Hidden Magic (4 page)

The letterbox pushed open and a flurry of letters dropped onto the floor; they were shortly followed by two bone-shaped dog biscuits that landed on top of them. Womble and Chyna were more than familiar with this daily delivery from Postman Dave and as soon as they heard the letterbox flap opening, they raced eagerly to the front door. Womble, as usual, was completely unable to stop his speeding boulder-like body and crashed headfirst into the door. Unperturbed by this, he snuffled up his treat, leaving the post covered in a slimy mixture of drool and dog biscuit crumbs.

“Oh, Womble,” Grace said as she picked up the letters, brushing off the drool and biscuit crumbs with her dressing gown sleeve. She pushed open the letterbox and peered through it. Dave was leaning against the snow-covered gatepost, chatting with Janice, the Meals on Wheels lady who regularly delivered hot meals to Elsie, Grace's elderly neighbour.

“Thanks, Dave,” Grace called out through the flap of the letterbox.

“You're welcome, Grace,” the postman replied. “Did you see that I've put a ‘missing' poster in with your letters? Mr Wilson's cat, Raffles, has gone missing. Can you please ask your parents to check that he isn't shut in your garage, or maybe in your shed?”

“Okay, I will,” Grace promised and let the letterbox snap shut.

Grace's family were sitting around the kitchen table following a late and leisurely fried breakfast. Dan was tap-tap-tapping away on his phone, probably messaging one of his many female admirers. Harry had started to pile up the plates, ready to clear them from the table. Evan, Grace's father, patted his belly and let out a loud belch.

“Better out than in, that's what my grandad used to say,” Evan said, looking at Mary, who glared back disapprovingly over her mug of tea.

Grace handed her mum the pile of letters and Mary started to hand them out. Everything that looked as if it could be a bill was passed to Evan, the one with the lip-gloss kiss on the back was automatically given to Dan and Mary kept hold of the one that looked like a belated Christmas card and a folded-over piece of paper – the poster. Mary opened out the folded piece of paper. The heading MISSING was in bold print at the top and below it was a picture of Raffles, a fat ginger cat with large, dark, expressive eyes.

“Aww, poor Mr Wilson has lost his cat,” she said.

“Oh yeah, Postman Dave said please can you check in the shed and garage to make sure that he hasn't been shut in them by accident,” Grace said.

“I'll go and look now,” said Evan, pushing aside the unopened bills. “Grace, maybe you could check in Elsie's shed when you go round there to do DD this morning.”

“Okay, Dad,” she replied.

“And I can take a copy of the poster and ask them to put it up on the notice board at Noah's Ark when I take Chyna and Womble in today for their boosters,” Mary said. “Oh, poor Mr Wilson, he loved that cat so much. Especially since Mrs Wilson passed away. Raffles has been his only house companion, I do hope he finds him soon,” she sighed.

Evan had a thorough search for Raffles in both the garage and the garden shed but didn't find him. Grace, having washed and dressed, went next door to Elsie's to tend to DD, the elderly lady's pet house rabbit. While she was there, she checked inside Elsie's shed but once again, there was no sign of poor old Raffles.

Grace returned home just as her mum was putting on her coat and boots.

“Are you going to Noah's Ark now? Can I come?” Grace asked her mum.

She loved going to the vet's and looking at all the different animals in the waiting room.

“Yes, that'll be great, Grace. You can give me a hand with the dogs,” her mum replied, handing Grace Chyna's collar and lead.

Chyna and Womble wiggled their bottoms and wagged their short tails enthusiastically as Mary and Grace put their collars and leads on. The dogs didn't realise that they were headed to the veterinary surgery, where each of them would be having an injection. Chyna gracefully sprang into the boot of the car first, followed very ungracefully by Womble, who only managed a half in and half out belly-flop. Mary helped Womble to get in by lifting up his bottom and giving him a gentle shove. Then she closed the boot. Chyna rushed to the front of the boot and stood up on her hind legs, placed her little front paws on top of the backseat and excitedly looked ahead out of the windscreen, wondering where they were going. As the car pulled out of Cherry Blossom Close where they lived, Mary sang along to the radio. She was always singing, much to her family's annoyance.

It didn't matter what type of music: pop, rock, opera, she just loved to sing, all be it rather badly and she usually threw in some equally poor dance moves.

“Agghh, Mum, you're
soooo
embarrassing,” Grace said, sinking down into her seat, hoping that her best friend Christian, who she had spotted sitting on his bike outside his house, hadn't seen, or, more to the point, hadn't heard them.

