Jody Richards and The Secret Potion (2 page)

Jody had dreamed about Tamila and some of its strange inhabitants only the previous night, including this intimidating fellow now confronting her. He had been the worst by far and had threatened to turn an otherwise pleasant dream into a nightmare.

Her appealing blue eyes were open even wider than normal with shock, but the startled girl knew she must resist the temptation to shout “It’s you,” and for once she did not make her usual mistake of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Indeed, she struggled to find any words to answer this simple question because she was so consumed with dread by the evil aura that Mr. Toby portrayed.

She hardly noticed his protruding nose and goatee beard – instead her gaze was riveted to his large eyes, which showed an unmistakable glint of malice. ‘He’s probably a wizard,’ she thought. ‘Surely he’s too big to be a goblin or a pixie.’

“Well?” he demanded. “Cat got your tongue has it?”
He was actually referring to a large black cat, which had followed him out of his lounge. The cat, like his master, looked at the girl with disdain.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m lost and wet,” Jody finally told him, nervously stroking her soft golden-brown shoulder-length hair, causing some of the water to drain from it.

A few drops splashed on to Mr Toby, who glared at her disdainfully.

Jody got the feeling that the sight of a young girl on his doorstep was undesirable enough, but one who splashed him with water was too much for him to tolerate!

“Where are you looking for?” he said, still leaving Jody standing shivering outside as a gust of wind caused the rain to lash into her face.

“I don’t really know,” she stammered. “I am trying to find my brother James. He is missing from home and I think he’s come here.”

“And do you know whereabouts in Tamila he is?” asked Mr. Toby, rubbing his black beard impatiently.

“I’m not sure, but perhaps he is by the river – he loves to go swimming and fishing,” Jody volunteered.

“The only river here leads to the whirlpool. Is that where you want to be?” Mr Toby bellowed above the sound of the wind and rain.

“Yes, that may be it,” said Jody, hard pressed to prevent herself giggling as a raindrop fell on Mr. Toby’s long nose.

“You’d have to make your way through some dense forest and swamps to get to the whirlpool,” he told her. “I don’t think you’d have the stomach for it.”

Jody was not familiar with the phrase Mr. Toby had used. Her eyes wandered to his ample midriff and, as he chuckled, his belly wobbled like a large jelly.

Before she could stop herself Jody said: “My stomach may not be as big as yours, sir, but I am determined to reach the whirlpool.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

‘Oh, dear,’ she thought. ‘I shouldn’t have said that. Father’s always telling me to think before I speak because I have a habit of saying the wrong thing. Hopefully, this gentleman will take it as a joke.’ So she forced a smile.

Mr. Toby was not amused, however, and her smile was met with a scowl. “You are an extremely rude little girl,” he admonished. “And it is hardly wise to insult a wizard.”

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said through chattering teeth.

Her face went bright red with embarrassment and the small beauty spot on her left cheek began to itch as it always did when she felt threatened.

“No matter – your wish is granted,” roared Mr. Toby, snapping his fingers.

Suddenly Jody found herself lifted in the air and spinning through space before landing, with a loud splash, in the middle of a huge whirlpool.

She had no time for the shock to sink in because she was forced to fight to keep her head above water.
But her frantic efforts were to no avail and the whirlpool swept a wave over the top of her head. Jody managed to battle her way to the surface again, only to be dragged under once more.

“Oh, no,” she spluttered, knowing that she was seconds away from being drowned as she swallowed a mouthful of the swirling water.

The current was simply too fierce for her to overcome.

“Help!” she cried out, but there was nobody there to save her.

WARNING!

You will be ‘hooked’ if you read on so you should be aware that there are some really scary bits as the story unfolds.

...don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Chapter Two

‘THAT will teach her a lesson,’ thought Mr. Toby as he wiped the rain off his nose and hobbled back into his warm sitting room.

He wedged his bulky frame into his armchair next to a roaring fire, and told his cat: “Young people are such a nuisance. But that’s one little girl who won’t be troubling me again.

“Even if she survives the whirlpool she won’t ever dare to come knocking at my door any more. On that basis, perhaps I should fish her out of the water. What do you think, Wham?

“It’s a dilemma. She may look like an angel, but she is a silly, rude girl who needed to learn a lesson.”

His big black cat Wham, now sitting near his master in front of the fire, pricked up his ears at the sound of his name without giving any indication of providing an answer.

“I know,” said Mr. Toby to the unreceptive Wham. “Let’s have some fun. I’ll toss my lucky coin to decide the silly girl’s fate.” He thrust his right hand into the breast pocket of his black robe and brought out a large gold, gleaming coin. “Heads I fish her out, tails I leave her in,” he mused, flipping the coin in the air and letting it fall on to the open palm of his right hand.

He glanced at the coin without too much concern and noted it had come down ‘tails’. “Oh, well,” he said. “I did my best. Nobody can say Hugo Toby is not fair, can they, Wham? Now it’s up to the girl herself whether she sinks or swims.”

He returned the coin to his pocket and sat back in his armchair, with the intention of going off to sleep. Yet there was something bothering Hugo Toby. A thought was buried at the back of his mind and it was tantalising him.

Wham roused his large black bulk and moved close enough to Mr. Toby to rub himself against his master’s leg. But Mr. Toby pushed the animal away and went over in his mind what the girl had said to him. Finally it triggered off another thought process and brought back what he was seeking to remember.

“Of course, Wham” he confided to the cat. “That’s it. She was looking for a boy, and my brother Augustine has some boys working for him. Perhaps the boy she was searching for is one of them.”

