The Marvelous Magic of Miss Mabel (22 page)

A
NUMBER OF THE GIRLS
had fainted, falling gracefully to the ground one after another. Florence had been the first, setting off a chain reaction of collapsing students. Miss Reed wrung her hands, looking around in distress, as if searching for someone to tell her what to do. “All the teachers,” she kept mumbling. “Every last one of them. And Lord Winthrop Delacy as well.”

“Miss Reed, shouldn't we go after them?” Mabel said. “Before it's too late.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Miss Reed whispered, not making any move to go.

Taking the initiative, Mabel ran to the shed and grabbed an armful of broomsticks. She raced back and tossed one to the flying teacher, throwing the rest on the ground. “We can't waste time. We have to go now,” she shouted. “Please, everybody, grab a broom.”

“But what can we do?” Violet Featherstone cried. “There's no way to stop them. They'll end up getting swept out to sea and drowned.” A great wail of despair went up from the girls at this, and the air was thick with the scent of smelling salts.

“Where's my cat?” Miss Reed moaned, perching sideways on her broomstick. “Kittypuss, Kittypuss, here, pretty kitty,” she called in a thin, quivery voice.

“No time for cats,” Mabel yelled, hitching up her petticoats and flinging one leg over her broomstick. “Who's coming with me?” There was no answer from the girls, just the sound of hysterical sobbing.

“Where's my papa?” Winifred wailed. “What have you done with him, Mabel?”

“Get a broom and let's go,” Mabel ordered, whereupon Winifred collapsed on the grass in a faint.

Ruby was calling for her cat, but Mabel shook her head. “No, Ruby. Leave him. Ride like this; it's much faster.”

Copying Mabel, Ruby lifted her petticoats as she swung her leg over. “My mother would be horrified,
seeing me fly this way,” Ruby said, swooping into the air.

“She'll be even more horrified if she hears we've lost the entire staff of Ruthersfield, including Lord Winthrop Delacy and the mayor.”

“Oh, Mabel, too high,” Ruby gasped, following Mabel up past the trees. “We're not supposed to fly this high, and I really do have a fear of heights.”

“Forget the rules. Just don't look down,” Mabel said. And aiming west, she sped off toward the coast, hunched low over the handle for a more streamlined ride.

There was no sign of the teachers, and Mabel scanned the sky, worrying about what would happen if they were never found. The school would have to close down while the board of governors replaced them all and found a new headmistress. Except that wouldn't work, Mabel realized, because most of the board of governors had been swept away too. This was a catastrophe of the highest order. Mabel groaned, terrified that they wouldn't be able to stop the teachers from blowing all the way over to Greenland, which seemed to be the direction they were heading in.

“I smell salt,” Ruby shouted. “We must be near the coast.”

There was a definite saline tang to the air, and glancing down, Mabel saw the Melton Bay pier. Mr. Miller's
donkeys had escaped again and were running along the sand, and Mabel wondered if the sight of a flying pavilion had scared them.

“There they are,” Ruby suddenly screamed. “By the cliffs.”

Far down the beach, the jagged white rocks rose out of the sea, signaling danger to ships and swimmers. Huge breakers crashed against them, and gusting over the top of the cliffs was the pavilion, which looked more like a fast-moving thundercloud. It was dark and purple, as if brewing an enormous storm, except Mabel knew it wasn't rain that would come pouring down on the ocean, but a tempest of tumbling witches.

“Do you have your wand with you, Ruby?” Mabel shouted. “I've lost mine.” The wind took her words and tossed them away, and Mabel had to repeat herself three times before Ruby heard.

“Yes, I do,” Ruby yelled back, and Mabel nodded. There was a spell they had learned last term called the Stop It Now Spell. It was meant to halt fast-moving objects and was the only thing Mabel could think of that just might work. They had gone outside and practiced it on hares, which always seemed plentiful in the meadows around Potts Bottom. Mabel had had no difficulty with the spell, and it had been great fun making the hare stop and start as it hopped across the field.
But casting it while flying was another matter entirely, because you needed an extremely steady hand.

She flew as close to Ruby as she dared. Mabel didn't want to get too close, because if she lost control of her broomstick (which was entirely possible at the speed they were flying), they would crash into each other. And neither of the girls could swim.

