The Magic Book series, book 1 (8 page)

Next morning,
the girls dressed quickly. Sophie stowed the book in her blouse as
before. They virtually gulped their breakfast down and raced to
school.

Their mother
couldn’t believe how different the girls were from just last week.
Now she was finding herself having to rush to keep up with
them!

Felicity
checked her magic button. It was glowing ever so faintly. She
showed Sophie. Hers was glowing softly too.

“Nightshade
must be looking for the book and getting closer. When do you think
we should go to the tree?” Felicity asked Sophie anxiously.

“Oh, ha-ha!”
giggled Sophie. “The book’s moving; it really tickles!”

“Maybe it has a
message for us?” Felicity asked excitedly. She ushered her sister
to a quiet area of the playground. Their mother was busy chatting
to another parent, so she didn’t notice them edging away.

Sophie glanced
around for any prying eyes. Luckily there weren’t many people
around as they’d arrived early. She pulled the book from its hiding
place. She almost dropped it as it unexpectedly flipped open of its
own accord, revealing a poem. They both studied the verse swiftly
and silently.

"Nightshade’s
power grows ever stronger,

The fairies
can’t hold on too much longer,

Hurry to The
Great Oak tree at half past ten,

The fairies
will meet you there again."

Once read, the
words then disappeared as before, and Sophie promptly tucked the
book away again.

The class door
was now open, and as the girls rushed towards it their mother
called out; “Wait up ladies, I can’t go all day without my
kisses….”

They’d
completely forgotten! Mrs Vincent shot their mother an astonished
glance as she also registered the change in the girls’ attitude
towards school from just last week.

“Good morning
ladies, you are keen today aren’t you? That’s great, come in, come
in,” she encouraged happily, blissfully unaware of the grave danger
that everyone was in, should the girls fail…..

10.20am came
round and luckily it was P.E. which was to be outside today
(despite the ominous looking clouds) which would make it easier for
them to get to The Great Oak in time. The wind was quickening again
too.

The girls had
hidden their P.E. bags – pretending they had left them at home so
that they could keep their skirts on with the magic buttons. It
seemed that each time they checked the buttons they were glowing
steadily brighter. Nightshade was getting closer! Felicity thought
she’d rather not have known, especially as there seemed to be no
sign of any help coming from the fairies. Had something already
gone badly wrong in Serenia?

Their watches
said 10.28am and it had started to rain hard, born sideways onto
the children on a cold, stiff and unrelenting wind.

“Inside please
class!” came Mrs Vincent’s shrill voice over the rising din of the
brewing storm.

Whilst she was
distracted with a couple of children who seemed to be having a
disagreement over the only hoop, Sophie and Felicity took their
chance and dashed for The Great Oak. This time they would be ready
and made sure they had a good grip of the tree’s broad trunk.

It had just
turned 10.30 and right on time they heard a small wispy voice above
them; “Hi girls, hold on tight. Nightshade’s close, but we can beat
him!” Bryony – Felicity’s doodle fairy called encouragingly from
the boughs.

It was now
dark, with swathes of dense clouds eclipsing any sunlight. A bright
golden light from their buttons was now visible shining through the
material of their skirts, intensifying by the second it seemed.
Nightshade must be practically next to them. Their eyes flitted
nervously peering into the shadows about them as they clung to the
tree.

Suddenly, as if
The Great Oak itself knew the urgency of their dilemma, it began to
spin, gathering pace much more quickly than before, rotating faster
and faster… CRACK!…then stillness.

As the girls’
eyes refocused after their dizzying journey, they noted silently
that the clouds were almost blocking out the sun here in Serenia
now too, not just in the distance anymore.

They were met
by Campion, the male fairy, who wordlessly took their hands and
flew the girls directly into the tree and then on into the Great
Hall as before.

As soon as the
door to the hall was closed, Queen Tara rushed towards them asking,
“Do you have The Book?”

“Yes – here,”
Sophie started to pull it from its hiding place.

Queen Tara
leaned forward hastily, “No! Keep it,” she said, firmly placing her
hand on Sophie’s, preventing her from removing it.

With no time
for pleasantries, she rushed on to explain her plan. “Nightshade
must be drawn here willingly, to this very spot. He’s not so strong
within The Great Oak. It’s our last advantage, which will soon be
lost as his powers grow ever stronger. You both need to wait for
him up in the tree’s highest boughs, and draw him inside, here to
us.” She indicated with her finger, pointing to the floor. “He
won’t be able to resist a chance to claim The Book, I’m sure.
Campion, Sorrel and I will use a cloaking spell to make us
invisible, enabling us to stay here unseen as you draw him in.
Then, with The Book held between you both, we will join hands with
you to entrap Nightshade within a circle of our arms. For a brief
time he will be sufficiently weakened for us to bind him over with
a spell. We will need you to join in as we chant. Hopefully his
greed will make him foolish and he will not guess our plan.” With
that she muttered a spell and waved her wand and only the girls
seemed to remain.

