‘My word!’ marvelled Granny. ‘I’ve never seen him run like that before!’
Ruby heard a sob, followed by a loud honk as Dad blew his nose.
‘Cats don’t talk!’ he wailed. ‘They can’t!’
Jeepers! thought Ruby.
‘I warned that cat not to speak to anyone!’ Granny hissed, trying to keep her voice down so Ruby’s dad wouldn’t hear. ‘I told him I’d cut the cord of that air conditioner quicker than he could blink!’
It was clear that Jupiter hadn’t taken the slightest bit of notice.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
‘I’m losing my marbles!’ Dad babbled, banging his head against the bathroom door. ‘I’m going around the twist!’
Mr Wishfingers had been digging in the garden the first time he heard Jupiter speak. But he had decided it must have been the sound of the wind rustling through the trees or of distant children playing.
But the next time, while planting out radishes, he had heard Jupiter loud and clear.
When he saw that the voice was indeed coming from Granny’s old cat, Mr Wishfingers had turned as white as a sheet. He had scrambled to his feet and stumbled to the house to tell Mrs Wishfingers, who immediately made him an appointment with the local doctor.
Doctor Burt, who didn’t believe in extraordinary things either, told Mr and Mrs Wishfingers that the only possible explanation for hearing a talking cat was stress.
If George Wishfingers didn’t have a holiday—or even a weekend away—the doctor warned it would only be a matter of time before George went as nutty as a fruitcake.
Ruby decided she had better hurry up and make her first wish.
She pressed her hands together tightly and closed her eyes.
‘I wish that Jupiter couldn’t speak anymore!’ Ruby whispered, before blowing on her fingertips with all her might.
‘Ruby!’ Mum stood at the open door with Jellybean on her hip. ‘What’s the meaning of all this racket?’ She frowned at the bathroom door, which was shaking with her husband’s sobs.
‘It’s not that silly business with the cat again, is it? George, come out of there at once!’
The lock slowly shifted and Dad’s frightened face appeared.
‘For heaven’s sake, George!’ Mum snapped. ‘Pull yourself together! I’ve told you a hundred times, the kitty can’t talk!’
Well, not anymore, thought Ruby.
Dad whimpered like a puppy, his eyes darting back and forth between his wife and Jupiter, who had slunk back into the caravan.
Granny took Jellybean while Mum rummaged in her apron pocket for her mobile phone.
‘Dr Burt advised me to take him somewhere nice this weekend and that is exactly what I am going to do. Granny, will you look after Ruby and Jellybean?’
‘It would be my pleasure,’ Granny assured her.
But as her mother stepped outside to make a phone call, Ruby began to worry.
‘What about Jellybean’s party?’
‘Don’t fret,’ said Granny, patting Ruby’s shoulder. ‘They’ll be back in time. In the meantime, we’ll have fun getting everything ready. Won’t we, Jellybean?’
Ruby knew Granny was right. Helping to hang the decorations and make the party food would be fun. She was looking forward to deciding what kind of cake they were going to make.
Mum bustled back into the caravan.
‘I’ve booked us a room by the sea for the night. Come along, George. We need to pack.’
‘Relax and enjoy yourselves!’ Granny called after them.
‘And don’t worry about a thing!’ Ruby added.
Mrs Wishfingers led her trembling husband down the steps, across the grass and up the garden path. Suddenly, she stopped and turned around.
‘Oh, Granny!’ Mrs Wishfingers called. ‘I almost forgot. I’ve invited Aunt May, Uncle Max and little Todd to the party. But they’re dropping Todd over this morning because he wants to stay the night. I thought you could do with an extra pair of hands. He might be nice company for Ruby too.’
Granny’s smile froze on her lips.
‘Cousin Todd?’ Ruby gasped.
Jellybean began to grizzle.
Chapter 7
Ruby ran upstairs and flung open her bedroom door.
Her room was full of precious and breakable things that needed to be hidden well out of her cousin’s reach.