“Get ready,” Mabel yelled, slowing down slightly for the transfer. With a great deal of wobbling, Ruby managed to get the wand out of her pocket, and Mabel reached across with one hand, feeling for the first time like this whole awful matter might not end in disaster. As the girls leaned toward each other, a sharp gust of wind knocked against them. Before Mabel could get a good grip on the wand, Ruby grabbed for her broomstick to steady herself, and they both let out a howl as the wand slipped through Mabel's fingers and plummeted toward the water.

“Oh, blast it all,” Mabel swore, diving after the wand as fast as she could. But she wasn't quick enough, and with a cry of despair, Mabel watched it hit the waves and sink out of sight.

The girls stared at the water, waiting for Ruby's wand to reappear, bounce back up, but of course it wouldn't. Even though their school wands were made of black walnut wood, the handles were weighted with
unicorn hoof. This helped ground their spells and give them stability, but it also meant that the wands didn't float.

“Now what?” Ruby said, starting to cry.

“I don't know,” Mabel croaked. She thought of all those strong Ratcliff women her mother had told her about. They wouldn't give up so easily. “Come on, Ruby. We have to keep flying. We can't lose sight of them, otherwise we may never find them again.”

“I'm so tired,” Ruby sobbed, but she flew on beside Mabel. “Are you sure you don't have your wand, Mabel?”

Mabel had checked in her pocket at least six times, but she checked again, because she couldn't believe it wasn't there. It must have fallen out on the roof.

“Empty,” Mabel shouted, shaking her head. There was nothing in her pinafore pocket except a sticky mess of cobweb stuck to the lining. She had forgotten all about her cobweb experiment, and wondered if the growing powder had worked on it. Well, they had nothing else to try. It was worth a go. “Ruby, I need your help,” Mabel yelled, peeling the web free. “You've got to stop crying and concentrate. I have a plan, but I can't do it alone.” Ruby nodded, tilting her head down quickly and wiping her eyes on her shoulder. “We're going to use this cobweb as a net,” Mabel said. “If we can fly in
front of the podium, we'll stretch this out between us and trap them in it.” Mabel panted for breath. Talking and flying at the same time was difficult. “Once their momentum has been stopped, the wind will die down and we can tug them back to shore.”

“It's a cobweb,” Ruby yelled. “This will never work.”

“We don't have another choice.” Mabel held out her hand. “Take a corner, Ruby, and do not let go.”

“Won't it rip?” Ruby said, doing exactly what Mabel told her.

“I hope not,” Mabel shouted. “I've been experimenting with it.”

The girls slowly flew apart, and Mabel gave a satisfied cry as the cobweb started stretching. It did seem unbelievably strong, with the texture of India rubber, which must have something to do with the lion breath she had added to her strengthening potion, and the growing powder had clearly worked. The cobweb stretched across the sky, as if a giant spider had spun it.

“Now go as fast as you can,” Mabel panted. “We have to get in front of them.”

After fifteen minutes of flying, they were gaining slowly on the whirlwind of teachers, but Mabel had never been so tired, and she was nervous Ruby might fall off her broomstick from exhaustion. “Come on,”
Mabel encouraged. “We can do this, Ruby.”

Ruby had started to cry again, tears slipping down her cheeks and falling into the ocean. The girls refused to give up though, using every last ounce of strength as they sped toward the purple mass.

“We're close,” Mabel yelled. “Keep going, Ruby.” And then the wind turned, swirling fiercely to the left, and tipping the podium upside down. Mabel watched in horror as the witches started falling from the sky, skirts blowing up like inside-out umbrellas. “Angle your broomstick and dive, Ruby,” Mabel shouted, her throat raw from screaming. “Now spread apart,” she ordered. “Swoop down underneath them.” The cobweb widened but it didn't break, and Mabel prayed that the strands would hold. “Brace yourself,” she yelled, as the crowd of witches and dignitaries hurtled into it, trapped like a catch of giant purple fish.

Mabel's arms burned with pain, and Ruby screamed. But neither of the girls let go. The cobweb stretched and stretched, tugging them backward and breaking the momentum of the fall. Glancing down, Mabel saw the teachers flapping about, expressions of shock on all their faces. Miss Brewer's hair puffed out in a frizzy gray cloud. Her bloomers were showing and her mouth kept opening and closing like a salmon just pulled from the water. Lord Delacy had lost his hat, and he
appeared to be sucking his thumb. Mabel couldn't speak. She was crying so hard her glasses had misted up, and when she smiled at Ruby, it was through a blur of happy tears.

