ‘I’ll get help,’ Meeb said. ‘Please stay with the professor and look after her.’

  They all helped to carry the pale and dazed Professor Crabwinkle down the stairs.

  ‘Do you think she’ll be okay?’ Lissa said when they finally reached the ground floor.

  ‘I’m okay,’ the professor mumbled. ‘Thank you.’

  * * *

  CHAPTER 19

  The art of glass

  Bengt Silas, Sandra Pentwhistle and Grib helped rescue Professor Crabwinkle and carried her on a stretcher to the infirmary to recover. Seb told them the djinn-possessed Jax had tipped them off about Crabwinkle being locked in the tower room. No one questioned them or was angry they’d ventured into Fanglewick at night. The teachers were satisfied they’d done the right thing.

  For once, Marnie enjoyed a few weeks of peace and quiet. No one teased her about her scatterling heritage and Charlie avoided her. She was happy to sit by the fire in the goblin kitchen with Astra practising her reading or running over the fields with Muriel Crawfoot’s class. She even managed to sneak into a few of Aurora Bright’s arithmancy classes and Professor Gloam’s dragon theory lessons by pretending to be there to clean windows. Since arriving at Fanglewick, she had also been given permission to eat dinner with the other students in the great hall every evening in recognition of what she had done for Professor Crabwinkle. Life at Fanglewick was easy and good for Marnie.

  Restless with an hour to kill before dinner, Marnie returned to her room from the kitchen. She was tired of the children’s books she had been reading and rummaged under the bed for something else to read. She pulled out the book she had borrowed from the library weeks ago but had forgotten. Blowing the dust from its cover, she opened it and experienced a rush of excitement. The Art of Glass was about the history of glass and its use in magic. Although she knew she wasn’t meant to be dabbling in magic, the lure was irresistible. Surely there was no harm in her practising reading with magic books. Since her glasses had revealed the bloodstains through the magic hiding them, she was compelled to discover more about her lenses and telescope. Deep down, she suspected if she could unravel their mystery, it might bring her closer to her parents and what had happened to them.

  Someone tapped on her door.

  ‘Come in.’ Marnie flipped the book over to hide the cover.

  ‘It’s just me, Seb. What are you doing?’

  Marnie held the book up as Seb sprawled on the window seat.

  ‘Glass, eh? What’s it about?’

  ‘I don’t know yet. Maybe you can help me find out.’ She flicked over the early pages. ‘Ugh, too many words. From the photos of old men and women, I guess it’s about history.’ Yawning, she skipped straight to the second chapter before thrusting the book at Seb. ‘Will you read it, please?’

  Seb skimmed and turned the pages. ‘According to this, old glass is the most powerful element. It can hold, reveal and transport magic. Witches, wizards and elves desire the rare element but have great difficulty mastering its use.’

  The hairs on the back of Marnie’s neck prickled. ‘Do you think my lenses could be old glass?’

  Seb frowned as though in deep thought. ‘I don’t know. It’s very rare.’

  ‘I could see the vortex in Downfell with my lenses and the bloodstains and symbols on the door that was magically locked in Fanglewick.’

  ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Seb turned a page of the book. ‘I wonder who locked Crabwinkle in that room.’

  ‘Maybe it was the djinn.’

  ‘Hardly, I get the impression he wanted to eat her.’

  ‘Maybe we’ll never know.’ Marnie cleaned her glasses with her sleeve as Seb read more of the book. ‘Do you think Mr Arnolds’ telescope lenses are made of old glass too?’

  ‘I don’t know. It says here some have managed to make synthetic lenses, but they’re nowhere near as powerful as old glass.’

  ‘If my lenses are the real thing, imagine what the Arnolds would do to get their hands on them.’

  ‘You’d better keep them hidden—just in case,’ Seb ran his finger under a line of the text. ‘Listen to this: The old glass, the all-seeing and all-knowing, transmits, reflects and refracts the light and truth. The Keeper will wield the instrument and glass with wisdom and integrity and protect it from the dark.’

  ‘Who’s the Keeper?’

  ‘It doesn’t say.’ Seb grinned at her. ‘Perhaps if you read the rest of the book, you’ll find out.’ He shut the book and threw it to her.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said in a deflated tone.

  ‘The real reason I came this afternoon was to show you something.’

  Marnie looked at him with narrowed eyes. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Lock the door first.’

  Suspecting she knew what he was about to tell her, Marnie scrambled from the bed to the door and flicked the lock shut. She couldn’t contain her excitement. ‘It’s a magic spell, isn’t it?’

  ‘Now, you’ve ruined the surprise.’

  ‘Please, Seb, show me.’

  ‘Silas taught us it today. It’s pretty simple and all the class could do it, so I thought it would be perfect for you.’

  Marnie beamed at him.

  Seb sprang to his feet and sat cross-legged on the carpet in the middle of the room. ‘Better draw the curtains too. We don’t want Charlie or any of his idiot friends peering in.’

  Marnie crouched on the floor facing Seb.