She scooped up a pile of her favourite dolls from the floor beside her bed and buried them deep inside her sock drawer. Next, Ruby took down all the drawings from the pin board above her desk. She gathered them into a roll, wrapped an elastic band around them and hid them on the windowsill, behind the curtain. She plucked Skydancer from between the pillows and hugged him tight.
‘It’s for your own safety,’ she assured him, putting her precious unicorn high on the shelf in her cupboard, next to her schoolbag.
‘You’ll have to stay where you are, Norman,’ said Ruby. After all, where could she hide a goldfish?
Jellybean’s birthday banner was still spread across Ruby’s desk. She touched it lightly. The paint was still wet.
If I hide it, thought Ruby, the paint will smudge. It would have to stay put too.
Ruby picked up a fresh sheet of paper and chose a thick black crayon from the jar on her desk. In big, bold letters she wrote:
KEEP OUT!
Ruby thought for a moment.
OR ELSE!
Adding a skull and crossbones as a further warning, Ruby pinned the sign to her door and closed the door firmly behind her.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Mum’s cake book was spread open on the counter. Granny was busy putting two giant chocolate cakes in the oven.
Jupiter wandered into the kitchen, sniffing the air. But as soon as he saw Ruby, he twitched his tail and stalked off in disgust. He was clearly still sulking about the loss of his voice.
Ruby sighed. She didn’t feel like decorating a cake anymore. She wasn’t in the mood for a party either. Ruby didn’t even want to play peek-a-boo with the birthday boy who was kicking his legs and squealing at her as he wiped yoghurt through his hair.
With her father losing his marbles, Jupiter furious with her and the news that horrible Cousin Todd was coming to stay for the night, the school holidays were shaping up to be extraordinarily bad.
‘Come on now, Ruby. We haven’t seen Todd in more than a year,’ Granny reminded her. ‘Perhaps he’s outgrown some of his silly ways.’
Silly?! Ruby shook her head. You could outgrow clothes and shoes, but as far as she knew, people didn’t grow out of being horrible.
Todd was the sort of boy who enjoyed pulling the legs off insects and watching them writhe about helplessly. He hurled stones at cars, pulled animals’ tails and threw other people’s toys up onto the roof. He cut the hair off dolls, scribbled on other people’s artwork, and generally caused trouble wherever he went.
It was fair to say that Cousin Todd was an even bigger pest than the cane toads in Mrs Cottesloe’s garden.
But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Just like one of Henry’s cane toads, Todd was a master of camouflage. With his honey-coloured curls, sweet button nose and baby blue eyes, everyone—including Ruby’s own parents—thought he was as sweet as a fairy-floss cloud.
He doesn’t fool me, Ruby decided.
The worst cousin in the world might be coming to stay the night, but Ruby wasn’t about to waste any of her precious wishes on the little toad, no matter what happened.
Chapter 8
Ruby and Granny stood back, admiring their work.
With its dark-chocolate fur, liquorice nose and red satin bow, Jellybean’s birthday cake looked just like a real teddy bear!
Just then, Jupiter shot past, hissing like an angry snake.
‘I think Cousin Todd has arrived,’ an
nounced Ruby.
Cousin Todd stood beside the car with his suitcase. His checked shirt was tucked neatly into his shorts. His honey-coloured curls were swept to one side, and he had a fresh sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of his cute button nose.
Perfect camouflage, thought Ruby.
‘He won’t be any trouble,’ Aunt May assured them. ‘We’ll see you all tomorrow morning for the party!’
As the car roared off up the street, Ruby heard Jellybean cry.
‘Oh dear,’ said Granny. ‘He must have woken up. I’ll just pop upstairs and try to settle him.’
As Ruby stood alone on the driveway with Cousin Todd, she hoped Granny wouldn’t fall asleep settling Jellybean like she usually did.
As soon as Granny was out of sight, Todd pulled his shirt loose and ruffled up his hair. His little button nose wrinkled and his baby blue eyes narrowed. Then he pulled something out of his back pocket and crouched down low.
‘What are you doing?’ Ruby asked, suspiciously.
