Witch Is When the Penny Dropped (16 page)

Grandma waited for silence, and then said, “I choose pen ‘B’.” The platform landed with a thump, and to everyone’s relief, apart from the Ma Chivers supporters perhaps, out came five tigers. They were barely out of the pen before Grandma had overpowered them. She did it with such ease that it was almost comical. Both Ma Chivers and Grandma had completed the task with an ease which belied the danger of the situation. Grandma didn’t acknowledge, or even seem to notice the applause. She simply left the arena. The results were in: Grandma, Ma Chivers and Felicity Broom were through to the next round.

Chapter 24

There was a short break between rounds, and I turned to Aunt Lucy and asked, “What happens to the dragon?”

“It will be left up there until after the competition has finished, and the stadium has been cleared. Then it will be transported back to where it was captured. I’m just thankful that no one chose pen ‘E’.”

Round two required the competitors to conjure up a storm cloud, and aim a real bolt of lightning at a target. This was a spell I’d never seen before. I didn’t even know what level it was, but I assumed it must be at least level five. I could fire lightning bolts from my hand, and I could conjure up rain clouds, but this was way more complicated. The targets were statues, and I noticed they were similar to the one I’d previously used to practise the ‘shatter’ spell.

Felicity Broom went first. The cloud appeared within moments, and shortly after, a powerful thunderclap reverberated around the stadium. The lightning bolt struck the statue on its head, knocking it clean off. The crowd applauded, and Felicity stepped aside to make way for Grandma.

She conjured up a storm cloud at least twice the size of Felicity’s. The ensuing thunderclap was deafening; my ears were ringing long after it had ended. The lightning bolt hit the statue which disintegrated into a million tiny pieces. We were on our feet clapping and cheering, but as always, Grandma was impassive—almost oblivious to the crowd.

Ma Chivers stepped forward. Her storm cloud was of a similar size to Grandma’s, and the thunderclap was every bit as loud. The lightning bolt destroyed the statue in much the same way as Grandma’s had. No one needed to hear the announcement; we already knew that Felicity Broom would be eliminated.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your finalists in this year’s competition: Martha Chivers and Mirabel Millbright. The final round, as always, is ‘mind control’. The two finalists will try to control the mind of their opponent. The aim is to make their opponent kneel before them. Whichever of the two contestants can achieve that first will be crowned this year’s Elite Champion.”

I turned to Aunt Lucy. “What exactly is the ‘mind control’ spell?”

“It’s one of the most difficult spells to perform. It’s almost like a ‘level six
plus
’ spell. It enables a witch to take over the mind of another human or sup. In itself, that’s not so difficult unless the person you’re using the spell on also happens to be a level six witch. If Grandma was controlling my mind or yours, she could do that without a second thought. But to do it against another level six witch, and particularly against one as powerful as Ma Chivers, is a very different proposition. They’re very well matched, so this should be—”

“Scary?” I said.

“Yes, definitely scary, but also quite interesting. It isn’t dangerous, not like the platform round, but it will be difficult for either of them to come out the clear winner.”

Aunt Lucy was absolutely right. As soon as the announcer gave the two finalists the go-ahead, the two witches locked gazes. The only sign that anything was happening was in the eyes of each witch. There was something deep, dark and almost sinister in Ma Chivers’ eyes. Grandma had a level of focus on her face I’d never seen before. She was always stressing the importance of focus to me, but I’d never seen this level of concentration. I didn’t even know it was possible.

The crowd fell silent. It was as though there was an invisible force field moving between the two witches, as each one fought for control over the other. Time seemed to stand still. All eyes were on the two of them, waiting to see which one would fall to her knees.

“Time is up!” the announcer said after what seemed like an age, but was probably no more than a minute or so. “The time limit has been reached. No clear winner has emerged. As is customary in these cases, I declare the joint winners of this year’s Elite Competition to be Martha Chivers and Mirabel Millbright.”

There was a moment’s hesitation among the crowd, but then everyone stood, and started clapping and cheering. I looked at Grandma and Ma Chivers; neither of them looked happy. The stadium cleared, and we waited for Grandma outside. She appeared after about five minutes.

“Well done, Mother,” Aunt Lucy said.

“Stupid rule,” Grandma said. “Why have a time limit? If the idea is to determine who is the Elite witch, then the mind control round should have continued until there was a winner. I had Chivers; I could feel it. A few more seconds and she would have been on her knees begging for me to stop.”

“But those are the rules,” Amber said.

