Magic Molly book one The Mirror Maze

  Molly loved travelling in the van. People on the pavements used to wave to them as they drove by; Molly always waved back, unless she spotted Henrietta Havelots, or Malcolm Meany, in which case she thumbed her nose or stuck out her tongue.

  Granny Whitewand snored her way through the whole trip. Her snore started gently enough, but it gradually built up into a deafening roar. Eventually the snore got so loud it woke her up, but only long enough for her to splutter something incomprehensible, suck on her teeth and go back to sleep again.

  They parked up at the back of the Witches Lodge and strolled over to join a queue of parents and soon-to-be witches that had formed by the huge black metal gates. On the gates was the lodge crest, a pair of crossed broomsticks with a witch's hat in the centre.

  Molly looked down the queue for familiar faces but she didn't spot anyone. They must all be from the schools at the other side of town, she thought.

  There were four or five witches at her school, but they were quite a lot older than her and they didn't really want to mix.

  Molly checked her watch for the fifth time in five minutes. She was excited and wanted to get hold of her wand. Suddenly there was the honking of a car horn and a screeching of brakes as a sleek red sports car roared into the car park. Molly watched with a sinking feeling as Henrietta Havelots got out of the car.

  Molly tugged at Granny Whitewand's sleeve.

  'How come she's here, Grandma? There are no witches in her family. I thought that was a rule.'

  'There are exceptions, these days,' said Granny Whitewand. 'Money talks. You can buy a scholarship to the academy now. Your mother and I voted against it when we had the vote at the Academy Annual General Meeting, but it was passed anyway. The academy is short of funds, so they are going to sell scholarships to people who can afford it, as long as the child is gifted.'

  'Henrietta isn't gifted,' grumbled Molly. 'She just gets lots of gifts. How did she get to know about this?'

  Molly narrowed her eyes and glared at Henrietta. Then she remembered boasting about her forthcoming Witches Promise at Fenwick's store. Henrietta was obviously jealous that Molly would have had something that she didn't have.

  'Never mind, Millie,' said Granny Whitewand. 'You are a true witch; it's in your blood. Things will come naturally to you. There will be times when Henrietta will have to work twice as hard as you to get to the same place.'

  Molly liked the idea of Henrietta having to work twice as hard as her. She brought a picture to mind of the posh gossiper struggling to carry a huge, heavy iron pot into the classroom while her own pot floated behind on a cushion of air.

  Molly smiled slyly and saved the picture to the back of her mind for later.

  Up ahead things were happening at last. The great iron gates opened with a mighty groan, the queue moved forward across the courtyard and up a long set of steps on the far side. Granny Whitewand hobbled up the steps on the arm of Mrs McCraggity.

  'I used to run up these steps when I was a girl,' she said.

  Molly wished Granny Whitewand could still do that, she was taking forever. She stole a glance over her shoulder, the queue behind them snaked all the way back to the car park and some people were getting impatient.

  Molly heard voices mumbling. The mumbles turned to shouts as they slowly climbed the stair.

  'Hurry up!'

  'What's the delay?'

  'Can't you move the old girl along a bit?'

  Granny Whitewand stopped and turned to face the following crowd. 'I can go slower than this,' she warned.

  She pulled her wand from inside the cloak and waved it at the queue. 'Anyone fancy being a toad for an hour?'

  The moaning stopped immediately.

  'Take your time dear.'

  'There's no rush.'

  Granny Whitewand sucked on her teeth and continued the climb.

  Chapter Eight

  They found themselves in a large hall with leather sofas around the walls. Long velvet curtains hung on the windows. At the end of the room was a wooden stage. At its centre were three tables that had been pushed together. On the tables were piles of forms and certificates. Hanging above the stage was a huge silver shield engraved with the academy crest.

  At the front of the stage was a microphone on a tall stand. When everyone was in the hall one of the witches walked up to the microphone, tapped it to make sure it was working, then in her cracked old hag's voice, introduced the main guest.

  'Ladies and Gentlemen, witches and hopefuls, may I introduce to you, the head of the lodge and president of the academy, the High Witch, Wilhelmina Wibblesthrop.'

