by Bentley, Sue
To Rex—an early companion, strong and loyal
GROSSET & DUNLAP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Text copyright © 2009 Sue Bentley. Illustrations copyright © 2009 Angela Swan. Cover illustration © 2009 Andrew Farley. First printed in Great Britain in 2009 by Penguin Books Ltd. First published in the United States in 2014 by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. GROSSET & DUNLAP is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) LLC. Printed in the U.S.A.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-698-16438-3
Version_1
Spellbound at School
SUE BENTLEY
Illustrated by Angela Swan
Grosset & Dunlap
An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) LLC
Contents
Dedication
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter *ONE*
Chapter *TWO*
Chapter *THREE*
Chapter *FOUR*
Chapter *FIVE*
Chapter *SIX*
Chapter *SEVEN*
Chapter *EIGHT*
Chapter *NINE*
About the AUTHOR
Prologue
The young silver-gray wolf leaped across the freezing water, jumping between huge slabs of floating ice. Storm paused and lifted his head up to the cold light of the moon. It felt good to be back.
Suddenly a terrifying howl rang out in the night air. Storm froze.
“Shadow!” he gasped.
The cruel lone wolf who had attacked Storm’s Moon-claw pack was very close.
There was a dazzling flash of bright gold light and a silent explosion of sparks. Where the young silver-gray wolf had been standing, there now crouched a tiny shih tzu puppy with fluffy black-and-white fur, a flattish face with a button nose, short legs, and bright midnight blue eyes.
Storm whined softly. He should have known it wasn’t safe. He hoped that this disguise would protect him.
His puppy heart beat fast as he looked around nervously for somewhere safe to hide. As far as the eye could see there was only treacherous dark water and huge floating slabs of ice.
Storm tensed as he spotted a wolf speeding toward him. It was running and jumping like the wind, despite using only three of its legs.
“Mother!” Storm leaped forward and tore across the ice floes toward her. The injured she-wolf stopped and bent her head as the tiny puppy ran up to her. Storm’s whole body wriggled and his little high-set tail twirled as he licked her muzzle in greeting.
“I am glad to see you again, my son,” Canista panted, her gray sides heaving. “But you cannot stay. Shadow is not far behind me.”
Storm raised his head and saw a tiny dot out on the ice, growing bigger with every passing second as it got closer. His midnight blue eyes glinted with anger and fear. “Let us fight him now and force him to leave our land forever!”
Canista’s tired, gentle face flickered with pride. “He is too strong for you to face alone, and I am weak from his poisoned bite and cannot help you. Use this disguise and hide in the other world. Return when you are wiser and your magic is stronger.”
Storm nodded slowly. He knew that his mother was right, but he hated to leave her. Leaning close, he huffed out a glittering puppy breath that swirled around Canista’s injured leg for a few seconds before disappearing into her fur.
“Thank you, Storm. I feel a little stronger,” Canista rumbled softly.
Another powerful howl split the silence. Shadow was close now. Outlined against the starlit sky, he crouched, ready to spring.
Gold sparks ignited in the tiny puppy’s fluffy black-and-white fur. Storm whimpered as he felt the power building inside him. The gold glow around him grew brighter. And brighter . . .
Chapter
*ONE*
Lola Evans propped her chin in her hands, idly watching the dragon shape in the cottony clouds in the sky outside the classroom window.
Ms. Dobson was speaking. “Now class, we’re going to learn about recycling today. Are you listening, Lola?”
Lola jumped and felt herself going hot at being caught daydreaming. “Sorry, ma’am. Um . . . will we have to go around collecting garbage and stuff?” she asked.
Carly, who sat at a desk next to Lola, glanced across at her. “That shouldn’t be a problem for you. My mom says the neighborhood where you live looks like a big junkyard,” she whispered so that only Lola heard.
Lola ignored her, but her cheeks burned even more.
Carly lived in a big house on a leafy avenue. She was the most popular girl in class and nearly always got good grades on her school projects. Today she wore glittery pink barrettes in her straight blond hair.
Ms. Dobson smiled. “Good question, Lola. But there’s a lot more to it than that. It’s about not wasting things and thinking of interesting ways to reuse them.”
“My mom’s great at recycling stuff,” Lola said, starting to get interested. This topic sounded like it might turn out to be fun. She knew a bit about it already, and she thought she might even be quite good at it. “She saves wrapping paper to use again and puts plastic bottles and cans out for the weekly collection.”
“Duh! Everyone does that!” Carly scoffed. “I know, ma’am! I’m going to recycle my old Barbie dolls by giving them to the kids’ hospital!”
“That’s a wonderful idea. Very good, Carly!” Everyone began talking at once about different ways of recycling, and Ms. Dobson held up a hand for silence. “Hold your horses, everyone. To get you all motivated, I’m going to make this into a competition. There’ll be a prize for the winners. Movie tickets for the latest summer blockbuster! You’ll be working in groups, so I want you to get into teams of three.”