T
UGGING THE NET OF WITCHES
back to Ruthersfield was a slow, grueling business, but Mabel and Ruby laughed the whole way, pushed on by the adrenaline of success. As they flew over Melton Bay, they saw Miss Reed heading sedately toward them with Kittypuss.

“You're a little late,” Miss Brewer snapped from inside the cobweb as Miss Reed hovered beside them. “Mabel saved the day.”

“So did Ruby,” Mabel called back. “I couldn't have done it without her.”

“Such an undignified way to be rescued,” Miss Reed
murmured, noting the jumble of witches. Most of their hair had come unpinned, and they resembled a net of mermaids, rather than respectable teachers.

Mabel waved at some children on the beach, who were jumping and pointing, staring up at the witches as they flew across the sky. A great sense of pride and achievement swelled in Mabel's chest, and she couldn't stop smiling.

Word had traveled fast, as was usually the case in Potts Bottom. A number of sobbing girls had stumbled into town with horrifying tales of what had happened. So when Mabel and Ruby finally landed outside the school, a large crowd of villagers was gathered there to greet them. Mabel rolled off her broomstick and lay on her back for a moment, listening to the crowd cheer. As she got slowly to her feet, the roar from the crowd intensified. Mrs. Tanner swept Ruby into her arms, and Nora rushed over to Mabel, wrapping her in a tight hug and kissing the top of her head.

“I came down here as soon as Daisy told me what was happening. She had just come out of the baker's and saw the podium fly off. I was terrified you wouldn't come back,” Nora whispered. “I was so scared I might lose you.”

“I was quite scared myself,” Mabel admitted. Every
muscle in her body ached, and her palms were raw with blisters.

Miss Brewer slowly stood up, helped by Miss Seymour and Angelina Tate. The headmistress attempted to pin her hair back into place with shaking fingers. She walked over to Mabel and Ruby and lowered her head. The crowd fell silent, and after a moment Miss Brewer raised her eyes. “Mabel Ratcliff and Ruby Tanner,” she said, in a voice full of reverence. “What you did today took an unbelievable amount of courage, quick thinking, and determination. You showed the world what a true Ruthersfield girl is capable of, and I applaud you both from the bottom of my heart.” There was a great deal of cheering at this, and Miss Brewer had to hold up her hand for silence. “You displayed strength of character and true spirit, and some day, girls, I believe either one of you will make a head girl that Ruthersfield can be proud of, the sort of head girl who will be remembered for generations to come.”

Mabel stood beside Nora, too tired to speak, thinking that perhaps Mabel wasn't such a bad name to have after all.

“I would also like to announce,” Miss Brewer continued, bestowing a smile on Mabel, “that it is
time we changed our flying requirements here at Ruthersfield. From now on girls will learn to ride their broomsticks bicycle style and the use of cats will be optional.”

“Yes!” Mabel cried, hugging Ruby, who was standing beside her.

“May I ask that you reconsider?” Miss Reed interjected. “Such a practice is not for young ladies.”

“Miss Reed, after the show of heroics we have all just witnessed, I'm surprised at you. Ruthersfield is moving into the twentieth century, and I suggest that you join us there. As for you,” Miss Brewer said, turning to Winifred, who was sobbing in her father's arms. “You are no longer welcome at this school. I am expelling you, Winifred Delacy.” A gasp rippled its way around the girls. “What you did was despicable. Stealing is not to be tolerated. But on a far more serious note, your actions today could have taken many lives. If it hadn't been for Mabel Ratcliff's and Ruby Tanner's show of bravery, you would probably have ended up in Scrubs Prison.” The gasp became a crazy chattering of voices. Everyone knew that Scrubs was a high security prison for witches, and once inside, a witch was never released.

“I'm sorry,” Winifred sobbed. “I just wanted my father to be proud of me. Please let me stay.”

“There is no discussion here, Winifred. You will leave the property at once.”

Mabel couldn't help but feel sorry for Lord Winthrop Delacy. He was looking at his daughter with such sadness and disappointment, and Mabel knew the Delacys' lives would never be the same again.