  Molly clapped politely along with the rest of the crowd. She stole a glance at Henrietta who was boasting about something to a girl standing close by. The girl looked up and caught Molly's gaze. Molly rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. The girl flicked her head towards the still boasting Henrietta and yawned a huge yawn. Molly grinned; she had found an ally.

  Molly turned her attention back to the High Witch. She was droning on about last year's award winning academy and how they had successfully held on to the Junior Spell Casters Cup.

  'Speak up,' called Granny Whitewand.

  The High Witch cleared her throat and raised her voice slightly.

  'Pupils will cover the majority of the coursework at their own schools. We have classes at every school in the county. Junior witches will have one, two-hour lesson per day, but will have extra classes during half term and the summer holidays. The rest of the time they will study normal subjects with their usual classmates.'

  'Still can't hear you,' shouted Granny Whitewand.

  The High Witch raised her voice again.

  'On Saturday mornings the juniors will attend the academy classes here at the lodge.'

  'No, it's no good, still can't hear you,' yelled Granny Whitewand. 'Put a bit of effort into it.'

  'Uniforms will be worn at all times,' the High Witch shouted.

  Granny Whitewand remembered her hearing aid and turned it on.

  'That's better,' she called.

  The High Witch's voice began to crack; her throat had become really sore. She gulped down a whole glass of water and croaked her way to the end of the speech.

  'Classes will run every week of the year apart from Easter, Whitsun, Halloween and Christmas. Family holidays will be taken into account but the student will have to catch up with any work missed, in their own time.'

  Molly wasn't pleased. She liked her Saturday morning lie-ins and didn't fancy the idea of having to catch up with work in her own time. Then she thought about Henrietta Havelots and her mood brightened considerably. She was always having extra holidays, so not only would she have to work twice as hard as Molly, she would have more catching up to do as well.

  The High Witch sat down to a smattering of applause from the audience. The speech had gone on too long and hadn't been the least bit interesting. The witch who introduced her came back to the microphone and croaked on for a while about former students who had done well for themselves, including Delilah Dunkitt who was a judge on the hit TV show, 'Spell It Out,' and Ludmilla Lost, who was the first witch to fly round the world backwards on a broomstick.

  Eventually, after boasting about a few more former pupils and getting a mention in her favourite witch's charity, she finally turned to the subject they were all there to witness.

  'And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, the roll call and swearing in of this year's academy members. The Under Witch, Ramona Rustbucket, will call out the student's names beginning with our first ever sponsored scholarship nominee.'

  Ramona rolled out a scroll of parchment and began to read.

  'The first sponsored student, (and we would like to thank her father for a very generous donation to the lodge) is, Henrietta Havelots.'

  The audience clapped politely, Molly fought back a desperate urge to boo. It started right at the back of her throat and tried to force itself out of her mouth. Molly clamped her jaws tight shut,
but the boo still kept trying. Molly bit her tongue hard and the boo turned into an 'OW!'

  Mrs McCraggity looked at her quizzically. 'What was that Molly?'

  'Nothing,' said Molly, 'sorry, had to bite my tongue.'

  Ramona Rustbucket stood in the centre of the stage holding an ancient spell book and a piece of old parchment. Henrietta walked up to the microphone, placed one hand on the spell book and read from the leathery paper.

  'I, Henrietta Havelots, do faithfully swear to honour the code of witches and promise to use the knowledge I learn from the academy to do only good.'

  The audience applauded as Henrietta stepped forward to receive her certificate of membership from the High Witch.

  Wilhelmina Wibblesthrop tapped Henrietta on both shoulders with her wand. 'Welcome to the academy, Henrietta Havelots,' she said.

  A light blue halo appeared, high above Henrietta's head, the High Witch watched it closely. She tapped Henrietta on the shoulder again.

  'Welcome to the academy, Henrietta Havelots,' she repeated.

  The halo slipped down until it was touching Henrietta's hair. There was a crackling sound and the halo disappeared.

  'Hmm,' said the High Witch. 'I think you will need to work very hard to attain any sort of magical power. I haven't seen such a feeble response from the halo in all my years as a witch.'

