Hidden Magic (17 page)

“Nope, definitely wasn't them,” Rob said.

“Well, whoever they were, their costumes were amazing. They scared the crap out of us as they ran past the front of our house, didn't they, D?” Rob said.

“They sure did, especially the one with the orange eyes. They lit up and everything!” Denise said.

“Mmm, strange,” Mary said, wondering who the mystery couple could have been. She certainly hadn't seen anyone in those costumes at the party and the likelihood of there being another fancy dress party anywhere else in Witern Wood that New Year's Eve was certainly a big fat zero.

“TEN!” Grace and Christian shouted, as Rob and Denise entered the kitchen dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow and a giant parrot.

The drinks flowed, the music played, people laughed and danced.

“This is a great party,” Grace said to Christian.

“Yeah, it's the best party I've ever been to,” Christian replied.

“Well, I went to Daddy's work's Christmas party this year. Children over the age of ten were allowed to accompany their parents, you see. It was on a boat on the Thames with waiter service and everything. They had the most delightful smoked salmon canapés. That was the best party that I've ever been to, much better than this,” Henrietta said, looking at her pineapple and cheese on a stick with utter disgust.

“Agghhh, shut up, Henri, go away and leave us alone, will you?” Grace snapped.

“My name is Henrietta, not Henri! Do I look like a boy?” she yelled. Then she threw the pineapple and cheese stick on the floor. “Mummy, Daddy, Grace is being mean again,” she wailed and she stomped off to look for her parents.

“Quick, let's go and hide in the garden so that she can't find us,” Grace said, grabbing Christian's arm.

On her way out to the garden, Grace grabbed her red coat, hat, glove and scarf set and tucked them under her arm.

“Here, Chris, take this.” She gave Christian one of Harry's jackets out of the cupboard.

They ran down to the bottom of the garden and hid in the gazebo that was opposite the apple tree. They didn't put their coats on straight away because they didn't want to cover up their cool costumes. Instead, they put them on the bench seats and sat on them.

“If I were the real Harry Potter, I'd use my magic powers to get rid of horrid Henri,” Grace said.

“Yeah, and if I were the real Superman, I would use my flying powers and I'd fly her all the way up into outer space and leave her there,” Christian grinned.

“Did you know that some people make a wish after the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve?” Grace said. “I think we should wish for our powers to be real.”

“Yeah, let's do it,” Christian agreed.

“Do it… do it… do it…” they chanted, as they ran around in the garden laughing, their cloaks and capes flying out behind them. Then they darted back inside the cover of the gazebo so as not to be seen by Henri, who was sure to be looking for them by now. The night was clear and crisp. The moon shone brightly and Grace and Christian were beginning to get cold.

“Let's sneak back in for a while to get warm and then we can come back out here after the twelfth chime of Big Ben and that's when we will make our wish under the moonlight,” Grace said.

“Yeah, okay, I could really do with a wee, anyway!” Chris said.

“Here, get under my invisibility cloak and I'll sneak us back indoors,” Grace said, pulling her cloak up over Christian's head and they ‘disappeared' and went back indoors.

* * *

“Well, that was another close shave,” Chester said. “Thank goodness Ice managed to increase the power of the enchanted roots, ivy and brambles at the exit before the Nomeds attacked. There was no way Aaron and Francis would have been able to get us through safely without them. Anyway, we're here now,” Chester said as he perched on top of the back gate. “This is it… this is the house where the girl lives,” he chirped.

Zavier walked forward, hung his head over the gate and looked up towards the house where the music pounded and Christmas lights flashed.

“Hmmm, it's a little busier than I had hoped,” he sighed. “I will have to stay hidden here in the woods for a while. Chester, you and Benjamin should enter the garden and keep a lookout for the little girl. Ice will watch out for you both. As soon as the opportunity presents itself, you must bring the girl here to me. Meles, Brax, when Chester and Benjamin approach the child, you may need to cause a distraction that directs the rest of the Humans away. Ice, once we have the Human girl you know what you must do.”

“I'll be ready,” Ice said.

