Jody Richards and The Secret Potion (11 page)

“Do you mean I could use my wish which Wiffle granted me to reverse Augustine The Awful’s spell?” she questioned, pushing her long hair back as it threatened to fall across her face. “Would that enable me to turn you back into your true self and turn Augustine The Awful into a frog?”

The frog’s eyes lit up with pleasure as it croaked excitedly.

“But it also means I would no longer have a wish to take James and I home, and we would be stuck here,” she said ruefully.

The frog seemed to visibly shrink and dropped his eyes mournfully.

“Don’t fret, Milo,” she comforted him. “I’ll do it. I owe you that. Without you, I’d never have found James. But what must I do?”

“Redit, redit,” cried the frog, excitedly.

Jody looked back at the book and scanned the page. She read out loud: ‘In order to turn an evil spell against a wizard or a witch with a wish there is one proviso.

‘The offending wizard or witch must agree that the spell they cast was a wicked one. Otherwise the matter must go before a panel of wizards for a ruling.’

“How ridiculous,” she snapped. “A wizard who has made an evil spell would hardly be stupid enough to admit it was wicked, would he? And we don’t happen to have a panel of wizards to call on. It’s simply impossible.”

At that moment there was the sound of footsteps and the bolts on the big oak door were pulled back by the two pixie guards, Olaf and Grog.

They put down bowls of food and drink and then promptly left, locking the door firmly behind them. It was not until long after the girl and the frog had eaten that the guards returned and this time opened the cell door wide so that Augustine The Awful could enter.

Once again Augustine The Awful towered over them all. Jody would have been shaking with fright if it had not been for the fact the nasty wizard was now dressed all in red instead of the more menacing black. But, without his brother’s pot belly, he was no figure of fun and was still a disturbing sight.

“Good morning!” he greeted them. He turned to address Jody: “I trust you and the frog both slept well. I’ve decided what to do with you, young lady. I’m going to let you work in the forest with your brother and the other two boys. First, I’m going to wipe out your memory so you don’t go disturbing the boys.”

Jody thought quickly. “Can’t I work with you as your assistant instead?” she asked. “I could help you keep notes about your formula for everlasting life and file all your papers.”

Her big blue eyes looked at him appealingly.

“I’ve already written up my notes,” grunted Augustine The Awful. “But just why would you want to be my assistant?” he asked, very suspiciously, stroking his pointed chin.

“I could learn so much from you,” Jody explained. “You’re wicked.”

“Don’t call me names!” he reprimanded her.

“No, you misunderstand,” she explained, forcing a wide smile she hoped was all sweetness and light.

“We sometimes use the term ‘wicked’ to mean ‘terrific’. You obviously have never seen Ali G on television or at the cinema.”

“I don’t know who this Ali G is,” Augustine The Awful told her. “But if he says ‘wicked’ means ‘terrific’ I like him.”

“Well,” she cooed at him. “It wasn’t very nice of you to turn the Bag Man into a frog, but it was a terrific trick. And that’s what Ali G would call ‘wicked’.”

“Yes,” agreed Augustine The Awful, smiling with pride. “It was ... ‘wicked’.”

This was what she had been praying he would say. She now plucked up her courage and told him: “As you have confessed it was wicked I now wish that your spell be reversed and that you become a frog instead of the Bag Man.”

A look of rage spread over Augustine’s face, giving way to one of horror. “So you’ve tried to trick me, have you ...” he shouted. “I’ll teach you ....”

Jody feared the worst. But Augustine The Awful never finished his sentence. Instead, he suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a slimy, bloated frog.

Jody turned round to look at the other frog, but it was no longer there. It had been replaced by the beaming figure of the Bag Man, returned to his true self.

“Thank you,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough.”

She rushed up and embraced him. As the Bag Man hugged her back, he could see the bigger of the two pixies, Olaf, moving menacingly towards them. The smaller one, his crooked nose twitching and beady eyes squinting, looked almost as threatening as he followed Olaf’s lead.

The Bag Man slipped out of Jody’s arms and held out his hand to stop them. “I wouldn’t try anything foolish,” he warned them. “Now that I have switched places with Augustine The Awful doesn’t it occur to you that I may have inherited his powers?”

The pixies stopped dead in their tracks and looked at him questioningly. “I don’t think so,” said Olaf, taking another step forward.

“You’re bluffing,” Grog taunted. But he squinted and chewed nervously.

“Do you want me to prove my powers?” asked Milo. Before they could answer he chanted a spell, clicked his thumbs against his fingers and suddenly water gushed all over the pixies’ heads as if they were caught under a heavy shower.

“Are you satisfied – or do you think I should do something far worse?” he demanded.

“No, no,” Grog cried out, as the water dripped from him. “Please make it stop.”

The Bag Man clapped his hands and the shower ended as abruptly as it had started.

“That was brilliant,” said Jody in admiration.

“Yes, it was quite good:” said Milo in false modesty. “Well, gentleman, are you now convinced about my powers. Or would you like a further demonstration?”

“We believe you,” muttered Olaf, ringing water from his mass of black hair.

“In that case, gentlemen, would you please take the frog and throw him out of the cell window into the moat that runs around the castle. That will wipe out his memory and he will never order you around again.”

Olaf and Grog looked at the frog and then at each other warily.

“Wouldn’t you like to be rid of a heartless master?” asked Milo.

“Indeed, we would,” said Olaf, moving forward.

The frog jumped frantically away and managed to escape the clutches of the pursuing pixies. But Olaf and Grog chased after it and finally, following three abortive attempts, succeeded in cornering it.

They managed to lift the struggling creature off the floor between them and then climbed on to the bed in order to reach the ‘window’.