Pearl looked at her sister as though she’d lost her mind.

Amber realised what she’d said, and tried to recover the situation. “It’s a silly rule though Grandma, I agree.”

“Let’s go back to my house,” said Aunt Lucy. “We can all have a celebratory drink, and a bite to eat.”

“There’s nothing to celebrate,” Grandma said. “You go and celebrate if you want to; I’ve got better things to do with my time.”

“But Mother, you were joint winner of the—”

“I’m not
joint
anything. There’s only one Elite witch in Candlefield, and you’re looking at her.”

“But, Mother. Why don’t you—”

It was too late. Grandma had disappeared.

Aunt Lucy shook her head. “What do you think, girls? Shall we go back to my house and celebrate anyway?”

The twins nodded.

“Count me in,” I said. I was hungry and thirsty. Just watching the competition had totally exhausted me.

Chapter 25

I told Aunt Lucy and the twins that I wanted to call at Cuppy C because I needed to feed Barry. I said they should go on ahead, and I’d be with them as soon as I could.

As I walked to the tea room I kept replaying the Elite Competition in my mind, and for the first time I began to have doubts about my future. I loved magic. I loved being a witch, and learning new spells. I had thought I wanted to progress up the levels, to become a level six witch like my mother and my grandmother. But after the events of the day, and after seeing some of the scary things involved, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe I should be more like the twins, and be satisfied with remaining on level two. I had no desire to take part in a competition like the one I’d seen today.

***

I was almost at Cuppy C when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around, and a young witch with vivid, blue hair came panting up towards me.

“I’ve been trying to catch up with you,” she gasped. “Are you Jill Gooder?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Oh, thank goodness. Your grandma sent me. She wanted me to tell you to meet her back at the Range. It’s important.”

“What’s so urgent?”

“I don’t know. I’m just the messenger, and well—you don’t question your grandma, do you?”

That was true of course, but why hadn’t Grandma just magicked herself here if she wanted to see me? I didn’t get it.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m, Imelda. I work at the Range. I’d finished for the day, and was just getting ready to leave when your grandmother grabbed me, and said I had to come and fetch you. I’m going home now; my tea will be ready. Bye.”

With that, Imelda rushed off down the street.

Great! I’d been looking forward to a drink, and some of Aunt Lucy’s cakes. I really needed to de-stress after watching the Elite Competition, but it appeared that Grandma had other plans. Well, I’d still have to feed Barry, so she’d just have to wait for a few minutes.

“Can we go for a walk? Can we go to the park? Can we go now, please? Can we?”

“I’m sorry, Barry. We can’t go just yet. There’s something I have to do first.”

“Oh please. I want to go for a walk. Can we go to the park? Can we go now? I love the park.”

“I know you do, Barry, and I’d really like to take you. But there’s something I have to do first. It’s important. I’ll feed you now, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Ooh yes. I like food. Can I have some now? Can I?”

“Yes. I’m going to feed you now, and I’ll be back soon to take you to the park.”

I left Barry to eat his dinner. Once I’d found out what Grandma wanted, and I’d had something to eat at Aunt Lucy’s, I’d come back and take him for a quick walk in the park.

***

The area outside the range was eerily quiet. I made my way to the main entrance, but it was locked. I saw a smaller door to the right, so I tried that and it opened. The inside of the Range was deserted.

“Grandma,” I shouted. “Grandma, it’s Jill.”

“Over here.”

I looked into the arena and saw a figure standing next to the remaining raised platform.

“Grandma, is that you?”

It was dusk and visibility wasn’t great. I could just about make out the figure in the distance. It looked vaguely like Grandma, and the voice sounded like hers. I walked past the bleachers, and towards the entrance to the main arena. It wasn’t locked, so I went inside and began to walk towards the remaining platform.

“Grandma,” I called again. I could see her more clearly now, but she had her back to me. What was she doing? Was this some kind of test, or a punishment? Had I done something wrong again?

“Grandma, what’s this all about?” As I spoke, the figure turned to dust before my eyes.

“Grandma?” I was really worried now. I looked around. The stadium was still silent and deserted. What was going on? This had all the hallmarks of TDO. Was it a trap? I wasn’t sure, but I needed to get out of there fast. I turned around and started for the gate. As I did, I heard a horrifyingly familiar sound. Pen ‘E’ had dropped to the ground with a thud. I turned around and came face to face with the most terrifying creature I’d ever seen.