  ‘Give me a small object—anything will do.’

  Marnie glanced around and reached for an apple on her desk. ‘What about this?’

  Seb nodded and set it in front of him. He waved his wand and said, ‘vanista airicus’.

  As Marnie watched, the apple faded until it disappeared. She reached forwards and touched the space where the apple had been. ‘I can still feel it. That’s incredible.’

  ‘Aye. Apparently we’ll be learning more difficult spells where you can move the object to another part of the room at the same time it disappears.’

  ‘That’s amazing. Can I try, please?’

  ‘First, I’ll bring the apple back.’ He waved the wand in a circle. ‘Restoray apple.’

  ‘I remember Charlie using the word, restoray when he tried to fix the skylight in the Arnolds’ library, but it didn’t work.’

  Seb shrugged. ‘Maybe he got the wand work wrong.’ He ha
nded Marnie the wand. ‘Now circle the wand in a clockwise direction.’

  Marnie followed the directions carefully and spoke the words, but nothing happened.

  ‘Do it again, but move the wand a bit quicker.’

  Again she tried, yet the apple sat on the carpet stubbornly refusing to disappear.

  ‘Try something smaller, like a pen. It might take less effort.’

  With a sinking heart, Marnie repeated the spell on the pen and every loose object she could find in her room. Eventually she handed the wand back to Seb.

  ‘I guess there’s a block on you or anyone who’s not a student of Fanglewick,’ Seb said. ‘Something like a protective ward, so you don’t try feral magic.’

  ‘Mmm, I guess so.’

  ‘Or maybe you have to have your own wand. Come on, don’t worry about it. Let’s go to dinner.’

  As Marnie followed Seb from Andromeda up the hill to the great hall, again she wondered about her heritage. Truthfully, she suspected she was a lesser scatterling with no magical abilities other than her trick of being able to see some signs of magic with the lenses. As she trudged silently up the path, a thought suddenly occurred to her. Perhaps she might be able to use the lenses to see magic in herself.

  She fiddled and shuffled in her seat at dinner, barely able to sit still with excitement. After she gulped down a quick meal, she excused herself and ran back to Andromeda. Once again she pulled the curtains and locked her door before dragging out her case from under the bed. Carefully, she lined up the lenses on the bed and picked the purple one first. Holding it in front of her eye, she looked at her reflection in the small mirror hanging on the back of her door. Nothing. She ran through each of the lenses in quick succession, testing them to see if she could see any sign of magic in her reflection but was bitterly disappointed. When she had checked the last lens, she sat quietly on her bed as the light slowly faded.

  Later, she packed the lenses back in her case under the lining and covered them with old clothes. She knew and accepted the truth. Her next challenge was to decide whether she would return to Earth or stay in the Old World. It was probably too risky to travel home again. Perhaps in time, with luck, she would find work in the village of Wandermere among the ordinary people who lived in the brightly coloured houses.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 20

  A fresh chance

  Keruncle shuffled down the stone steps of the goblins’ kitchen. ‘Jax wants Marnie. Says it’s important,’ he called but then mumbled ‘pompous, old git.’

  ‘You don’t have to yell,’ Astra said. ‘She’s here drinking tea with me.’

  Keruncle adjusted his braces over his shoulders as he emerged from the corridor. ‘I wouldn’t hurry. Keep him waiting.’

  ‘Thanks, Keruncle.’ Marnie closed the book she had been reading aloud for practice. ‘I’ll finish this later, Astra.’

  ‘Good, it was just getting to the exciting bit. I’m dying to find out what happened to the poor slave girl.’

  Marnie climbed the stairs to where Jax stood fiddling with his waistcoat buttons. Since his trouble with the red djinn, he had returned to his usual demeanour without a word of thanks or acknowledgement to Marnie, Seb or Lissa. It was as though the unfortunate episode had never happened, or he hadn’t remembered.

  ‘Professor Crabwinkle wants you in the study now. She said it’s important.’ He turned on his heels and marched forwards. ‘Come with me.’

  Marnie followed him to her study and when Jax whispered something to the door, it creaked open without him turning the knob.

  ‘How did you do that?’

  He didn’t reply and stood like a soldier at attention, closing the door after Marnie entered.

  Professor Crabwinkle was waiting at the window with Bizzle on her shoulder. ‘Don’t mind poor Jax. He’s become a little twitchy since the djinn business. He insists on a password spell for the door. I didn’t have the heart to point out that my enemies could scale the walls and burst through the windows or catch me when I step out of the room at any time.’

  ‘Aren’t you worried the djinn might return?’

  She smiled. ‘Mage Mystilic dropped the creature back in the demonic halo on his way back to Earth.’

  Marnie was relieved to hear where Theo was now. ‘The djinn’s gone for good?’

  She nodded. ‘The question is how it got here in the first place. You and your friends had nothing to do with that?’

  ‘No, I swear.’

  ‘I didn’t think so.’

  Marnie wondered why she didn’t ask her who might have summoned it.

  ‘Then how did you know I was locked in a Fanglewick tower?’