He used his walking stick to poke the fire, which caused sparks to fly and the flames to leap higher.

“Maybe I should tell Augustine. If that girl could find her way here then it is possible that others will follow her.”

He looked down at the cat, which meowed in the hope of getting some food. “What do you think, Wham?” asked Mr. Toby. “Should I send a message to Augustine by a flying letter? I think I will. Better still, I might even arrange to visit him this week.

“Augustine was telling me on the telephone that he thinks he has found the secret to everlasting life and wants to share it with me. So the sooner I go to see him the better.

“Just imagine, Wham, how wonderful it would be if Augustine and I could live forever. Think how much badness we would be able to do,” chuckled Mr. Toby.

At 56 years of age, Mr Toby was cutting back on his evil activities – ‘Good grief,’ he thought, ‘it’s ages since I made any pixies disappear or turned any goblins into mice.’

He did not share his younger brother’s burning desire to rule the world, but if he could live forever, never growing older, it might recharge his batteries and make world domination more appealing to him.

Wham pushed himself against his master’s leg again and received a rough stroke on the head for his troubles. The cat meowed once more, louder this time.

“What do you want, Wham?” Mr. Toby asked. “I suppose you think it’s time for you to have more ‘prawnies’. You are a greedy boy, aren’t you? You’ve done nothing to deserve them, but you shall have them anyway.” The cat purred appreciatively and licked his lips.

As Mr. Toby rose from his chair, he found that another drop of rain had settled on his nose after trickling down from his forehead. It dripped on to his goatee beard, which covered a cluster of chins.

The obese Mr. Toby wiped the rain water off with his handkerchief and then reflected: “I suppose I should have sent the girl to Augustine so that she could work for him, too. Perhaps sending her to drown in the whirlpool was not such a good idea, but it was such fun. And I’ve got to have some pleasures, haven’t I?” He was convulsed with laughter and had to wipe a tear from his eye.

“I’m sure Augustine will understand and not think me selfish. Who knows, the girl may even survive, though I very much doubt it.

“I mustn’t upset myself about it – as I said when my doctor warned me of the stress if I married a young wife: ‘If she dies, she dies’!”

Chapter Three

THE water swirling around Jody was too strong for her to battle against it much longer.

She was dragged under by the current of the whirlpool for the third time and swallowed two more mouthfuls of water before she resurfaced.

‘I’m too young to die,’ she thought as she struggled to breathe and her life was about to be snuffed out before it had hardly begun.

Even at this time of crisis her mind was filled with something her parents had always taught her: ‘If only I had heeded their advice not to go speaking to strangers.’ Knocking on Mr. Toby’s door had been a very bad idea!

Jody prayed for a miracle, though she told herself this was the end as the whirlpool began to pull her down once more.

But, just before the water could engulf her again, she raised her arms and looked up into the clear blue sky in which, amazingly, she saw a man emerge on a flying horse!

The man had a long white beard and white hair, partly covered by a pointed blue hat with silver stars, which matched his robe.

The horse was a beautiful white stallion, similar to one Jody had seen when visiting the circus with her parents, but the big difference was this animal had large wings that were enabling it to glide through the sky at lightening speed.

As the horse swooped closer the man astride him, on a bright red saddle, clicked his fingers and Jody was instantly lifted out of the water. She sailed through the air and finished up sitting behind her saviour.

“Hello,” said the man in a warm voice. “I am Wiffle, the Wizard of Kindness, and this is my flying horse Nesbeth. How did you come to fall into the whirlpool?”

Jody looked at Wiffle’s half turned bearded face but had to gasp for air before she could answer him. “I’m pleased to meet you. I’m Jody Richards,” was all she could say at first as she held on tightly to the wizard’s waist.

She eventually managed to add: “How I ended up in the whirlpool is not easy to explain.” Then, as she recovered, Jody found that the relief of being saved from drowning was being replaced with a stomach-churning fear of falling off the horse, which was flying so high that they seemed to be almost within touching distance of the clouds.

Nesbeth’s smooth coat was as white as newly fallen snow, but Jody had no time to admire it. She clung on to Wiffle and tightened her legs around the horse to prevent herself from slipping off. At the same time her teeth were chattering, partly through cold, as she was still dripping wet – and partly through terror.

“Don’t worry,” said the wizard soothingly. “We’re about to land now.”

Nesbeth began to descend and Jody, plucking up the courage to look down, saw what appeared to be a delightful village green – though the grass was actually pink! Around it were dotted houses and cottages and, further on, there was a small shopping centre.

Within seconds they were landing on the pink grass. Wiffle and a rather shaky Jody alighted from the horse and walked over to a nearby wooden seat to sit down.

“First things first,” said Wiffle. “Let’s dry you off.” He clicked his fingers to make the water drain out of Jody’s light blue dress. “Instant, dry cleaning” he chuckled.

“Now, tell me the story of how you came to be in the whirlpool.”

“But where am I?” asked Jody anxiously. “I’ve never been her before, though I have dreamed about this place.”

“You are in Tamila. It’s a magical island inhabited by pixies, goblins, fairies and wizards – many good ones like myself, but also a few bad ones. Oh, and there are some troublesome witches, too. The island has a magic ring around it so nobody from the outside world knows it is here. Now tell me how you got here – and how you came to be in the whirlpool.”

“I don’t really know for certain,” Jody confessed, slowly beginning to relax. “My brother James disappeared three weeks ago from our home in Bromley in Kent – that’s in England. He told me he wanted to go on an adventure holiday in some far off country and then a few days later he went missing. But he’s only 11 and has never gone off on his own before.