‘Shhh!’ hissed Todd. Very slowly, he loaded a stone from the driveway into the loop of his slingshot and aimed it at a low-hanging shrub.
Jupiter let out a yowl, streaked across the garden like a lightning bolt and disappeared under the house.
‘BULLSEYE!’
‘Hey!’ Ruby cried. ‘That’s a horrible thing to do!’
But Todd had already gone.
Ruby hurried up the path just in time to see him emptying her bucket of chalk onto the concrete step and crushing the sticks to dust.
‘Stop!’ shouted Ruby. ‘Those are mine!’
Thwack!
Ruby’s favourite sparkly ball sailed high into the air and over the fence into Mrs Cottesloe’s garden.
‘You’d better go and get that!’ Ruby yelled.
She stomped back up towards the house but as she went past Dad’s vegetable garden, Ruby couldn’t help but notice a neat row of holes in the dirt.
Dad’s radishes are missing! Ruby realised. And so was Cousin Todd.
Donk!
Ruby rubbed her head. She looked up at the sky and frowned.
Smack!
A dirt-covered radish hit her on the cheek.
‘Todd!’ roared Ruby.
Ping! Something poked Ruby in the back and then fluttered to her feet. Ruby bent down to pick up the paper plane. The black writing on it looked oddly familiar. Ruby unfolded the paper and recognised the sign she had made for her door. She looked up to see her pink lace curtains flapping through the open window.
‘Not my room!’
Ruby raced across the yard into the kitchen. She galloped up the stairs as fast as she could, but by the time Ruby reached her bedroom door, Todd was gone …
And so was Jellybean’s birthday banner.
Chapter 9
‘TODD!’
Ruby marched furiously back down the stairs. When she reached the bottom she gasped in horror.
Jellybean’s teddy bear cake—or rather what was left of it—was spread in a telltale trail across the kitchen floor.
Ruby followed the trail of crumbs and small chocolate-coloured footprints across the tiles and out the back door.
On the top step she found the red satin bow. On the bottom step she found Cousin Todd with chocolate icing all around his mouth.
‘Jellybean’s cake!’ wailed Ruby.
Todd burped.
‘My banner!’
The birthday banner Ruby had worked so hard on was tied around Todd’s shoulders like a superhero cape. The letters and all the pictures were a blur of wet paint, chocolate icing and mud.
Forgetting all about being a whole lot older and a whole lot wiser, Ruby clenched her fists, stamped her foot and glared at her cousin.
‘I wish,’ she cried, ‘that everyone else could see what a horrible little toad you are!’
Realising what an awful thing she had just said to her little cousin, Ruby covered her face with her hands.
It was suddenly very quiet.
Ruby opened her hands slightly and peeked through the gap in her fingers.
‘Bleurgh!’
A yellowish-brown toad blinked up at her. Its feet were webbed, its eyes were baby blue and it had a scattering of freckles across its nostrils.
Ruby groaned.
She had promised herself she’d be more careful with her wishes. Now, in a moment of anger, she had wasted a whole precious wish by turning her horrible toad of a cousin into a real one.
‘Drat!’ muttered Ruby. Now she had to waste another wish changing the little toad back into a boy.
‘Bleurgh!’
‘Fine!’ Ruby huffed. ‘I’ll change you back. But you’d better say sorry—and you have some serious cleaning up to do!’
Ruby closed her eyes, pressed her fingers together tightly and blew on the tips of fingers.
But when she opened her eyes again, her slimy cousin was still crouched in front of her. His baby blue eyes were now as wide as saucers. His body had begun to shake. White poisonous foam was oozing out the sides of his neck.
Ruby frowned. She wriggled her fingers, took a deep breath and tried again.
‘Bleurgh!’ Todd was now hopping about wildly, his eyes bulging with panic.
Ruby’s stomach dropped.
Something was wrong, terribly wrong.
She wriggled her fingers again. Not a buzz, nor a hum.
She shook her hands. Not a tickle, nor a wriggle.
She tried to think niggly, itchy, magical thoughts, but no matter what she did, her fingers remained as cool and as calm as cucumbers.