Chester gave a nod of agreement and flew off the back gate and onto a low branch on the apple tree. Benjamin squeezed into a small hole in the ground, scrambled through a short tunnel and then popped out of another hole that emerged under a bush in Grace's garden; and he remained there, where he was quietly hidden. Ice sat next to a snowy mound that had formed over an old plant pot. She was almost invisible; only the tiny flecks of grey within her white plumage and the yellow flashes of her irises as she blinked gave her position away. Zavier, Chester and Benjamin were aware of her position, but to anybody else who wasn't looking closely enough, she looked just like another snowy mound. As they lay in wait, a large black cloud began to form on the horizon, swallowing up any stars that crossed its path. The wind began to pick up a little and brought with it a haunting chill that howled softly through the rooftops.

* * *

The music paused.

“Fifteen minutes to go until midnight, everyone,” Mary announced.

The guests raised their glasses and cheered loudly, excited to be welcoming in the New Year together.

“Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One…
HAPPY NEW YEAR
!” everyone cheered.

Loved ones hugged and kissed as they wished each other a Happy New Year. Everyone crossed their arms and linked their hands to sing
Auld Lang Syne
and then, after numerous drunken hugs and kisses from their families, Grace and Christian managed to escape and ran back into the garden. Grace and Christian looked up at the moon just as the huge black cloud began to cross it and made their wish.

“We wish that our powers could be real,” they said together.

Snow began to fall from the dark sky and large, fluffy snowflakes fell on their faces as they watched the last sliver of moon disappear behind the dark cloud.

“That's her,” Chester whispered to Ice, as he perched on the mound of snow beside her.

“Are you sure?” Ice asked.

“Yes, she's dressed differently but I recognise her voice.”

“That's definitely her. I'd recognise her soft blue eyes anywhere,” Benjamin said, having hopped behind the snowy mound that Chester was perched upon.

“But she's not alone, so what are we going to do?” Chester asked Ice.

“I'm not sure, let me think,” she whispered.

Zavier had been watching over the top of the gate, obscured from sight by the snow that was now falling thick and fast. He was aware that Chester had recognised the girl child and so he had sent Meles and Braxton to the front of the house to cause some sort of commotion that might attract attention away from the back of the house, away from the Human child. His plan had worked.

Braxton and Meles barked loudly and began to play-fight on the snow-covered front lawn.

“Hey, look at these badgers,” Grace's Uncle David, the priest, said, having spotted the pair through the window.

Everyone gathered at the front windows of the house and watched in amusement as the badgers rolled, tumbled and twisted while making strange loud barking and chittering sounds. Unfortunately, these sounds also attracted the attention of some unwanted guests.

Adramalech's head tilted, his attention captured by the familiar sound of one of the Nomeds' favourite prey, badger! His tongue curled and he made clicking sounds as he tasted their scent in the air. The badgers' scent was carried on the breeze and as Adramalech followed this scent, he was led toward Grace's back garden. Unaware of Zavier, Chester and Ice's presence, he leapt over Mr Avery's back fence into the Prosper's back garden, then leapt into Elsie's back garden and finally, he sprang over Grace's garden fence, landing in the snow on the ground, directly in front of Grace and Christian.

Grace and Christian were shocked and a little scared, unsure of what had just happened and the only thing stopping them from screaming with fear and running indoors to their parents, was the thought that this was probably just one of the party guests in a really scary costume. Without thinking, Grace held out her wand.

“Stay back!” she shouted.

Adramalech ran his tongue across his rotten teeth, fire flickered within his orange eyes and he lunged at Grace. Grace and Christian screwed their eyes shut, afraid to look, but nothing happened. They slowly opened their eyes to see Adramalech standing only a couple of inches away, his eyes blazing brightly with fury as he clawed against the invisible barrier that Zavier had placed around them. Grace looked at the wand in her hand and then she looked at Christian. Her big blue eyes widened in amazement.

“Oh, my God!” she said. “Our wish… it came true!”

“Flippin' heck!” Christian said, staring at his hands as he wondered what super-powers he might also now possess.

Adramalech was quickly joined by a juvenile Nomed.

“I don't like it, Grace… they scare me,” Chris said, his voice quivering. “Leave us alone!” he demanded and thrust out his hand, gesturing for the scary monsters to go away.

The Nomeds were thrust forcibly backwards, as if they were being rugby-tackled by an invisible opponent. They were forced back until they eventually smashed into the fence at the bottom of the garden.