The dragon was almost twice the size of an elephant. Its skin had a metallic appearance. Its neck was long, and it had a pointed snout with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Its powerful tail swished angrily back and forth as it began to move towards me. Its head snaked from side to side, and its green eyes burned into me. It felt as if they were pinning me to the spot.

Suddenly the dragon opened its mouth and let out an ear-splitting roar. Simultaneously, flames shot from its nostrils and hit the ground only a few metres in front of me, scorching the grass. There aren’t words to describe how scared I was, but I knew that if I didn’t act quickly, I would be dead within seconds.

I instinctively called on the ‘invisible’ spell. I’d used it dozens of times before, and could normally cast it in seconds, but I was so terrified my brain wouldn’t function properly. It took me three attempts to get the spell to work. When it finally did, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was safe now because the dragon couldn’t see me. I began to run for the exit, but as I did, I heard its massive feet thudding behind me. It somehow knew where I was. Perhaps it could still see me—or maybe it could smell me. Any moment now those flames would burn me to a cinder. I knew I wouldn’t make it to the gate in time, so I had to try something else. I cast the ‘obscurer’ spell, using as much focus as I could muster to create the largest cloud of smoke I’d ever produced. I could no longer see the dragon, but whether it could still see me or sense my whereabouts I had no idea. I sped off again, but I was still at least thirty metres away, and I had no idea whether I’d bought myself enough time to escape.

When I was only ten metres short of the gate I had my answer. The dragon emerged from the cloud of smoke. I stopped dead in my tracks. This was the end. I’d never make it out now. In desperation I cast every spell I could think of: the ‘burn’ spell, the ‘lightning bolt’, the ‘freeze’ spell, the ‘sleep’ spell. None of them worked. Maybe I could levitate over the fence—but I knew that would take too long. The dragon was getting closer—I was dead. It breathed more fire from its nostrils, and this time it scorched the grass no more than a few inches from my feet. The next one would hit me. I closed my eyes. This was it.

***

The sensation was like nothing I’d ever felt before. One minute I was standing on the ground waiting to become toast, and the next I was tumbling through the air head over heels, doing mini somersaults as I was lifted over the fence, and dropped unceremoniously to the ground. The fall knocked the wind out of me, but I managed to get to my knees, and I saw that the dragon was clawing at the fence, desperately trying to get at me. Fortunately, the fence was strong enough to contain it, and I was just out of reach of the flames.

“What were you playing at?” Grandma shouted. “Have you lost your mind?”

I was still on my knees trying to catch my breath. “Grandma, thank you. Thank you.”

“What were you doing in the arena?”

“I got a message telling me to meet you here.”

“I didn’t send you a message.”

“Someone called Imelda told me to meet you at the Range, so I came back. I thought I saw you standing next to the platform, but then—”

“I didn’t send you a message. It’s lucky for you that your mother sensed something was wrong and told me. Another few minutes and you would have been dead.”

Just to illustrate the point, the dragon breathed more fire through the fence, scorching the grass close to Grandma’s feet. She turned to the beast, and cast a spell which made it howl with pain. She repeated the process, and it howled again and slowly started to back away.

“Are you okay?” She helped me to my feet.

“I think so; just a bit winded.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll let the authorities know they need to come and see to this creature.”

“Okay, thanks Grandma. Thank you so much.”

***

Grandma magicked the two of us to Aunt Lucy’s house.

“What happened to you, Jill?” Aunt Lucy looked shocked at my appearance.

“This crazy granddaughter of mine decided to fight the destroyer dragon,” Grandma said.

“No I didn’t,” I said. “I didn’t decide to fight anything. I was tricked. Someone told me Grandma wanted to see me at the Range, and when I got there the platform came down and the dragon came after me.”

Amber and Pearl looked at me wide-eyed.

“Were you scared?”

“I was absolutely terrified. I thought I was a goner.”

“What did you do? How did you get away?”

“I didn’t. I tried making myself invisible, but that didn’t seem to work. Then I tried using the ‘obscurer’ spell, and that bought me some time, but I still wouldn’t have got out of the arena alive if Grandma hadn’t come to my rescue.”

Aunt Lucy and the twins looked at Grandma.

“Why is everyone staring at me?” she snarled. “I thought there were meant to be drinks. Did you get me here under false pretences?”

“You can have any drink you like,” Aunt Lucy said. “What will it be?”

“Well in that case, I wouldn’t say no to a drop of champagne.”

“I’m sorry,” Aunt Lucy said. “We don’t have any champagne.”

“Well, you did say I could have
any
drink, and I would like champagne. I believe the shops are still open.”