Finding they were not tall enough, Olaf took the frog in both hands and stood unsteadily on Grog’s back. The frog cried out in rage and frustration, and finally in pain as Olaf, stretching his arms above his head, forced it through the slit in the wall.

One final push caused it to drop down into the water beneath.

A loud splattering sound came from the moat outside, followed by a ‘plop’, as the frog hit the water – after first bouncing off the side of the castle wall!

“Uga Oooo,” shouted the Bag Man in mock pain.

Then he turned to the two pixies. “Thank you, gentleman,” he said. “You should be very pleased with yourselves in ridding us all of such a terrible ogre. Now perhaps you would be good enough to tell us where the three boys are.”

“They are already in the forest working,” replied Olaf, still dripping wet.

“Then lead the way out of here,” instructed the Bag Man..

Chapter Seventeen

THE Bag Man picked up his carrier bags, stuffed his book on spells into one of them, and ushered the two pixies and Jody out of the open cell door.

As they marched down the cobbled corridor Jody told him: “You were wonderful. I didn’t know when I reversed that spell that you would inherit Augustine The Awful’s powers. Now you can send James and I back home.”

He stopped her and whispered in her ear. “I haven’t and I can’t.”

“What do you mean?” Jody asked, puzzled.

“I haven’t got any new powers and therefore I can’t send you home. I only made out that I had inherited Augustine’s powers to fool the two pixies. I still can’t work any special magic unfortunately.”

“But you made that water fall on their heads,” Jody pointed out.

“Shush, or they’ll hear you,” warned the Bag Man. “If you remember I told you that after Augustine The Awful took away my special powers I was left with only a couple of basic magic tricks to cater for everyday needs. One was to conjure up food and drink and the other was to produce rain-water. So I made loads of rain gush down on the pixies’ heads. I usually use that trick to do simple things such as water plants.

“Unfortunately, I can’t do anything spectacular like transport anyone or send you and James back home.”

“Oh,” sighed Jody. “Then how will we ever get back to England?”

“We’ll worry about that later,” said the Bag Man. “First, we’ve got to find your brother and those other boys and persuade them to come with us. You heard Augustine The Awful say that his brother Hugo is coming here to visit him today, and we can’t afford to let him discover us.”

He put his carrier bags in one hand and took Jody’s arm in an effort to propel her towards the pixies, who were leaving a trail of water behind them.

“But shouldn’t we search for the notes that Augustine The Awful said he has kept on his formula for eternal life?” Jody protested.

“We haven’t got time,” the Bag Man said. “He could have hidden them anywhere.”

“At the very least we should go to the storeroom and destroy the main ingredients for the formula,” Jody insisted. “If we don’t it will be easy for Hugo Toby or the witch to find them. Then they could uncover the secret of eternal life and use it for evil purposes.”

“I suppose you are right,” sighed the Bag Man. “But we must hurry – we can’t risk Hugo Toby arriving and catching us here.”

He strode after the fast disappearing pixies.

“Slow down, fellows” he called to them. The pixies came to a halt.

“Do you know when Augustine The Awful’s brother will be arriving?” the Bag Man asked them.

“No,” they chorused.

“Well,” said the Bag Man. “He will be coming soon and when he does I suggest that it will be in your interests not to tell him that his brother has been turned into a frog. Just say that Augustine The Awful left in a hurry and didn’t mention where he was going. Now I think Grog should go and prepare for Hugo’s arrival, while Olaf takes us to the storeroom before we find the boys.”

“But the storeroom will be guarded,” Olaf pointed out.

“We’ll take our chances,” the Bag Man told him.

The storeroom was near the top of the castle’s west tower, which meant climbing up flight upon flight of stone steps on a very narrow stairway. When they got to the corridor leading to the storeroom’s solid oak door it was deserted.

“I can’t understand it,” said Olaf. “The master told me that the storeroom was to be guarded, but there is nobody here.”

The Bag Man ignored him and tried to open the heavy oak door, only to find it securely locked.

“Now what?” asked Jody, shaking the wrought iron handle herself without causing it to budge an inch. “There’s no way we can get in, is there?”

“That remark is going into the book in black ink, young lady,” said the Bag Man, winking at her. “Please try to have more faith in me.” He rummaged in his carrier bags and, after a couple of unsuccessful fumblings, he pulled out a huge set of skeleton keys.

The Bag Man patiently tried them one by one in the lock. After the tenth key had failed to turn Olaf and Jody began to get agitated.

“Why don’t you just use your magic powers to make the door open?” suggested Olaf. “That would be much easier.”

“Magic should be used sparingly,” the Bag Man replied, trying not to show any alarm. “Just have some patience.” He tried three more keys, none of which fitted properly, and there were now only three left. But, just as all seemed lost, the next key slipped into the lock and turned smoothly.

The Bag Man threw the door open to reveal a huge stone room in the far corner of which were six barrels.

But as they approached them a bellow of dark smoke appeared, causing them to jump back.

Out of the foul-smelling haze sprang an horrendous looking monster, which resembled an upright double-length dragon with an elongated neck and hideous head on the top of which were two huge horns..

It was covered mainly with large scales, though there were a few patches of matted hair. What were most noticeable were it’s blazing, bloodshot red and yellow eyes and sharp fangs that shot out from slime-covered gums.

If that was not bad enough, it had terrible claws which looked capable of ripping anything to bits.

The creature suddenly opened its massive mouth to emit a short burst of flame, forcing the terrified trio to cower against the door.

“Who are you and what do you want?” the thing demanded in a booming voice full of menace.

Jody’s blue eyes opened even wider than usual as she stood rooted to the spot with fear. But she managed to stammer: “My name is Jody. I am a very naughty girl who cannot be trusted. But who...who are you?”