There was a scraping of chairs and then a frantic scramble as friends hurried around and joined teams. Lola went toward one group, but there were already three kids in it. She turned round and almost bumped into Carly and Treena Cox, a tall, thin girl with glasses.
“Don’t even think about it!” Carly warned, the braces on her teeth glinting. “Lee! Quick, come over here with me and Treena. I want the best team.” She waved to a stocky boy with spiky hair.
“I wouldn’t be in your team if you paid me!” Lola murmured to herself, trying not to show that she was hurt.
Looking around the class, she saw that everyone else had teamed up. Her shoulders drooped. It looked like she was going to be left on her own, but then she saw Ms. Dobson coming toward her with Jaidon Brooks.
Jaidon was a quiet boy with longish, curly dark-blond hair, who had only joined the class last quarter. Lola had tried to speak to him a couple of times, but he hadn’t seemed like he wanted to make friends with her or anyone else. And, right now, he stood there making circles on the floor with the toe of one shoe.
“Lola!” said Ms. Dobson. “You and Jai
don seem to be at a loose ends. I thought you could team up together.”
“But that means there are only two of us in our team!” Lola protested. And Jaidon hardly ever says anything, anyway, so I’m really just a team of one!
“You’re a resourceful girl, Lola. I’m sure you’re capable of making a special effort.” The teacher unrolled a wall chart and wrote Lola’s and Jaidon’s names, and then added a number ten in the column beneath. “There. These points will give you a head start.”
Everyone crowded around as the teacher filled in the team names on the wall chart. It was almost time to go home, but Ms. Dobson had one more thing to say.
“Have a good weekend. And on Monday, I want you all to bring some things from home to put on our display table. Good luck with the competition!”
The bell rang for the end of class, and everyone filed out.
Lola and Jaidon wandered into the playground together in silence. Deciding to try to make the best of things, Lola smiled at him. “So we’re teammates, then. It’d be great if we could win this with just two of us. Don’t you think?”
Jaidon didn’t look at her. He shrugged. “I . . . um . . . guess so.”
They reached the school gates, where Carly, Treena, and Lee were discussing what they were going to bring to school on Monday. “How about some Styrofoam to-go containers . . . ,” Lee was saying.
“Shhh!” Treena eyed Jaidon and Lola through her glasses. “We don’t want to give them any ideas.”
“We’ve got lots of ideas of our own, thanks,” Lola said.
“Really?” Carly sang out. “Well, here’s another: Why don’t I recycle some of my old dresses by giving them to you? Then maybe you won’t have to run around after school in scruffy jeans and a T-shirt all the time!”
Treena and Lee snickered.
Lola prickled with indignation. “No, thanks. I like my jeans, and, anyway, I don’t feel like dressing up like a pathetic stick of cotton candy!” she shot back spiritedly.
Treena nudged Carly. “I’ll have your old stuff, if you’re giving it away.”
“Oh, shut up,” Carly said irritably, obviously annoyed that Lola seemed to have gotten the upper hand for once.
Lola looked around to grin triumphantly at Jaidon and noticed that he was backing away nervously. “Um . . . Gotta go. See you at school on Monday,” he mumbled.
“Hey, wait! What about our stuff for the display table . . . ?” Lola called after him, but Jaidon was already jogging away down the street.
“Great!” Lola murmured, as she started walking home by herself. She got the feeling she’d be doing this project all on her own.
A few minutes later, Lola turned onto her street. There were some older kids kicking a soccer ball against a row of shabby garages. Another boy was skateboarding down the sidewalk, avoiding the cracks where weeds pushed through. They all shouted “hello” to Lola, and she waved back as she went into the apartment building where she lived.
Her mom and dad didn’t get home for another two hours, so Lola usually went to her neighbor’s apartment and played with her little kids. But today she wasn’t in the mood. She popped next door, just to say that she was home, and then wandered into the kitchen to get herself a snack.
As she opened a cabinet, Lola was suddenly blinded by a dazzling flash of bright gold light.
“Oh!” she gasped, taking a step back. Lola rubbed her eyes and looked up to see a tiny, fluffy black-and-white puppy, with a cute, flattish face, a button nose, short legs, and enormous midnight blue eyes glowing from under a tiny fringe. It was staring at her from where it sat on a shelf, next to some cans of baked beans.
“Can you help me, please?” it woofed.
Chapter
*TWO*
Lola stared at the tiny puppy in complete astonishment. “Wha-what . . . er . . . I mean, who are you?” she stammered, not quite able to believe what was happening.
“I am Storm of the Moon-claw pack. I have just arrived here from far away,” the puppy yapped, looking at her with an intelligent expression.
Lola’s eyes widened in shock. “You really can talk!” she gasped.
“Yes, all of my pack can.” Storm sat there with his ears pricked. “What is your name?”
“I’m L-Lola Evans,” Lola found herself spluttering. “I . . . live here with . . . with my . . . mom and dad.”