The roads were still quite quiet in the village of Witern Wood. Not much happened in the sleepy little village, especially during the interim between Christmas and New Year. This is why Mary and Evan Darling had decided to throw a New Year's Eve fancy dress party, in an attempt to liven things up a little.

They pulled up in the vet's car park and Mary awkwardly parked the car. Chyna and Womble were both still expecting an exciting walk somewhere and they jumped out of the boot, just as excited as they were when they jumped in. Chyna realised where she was as soon as her feet hit the tarmac and the excitable spring in her step was instantly replaced with a slow and hesitant stroll. Her short, curly tail straightened out and she tucked it between her legs in trepidation. Womble, being more than a little stupid, was a bit slower on the uptake and had made it all the way into the reception area before he realised where he was and, when the penny finally dropped, he placed his bottom firmly on the floor and point-blank refused to budge!

“Oh, for goodness' sake, Womble,” Mary moaned.

Mary asked Grace to stay with him while she went to check in at the reception desk.

“Hi, Mrs Darling, what can we do for you today?” asked Sarra, the bubbly receptionist, flicking her long blonde hair extensions over her shoulder.

“Hello Sarra. Chyna and Womble have appointments with Noah for their boosters.”

“Okay, Mrs Darling, if you would like to take a seat in the waiting area, Noah will be with you shortly.”

“Ooh, Sarra, I nearly forgot,” Mary said, fumbling for the piece of paper in her handbag. “Please can you put this poster up? Poor old Mr Wilson has lost his cat, Raffles.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” replied Sarra. “That will be the sixth missing pet we've had today!”

“No Sar, make that seven,” the surgery's other receptionist, Zoe, called out as she placed the phone handset back down on its base.

“I dunno what's going on, Mrs Darling. This is some freaky poops,” Sarra said, nibbling on her false nails. “Maybe there's a pet thief operating in the area. There's been a lot of that going on in London recently, especially with the designer dogs, like Cockapoos and Puggles. Well anyway, I hope these animals have been micro-chipped, then maybe they'll stand a chance of being returned to their rightful owners and then hopefully the nasty thieves that have been taking them might get caught.”

“Yes, let's hope they turn up safe and sound,” Mary said and she turned to take a seat in the waiting area. She found a seat next to a young man who had a parrot in a cage on his lap. The funny-looking bird had plucked out most of its feathers and was bobbing up and down singing,
“Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken.”
This gave Grace, who was still stood holding a frozen still Womble in the middle of the waiting room, the giggles. Her curls bounced, her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes filled with tears as she chuckled at the sight and sound of the funny little bald bird.

“Mavis,” one of the vets called.

“Oooh, come on Mave, that's us,” the young man said and he carried the parrot that was still singing “
Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken
” into the vet's room.

Noah's consulting room door opened and a little old lady came out with a tiny Chihuahua tucked under her arm.

“Thank you so much, Mr Copper, hopefully that'll stop him from chewing his bum,” she said.

Noah turned to Mary. “Would you like to come through with Chyna and Womble?” he invited.

Grace walked forward and pulled on Womble's lead with all her strength, but he still wouldn't budge. He sat cemented to the spot, stuck out his tongue and refused to move.

“Nurse Cassey, Nurse Flossie, please could you help young Grace here to get Womble into the consulting room?” asked Noah.

The vet nurses walked to the centre of the waiting room, bent down next to Womble and lifted him up. The sturdy bulldog did not like having all four feet off the ground and instantly began to panic. His eyes became bloodshot and bulged, his tongue hung out and he panted with stress.

“It's okay, don't worry, Womble, we've got you,” Nurse Cassey said in a mesmerisingly soft and reassuring voice. Womble stopped panicking and let the nurses carefully place him on the examination table.

Both dogs were bribed with treats and neither of them realised when the needle entered their skin, administering the vaccine into their scruffs.

“See, we aren't that bad, are we?” Noah said, giving the pair a friendly pat.

“Right then, same time next year, Mrs Darling, hopefully we won't need to see them before then,” Noah said.

“Thank you, Noah,” Mary said, fumbling around in her handbag again. “Here.” She handed him an envelope. “It's an invitation to our New Year's Eve fancy dress party. The invite is for you, your wife and also for all your staff and their partners, too. I do hope you can all make it,” she said.

“Thank you, Mrs Darling. I have no plans for New Year's Eve and I would love to come,” said Noah.

