The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star (11 page)

verything happened at once. Ethel yanked the zip open and Star’s head sprang into view, barking. Ethel was thrown off balance and seized Mildred, who also overbalanced. Mildred tried to stop them all from falling by grabbing the lantern but, to her horror, she only succeeded in wrenching it clean out of the wall. They watched helplessly as it hurtled across the slate floor below, smashing open and setting light to the costumes.

Dangling from both brooms, Ethel gripping Mildred’s holdall and Mildred hanging on to Star, they twirled down together like a helicopter with a broken rotor, fortunately cushioned by Ethel’s holdall as they hit the flagstones.

‘Quick, Ethel!’ yelled Mildred, jumping up and rummaging in her holdall. ‘Grab your fire extinguisher!’

Star was bouncing up and down barking hysterically, but the only thing Mildred could think of was putting out the fire. She found her own fire extinguisher, stood back and aimed it at the base of the flames, which were roaring up all four costumes with heart-stopping speed. Ethel lay frozen with shock on top of the holdall where she had fallen, watching as clouds of foam enveloped the burning mass of clothing.

‘Ethel!’ bellowed Mildred, still frantically spraying foam up and down the flames. ‘
Do
something! Get your fire extinguisher
now
!’

Ethel snapped out of her trance. She scrambled to her feet, pulled her fire extinguisher out of the bag and aimed it at the remaining shreds of the costumes until the flames were completely engulfed.

The hallway was now a blackened mess, knee-deep in foam, with bits of charred material floating delicately through the air. Mildred aimed one last burst of foam into the broken lantern.

‘It’s OK, Ethel,’ she said, ‘it’s out.’

Star had stopped barking and had tucked himself behind Mildred’s legs, looking shamefaced. Something was clearly wrong and he was rather worried that it might be his fault. Mildred and Ethel stood staring at each other in a state of shock. They were both covered in soot, their clothes drenched, the ballet costumes utterly ruined.

‘We are going to be in
such
trouble,’ murmured Mildred, glancing nervously towards the door.

‘You certainly
are
, Mildred Hubble,’ said Miss Hardbroom’s unwelcome voice as she materialized silently from a dark alcove. ‘This is quite unbelievable! You
do
realize that we now have absolutely
no
prospect of even
entering
the competition, let alone winning it – added to which, the two of you have almost burnt down the school.’

‘It was an accident, Miss Hardbroom,’ said Ethel, beginning to sob. ‘Mildred had a dog in her bag and I was investigating.’

‘It wasn’t
my
fault!’ protested Mildred. ‘I was on my morning lantern round, minding my own business, when Ethel flew up behind me and grabbed my bag and –’

‘I didn’t just grab it,’ said Ethel. ‘I was trying to stop you from hiding that dog!’

Miss Hardbroom brushed a floating piece of charred owl costume from her nose as they all looked down at Star, now cowering behind Mildred.

‘Go to Miss Cackle’s office,’ said Miss Hardbroom in a voice quivering with anger, ‘and wait for me there while I attend to this mess. Then we will need to gather everyone together in the Great Hall, where you can both explain to your fellow pupils why all their hard work has been in vain.
I’ll
take the dog, Mildred,’ she added as the two girls turned to leave the scene of their crime, followed closely by Star.

‘He needs to go out, Miss Hardbroom,’ gibbered Mildred. ‘Could I just –’

‘No, you couldn’t,’ snapped Miss Hardbroom. ‘
I’ll
take him if he needs to go out, Mildred, he’s no longer any concern of yours. Give me your sash so that I can use it as a lead.’

Mildred took off her sash and knelt down to tie it round Star’s neck. ‘Do as you’re told, won’t you?’ she said in a quavering voice, as he tried to jump up and lick her face. ‘Be a good dog – he’s called Star, Miss Hardbroom.’

She handed the makeshift lead to the terrifying teacher but to Mildred’s surprise the little dog didn’t struggle at all. He just sat down, stuck his nose in the air and began to howl mournfully, as if he knew that all was lost.

ave you heard the news?’ gasped Maud, bursting into Enid’s room.

‘What?’ asked Enid. ‘What’s happened?’

‘It’s really terrible,’ said Maud, ‘in every way you can think of! Ethel and Mildred had a fight and knocked over one of the lanterns and all the ballet costumes were burnt to a cinder
and
they nearly burnt the school down
and
Miss Hardbroom’s got Star!’

‘What about the competition?’ asked Enid.

