The Magic Book series, book 1 (5 page)

Back upstairs
the girls paused outside their bedroom with Sophie’s hand hovering
over the door handle; she turned to Felicity and asked:

“Ready?”

“You bet!”
Felicity answered. “Come on!”

They carefully
opened the door a crack and peeped in. Only silence met their ears,
not even the slightest noise that delicate fluttering wings might
create. So they opened it a little wider and cautiously tip-toed
in. The book was just where Sophie had left it, with the picture
very much still a picture, and still on the page.

“Ohhh!” they
cried in disappointment.

“Maybe it only
works once,” Felicity wondered, half to Sophie, half to
herself.

“What now?”
asked Sophie.

“Just put the
stupid book in your bag and we’ll give it back to Mrs Vincent
tomorrow. I’m going to bed.” Felicity flounced back out of the room
and headed to the bathroom to clean her teeth.

Their mother
couldn’t believe it when she went up later to check on them and
found them already in bed.

“Are you both
feeling poorly?” she asked, concern in her voice. She felt their
brows for any sign of a raised temperature.

“No, I think
you were right, too much excitement and now we’re overtired.”
Sophie yawned. “Can you read us our bedtime stories now
please?”

“Of course I
will,” their mother willingly agreed. Stories at this time of the
day were a regular thing that all three looked forward to, helping
them to unwind.

Once the
stories were told, she then kissed them goodnight. “Love you
girls,” she called softly as she slowly backed out of the doorway,
blowing a last kiss to each of her daughters in turn as she
went.

“Love you
most,” chorused the girls, as they did every night, their voices
heavy with sleep.

The girls were
still quiet next morning. “I’m not sure you should go to school
today,” worried their mother.

“We need to
give the book back. We’ll be okay Mummy,” reassured Felicity.

“Well, neither
of you seem to have a temperature. Make sure you tell someone if
you feel worse though; the school will call me if you feel too
poorly to stay. And look after each other.”

“We will,”
answered Sophie, giving Felicity a comforting hug.

After register,
Mrs Vincent held up the book that Sophie had slipped back onto her
chair first thing. “Does this belong to anyone? Sophie and Felicity
found it down the back of the drawers yesterday.”

Some children
shook their heads “no” in response, but most were uninterested on
seeing the old-fashioned looking thing.

“Well, I’ll put
it safely in here for now.” Mrs Vincent got up and locked it in her
resources cupboard, where it would be safe until the rightful owner
claimed it. “We will be doing PE this morning, so if you could go
and collect your kits from your pegs, please, and quietly make your
way to the changing rooms.”

Sophie and
Felicity slumped where they still sat. PE was their least favourite
lesson - not a good way to start the day.

Halfway through
PE Felicity had a fit of sneezing.

“Are you
feeling poorly?” Mrs Vincent asked, remembering that Felicity had
seemed unwell yesterday.

“Can I get a
tissue please?” she answered.

“Of course. I
have some by my chair in the classroom. Come straight back won’t
you?”

“I will,” she
said over her shoulder as she headed out of the hall.

Back in the
classroom, Felicity found that the box of tissues was empty. Now
urgently looking around the room for an alternative, it came to
mind that she had a little packet of them in her book bag. As she
pulled open her drawer, she gasped and recoiled, snatching her
hands to her body. Lying there, rocking slightly - was the book!
The very one she had seen Mrs Vincent lock away in Lost Property
just that morning. What was it doing back in her drawer?
Moving!

Completely
spooked, she forgot all about the tissues, slammed the drawer shut
again and ran back to the hall as fast as she could.

Rounding a
corner far too quickly, she skidded to a halt just in time to
narrowly miss a collision with Mr Peters, their Head Teacher.

“Wow! Slow down
young lady. What’s the rush?” he asked good-humouredly.

Felicity
thought for a split second about telling the truth as to why she
was running, but it would sound like an absurd excuse so she just
said, “Sorry Mr Peters, I went to get a tissue and was getting back
to PE as soon as I could.” It was only then that she realised she
was still in need of one as she dabbed at her nose with the back of
her sleeve – her mother wouldn’t be happy!

“Well, I think
Mrs Vincent would prefer it if you got back in one piece, so how
about walking the rest of the way, eh?”

“Yes Mr
Peters,” Felicity answered, looking down at her shoes shyly.

Back once again
in the sports hall, it took all of her willpower not to blab her
news to Sophie there and then, but she knew she’d get into trouble
so she’d just have to wait. Finally she got her chance as they went
back to the changing rooms.

“Sophie, you
know when I went for a tissue?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll never
guess! The book is back in my drawer. It was sort of wriggling,
little tiny wriggles!” Felicity squeaked excitedly, adding, “It
must be magic - how else could it have escaped a locked
cupboard?”

Sophie’s face
instantly lit up with excitement, “Do you think the fairies are
trying to get out? What did you do? Did you see them? Where’s the
book now?” she had so many questions her mind was spinning.

“No, well, it
made me jump so much I just shut the drawer and ran,” confessed
Felicity, feeling more than a bit silly now.

“Oh you wally!”
Sophie teased. “Let’s get changed super quickly,” she continued,
already squirming out of her PE kit. “We might just have time to
sneak a look.” The girls had never changed so fast. In fact they
beat everyone else!

“Well done
girls,” congratulated Mrs Vincent. “You can each collect a merit
card today.”

“Maybe it’s
turning out to be a good day after all,” smiled Sophie happily.

With the PE
kits put back on their hooks, they secreted themselves away in the
classroom to check on the book. They only hoped Mrs Vincent
wouldn’t see them with it, or she would think they had broken into
her cupboard and stolen it. Then they really would have some
serious explaining to do! For Felicity, a run in with Mr Peters was
quite enough trouble for one day.

Their pulses
raced with excitement as they retrieved the book from Felicity’s
drawer.

“Quick, let the
fairies out!” urged Sophie.

Leaning back
slightly, as if expecting one to suddenly fly out, Felicity opened
the book with quivering hands, only to find all the pages were
blank except for the poems. “Oh no, the pictures have already gone,
we’re too late,” Felicity whined.

Sophie started
glancing hopefully about the room and even under the drawer unit,
just in case they were hiding there.

“Oh, if only I
hadn’t been such a cowardy custard and had opened the book instead
of running away. Stupid…! Stupid….!” Felicity scolded herself.

“Wait a
minute,” interrupted Sophie, who had been flicking back through the
book, checking the rest of its pages, “there’s another poem.”