  'Dad will buy me some power,' said Henrietta smugly. 'He's rich.'

  She jumped down from the stage, waved her certificate in the air and stopped in front of Molly as she made her way through the crowd.

  'Had my fingers crossed all the way through the promise, it means nothing,' she whispered.

  Molly was shocked. She wanted to tell the High Witch what Henrietta had done, but she didn't want to be labelled a sneak. She was still thinking about what to do when a small hand tapped her on the shoulder.

  'She had her fingers crossed, didn't she? '

  Molly turned; it was the girl who didn't like Henrietta.

  'Did you see her? We could report her for that, she might get thrown out.'

  'Don't think so, her dad's rich, they'll just make her take the promise again. I think we're going to have to watch out for her. My name's Sally Slowspell,' she said.

  'I'm Molly,' said Molly. 'Are you a witch or a scholar-sponsor thingy?'

  'I'm a witch, like my mum,' Sally replied. 'I know who you are, you're Molly Miggins, your mum and dad vanished last night didn't they?'

  Molly sighed. 'Everyone knows about that, it seems. I'm going to find them and bring them back.'

  Sally smiled. She had the sort of smile that made you want to smile back, so Molly did.

  'Good luck,' said Sally. 'Wish there was something I could do to help. I hope you get them back soon.'

  'Me too,' Molly answered, 'I want Mum to teach me how to make a spotty face spell, so I can send it to Henrietta.'

  'Sally Slowspell,' called Ramona Rustbucket.

  'Good luck, Sally,' Molly whispered as her new friend passed her on the way to the stage.

  Sally placed her hand on the book and read the promise from the parchment, then stepped across to receive her certificate and acceptance into the academy.

  Wilhelmina Wibblesthrop tapped Sally on both shoulders with her wand. A bright blue halo appeared above her. There was a zap and a delicate fork of blue lightning flashed above Sally’s head.

  'Welcome to the academy, Sally Slowspell,' said the High Witch as she passed a certificate to Sally.

  'Molly Miggins,' Ramona Rustbucket called.

  'About time,' shouted Granny Whitewand. 'Hooray, Millie.'

  Molly's heart fluttered like butterflies wings as she stepped up to the stage. She walked slowly up to the microphone, placed a shaking hand on the spell book, and tried to focus her thoughts on the promise. Molly could hear Henrietta Havelots making rude comments about her flop-over hat. She did her best to ignore her and in a nervous voice, read the words on the parchment.

  'I, Molly Miggins, do faithfully swear to honour the code of witches and promise to use the knowledge I learn from the academy to do only good.'

  As the audience applauded, Molly walked across the stage and stood in front of Wilhelmina Wibblesthrop. She looked Molly up and down.

  'Yellow tunic?' she hissed.

  'It's the latest fashion,' Molly hissed back.

  The High Witch forced a smile and tapped Molly on both shoulders with her wand. The halo appeared above Molly's head and began to change colour, it switched between blue and green before turning a deep crimson. It expanded to three times its size and emitted a humming sound.

  The hall lights flickered, then dimmed to a dull glow. The air was filled with the crackling of static electricity. Suddenly there was a deafening BOOM and long fork of white lightning shot from the crimson halo and crashed onto the stage. The High Witch was knocked off her feet and was left sitting on the floor opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish. The whole room filled with brilliant white light.

  Molly's fingers and toes began to tingle. She looked down to see that her whole body was covered in a film of pulsating white light. Another fork of lightning flashed across the stage and struck the silver shield. The hall lights died and the crowd was hushed. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the shield; a face appeared on its surface. Then a deep voice filled the hall.

  'Molly Miggins, daughter of a witch, seeker of the lost. On behalf of the High Council of Magic I welcome you to the Academy of Witches. A task has been set and must be completed. You have been granted magical power at a young age, use that power wisely. You have twelve hours to complete the task.'

  The face faded from the silver plate as the lights flickered amd came back on.

  The High Witch picked herself up, forced a smile and handed Molly her certificate. Unfortunately, Molly's hands were shaking so badly, she dropped it. As she bent to pick it up her hat jumped off.