She took another step backward, so as not to alarm this amazing puppy. She still couldn’t quite believe this was happening and she didn’t want Storm to jump down from the high shelf and hurt himself while trying to get away.
Storm dipped his little black-and-white head. “I am honored to meet you, Lola.”
“Um . . . me too.” Lola blinked as she remembered something that Storm had said. “Why do you need my help?”
Storm’s midnight blue eyes flashed with anger. “My mother and father were the leaders of our Moon-claw pack. But a fierce lone wolf called Shadow attacked us. He killed my father and three litter brothers and left my mother injured. Now he wants to lead the pack, but the others will not follow Shadow while I am alive.”
“Just a minute. Did you say wolf? But you’re a tiny pu—”
“Please stand back,” Storm ordered, leaping down from the shelf in a glittering fountain of gold sparks and landing softly on the floor behind Lola.
As Lola whipped around toward him, there was another blinding flash that lit up the entire kitchen this time.
“Oh!” Lola rubbed her eyes and blinked hard. To her amazement, she saw that the tiny black-and-white puppy had gone, and in its place stood a magnificent young silver-gray wolf with thick fur and huge velvety paws that seemed too big for his body. Despite being young, he had large, sharp teeth and a thick neck-ruff that glittered with big golden sparkles.
Lola backed away warily. “Storm, is . . . is that still you?”
“Yes, Lola. Do not be afraid. I will not harm you,” Storm told her in a deep, gentle growl.
But before Lola had time to get used to the sight of the majestic young wolf standing in the middle of her kitchen, there was a final gold flash and Storm reappeared as a tiny, helpless puppy.
“Whoa! That’s some disguise!” Lola exclaimed, deeply impressed.
Storm crouched down, so that his fluffy tummy brushed the floor and she saw that his tiny black-and-white body was beginning to tremble all over.
“It will not save me if Shadow uses his magic to find me. I need to hide now. Can you help?” he whined.
Lola’s heart went out to the little puppy who was all alone and trying to make the best of things in any way he could. Right now, Lola felt a bit like that herself.
She picked up Storm. As she stroked his soft little head, his fringe tickled her fingers. “Of course I’ll help you. You can stay here with m—” She stopped as she remembered her parents’ strict rules about having pets.
“Oh, I don’t know if I can keep you. We’re all out all day, and Mom and Dad don’t think it’s fair to leave a pet by itself.”
“I understand, Lola. Thank you for your kindness. I will leave now and find someone else who can help me.”
“Oh, please wait!” Lola said urgently. She wasn’t ready to lose him just yet. Before he’d arrived she’d been feeling so lonely and fed up. Because of Carly’s mean comments, not many of Lola’s classmates were brave enough to be her friend. Jaidon didn’t exactly say much, either.
“There must be some way I can keep you here. Maybe I could hide you in my bedroom. But it would be really boring for you to have to stay at home and be quiet all the time,” she said thoughtfully.
“I would like to stay here with you!” Storm looked up at her with eager midnight blue eyes. “And I can use my magic so that only you will be able to see and hear me.”
“Really? You can make yourself invisible?” Lola said. “Then I don’t need to wo
rry about hiding you from Mom and Dad. Oooh! You can even sleep on my bed.”
Storm grinned, showing his sharp little puppy teeth. “Thank you, Lola,” he woofed. He leaned up and licked the end of her nose with his wet pink tongue.
Lola smiled down at the adorable puppy. She felt her heart lighten as she cuddled Storm’s sturdy little body. “Even Jaidon will be excited when I tell him about you. Maybe he’ll even want to be friends . . .”
Storm stiffened and his cute little squashed face became very serious. “You cannot tell anyone my secret. Promise me, Lola.”
“Oh. Really? Well, okay, then.” It would have been nice to have something to break the ice with Jaidon. But Lola didn’t want to put Storm in danger, so she was prepared to agree. “Cross my heart. No one’s going to hear about you from me!”
“Thank you, Lola.”
Lola gently rubbed one of the puppy’s tiny ears between her finger and thumb. “I bet you’re hungry after your long journey, aren’t you?”
Storm nodded and wagged his tail. The little tail, set high on his rump, looked just like a tiny black-and-white mop!
Lola hid a smile, not wanting to hurt Storm’s feelings. She bent down and put him on the floor, before reaching up for a can of tuna.
As soon as Lola had forked the fish on to a saucer and put it on the floor, Storm began chomping it up. He finished it in a few gulps and then sat down to lick his chops.
“Delicious!”
“I’m sorry we don’t have any dog food,” Lola apologized. She had a sudden thought. “I still have some of last week’s allowance money left. Let’s go out to the store and get you some.”
Woof! Storm immediately leaped to his feet and danced about excitedly on his short legs. “And shall we go for a walk, too?”
“You bet! There’s plenty of time before Mom and Dad get home. But I think you’d better make yourself invisible, just in case anyone I know sees me with you.”