“Yay, a party, we'll go, won't we, Cas?” said Nurse Flossie,

“Definitely!” Cassey replied.

“I'm sure the others will as well! Jennifer and Claire, especially. And as for Sarra and Zoe, well, they're always up for a party.”

“Great! I look forward to seeing you all on New Year's Eve then and don't forget it's fancy dress.”

Noah nodded and smiled as they left.

Noah went to close his consulting room door behind them and then quickly reopened it.

“Ah, Grace, I almost forgot to ask you, how did you get on with hand-feeding the bunny?”

“Very well, thanks. He ate on his own and then I let him go so he could get back to his family.”

“Well done, Grace, you most definitely saved that little chap's life. Maybe you would like to come and work for me when you're older, you'd make a great vet.”

“Yesss pleeease, I'd love that.” Grace beamed.

Grace buckled up and the car pulled away.

Mary bopped her head and wiggled her bum in time to the rap song about big butts.

“AAAAAGGGHHHH, MUM!” cried Grace.

As their car approached Cherry Blossom Close and the woodland trees that enveloped it, Mary was still singing along to the radio and Grace firmly held her head in her hands in embarrassment. Neither of them noticed the ginger fur and shredded remains of Raffles that were entangled above them in the twigs and branches of the woodland treetops.

Chester had fallen asleep, nestled within Zavier's thick silver mane. When he awoke, it was to the smell of sea salt in the air and the sound of waves crashing onto Serenity Beach's golden sand. He climbed up Zavier's mane and perched on his head, stretched out his wings and let out a long yawn.

“What time of day is it?” Chester asked Zavier.

“We still have a couple of hours' sunlight left,” Zavier replied. “We are going to gallop to the beach house at the far end of the beach. Are you going to ride with us or are you going to fly solo?” he asked the little robin.

“I think I'll fly, I need to stretch my wings,” he replied.

Serenity Sunrise Beach was probably the safest place in all of Liberty. The Nomeds rarely went there. No one really knew why, but it was thought that the salty sea air may be an irritant to their slug-like skin. This meant that the group could relax a little and once they had found Pelagia, they could enjoy a brief but well-earned rest.

“I'll race you all to the beach house, last one there is on fire-building duty!” yelled Tobias, knowing that without Ezekiel there, he was probably the fastest in the group and would therefore get out of building the fire.

The Halfses lined up along the sand.

“Why are we doing this? Just tell Tobi he can damn well build the fire himself,” grumbled Aaron.

“Oh Aaron, don't be such a grump. Tobi is young and excitable. Don't you remember when you were that age?” Jazmine said, nuzzling the stallion's neck.

Her huge dark eyes melted Aaron's heart every time!

“I suppose,” he said, nuzzling her back.

Chester flew above the line of Halfses.

“On the count of three,” he said. “One, two, three.”

A cloud of sand gathered behind the Halfses as they raced into a thunderous gallop along the sandy beach. Their fatigue was forgotten as their natural urge for speed and the need to gallop freely in the sand took over. As predicted, Tobias led the race, followed closely by April.

Lettitia loved the water and she galloped in and out of the surf, really not bothered if she won or lost the race. Hazel and Zavier kept a steady pace behind April. Jazmine and Aaron were at the back, not because they were the slowest in the group but because Jazmine found it amusing to nip at Aaron's tail, playfully trying to distract him and slow him down. The beach house was in sight, just across the approaching estuary. Tobias was still in the lead position. The wind was rushing against his face as he raced across the sand. He continually glanced back, checking that the others weren't gaining on him. Big mistake! He was looking behind at the others when he entered the estuary, its uneven, rocky surface caused him to lose his balance and he stumbled into the shallow water, falling onto his side. His body created a wave as its momentum continued to push him forwards, before he came to rest in the middle of the estuary. Tobias lifted his head up out of the shallow water, just as April galloped past.

“Loser!” she yelled and then she laughed at him as her pounding hooves splashed the salty water in his face.

Hazel and Zavier had opted to cross the estuary using the wooden bridge, which proved to be a clever move, ensuring that they arrived in front of the house just before April. It was now a race between Lettitia and Tobias. Lettitia had left the surf and was now galloping along the sand, heading toward the bridge. Tobias had clambered back up onto all fours and had rejoined the race. He glanced up at the bridge just as Lettitia thundered over it. Her wet, golden-tan body was shimmering in the sun, her blonde mane and tail were flowing, she gave him a cheeky wink with her piercing aquamarine eyes and SPLASH! Tobias hit the water again.