‘What
about
the competition?’ said Maud grimly. ‘There isn’t going to
be
a competition, not for our school anyway – not without costumes.’

‘Poor Mildred,’ said Enid. ‘Everyone’s going to be so cross with her – the teachers, the dancers, the entire school! It’s going to be awful.’

‘At least it wasn’t
just
her,’ said Maud. ‘It sounds as if Ethel was at least equally to blame, though I’m sure she’ll do her best to wriggle out of it. It’s the dog I feel dreadful about. Mildred really loved him and she’d done such brilliant work with him – that flying routine was good enough to go on the stage.’

They suddenly looked at each other as an idea crossed their minds at
exactly
the same time.

Mildred and Ethel waited in Miss Cackle’s office in a state of terror, both wondering if they would be expelled. Ethel was just as scared as Mildred and for once couldn’t think of a single gibe to hurl in her direction. There really seemed to be no way out of the huge mess they were in.

The door suddenly crashed open and Miss Hardbroom marched in, leading Star on Mildred’s sash, followed by a very serious-faced Miss Cackle. Star sprang hopefully towards Mildred and was sharply yanked back by Miss Hardbroom. Both teachers sat on the other side of Miss Cackle’s desk facing the wrongdoers, while Star slunk underneath, his eyes fixed longingly on Mildred.

Miss Cackle had just begun to speak when there was a soft tap at the door.

‘Who is it?’ called Miss Hardbroom irritably.

The door opened very slowly to reveal Maud and Enid looking petrified.

‘What is it, Maud?’ asked Miss Cackle.

‘Um … we heard about the costumes –’ said Maud.

‘– and we thought of a way that we could still enter the competition,’ explained Enid.

‘That’s very school-spirited of you, girls,’ said Miss Cackle, ‘but I’m afraid it really is too late.’

‘But it
isn’t
!’ burst out Maud. ‘The dog is amazing! Mildred does a flying routine with him that’s absolutely brilliant – we’ve seen it, haven’t we, Enid? Honestly, Miss Cackle, it’s funny and clever –’

‘And the dog’s so cute,’ said Enid, getting carried away. ‘And Mildred flies the best we’ve ever seen her when she’s with him – doesn’t she, Maud?’

They carried on in this fashion, singing the flying duo’s praises, getting more and more enthusiastic, until Miss Hardbroom put up a hand to stop them.

Everyone stared down at Star, who didn’t
look
like a competition winner, hunched in the shadows, trying to keep out of the way.

‘I don’t
think
so, Maud,’ said Miss Hardbroom. ‘Even if what you say
is
true, we don’t have any time to put the pair through their paces and we certainly don’t want the academy to be made a laughing stock in front of such an illustrious panel of judges – don’t you agree, Miss Cackle?’

Mildred stood up and took a deep breath. ‘
Please
, Miss Cackle,’ she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. ‘I think we
could
do it really. I’ve been training him for weeks on end and the auditions are only ten minutes long. I know we could manage to keep everyone entertained for at least that long and the school entry
is
called “The Joy of Flying”, so we could still enter under that title –
please
, Miss Cackle, it’s the only way I can possibly make amends for messing up our chances. Wouldn’t it be better than nothing – to
try
and win?’

Incredibly, Miss Cackle was moved by Mildred’s plea. She over-rode Miss Hardbroom’s protests and announced that she agreed with Mildred – that it
was
better to make an attempt at winning than to give up.

At this point Ethel couldn’t restrain herself any longer. ‘But it’s not fair, Miss Cackle!’ she exclaimed. ‘It’s that stupid dog’s fault that we can’t do the ballet and I think –’

Miss Hardbroom fixed Ethel with one of her most blood-curdling stares. ‘Miss Cackle is speaking!’ she said icily.

‘Thank you, Miss Hardbroom,’ continued Miss Cackle. ‘As I was saying, Mildred, I’ve decided to trust you,
and
the opinion of your two friends here, mainly because I think I
know
you and I don’t think you would risk putting yourself up in front of the school if you didn’t feel sure you could do it – am I right?’

‘Yes, Miss Cackle,’ said Mildred gratefully.

‘Well then,’ said Miss Cackle, ‘you’d better take the dog and get yourselves ready to assemble for take-off at ten o’clock as planned. Miss Hardbroom and I will deliver the news to all the pupils and tell them that we
will
be competing after all.’

‘Just a moment,’ said Miss Hardbroom to Ethel, who was attempting to sneak out with the others. ‘Would you just stay behind – I have a few questions I’d like to ask you …’