  ‘Astra and I were asked to clean the study after the attack. I saw a strange mirror. Astra knew what it was. I took it because I was worried a spy might come back for it.’ Marnie bit her lip.

  ‘What’s wrong, Marnie?’

  ‘I think I know who put it there.’

  ‘It’s okay, I already know. Professor Silas hung it on the wall behind my desk as a precaution—to help me.’

  ‘Then he’s not the spy?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Jax and Professor Silas squabbled over the mirror because Jax is a proud goblin and considered it an insult to his capability as my personal assistant.’

  Marnie dug into her pocket and handed the mirror to Crabwinkle.

  ‘Goodness me, you figured out how to read it, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Very clever.’

  Marnie chuckled. ‘No, I was just lucky. Once I knew you hadn’t died in the study, I traced the bloodstains on the carpet to the room upstairs.’

  Crabwinkle surveyed Marnie’s face slowly as though she was searching for something. ‘The detective didn’t mention bloodstains.’

  Marnie shrugged. ‘There was a clean up.’

  ‘I see.’

  Marnie longed to tell her everything, but the truth would expose Charlie and force Crabwinkle to expel him. What had happened to the other creature that had come through the portal with the djinn? Had the djinn told the truth about the shadowy creature? And who had locked Crabwinkle in the tower room? She had no idea how the mind of a djinn worked, so he might have lied simply to frighten and distract Charlie. All of it troubled her.

  ‘I’ve brought you here this morning because I think you deserve a second chance, Marnie. Please sit at the table.’

  Jolted out of her worries, Marnie focused on what Professor Crabwinkle was talking about.

  She pointed to a neat little wooden desk in the centre of the room, which hadn’t been present a few moments ago.

  Marnie sat quietly at the desk.

  ‘You’re going to sit the exam again—the written part you failed.’

  A wave of anxiety hit Marnie. ‘I don’t think I’m ready. My reading speed hasn’t improved much.’

  Someone moved on the sofa behind Marnie, so she turned around. ‘Oh, hello, Professor Crawfoot.’

  ‘Good morning, Marnie.’

  ‘Professor Crawfoot will be here to read the test questions aloud and you can write your answers. You’ll have a minute to answer each question. Are you willing to try again?’

  ‘Absolutely and thank you for letting me have another go.’ Astonished, Marnie settled in the chair and waited for the paper to materialise. One puffed out of the air and fell on Marnie’s desk while another dropped into Muriel Crawfoot’s hands.

  Muriel smiled. ‘Shall we begin?’

  Although her heart was thudding with nerves, Marnie nodded. One hour of questions sat between her and her most longed for desire.

  The test passed quickly as Muriel read each question loudly and clearly. Without the struggle to decipher the words on her paper, she was able to listen and think clearly. Although the questions were detailed and rapid, she could understand and picture logical puzzles about subjects such as dragon eggs, elfin treks, star patterns and ghostly premonitions. Fascinated, by the diversity of questions, she wa
s almost disappointed when the questions came to an end. When the time came to put her pencil down, she had no idea whether she had answered the questions correctly.

  ‘Well done, Marnie,’ Muriel said with a broad smile.

  ‘Thank you for helping me, Professor Crawfoot.’

  ‘My pleasure.’

  Marnie nodded while wondering if this would mark the end of her days at Fanglewick. Even if she had got everything right, the other problem was, according to Sister Yallow, that she probably had no wizarding blood and was quite likely an ordinary human being. What would Crabwinkle do if she passed the test but had no magic potential?

  Muriel Crawfoot patted Marnie’s hand. ‘Come now, dear. I’m sure everything will work out. Why don’t you go and have lunch in the hall?’

  ‘In the hall? But I usually eat lunch with the goblins.’ She had only been given permission to have her evening meals with the other students this week and had barely got used to the idea.

  Muriel glanced at Crabwinkle. ‘I’m sure it will be fine. It’s not every day you sit an entrance exam to Fanglewick and pass or fail, we’d like to mark the occasion.’

  ‘Yes, go ahead, Marnie,’ Crabwinkle said. ‘You’ll know the outcome by tomorrow.’

  Marnie nodded glumly and left the two women to pore over Marnie’s papers. She trudged from the office past an overly vigilant Jax and headed off to the kitchen. Despite Muriel’s invitation to the great hall, Marnie felt more in need of Astra’s company and the other goblins’ familiarity.

  ‘Well, what was the fuss about?’ Astra rearranged a tray of sandwiches on the trolley before the kitchen goblins whisked them off to the dining hall.

  ‘Professor Crabwinkle wanted to know how I came to rescue her and how I knew about Jax,’ Marnie said. ‘I told her about the mirror and gave it back.’

  ‘Did you mention Silas acting suspiciously?’

  Marnie nodded. ‘Turns out he put the mirror in the office to protect Professor Crabwinkle. She knew all about it.’

  ‘Ah well, everything’s fine now.’ Astra narrowed her eyes. ‘Isn’t it?’

  ‘Of course.’