Ruby’s power to wish for whatever she wanted had suddenly—and mysteriously—vanished.
Chapter 10
Granny stood at the top of the steps with Jellybean on her hip.
‘Goodness me!’ She yawned. ‘I must have dozed off.’
She suddenly spotted Todd who was hopping in frantic circles near Ruby’s feet.
‘Ugh! A cane toad!’
‘Actually,’ Ruby corrected her, ‘it’s more of a cane TODD.’
Granny peered closely at the toad. Its freckles and baby blue eyes were unmistakable. She looked worried.
‘Did Todd ask to be turned into a toad?’
‘No,’ Ruby admitted, folding her arms and looking at her feet. ‘I turned him into a toad because he was behaving like one. And now my wishes have gone!’
‘Oh dear.’ Granny sat down on the step with Jellybean. ‘I’m afraid you may have broken The Golden Rule of Magic.’
Ruby nibbled her fingernail as she remembered the important rule that Granny had been trying so hard to tell her.
‘The Golden Rule of Magic,’ Granny explained, ‘is that it should never be used to harm nor punish anyone or anything.’ She looked at Todd who was hopping towards a large chocolate cake crumb. ‘Even if they could do with a lesson.’
Ruby’s heart sank.
‘Will my wishes come back?’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Granny.
Ruby nibbled her fingernails.
Tomorrow everyone would arrive for the party. But there was no birthday cake and no birthday banner. What would her mother say when she saw Todd’s muddy footprints everywhere? What would her father say when he noticed his lovely radishes were all gone? Worst of all, how would she tell Aunt May and Uncle Max that their sweet little boy was going to be a horrible slimy toad forever?
‘First things first!’ said Granny, standing up and hoisting Jellybean onto her hip. ‘We need to find out exactly where your magic powers have gone—or rather, who they have gone to for safekeeping.’
Ruby’s face lit up.
‘Perhaps you have them, Granny!’
Granny wriggled her fingers. ‘Not me, I’m afraid. But it will be someone who knows about
the magic.’
Ruby looked hopefully at Jellybean.
Granny shook her head. ‘He’s far too young.’
‘Then who?’ Ruby puzzled.
Jupiter, who had been resting in the shade nearby, suddenly sat bolt upright and began to wash his paws. He licked this way and that, nibbling furiously between the pads of his toes.
Granny’s face fell.
Suddenly the sun slipped behind a cloud.
Ruby shivered.
‘It’s getting awfully chilly, Granny. I think I need a jumper.’
Just then, something very cold and white drifted from the sky and landed softly on the tip of Ruby’s nose.
Chapter 11
‘It’s s-s-snowing!’ Ruby cried.
Granny and Jellybean huddled together, their teeth chattering.
More and more snowflakes drifted from the sky, swirling around them like white confetti. Jupiter hadn’t wasted any time putting his new-found powers to work.
‘Quick!’ Granny shouted.
Ruby looked down at her feet. Only the very tip of her cousin’s warty head was showing above the snow. Ruby dug as fast as she could, but when she finally pulled him out, Todd was cold and still.
‘Granny!’ she whimpered softly. ‘Is he—’
‘Sleeping,’ Granny assured her. ‘Toads hibernate in winter. Pop him in that empty bucket and let’s all go indoors to warm up!’
Now the snow was falling thick and fast. Granny and Ruby could barely see beyond the tips of their noses, which were now as red as Dad’s radishes.
‘It’s a blizzard!’ Granny cried, clutching Jellybean tight. ‘Take my hand!’
They struggled through the deep snow until at last they reached Granny’s caravan. While Granny put the kettle on and set the air conditioner to warm, Ruby and Jellybean peered into the chalk bucket.
Even though Todd was snoring peacefully, Ruby couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for him.
‘Do you think we need a lid?’ Ruby asked Granny.
It was bad enough that because of her, Todd might be stuck as a toad forever. But the last thing Ruby wanted was her cousin jumping out of the chalk bucket and getting lost.
Toad-ally Magic Page 2