“I’m scared,”
whimpered Felicity, almost inaudibly.

“Just believe….
Believe in fairies, The Book and the power of your faith in all
that is morally right, and you will not be overcome!” Queen Tara’s
words came from somewhere in the hall, echoing eerily within its
walls, but she was now invisible to them, as were Campion and
Sorrel.

Sophie jumped
as she felt someone take her hand. “I’ll fly you up into the
branches.” It was Campion’s voice. Sorrel must have taken
Felicity’s hand, and together their invisible companions whisked
the girls swiftly up into the tree top.

Whispering
softly, Campion’s disembodied voice said, “We’ll be waiting back in
the hall. Hold The Book out between you and be ready to hold your
other arms out too. We need his hands on The Book, and the moment
they are we will join you to encircle him.” He reminded them. “Then
just join in with our chant.”

They saw the
branches part as the two boys started to make their way back to
their hiding place within the hall. They must have paused briefly
as Campion’s grave voice came to them from further away….. “Good
luck!”

Sophie and
Felicity sat huddled close together whilst they waited, pretending
to be engrossed in chatting to each other, with just a corner of
The Book left intentionally visible.

They didn’t
have to wait long. Nightshade flew down out of the low black clouds
at great speed, abruptly pulling up as he caught a glimpse of The
Book, a triumphant smile spreading across his face.

They
convincingly feigned being surprised to see him, easy enough as
their nerves were strung out with anticipation!

Nightshade, who
seemed to be trying to befriend them, continued his descent now at
a leisurely pace and alighted gently on a branch a discreet
distance away.

“Now, how did
you two end up in Serenia and right up here of all places, my human
friends?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Your timing couldn’t be
worse, I’m afraid. It’s really not a safe spot in such a bad
storm,” he warned. “I’m on my way home. Come, you can shelter with
me and I will bring you back when it passes. I wouldn’t be able to
forgive myself if something happened to you and I’d not offered.”
He smiled warmly and held out a hand for each child.

It seemed
strange; Nightshade wasn’t what they had expected. Was he really
the one to blame for all this? In fact he looked quite pleasant
when he smiled. They’d anticipated someone haggard and wicked
looking, in dark sombre attire. In sharp contrast to their
expectations however, Nightshade looked youthful, with a playful
twinkle in his eye. He was sporting a matching purple ensemble of
hat, shirt and shorts. The green pea-like buttons on his shirt that
matched his leggings and shoes were undone almost to his waist
exposing a cheery summer yellow t-shirt through the v-shaped gap.
On his head he wore a purple hat which was yellow at the tip. Short
brown hair curled out round the edges of it, as if it was too full
of life to be contained beneath it. His lovely purple wings were
gently opening and closing as he tried to maintain his balance in
the ever increasing wind.

The girls
looked at one another, as if they were trying to decide what to
do.

“That’s very
kind of you, but I think we will be safer staying here in this
tree. We’ve just discovered a way inside it.” Sophie was sure he
must be able to hear her hammering heart! She turned and started to
make her way down the tree, then paused, “There’s plenty of room,
why don’t you stay here too?” she suggested brightly.

A frown crossed
Nightshade’s face. This was not what he wanted. He realised too
late that they had seen his disgruntled expression. The girls
pretended to be frightened by his sudden change of mood and started
scampering down the tree.

“Is he
following?” Felicity hissed quietly to Sophie through the corner of
her mouth. Sophie risked a glance behind. “No!” she whispered
back.

Just then
Nightshade’s friendly façade slipped further. “Come back! Do you
not realise it is extremely rude to turn down the offer of help
from a fairy? Do you not know who I am?” He seemed incensed at
their lack of response, and anger overtook any caution he may have
been exercising and he gave chase– he just had to get that
book!

Felicity heard
snapping twigs as he hastened his decent to catch them up. Phew!
For a moment she thought Queen Tara’s plan was doomed to
failure.

“Wait! You have
something of mine,” snapped Nightshade, pretending to have just
noticed The Book.

Sophie stopped
and turned to face Nightshade. Ignoring that he had just mentioned
The Book she said, “I’m really sorry to appear ungrateful but
you’re right, it’s not safe to wait the storm out up here. In fact
we should be getting back home before we’re missed or we’ll be in
terrible trouble.” She half turned to start back down the tree.

“Give it back
to me and we will say no more about it.” He was struggling to stop
his tone from becoming menacing as he grew tired of the chase. “In
fact, once you hand over The Book, which is rightfully mine, I will
help you to get home, to show you there are no hard feelings.” He
held his hands out to them again and stepped closer.