“Flippin' heck!” Christian said again, looking at his hand, more shocked than ever. He was now convinced that their wish had most definitely come true. But it wasn't really his powers at all that had sent the Nomeds hurtling across the garden. Unbeknown to him and Grace, Ice had been hovering above the Nomeds and at the same time as Christian had thrust out his hand, she had performed a powerful propelling enchantment.

The Nomeds had now completely forgotten about the badgers whose scent had brought them there and were now intent on getting to the Human children. For some reason unknown to them, they felt a strong hatred, particularly toward the girl child. They picked themselves up, shook snow off of their slug-like skin and prepared to launch another attack. They lunged forwards, but were stopped in their tracks as Zavier jumped over the back gate and into Grace's garden. He reared up and, standing on his hind legs facing the Nomeds, neighing loudly, he kicked frantically at them with his front legs and then he turned his rump towards them and bucked wildly, hitting each of them square in the abdomen with his giant hooves. Adramalech and the juvenile Nomed were sent smashing back into the fence with such force that the fence shattered. Knowing that they were defeated this time, the injured Nomeds picked themselves up and ran off into the woods, clambered up the nearest tree and disappeared.

“Grace, whose is that massive horse that just jumped into your garden and kicked the holy bejeezus out of those scary people?” Christian asked.

“I have no idea,” Grace said.

* * *

Most of the guests were still watching Meles and Braxton tumbling around on the front lawn. Others were dancing, the music was still booming and they were all completely unaware of the commotion that had just happened in the back garden.

“Dan, have you seen Grace anywhere?” Harry asked. “She'd love to see these badgers.”

“Nah, I haven't seen her or Chris for ages now,” he replied. Then he carried on chatting to the fairies, Sarra and Zoe, having taken a particular shine to them both.

* * *

Grace and Christian had been a lot more frightened by their Nomed encounter than either of them was prepared to show. They were still unsure as to whether or not the monsters were actually real monsters or guests from the party. They didn't know how to act, or what actually had happened, or who the scary people were and why there was now a flipping huge horse in Grace's back garden.

They both stood gobsmacked, staring at Zavier.

Ice flew down and landed on Zavier's back.

Grace and Christian turned and grabbed each other tightly.

“Oh my God, it's HEDWIG!” they chorused, open-mouthed.

“What do you want me to do, Zavier? It doesn't look as if the boy child is going to leave her anytime soon,” Ice said.

“Well it's not ideal, but I think we will have to take them both back with us,” he replied.

“Okay. Well, the cloning enchantment will take a little longer for two, but it can still be done. Let's send Chester and Benjamin to talk to them and I'll get started on the enchantment,” Ice said.

“Is that horse talking to Hedwig?” Christian asked Grace.

“Tonight, Christian, I think anything is possible,” Grace replied.

Then Chester flew into the centre of the garden where Grace and Christian were hugging and landed gently in the snow in front of them.

“Hello, Mr Robin, what are you doing here at this time of the night?” Grace said, letting go of Christian and smiling at Chester.

“Well, you see, the thing is, I've come from a magical place called Liberty…” Chester began to say.

“Oh my God, the robin's talking, Christian… the robin's actually talking!” Grace gasped.

“F-f-flippin' heck!” Chris said, throwing his head back in disbelief. “I don't know how much more of this I can take.” He dropped his head into his hands.

Benjamin hopped across the garden in the thickening snow. “Hi, remember me?” he said, twitching his little nose as he stood up on his hind legs to talk to Grace. “Well, you helped me before and now I need your help again,” he said.

Grace had now, rather strangely, accepted the fact that the animals could and were talking to her and continued to have a conversation with them as if it were quite normal.

“Hello, you're the little bunny that I found underneath the apple tree, aren't you. How can I help you?” she asked.

“Well, that's Zavier, the Berthold of Maytime Meadow,” Benjamin said, pointing at Zavier, “and he needs to take you into Liberty. You see, we need you to help us fight the Nomeds, the Great Prophet said so.”

“Well, I don't like fighting and I couldn't possibly go to a place called Liberty with you, wherever that is, because my mum and dad will wonder where I am. Once, I went to Christian's house without asking and my dad shouted at me, he was really angry, so I'd better stay here.”