  Molly made a grab for it but the hat hopped across the stage out of her reach. Molly clutched her certificate to her chest and ran after it.

  'Come back, stupid hat.'

  The audience laughed riotously.

  Molly chased the hat behind the long curtains at the side of the stage but then lost sight of it. She wandered back onto the stage and looked under the tables. The High Witch stood, arms folded, looking rather cross and Ramona Rustbucket hissed at Molly to get off the stage.

  Just then, Molly saw the hat make a dash for it across the hall. She leapt from the stage and ran through the laughing crowd, shouting for the hat to stop. She thought she had it cornered at one point but it leapt one way then changed direction just as Molly dived to try and smother it.

  The audience was having a wonderful time. People placed bets on how long it would take her to catch it, or indeed if she ever would. Sally joined in the chase but the hat was enjoying the game and had no intention of being caught. It hopped back onto the stage again and leapt in and out among the presentation committee.

  Molly was saved from further embarrassment by Granny Whitewand. After seeing Molly's attempts at capturing the wayward headgear get more and more frantic, she pulled her wand from her cloak and cast a sleep spell on the hopping hat.

  The hat came to a juddering halt at the feet of a very cross High Witch. An out of breath Molly climbed onto the stage and picked it up. Still panting, she turned it upside down and gave it a whack and a shake. Out fell the sleeping rabbit.

  The audience applauded wildly. There were cheers and calls of 'Encore' and 'More, more'.

  Molly bowed and grinned at Granny Whitewand. The old witch winked and clapped along with the rest.

  Molly handed the sleepy rabbit to the dumbfounded High Witch and stepped down from the stage to yet more applause.

  Everyone was smiling and clapping except Henrietta. She hated anyone else being in the spotlight and gave Molly her best glare as she walked by.

  Chapter Nine

  When the applause had died down and the level of chatter had decreased the High Witch retu
rned to the microphone.

  'The wand selection room will open in five minutes,' she announced.

  The High Witch tilted her head and looked over her glasses. Her eyes fell on Molly.

  ‘You, and...You.' she pointed a long finger at Sally. 'Come here please, this won't take long.'

  Molly and Sally made their way through the crowd to the foot of the stage. The High Witch pointed to a door at the far end of the room.

  'In that storeroom you'll find a wooden box and some straw, I would like you to bring both items here. You can take the rabbit back home with you, Molly Miggins, we have no need of it. Keeping pets at school is against the rules.'

  'Sorry about that,' said Molly, she considered explaining but thought it might make matters worse.

  Molly and Sally began to run across the hall to the storeroom.

  'Don't run.' called the High Witch, 'running is also against the rules.'

  'Should have guessed,' said Molly, slowing her pace to a brisk walk.

  The small door opened with a big groan. Molly reached for the light switch and a dim bulb on a long flex flickered into life in the centre of the room.

  The girls looked around the dingy storeroom. It was full of cobwebs, dusty crates and even dustier old books. In the centre of the room, beneath the light, sat a rickety table littered with tattered scrolls. In the middle of the table was a round object covered with a piece of black silk.

  Sally spotted the wooden box and a sack of straw against the far wall. 'Here it is, Molly, we can put the straw in the box and carry it back between us.'

  Molly didn't answer; a faint glimmer of light under the black silk cover had caught her eye. She pulled the material back slowly to reveal a large crystal ball.

  'Wow,' she said excitedly, 'I've always wanted a go with one of these. Madam Zizi, had one at the fair, she saw my future in it.'

  'What did she see?' asked Sally, forgetting about the straw.

  'She said she could see an adventure. She told me I should watch out for treachery and beware of the colour green. None of it made sense to be honest.'

  Molly pulled the crystal ball towards her and covered it with her hands. Sally looked over her shoulder towards the hall. 'Hurry, Molly, they'll come looking for us soon.'

  Molly moved her hands over the crystal the way Madam Zizi had done. To her amazement the glass ball began to glow with pulsating amber light. After a few seconds the glare began to dim and Molly could see what looked like a cave with a green translucent film covering the opening.