“Don't worry about your mum and dad, Ice will make sure that they are okay, they won't even realise that you've gone,” Chester said.

“Well, what about Christian? I'm not going without him and what about the fighting? I don't like fighting.” Grace shivered.

“Christian can come too and as for the fighting, well there's a lot more to that than I can explain to you right now. We will need to explain everything to you properly once we get you back to Liberty. There are lots of good creatures in Liberty just like us and we will all look after you and protect you as best as we can. But please, please, you must come, we really do need your help.”

Grace was unable to say no to any animal in need at the best of times, let alone when there was a cute bunny and a little robin right in front of her, literally begging for her help.

“Okay, okay then, let me get my coat and I'll come with you,” she agreed.

Grace went into the gazebo to get the coats. Christian was standing in the middle of the garden in his Superman costume with his mouth gaping wide, too shocked to argue.

“Here, Christian, put this on,” Grace said, handing him Harry's jacket.

Christian put on the jacket and rolled the sleeves up so that his fingertips just emerged out of the ends of them. The waist of the jacket was so long on him that it hovered just above the level of his feet.

“Ha, ha, now you look like E.T!” Grace giggled.

“What about Hedwig? Is she coming?” Christian asked Chester.

“Hedwig?” Chester asked, in a puzzled tone. Then he noticed that Christian was looking straight at Ice. “Oh, you mean Ice. Yes, yes, of course she's coming.”

“THERE YOU ARE, SIS! What have you been doing out here? You're missing some hilarhair, hillairous, funny, badgers out in the front garden,” Harry called out in a drunken slur from the back door. He had spotted Grace's red coat through the thickly falling snow, but he hadn't noticed the new friends that she had with her. He made his way down the garden towards her, slurping out of his beer can with one hand and pulling his Where's Wally hat down over one ear with the other hand.

“Brrr,” he shivered.

“We don't have time for this. We must get the girl away from here, before any more of the Humans come out,” Zavier whispered to Ice. And then, against all of his better judgement, he walked straight up to Harry. The snow was still falling heavily, the flakes were thick and fluffy and as Harry peered through the thick snowfall further into the garden, he saw the huge grey horse walking towards him.

“I'm afraid that the girl child must to come with us,” Zavier told Harry. “But don't worry, we will take good care of her and we will return her to you, safe and sound, as soon as we can. Okay?” Then, as suddenly as he had appeared from within the snow, Zavier disappeared back into it.

Harry just stood there in the snow, clutching his beer can to his mouth.

“'Bye, Harry, we'll try not to be too long,” Grace said, as she walked down the garden with Christian on her right and Zavier on her left. The top of her head barely even reached the top of the huge shire horse's leg. She gave her brother a wave, the bright red colour of her glove clear for Harry to see, then along with Zavier, Christian, Ice, Benjamin and Chester, she disappeared out through the broken fence and into the woods. The snow continued to fall thick and fast and within moments, the huge horseshoe indents that had covered the garden were completely covered.

Harry was still frozen to the spot in disbelief. The beer can had begun to stick to his lips as he gawped down the garden, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. His dumbfounded state was only partially broken as the two badgers rushed past him on their way out of the garden and into the woods. He turned and slowly walked towards the back door. As he entered the house, the music still played, people still laughed, lights still flashed but Harry's world had changed; it was surreal, muffled, he was totally dazed.

Dan was on his way out to find him.

“Haz, did you find Grace? Mum's been looking for her and Christian everywhere. It's time for them to go to bed. She said that Christian can stay if he wants to, but they've gotta go to bed now,” Dan said.

No response.

“Harry!” Dan snapped, pulling the beer can that had frozen to Harry's lip away from his mouth.

“Agghhh!” Harry complained, holding his hand to his now bleeding top lip.

“WHERE IS GRACE?” Dan mouthed slowly and sarcastically to his brother.

“The horse said that she had to go with him, but not to worry, he'll bring her back safe and sound.”

“I think you'd better stick to shandy, bruv, you obviously can't handle your beer, can you?” Dan said, laughing.

Then the back door opened and Grace and Christian walked in.

“Thank God, Mum's been looking everywhere for you two, you'd better go and see her right now,” Dan said.